Scientists agree that Earth has long been subjected to thousands of traumatic magnetic reversals of the poles, and that we’re due for another — but when?
Read moreMagnetic reversal "imminent," says National Geographic – Video
Evolutionary leaps
Burgess Shale provides evidence of evolutionary leaps
“The Burgess Shale adds to evidence that evolution proceeded with bouts of rapid diversification interspersed with extinctions,” says this article in the Smithsonian, thus bolstering my contention that evolution does take leaps.
Read moreBurgess Shale provides evidence of evolutionary leaps
Hoping to clone a woolly mammoth within five years
After finding well-preserved bone marrow in a thigh bone of a woolly mammoth found in Siberia, scientists believe it may be possible to clone the giant mammal within five years.
No dramatic effects from a magnetic reversal?
“The fossil record shows no drastic changes in plant or animal life,” says this article on SOTT. I beg to differ.
Darwin got it wrong, says Australian archeologist – Video
Archeologist Peter Mungo Jupp insists that catastrophic evolution occurs at magnetic reversals
Read moreDarwin got it wrong, says Australian archeologist – Video
Magnetic reversals – far more important than we realize
Forget Darwin’s theory of slow, stately, orderly evolution.
Read moreMagnetic reversals – far more important than we realize
More cosmic rays entering solar system
According to NASA’s Space Weather website the sun is in the middle of a solar minimum, with 266 sunspot-free days last year – the lowest for nearly a century.
California nanodiamonds evidence of Clovis-age comets?
Or evidence of thousands of Tunguska-like explosions in the sky?
Read moreCalifornia nanodiamonds evidence of Clovis-age comets?
Do cosmic rays trigger evolutionary leaps?
“It’s completely accepted in science that cosmic rays can – and do – alter DNA,” says Andrew Collins in this short video.
Tiny mutation led to our ability to speak
11 Nov 09 – “Two minute changes in a gene that is otherwise identical in humans and chimps could explain why we have full-fledged power of speech while other primates can only grunt or screech,” says this article on Yahoo. “Human speech is thought to have emerged 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.”
A decade ago, investigators found that a small number of patients with speech-related diseases all shared the same defect in a gene called FOXP2.
Different researchers studying FOXP2 in chimpanzees noticed that only two among the hundreds of amino acids in the protein coded by the gene differed across the two species.
Daniel Geshwind, a professor at UCLA, designed the first-ever experiments comparing the FOXP2 in chimps with humans.
“FOXP2 drives these genes to behave differently in the two species,” said Geschwind.
In humans, the gene triggers changes in the parts of the cerebral cortex that control high cognitive functions and language. It also affects the striatum, which is involved with motor coordination.
But even if one could transplant a human brain into a chimpanzee, the ape would probably be unable to speak because it lacks the right “articulatory apparatus,” said Geschwind.
The study is published in the British science journal Nature.
See entire article, entitled “Tiny evolutionary mutation led to ‘language gene'”:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091111/hl_afp/sciencelanguagechimpanzeeshealth_
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Thanks to David Bass in Australia for this link