Why Five Fingers and Toes

Michael Coates explains why most creatures have five digits as fingers and toes.

-DD

Strandbeests

Theo Jansen is the Father of the Strandbeest .

-DD

The Pace of Evolutionary Differentiation

Katie Hunt reports on the research undertaken by evolutionary biologist Dolph Schluter which demonstrated how rapidly birds and fish can differentiate into distinct populations.

-DD

Diet and Evolution

Brian Handwerk examines the work of anthropologists and medical professionals to speculate on the impact of diet on the inheritance of certain human physical traits. And Bruno Martin is studying the influence of delayed childbearing on fertile life span.

-DD

Oxygen and Life

Jasmin Tayag writes about the history of life on earth , and how life seems to have begun in an atmosphere without oxygen over a billion years ago. Rocks with evidence of oxidation date back perhaps a half billion year ago, Charcoal from ancient forest fires has not been found before 400 million years ago.

-DD

The Red Queen

Matt Ridley has written The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature. In it he discusses how human culture and human biology are intertwined, and how both are created.

The book's title is based on Lewis Carrol's character, and stresses that change is a part of organic order. I had always wondered why creatures did not reproduce using fission like the amaeba, and discovered that parasites and disease would decimate large, long-lived creatures unless each generation was genetically dissimilar from its parent. I found it a fascinating book.

-DD