Not quite (although that's implied in some of the rather breathless reporting of an extraordinary paper that was published on-line this month). Nevertheless, the real story describes a striking achievement: the cloning of DNA from the extinct thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger.
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rapid evolutionary change in lizards
This is another wonderful paper – the result of what may be a unique translocation experiment involving Italian wall lizards (Podarcis sicula: Herrel et al., 2008). (I do read other stuff – I might tell you about some of that next time.)
Continue readingevolution: shaping both life and the environment
One of the books I’m reading at the moment is about teaching evolution (NAS, 1998). I’ve come across an excellent and thought-provoking quote that I thought I’d share with you – for you to think about..
Continue readingmore forensic genetics – and the origins of multicellular animals
When I'm lecturing about animal diversity and the origins of the multicellular animals (aka metazoans), I point out the similarity between the single-celled protozoans called choanoflagellates and the choanocytes (or 'feeding cells') of sponges. The textbook interpretation is that choanoflagellates may have shared a common ancestor with metazoans, and there's an increasing amount of genetic […]
Continue readingpolio & evolution
I read quite a few science blogs & just stumbled across this excellent post about polio virus: the vaccines we use against it, the virus's evolutionary responses – oh heaps of stuff. And a chilling photo of a ward full of polio patients in iron lungs: in extreme cases the patients lost the ability to breathe […]
Continue readingcreationist argument #3: Darwin –> Hitler
This one has been getting a lot of air time in the US lately. Basically, what it says is that Darwin's theory of evolution (they tend to call it 'Darwinism') was used by Hitler to justify the Holocaust, and therefore evolution is evil and should be rejected. This particular argument has the usual logical flaws […]
Continue readingscientifique kiwis
Gosh, we had a good Cafe Scientifique this week. My friend & colleague, Dave Lambert, was there to talk about his latest project – sequencing the kiwi genome. (That's kiwi bird, not kiwi people.) And he wants to get you involved!
Continue readingsome historical reading: darwin on human ‘races’
The other day one of my students came by my office to ask about his essay. He’d found a book that suggested that the human species was split into 3 races (black, white, & oriental, in case you’re wondering), & that these races differed in things like fecundity and birth rate. Should he include this […]
Continue readingbetter s*x from headless males…
On Monday night a newspaper article caught my eye – the reporter had picked up on a study suggesting that, if you’re a female praying mantis, eating your partner during sex can actually be quite beneficial…
Continue readinguse of colour by early sapiens
This one’s been sitting in my ‘good blogging material’ folder for a while now: time to have a look at it, I think.
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