| The secret world of the microscopic Spike Walker wins award for his 'outstanding contribution to photography and its application in the service of medicine' guardian.co.uk |
Consumer groups push for label for modified salmon By MARY CLARE JALONICK 2010-09-21T18:08:22ZWASHINGTON (AP) -- Consumer advocates urged the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday to ensure that salmon engineered to grow twice as fast as the conventional variety are labeled in the grocery store as genetically modified.... hosted.ap.org |
Arctic sea ice tipped to disappear Scientists in the US are predicting that within 30 years there will no longer be summer sea ice in the Arctic. abc.net.au |
UN meeting on saving species opens in Japan By MALCOLM FOSTER 2010-10-18T14:42:11ZTOKYO (AP) -- Delegates from more than 190 nations kicked off a U.N. conference Monday aimed at ensuring the survival of diverse species and ecosystems threatened by pollution, exploitation and habitat encroachment.... hosted.ap.org |
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 |