Two almost bear patterns from a partial Symocyon of a sesamoid “thumb” 14 Apr 2010 I’m really sorry for that pun. I’ve been waiting for years… Anyway, Laelaps (Brian Switek) has a lovely report on the panda’s “thumb” (actually, the sesamoid wrist bone being independently used by a bear lineage and a lineage closer to racoons than to bears, result in the giant panda and the red panda respectively) being an adaptation to a tree-dwelling lifestyle before the bamboo stripping behaviour later evolved. Evolution Evolution
Evolution Lewes on Heredity, in 1856 22 Jun 2007 I’m putting this up because I will use it to discuss the history of species definitions in a forthcoming talk. It’s very interesting for a number of reasons, one of which is the species nominalism, and another that Lewes argues from evidence for biparental inheritance some years before Mendel, and… Read More
Evolution Some relevant comics 4 Jan 201221 Jun 2018 As always, click to go to the originals. Read More
Evolution Explaining religion 3 – Is it adaptive? 31 Oct 2007 To summarise: so far we have three general kinds of explanations of religion. There are sociological explanations in terms of the economic, societal and political conditions under which religions develop. There are psychological explanations in terms of experiences, existential dread, need for control and so forth. And there are sociobiological… Read More
Wow. Dennis Miller thinks that joke was obscure. I, on the other hand, am on the verge of being impressed…as soon as I look up a few words…
Interesting, because, IIRC, the corresponding bone on the panda’s ankle is also elongated, which could be explained in view of this tree dwelling past.