Science Etcetera, Marsday 20090210

Posted on 10th February 2009 by ideonexus in Science Etcetera
  • Australopithecus africanus, our 2.5-million-year-old relatives had strong jaws for crushing nuts and seeds in absence of tools.

    • Compressive stress in the cranium of Australopithecus africanus, an extinct early human, imposed by biting on the premolar teeth. Bright colors correspond to high stresses, and indicate that a bony pillar running alongside the opening of the nasal cavity acts as a strut that structurally reinforces the face against premolar loads.

    Compressive stress in the cranium of Australopithecus africanus
    Credit: Image courtesy of Arizona State University
    and the “Hominid Feeding Biomechanics” research team
  • Baby chimpanzees shown love end up smarter.
  • Humans evolve into different skin colors in just 2,500 years or 100 to 200 generations. So your ancestors may have been a different color more recently in your genetic past than you may think.
  • Amazing, House-like story, of a father’s efforts to hack his daughter’s DNA.
  • The snakes optical illusion doesn’t just appear to be moving, it activates physical movement processing in the brain. So, as far as your brain is concerned, it really is moving.

    • It's not just your imagination: The brain perceives the concentric circles of the famous Rotating Snakes optical illusion as rotating, but the image is static.

    Snakes Illusion
    Credit: © A. Kitaoka 2003
  • Awesome slideshow 9 links in the dinosaur-to-bird transition. (ht Carolyn)
  • A study of identical twins finds that weight fluctuation, divorce, and antidepressants make you look older.
  • Despite having equal qualifications to their male counterparts, female high school science teachers get lower scores from male students.
  • Juan Enriquez argues that humanity is becoming a new species, Homo Evolutis, which is capable of directing its own evolution.
  • World’s smallest Writing:



    • Comments (1)

    1 Comment »

    1. That Home Evolutis thing really reminds me of Darwin/ClintJCL Universal Evolution Theory

      Comment by ClintJCL — February 10, 2009 @ 10:16 pm

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