Interesting Science News

Still working on my review of Science and Human Origins (yes, I have been somewhat lazy when it comes to blogging) in the meantime enjoy the following items.

“It Will Rewrite Evolutionary Theory…” and “Prove Darwin Wrong…”

The title of this post are two common remarks one hears when the press covers evolution. Drives me straight up the wall. A study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B looks at these claims from the standpoint of paleontology and paleoanthropology.

The Independent Origins of Blood/Oxygen Transport Mechanisms

This is pretty cool. Science Daily PhysOrg mentions research in PNAS

An extended excerpt from Science Daily PhysOrg:

Brain Size, Body Size, and Longevity

Science Daily mentions an interesting paper on the relationship between brain size, body, and longevity in mammals. From Science
Daily:

Vestigial Organs and Relaxed Selection

On my view of descent with modification, the origin of rudimentary organs is simple. We have plenty of cases of rudimentary organs in our domestic productions,—as the stump of a tail in tailless breeds,—the vestige of an ear in earless breeds,—the reappearance of minute dangling horns in hornless breeds of cattle, more especially, according to Youatt, in young animals,—and the state of the whole flower in the cauliflower. We often see rudiments of various parts in monsters. But I doubt whether any of these cases throw light on the origin of rudimentary organs in a state of nature, further than by showing that rudiments can be produced; for I doubt whether species under nature ever undergo abrupt changes. I believe that disuse has been the main agency; that it has led in successive generations to the gradual reduction of various organs, until they have become rudimentary,—as in the case of the eyes of animals inhabiting dark caverns, and of the wings of birds inhabiting oceanic islands, which have seldom been forced to take flight, and have ultimately lost the power of flying. Again, an organ useful under certain conditions, might become injurious under others, as with the wings of beetles living on small and exposed islands; and in this case natural selection would continue slowly to reduce the organ, until it was rendered harmless and rudimentary.

Any change in function, which can be effected by insensibly small steps, is within the power of natural selection; so that an organ rendered, during changed habits of life, useless or injurious for one purpose, might easily be modified and used for another purpose. Or an organ might be retained for one alone of its former functions. An organ, when rendered useless, may well be variable, for its variations cannot be checked by natural selection. – Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species

There has been some news in the past few weeks concerning vestigial organs. Between the appendix paper and the enamelin gene paper vestigial organs are all the rage.

Evolution of Nuclear Pore Elements

Science Daily mentions an interesting paper on Core Nuclear Pore Elements Likely Shared By All Eukaryotes:

Evolution: Education and Outreach Special Edition on Transitional Fossils

Evolution: Education and Outreach has a special edition on transitional fossils. Check it out!

(Hat tip to The Panda’s Thumb)

Interesting Evolution News

There are a number of interesting pieces of evolutionary research in the news. Some are a little on the old side…

Interesting Evolutionary Research

There are are couple of interesting pieces of research in the news. The first concerns tail shedding in island lizards. PhysOrg has the story:

Megalodon and The Great White Shark: Transitional Fossil Found

But, it doesn’t link Great Whites and Megalodon. Longtime readers may remember this three part series on the subject. An interesting new fossil has been discovered that sheds some more light on the subject.