Anthropological whisperings from the ear lobe

Anthropological whisperings from the ear lobe

by | Dec 21, 2012 | Site Content

The Bio-edge starts with the human body. So many enigmatic body parts to choose from: chin, appendix, eye whites, thumb, foot, penis, mammaries, sinuses, kidneys . . . No other species on Earth has a chin such as ours, and biologists can only surmise that this bony...
Would you like your paradox with a pinch of salt?

Would you like your paradox with a pinch of salt?

by | Nov 8, 2012 | Site Content

Is there a reader who hasn’t scratched a head over the role of sodium in the human diet? The behaviour of Na in diet, health and ecology seems illogical. This is partly because sodium has an addictive aspect – and all addiction is paradoxical from an adaptive...
Giant panda, giant cavy, and a pastural allegory

Giant panda, giant cavy, and a pastural allegory

by | Nov 6, 2012 | Site Content

For more than a year Robin and the Honey Badger have felt inspired to compare the giant panda (Carnivora: Ursidae: Ailuropoda melanoleuca) of China with the capybara (Rodentia: Caviidae: Hydrochoerus) of South America. What has lagged, however, is a creative way to...
Lateral thoughts on the leatherback turtle

Lateral thoughts on the leatherback turtle

by | Oct 30, 2012 | Site Content

At the mention of the leatherback turtle[1], most people generally knowledgeable about animals may visualise merely one of the half dozen-odd types of marine turtles collectively associated with tropical seas. However, this particular species deserves a special shelf...
Nesting a tangle of cause and effect

Nesting a tangle of cause and effect

by | Oct 8, 2012 | Site Content

Grand constructions by non-human organisms seem to defy our self-concept as the engineering animal. Yet some of the greatest feats of engineering can be found in Nature itself: beaver dams and lodges; mima mounds on a landscape scale; termitaria five metres...