Showing posts with label remarkable. Show all posts
Showing posts with label remarkable. Show all posts

2013-10-10

Diamonds on other planets

Diamonds may be hiding on other planets - CNN.com


(CNN) -- Move over, Lucy: Researchers say Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus may also be in the sky, with diamonds.

The atmospheres of these gas-ball planets have the perfect temperature and pressure conditions to host carbon in the form of diamond, say Mona Delitsky of California Specialty Engineering in Pasadena, California, and Kevin Baines of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Their research was presented Wednesday at the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences conference in Denver.



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2013-09-30

NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Finds Propylene on Titan


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2013-06-02

The Smiler: Alton Towers' 14 Loop Rollercoaster

Video: World's first 14 loop rollercoaster opens at Alton Towers - Telegraph

Not for the faint hearted, the rollercoaster features a series of twisted psychological effects including optical illusions, blinding lights and jabbing needles designed to mess with your mind.



The Smiler | Alton Towers Resort

The Smiler's 5 Mind Manipulations: 
  • The Innoculator 
    A jab of happiness as you pass by stage one of the Marmalisation process.
  • The Tickler
    Aims to tickle you until you can't resist smiling
  • The Flasher  
    The giant flashing device, blinding you as you hurtle underneath the leg.
  • The Giggler
    Infectious, intoxicating laughing gas
  • The Hypnotiser  
    Has the power to disorientate, mesmerise and disrupt your self-awareness.

The Smiler – The Ride – Experience The Smiler at Alton Towers Resort


KEY FACTS


Ride time: 165 seconds

Passengers per ride train: 16

Minimum rider height: 1.4m

Location: X Sector

Highest drop: 30m

Maximum speed: approx 85 km/h

Track length: 1,170m

Opening: May 2013



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2013-05-26

The Narwhal's Mysterious Tusk

Narwhal Tusk Discoveries

The narwhal, Monodon monoceros, has long fascinated sea explorers, scientists and aristocracy. This arctic whale is characterized by a single spiraled tusk extending six to nine feet, emerging from the upper jaw and through the lips of adult males. Some females may exhibit a tusk and, in rare instances, a male with two tusks has been observed. Often associated with the horn of the unicorn, the narwhal tooth has found its way into the books of scientific rarities and mythical tales.


The Narwhal's Mysterious Tusk - YouTube

This species of whale has an unusual and mysterious tusk, once harvested and sold as a unicorn horn for 10 times its weight in gold.




HowStuffWorks "The Narwhal Tusk"


The narwhal's tusk isn't unique at first glance. Elephants, rhinos and walruses all have these long, protruding teeth. But this one is different from any other tooth you've ever seen.

[...]

... The soft, sensitive part is on the outside, while the dense, hard part makes up the middle. Ten million tiny holes lie right on the surface on the tusk. Human teeth have these little tubules too, which is why sometimes the cold bothers your teeth, but they're covered with enamel. Imagine having all your nerves exposed in the icy waters of the Arctic. Why would the most sensitive part of a tooth be on the outside?

Harvard Gazette: Marine biology mystery solved

Function of 'unicorn' whale's 8-foot tooth discovered by Harvard School of Dental Medicine researcher


Nweeia has discovered that the narwhal's tooth has hydrodynamic sensor capabilities. Ten million tiny nerve connections tunnel their way from the central nerve of the narwhal tusk to its outer surface. Though seemingly rigid and hard, the tusk is like a membrane with an extremely sensitive surface, capable of detecting changes in water temperature, pressure, and particle gradients. Because these whales can detect particle gradients in water, they are capable of discerning the salinity of the water, which could help them survive in their Arctic ice environment. It also allows the whales to detect water particles characteristic of the fish that constitute their diet. There is no comparison in nature in tooth form, expression, and functional adaptation.


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2013-04-22

Norway plans world's first ship tunnel

Norway plans world's first ship tunnel | Construction News | The Construction Index


It would bypass the Stad peninsula in Selje, which is a very exposed area of the coast.
The Norwegian government said that the tunnel will reduce accident risk and improve conditions for sailors along the coast. "This is a spectacular project that we are looking forward to taking on," said coastal director Kirsti Slotsvik.


BBC News - Who, what, why: Why build a ship tunnel?

The Norwegian government has backed an ambitious plan to create the world's first ship tunnel. But why has nobody tackled this engineering feat before?

The answer

  • The Stad peninsula is a mountainous finger of land where fierce weather conditions disrupt and endanger ships
  • Shipping is Norway's second most important industry after oil and gas
  • They are also world-leaders in tunnelling technology, having completed the world's longest road tunnel

Norway to build world's first tunnel for large ships - Ship Technology

The government has agreed to provide NOK1.6bn ($274m) for the Stad Ship Tunnel, which will be built to a height of 45m, width of 36m and will span a length of 1.7km.
The proposed tunnel, which is being planned by Nordfjord Vekst, would bypass the Stadlandet (Stad) peninsula in Selje, Norway linking two fjords near the towns of Teigen and Berstad.
Peaking at 645m, the Stad peninsula is a mountainous divide between the Norwegian Sea to the north and the North Sea to the south.



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2013-04-04

Giant tarantula discovered in Sri Lanka

Fast, Venomous, Face-Sized Tiger Spider Found in Sri Lanka

Smithsonian reports that Poecilotheria rajaei, a new species of Tiger Spider, has been found in Sri Lanka. The large spider has a leg span of eight inches. It is also poisonous and very fast. The discovery was reported in the British Tarantula Society journal. You can read the article here.

New species of giant tarantulas with leg span of eight inches discovered in northern Sri Lanka - NY Daily News


"It can be quite attractive, unless spiders freak you out," British Tarantula Society journal editor Peter Kirk said.
Nanayakkara, a co-author of the study, named the new spider "Poecilotheria rajaei" in honor of a police officer who helped the research team wade through war-torn northern Sri Lanka.

[...]

"The first specimen of this new species, which was brought to the attention of the authors, was a dead specimen of a male which had been killed by local villagers," the study reads. "Upon close inspection it was noticed that it did not conform to the descriptions of any of the species of Poecilotheria so far described from the island."
The Pokies are only found in India and Sri Lanka. They are colorful spiders, but not the largest — some tarantulas can be 12 inches in diameter.


This Giant New Tarantula Has an Eight-Inch Leg Span | Smart News

Scientists first encountered the new tarantula in 2009, when villagers in northern Sri Lanka gave them the corpse of one that they had killed. From there, the scientists went on a quest to find more, routing around in tree holes and bark peel with a foot-wide hand net. (Some scientists are tough as nails.) We’re not advocating for any harm to come to these little (gigantic) spiders, but we can certainly all admit that some creatures are just a little more nightmare-inducing than others.
The new spider was just described in the British Tarantula Society Journal. Wired:
Covered in beautiful, ornate markings, the spiders belong to the genus Poecilotheria, known as “Pokies” for short. These are the tiger spiders, an arboreal group indigenous to India and Sri Lanka that are known for being colourful, fast, and venomous.

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2012-11-07

Chondrocladia Lyra a Harp-Shaped Carnivorous Sponge

Extraordinary harp-shaped carnivorous sponge discovered living on the Pacific Ocean floor | Mail Online

  • Chondrocladia lyra lives at depths of 11,000ft of the coast of California
  • Marine biologists discovered it using remote-control deep-sea vehicles
  • It traps traps and eats tiny crustaceans using hooks on its branching limbs
Marine biologists scouring the seabed have discovered an new species of carnivorous sponge that bears a remarkable resemblance to a harp or lyre.

A team from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in Moss Landing, California, found the weird deep-sea predator off their state's northern coast.

They named the new species Chondrocladia lyra - or harp sponge - because the basic structure of its body is shaped like the musical instrument.


