Episode #1056

Episode #1056

News Items

• Redrawing the Human Family Tree
• Fig Wasps
• ALS May Be Autoimmune
• Complex Chemistry on Enceladus
• Genius Act

Quickie with Bob

https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/a-great-wave-is-rippling-through-our-galaxy-pushing-thousands-of-stars-out-of-place

Questions and Emails

Link is to some experiments done with Kea. https://youtu.be/Yj718A7_s4A Gary Rees New Zealand

Science or Fiction [ Show Answers ]

• Item #1 Science

  Leglessness has evolved independently in lizards at least 25 times. https://www.livescience.com/3053-evolution-action-lizards-losing-limbs.html

• Item #2 Fiction

  Although the precise number is debated, camera-type eyes have evolved from more primitive eyes independently in vertebrates about 4 times. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2781866/

• Item #3 Science

  Complex multicellular life has evolved independently on Earth at least 5 times. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02851-z

Skeptical Quote of the Week.

“The chimpanzee study taught us perhaps more than anything else to be a little humble; that we are, indeed, unique primates, we humans, but we’re simply not as different from the rest of the animal kingdom as we used to think.” - Jane Goodall