Today the rain fell

by mwmwm

Today the rain fell
and the small barn roof
was the timpani
in the symphony of the rain

Today the rain fell
and the big barn roof
thrummed like a thousand
marching hobnail boots.

continued at Daily Kos....

Rolling the dice with evolution

by mwmwm

A new study by J. Alroy, just published in Science (subscription required for full text), has been getting some reporting by other sources. It's mildly entitled "The Shifting Balance of Diversity Among Major Marine Animal Groups."

It prods me to my keyboard.

Evolution, and biodiversity, and the interrelationships of biosystems, are to me the imprint of the universe's organizing principles. It's what I grew up with instead of religion.

My father was an evolutionary biologist and animal behaviorist, and so I grew up with dinnertime discussions about evolutionary pressures on butterfly wing designs, or the evolutionary explanations for beehive altruism, or why mating behavior affected peacock feather development.

Elroy's analysis -- while not a surprise -- hit me surprisingly hard, because it drove home the full impact of the "sixth extinction."

continued at Daily Kos....