More and more, scientists are figuring out the molecular changes that have taken place over the course of our evolution. It’s one thing, however, to have a good idea of the ways in which our DNA was altered, but it’s quite another to figure out how those changes affected our ancestors, and how those changes may have spread from an individual to the entire species through a process such as natural selection.

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Monday night, Darwinius masilae (a k a Ida) had her television debut on The Link, which aired on the History Channel. A lot of people saw it, says  Broadcasting & Cable  in a surprisingly accurate article, which managed to do a better job on the scientific side of the story than a lot of regular media outlets:

Continue reading “Big Ratings For Darwinius Day. So How Was It, Cable-Viewers?”

If you don’t already know about 3 Quarks Daily, check it out. It’s an elegant group blog that links to all sorts of interesting stuff on science, art, literature, politics, and philosophy. They also put “gossip” in the list of topics in their banner, but I don’t recall anything on Angelina Jolie or Mel Gibson. This morning, for example, they’ve posted stuff on the evolution of house cats and the leader of the defeated Tamil rebels on Sri Lanka.

Continue reading “Introducing The Quark, A Prize For Science Blogs”