Word: extinction
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...downside is that these complex systems can easily become unstable given the slightest change in conditions. That, according to some experts, could explain why the dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago. According to this notion, the popular theory that the cause was a comet crash is only half right: the comet did crash, but its effect was to destabilize dino behavior, rendering the creatures unable to compete with mammals, those hairy little animals with big ambitions. This is just the sort of behavioral disruption (induced by disease rather than a comet impact) that leads to a disintegration...
...wrong fish." Zebrafish are prolific and easy to raise under laboratory conditions, but they are advanced in evolutionary terms. A study of more primitive sea life, such as sharks or sturgeon, might yield greater amounts of evolutionary information; even better subjects would be lungfish and coelacanths, mysterious, nearly extinct creatures that lurk in the ocean depths and are the living fish closest to the fishlike ancestors of four-legged animals...
...child may go hungry, a deserving student may not finish college because of the hamburger you ate. The next hamburger you eat may mean an animal species will become extinct...
...window on the history of life. Down through the ages, sudden flows of sticky, honey-colored tree resin have ensnared all manner of small life forms, including beetles, spiders, and even lizards and frogs. Moreover, as this natural polymer hardens, it becomes virtually airtight and waterproof. Not only are extinct organisms like Cano's bee preserved in exquisite anatomical detail, but biological molecules such as dna appear to be largely protected from deterioration. When something gets caught in amber, says Wheeler, it's like putting it into a time capsule...
...history of laboratory contamination that has haunted researchers working on ancient DNA. Though Cano took every precaution, laboratory samples can pick up extraneous material as easily as a jacket collects lint. Last year a team of British researchers disclosed that the DNA they thought had come from an extinct mammoth belonged to a lab technician...