Old Weblog Archive - February 2002

Tyrannosaurus rex Was a Slowpoke #
That well-imagined nightmare in which a bloodthirsty Tyrannosaurus rex is chasing the family car down a lonely road in the red-rock desert as the children scream and the gas gauge hovers on empty and the dinosaur gnashes at the rear bumper is just that: a bad dream. T. rex was a slowpoke.
National Geographic: 27-Feb-02
Presumably slowpoke is the American equivalent of slowcoach.

Does prayer work? #
The world's religions got together a month ago to pray for peace. Has the planet seen any impact - and is there any evidence that praying works anyway?
BBC: 27-Feb-02
Charles Darwin's cousin, Sir Francis Galton, considered this very question. Using statistics, he showed that the life expectancy of the British royal family was no longer than that of any other bunch of British toffs - despite the fact that millions of loyal subjects throughout the empire prayed for the health of the royal family every day. He concluded that, no, prayer doesn't work.

Researchers Rethink Dinosaur Die Off Scenario #
Dinosaurs may not have been killed off by asteroid impact dust blocking out sunlight. Instead, the mass extinction associated with an asteroid impact 65 million years ago might have been caused by soot from global wildfires or sulfuric acid clouds that were a consequence of the collision.
National Geographic: 26-Feb-02

Researchers Melt Polar Dinosaur Mysteries #
Most of us think of dinosaurs as roaming grassy plains and savannas in semi-tropical temperatures. But dinosaurs ranged all over the planet, and a small group of scientists is working to build the fossil record and introduce the world to the dinosaurs that lived at the top and bottom of the world.
National Geographic: 25-Feb-02

Kidnap the key to saving rare species #
Kidnapping amorous males who hold a sexual monopoly over their peers may be the key to saving some endangered species.
New Scientist: 02-Feb-02

Natural Affection #
Book review of 'Darwin, His Daughter and Human Evolution' by Randal Keynes.
Washington Post: 17-Feb-02

Dinosaur discoveries wow Boston #
Sensational fossil discoveries have been unveiled at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston, including the most primitive wishbone yet found in a dinosaur.
BBC: 18-Feb-02

First pet clone is a cat #
Researchers in Texas have cloned a domestic cat, producing a two-month-old kitten called CopyCat.
BBC: 15-Feb-02
As if we didn't have enough of the evil, obnoxious creatures already; now they're cloning the bastards! (In case you haven't guessed, I'm not a cat person.)

Fossil Strengthens Dinosaur-Bird Link #
A 130 million-year-old newly discovered fossil of a small meat-eating dinosaur found in China is further proof of the evolutionary link between dinosaurs and birds.
Reuters: 13-Feb-02
And who first suggested the dinosaur-bird link? None other than Charles Darwin's favourite bulldog, Thomas Henry Huxley.

Late story: Farewell to Finisterre, here comes FitzRoy #
Listeners to the UK Shipping Forecast broadcast by the BBC have a new name to conjure with. The area Finisterre has been renamed FitzRoy after Admiral Robert FitzRoy, who was the first ever professional weatherman and founded the Met Office in 1853.
Met Office: 31-Jan-02
Don't worry, Finisterre, it's not the end of the earth! (Geddit?)

Decathletes Help Test Evolutionary Theory #
Decathletes have unwittingly helped scientists test an evolutionary theory that life and sport are all about trade-offs.
Reuters: 13-Feb-02
Sounds like an experiment in the bleeding obvious to me, but the bleeding obvious should be tested every so often.

Original Darwin Specimens on Display #
Original specimens collected by British scientist Charles Darwin during his groundbreaking voyage around the world aboard "HMS Beagle" will go on public display for the first time this autumn at London's Natural History Museum.
Reuters: 12-Feb-02

Evolution debate heats up... #
Evolution debate heats up in Ohio as school board considers theory of intelligent design.
NJ.com: 13-Feb-02
They're not allowed to teach creationism, so they invent another name for it: "It's totally different than creation science. Intelligent design says nothing about religion or about the designer. All it makes is the inference," says a creationist.

The End of the Beginning #
A well-written essay-cum-book-review about evolutionary psychology/sociobiology from a decidedly pro viewpoint.
The Human Nature Review: 07-Feb-02
The essay chastises Stephen Jay Gould for making a public whipping-boy boy of [sociobiologist David] Barash, having earlier spent over 800 words doing exactly the same to a Guardian journalist for a 670-word newspaper story.

12th February, 2002 #
Today is Charles Darwin's 193rd birthday. Happy Darwin Day!

'Dinosaur' vomit discovered in quarry #
Fossilised "dinosaur" vomit has been discovered in a quarry in Peterborough, UK. Scientists believe the vomit, estimated to be 160 million years old, gives vital clues to the feeding habits of ichthyosaurs, marine reptiles that lived at the same time as the dinosaurs.
BBC News: 12-Feb-02
Not so much ichthyosaurs as sickthyosaurs.

