Lonesome George has died

The news is that Lonesome George, the last remaining tortoise of his kind and a conservation icon, died on Sunday of unknown causes, the Galapagos National Park said. He was thought to be about 100 years old. New Scientist reports … The rarest animal in the world is no more. Lonesome George, the last of … Read more

evolutionary science = ‘the new classics’ – A proposal by Richard Dawkins

I first heard Richard talk about this two years ago. At the time, I listened, watched the slides and thought, “Nice Talk”, but did not really get it. Well, I’ve changed my mind, there is an article by Carole Jahme in yesterday’s Guardian that clearly explains it all, and so now I think I’m beginning … Read more

An Asian Origin for Human Ancestors?

Very interesting article in Science yesterday regarding origins … Researchers agree that our immediate ancestors, the upright walking apes, arose in Africa. But the discovery of a new primate that lived about 37 million years ago in the ancient swamplands of Myanmar bolsters the idea that the deep primate family tree that gave rise to … Read more

The Laptop vanishes … “Its a miracle”

I’m in Ireland at the moment, and looking forward to a visit to the natural History museum today in Merrion Sq … as an aside, if you are here and free, then today is a special day in conjunction with the Dublin City of Science to highlight how the collections are used by scientists. … What We Do … Read more

Creationism in the classroom

Andrew Brown writes in the Guardian (with a picture of some bloke setting things up at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky)  … At least creationists have given it some thought. Would you rather an indifferent or a passionately wrong child in the science classroom? Let’s not simply sneer at Darwin deniers If you read … Read more

Unicorn no longer extinct

Now here is a small piece of encouraging news from Today’s Guardian … Unicorn’s are no longer extinct. Basically … the last wild Arabian oryx was shot in 1972, thus making it more or less extinct. However, a successful captive breeding programme and reintroduction efforts mean its population now stands at 1,000. You can read … Read more