Old Weblog Archive - March 2002

New Insect Order Found in Southern Africa #
For the first time in 87 years, researchers have discovered an insect that constitutes a new order of insects. Dubbed "the gladiator" (for the recent movie), the new insect is described as a cross between a stick insect, a mantid, and a grasshopper.
National Geographic: 28-Mar-02

Seeds of Life are Everywhere, NASA Researchers Say #
In two separate studies, scientists mimicked conditions of outer space, doused frozen interstellar cocktails with ultraviolet radiation and created amino acids, which are critical components of life.
Space.com: 27-Mar-02

New Zealand reptile in climate peril #
Just a one degree rise in temperature could spell the end for a "living fossil", New Zealand's tuatara, according to a university researcher.
BBC: 27-Mar-02
The article explains how tuataras have been around since the time of the dinosaurs, so they've been through climate change before - but will they be able to adapt quickly enough if predicted global warming rates are correct? It's the same old story: adapt or perish.

Life's origins among the stars #
New evidence that the building blocks of life are scattered in clouds between the stars is reported in two research papers in the journal Nature.
BBC: 27-Mar-02

Human Fossil Adds Fuel to Evolution Debate #
A one-million-year-old partial skull found in Ethiopia adds new fuel to the human origins debate. The team that found the fossil says it supports the idea that a single human ancestor, Homo erectus, ranged across Europe, Asia, and Africa as long ago as 1.8 million years.
National Geographic: 25-Mar-02

A voyage to the origin of species #
Edward Larson talks about the draw of the Galapagos islands and the mighty influence of Charles Darwin.
Guardian: 02-Mar-02

Ancient penguins yield evolution clue #
Valuable clues to the pace of evolution have been found in the bones of long-dead penguins recovered from the Antarctic.
BBC: 22-Mar-02
See also: Ancient Penguin, Bear DNA Reveal Pace of Evolution and Extinctions [National Geographic: 22-Mar-02]
The clues will help calibrate the so-called "molecular clock" (the validity of which is a hotly debated subject).

Knee-high to Triceratops #
The fossil of a dinosaur the size of a dog gives an insight into how giant dinosaurs walked the Earth. Newly discovered skeletons show the tiny dinosaur, Liaoceratops, was the distant cousin of giant quadrupeds such as Triceratops.
BBC: 21-Mar-02
See also: Fossil of Dog-Size Horned Dinosaur Unearthed in China [National Geographic: 20-Mar-02]

Revising the Book of Life #
A (not entirely complimentary) article about Stephen Jay Gould and his forthcoming magnum opus, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory.
The Chronicle of Higher Education: 15-Mar-02
One for the wish list, methinks (actually, I've already ordered it).

The Biology of... Panic #
The clue to understanding anxiety may be written in your genes.
Discover: April 2002 edition
The article makes numerous references to Darwin's mysterious illnesses, claiming that they could have been caused by an anxiety disorder, and that many such disorders could be caused by a small number of genes.

Thought for the Day, 15 March 2002 #
The Rt. Rev. Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford: "Sadly, biblical literalism brings not only the bible but Christianity itself into disrepute".
BBC: 15-Mar-02
Hear, hear. Like Thomas Henry Huxley, it's not often I agree with the Bishop of Oxford. What a pity, though, that the bishop confuses Thomas Henry with his grandson, Julian.
See also: Creationists 'harm religion' [Guardian: 16-Mar-02]
My congratulatory letter (of sorts) to the bishop
My previous thoughts on Thought for the Day
Hear also: Audio version of the bishop's speech (requires RealPlayer).

Penguins hope for better future #
Hemmed in by sea ice, hundreds of thousands of baby penguins died this Antarctic summer. The world's southernmost colony of Adelie penguins, at Cape Royds on Ross Island, only managed to produce about 1% of its usual tally of chicks.
BBC: 12-Mar-02
Anthropomorphic headline notwithstanding, a sad but fascinating example of selective pressures in action. Life on the edge.

