Would that include prehistoric trash and prehistoric peanut butter?
Prehistoric Bears Ate Everything And Anything, Just Like Modern Cousins
ScienceDaily (Apr. 13, 2009) — By comparing the craniodental morphology of modern bear species to that of two extinct species, researchers from the University of Málaga have discovered that the expired plantigrades were not so different from their current counterparts. The cave bear, regarded as the great herbivore of the carnivores, was actually more omnivorous than first thought.
The short-faced bear, a hypercarnivore, also ate plants depending on their availability. The work offers key insights into the evolution of the carnivore niches during the Ice Age.
The team of palaeontologists have reconstructed the trophic ecology, or eating habits, of two extinct bear species that lived during the Pleistocene (between 2.59 million and 12,000 years ago): the short-faced bear (Arctodus simus) of North America and the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) of Europe. The morphometric analysis carried out on the eight bear species in existence today has confirmed that prehistoric bears were not fussy eaters.
'Knowing what the extinct bears ate is of utmost relevance to finding out about the evolution of carnivore niches in the Pleistocene when climatic conditions were changing', explains Borja Figueirido, lead author of the study and researcher for the Ecology and Geology Department of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Málaga. Scientists have discovered that, even at that time, bears were 'great opportunists' thanks to their morphological and ecological flexibility.
Trophic ecology and morphological flexibility. Yeah Dude, break me off some of that.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Making Science More Better For You on 04/09/09
Headline of the day
Grandmother dies trying to stop sword fight (MSNBC)
Sadly, when you name one kid Darth and one kid Luke, this is what you get.
Grandmother dies trying to stop sword fight (MSNBC)
Sadly, when you name one kid Darth and one kid Luke, this is what you get.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Making Science More Better For You on 04/03/09
Dave, do these fiber optics make me look fat? What are you doing Dave?
Robot achieves scientific first
By Clive Cookson, Science Editor
Published: April 2 2009 19:17 | Last updated: April 2 2009 19:17
A laboratory robot called Adam has been hailed as the first machine in history to have discovered new scientific knowledge independently of its human creators.
Adam formed a hypothesis on the genetics of bakers’ yeast and carried out experiments to test its predictions, without intervention from its makers at Aberystwyth University.
Professor Ross King, the chief creator of Adam, said robots would not supplant human researchers but make their work more productive and interesting.
“Ultimately we hope to have teams of human and robot scientists working together in laboratories,” he said.
Adam is the result of a five-year collaboration between computer scientists and biologists at Aberystwyth and Cambridge universities.
The researchers endowed Adam with a huge database of yeast biology, automated hardware to carry out experiments, supplies of yeast cells and lab chemicals, and powerful artificial intelligence software.
Interesting. A robot achieves limited consciousness and the first thing it does is try to figure out how to make beer.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Making Science More Better For You on 03/27/09
Headlines of the day
What Separates Humans From Mice? Bigger, Faster Astrocytes In Brain. (Science Daily)
Gosh, we would have sworn it was the fact that Mickey only has three fingers.
ShamWow Guy Beats Up Cannibal Hooker (Gawker)
We all knew the whole "martini, bikini" bit would somehow go terribly wrong.
What Separates Humans From Mice? Bigger, Faster Astrocytes In Brain. (Science Daily)
Gosh, we would have sworn it was the fact that Mickey only has three fingers.
ShamWow Guy Beats Up Cannibal Hooker (Gawker)
We all knew the whole "martini, bikini" bit would somehow go terribly wrong.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Making Science More Better For You on 03/24/09
Headline of the day
Suicidal behavior may run in families (CNN)
Rather quickly, we assume.
Suicidal behavior may run in families (CNN)
Rather quickly, we assume.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Making Science More Better For You on 03/17/09
Another argument for keeping the drinking age just where it is
Young Dinosaurs Roamed Together, Died Together
ScienceDaily (Mar. 16, 2009) — A herd of young birdlike dinosaurs met their death on the muddy margins of a lake some 90 million years ago, according to a team of Chinese and American paleontologists that excavated the site in the Gobi Desert in western Inner The sudden death of the herd in a mud trap provides a rare snapshot of social behavior. Composed entirely of juveniles of a single species of ornithomimid dinosaur (Sinornithomimus dongi), the herd suggests that immature individuals were left to fend for themselves when adults were preoccupied with nesting or brooding.
