Althouse: Evolution takes on a pop-culture vibe.

५ ऑक्टोबर, २०१०

Evolution takes on a pop-culture vibe.

Check out this new crab, inspired by "Sesame Street":

१९ टिप्पण्या:

traditionalguy म्हणाले...: Nice crab. But it looks more like a close up of a bed bug. Please tell me that Christine O'Donnell is not connected to this story in some way.; ५/१०/१०, ८:२५ AM
Tyrone Slothrop म्हणाले...: Can they be trained to clean Venetian blinds?; ५/१०/१०, ८:२७ AM
Fred4Pres म्हणाले...: Is it a Mummer crab?; ५/१०/१०, ८:३० AM
Fred4Pres म्हणाले...: Bringing up Christine O'Donnell's dad = Coulrophobia.; ५/१०/१०, ८:३१ AM
MadisonMan म्हणाले...: Probably tastes like chicken.; ५/१०/१०, ८:३३ AM
Irene म्हणाले...: Lady Gaga takes a nap.; ५/१०/१०, ८:४५ AM
sonicfrog म्हणाले...: While she was dabbling in her witchcraft, O'Donnell cast a spell that created these... these... "crabtrocities"!!!!; ५/१०/१०, ८:४७ AM
Big Mike म्हणाले...: "Crabtrocities" my butt! It's beautiful.; ५/१०/१०, ९:२२ AM
Nonapod म्हणाले...: That's a Yeti crab. They're one of the weird critters found around hydrothermal vents in the Pacific.; ५/१०/१०, ९:२२ AM
Calypso Facto म्हणाले...: Ah, the rare Liberace crab.; ५/१०/१०, ९:३० AM
Wince म्हणाले...: I meant to post this comment a week or two ago, after I took some grief for my comment on Christine O’Donnell’s 1998 Politically Incorrect appearance where she asked “why aren’t apes still evolving?”

EDH Said… Actually, I think O'Donnell posits an interesting scientific question. In the last few million years, since humans have branched off from other primates, why haven't those other primates developed more intelligence?

Well, as luck would have it, after posting that comment, later that day I was flipping cable channels and stumbled across a broadcast of PBS’s Evolution series on Nova.

Turns out, evolutionary scientists have deemed that exact scientific question worthy of study, and have recently arrived at a theory quite serendipitously –- more than a decade after O’Donnell’s 1998 Politically Incorrect appearance.

Evolution: Jaw Muscle and Brain Cavity Size (5min video totally on topic and well worth the time).

It seems we may owe our great intelligence to weak jaw muscles. By shrinking the anchors needed to support strong jaw muscles, our brain cavities may have been freed to grow into its modern shape.

Dr. Hansell Stedman at the University of Pennsylvania has discovered by chance the differences in the jaw muscle cells between great apes and humans, and combined this information with fossil shapes and dating to isolate a divergence point, where a single mutation may have led us down the road of increasing intelligence.

It’s evolution, baby.; ५/१०/१०, ९:४२ AM
lemondog म्हणाले...: Hairy bastard would be a good choice as spokescrab for a Schick Hydro razor ad campaign.

Kiwa hirsuta

The "hairy" pincers contain filamentous bacteria, which the creature may use to detoxify poisonous minerals from the water emitted by the hydrothermal vents where it lives.; ५/१०/१०, ९:४६ AM
Unknown म्हणाले...: Looks like something you use in conjunction with a white silk scarf during a night of fun and frolic.; ५/१०/१०, १०:३० AM
Schorsch म्हणाले...: Oh man, I've been waiting for this Sesame Street X Darwin collabo to drop. Those claws are sick.

(If you have any interest in clothing, this is the Newspeak you encounter. Shudder.); ५/१०/१०, ११:०० AM
Bruce म्हणाले...: It's not easy being yellow.; ५/१०/१०, १२:०८ PM
Clyde म्हणाले...: Why am I hearing a Grover voice when I look at that crab?; ५/१०/१०, १:२३ PM
Alex म्हणाले...: They're one of the weird critters found around hydrothermal vents in the Pacific.

Scientists speculate that other planets that have hydrothermal vents could harbor the same sort of life, mostly microbial. F.e., Io is a possibility.; ५/१०/१०, २:२३ PM
AST म्हणाले...: I'd have named it the woolly chaps crab.; ५/१०/१०, २:३९ PM
jimspice म्हणाले...: Evolution! Ha! Everyone knows that this crab and Elmo were created in their current forms 5,500 years ago!; ५/१०/१०, ४:१५ PM