WTF Thursday: Plenty of Time

Evolution Observed

From IniquityX:

Bacteria make major evolutionary shift in the lab

NewScientist is running a story on an exciting new development in evolutionary biology. In short, scientists have watched a new, complex evolutionary trait develop in the lab. This mutation occurred in a population of Escherichia coli bacteria that has been in isolated development for 20 years. The evolution of these bacteria has been observed for over 44,000 generations, and has suddenly acquired the ability metabolize citrate.

Jerry Coyne, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Chicago notes: “The thing I like most is it says you can get these complex traits evolving by a combination of unlikely events,” he says. “That’s just what creationists say can’t happen.”

How Much Do You Love School?

Food Art….. Cool

Encyclopedia of Life

lrose sent me a link to this site and I have been taking my time in exploration. This is amazing if you haven’t seen it and have a hankering for the ultimate biological reference site.

Worth noting.

Encyclopedia of Life

Who We Are

The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is an ambitious, even audacious project to organize and make available via the Internet virtually all information about life present on Earth. At its heart lies a series of Web sites—one for each of the approximately 1.8 million known species—that provide the entry points to this vast array of knowledge. The entry-point for each site is a species page suitable for the general public, but with several linked pages aimed at more specialized users. The sites sparkle with text and images that are enticing to everyone, as well as providing deep links to specific data.

The EOL dynamically synthesizes biodiversity knowledge about all known species, including their taxonomy, geographic distribution, collections, genetics, evolutionary history, morphology, behavior, ecological relationships, and importance for human well being, and distribute this information through the Internet. It serves as a primary resource for a wide audience that includes scientists, natural resource managers, conservationists, teachers, and students around the world. We believe that the EOL’s encompassing scope and innovation will have a major global impact in facilitating biodiversity research, conservation, and education.

The EOL staff is made up of scientists and non-scientists working from museums and research institutions around the world. We currently have 20 full time employees, but as this project grows, so will the EOL family.

http://www.eol.org/content/page/who_we_are

TedTalks: The Amazing Intelligence of Crows

Joshua Klein does a presentation on the inteligence of crows and offers potential ways to train them to do tasks for people.

StumbleVideo - Wall Animation: Extended Edition - CollegeHumor video

from video.stumbleupon.co posted with vodpod