Bats and mice and wings and things 18 May 200818 Sep 2017 Comparative limb growth of a bat (top) and a mouse, in utero development. From the paper below. One of my favourite statistics is this: one in every four mammal species you meet is a rat or rodent, and one in every five is a bat. That’s right, nine in every 20 mammal species is covered by one of these taxa: we may as well treat rodents and bats as the standard mammalian species type. So a paper that combines them has to be good. Quintessence of Dust (what a title!) gives an excellent summary and discussion of a paper that tested evolutionary hypotheses of the evolution of bat wings by transplanting bat limb growth genes into mice and observing the result. Both the paper and the post are awesome. And by the way, although in German “bat” is rendered “Die Fledermaus” as every opera buff knows, bats aren’t flying mice. Chiroptera is a whole distinct group from Rodentia. Evolution General Science Species and systematics
Accommodationism Science outreach: A conversation 2 Feb 201420 Feb 2014 From the Freethinkers Blog Con: With PZ Myzer and Aron Ra. Read More
Biology Evopsychopathy 1. Conditions for sociobiology 6 Dec 201218 Sep 2017 Well I better put up or shut up, I guess. Here are my ruminations, excretions, and expressions regarding evolutionary psychology, or, as we might call it, evopsychopathy. I am, as I have said, a born again sociobiologist, so I guess that makes me an evopychopath. Let’s get a few things… Read More
Epistemology On knowledge and consistency 10 Mar 2010 Well, the cat and the pigeons are having a field day, although it is open yet to interpretation which are the cats and which the pigeons. Josh Rosenau’s post, which I approvingly cited and riffed off, has led to a number of critical blog posts in the ongoing accommodationism war…. Read More
Well, apparently the French name evolved this way: Latine origine: ?cawa sorix?(owl-mouse) –> turning ‘calves sorices’ in a plural form –> corrupted into bald-mouse (calves is close to “chauve”/bald in French) (source: http://owen.monblogue.branchez-vous.com/2003/6/25/)
Well, apparently the French name evolved this way: Latine origine: ?cawa sorix?(owl-mouse) –> turning ‘calves sorices’ in a plural form –> corrupted into bald-mouse (calves is close to “chauve”/bald in French) (source: http://owen.monblogue.branchez-vous.com/2003/6/25/)
Even weirder than “Fledermaus”, chiroptera are called bald-mouses in French (litterally translating). I don’t know why, but I’ll try investigating…
Even weirder than “Fledermaus”, chiroptera are called bald-mouses in French (litterally translating). I don’t know why, but I’ll try investigating…
Followed closely by antelopes, right? I do wish that people who think there’s one ladder to the top in evolution would look at some of those taxa. Laurent, “owl-mice” sounds like a good name for bats.
Followed closely by antelopes, right? I do wish that people who think there’s one ladder to the top in evolution would look at some of those taxa. Laurent, “owl-mice” sounds like a good name for bats.