Philosophy
In this fascinating documentary series, Sir David Attenborough brings to bear a new sense of awe, respect and admiration for our cold blooded cousins: the reptiles and the amphibians. Since they can't produce their own body heat the way we mammals can, these creatures must face daily struggles just to acquire enough energy to move, feed, digest, mate and protect themselves. And although they haven't quite evolved their own internal heating system (yet?), the adaptations they have developed represent the almost unlimited creativity of the blind evolutionary process.
And if you think about it, though surely loads of fun, mating must be particularly difficult for reptiles, not just because of the energy it requires, but because they have to somehow get around the huge female tail blocking the way :)
Watch out for the hilarious scene of a battle between two competing tortoises, why females prefer males with assets and good real estate instead of a shiny personality... or the macabre footage of a gigantic python swallowing a deer... whole.
Check out the entire Life in Cold Blood series (as it becomes available).
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- Feed A Cold, Starve A Fever?
PeterLC asks, "As I sit here ill, is there any credence to 'feeding a cold and starving a fever?' or is it the other way around?"First of all, get better, my friend. As for the advice, nope. Medicine worked for centuries under the humour model...
- Inside Nature's Giants - Giant Squid
It wasn't uncommon just a few centuries ago for sailors to tell tales of gigantic sea monsters whose tentacles would crush entire ships. Jules Verne's version of this monster as it attacked Captain Nemo's Nautilus is probably a good example...
- Inside Nature's Giants - Crocodiles
Crocodiles have been around virtually unchanged (externally at least) for a very long time, at least since the time of the dinosaurs. We mammals may think of ourselves as the present culmination of the evolutionary process, but crocodiles achieved the...
- Robert Bakker..."dino"mite Ideas
Robert Bakker is an American paleontologist who was the first to prove that dinosaurs were warm blooded and have more in common with birds than cold-blooded lizards. He is an outspoken a maverick and holds controversial opinions about the dinosaurs that...
- Cold Fusion...it's Back!
Kind of like the pesky mosquito that was thought to have been dispatched--"cold fusion" is back. "Physicist Claims First Real Demonstration of Cold Fusion" by Lisa Zyga May 27th, 2008 PhysOrg.com To many people, cold fusion sounds too good to be true....
Philosophy
Life in Cold Blood - The Cold Blooded Truth
In this fascinating documentary series, Sir David Attenborough brings to bear a new sense of awe, respect and admiration for our cold blooded cousins: the reptiles and the amphibians. Since they can't produce their own body heat the way we mammals can, these creatures must face daily struggles just to acquire enough energy to move, feed, digest, mate and protect themselves. And although they haven't quite evolved their own internal heating system (yet?), the adaptations they have developed represent the almost unlimited creativity of the blind evolutionary process.And if you think about it, though surely loads of fun, mating must be particularly difficult for reptiles, not just because of the energy it requires, but because they have to somehow get around the huge female tail blocking the way :)
Watch out for the hilarious scene of a battle between two competing tortoises, why females prefer males with assets and good real estate instead of a shiny personality... or the macabre footage of a gigantic python swallowing a deer... whole.
Check out the entire Life in Cold Blood series (as it becomes available).
.
- Feed A Cold, Starve A Fever?
PeterLC asks, "As I sit here ill, is there any credence to 'feeding a cold and starving a fever?' or is it the other way around?"First of all, get better, my friend. As for the advice, nope. Medicine worked for centuries under the humour model...
- Inside Nature's Giants - Giant Squid
It wasn't uncommon just a few centuries ago for sailors to tell tales of gigantic sea monsters whose tentacles would crush entire ships. Jules Verne's version of this monster as it attacked Captain Nemo's Nautilus is probably a good example...
- Inside Nature's Giants - Crocodiles
Crocodiles have been around virtually unchanged (externally at least) for a very long time, at least since the time of the dinosaurs. We mammals may think of ourselves as the present culmination of the evolutionary process, but crocodiles achieved the...
- Robert Bakker..."dino"mite Ideas
Robert Bakker is an American paleontologist who was the first to prove that dinosaurs were warm blooded and have more in common with birds than cold-blooded lizards. He is an outspoken a maverick and holds controversial opinions about the dinosaurs that...
- Cold Fusion...it's Back!
Kind of like the pesky mosquito that was thought to have been dispatched--"cold fusion" is back. "Physicist Claims First Real Demonstration of Cold Fusion" by Lisa Zyga May 27th, 2008 PhysOrg.com To many people, cold fusion sounds too good to be true....