U-Haul graphics

Nevada has an Area 51 stealth plane, Newfoundland has a giant squid, and Illinois has a Cambrian Explosion monster:

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“llinois once lay near the equator on the supercontinent of Pangea and was home to unique creatures. How did the strip mining of Illinois’ coal deposits reveal the secret of the Tully Monster?”

The Tully Monster, discovered in 1958 in the Mazon Creek Lagerstaaten and named Tullimonstrum gregarium in 1966, is the state fossil of Illinois. Many have been found, but so far the Tully Monster is unique to Illinois. It dates back about 300 million years. We do not know what phylum it fits into. Its shape recalls the Anomalocaris, but that disappeared 100 million years earlier. Of course, with fossilization of soft-bodied organisms being so rare, perhaps it is a descendant of Anomalocaris!

Origami octopus by Joseph Wu

Octopus (hunting) take 5, originally uploaded by Joseph Wu Origami.

If anyone has a paper anniversary coming up, such as a year of blogging or a year since a creationist promised to “get back to you” about their debunked claim, one of Joseph Wu’s origami octopods might be the perfect gift—to themselves.

Darwin was right

Sea sponge

A new fossil discovery had proven that another of Darwin’s hypotheses about evolution was correct. During his lifetime, no animal fossils were known earlier than the Cambrian Explosion [of diversity], 540 million years ago. It occurred when animals developed hard body parts that could be fossilized, so some people call it an “induration.” It’s mostly in rare, fine limestones that you find the outlines, and sometimes the pigments, of soft body parts. Darwin, however, reasoned that evolution must have occurred for millions of years before the Cambrian Explosion for that diversity to develop. And he was right.

“Fossils push animal life back millions of years“

A novel technique used to date fossils buried in rock sediment in Oman shows that sponges, among the most primitive of animal organisms, flourished there more than 635 million years ago.

Stick insects!

Bishop Alan has a blog–and some stick insects or “walking sticks.” He wrote a series of posts all about his pet stick insects. He added his own close-up pictures of baby and adult stick insects, food plants, etc. His most recent article is called “Giant prickly virgin births.”

What makes locusts swarm?

I saw something on Daily Planet tonight about locusts. They look like grasshoppers. They have a solitary, weakly flying or non-flying form. And when they get crowded, they develop into a new form that is brightly coloured, social to other locusts, and a strong flyer. That encourages them to leave their dwindling food sources and find new ones.

A Dr. Steve Rogers of Cambridge University has discovered that what makes locusts change is serotonin, which is produced when the locusts rub their legs together (rub up against each other?), see or smell one another, or are tickled. If serotonin is inhibited, they don’t change and become sociable. If serotonin is injected, they change. A mystery solved!