Old Weblog Archive - January 2002

Smell secrets of sexy mice #
Mice need to use a "secret" smell system to help them choose a sexual partner, according to researchers.
BBC News: 31-Jan-02
"Darling, you smell so cheesy tonight."
"I bet you say that to all the rodents."

See also: Women sniff out ideal mates [BBC News: 21-Jan-02]

Specifications #
The US Standard railroad gauge is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used?
The Braden Files: 30-Jan-02
OK, not much to do with the natural world, but an interesting example of how, as with organic evolution, an initial design "specification" can impose lasting constraints on future designs (as Isambard Kingdom Brunel learnt to his cost, in the case of railway gauges).

Dino feet leave their mark #
Fossilised dinosaur tracks that are 163 million years old have revealed how large meat-eating theropod dinosaurs could break into a run when chasing their prey.
BBC News: 30-Jan-02

Blur tune heads for Mars #
Pop band Blur are to programme a piece of music to be played on a space mission to Mars. A track, written and recorded by the foursome, will be launched into space on the Beagle 2 lander, a British craft that will put down on the Red Planet in 2003.
BBC News: 30-Jan-02
For more on Beagle 2, which takes its name from the ship that took Darwin round the world, see the Beagle 2 website.

Looking for genetic perfection #
Can perfect, or absolute, pitch - the ability to recognise and name musical notes - be traced to just one or a few genes?
BBC News: 29-Jan-02
Researchers admit that this is a controversial subject. The title of the article doesn't help.

Senate Bill 6500 #
(8) The legislature finds that the teaching of the theory of evolution in the common schools of the state of Washington is repugnant to the principles of the Declaration of Independence and thereby unconstitutional and unlawful.
(9) All textbooks and curriculum that teach the theory of evolution shall be removed from the public schools forthwith and replaced with textbooks and curriculum that teach the self-evident truth of creation.
Senator Hochstatter, State of Washington 57th Legislature: 18-Jan-02 (first reading)
So much for self-evident truths.

Jelly turned to rock #
An extraordinary group of Cambrian jellyfish fossils has been uncovered by researchers in a quarry in Wisconsin, USA. The circular impressions left in 500-million-year-old sandstone - several measure up to a metre across - represent some of the largest finds of their kind anywhere in the world.
BBC News: 28-Jan-02

Ant Study Shows Link Between Single Gene, Colony Formation #
What influences social organization? A combination of factors is involved, but a study of fire ants shows that a single gene can play a major role. The research showed that the ants form two different kinds of colonies depending on which variant of a particular gene they carry.
National Geographic: 24-Jan-02

Dino-Era Crater Probed for Clues to Mass Extinction #
Scientists are drilling into a huge crater in Mexico created 65 million years ago by an asteroid or comet that slammed into Earth—and, as popular theory has it, wiped out the dinosaurs. The goal is to learn how it devastated the global environment, clearing the way for the rise of mammals, including humans.
National Geographic: 23-Jan-02

Darwin and the First Ecological Experiment #
Scientists examining the work that influenced Charles Darwin have rediscovered the details of what may be the world’s first ecological experiment.
bio.com: Jan-02
See also: Solution to Darwin's ecology puzzle [Guardian: 25-Jan-02]
Trek up the garden path [Guardian: 31-Jan-02]
The first ecological experiment rediscovered [USA Today: 24-Jan-02]
Was Darwin Influenced by Experiment in English Garden? [National Geographic: 05-Feb-02]

Women sniff out ideal mates #
Researchers have come up with hard evidence that what women really want from a mate is somebody who reminds them of their father. They have discovered that women sniff out men whose body odour is similar to that of their fathers. The theory is that a man who smells similar to a woman's father is likely to have a compatible immune system.
BBC News: 21-Jan-02
Damn! And there was I labouring away under the misapprehension that what women really want is short, fat guys with beards and beer-guts! Their loss.

Darwinian Trivia Quiz No. 1 #
The first of a planned series of Darwinian trivia quizzes. This one's a real stinker, which should only be attempted by severe anoraks with too much time on their hands. How will you rate?
The Friends of Charles Darwin: 20-Jan-02

Neanderthals 'used glue to make tools' #
A sticky fingerprint on a fossilised blob of wood is firing the debate over how intelligent Neanderthals were.
BBC News: 19-Jan-02
Warning: Contains full-frontal Neanderthal nudity! (Don't fancy yours much.)

Animal instinct #
Why do chimps chew on leaves that they clearly find revolting? And why do elephants risk death to extract rocks from a mountain cave in Kenya? Perhaps they know something we don't about staying healthy, says Jerome Burne.
Guardian: 17_Jan-02

Year after slick, humans still threaten Galapagos #
A year after the Galapagos oil spill, the environmental impact turns out to have been a lot less disastrous than it might have been. But what about the other threats humans still pose to the islands made famous by Darwin?
Environmental News Network: 17-Jan-02
See also: The Jessica oil spill: A year later [Charles Darwin Foundation: 16-Jan-02]

Alien life could be like Antarctic bugs #
Scientists have found living microbes buried far deeper than ever detected before in Antarctica's ice-free dry valleys. The nature of the harsh environment once again raises the possibility of similar organisms existing on other worlds in our Solar System.
BBC News: 17-Jan-02
See also: Arctic sea floor gives up secrets [BBC News: 14-Jan-02]
Tough bugs point to life on Mars [BBC News: 16-Jan-02]

Albatrosses get prince's protection #
The Prince of Wales is supporting attempts to save endangered birds from death in the south Atlantic. The prince, heir to the British throne, has agreed to endorse BirdLife International's Save The Albatross campaign. The birds die in their thousands when they become trapped by fishing lines.
BBC News: 14-Jan-02
A member of the British monarchy is keen to save endangered species. Hmm...

