Science today

[dannyf]

Two interesting articles in Nature:

1) finch beak: Darwin observed the diversity of beak shapes in finches. Now scientists have isolated that diversity to one gene, ALX1, which humans also have. So it is hypotherized that ALX1 in human also controls facial shapes too. Now, we finally have a connection with birds.

2) carbon in the ocean: by studying shell fish, scientists have established that the southern atlantic ocean acts like a giant carbon reservoir and release of carbon from the ocean may have contributed to the end of the last ice age. They estimated both the speed of carbon exchanges between earth's atmosphere and its ocean, as well as the capacity of the reservoir: the ocean contains 60x of the carbon in the atmosphere.

This is where things get a little fuzzy: the scientists are said to have attributed the carbon release from the ocean as the reason the last ice age ended. They didn't quite provide anything to support the causality (other than that those two events are tied in time). Also, they didn't provide any reason as to why the ocean suddenly decided to either sink or release carbon.

Nonetheless, interesting studies.

[Simon]

Any further topics of this "nature" will get you banned! this is an electronics forum! and no your not the only one to have been warned and no doubt won't be the last. Just quit it and go find the right type of forum for these discussions!