Lunar time capsule

Its possible perfectly preserved remnants of the early earth may be waiting for us to discover on the moon. What evolutionary biologist wouldn’t give their eye teeth for such a sample, perhaps containing traces of ancestral life forms. Admittedly it seems unlikely much would remain after the solar wind, cosmic rays and meteorite bombardments but if a large enough piece was driven deep beneath the lunar surface, who knows?

Fractal universe?

I’m ambivalent about fractality; much is made of fractal patterns in nature without any suggestion as to why this might be significant. Now new evidence indicating that the universe itself may be fractal will undoubtedly lead to yet more vague speculation as to why these patterns are so ubiquitous. My own view is sometimes there isn’t a deeper reason. Fractality may be like chirality (left/right handedness), a property observed in all sorts of 3D objects from molecules and galaxies. No one suggests that chirality is a hint of some deep principle. Or perhaps they do, it wouldn’t surprise me.

Neanderthal nerds

Recently discovered artefacts show English Neanderthals were high tech for their time.
The Neanderthals generally get a pretty raw deal in the media and public discourse - Heavy browed retards that were out competed or even exterminated by our more nimble-minded ancestors. However a more nuanced picture has been emerging and the time may come when we will admit that, once again, we have allowed our innate urge to trumpet our superiority over others to cloud our judgement. Neanderthals were extremely well adapted to their environment and had developed the beginnings of material culture before the young upstart H Sapiens; it may be sheer fluke that we survived while our Neanderthal brothers and sisters did not.

Google and the brain

Good article here on how the Internet is changing the way humans absorb information. I've no doubt that as a medium of communication it will in many ways surpass the other already impressive tools of this type we possess, and that we humans are so good at developing.
I am not convinced myself however that the art of absorbing the printed word is necessarily at any immediate risk. To truly understand a subject in depth a certain amount of "deep" reading is required, and perhaps always will be. It has been pointed out before that new communication technologies don't kill old ones, for instance television didn't kill radio. I admit that many people in modern society don't read frequently, however worldwide literacy rates are still rising and I must say it gives me heart to think that every day new minds are discovering the rich world of the imagination that can still be found only in books.

Kepler mission

I like Kepler, he discovered the laws of planetary motion and his name is nearly the same as Pepler. And his mother was tried as a witch (bloody Wikipedia!).
In February 2009 the Kepler spacecraft is due to be lauched into an earth trailing heliocentric orbit in order to discover other earth-like worlds in our galaxy. My hunch is they’ll find plenty.

Wasp voodoo

Individuals of one species use those of another to incubate their larvae. The larvae turn it into a zombie that protects from predators the very organisms that devour it. Yes it’s the world of parasitic wasps.

bee sting

The sterility of worker bee females was regarded as an evolutionary conundrum until sociobiologists suggested that natural selection may favour worker behaviour that assists their queenly sisters who share most of their DNA. Now it seems that some researchers have identified a region of the honeybees genome that affects fertility.
That’s great and we all look forward to the published study. But this doesnt seem to have much more to do with the selfish gene concept than any of the other hundred other genetics papers published every week and the serially reprinted press release just seems to be an attempt to cash in on Richard Dawkins' current fame/notoriety.