Animal Planet

lswot · Post by **lswot** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 11:50 am

It's smellamentary!

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 11:34 am

New Genome Comparison Finds Chimps, Humans Very Similar at the DNA Level

The first comprehensive comparison of the genetic blueprints of humans and chimpanzees shows that our closest living relatives share perfect identity with 96 percent of our DNA sequence, an international research consortium reported today.

Website · Post by **brian** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 12:06 pm

That explains a lot.

lswot · Post by **lswot** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 12:26 pm

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 2:46 pm

Skull study sheds light on dinosaur diversity

With their long necks and tails, sauropod dinosaurs—famous as the Sinclair gasoline logo and Fred Flintstone's gravel pit tractor—are easy to recognize, in part because they all seem to look alike.

(Yabba Dabba Doo!!)

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 7:14 am

Life's origins were easier than was thought

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona researchers have discovered that RNA early molecules were much more resistant than was thought until now. According to the conclusions of the study, they may have developed enough to contain around 100 genes, which is considered to be the minimum quantity required for the most basic forms of primitive life.

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 10:36 am

It's a bug's life: MIT team tells moving tale

MIT mathematicians have discovered how certain insects can climb what to them are steep, slippery slopes in the water's surface without moving their limbs--and do it at high speed.

Welcome to the world of the tiny creatures that live on the surface of ponds, lakes and other standing bodies of water. There, "all the rules change," said David Hu, a graduate student in the Department of Mathematics and first author of a paper on the work to appear in the Sept. 29 issue of Nature.

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 11:38 am

Latest study: scientists say no evidence exists that therapod dinosaurs evolved into birds

CHAPEL HILL -- No good evidence exists that fossilized structures found in China and which some paleontologists claim are the earliest known rudimentary feathers were really feathers at all, a renowned ornithologist says. Instead, the fossilized patterns appear to be bits of decomposed skin and supporting tissues that just happen to resemble feathers to a modest degree.

Well shucks - I thought they'd settled the question. Birds of a feather and all that. But I guess somebody doesn't think it's settled after all.

Henry

lswot · Post by **lswot** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:28 am

What a bunch of bird brains.

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 7:13 am

Ants, not evil spirits, create devil's gardens in the Amazon rainforest, study finds

For the first time, scientists have identified an ant species that produces its own natural herbicide to poison unwanted plants. [...]
"Devil's gardens are large stands of trees in the Amazonian rainforest that consist almost entirely of a single species, Duroia hirsuta, and, according to local legend, are cultivated by an evil forest spirit," write Frederickson and her colleagues in Nature. "Here we show that the ant, Myrmelachista schumanni, which nests in D. hirsuta stems, creates devil's gardens by poisoning all plants except its hosts with formic acid. By killing other plants, M. schumanni provides its colonies with abundant nest sites—a long-lasting benefit, as colonies can live for 800 years."

(Huh - and here we thought humans invented argiculture!

)

Henry

Xjmt · Post by **Xjmt** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 3:11 pm

Speaking of animals we just received a very nice email from one of the organizations we supported to help save animals in the hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast recently.

It may be both my imagination and personal bias but it seems to me the animal rescue folks had a lot more on the ball than FEMA.

for the animal rescue folks and...

for FEMA.

Yeah, RED CROSS got a bundle from us both as individuals and through other organizations such as employee raised collections specifically aimed at the company's employees effected by the storms.

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 10:22 am

Wright Bros. Upstaged! Dinos Invented Biplanes

The evolution of airplanes from the Wright Brothers’ first biplanes to monoplanes was an inadvertent replay of the much earlier evolution of dinosaur flight, say two dino flight experts.

According to paleontologist Sankar Chatterjee and retired aeronautical engineer R.J. Templin, a small early Chinese dinosaur called Microraptor gui used a two-level, biplane wing configuration to fly from tree to tree in the early Cretaceous.

(De plane! De plane!)

Henry

Xjmt · Post by **Xjmt** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:22 pm

(De plane! De plane!)

Just don't look up.

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:41 am

UCSD Study Shows 'Junk' DNA Has Evolutionary Importance

Genetic material derisively called “junk” DNA because it does not contain the instructions for protein-coding genes and appears to have little or no function is actually critically important to an organism’s evolutionary survival, according to a study conducted by a biologist at UCSD.

(Well it's about time somebody found a use for all that junk!

)

Henry

lswot · Post by **lswot** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:54 am

Maybe they should call in the THRESHOLD folks?