Haikouichthys! Animal bodies are so extraordinarily complex today. It's worth remembering how much simpler they were back in their early evolutionary history.

Time for another plug. This book concerns the science of evolutionary development (evo devo), or how regulatory genes control the growth of a creature (including us): [link]

I live in a whole different country, so no. But what I do have is Walking with Monsters. By which I mean that I'm watching it now. When I said I wanted to watch it, I guess what I really meant was "I want to walk to the other end of the house and pull it off the bookshelf in the theatre room".

How crassly US-centric of me. I sort of thought they were everywhere that had the tubes filled with cats and, likely, pornography.

Still, I would like to walk to my bookcase and watch awesome stuff. I don't have nearly enough documentaries on hand. I just depend on the kindness of internets.

This book concerns the science of evolutionary development (evo devo), or how regulatory genes control the growth of a creature (including us)

SOLD!

I mean, I would like to purchase this book and read the heck out of it.

How crassly US-centric of me. I sort of thought they were everywhere that had the tubes filled with cats and, likely, pornography.

We have a local version, Quickflix, which I'm currently using to go through The Good Wife, Parks and Recreation and Waking the Dead. (Taking Biyi through the first two.) I don't use streaming though, just Luddite-friendly disc rental.

Monsters have now finished their walkies. And I should recommend another book. Endless Forms Most Beautiful is specifically about evo devo, but another book that has a lot to say on the subject - and I think puts it into a more interesting context - is Neil Shubin's Your Inner Fish. [link]

The story behind it: the author, Neil Shubin, is one of the discoverers of Tiktaalik. [link] This is a very important transitional fossil - a lobe-finned fish from the time when tetrapods - land vertebrates - were first evolving. If not our own direct ancestor, it's a close offshoot.

Shubin used this as a starting point to discuss the evolution of the various components of our (tetrapod) bodies, and specifically what we can learn from the comparison to Tiktaalik. It's a very effective narrative structure, and when talking about how bodies developed, necessarily pulls in a lot of good information on evo devo.

Isn't today erikaj's birthday? Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday erika!

Happy birthday, erika!

Happy Birthday, erika!!!

I missed Trudy! Of all the nights to actually sleep.

Happy birthday, erika!!

And I should recommend another book. Endless Forms Most Beautiful is specifically about evo devo, but another book that has a lot to say on the subject - and I think puts it into a more interesting context - is Neil Shubin's Your Inner Fish.

I have that book! I liked it, but it wasn't as great a read as I expected.

Happy birthday, erika!