Hunting Virtual Moths, Blue Jays Offer Eye on Evolution #
Experiments with live blue jays and virtual moths on a computer screen have shown researchers how moths evolve patterns of camouflage on their wings.
National Geographic: 07-Feb-02
Naturally selected biomorphs. Cool!

Worm count #
New Scientist's popular Last Word questions and answers column publishes an answer supplied by a certain Mr Charles Darwin of Down House, Downe, Kent.
New Scientist: 02-Feb-02

Late story: Taxonomists Unite to Catalog Every Species, Big and Small #
Leading lights in taxonomy have come together to form the All Species Foundation. Its aim is to combine results of the world's scattered taxonomic projects into a single catalog of every living species, big and small.
All Species Foundation, quoting Wall Street Journal article of 22-Jan-02
A great idea. The hope is that every species will eventually have its own web page. (It would be even better if the American chaps running the scheme would learn how to spell catalogue correctly!)

Simple error means big change #
Biologists have uncovered important genetic evidence about how evolution redesigns animals. It explains how large-scale changes to body plans can arise from very simple genetic mutations, or errors.
BBC News: 08-Feb-02
Hopeful monsters incorporated! So much for one of Darwin's favourite quotations: 'Natura non facit saltum' ('Nature does not make leaps').

Sex 'primes woman for sperm' #
Regular sex with the same man may prime a woman's immune system not to reject his sperm when they try to conceive, scientists suggest. The theory could partly explain why humans have sex even when they aren't trying for a baby.
BBC News: 06-Feb-02
I can think of another reason why humans have sex even when they aren't trying for a baby: because it's NICE! The article doesn't explain why the theory only applies to humans.
See also my Letter to New Scientist [10-Feb-02] (which they published, by the way).

Rare donkey's even rarer birth #
A horse has given birth to a donkey in a scientific experiment that could point the way to saving rare breeds and endangered species. The foal is an extremely rare and prehistoric-looking animal called a poitou.
BBC News: 06-Feb-02
But is a poitou born of a horse still a poitou? Genetically, maybe it is, but let's not forget all the environmental factors affecting the development of the foetus in the (unnatural) womb.

Is human evolution finally over? #
Scientists are split over the theory that natural selection has come to a standstill in the West.
Guardian: 03-Feb-02

"Jessica" Oil Spill Final Report #
The Charles Darwin Research Station technical report on the biological effects of the Jessica Oil Spill.
Charles Darwin Foundation: 01-Feb-02
The report is password protected. You must register to receive a password.

The Gradual Illumination of the Mind #
The advance of science, not the demotion of religion, will best counter the influence of creationism. We need to employ a proactive strategy of science education and evolution explanation.
Scientific American: Feb-02

Goose of a different feather #
Dr Helen James of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC has discovered that at least three Hawaiian birds evolved from Canada geese. DNA analysis shows that the birds are descended from geese which found their way from North American to the isolated Pacific islands 500,000 to one million year ago.
(Canadian) National Post: 04-Feb-02
See also: State Bird of Hawaii Unmasked as Canadian [National Geograpic: 06-Feb-02]

Victorian murder mystery reveals the dark side of the British class system #
Review of the book Death at the Priory: Love, Sex and Murder in Victorian England by James Ruddick. A true story involving Charles Darwin's hydropathic doctor, James Gully.
Seattle Times: 03-Feb-02
I use the word doctor somewhat loosely.

Latest Discovery Reveals Origin of Mankind #
As everyone knows, man is descended from the ape. But what was the predecessor of the ape and how did it evolve? Three paleontologists with the Yunnan Institute of Geological Sciences recently found an answer to the question after patient research on the two fish-like chordate samples discovered in southwest China's Yunnan province.
Xinhua News Agency: 01-Feb-02
An article with a very misleading title, but it's good to see the Chinese reporting this kind of stuff.

Two cultures still #
It is 40 years since CP Snow raged against the marginalisation of science. Has anything changed?
Guardian: 02-Feb-02

Late story: The concept of race is biologically meaningless #
From a public lecture given at Gresham College in the City of London, by its Professor of Physic, the leading geneticist, Steven Rose.
Independent: 28-Jan-02

The Bottleneck #
We have entered the Century of the Environment, in which the immediate future is usefully conceived as a bottleneck: science and technology, combined with foresight and moral courage, must see us through it and out.
Scientific American: Feb-02
Excerpt from Edward O Wilson's new book, The Future of Life. True to form, Wilson believes that human short-sightedness (in this case, about the environment) is "a hardwired part of our Paleolithic heritage". Can't he think of any evolutionary advantages of long-sightedness?