From scientist to saint: does Darwin deserve a day? #
He was the originator of the most dangerous idea in history. He disenfranchised God as our creator and revealed the animal origins of humanity. Many believe his influence was pernicious and evil. But now a campaign has been launched to establish an international day of celebration on 12 February: birthday of Charles Darwin, author of the theory of evolution by natural selection.
Observer: 13-Jan-01
The article includes quotes from Richard Dawkins, Steve Jones, John Maynard Smith, and Amanda Chesworth, FCD, of DarwinDay.org.

Who do we think we are? #
The bizarre story of a man who woke up and couldn't remember who he was reminds us that identity is more than the sum of our fingerprints, dental records and DNA. What determines our sense of self?
Observer: 13-Jan-01
Lots of 'Big Brother' biometrics stuff. Darwin's cousin, Sir Francis Galton, gets a mention.

Late story: Exhibition Devoted To 170th Anniversary Of Charles Darwin's Tour Round The World Opens In Moscow #
The Moscow Darwin Museum is exhibiting a rare collection of humming-birds, one of its treasures, as well as drawings of the members of the participants in the tour round the world and the material about gigantic land tortoises on the Galapagos Islands. The visitors to the exhibition will have a chance to see the interior of Darwin's cabin on the Beagle ship, the model of the ship itself and the map of the voyage.
Pravda: 11-Dec-01
Nice one, Moscow!

Scientific Bias Causing New Mass Extinction #
An ecologist in Australia says that scientific bias towards the cute, unique, or spectacular could be helping to condemn a substantial proportion of the world's plants and animals to extinction.
Cosmiverse: 11-Jan-02

Genes Help Identify Oldest Human Population #
Peering deep into the archive of population history that is stored in the human genome, a Stanford University biologist believes he has picked up a genetic signature of the ancestral human population.
New York Times: 08-Jan-02 [requires (free) registration]

Signing of agreement to prevent Iguanas from being run over in Baltra #
The Ecuadorian Air Force, the Galapagos National Park Service and the Charles Darwin Foundation have signed an agreement of co-collaboration to protect the land iguanas of Baltra Island from their largest cause of death: being hit by moving vehicles and hunted by domestic dogs.
Charles Darwin Foundation: 07-Jan-02
Plus - Late story: Completion of the new Red List evaluation of the endemic plants of Galapagos #
The Charles Darwin Research Center has assessed some 260 endemic plant species and subspecies. They now know which are the most threatened species, and have identified those for which more survey and monitoring work is needed.
Charles Darwin Foundation: 20-Dec-01

Evolution on Fast Forward: Finches Adapt to Climates #
In Montana, it is an evolutionary advantage for the females to be big and the males, small. In Alabama the reverse is true. In less than 30 years finches have undergone a remarkable adaptation. Montana finch populations have adapted to produce large females and small males. In Alabama, by contrast, finches produce large males and small females.
National Geographic: 10-Jan-02
The perceived evolutionary advantages are not explained particularly well, but the science seems sound.

'Oldest' prehistoric art unearthed #
The world's oldest example of abstract art, dating back more than 70,000 years, has been found in a cave in South Africa.
BBC News: 10-Jan-02

Supreme Court won't hear Minnesota case on teaching evolution #
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to be drawn into a debate over the teaching of evolution in America's public schools. The refusal is a victory for schools that require teachers to instruct on the subject even if the teacher disagrees with the scientific theory. It's a loss for a Christian biology teacher in Minnesota who was reassigned amid questions about his views on evolution. Justices declined without comment to review Rodney LeVake's case.
PioneerPlanet: 08-Jan-02

Why forests need fires #
The bush fires raging across swathes of New South Wales are terrifying, but fires are a natural way of clearing old growth, causing organic matter to decompose rapidly into mineral components which fuel rapid plant growth, and recycling essential nutrients, especially nitrogen.
BBC News: 07-Jan-02

Love birds glow crazy #
Budgerigars have fluorescent plumage which sends out a strong sexual signal to would-be partners, researchers have found.
BBC News: 03-Jan-02

A mammoth undertaking #
Can genetic science bring extinct species back to life? And if it can, should we let it?
Salon: 03-Jan-02

Late story: Design Yes, Intelligent No #
The claims by Behe, Dembski, and other "intelligent design" creationists that science should be opened to supernatural explanations and that these should be allowed in academic as well as public school curricula are unfounded and based on a misunderstanding of both design in nature and of what the neo-Darwinian theory of evolution is all about. Massimo Pigliucci explains.
CSICOP On-line / Skeptical Inquirer magazine: Sep-01