gregladen | April 27, 2008Pterodroma magentae is the Magenta Petral (also known as the Chatham Island Taiko). There are between 8 and 15 breeding pairs in the New Zealand home range of this species. Indeed, this bird was thought extinct for quite some time before it was rediscovered in 1978.
A recent study indicates something funny is going on with sex ratio and mating strategies in this bird, which may, although I'm not quite sure how, lead to improved conservation efforts. From a BirdLife press release:
A study into one of the world's rarest seabirds provides knowledge that could help avoid extinction.…
gregladen | April 27, 2008Some of my colleagues are downplaying the recent paper in science showing a: that mastodons are elephants and b: that birds and dinosaurs ... in particular Tyrannosaurus rex and turkeys ... are related. (See here and here, for instance)
Yes, it is true that these phylogenetic findings are wholly uninteresting, being exactly what we expected. But that is WHY these particular phylogenies were carried out.
You see, the research is being done with organic material that is very very old, and is amazingly, remarkably, unexpectedly and astoundingly preserved. The point of using this material to…
gregladen | April 27, 2008Inequality in mortality is the most poignant reminder of persistent, often multi-generational differences in socioeconomic status (SES). Poor people are more likely to get sick and die than rich people. As a society develops over time, one would hope that this disparity would be reduced, but in fact, it often increases. Recent research published in PLoS Medicine heralds this bad news.
This study is fairly unique in that it examines life expectancy across counties, which are the smallest demographic unit for which the appropriate kind of data are collected. The study examines death rates…
gregladen | April 26, 2008One of the most important evolutionary transitions in human prehistory was the rise of modern humans (Homo sapiens) from earlier hominids. A newly reported fossil from Tanzania provides an important new data point necessary to understand this transition.
Homo erectus/ergaster probably gave rise to Homo sapiens (modern humans) somewhere in Africa. It is very likely that earlier hominids (H. erectus/ergaster) and later hominids (some sort of archaic H. sapiens) co-existed, and it is also the case that during this transitional period there would be individuals with either a mixture of traits…
gregladen | April 26, 2008The Chernobyl Meltdown happened on this day in 1986.
On 26 April 1986 at 01:23:40 a.m. (UTC+3) reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant located in the Soviet Union near Pripyat in Ukraine exploded. Further explosions and the resulting fire sent a plume of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area. Nearly thirty to forty times more fallout was released than Hiroshima. The plume drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Northern Europe, and eastern North America. Large areas in Ukraine, Belarus…
gregladen | April 25, 2008Did you ever notice how when there is one earthquake in the news, more follow right away, often leading to the impression that earthquakes come in clusters? Well, maybe they do come in clusters, but if they do, it is not the cluster you are observing on the news. That is entirely an effect of copycat journalism.
The recent earthquake in Illinois was, unfortunately for the journalistic appetite, not followed by any other really interesting earthquakes. So instead, we have two news items about earthquakes that have not happened ... yet ...
Earthquake in Illinois could portend an emerging…
gregladen | April 25, 2008
"Teaching Creationism in Schools," the second in a series of videos produced by NCSE, debuted at expelledexposed.com on April 23, 2008. The brief video presents three incidents in which NCSE helped concerned citizens to resist assaults on the integrity of evolution education. In the video, NCSE's Eugenie C. Scott explains: "If we're going to have good science education, now and in the future, we have to support people like Erec [Hillis], people like the citizens of Dover, and people like the citizens in Kansas, and we have to put out those brushfires. And NCSE is going to be there until…
gregladen | April 25, 2008A new poll asks "Do you think the thoery of Intelligent Design should be taught in our education system? Respondents to this on line poll were given the options: Yes, No, Not Sure, and What is it?
The results show that nearly 90 percent of respondents oppose teaching ID in schools.
Almost no one was unsure, and just under six percent claim to not know what ID is.
The poll was conducted by Expelled The Movement, a MySpace group.
[source]
gregladen | April 25, 2008
The world's rarest great ape has found a safe haven in the mountains of the west central African nation of Cameroon. With guidance from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Cameroon's prime minister, Ephraim Inoni, has created the world's first sanctuary exclusively for the Cross River gorilla.
Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary spans only 19.5 square kilometers but contains an important segment of the Cross River gorilla population. The species' range consists of 11 scattered sites in Cameroon and Nigeria. Of the estimated 300 or fewer Cross River gorillas that remain, approximately 20 live in…
gregladen | April 25, 2008The Bell Museum, in Minneapolis, has some fun stuff planned.
The Bell Museum's Seeing Climate Change Film & Video Festival is taking
place this weekend.
Don't miss a special breakfast edition of Cafe Scientifique this Sunday
at the Red Stag Supper Club. You can make reservations by calling
612.767.7766. More information is below.
TONIGHT AT THE BELL MUSEUM:
An Evening with National Geographic explorer Jon Bowermaster - 8 P.M.
The Bell Museum and The Will Steger Foundation welcome renowned
explorer and National Geographic correspondent Jon Bowermaster to the
Seeing Climate Change Film…
gregladen | April 25, 2008Pharyngula exhorts us to crash a poll on Intelligent Design. It is here. down on the lower left side. About eight hours ago, when PZ discovered the poll, the pro-intelligent design vote was overwhelming. Now, for some reason, the anti-intelligent design vote is overwhelming. So your vote is not needed, but you can still feel like part of the process.
Go. There. Now. But come back, I'll miss you.
gregladen | April 25, 2008Life is complex. The way a living system works can be described in a series of increasingly refined models, each fleshing out details of the previous model. Typically, description at one level raises questions about what is happening at the finer level. These questions induce hypotheses which drive experimental work which produces ever more detailed knowledge.
A paper about memory, just published, is an example of one incremental step in this process. In short, this research works out some of the fine detail at the molecular level for the process of forming visual memories.
In mammals…
gregladen | April 25, 2008
Washed-up sea snake rescued in New Zealand from PhysOrg.com
A highly venomous yellow-bellied sea snake that washed up on a New Zealand beach was recovering Thursday at an aquarium.
[...]
Researchers recommend ways to fight lake trout invasion in Glacier National Park from PhysOrg.com
Natural barriers like waterfalls play an important role in preventing lake trout from spreading through Glacier National Park, so maintaining those barriers should be a priority, Montana State University researchers said after conducting a four-year study in the park.
[...]
Ozone hole recovery may reshape…
gregladen | April 24, 2008Skeptic's Circle #85: Looking under rocks
The Carnival of the Fraudless: Spoofing & Exposing the Cult of Scientology
Carnival of Space Week 51
Carnival of the Liberals #63
gregladen | April 24, 2008You can pay someone to throw a pie in PZ Myers' face. And you won't get in trouble. Well, I think if I did it, I might get in trouble. But you can do it.
Sign up HERE.
gregladen | April 24, 20085 Mos. In Prison For Terrorizing Gay Neighbors
A British court has sentenced a woman to 150 days behind bars and her daughter to 24-months of supervised probation for a terror campaign against the gay couple who lived next door.
The court was told that the pair began harassing Michael Harris and Shires Crichton, of Kingston, Kent, after the couple sided with another neighbor in a dispute.
From March until May 2007 Karen Reeves, 44, and Christie Myles, 22, yelled homophobic remarks at the couple and on one occasion Reeves drove her car at one of the men.
"Although there was no evidence of…