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Sarda Sahney's Column
About Sarda
Sarda Sahney is a Ph.D. student at the University of Bristol studying macroevolution, with focus on the evolution of vertebrate communities. (full bio)
By Sarda Sahney | October 25th 2007 04:08 AM | 1 comment | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
...and quite frankly I am pretty pissed off that his lectures have been cancelled. James Watson, Nobel Prize winner and cofounder of the structure of DNA told the Times of London that "there is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically." So guess what? Most venues hosting Watson have decided to cancel his forthcoming public engagement talks.


By Sarda Sahney | October 23rd 2007 04:42 AM | 1 comment | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
Cloning is not a human invention; nature has been creating clones for millions of years, among all organisms including humans. Nature’s clones, identical twins, are born in approximately 1 / 1000 births. Identical twins come in two varieties: identical and mirror images. Both share 100% of their DNA and but in mirror image twins, small differences are ‘reflected’. Examples include skin variations such moles, dental patterns, hairlines and handedness.


By Sarda Sahney | September 17th 2007 05:37 AM | 2 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
As I’m having a baby my mind has recently been turned to thoughts of the very weird and wonderful world of developmental biology. As a new parent tracks the progress of their child, you can’t help wonder about some of the really bizarre stages it goes through.


By Sarda Sahney | September 4th 2007 05:03 AM | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope, died on 12 Apr 1897. Cope is best remembered for his rivalry with O.C. Marsh, often referred to as the Great Bone Wars. These two antagonists shared a lot in common: a fierce sense of competition, unbounded arrogance and a deep driving force that led them to unbelievable lengths to outdo each other. Cope led many great expeditions into the American West and was prolific in the naming of dinosaur species. Cope was also an ichthyologist, an evolutionist, and a founder of the Neo-Lamarckian school of thought.

But enough of the boring stuff, here's a story that really reveals the character of good old EDC:


By Sarda Sahney | August 30th 2007 05:38 AM | 1 comment | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
White tiger In response to inquiries after a previous blog entry, Macrocosmos and Microcosmos, this article discusses white tiger breeding and their conservational value.


By Sarda Sahney | August 22nd 2007 10:15 AM | 5 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments

A recent issue of Nature celebrated Linnaeus’ 300th birthday with a series of editorials, essays and features on the continuing work of taxonomists. One of the more provocative articles discusses the definition of species, including the status of the beloved polar bear, Ursus maritimus.



By Sarda Sahney | August 14th 2007 06:05 PM | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
Ancient footprints have provided compelling evidence that some dinosaurs were able to swim. The 15m (50ft) trackway was discovered in the Cameros Basin in Spain, which, 125 million years ago, in the Early Cretaceous was a vast lake.


By Sarda Sahney | June 11th 2007 06:01 AM | 1 comment | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
I took a long weekend so I guess this story is a few days old but I had to relay it because it is so funny! Thanks to Hank Campbell who organizes Scientific Blogging for sending it along.

The Creation Museum of Petersburg, Kansas has been wrought with criticism since before it even opened, but most recently, they have been embroiled in a ‘moral scandal’ by an employee hired to tell the story of the fall of man.


By Sarda Sahney | May 29th 2007 12:14 PM | 2 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
Too many weird stories to blog about today so here are some links:

Poland inquiry to probe 'gay' teletubbies
Poland's conservative government sees the teletubbies as homosexual propaganda on the small screen, and is taking aim at Tinky Winky and his friends. Ewa Sowinska, government-appointed children rights watchdog, told a local magazine published on Monday she was concerned the popular BBC children's show promoted homosexuality.


By Sarda Sahney | May 29th 2007 12:09 PM | 2 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments

Thanks to Janine for pointing out this story of a python which burst open after gobbling up a Florida gator. The strange scene was found by park rangers in the Everglades National Park. The Burmese python is likely an escaped pet or perhaps a descendant of one. In recent years many guilt-ridden owners release their exotic pets into the hot and wet swampy environment because they are no longer able to take care of them and do not want them put down.


By Sarda Sahney | May 22nd 2007 04:14 PM | 1 comment | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
Continuing on the whale theme today, an Australian couple has had an extraordinary windfall: walking along a remote beach they found 32-pounds of sperm whale puke, for which the proper scientific word is ambergris. At first this may seem like a disgusting curiosity worth no more than a moment of notice for its scientific value, but in fact the monetary value of the discovery is estimated to be over $1 million USD!

