Episode #944
News Items
Who's That Noisy
- Answer to last week:
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Science
The oldest extant branch of life is the ctenophores, which go back 700 million years. https://www.earth.com/news/oldest-living-creature-on-earth-identified-emerging-700-million-years-ago/
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Item #2
Fiction
Polypodiophyta, a type of fern, is the oldest extant plant genus at 380 million years. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/998112, https://uwaterloo.ca/earth-sciences-museum/resources/fern-fossils
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Item #3
Science
The record for the slowest evolving vertebrate goes to the elephant shark (Callorhinchus milii) which has changed little in 450 million years. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature12826
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
‘It is hard to tell which is worse; the wide diffusion of things that are not true, or the suppression of things that are true.’ ~ Harriet Martineau