13
POPSFlatfish caught evolving, thanks to its roving eye Now Friedman reports finding two different missing links. They are fossil fish with their eyes in different places on the two sides of their skulls - one in the normal position and one closer to the midline (see Diagram). One is Amphistium, a previously described genus found in several fossil deposits in Europe, in which the asymmetry went unnoticed because in fish fossils only one side of the animal is generally preserve. The other is Heteronectes, a new genus. At 10 to 20 centimetres long, the specimens were clearly adults and not larvae in which the eyes were migrating
24
POPSNew Research On Octopuses Sheds Light On Memory It is not completely understood how these two systems are interconnected, if at all. However, the organization in the octopus demonstrates a sophistication that was not described yet in other animals. In the octopus, the short-term and long-term systems are working in parallel, but not independently. This is so because the long-term memory area -- in addition to its capacity to store long-term memories -- also regulates the rate at which the short-term memory system acquires short-term memories. This regulatory mechanism is probably useful in cases where faster learning is significant for the octopus' survival in emergency or risky situations.
6
POPSSea Stars of Cold Oceanic Waters Alaska and the Aleutian Island Chain is the richest region in the world for Sea Stars with well over one hundred named species in 45+ genera with at least another 25 recently discovered species presently under description. A sampling of this rich and amazingly colorful fauna is presented herein.
23
POPS20 Things You Didn't Know About Sex
6 Barbary macaques have a distinctive way to get their mates to make a sperm donation: yelling. If the female does not shout, the male almost never climaxes. 7 How do we know this? German primatologist Dana Pfefferle watched a group of macaques, counting the females’ yells and the males’ pelvic thrusts. She says this work is “quite weird, but it’s science.” 8 Here in the US of A, that kind of stuff ends up on YouTube. 9 Because Barry White sounds terrible underwater: Fish can produce a variety of noises with their bones, teeth, and gas bladders. Grant Gilmore of Estuarine Coastal and Ocean Science Inc. says that male fish probably use some of these sounds to woo females. 10 The spiny anteater, an egg-laying mammal native to Australia and New Guinea, has a penis with four heads, but only two fit into the female at once. 11 The tiny male paper nautilus, an octopus, impregnates the much larger female by shooting his penis (a modified tentacle) into her—and leaving it there.
5
POPSCrayfish chill out after watching a fight Seems,as with people, it can be more than just personal, but also a spectator sport. When a spectator was put into another tank with a similar sized opponent they were less likely to fight than those who had not seen a fight. An interesting observation about Australian Yabbies (smaller river crayfish) They prefer to fight an opponent they've met before.
5
POPSMeet The Cuttlefish - Science If you have never heard of the cuttlefish, you are in for an amazing discovery. This animal has evolved some astonishing survival strategies. If this doesn't convince you of the scientific theory of evolution, NOTHING WILL. Watch, Listen and Learn. Carolyn View Video Here http://www.thethinkingblue.com/swf/maddiecousin.html
1
POPSCopulating Verbs Similarly, the cuttlefish itself is an abstracted reification, a rhetorical arrest, to point without value to the trajectory of its being in time.
3
Clips
Latest Pops
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Tags
Print
Save
Turn on live update