10 Evolution Stories Darwin Would Love
by Brad Kloza |
February 12th, 2009 |
Published in
All, Animals & Life Science, Blog
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It’s Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday, and the occasion has mostly resulted in essays recounting his achievements and brilliance, or reports pointing out the continued controversy his theory still sparks.
But here in our little corner of the web, we present a collection of 10 video reports we’ve done though the years that highlight some unique new discoveries in evolution. Surprising, quirky, and even alarming, we like to think of this collection as our own birthday gift to Darwin – and one that he would be most pleased with.
(Links will pop-off a new browser window or tab for each video.)
1. Sexy Bugs – tiny blister beetles have evolved a trick to survive their infancy in the scorching Mojave desert. They band together and emit phermones to attract male bees that they then ride like a taxicab to shelter and food. (full web article here)
2. Evolving Brain – Are people still evolving? Yes indeed, and it’s happening in the organ that sets us apart from the other species. (full web article here)
3. Shrinking Fish – Why would certain fish evolve to become smaller and weaker? Evolutionarily it’s in their best interests, because fishermen throw those fish back rather than eat them. (full web article here)
4. Romance Genes – When it comes to mating and dating, smell matters. An evolutionary psychologist showed how humans can basically sniff out a mate with the appropriate genetic make-up – or at least sniff out the bad ones. (full web article here)
5. Walking Whales - What ran like a wolf, but is related to the hippo, and now lives in the ocean? A Whale! (full web article here)
6. Hot Chili Secret – the heat in hot peppers is actually an evolutionary defense mechanism aimed at stopping fungus, as hole-poking insects also play a role. (full web article here)
7. Vampire Bats Run – Aside from the incredibly amusing video of vampire bats on a mini-treadmill, the story of how bats lost and regained (”devolved and revolved”?) the ability to run is pretty awesome. (full web article here)
8. Straight Corn Rows – How humans have shaped the evolution of a plant’s, um, shape. Or, why corn used to look really nasty. (full web article here)
9. Mating Trick – Cross dressing among invertebrates? Not quite. Small male cuttlefish who are masters of disguise put a brains-over-brawn twist on the survival of the fittest. (full web article here)
10. Reverse Evolution – scientists reconstructed a single gene that existed more than 500 million years ago, by reverse engineering it from the many genes it has since split into. (full web article here)
Bonus link: It’s not a video, but this list would be incomplete without the report on the Galapagos creature Darwin missed — the Pink Iguana.
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