Posts

May 03, 2013

+

Friday Headlines, May 3, 2013 THE LATEST IN THE GEOSCIENCES FIRST LAND ANIMALS KEPT FISHLIKE JAWS FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS, SAYS BIOLOGIST First, I want to clarify, that this refers to land vertebrates, not to land animals. There were most … Continue reading →

+

11:00 AM | Billowy-Pillowy

National Blog Posting Month – May 2013 – Comfort Prompt – Which would you rather have: a super-soft pillow or a warm, fuzzy blanket? —— Blankets are nice, but frankly I’d rather have a big, soft, cuddly, not-snoring, and not-covered-with-sneeze-inducing-hair, … Continue reading →

+

7:14 AM | Peer review does not mean we can trust a published paper

“The benefit of published work is that if they have passed the muster of peer review future researchers can have faith in the results”, writes a commenter at The Economist. Such statements are commonplace. I couldn’t disagree more. Nothing is more fatal to the scientific endeavour than having “faith” in a previously published result — [...]

May 02, 2013

+

8:44 PM | 59th Carnival of Evolution up at DNA Barcoding

Clicky here. Lots of interesting stuff, with a Dr. Who theme to boot. Reminds me of those times when I taught biology of fantasy and sci fi movies, except the cultureless students didn’t recognise most of the movies and series I was talking about. Anyway, my post on randomness in evolution is in there too, [...]

+

7:00 PM | Recognition and the Liebster Award

It seems I’ve been nominated for a “Liebster” Award. It’s a way to recognize new and less well-known blogs and help get them some exposure. The rules are simple: The rules have changed over the years, but it seems to … Continue reading →

+

5:44 PM | Social Media for Science Outreach – A Case Study: That social media thang

This was initially posted at: http://www.nature.com/spoton/2013/04/social-media-for-science-outreach-a-case-study-that-social-media-thang/ as part of a series of case studies exploring how academics use social media. Jon began university life as a geologist, following this with a treacherous leap into the life sciences with a course in biodiversity … Continue reading →

+

11:04 AM | Phenotypic Plasticity

Some organisms can change their appearance, physiology, and development in response to changes in the environment. This is called phenotypic plasticity, and some examples of phenotypically plastic organisms include the Junonia octavia butterflies described in my natural selection lecture, or water fleas that develop a spiny helmet in the presence of predators, as shown in [...]

+

11:00 AM | Senor Frog

National Blog Posting Month – May 2013 – Comfort Prompt – Do you still sleep with a stuffed animal now? —— One stuffed animal that frequently finds himself in bed with me is Biff, my stuffed bass. My mother made … Continue reading →

+

7:18 AM | What specimen is this — the reveal!

Yesterday I asked whether anyone could identify this specimen: There was an interesting range of suggestions, but I suppose no-one will be surprised to hear that Darren Naish was the first to make real progress, saying “Hey, that’s a loooong pelvis… I smell macropod.” From there it was a short leap to William Miller asking [...]

May 01, 2013

+

9:18 PM | How did sperm and egg evolve?

Sex comes at a large cost: a sexual female is only half as fertile as an asexual individual, because the sexual female has to divide her offspring into males and females. So when an asexual organism can produce 50 offspring capable of reproducing, the sexual one can only produce 25, since the males and females [...]

+

3:16 PM | Walking With Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie

Ceratopsia triumphant! The international trailer for Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie is here, giving us our first good look of what to expect. Pachyrhinosaurus takes center stage here, and among the supporting cast are mighty Edmontosaurs, feathered Troodons, and a few big nasty theropods. No Wittonesque shaggy coats or bristly bits on the Pachyrhinosaurs, but it's going to look mighty pretty. Guess I'll have to get over my aversion to 3D. I'm feeling pretty stoked. This is exactly the […]

+

2:34 PM | Reflections on the A to Z Blogging Challenge

In April, that just ended yesterday, I participated in the A to Z blogging challenge in which for 26 of the 30 days of April I prepared a blog post on a topic beginning with a different letter of the … Continue reading →

+

11:00 AM | Deppo-Deppo-Doo and Other Clever Songs

National Blog Posting Month – May 2013 – Comfort Prompt – Did you have a favourite stuffed animal or lovey as a child? Tell us about it. —— Did I have a favorite stuffed animal? Clearly a rhetorica question. He-he. … Continue reading →

+

9:00 AM | Episode 16: Multicellularity in cyanobacteria

One of the most significant events in Earth’s history has been the oxygenation of its atmosphere 2.45–2.32 billion years ago. This accumulation of molecular oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere was so significant that it is now commonly known as the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). The long-reaching effects of the GOE were literally world-changing; the compositions of the atmosphere and hydrosphere were altered,

+

8:08 AM | What specimen is this?

A quiz. What is this? Here it is in close-up: (Click through the pictures for full resolution.) Anyone know?

