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520-Million-Year-Old Arthropod May Have Had the First Modern Brain
An anonymous reader writes "Scientists say that the recently discovered 520 million year old insect brain, the oldest brain ever discovered in an arthropod, is surprisingly complex for its age, and may be the earliest example on record of a modern brain structure. Hailed as a 'transformative discovery,' researchers said that the 3-inch-long fossilized extinct arthropod found in Yunnan Province, China, shows that insects evolved to have complex brains significantly earlier than previously thought. Researchers said that the fossilized brain, which looks very similar to brains of modern insects, may provide a missing link that offers new insight on the evolutionary history of arthropods, a group of invertebrates that includes insects, spiders and crustaceans."
Access has been blocked because of: Tru-View has categorised this page as Drugs
Mind you the funniest one I have come across was a page about "sharp calculators classed as weapons. Well I suppose a (literally) sharp calculator could be!
You didnt miss much. Just some conclusions about the evolution of insects:
They explained that up until now, research on insects has been divided into two camps. While some researchers believe that insects evolved from the same ancestor that gave rise to malacostracans, a group of crustaceans that include crabs and shrimp, the majority of scientists believe that they were derived from a group of crustaceans called branchiopods, a species that includes include brine shrimp, which have a simpler brain anatomy than malacostracans.
However, researchers from the latest study say that the new finding shows that insects did in fact evolve from creatures that already possessed complex brains.
Read more at http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/12631/20121010/520-million-year-old-bug-creature-first.htm#hclmrDOPXj8WW6PR.99
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Frankly I find the idea of a bug that thinks offensive.
"Finally".
Some days it's just not worth
chewing through my restraints.
You know for sure that the first thought through the minds of Chinese researchers upon finding this fossilized bug: "What does it taste like?"
I mean, that was pretty much my first thought.. well, right after "what's the best way to cook it?"
The feather (or pen) is mightier than the sword, so calculators (especially sharp ones) should be considered dangerous.
On the other hand I'm have some trouble with the exact level of dangerousness. If pen beats sword (and thereby knife and dagger), what would a pocket calculator beat?
You didnt miss much. Just some conclusions about the evolution of insects:
I could have got that watching the conservative party conference
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
If pen beats sword (and thereby knife and dagger), what would a pocket calculator beat?
Barack Obama at calculating the deficit?
While a sharp calculator may have a certain level of dangerousness, to really cause damage you need a spreadsheet.
Red to red, black to black. Switch it on, but stand well back.
Over half a billion years. As far as we know, it's only been 13.75 billion years since (the|this most recent) big bang. That's 3.636% (repeating of course) of the age of the universe we've spent evolving our minds. And now we cast our gaze back over half a billion years in wonder.
You didnt miss much. Just some conclusions about the evolution of insects:
What is this evolution you talk of, and how can this insect be 520 million years old, if earth is only 6000 years old?
I still don't know whether to laugh or cry, when I hear people try to proclaim creationism as science. Otoh trying to get it into the classroom pisses me of for sure.
Nice one... Still the question of what weapon a calculator would beat remains unanswered. A pointy stick, a knife, assault rifle, sarin gas or an icbm? The whole issue is rather tricky. In close combat a pocket calculator is rather worthless, even if thrown in a slingshot. If it is used to calculate ballistic flight paths for artillery things change...
Reading this from the couch on the TV with large fonts, I read the title as:
520-Million-Year-Old Arthropod May Have Had the First Modem!
and I thought, damn, news for nerds, finally!
Performing oral sex or having sex without a condom may benefit both mental and physical health in women, according to scientists who analyzed the effects of semen's "mood-altering chemicals."
Citation needed on that.
Desperately!
But if it wasn't sharp it'd infringe Apple's patents.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
520 million years, or a good ways into the Atdabanian Stage. At that point trilobites have been around for at least 6 million years already. Surely they had fairly sophisticated arthropod brains. I dunno, this seems a little late, the primary radiation in Euarthropoda almost certainly came before this guy lived. In any case the systematics of arthropods are a mess.
"Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem." -- Jefferson
My daughter thinks SHE has the first modern brain.
You are welcome on my lawn.
If pen beats sword (and thereby knife and dagger), what would a pocket calculator beat?
Barack Obama at calculating the deficit?
Congress at creating a budget.
You didnt miss much. Just some conclusions about the evolution of insects:
What is this evolution you talk of, and how can this insect be 520 million years old, if earth is only 6000 years old?
I still don't know whether to laugh or cry, when I hear people try to proclaim creationism as science. Otoh trying to get it into the classroom pisses me of for sure.
Don't be absurd. Evolution is a Lie from Hell. I have that straight from the congressional panel on Science and Technology.
They are the backbone of the Republican Party! (insert comments about lack of spine, segmented bodies, etc. here)
Paul Ryan was that old....
If you add up all the intelligence of all the Republicans on the House science committee it would still be less than one of those bugs.
You mean the earth wasn't created 6,000 years ago?
He did not have the first modern birth control and must have coupled with someone of the opposite gender.
And here we are today with imaginary "Intellectual Property".
Oh, look, Joe found a better, faster way to make fire! Too bad the rest of us aren't allowed to do that.
Oh, look, Bill found that a spear works better than a club for killing prey! Too bad the rest of us can't do that.
Oh, look, John found that using round wheels work better than rectangles with rounded corners! Too bad the rest of us can't use that idea.
Oh, look! ! ! Ted found a way of having sex that looks like a lot more fun. Too bad . . .
Etc, etc.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
When in actuality, it should have been categorized as Bugs...
While a sharp calculator may have a certain level of dangerousness, to really cause damage you need a spreadsheet.
Spreadsheets are truly the weapons of math destruction.
Ezekiel 23:20
I can't speak to the accuracy of the claims, but here. Pretty much verbatim.
Anecdotally, I know what being on the receiving end does for my mood though. ;-)
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Thanks for that, nice to know. If I ever get out of my mom's basement and get a 'real' girl, I need to make sure she reads this. "There's your proof right there on the internet, honey, so it's really true! Now..." :-)