| Red Planet 'may not be lifeless' Carbon-rich organic molecules, which serve as the building blocks of life, may be present on Mars after all, say scientists. bbc.co.uk |
Prizes honor studies in vision loss, obesity By MALCOLM RITTER 2010-09-21T04:01:54ZNEW YORK (AP) -- Three scientists have won prestigious medical prizes - one for devising a treatment for a major cause of vision loss and two for laying the groundwork for an explosion in obesity research.... hosted.ap.org |
Whale rider found WA Authorities have identified a boy seen climbing a whale at an Albany Beach last month. abc.net.au |
Morcombe inquest hears about persons of interest A coronial inquest on Queensland's Sunshine Coast has heard it would be an impost to DNA-test every piece of evidence in the investigation into Daniel Morcombe's disappearance in December 2003. abc.net.au |
Mystery bird: yellow-throated longclaw, Macronyx croceus This beautiful African mystery bird closely resembles the Meadowlarks which are found in North America due to a phenomenon known as convergent evolutionYellow-throated longclaw, Macronyx croceus, photographed at Mikumi National Park, Tanzania, Africa. Image: Dan Logen, 8 January 2010 [velociraptorize].Nikon D300s, 600 mm lens with 1.4 x extender ISO 500, f/7.1, 1/500 sec.Question: If you compare this African mystery bird to yesterday's North American mystery bird, you will notice that they look almost the same. Can you identify these two birds and tell me why they look so similar? Response: This is a yellow-throated longclaw, Macronyx croceus. This beautiful African mystery bird closely resembles the Meadowlarks which are found in North America due to a phenomenon known as convergent evolution, a situation where two distantly related species independently develop a very similar trait. In this case, the markings of the meadowlarks and the yellow-throated longclaw are very similar despite the fact that these birds evolved on different continents on opposite sides of the earth. But these similarly-coloured and patterned birds live in remarkably similar habitats -- dry savanna, semi-arid prairies and grasslands -- and have similar life histories -- they consume insects and nest on the ground. If you have bird images, video or mp3 files that you'd like to share with a large and (mostly) appreciative audience, feel free to email them to me for consideration.GrrlScientistguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |