Category: Evolution
Non hopping Kangaroo
November 24, 2014Desiccation Tolerance
September 15, 2014Microbial Temper Tantrums
March 22, 2014In stressful conditions, cells must prevent the initiation of replication and shift their priorities to protective functions. In other words: they must stop division and growth. Experiments in bacteria at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have uncovered the mechanism that translates stress into blocked cell growth.…
Paradoxical Frog
January 14, 2014Japanese Miniatures: Pygmy Squid Bukkake
December 9, 2013Bigger males, both human and animal, are generally more successful in attracting and being selected by females. But not in all species. The Incredible Shrinking Man seeks inspiration from those few species where females favour the small, like Idiosepius paradoxus, the Japanese Pygmy Squid. The mating rituals…
Celebrate Lactose Intolerance
October 5, 2013Shrinking is Easy
September 5, 2013There’s a basic asymmetry in macro-evolution. On the evolutionary scale shrinking is easy and growing large is difficult. This is probably due to the emergence, during a trend of increasing maximum body size, of a series of anatomical, physiological, environmental, genetic and other constraints that…