[A] new study by researchers at the University of Bristol in England and published in Biology Letters suggests “living space,” not competition between species, is responsible for evolutionary patterns throughout history.
Using fossils to focus on land animals, the research team suggests that animals have survived more easily in favorable environments that offered more food and less chance of being hunted and eaten by other animals.
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These are great. Watch.
posted by Isha Judd
We all have desires. If we are on a spiritual path, what attitude should we take towards them?
Many spiritual traditions interpret desire as counter productive, something that must be conquered in order to experience realization.
Other schools of thought, such as positive thinking, consider the fulfillment of desire to be the goal of our spiritual work.
I propose an alternative approach. Embrace desire, so you can see through it.
Two baby raccoons were stuck inside a vending machine at an apartment complex in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Watch video and read article.
Before there were text messages — or rather, “b4 txts” (B.T.?) — there was emblematic poetry.
Fashionable during the Victorian era, emblematic verse played games with form and typography. A poem about flight and divinity, for example, might have its stanzas arranged in the shape of an angel’s wings.
And a pining ode to one’s beloved might substitute letters, numbers and punctuation marks for actual words: “He says he loves U 2 X S, / U R virtuous and Y’s.”
Read article. As a literary scholar I would point out that emblematic poetry of various kinds has a long long history, going back at least as far as classical cultures. Probably further, since human nature hasn’t really changed.
Do the chemical signals we send out through our smell affect the hormone levels of other people?
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Doga. You bring your dog to class, do your poses, and encourage your doggie friend to practice along with you.
Watch Bo and Coco do breathing, stretching and meditation.
GOING to the bathroom could one day be profitable, a research team in Scotland that is studying urine for its potential to create low-cost energy said.
Doctors at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh were given a £130,000 ($225,000) grant to develop a system that offers an alternative to flammable hydrogen or toxic methanol.
Read article. Fascinating.
COLUMBIA, S.C. -A declawed, defanged bear is chained to a stake as hunting dogs bark and snap, trying to force the bear to stand on its hind legs. The training exercise called bear baying is intended to make the bears easier to shoot in the wild and it’s only allowed in South Carolina.
Armed with new undercover video of four such events, the Humane Society of the United States is pressuring state officials to explicitly outlaw the practice . . .
Thomas Ramey Watson is an affiliate faculty member of Regis University's College of Professional Studies. He has served as an Episcopal chaplain (lay), trained as a psychotherapist, done postdoctoral work at Cambridge University, and was named a Research Fellow at Yale University.
In addition to his scholarly writings, he is a published author of poetry and fiction.