A recent article in Nature titled "Tooth Chemistry Reveals Sauropod Sojourns," describes the research of Henry Fircke and colleagues, who have found evidence that dinosaurs like Apatasaurus followed migratory patterns.

A few sauropod species scaled in relation to a human being.

Erectus vs. Sapien

Homo erectus skull cast.

With the obvious exception of members of certain religious groups, I think we can all agree that homo erectus and homo sapien (that'd be us) are related. But where are we in relation to homo erectus on the  wonderful family tree of human evolution? Are we great-great-great-grand babies? Cousins? Second-cousins three times removed? Fifth-cousin's abusive ex-husband's son-in-laws?

To get an idea of how difficult that is to figure out, let's think about that whole family tree thing literally. Imagine that tree has been broken up, scattered about, worn away, and buried in the ground for about 7 million years and now it's your job to put the pieces back together. Not so easy.

In fact, when Eugene Dubois discovered the first fossil of homo erectus in 1891, nicknamed Java Man, there was some controversy over whether or not it was even part of the same genus (homo, that is). Though there is still some debate over what fossils fall under the erectus species, it is now considered to be among the widest spread and longest lived species (see the long red stripe in the photo below). That's a lot of success for an extinct animal.

 

Click on the photo to check out this interactive timeline on the Smithsonian website. Red bars indicate different homo species and the time in which they lived.

How they are related to modern humans remains unclear. While some argue that homo erectus should be lumped in with our ancestors homo ergaster, others think that the species was part of an entirely different and now extinct branch.



A few extra notes on evolution:

We did NOT evolve from monekys!
On a weekly basis I have the privilege of listening to parents tell their children that they evolved from chimpanzees. This is NOT TRUE. While I strongly encourage parents to talk to their children about things like this (kids are smart and curious), if you would like to explain evolution try, "we evolved from animals that looked like monkeys," or "people and monkey's have the same great great great grandparents." Please! don't simplify a concept for your child (or unaware friend) using blatantly false information. You will just confuse them.


We also did NOT evolve from neanderthals. 
If that surprises you, I sympathize.  Neanderthals and modern humans are both part of the genus homo and share an ancestor, homo ergaster. However, that branch of the human family died off with the neanderthal. 

If you are still curious about human ancestry check out "How did humans develop?" in Popular Science. Though a little lengthy, this article provides a readable description of some crucial fossil findings and describes some traditional and modern analysis techniques. On page 3 it provides some background information regarding the initial controversy that surrounded the discovery of the first homo erectus fossil by Eugene Dubois.

I Spy: Revealed

*more info coming! this post is waiting on a document to verify some awesome new content!*

Dear not so frequent visitors,

Over the past week "I Think Therefore I Science" (ITTIS) has been posting photos of a mystery science object. If you haven't been keeping up and you'd still like to try and have a guess:

Check out "I Spy..." and "I Spy: Welcome to 'Heaven'?" for a few hints to help you figure it out on your own.
Or skip it, and see the answer, which is:

It's the Van de Graff generator! "What's that?" you say? It's the big machine at the Museum of Science, Boston that shoots lightning bolts.

Let's start at the bottom:



Britt: demonstrating the relative size of the lower frame



Before you ascend the yellow ladder (seen in "I Spy") to the dome of the VDG (Van de Graff generator) you pass through here. Typically, enormous cylinders would span the length of the frame over Britt's head carrying large rubber belts. When the generator is running, these belts carry a charge from the base of the machine up the hollow neck to...



Greg: inspecting bolts on the upper frame


... here:
Insulated by the surrounding air and the concrete of the dome's columns, the potential of the seperated charge builds up until it is realeased from....



...that!



The Museum of Science's Van de Graff generator in the Theatre of Electricty (ToE)

 
If you've never experienced a Museum of Science Lightning Show before here's a taste:

Some fun facts about the van de graff generator at the museum of science:
- It is the largest of it's kind in the world.
- This Van de Graff generator was built by Mr. Van de Graff.

* A note: These photos were taken while cleaning and maintenance was taking place. The two photos shown here of the inside of the machine do not show it totally assembled. Typically large cylinders span the length of the frame that Greg is inspecting and the one above Britt's head. These cylinders rotate the belts that span through the neck of right dome's support. The left support is where the ladder is allowing access to the domes.

Don't like my blog?

... Well, don't hate science!

Check out some of the links on the right under "Science Cites and Science Sites." Read articles from famous science periodicals or search for a blog on a science topic more specific to your interests. Hopefully someone else's take will suit your learning style if mine doesn't.

I Spy: Welcome to "Heaven?" ...

.... or, "that dome thingy"? or wherever you were hoping that ladder was leading.

Was it what you thought it was? Any new guesses, before I actually tell you?
If you haven't, check out the September post "I spy..." for another clue, or move on to "I Spy: Revealed" in October for the answer.

A Bronto-who?

A lot has changed with dinosaurs since I was a kid. Today, I figured we'd get the bad news out of the way.

For those of you who aren't up to date:

Brontosaurus no longer exists.

I'm sorry if "The Land Before Time" was your favorite movie as a kid (it might have been mine), and if the endearing journey of "little-foot" inspired your parents to teach you something that is no longer true.

To those of you who did know: yes, I am aware that this is slightly old news (like, before-I-was-born old news), but people keep asking me if I knew that Brontosaurus was really just grown-up Apatosaurus, so I figured I would help everyone get on the same page here.

The Apatosaurus: This dinosaur and many of its relatives actually carried their  necks at an angle closer to horizontal. I mean, sticking your nose in the air all the time is exhausting. Try it.*

To sum up the situation:

A not very thorough paleontologist found a baby dinosaur and named it Apatosaurus. Then, he found a grown up of the same species (minus the skull) and named it Brontosaurus. Then, he found the head of a different dinosaur and stuck it on the "Brontosaurus." About ten years later another scientist noticed, and about 80 years after that the world started to catch on.

There's an awesome article in the unmuseum (a website) about it. http://www.unmuseum.org/dinobront.htm

In conclusion, don't let spell check tell you that "Apatosaurus" is misspelled and should be "Brontosaurus" (like it's been telling me for the past hour) because that's wrong.

*This image taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica