jack

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...evolution.html
Italian wall lizards introduced to a tiny island off the coast of Croatia are evolving in ways that would normally take millions of years to play out, new research shows.

In just a few decades the 5-inch-long (13-centimeter-long) lizards have developed a completely new gut structure, larger heads, and a harder bite, researchers say.




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In 1971, scientists transplanted five adult pairs of the reptiles from their original island home in Pod Kopiste to the tiny neighboring island of Pod Mrcaru, both in the south Adriatic Sea.

Genetic testing on the Pod Mrcaru lizards confirmed that the modern population of more than 5,000 Italian wall lizards are all descendants of the original ten lizards left

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Real World

Those buggers are a load of fun. In southern Italy, where I'm from, they're everywhere. I used to catch them as a kid.

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

Harry Boy

Thats Bush's Fault

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Harry Boy (Genius)

In The Absence Of Law And Order Society Will Surely Destroy Itself

KontradictioN

Funny, I can do that in a matter of minutes.

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CREDIT - Sicilian

patsfan13

Sounds like the info to trigger the changes were already there, coded in their DNA.

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"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."

wistahpatsfan

I hate genetics. It's so hard to understand. Plus, it doesn't make sense. Why would God make something that's so complicated? Why aren't we just solid bodies of flesh with a head so we can see and hear, legs to move, and arms to do stuff with?

Stokes

Could be, also could be the changes are developmental, not genetic. In other words their diet is affecting the way their gut and head develops, while their genes are still the same as the parental line. I wonder if they've found a genetic basis for the changes yet? An easy test would be to take some before they hatch and put them back on the original island and see if they look like their parents or like their ancestors on the original island. Or maybe you'd have to have the parents on the original island before they conceive, eating the old diet. Pretty cool stuff either way.

godef

Hmm... has anyone here read "Darwin's Radio" by Greg Bear?

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KontradictioN

Anybody else think that we can use this lizard's DNA to create a powerful supervillain?

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CREDIT - Sicilian

patsfan13

No what's it about?

Another thought, a person lives in JApan and eats a fish and rice diet, they move to America and the kids start eating big mac's and become fat, evolution at work? Or a response to eviroment?

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"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."