Old Weblog - May 2003
A horrific venereal disease is preying on baboons in eastern Africa. An estimated 200 animals have been infected and scientists are scrambling to identify the mystery microbe that is attacking them.
"My husband doesn't take anything at face value," [says pop star, Madonna.] "When I met him, he was totally into Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. He made me question my values as a Christian."
Madonna's husband is a good influence in other ways: he's converted her to British real ale.
A rare scientific text bought for a shilling is set to become the most expensive book ever sold at a massive Edinburgh book sale. The Theory of the Earth, by city scientist James Hutton, was donated to this year’s Christian Aid Book Fair by a mystery well-to-do book lover.
Salisbury Plain's mysterious ancient stone megaliths, which attract almost a million visitors each year, could soon be joined by another impressive sight: the magnificent great bustard.
Tall as a deer, eh? Presumably, its beak is as long as a piece of string.
The highly respected wildlife presenter Sir David Attenborough is celebrating 50 years in broadcasting, and has spoken to the BBC World Service's Outlook programme about his career.
A bizarre new species of jellyfish has been discovered in the deep waters off the Californian coast. The bell-shaped creature spans a metre in diameter and has been nicknamed "big red", because of its unusual deep red colour. The US and Japanese teams that discovered it say the species deserves its own subfamily.
Tropical rainforest creatures are much greater drain on forest resources than scientists had realised. The insight comes from a study of 195 ant species in Peru and Brunei. It shows that the insects are more akin to herds grazing on the African savannah than scavengers preying on the fallen. Most are close to the bottom of the food chain, eating mainly plants.
Following centuries of persecution, England's hen harrier (Circus cyaneus) population had dwindled to only seven successful breeding pairs last year. Now, after three major fires at specially protected moorland breeding sites, one of the country's most spectacular birds of prey is at the brink of extinction.
Army ants, these days dispersed across the world, all came from a single source over 100 million years ago on the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana.
Early modern humans and Neanderthals probably did not interbreed, according to evidence collected by Italian scientists.
Don't fancy yours much.
Growing human pressure means the survival of two-thirds of the world's tortoises and freshwater turtles is under threat, conservationists say.
No single experiment, according to Carl Sagan, has done more to convince scientists that life is 'likely abundant in the cosmos' than the work fifty years ago by then graduate student, Stanley Miller. This week celebrates his milestone publication, and Astrobiology Magazine interviewed him about his work and reflections today.
An analysis published in the scientific journal Nature suggests 90% of large predator fish have been cleared from the seas in the past 50 years or so.
Features in a Martian meteorite believed by some to be the fossilised remains of alien bacteria may have formed underwater, scientists claim.
Humans are singled out in a recent report as the cause of what many scientists believe is the biggest mass extinction of animals in 65 million years. Published by the Worldwatch Institute, a U.S.-based environmental research organization, the report says scientists' fears are backed up by plummeting bird populations.
A huge website designed to provide an electronic safe haven for endangered animals and plants has gone online. ARKive is described as a 21st Century "Noah's Ark" which will house information about species in danger of extinction
Good website.
Chimpanzees are so closely related to humans that they should properly be considered as members of the human family, according to new genetic research.
…or, equally validly, humans could be classified as members of the chimp family—which might be scientifically correct, but about as sensible as classifying birds as dinosaurs. Irrespective of their close genetic links, aren't they sufficiently distinct to deserve their own classifications? [This is a rhetorical question, by the way—I'm not looking for feedback; I know it's a touchy subject.]
For better coverage on this story, see New Scientist.
For better coverage on this story, see New Scientist.
The gender of the children born to a woman may be influenced by how much food she has to eat, say researchers working in Ethiopia.
The white-footed mouse isn't much to look at, but a new study suggests it may be a superstar when it comes to evolution. According to a report published in the journal Nature, a group of the animals in the Chicago area has undergone significant genetic change over the last 150 years. The findings suggest that a mammalian genome can evolve much more rapidly than previously thought.
The first complete skulls of a bizarre "horned" kangaroo are the star finds in the cache of fossils newly unearthed from caves in the Nullarbor Plain, Australia.
Residents in Wellington, South Africa, are celebrating the arrival of a remarkable addition to the town - a newborn two-headed tortoise.
The final resting place of HMS Beagle, the ship on which Charles Darwin made early discoveries about evolution, could soon be uncovered. St Andrews University's Dr Robert Prescott, who has led the team retracing the ship's final fate, said sensor equipment was to be used at an undisclosed site in the Essex marshes this summer.
Fantastic news if it really turns out to be the remains of the Beagle—the biological equivalent of a relict from the holy cross.