Dr. Jenny Tonge (Richmond Park) #
Is the Prime Minister happy to allow the teaching of creationism alongside Darwin's theory of evolution in state schools?
Hansard: 13-Mar-02
UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, ducks the question following last Saturday's Guardian piece (see below).
See also: In the beginning was the word... happiness [Guardian: 14-Mar-02]
The creation of a row [BBC: 14-Mar-02]
Creationism row reaches the UK [New Scientist: 14-Mar-02]

Top school's creationists preach value of biblical story over evolution #
Fundamentalist Christians who do not believe in evolution have taken control of a state-funded secondary school in England. In a development which will astonish many British parents, creationist teachers at the city technology college in Gateshead are undermining the scientific teaching of biology in favour of persuading pupils of the literal truth of the Bible.
Guardian: 09-Feb-02
Related articles in the same edition of the Guardian:
Leader: Matter of faith
Creationism at the taxpayers' expense.
The Bible versus science
Extracts from a lecture by head of science Steven Layfield at Emmanuel College.
A creationist head of science (sic) urges classroom practitioners to express without compromise the integrity and infallibility of the biblical historical narrative however loud and disagreeable the objection. Such ambassadors, he says, must strive to be 'as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves' (Matt 10:16).
The words fucking bastard spring immediately to mind.
A scientist's view
Comment from Richard Dawkins.
Debate rages on in US
The infamous Scopes "monkey" trial of 1925, when a teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, was prosecuted for teaching evolutionary theories, sounds like a historical curiosity to most people on the Eastern side of the Atlantic. But 80 years on, the argument between evolutionists and creationists in the US is becoming increasingly vociferous and fundamentalist Christians are gaining ground.
Personal Note: I was so alarmed by these Guardian articles that I wrote a letter to the UK Secretary of State for Education and Skills, to which I received an unsatisfactory reply.

'Darwin' Evolves with Brit Director Newell #
British filmmaker Mike Newell (Donnie Brasco) has signed on to develop and direct Mrs. Darwin, a period romance about the woman behind the father of evolution. The independently financed project tells the story of the battle Charles Darwin wages with the world, through the eyes of his wife, Emma. A devout woman who loves Charles, Emma fears for his immortal soul as his pioneering theory of evolution threatens the existence of God.
Reuters: 05-Mar-02

Did Humans and Neandertals Battle for Control of the Middle East? #
Thousands of years before Christians, Muslims, and Jews became locked in dispute over the Middle East, humans wrested control of the region from its true original inhabitants, the Neandertals, in what one scientist compares to a prolonged game of football.
National Geographic: 08-Mar-02

Our Species Mated With Other Human Species, Study Says #
A new piece of evidence - one sure to prove controversia - has been flung into the human origins debate. A study published in Nature presents genetic evidence that humans left Africa in at least three waves of migration. It suggests that modern humans (Homo sapiens) interbred with archaic humans (Homo erectus and Neandertals) who had migrated earlier from Africa, rather than displacing them.
National Geographic: 06-Mar-02

Life's early 'footprint' #
Is it one of the oldest fossils known to science - a 3.5-billion-year-old microbe - or just a flaw in a rock? It all depends on which paper in the journal Nature you read.
BBC: 06-Mar-02
Looks like a dollop of extra chunky orange marmalade to me.

'Modern' feathers found on Chinese dino #
A new dinosaur fossil, found in north-eastern China, could change the way we think of dinosaurs forever. Writing in the journal Nature, palaeontologists from China and the United States suggest dinosaurs may have looked more like odd-shaped, large birds than huge, scaly lizards.
BBC: 06-Mar-02

Life found 'on margin of existence' #
An international team of biologists and geologists are drilling into the sea floor off the coast of South America to recover live bacteria that do not need sunlight, carbon dioxide or oxygen.
BBC: 05-Mar-02

Parrot breeds its way to record #
One of the strangest birds in the world, the kakapo, is breeding its way back from the brink of extinction.
BBC: 03-Mar-02

Dead Dodo Shows Signs of Life #
Scientists at Oxford University say they had extracted DNA from a dodo, the famous flightless bird hunted to extinction on its native Indian Ocean island of Mauritius in the 17th century.
Reuters: 01-Mar-02
See also: Extinct Dodo Related to Pigeons, DNA Shows [National Geographic: 28-Feb-02]
DNA yields dodo family secrets [BBC: 28-Feb-02]