Fossil Friday: The Abrupt Origins of Lagomorphs and Rodents

beavers, Carl von Linné, China, comparative morphology, Cretaceous, Dan Graur, Darwinism, Early Paleocene, East Asia, Euarchontoglires, Evolution, Fossil Friday, fossil record, Glires, guinea pigs, gundis, hamsters, hares, incongruence, Lagomorpha, Lagomorphs, mammals, mice, molecular clock studies, Mongolia, Nebraska, Oligocene, Palaeolagus haydeni, Paleocene, PaleoDB, paleontology, pikas, placental mammals, porcupines, rabbits, rats, Rodentia, rodents, squirrels, Systema Naturae, Tübingen
Molecular biologist Dan Graur mentioned his weird idea that guinea pigs are not rodents at a lecture at my university in Tübingen when I was still a student. Source
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Can Myths About Dogs Tell Us About Their Origins?

Anthropozoologica, Archaeology, burial, Central Asia, College of France, Dogs, domestication, Evolution, Friederike Range, genetics, Germany, grave gifts, Julien d’Huy, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Middle East, myths, rabbits, Sarah Marshall-Pescini, science, signified, signifier, Sirius, South Asia, Southeast Asia, wolves
A French historian studies the relationship between ancient stories told about dogs and information from genetics and archaeology. Source
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Rats! Another Code Found in Whiskers

blood pressure, cats, cochlear hair cells, Darwinism, Dogs, Evolution, evolutionary theory, information, Intelligent Design, lobsters, Mitra Hartmann, neuron firings, Nicholas Bush, Northwestern University, PNAS, rabbits, rats, rodents, Sara Solla, sea lions, touch-screen phone, Vg neurons, whiskers, whisking
Neurons in a rat’s whiskers “represent multiple stimulus features in a tiled and continuous manner, thus encoding large regions of a complex sensory space.” Source
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Evolutionary Theorizing Depends on Magic Words

AARS, Amber Dance, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, automobile, cancer, chassis, crankshaft, Darwinians, engine, enzymes, Evolution, golf, illusion, Journal of Molecular Evolution, magic words, magicians, messenger RNA, natural selection, protein synthesis, rabbits, Richard Dawkins, Robert Shapiro, Scientific American, seats, steering wheel, The Scientist, Tokyo Institute of Science
Here is a quick tale about the evolution of the automobile. Billions of years ago, a chassis appeared.The chassis acquired an engine.The crankshaft found a side gig as a steering wheel.The steering wheel linked up with the brake pedal to form a universal joint.Seats developed. They probably arose when the first hood evolved. Now consider leading journals publishing this account after it has whisked through peer review. Is this not exactly what goes on in evolutionary theorizing? Darwinians have mastered the use of magic words that replace rigor with imagination. And they get away with it; nobody ever blows the whistle on what should be tagged a major scientific foul.  New Findings About Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases Here is an example in The Scientist, a news magazine for working scientists who should…
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