10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2014

There is a fantastic paper just out in Science : “Sustained miniaturization and anatomoical innovation in the dinosaurian anceestors of birds” by Michael Lee, Andrea Cau, Darren Naishe and Gareth Dyke. So, for example, humans are apes. The paper that just came out in science has the following spectacular conclusion.

Camels 198

Camels Whales Whaling Apes 198

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2015

Flight has evolved multiple times; it has emerged in lizards, snakes, fish, bats, maybe bats again, distant relatives of primates, regular primates, rodents, and a few other unlikely taxa, in a rather half baked fashion, not “true” flight. Science 12 December 2014: 346 (6215), 1253293 [DOI:10.1126/science.1253293].

Rodents 186

Rodents Primates Bats Science 186

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2016

Research done quite a while back suggests that this is adaptive. Researchers have been studying song learning in birds for some time. In this study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a group of juvenile zebra finches was allowed to interact with an adult. Bird Brains Packed With Neurons.

Mammals 109

Mammals Zebras Birds Primates 109

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 25, 2011

And if you look into it enough, it presents a classic case where science can fail us. I believe in science. Science is based on logic and evidence, which I think is a very respectable way to look at the world. But what many people fail to realize, and too often scientists themselves, is that science is elastic.

Emotional 204

Emotional Science Birds Mammals 204

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2011

But it is utterly bewildering to me to see news reports about this recent science that read “… An icon knocked from its perch&# or “Archaeopteryx no longer first bird.&# Flight is an example. For example, in mammalian evolution, with almost no exceptions, teeth are lost and not gained across evolutionary time.

Mammals 247

Mammals Europe Groups Family 247