03-May-2009, 18:31
The latest 15 editions of New Scientist, unopened since their stupid Darwin Was Wrong marketing hype.
They’re backing up like turds in a poorly maintained sewer. Ever since New Scientist published its stupid and irresponsible Darwin Was Wrong story in the midst of the Darwin bicentenary celebrations, this particular long-term subscriber just hasn’t felt like reading the damn rag. And, as with a sewage back-up, I’m not at all sure what to do about it.
Darwin was wrong, you see, because species aren’t really related to each other in a tree-like structure.
Meanwhile, the National Center for Biotechnology Information, which has been amassing genetic sequences for three decades, recently published the largest phylogenetic tree ever constructed.
Yes, that’s right, a tree.
Do you think someone should tell the poor dupes that they’ve got it all wrong?
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See also:
08-Feb-2008, 00:00
National Geographic: Modern Birds Existed Before Dinosaur Die-Off
Modern birds originated a hundred million years ago—long before the demise of dinosaurs, according to new research…
Fossil records suggest that modern birds originated 60 million years ago, after the end of the Cretaceous period about 65 million years ago when dinosaurs died off. But molecular studies suggest that the genetic divergences between many lineages of birds occurred during the Cretaceous period.
I’ve always had my doubts about the use of the so-called genetic clock to give absolute, rather than relative, dates for evolutionary events. My personal hunch is that this result says far more about molecular dating than it does about dinosaur/bird history.
But I could be wrong.
Previously:
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