"There were no adults or hatchlings," said Paul Sereno, professor at the University of Chicago and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence. "These youngsters were roaming around on their own," remarked Tan Lin, from the Department of Land and Resources of Inner Mongolia.
They were probably headed back from the party over at the raptors.
So my parents send a balloon into the upper stratosphere and all I get are these lousy bacteria
Scientists find new bacteria species
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Indian scientists have discovered three new species of bacteria in Earth's upper stratosphere that are resistant to ultraviolet radiation, researchers said.
The bacteria do not match any species found on Earth. They were found in samples that scientists collected when they sent a balloon into the stratosphere, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said in a statement Monday.
That layer of the Earth receives heavy doses of ultraviolet radiation, enough to kill most organisms.
In their analyses of the retrieved samples, microbiologists detected 12 bacterial and six fungal colonies.
Of them, three bacterial colonies were new species, the ISRO said.
Indian scientists named one of them Janibacter hoylei, after astrophysicist Fred Hoyle.
"While the present study does not conclusively establish the extraterrestrial origin of microorganisms, it does provide positive encouragement to continue the work in our quest to explore the origin of life," the ISRO said.
Let's get this right. These are bacteria that don't match anything found here on earth and weren't killed by heavy doses of ultraviolet radiation and these guys are happy that they brought them back. They think this is a good idea. Really. These sound like the same people that liked Cloverfield.
Young Dinosaurs Roamed Together, Died Together
ScienceDaily (Mar. 16, 2009) — A herd of young birdlike dinosaurs met their death on the muddy margins of a lake some 90 million years ago, according to a team of Chinese and American paleontologists that excavated the site in the Gobi Desert in western Inner The sudden death of the herd in a mud trap provides a rare snapshot of social behavior. Composed entirely of juveniles of a single species of ornithomimid dinosaur (Sinornithomimus dongi), the herd suggests that immature individuals were left to fend for themselves when adults were preoccupied with nesting or brooding.
"There were no adults or hatchlings," said Paul Sereno, professor at the University of Chicago and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence. "These youngsters were roaming around on their own," remarked Tan Lin, from the Department of Land and Resources of Inner Mongolia.
They were probably headed back from the party over at the raptors.
So my parents send a balloon into the upper stratosphere and all I get are these lousy bacteria
Scientists find new bacteria species
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Indian scientists have discovered three new species of bacteria in Earth's upper stratosphere that are resistant to ultraviolet radiation, researchers said.
The bacteria do not match any species found on Earth. They were found in samples that scientists collected when they sent a balloon into the stratosphere, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said in a statement Monday.
That layer of the Earth receives heavy doses of ultraviolet radiation, enough to kill most organisms.
In their analyses of the retrieved samples, microbiologists detected 12 bacterial and six fungal colonies.
Of them, three bacterial colonies were new species, the ISRO said.
Indian scientists named one of them Janibacter hoylei, after astrophysicist Fred Hoyle.
"While the present study does not conclusively establish the extraterrestrial origin of microorganisms, it does provide positive encouragement to continue the work in our quest to explore the origin of life," the ISRO said.
Let's get this right. These are bacteria that don't match anything found here on earth and weren't killed by heavy doses of ultraviolet radiation and these guys are happy that they brought them back. They think this is a good idea. Really. These sound like the same people that liked Cloverfield.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Making Science More Better For You on 03/04/09
Headline of the day
Male fish increasingly looking like ladies — but why? (MSNBC)
That's easy. Free drinks at happy hour.
Man: I'm not the first guy to put a cat into a big bong! (The Obscure Store/Romenesko)
Right, Da Vinci, Copernicus and U. S. Grant are all said to have had their cat in the bong period. Dr. Seuss too. In fact, you could come up with a kind of big bong theory......
Male fish increasingly looking like ladies — but why? (MSNBC)
That's easy. Free drinks at happy hour.
Man: I'm not the first guy to put a cat into a big bong! (The Obscure Store/Romenesko)
Right, Da Vinci, Copernicus and U. S. Grant are all said to have had their cat in the bong period. Dr. Seuss too. In fact, you could come up with a kind of big bong theory......
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