Silent Spring 2 @silentspring2-blog1 - Tumblr Blog

While marine protected areas are key for supporting biodiversity and coastal communities, the outcomes can be, and can be perceived, as a mixed bag. Synthesizing research from 118 articles, this Analysis draws broad insights about both the effects of marine protected areas as well as which aspects remain understudied.

A French court has ordered the return of 45 dinosaur and animal fossils to Brazil, and will soon rule on the fate of a spectacular pterosaur skeleto

Coffinfish hold water over their gills for up to 4 minutes

Gather scientific evidence on the feasibility and risks of marine geoengineering to guide regulation of research, advise Philip Boyd and Chris Vivian.

In the past 250 years, nearly 600 species of plant have vanished from the wild

They also had twice as many genes, and still could not adapt.

virtualfossilmuseum

In there monumental 1953 Nature paper, Watson and Crick did not report the discover of DNA. Rather, they reported the chemical binding among the nucleic acids that render the beautiful double helix. This is the “specific pairings” they refer to in the above quote. When they said “suggests a possible copying mechanism”, it was a premeditated and masterful understatement, which had the effect of amplifying the importance of the work.

Visit the Virtual Fossil Museum to learn more about evolutionary mechanisms and the history of life on earth.

scidotnews

New Dinosaur Species Uncovered in Mongolia

http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/new-dinosaur-species-mongolia-gobihadros-mongoliensis-07105.html

scidotnews

Study: Last Common Ancestor of Neanderthals and Modern Humans Lived 800,000 Years Ago

http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/anthropology/last-common-ancestor-neanderthals-modern-humans-07193.html

To purchase the physical book, follow this link. #paleostream is a series of live streams dedicated to producing sketches of prehistoric life based on scientific evidence and community feedback. The 129 sketches in this book depict novel behaviors of prehistoric animals, settings, or color schemes. The subjects range from tiny arthropods to hungry theropods to giant extinct rhinos. The downloadable 50MB ZIP file contains the ebook both in PDF and EPUB formats.

252mya

Gogia

Artwork by Franz Anthony / @franzanth

This upside-down bowling pin was a distant relative of the sea lilies. It lived partially buried under the sediment around 500 million years ago, with the pin part acting as an anchor.

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252MYA creates custom-made artwork for private collections and editorial, scientific, or educational projects.

Proposed cuts included a rejection of the value of peer-reviewed evidence. Plus: the first coronal mass ejection from another star and what it’s like to discover a fossil T. Rex.

Crazy making for the intellectually challenged base.

Discover the world’s best science and medicine | Nature.com

virtualfossilmuseum

The Muscinae, from Kunstformen der Natur (1904) Plate 72, by 19th century naturalist Ernst Haeckel. More information here.

paleoteacher-blog

The Amazing Anglerfish - Terror of the Deep

Sea Devils are members of Chordata Class Actinopterygii (the bony fishes), Order Lophiiformes (Anglerfish). As you might guess correctly, they are predators that mainly ply the deep sea. Phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial DNA portent their emergence in the bony fish as early as 130 million years ago in the Cretaceous age of dinosaurs. Anglerfish are of particular evolutionary interest because their phenotype exhibits extreme sexual dimorphism as well as sexual parasitism of male anglerfish. Females are several orders of magnitude (100 – 100 x) larger than females in some species. In some species the male lives a parasitic life attached to the female, in order to become sperm donor to her at some point.

Such animals can inspire children’s interest in science and evolution in the classroom.