Earth and other unlikely worlds

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Links 19/10/13

'We live in an odd place and an odd time, amid things that know that they exist and that can reflect upon that, even in the dimmest, most birdlike way. And this needs more explaining than we are at present willing to give it. The question of how the brain produces the feeling of subjective experience, the so-called "hard problem", is a conundrum so intractable that one scientist I know refuses even to discuss it at the dinner table.'

A new law of biology: All mammals pee for about 21 seconds.

Skull 5: 'The spectacular fossilised skull of an ancient human ancestor that died nearly two million years ago has forced scientists to rethink the story of early human evolution.'

Great example of the extended phenotype: 'Bats that nest inside curled-up leaves may be getting an extra benefit from their homes: the tubular roosts act as acoustic horns, amplifying the social calls that the mammals use to keep their close-knit family groups together.'

A newly discovered giant virus 'definitively bridges the gap between viruses and cells - a gap that was proclaimed as dogma at the very outset of modern virology back in the 1950s.'

Space-born jellyfish hate life on Earth.

The Beautiful Mars tumblr (hat tip to Christina Scholz). 

posted by Paul McAuley at 12:25 pm

1 Comments:

Blogger  Ashley said...

I liked the first link. Well worth reading.

October 19, 2013 8:27 pm  

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Name: Paul McAuley
Location: London, United Kingdom

I'm the author of more than twenty books, including novels, short story collections and a film monograph. My latest novel is Beyond the Burn Line. For reprint, translation and media requests, please contact Oliver Cheetham at the Mic Cheetham Agency.

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Previous Posts

  • Pro Bono
  • Yet Another Blog Post About Not Blog Posting
  • Links 04/10/13
  • Links 27/09/13
  • Green Martians
  • Short Stuff
  • A Few Notes On Thomas Pynchon's Bleeding Edge
  • There Are Doors (XXI)
  • Links 14/09/13
  • Links 07/09/13

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