A while back now, I wrote a brief piece commenting on the ability of at least some chimpanzees to recognise numbers. So it didn’t come as a huge surprise to hear that members of a baboon troop could distinguish between ‘real’ words and random strings of letters. Yes, really. A group of psychologists led by Jonathan […]
Continue readingMonth: April 2012
scientists *do* have a sense of humour :-)
Scientists, like everyone else, have a sense of humour. (It’s just that sometimes their ‘in-jokes’ may come across as somewhat incomprehensible.) And taxonomy seems to offer fertile ground to indulge that wit. What else can you think, when there’s a tiny tiny snail with the genus name Ittibittium; a fly called Pieza kake (say it […]
Continue readingif evolution is true, why are there still apes
We’ve just come back from a few glorious days in New Plymouth (arriving home before the change in weather). Had a great time tramping, walking the coastal walkway, eating yummy food – all those nice things you do, holidaying with friends. And as some of the party were driving from Paritutu to meet the rest […]
Continue readingcancer – an example of evolution at the cellular level
It’s more than 3 years now since a very close friend died of cancer. At the time, I wrote briefly of how cancer cell lines can evolve resistance to chemotherapy. Now Orac has written a much longer essay discussing the same thing. It’s well worth reading & would probably make an excellent resource for working […]
Continue readingin the lecture theatre – but definitely not giving a lecture!
This is a post I first wrote for Talking Teaching – but hey! it’s about teaching science! Today’s class was a real experiment for me, & although I try lots of different things in my classes, it was also a step outside my normal comfort zone. (But hey! life would be a bit boring if […]
Continue readinga bag moth in residence
When I took the cover off the barbecue the other day, a tiny insect caught my eye. It was moving in short, fluttering hops so was fairly easy to catch, and once I had it in a jar I could have a better look. It was less than a centimetre long, dark blue with lovely […]
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