The Human Dynasty

What will be the lasting impression made by mankind – 100 million years hence? “From the perspective of 100 million years in the future –- a geologist’s view -– the reign of humans on Earth would seem very short: we would almost certainly have died out long before then. What footprint will we leave in the rocks? What would have become of our great cities, our roads and tunnels, our cars, our plastic cups in the far distant future? What fossils would we leave behind?

What if nature’s most elaborate creations ‘just happened’? is intrigued by a new twist to evolution (full text available to subscribers)

[From the BBC]
 When the smell of roses had been wafted under the noses of slumbering volunteers they reported experiencing pleasant emotions in their dreams.

Life’s most elaborate products may be the result of happy accidents rather than natural selection, says (full text available to subscribers)

[From the BBC] 
It seems Neanderthals enjoyed a wide range of foods – including seal and dolphin when they could get hold of the animals.

(Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) Molecular biologists have decoded the genome of a nematode living in beetles.

Researchers have shown that the origin and evolution of the placenta and uterus in mammals is associated with evolutionary changes in a single regulatory protein, according to new report.

(Yale University) Yale researchers have shown that the origin and evolution of the placenta and uterus in mammals is associated with evolutionary changes in a single regulatory protein, according to a report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[From the BBC] 
A new touch-sensitive nerve fibre responsible for the sense of pleasure experienced during stroking has been described.

(Florida State University) A Florida State University researcher who uses high-powered computers to map the workings of proteins has uncovered a mechanism that gives scientists a better understanding of how evolution occurs at the molecular level.