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Scientists doing research for the movie discovered dozens of new species. They found two different species of bass fish; a wrasse, which is a small striped fish that cleans larger fish; a new cat shark; several new species of scorpion fish; new species of sponges (animal sponges, not kitchen sponges which are made by humans), urchins (which are related to sea-stars or starfishes) and mollusks. Mollusks are animals that have soft bodies, hard shells, and are invertebrates. Invertebrates are animals that do not have spines or backbones. Examples of mollusks include: snails, clams, oysters, and mussels.

The researchers used a submersible vessel to study the largely unexplored waters between 200 feet and 1,000 feet deep. Submersibles are sort of like submarines and are used to travel in the ocean to study plants and animals there. 200-1,000 feet is too deep for scuba diving, and previous studies using submersibles concentrated on deeper waters. Much of the ocean and living things in it are still unexplored.

``Galapagos,'' the new 3-D film focusing on the unusual wildlife on and around the Pacific island group west of Ecuador, will have its world premiere Oct. 27 at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, and tour other IMAX theaters in other science museums around the country.

This update was based on an Associated Press article from Infobeat called "Scientists Pack Research Into Movie" By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID

The study found that the camel, pig, giraffe, sheep and cow share some gene sequences with the whale and hippo, indicating that far back in time all had a common ancestor. A gene sequence found only in whales and the hippo show that they also share a common ancestor that the other animals do not.

It is thought that an ancestor of the modern whale was a land animal that returned to the sea and evolved into a group of marine mammals called cetacean. Along the way, hind legs were lost, and forelegs were replaced by flippers.

Whales and hippos share several adaptations, including the lack of hair and oil-producing skin glands, and the ability to communicate and to nurse offspring under water.

A report of the study appears 09/07/99 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This update was based on a Washington Associated Press report on 08/30/99, in an Infobeat article called "Gene Study Links Whales and Hippos"

A new species of humans was found. At 4.4 millions of years old, it is the oldest one found so far. Ardipithecus ramidus was either a direct ancestor of humans, or a close relative. Out of all the human species that scientists have discovered so far, A. ramidus is closest to whatever the common ancestor of modern apes and humans were. However, the original common ancestor of both modern apes and humans would have to be older, based on what scientists know about the teeth of A. ramidus.

Today, there is only one species of humans. But in the whole history of humans, having only one species of humans is unusual. Before the Neanderthals (the species of humans that died out the most recently) died out 30,000 years ago, it was common for many human species to exist at the same time. Evolution is not a smooth progression, but includes lots of trial and error with most species that have ever lived dying out (going extinct).

August 6, 1999 news --Ever meet a person who won't admit they are wrong even when you prove it to them? The neat thing about science is that new stuff replaces old stuff if the old stuff turns out to be wrong. This is why science can lead to changes that can save or improve people's lives. A recent change in science has to do with what groups scientists put living things into. The largest groups are called kingdoms and there used to be two of them. They were animals and plants. (Human beings are animals.) Knowing about the evolution of plants is important because many of the medicines people can take when they are sick come from plants. Learning more about plants can help some scientists find newer and better medicines.

Scientists now think that there are 5 kingdoms: animals, green plants, red plants, brown plants (mostly sea weed and algae, which also grows in water), and fungi.

Fungi means more than one fungus (you don't say funguses, you say fungi). Examples of fungi are the mold that grows on food that is too old (penicillan, a medicine that has saved lives comes from mold that grows on old bread), and mushrooms. Never eat a mushroom unless it came from the store, or your parents grow their own mushrooms and give them to you. There are different kinds of mushrooms and some of them are poisonous which means they can make you sick or kill you. It turns out that mushrooms may be more closely related to you than to the trees they grow on. Fungi are more closely related to animals than to plants.

The reason that scientists now see 5 kingdoms instead of 2, is that each kingdom evolved from different living things that each had only one cell. Something with only one cell is very little, and most of them you can't see unless you use a microscope. All living things are made up of cells, including you!

It also used to be that scientists thought land plants evolved from salt water plants that grew in the sea. But they found out that green plants evolved from a kind of plant that grows in fresh (not salty) water, like in lakes.

This news was mostly found in an Infobeat article which for a while will be at http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560581471-23d

The way scientists know this is by comparing another famous fossil, Lucy, with fossils of an early, more human-like species. Lucy has arm bones that look long for her short legs, while homo erectus has longer arms and shorter legs. Garhi is in-between the two, with longer legs but arms that are also still long.

Animal bones near the Garhi skeleton have marks from tools, which is the earliest evidence of humans using tools to cut up animal meat. Also, eating meat led to more brain power which, over time, led to the evolution of modern humans like you!

CNN article
See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559270228-062 for the Infobeat article if it is still there.

Humans have been getting more and more flaws in our genes (mutations). The flaws may make some of us a little less fit, but not diseased. Modern medecine has allowed us to live longer, and to allow some couples to have babies who otherwise wouldn't be able to. This means that more of the flawed genes are being passed on. However, since most mutations are very small ones, it can take thousands of years before causing any harm.

Scientists found chemical evidence of what may be one of the oldest forms of life, plankton. It was found in rock that was 3.7 billion years old. Plankton are bacteria that use the sun's energy to make their own food, like plants do. If you want to know more about bacteria, see Evolution 6: Kids' Page 8.

What they do know so far, from looking at the foot bones, is that the ape-man they found both walked upright on two legs and also climbed trees. Scientists are excited about finding the skeleton because studying it will tell us more about how humans evolved.

For more details, see these general news sources:
nbc news Dec. 9 article
University of Witwatersrand press release of Dec. 9
Infobeat news Dec. 9 article

Some fishermen saw fifteen iguanas sailing the ocean on logs that washed up on the shore of the Anguilla Island in the Caribbean. They made the trip all the way from Guadeloupe Island, which is 320 kilometers away (about 200 miles)!

The full article, Feathered Dinosaurs found in China, can be found off-line on the Science News site.

See also:
Are Birds Really Dinosaurs? This page (off-site) explains why the answer is "yes"!

This kind of behavior makes the cowbird a brood parasite. Parasites are usually living things that live on or in another living thing called a host often in a way that makes the host sick or less likely to survive. One example would be a tapeworm that lives inside a host animal and takes all the nutrients from the food that the host eats. In brood parasitism, the parasite doesn't live inside the host, but tricks the host into caring for the parasites babies.

A few of the other birds have evolved defenses and can recognize eggs that don't belong to them and kick them out of the nest. Scientists aren't sure why more of the other birds don't kick cowbird eggs out of the nest. Some say it is because smaller birds might hurt their own eggs while trying to kick the cowbird egg out. Others say it is because of evolutionary lag; some birds haven't had enough time to evolve defenses against the cowbird's behavior.

You can find the article I got this information from, Stealth, Lies and Cowbirds on the Science News site.

Also see:
The Dinosauria: Truth is Stranger Than Fiction to learn more about Dinosaurs.

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