The Atavism

Sunday Spinelessness – The first animals (modern analogs)

David Winter • Jul 03, 2011

• animals,
• evolution,
• first animals,
• sci-blogs,
• sunday spinelessness

The last time I tried to work out what the first animals might have looked like I decided fossils probably weren't much help. So, today I'm going stop looking back into the depths of time, and see if any modern creatures might provide clues as how anim... Read More

Sunday Spinelessness – Snails can be speedy too

David Winter • Jun 26, 2011

• powelliphanta,
• rhytididae,
• sci-blogs,
• snails,
• sunday spinelessness

Sorry for anyone looking forward to the next part of a series on the first animals - that posts needs more editing than I have time to do this evening. Instead, I'm going to jump on an internet bandwagon and show you a surprising video that's been doin... Read More

Sunday Spinelessness – The first animals (fossils)

David Winter • Jun 19, 2011

• animals,
• eumetazoa,
• evolution,
• first animals,
• fossil,
• sci-blogs,
• sunday spinelessness

I see that Prime is playing a documentary by David Attenborough on the origin of the animals. One of my favourite people talking about one of my favourite topics is motivation enough to dust off one of the many posts in The Atavisms massive "drafts" fo... Read More

Sunday Spinelessness – Razor-back

David Winter • Jun 12, 2011

• beetle,
• photos,
• sci-blogs,
• sunday spinelessness

The photos I share here are really not representative sample of the bugs I come across in my travels. For me to get photos of a bug I need to get pretty close to it, and that means i can't get nice pictures of creatures that are skittish or particular... Read More

Sunday Spinelessness – Flat animals and biology’s age of discovery

David Winter • Jun 06, 2011

• animals,
• placazoa,
• sci-blogs,
• sunday spinelessness

Sometimes it's tempting to look back on the history of science and feel just a little envious of the people that went before us. Imagine being alive at a time when you could jump on a boat, sail to some tropical country and discover thousands of specie... Read More

Sunday Spinelessness – Earth Measuring Caterpillars

David Winter • May 29, 2011

• larvae,
• lepidoptera,
• photos,
• sci-blogs,
• sunday spinelessness

It's Sunday night. So, of course, it's time for me to find an excuse for not writing that post I've been going on and on about and, instead, put up some photos and get back to work (or at least, stop working in time to watch Sherock). The excuse is sam... Read More

Sunday Spinelessness – Embracing point and shoot photography

David Winter • May 22, 2011

• bee,
• beetle,
• bumblebee,
• fly,
• photos,
• sci-blogs,
• sunday spinelessness

Last week I told you all that I had a great idea for a Sunday Spinelessness post, but not enough time write it. So, of course, this week I've managed my time in such a way... that there's still no way I'm going to get to write that idea up. I'll leave ... Read More

3 tweets

David Winter • May 20, 2011

• evolution,
• genetics,
• sci-blogs,
• science communication,
• speciation,
• species,
• Twitter

Let's see if Storify stories can be embedded in blogger (if not, I guess you'll have to read it here) … Read More

Sunday Spinelessness – The little guy

David Winter • May 15, 2011

• arachnophilia,
• Cycloctenidae,
• photos,
• sci-blogs,
• spiders,
• sunday spinelessness

I seem to have run out of week. I had a great idea for a Sunday post this week, but I'm not going to have time to write that one. Instead, here's a recent discovery from the backyard. Recognise the eyes? This must be a male of the same Cycloctenid (scu... Read More

Sunday Spinelessness – Playing favourites

David Winter • May 08, 2011

• photos,
• sci-blogs,
• sunday spinelessness

As long as I've lived in Dunedin, the Otago Museum has a run an annual wildlife photography competition. I never entered a photo, because I go through exactly the same process every year. I look back through a years worth of photos and start picking ou... Read More