Check out the latest Carnival of Evolution (with two items from the Loom) over at Mauka to Makai!
Originally published March 2, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.
South Dakota, are you kidding me? Astrology in the classroom?
In the fine tradition of creationist legislation that claims that evolution is “just” a theory and that requires the teaching of alternatives, the South Dakota legislature has passed a resolution on the teaching of climate change. Here’s how it starts.
Continue reading “This Is The Dawning of Aquarius–In South Dakota”
My post on birds and dinosaurs yesterday led to a little debate on Facebook, including this, from paleontologist Thomas Holtz:
All living birds share a common ancestor that would also be considered a bird, so they are a monophyletic group. Nevertheless, that group is deeply nested among euornithine ornithothoracine pygostylian avialian eumaniraptoran paravian metornithine maniraptoran maniraptoriform tyrannoraptoran coelurosaurian avetheropodan tetanurine averostran neotheropod theropod saurischian dinosaurs.
…and breathe.
Originally published February 26, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.
A few questions came up during the webinar this afternoon that we didn’t have a chance to get to.
Continue reading “Webinar Follow-Up: Dinosaur Polls and More”
Many animals have evolved camouflage, but nobody quite pulls it off as beautifully as the octopus and its tentacled cousin the cuttlefish. These invertebrates, which belong to a group called cephalopods, are covered in microscopic pigment organs that they can squeeze and stretch to take on the patterns around them. They can curl their tentacles to assume different shapes, and they can even change the texture of their skin to bumpy or smooth, as necessity demands. Continue reading “Shape-Shifting Across The Globe”