Weekend Reading - June 21

If you look at nothing else this weekend - look at this essay:  Evolution is the only natural explanation.  If you find it's TL at least scroll down and read the part about colors - it ties in with my post on What is a Species.

http://ecodevoevo.blogspot.com/2013/06/evolution-is-only-natural-explanation.html

Great essay by a climate scientist on how to answer the question "Are We Screwed?"

http://www.stanford.edu/group/anthropocene/cgi-bin/wordpress/essay-how-am-i-supposed-to-answer-are-we-screwed/

In biology I teach how mitochondria in our cells originated as a symbiotic bacteria.  Now the citrus mealybug makes that look tame.  It contains organelles and genes from at least SIX DIFFERENT types of organism!  Students planning to take me in the fall of 2014 prepare to have the gob smacked out of you!

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/06/20/snug-as-a-bug-in-a-bug-in-a-bug/

Gibbons (an evolutionary cousin of ours) sometimes horse around.  Like this one, tightrope walking a bridge railing (video).

http://io9.com/this-is-a-gibbon-tightroping-across-a-perfectly-good-br-513431813

Blue whales can consume half a million calories in one mouthful.  And this enormous animal eats tiny krill.  Wow.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2010/12/09/blue-whales-can-eat-half-a-million-calories-in-a-single-mouthful/#comment-55002

Don't read this next link if you're squeamish.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2012/08/31/everything-you-never-wanted-to-know-about-the-mites-that-eat-crawl-and-have-sex-on-your-face/

A crab named after David Hasselhoff?  It lives at thermal vents deep under the ocean and has been spreading to new areas very quickly.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22952728