{"id":105,"date":"2006-11-26T20:48:45","date_gmt":"2006-11-27T00:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=105"},"modified":"2008-08-04T12:01:13","modified_gmt":"2008-08-04T16:01:13","slug":"science-news-roundup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=105","title":{"rendered":"Science news roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just some tidbits for your reading pleasure …<\/p>\n

Evolution can happen quickly<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Evolution happens. But it can also stop and turn on a dime.<\/p>\n

A new study of lizards in the Bahamas shows that the natural selection pressures that drive evolution can flip-flop faster than previously thought — even in months.<\/p>\n

“Darwin was right about so many things,” said Jonathan Losos, a former Washington University biologist who led the study. “In this case he was wrong. He thought that evolution must occur slowly and gradually.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

Scientists say that, from a political perspective, the cases offer a vivid reminder of the continuous process that some people imagine proceeding only in fossilized fits and starts: first monkey, then man.<\/p>\n

But for the scientists themselves, the cases show that evolutionary biology has, well, evolved into a predictive, experimental science like any other.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lucy’s U.S. tour<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The trappings of her planned U.S. tour would befit a rock star \u00e2\u20ac\u201d hype, controversy, strict security and the promise of huge crowds. However, the star of this tour has been dead for 3.2 million years and her appearance left a lot to be desired from a showbiz standpoint \u00e2\u20ac\u201d an ape-like female only 3\u00c2\u00bd feet high, walking upright on two feet but retaining the ability to scamper through the treetops when necessary.<\/p>\n

It is Lucy, whose partial skeleton was discovered in 1974 and who for about 20 years was the earliest known human ancestor, a member of a branch of hominids that lived 3 million to 4 million years ago known as Australopithecus afarensis.<\/p>\n

A deal between the Ethiopian Natural History Museum and the Houston Museum of Natural Science would bring Lucy, accompanied by 190 other fossils and relics, to the United States next September for a six-year tour.<\/p>\n

Some scientists oppose the trip, arguing that Lucy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s remains are irreplaceable and too fragile to be moved. But, as has been noted, other fragile and priceless artifacts \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the King Tut exhibit and the Dead Sea scrolls, for example \u00e2\u20ac\u201d have been safely transported and displayed, with a subsequent swell of public interest in archeology. Lucy would likely do the same for anthropology and paleontology.<\/p>\n

And with assorted activists disputing evolution, Lucy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s appearance could hardly be more timely.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Plasmid’s gifts for geeks<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Remember the clocks that chimed a different birdcall each hour? The battery-powered, ion-spewing electric hair brushes? How about those personal air purifiers, foot massagers and devices that played the recorded sound of falling rain?<\/p>\n

If there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a geek in your life, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve probably made one of these costly holiday gift mistakes. If you find yourself considering another shake flashlight or Scrolling Message Center, you need Plasmid\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s help.<\/p>\n

You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to spend a great deal of money to make a geek happy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just some tidbits for your reading pleasure … Evolution can happen quickly: Evolution happens. But it can also stop and turn on a dime. A new study of lizards in the Bahamas shows that the natural selection pressures that drive … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-1H","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":426,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=426","url_meta":{"origin":105,"position":0},"title":"Another columnist in support of evolution","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Tallahassee Democrat columnist Gerald Ensley encourages his readers to attend the local Darwin Day celebration where they will, hopefully, learn a thing or two about evolution. Florida, Illinois and Oklahoma are the only three states that currently do not teach evolution. The omission is one of the chief reasons Florida's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1087,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1087","url_meta":{"origin":105,"position":1},"title":"Yet another depressing survey study","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Pew Research Center folks recently released a study that examines perceptions of science and scientists in America. Section 5 addresses the hot topics of\u00c2\u00a0evolution and climate change. Nothing new here, of course. Nearly all scientists (97%) say humans and other living things have evolved over time \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 87% say\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 8 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 8 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1087#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":179,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=179","url_meta":{"origin":105,"position":2},"title":"Some like it hot, but more like it cold","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"An interesting study reveals that relatively colder areas away from the equator produce more species, but that there is a higher \"turnover,\" thus leaving more living diversity in the tropics. In other words, scientists are studying how evolution works, not if it works. Gotta love it.","rel":"","context":"In "In the News"","block_context":{"text":"In the News","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":985,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=985","url_meta":{"origin":105,"position":3},"title":"Florida’s Greatest Menace VI: Misconceptions, misinterpretations and misinformation","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"(This is the sixth part in the Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Greatest Menace series. For an introduction to the series, go here.) Status report Rev. C.E. Winslow was a busy man as 1979 rushed to a close. He hopped from school board meetings in Hillsborough County to meetings in Pinellas County while also\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 7 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 7 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=985#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":856,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=856","url_meta":{"origin":105,"position":4},"title":"Science quickies","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Just some miscellaneous science news: > Mississippi is number two out of the gate in 2009 for antievolution nonsense. (Oklahoma was number one.) An act to require the state board of education to include certain language explaining that evolution is a theory in the inside front cover of certain pubilc\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=856#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":431,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=431","url_meta":{"origin":105,"position":5},"title":"Another story on those goofy lawmakers","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Miami Herald just published a story online about some state legislators getting worked up over evolution in the state science standards. Of course, that's bad news. But the overwhelmingly good news from my perspective is how the reporter prominently featured the correct definition of a scientific theory! It's about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alert"","block_context":{"text":"Alert","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}