Jeremiah Drewel, a geology student at the University of Alaska writes, “This is my personal favorite Deinonychus!”
Carl: Deinonychus holds a special place in the history of paleontology. Its remains were first discovered in 1931 in Montana, but for decades they languished, unstudied, at the American Museum of Natural History. In the 1960s Yale paleontologist John Ostrom discovered a wealth of new fossils from the same species and began to contemplate what the animal was like in real life.
“I thought I would send you mine : Paranthropus (Australopithecus depending on your school of thought) boisei.”–Gabrielle Russo, Hunter Colllege.
Carl: Paranthropus boisei existed from 2.3 million to 1 million years ago–a good run. It stood upright like us, but had a small brain and powerful jaws for biting tough food like seeds and roots. Paranthropus boisei is not our ancestor, not even a close cousin. Instead, it belonged to a separate branch of hominid evolution–one that may have been wiped out by a changing climate. Now it is remembered in museums and on at least one tattooed arm.
The New York Times, February 19, 2008
WOODS HOLE, Mass. –The cuttlefish in Roger Hanlon’s laboratory were in fine form. Their skin was taking on new colors and patterns faster than the digital signs in Times Square.
Dr. Hanlon inspected the squidlike animals as he walked past their shallow tubs, stopping from time to time to ask, “Whoa, did you see that?”
One cuttlefish added a pair of eye spots to its back, a strategy cuttlefish use to fool predators. The spots lingered a few seconds, then vanished.
Continue reading “Revealed: Secrets of the Camouflage Masters”
Skip Arey writes, “I am very devoted to the radio art and decided to show my devotion by way of Body Art. The tattoo is a copy of a schematic diagram of a basic Crystal Radio taken from page 132 of Practical Wireless Telegraphy by Elmer Bucher published in 1921.”
Click here to go to the full Science Tattoo Emporium.
Originally published February 19, 2008. Copyright 2008 Carl Zimmer.
For years, fellow scienceblogger PZ Myers has taught us all well why we ought to adore squid, octopuses, and other cephalopods. But I came to a new degree of appreciation when I traveled up to Woods Hole to spend some time with the biologist Roger Hanlon. Hanlon studies how cephalopods disguise themselves, and boy do they ever. Right in front of your eyes, sitting in a little tub of water, the animals can practically disappear. Or, if they want to scare you, they turn a chocolately brown with bright stripes.
Continue reading “Smart Skin and Devious Cephalopods in Tomorrow’s NY Times”