Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Another magnificent piece of writing from Zimmer. This time on arctic adventurers, fish, and "one of the most crucial transitions in history of life": How the first tetrapods emerged from water, and started to move about on dry land
Archaeologists believe chickens were first domesticated not for eating but for cockfighting. Today they're "cogs in a system designed to convert grain into protein with staggering efficiency". What happened inbetween?
"I would rather have been strung up naked by my toes, in the middle of the town square, have my naked body slathered in honey, and then have an entire battalion of honey-starved Winnie the Pooh bears set loose to devour me"
Plenty of dogs save their owners—waking them during fires, fetching help after an accident. But that's not all. "They may have saved not only individuals but also our whole species, by 'domesticating' us while we domesticated them"
"The dairy farmers of America, and the geneticists who work with them, are the Mendels of the genomic age. That makes the dairy cow the pea plant of this exciting new time in biology." Here's how to produce cattle farmers dream of
"A handful of foreign creatures, including a particularly hardy kind of grass, have already shown that they’re tough enough to put down roots at the end of the Earth." For as long as humans explore, more will arrive
HBO’s "Girls" offers Angier an excuse to look at science of female friendships. Whether for elephants, mice or monkeys strong relationships between females are the glue that holds groups together. And yes, three is the magic number
Lab-grown meat was predicted by Churchill; tried by Nasa. Now the first in vitro burger is set to come out of a Dutch lab. It will cost 250,000 euros and isn't classified as food, so you can't eat it. But could this be the future?
You will be familiar, from Cold War history, with the alleged "missile gap". But are you familiar too with its precursor, the pigeon gap? Oh yes, there was a time when pigeons formed a vital part of a country's military capability
John Wallace was sitting quietly on a log in Yellowstone national park when he was attacked by a bear. His body was later found half-eaten. This is the story of how blame was assigned, and a killer grizzly caught
A psychologist and an economist set up a monkey market economy. Where talented Capuchins trade tokens for food. They understand pricing, even seek out best deals. But they won't save. Although they can appear more rational than us
Interview with Frans de Waal on ethics of permitting invasive research on chimpanzees. "Over the years the dividing line between humans and the apes has become fuzzy." Should they be treated by researchers in the same way as humans?
Image by Slightlynorth on Flickr
