Five things humans no longer need – Vestigial organs are parts of the body that once had a function but are now more-or-less useless. Probably the most famous example is the appendix, though it is now an open question whether the appendix is really vestigial. The idea that we are carrying around useless relics of our evolutionary past has long fascinated scientists and laypeople alike. (New Scientist)
Dinosaur-Bird Link: Ancient Proteins Preserved In Soft Tissue From 80 Million-Year-Old Hadrosaur — Ancient protein dating back 80 million years to the Cretaceous geologic period has been preserved in bone fragments and soft tissues of a hadrosaur, or duck-billed dinosaur, according to a study in the May 1 issue of Science. (ScienceDaily)
Book review: Lamarck’s Evolution — Before Darwin, Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck created the first theory of evolution, an idea so powerful it promised to become the great unifying force of science. Instead, for two hundred years Lamarck’s grand idea polarised the scientific establishment and became a byword for discredited beliefs…until, on the eve of his bicentenary, science finally caught up and proved him right.
CSIRAC: Australia’s first computer
http://www.csiro.au/science/ps4f.html
http://flyingcolours.museum.vic.gov.au/csirac/
http://www.csse.unimelb.edu.au/dept/about/csirac/ (including a link to a CSIRAC Emulator)
Iceman photoscan website – Otzi, a Stone Age warrior frozen in an icy tomb for 5,300 years, can now be viewed in astonishing detail thanks to a new website. The Iceman photoscan project took 150,000 high definition images of the perfectly preserved mummy from 12 different angles, which the researchers loaded onto the new website. (Daily Mail)
http://www.icemanphotoscan.eu/
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Direct podcast download: podcast coming soon….
Tags: CSIRAC, dinosaurs, evolution, Lamarck, Otzi, vestigial organs
