Monday Poetry - Homology

Craig Gosling has sent me some more evolution poems! But I forgot about Weekend Poetry yesterday, so here is one a day late:

Homologous Things and Ridiculous Wings

Homologous structures cry out to me
“Ever wonder how we came to be?”
What does a horse, a bird, and a cat
have in common with a boy, frog, and a bat?
All have two limbs in the front and the rear.
All have three bones in those limbs it is clear.
Are these structures related at all?
From same origins seems a good call.
But what about angels, did god make a mistake?
Where did wings come from? I think they’re all fake.
How did they grow, those feathers and bones?
Are they some kind of fairy-tale clones?
I’ll stick to science and homologous things
rather than angels with ridiculous wings.

- Craig Gosling

Homology really is a fantastic way to introduce students to the idea of evolution. Young kids, too! They catch on right away when they see the preserved skeleton of a bat wing and note how hand-like it is. Craig also sent me this coloring sheet he drew for an elementary school teacher, in which the kids are encouraged to color the homologous bones in each animal (humerus, radius, etc) the same color.

Click here to download a full-size .pdf of this coloring sheet.

Darwin Day!

Today is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin! I had long planned to do something special for VE on this day. But the last few weeks have left me with little time or energy. I feel genuinely guilty about it... like I've forgotten a friend's birthday or something! Don't worry, pal. I'll take you out to Applebee's next week to make up for it. Yes, you can even get the appetizer. Anyway, at least Google is celebrating properly!

Isn't that lovely?

Seed Magazine also has some cool stuff for the day, and click on the Blog for Darwin link on the right to see some blogs that didn't neglect their Darwin Day Duties like this one did.

This here is what it's all about:

"It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us. These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with Reproduction; Inheritance which is almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the indirect and direct action of the external conditions of life, and from use and disuse; a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less-improved forms. Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."

0 for 12

I've been neglecting Visualizing Evolution, I'm afraid.

But with the new month, I do need to point out that the first of my 2009 predictions has (thankfully) not come true.

"January - Oil prices rise again, causing a sudden spike in gas prices"

See, unlike the 'real' psychics, I point out my misses. ; )

Oh, read this over at Pharyngula if you haven't already. It will make your day.

edit: Looks like February's prediction will be wrong as well:

"February - lawsuits abound as ignorant antenna-TV owners suddenly find their sets to be showing nothing but static."

This is sad...

Found here, originally published in National Geographic. Click to embiggen, and then sigh sadly while slowly shaking your head.

650 Million Years of Continental Drift

Neat!


650 Million Years In 1:20 min - Watch more Free Videos

Palaeobet

Wow... VisuEvo has been getting a lot of hits from people doing web searches for 2009 celebrity predictions. I guess it's time for a disclaimer. I am not psychic! Then again, neither is anyone else. Except for Hank Yarbo, of course:
Wait... guess that's "phycic." Anyway, I have a real post coming up soon, but in the meantime, here's something cool PZ posted on Pharyngula this morning: Palaeobet!

click to embiggen:

Time for a new banner, maybe?

"Psychic" predictions for 2009

My friend Harrison at Strange Future has made his predictions for 2009, so I guess it's my turn!

~~~ Predictions for 2009: ~~~

January - Oil prices rise again, causing a sudden spike in gas prices.

February - lawsuits abound as ignorant antenna-TV owners suddenly find their sets to be showing nothing but static.

March - scientists come up against a major stumbling block in stem cell research

April - a record-breaking blizzard surprises the northern midwest US, dumping feet of snow and causing power outages in many areas.

May - a celebrity associated with the Harry Potter movies runs up against some legal issues

June - a well-known religious leader is revealed to have been involved in a sex-related scandal.

July - a multi-state thunderstorm system causes travel delays in several airports. Tornadoes rip through small towns and three states are declared disaster areas.

August - American auto-makers tank yet again. The government debates further bail-out packages.

September - unseasonably warm weather causes issues for farmers. Corn prices, and as a result food prices in general, skyrocket.


October - a relatively well-known, yet extremely old, celebrity dies, causing people around the country to say “That guy was still alive?”

November - Coldplay releases their 5th album, and it is hailed as the ‘best ever!’ by fans. All the Coldplay-haters hang their heads in shame and finally admit just how wrong they’ve been.

December - Jim Davis writes a series of strips in which Jon Arbuckle marries his long-time girlfriend Liz, then finally retires Garfield.