Animal Planet

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 4:59 pm

Happened to catch some show on Animal Planet this morning - seems that in Thailand there's a new fast food chain, Insects Inter. Menu includes grasshoppers, scorpions, millipedes, well, you get the idea.

Also the usual condiments, like hot sauce and ketchup.

Henry

lswot · Post by **lswot** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:46 am

There could never be enough catsup!

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 10:19 am

Molecular Biology Fills Gaps In Knowledge Of Bat Evolution

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- One in five mammals living on Earth is a bat, yet their evolutionary history is largely unknown because of a limited fossil record and conflicting or incomplete theories about their origins and divergence.

(A flying mouse! Joker and Riddler beware!)
(Well, okay, I know bats aren't really related to mouses beyond both being placental mammals, and besides which bats are closer to primates than they are to rodents, but I had to say that anyways.

)

Henry

lswot · Post by **lswot** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 12:05 pm

Of course you did.

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 12:07 pm

Well, yeah!

lswot · Post by **lswot** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 12:08 pm

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 10:48 am

Genome Sequencing: Using Models To Predict Who's Next

It's hard to believe it was just ten years ago that scientists reported the first complete genome sequence of an organism, the bacterial pathogen Haemophilus influenzae. The list has grown considerably since then: add over 160 bacterial species (and counting), most major model organisms, and an ever-growing list of mammals—including, of course, humans. With 99% of our genome now fully sequenced, the Human Genome Project's next major goal is to identify all the functional elements contained in our 2.85 billion nucleotides. Such an effort is hardly trivial: producing the sequence of a mammalian-size genome can run from $10 to $50 million, the estimated price tag of the Cow Genome Project.

Dispersal Or Drift? More To Plant Biodiversity Than Meets The Eye

Over 250 million years ago (mya), all the continents of Earth formed a single land mass called Pangaea. Some 50 million years later, this supercontinent began to split in two, forming Laurasia—now North America, Asia, and Europe—and Gondwana—present-day Antarctica, Australia, South America, Africa, and India. After another 50 million years, Gondwana, too, broke up. At the end of the Cretaceous period, New Zealand split off (about 80 mya), then South America and Australia separated from Antarctica (about 35 mya).

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 9:31 am

Scientists Propose Sweeping Changes To Naming Of Bird Neurosystems

Duke University neurobiologist Erich Jarvis and a team of 28 other neuroscientists have proposed sweeping changes to the terminology associated with the brain structures of birds--a century-old nomenclature the researchers consider outdated and irrelevant to birds' true brainpower.

(This could give a whole new meaning to the term 'birdbrain'!)

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 9:06 am

UC Berkeley, French Scientists Find Missing Link Between The Whale And Its Closest Relative, The Hippo

A group of four-footed mammals that flourished worldwide for 40 million years and then died out in the ice ages is the missing link between the whale and its not-so-obvious nearest relative, the hippopotamus.

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Fleshing Out The Genome

Genomics, the study of all the genetic sequences in living organisms, has leaned heavily on the blueprint metaphor. A large part of the blueprint, unfortunately, has been unintelligible, [...]

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Henry

Xjmt · Post by **Xjmt** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 11:52 am

So, are we the only ones to watch the Amimal Planet's PUPPY BOWL as a lead in to the SUPERBOWL?

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 1:19 pm

Wisconsin Scientists Find Portal To Show Animals Evolve

Like the gaudy peacock or majestic buck, the bachelor fruit fly is in a race against time to mate and pass along its genes. And just as flashy plumage or imposing antlers work to an animal's reproductive advantage, so, too, do the colored spots that decorate the wings of a particular male fruit fly.

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 9:14 am

New Study Affirms Reliability Of Fossil Record

The fossil record may not be perfect, but it passed a critical test with flying colors, [...]

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Probing Question: What Is Junk DNA, And What Is It Worth?

While the vast majority of the world's genetic researchers focus on the five to ten percent of the human genome that is actually a blueprint for a useful molecule, Wojciech Makalowski is studying the "junk."

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'Birdbrain' No Longer Means 'Stupid,' Asserts Scientific Consortium

[...] portray birds as more comparable to mammals in their cognitive ability.

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Discovery Of Gliding Ants Shows Wingless Flight Has Arisen Throughout The Animal Kingdom

An amazing variety of arboreal animals have learned to glide through the forest, from flying squirrels to flying lizards and frogs, and even — frightening as it sounds — snakes.

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Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 9:48 am

Scientists Document Complex Genomic Events Leading To The Birth Of New Genes

A team of scientists led by Peer Bork, Ph.D., Senior Bioinformatics Scientist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, report today in the journal Genome Research that they have identified a new primate-specific gene family that spans about 10% of human chromosome 2. Comprised of eight family members, the RGP gene cluster may help to explain what sets apart humans and other primates from the rest of the animal kingdom.

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Cricket's Finicky Mating Behavior Boosts Biodiversity

Biologists at Lehigh University and the University of Maryland have identified a cricket living in Hawaii's forests as the world's fastest-evolving invertebrate.

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Henry

Xjmt · Post by **Xjmt** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 7:03 am

They've also discovered that chimps will pay (they use cherry juice which they are said to prize) to view photos of other chimps of the opposite sex on computer screens.

It seems we haven't evolved as far as we first thought.

Henry J · Post by **Henry J** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 9:48 am

Bird IQ Test Takes Flight

How smart is your parakeet or that crow in the back yard?

(Gives a new whole new meaning to 'bird brain', huh?)

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Biggest Spider In The World - NOT!

The biggest spider ever to have walked the earth has been exposed as a 'fraud' by a University of Manchester scientist, who claims the creature is more crab than creepy crawly.

(Oops.)

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Why Do Insects Stop 'Breathing'?

To Avoid Damage From Too Much Oxygen, Say Researchers, Challenging Previous Theories

(It's a question that must've been 'bugging' them, huh?)

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Prehistoric Jawbone Reveals Evolution Repeating Itself

A 115-million-year-old fossil of a tiny egg-laying mammal thought to be related to the platypus provides compelling evidence of multiple origins of acute hearing in humans and other mammals.

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Henry