Following the appearance of the neocortex some 250,000 years in our past, Homo sapiens evolved as the only species on planet Earth that created sophisticated technology from the clock to the radio and the quantum computer. In Apeman to Spaceman, the BBC reported that about two million years ago, something extraordinary started happening in […]
Coronavirus: Is the Climate Plague Here?
Journalists Bryn Nelson and Jane C. Hu talk about how the climate crisis means we could see more deadly outbreaks.
Ancestors of modern birds became warm blooded very early in their evolution
Experts from Hebrew University of Jerusalem studied the chemical bonds of the egg shells to find the likely body temperature of the dinosaur inside and its mother.
Source: Ancestors of modern birds became warm blooded very early in their evolution | Daily Mail Online
Kirk, Spock and Darwin
Duke University evolutionary biologist Mohamed A. F. Noor talks about his book Live Long and Evolve: What Star Trek Can Teach Us about Evolution, Genetics, and Life on Other Worlds .
The anatomy, paleobiology, and evolutionary relationships of the largest extinct side-necked turtle
Despite being among the largest turtles that ever lived, the biology and systematics of Stupendemys geographicus remain largely unknown because of scant, fragmentary finds. We describe exceptional specimens and new localities of S. geographicus from the Miocene of Venezuela and Colombia. We document the largest shell reported for any extant or extinct turtle, with a carapace length of 2.40 m and estimated mass of 1.145 kg, almost 100 times the size of its closest living relative, the Amazon river turtle Peltocephalus dumerilianus , and twice that of the largest extant turtle, the marine leatherback Dermochelys coriacea . The new specimens greatly increase knowledge of the biology and evolution of this iconic species. Our findings suggest the existence of a single giant turtle species across the northern Neotropics, but with two shell morphotypes, suggestive of sexual dimorphism. Bite marks and punctured bones indicate interactions with large caimans that also inhabited the northern Neotropics.
The origin and evolution of love
The evolution of a mother’s bond with her offspring marked a major change in the story of life.
Source: The origin and evolution of love
‘Rule breaking’ plants may be climate change survivors
Plants that break some of the ‘rules’ of ecology by adapting in unconventional ways may have a higher chance of surviving climate change, according to researchers.
Source: ‘Rule breaking’ plants may be climate change survivors — ScienceDaily
