Category: extinction
New studies of great Permian extinction highlight mysteries
| October 28, 2011 | Posted by News under extinction, News |
Lone survivors ended up important later. more
We need a new name for living fossils like this
| September 13, 2011 | Posted by News under extinction, News, stasis |
If it’s living, it’s not a fossil, or anyway, we don’t know it as one. We know it as a living organism. How about “durable species”? more
Why the Tasmanian tiger went extinct – new insights
| September 1, 2011 | Posted by News under extinction |
It’s one of those situations where everything we knew about the tiger’s (thylacine wolf’s) extinction is true, but some new information rounds out the picture. From “Tasmanian Tiger’s Jaw Was Too Small to Attack Sheep, Study Shows” (ScienceDaily, Aug. 31, 2011), we learn: Australia’s iconic thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, was hunted to death in the… more
Extinction: Limited genetic diversity may not doom Iberian lynx after all
| August 22, 2011 | Posted by News under extinction, News |
The lynx was never very genetically diverse. It is hoped this find will spur wild conservation efforts. more
A design perspective on saving endangered species
| August 18, 2011 | Posted by O'Leary under extinction, Intelligent Design |
We’ll have much better luck warding off extinctions if we start treating people as if they were unique (a design perspective). The local people are not just obstructions to whatever we happen to want. They are the only ones who can really do anything about local extinctions. more
Extinction: Beware “endangered species” listing scams
| August 15, 2011 | Posted by News under extinction, Intelligent Design, News |
What if it is actually difficult to extinguish species that are well adapted to their environment? It’s hard to research that in a climate of fear. more
Geologist-artist’s 1998 work presages later changes in view of dinosaurs
| August 10, 2011 | Posted by News under Evolution, extinction |
In “Alternative Evolution” of Dinosaurs Foresaw Contemporary Paleo Finds” (Scientific American August 10, 2011), Brian Switek surveys the great changes that have taken place in how dinosaurs are viewed, many of which may have been foreseen by Dougal Dixon, who thought he was writing a fantasy about how dinosaurs would have evolved, had they survived.… more
Unlike the furtive ants, stick insects really have, allegedly, gone a million years without sex
| July 20, 2011 | Posted by News under Evolution, extinction |
In “Stick insects survive one million years without sex” (BBC Nature, 19 July 2011), Ella Davies reports. Timema genevievae is a female-only species of stick insect “All the evidence points to Timema tahoe and Timema genevievae having persisted for over one million years without sex,” Dr Schwander told BBC Nature. “Our research adds to the growing… more
Antz, what do you mean, she told you she was asexual … and you BELIEVED her?
| July 20, 2011 | Posted by News under Evolution, extinction |
Parents strongly cautioned: ant sex discussed At The Scientist (July 18, 2011), Tia Ghose explains, “Asexual Ants Have Sex”, which will take some explaining, but here goes: Some populations of ants long thought to be asexual get a dose of genetic diversity by having sex. On paper, asexuality seems like a winning strategy. Sexless creatures… more
Is “living fossils” an apt term?
| July 2, 2011 | Posted by News under extinction |
Recently, Brandon Keim, presenting “11 Animal Wonders of Evolution” (June 28, 2011) at Wired says no, After all, their lineages haven’t survived ice ages and warm spells and every natural upheaval just to be visualized in amber by some upstart hairless ape. A better term is “evolutionarily distinct.” They’re simply, impressively unique. One could say… more
How little we know about the only planet known to be teeming with life …
| June 28, 2011 | Posted by News under extinction, Intelligent Design |
In “A Home Before the End of the World” (Design Observer Group, 06.09.11), Adelheid Fischer reminds us, To date, only about two million species of plants and animals have been identified and described. An estimated 10 million species still await discovery, description and naming. But this taxonomic handshake is just the beginning and tells us… more
“Lazarus species”? Animals we thought were extinct
| June 23, 2011 | Posted by News under extinction |
Recently, New Scientist defended cryptobiologists, people who search for creatures presumed to never exist or no longer exist: more
Snail presumed extinct turns up again
| June 5, 2011 | Posted by News under extinction |
This ScienceDaily piece, (June 3, 2011) “Mass Extinction Victim Survives: Snail Long Thought Extinct Isn’t” looks at a recent local extinction of snail species (limpets) of which, it turns out, there was a survivor: … a major mass extinction took place in North America in the first half of the 20th century, when 47 species… more
Three foot killer shrimp of the Cambrian surprise scientists
| May 28, 2011 | Posted by News under Evolution, extinction, stasis |
At MSNBC (5/25/20), Charles Q. Choi tells us “Bizarre shrimp-like predators grew larger and survived longer than thought”: The creatures, known as anomalocaridids, were giant predators (ranging from 2 to possibly 6 feet in length) with soft-jointed bodies and toothy maws with spiny limbs in front to snag worms and other prey. [ ... ]… more
Extinction: Another reason why biologists should study math
| May 19, 2011 | Posted by News under extinction |
In “Calculations may have overestimated extinction rates” (New Scientist, 18 May 2011), Debora MacKenzie advises that a mathematical error undetected for decades may affect estimates of extinction rates (the “sixth great extinction,” said to be due to human dominance): more
Sixth great extinction? Or scaring the folks?
| March 7, 2011 | Posted by O'Leary under extinction, Science |
At ScienceDaily (Mar. 5, 2011), we are invited to contemplate, “Has Earth’s Sixth Mass Extinction Already Arrived?”, With the steep decline in populations of many animal species, from frogs and fish to tigers, some scientists have warned that Earth is on the brink of a mass extinction like those that occurred only five times before… more
Dinosaurs from birds?
| February 13, 2010 | Posted by DLH under Biology, Cambrian explosion, Darwinism, Evolutionary biology, extinction, Natural selection |
How well neoDarwinian evolution is established and the universal “consensus” over it is demonstrated by: Bird-from-Dinosaur Theory of Evolution Challenged: Was It the Other Way Around? ScienceDaily (Feb. 10, 2010) — A new study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides yet more evidence that birds did not descend from… more
Uncommon Descent Contest Question 11: Can biotechnology bring back extinct animals?
| October 3, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under extinction, Uncommon Descent Contest |
Personally, I am a bit skeptical that an extinct creature can be resurrected from DNA alone, but … wait! What I thought was passing traffic turned out to be a herd of tyrannosaurs heading off to eat the McDonalds. more