+

3:28 AM | Whenever I visit the Co-Op Bookshop...

Image courtesy of [...]

April 30, 2013

+

3:17 PM | Fluctuating selection, canalisation, and evolvability: Why macroevolution is not “microevolution writ large”

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people say that macroevolution is just “microevolution writ large”; this is a common saying especially among the creationist-debunkers to counter the claim that microevolution happens but macroevolution doesn’t. It infuriates me to no end, particularly because one of my biggest research goals is to identify the factors [...]

+

1:59 PM | A Beautiful Day at Fern Valley

A large crowd of community members congregated on Saturday to show their appreciation for the donation of Fern Valley to The College of Wooster as its new field station. Betty and David (retired French Professor) Wilkin donated the tract of land located in northern Holmes County that includes a gorge and a stream (Wilkin Run [...]

+

11:00 AM | “Z” is for Zanycteris

“Z” is for Zanycteris This is it! The last Paleocene mammal of the month. One that starts with the letter “Z.” Zanycteris is a member of the Family Picrodontidae, which is in turn a member of the group of mammals … Continue reading →

+

10:30 AM | Kingena wacoensis Brachiopod

Here are some pictures of some Kingena (Waconella) wacoensis brachiopod fossils. These fossils were found in the Main Street Limestone of Denton County, Texas. They are dated to the Cretaceous Period.

April 29, 2013

+

9:31 PM | Predatory publishers: a real problem

Predatory publishers are an increasingly prevalent problem. Jeffrey Beall’s list is getting a lot of coverage recently, including stories in Nature and in the New York Times. But the most recent and troubling predatory-publisher story I’ve read is about a lawsuit. No, not the Edwin Mellen Press libel suit. Three publishers are suing Delhi University for [...]

+

9:13 PM | Rise of the Evolutionary Theory

This guest post is written by Jessica Reynolds, who loves all aspects of science, especially anthropology and archaeology. After obtaining a degree in anthropology she decided to give up her trowel in favor of pursing writing. She currently writes about various scientific topics, including resources for students who need a scientific poster or other resources for [...]

+

6:30 PM | Out With the Old Stegosaurus

Dinosaurs have changed quite a bit since I was a kid. Tails have been lifted, spines adjusted, skulls …

+

11:00 AM | “Y” is for Yuesthonyx

“Y” is for Yuesthonyx Coming up with a Paleocene mammal that started with “Y” was another challenge. A big thanks to Dan Spivak (@danman222 on Twitter) for pointing this one out to me. When Yuesthonyx was named, a new family … Continue reading →

+

10:30 AM | Spirifer Brachiopod Fossil

Brachiopod fossil this might be a Spirifer sp. found in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, USA. This brachiopod looks a lot like those found in southern Indiana in the Jeffersonville Limestone called Orthospirifer sp. The Indiana fossil tends to be more gray though.The Spirifer sp. exist in the Milwaukee Formation with is dated to the Middle Devonian Period.Thanks to Nathan for the fossil.

April 28, 2013

+

11:04 PM | Papers of the Week: 22.04 – 29.04.2013

Papers from the past week. [OA] are open access. Feel free to request a detailed discussion on any of these. General Interest, Important: Special Issue: Vivisection Vivisection, the practice of dissecting living organisms for scientific study, is nowadays mostly frowned upon for bioethical reasons. We can study anatomy when the animal is dead, and there [...]

+

9:30 AM | Spanish Nummulite Fossils

These fossils are Nummulites sp. which are a type of foraminifera. They were found in Spain and existed in the Eocene epoch of the Paleogene Period. Some of these fossils are the size of an American silver dollar.

+

5:59 AM | Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Tubular drillholes (Upper Ordovician of the Cincinnati Region)

This is one of the simplest fossils ever: a cylindrical hole drilled into a hard substrate like a skeleton or rock. The above image is of a hardground (cemented carbonate seafloor) from the Upper Ordovician of northern Kentucky with these borings cut perpendicularly to the bedding and descending downwards. Each boring is filled with light-colored [...]

April 27, 2013

+

10:46 PM | Sed/Strat goes local with its field trip: the Meadville Shale and the Logan Formation (Lower Carboniferous)

WOOSTER, OHIO–The traditional spring field trip in the Sedimentology & Stratigraphy course at Wooster is taken several hours south, usually in Jackson County or, as last year, in a soggy quarry outside of Dayton. This time, though, we stayed nearby, measuring and describing the local bedrock: the Meadville Shale Member and the Logan Formation, both [...]

+

5:49 PM | Spider Vision

This is a requested post on the basics of spider eyes; for more on spiders, check out my spider lecture. Spiders only have ocelli, simple eyes consisting of a lens covering a vitreous fluid-filled pit with a retina (pigment cells + visual cells) at the bottom. The ocelli come in two types: the main eyes [...]