By Sarda Sahney | May 12th 2007 06:35 AM | 1 comment | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
The Encyclopedia of Life project will detail 1.8 million known plant and animal species in the format of an online archive. Each species will have its own page with descriptions, photographs, videos, and maps, compiled by experts.

It is hoped that the $100m USD (£50m GBP) archive will be complete in 10 years and that in addition to an educational tool, the archive will have value for conservation efforts.


By Sarda Sahney | May 10th 2007 11:13 AM | 3 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
After eight years and I am still learning new things my husband: we were walking down the street yesterday when the clouds parted, revealing a bright sun and he consequently sneezed! Now I realize that this phenomenon affects a significant number of other people I know. So in case you were ever wondering why looking at the sun on a bright day makes you sneeze here is the answer:


By Sarda Sahney | May 9th 2007 04:45 AM | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
Some criminals get caught in the act of smuggling strange cargo and are not always very clever about heir tactics. In the United States, wildlife smuggling is the nation’s second-largest black market, (behind narcotics), worth $9 billion a year.

Some of the more interesting highlights seen at Los Angeles International Airport include: In 2006 A Japanese man was arrested for smuggling Queen Alexandra’s birdwings, one of the largest butterflies in the world, worth $8,500 USD. And in the same year four people were accused of trafficking in the endangered dragon fish.


By Sarda Sahney | May 8th 2007 06:31 AM | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
Memed again! Here are some great blogs that make me think 'outside of my box'. Pass on the meme...

Secret Sex Lives of Animals
A weekly column on the bizarre, wonderful, colourful and sometimes shocking world of animal mating habits.



The Domestic Minx
A deliciously dysfunctional diary about domestic living.

The Dragon's Tales
A great mix of science and current events from all over the globe.
By Sarda Sahney | May 6th 2007 02:31 PM | 1 comment | Print | E-mail | Track Comments

A letter, supposedly sent to the Smithsonian Institute. Hilarious!


Paleoanthropology Division
Smithsonian Institute
207 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20078

Dear Sir:


By Sarda Sahney | May 3rd 2007 04:25 AM | 455 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments

A new museum in Petersburg, Kentucky greets visitors with a 20ft tall tumbling waterfall and at its base, mannequins of frolicking children play amongst dinosaurs. The Creation Museum, which cost $25 million to build, is home to many unusual sites: a diorama of ancient people overshadowed by a towering T. rex, Adam and Eve swimming in a river with giant reptiles, and even a scale model of Noah's Ark.



It seems Noah solved the problem of fitting dinosaurs into his vessel by only taking baby dinosaurs. Indeed, the ark has a detailed display of many animals happily boarding the boat: dinosaurs cavort with giraffes, penguins, hippos, and bears.

By Sarda Sahney | May 1st 2007 08:05 AM | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
The beautiful thing about the Antarctic is that it is one of Earth’s last unexplored frontiers. New information about climate, geology, and paleontology is discovered regularly and today, the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology announced the discovery of a fossilised amphibian which lived more than 245 million years ago in the Triassic of Antarctica. Its presence suggests that the climate at the time was mild enough to allow cold-blooded creatures to live near Pangea’s southern margin, at least seasonally.


By Sarda Sahney | April 27th 2007 03:43 AM | 1 comment | Print | E-mail | Track Comments

Polar bears live a feast and famine lifestyle. They are large animals (an adult males weighs 300-600kg) that live in the freezing tundra so they have huge metabolic needs. They normally prey on ringed seals but will eat almost anything they can catch, including walruses, birds, eggs and occasionally they supplement their diet with a big, juicy, beluga whale!


By Sarda Sahney | April 10th 2007 10:45 AM | Print | E-mail | Track Comments

Fossils turn up in the most unusual places. Simone Casati, an amateur paleontologist, was exploring the famed vineyards of Italian winemaker, Castello Banfi, when he came across a small piece of bone poking out of the soil. He started digging and realized that he had unearthed more then he had e anticipated: a 10m (33ft) long skeleton of an ancient whale.