Sci tidbits is a blog full
of scientific tidbits - hopefully it's not boring and it's easily digestible by
even those who don't consider themselves "science-minded." On this
blog, I will be pulling scientific news articles from across the many fields of
science and giving my thoughts on them. Also, every week, I will have a new
periodic element that I highlight and give the history of. I want this blog to
be a conversation about science and invite you to comment about what I
post. I hope to bring new scientific discoveries to your attention using
podcasts, news articles, photo albums, and videos from significant science news
sources
These
articles may seem irrelevant to your life at first, but soon I hope you will
start thinking about how those topics affect your life.
To
catch a glimpse of what’s happening in the science world each week and to learn
about the element of the week, check out my blog every Friday at 8 p.m.
As
a little taste of what this blog will offer, enjoy this story from The Guardian about 10 new mammal
species discovered in the past 10 years.
Everything
worth knowing in the vast field of science has been discovered. I
think that in today's modern age, this is an assumption that many people make, and it could not be further from the truth.
Within the last 10 years, at least 10 distinct mammal species have been
isolated and identified, as The Guardian
reported on September 13. Four of
these new species were types of monkeys, while two were rodentia. The one that I found most interesting is the new species
of dolphin found in Australia.
The new species, Tursiops
Australis, was mistaken for a simple bottlenose
dolphin until recently, and with a rather miniscule population - just 150
dolphins.
The lesula, a new species of
monkey discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has strangely human
characteristics. The facial strucure is similar to that of a human and their
eyes are haunting - take a look at the photo of a lesula at the link above. While they were
discovered by the scientific world this year, locals have known them for many
years. This just reinforces in my mind the importance of speaking to local peoples
and utilizing all resources to come to important scientific discoveries. Read
the full article here.
This makes me think about an interesting and important question in biology. What is a species? It is very simple to state, but also very profound. When do the small genetic differences between individuals in a population which come as a product of evolution become significant enough to warrant a new species? This question must be more acute in an era of modern biology where genotypes more so than phenotypes are studied.
ReplyDeleteIt is easy to distinguish between individuals in chemistry, my field of study. Different number of protons, different element. Different number of neutrons, different isotope. In biology, the differences seem more nuanced.
It's sweet that you get to publish writing again!
ReplyDeleteNew dolphins!