aerobic capacity

tags: evolutionary biology, molecular biology, Thoroughbred race horses, horses, aerobic capacity, muscle development, myostatin, MSTN, myostatin-suppressing C variant, myostatin-suppressing T variant, Horse Genome Project, Equinome, researchblogging.org, peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper Emerging from the mist is Rachel Alexandra, a champion American Thoroughbred who excels at winning both long and short distance races. Image: Rob Carr, 2009, Associated Press [larger view] If you've worked at or been around a racetrack very much, as I have, you'll quickly realize that everyone…

The question of whether dinosaurs were warm-blooded or cold-blooded is one of the most enduring in palaeontology. Did they generate their own body heat like today's mammals; was their temperature more influenced by their environment like today's reptiles; or did they use a mixture of both strategies? Scientists have put forward a slew of arguments for all of these alternatives, but Herman Pontzer from Washington University has a new take on things which suggests that many dinosaurs were indeed warm-blooded. Based on our knowledge of living animals, Pontzer worked out the energy that 14…