Scientists describe extroardinary new carnivorous sponge


Clinging with root-like "rhizoids" to the soft, muddy sediment, the harp sponge captures tiny animals that are swept into its branches by deep-sea currents. Typically, sponges feed by straining bacteria and bits of organic material from the seawater they filter through their bodies. However, carnivorous harp sponges snare their prey—tiny crustaceans—with barbed hooks that cover the sponge's branching limbs. Once the harp sponge has its prey in its clutches, it envelops the animal in a thin membrane, and then slowly begins to digest it.

[...]
The harp sponge's unusual shape and exposure to currents may also help it to reproduce more effectively. The swollen balls at the tip of the sponge's upright branches produce packets of sperm. These sperm packets are released into passing currents and are captured on the branches of other nearby sponges. The sperm then works its way from the packets into the host sponge to fertilize its eggs. As the fertilized eggs mature, these contact sites swell up, forming bulges part way up the host sponge's branches (see photo).





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2012-10-28

Evidence of Presentiment Without External Clues

Listen to Your Intuition, Because Your Body Can Predict Future Events Without Conscious Clues | Popular Science


Humans can predict the future when we have some evidence--like clouds and the smell of rain hinting at a storm. But can we anticipate future events without sensory clues?

Can your body sense future events without any external clue?

ScienceDaily (Oct. 22, 2012) — Wouldn't it be amazing if our bodies prepared us for future events that could be very important to us, even if there's no clue about what those events will be?
Presentiment without any external clues may, in fact, exist, according to new Northwestern University research that analyzes the results of 26 studies published between 1978 and 2010.
A business person playing a video game during working hours. Wouldn't it be amazing if our bodies prepared us for future events that could be very important to us, even if there's no clue about what those events will be? (Credit: © Vitaly Raduntsev / Fotolia)

Can Your Body Sense Future Events Without Any External Clue?: Northwestern University News

This phenomenon is sometimes called “presentiment,” as in “sensing the future,” but Mossbridge said she and other researchers are not sure whether people are really sensing the future.

“I like to call the phenomenon ‘anomalous anticipatory activity,’” she said. “The phenomenon is anomalous, some scientists argue, because we can’t explain it using present-day understanding about how biology works; though explanations related to recent quantum biological findings could potentially make sense. It’s anticipatory because it seems to predict future physiological changes in response to an important event without any known clues, and it’s an activity because it consists of changes in the cardiopulmonary, skin and nervous systems.”

The study, “Predictive Physiological Anticipation Preceding Seemingly Unpredictable Stimuli: A Meta-Analysis,” is in the current edition of Frontiers in Perception Science. In addition to Mossbridge, co-authors of the study include Patrizio Tressoldi of the Università di Padova, Padova, Italy, and Jessica Utts of the University of California, Irvine.

Visual Perception, Neuroscience, and Cognition Lab Northwestern University

Some more specific research questions our lab focuses on:
  • How do we perceive scenes, space, faces, objects, form, motion and time?
  • How do awareness, intention, and short/long-term experience influence perception and attention? 
  • How does auditory, tactile, and visual information integrate to generate coherent perceptual experience? 
  • What are the neural (EEG) correlates of dynamic perceptual and attentional states? 
  • What mechanisms keep our mind in a balanced (metastable) state, enabling us to generate different perceptual interpretations? 
  • How do people differ in their abilities to control attention?


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2012-08-11

'Meshworm' a Soft Autonomous Robotic Earthworm

Soft autonomous robot inches along like an earthworm - MIT News Office

Earthworms creep along the ground by alternately squeezing and stretching muscles along the length of their bodies, inching forward with each wave of contractions. Snails and sea cucumbers also use this mechanism, called peristalsis, to get around, and our own gastrointestinal tracts operate by a similar action, squeezing muscles along the esophagus to push food to the stomach.

Now researchers at MIT, Harvard University and Seoul National University have engineered a soft autonomous robot that moves via peristalsis, crawling across surfaces by contracting segments of its body, much like an earthworm. The robot, made almost entirely of soft materials, is remarkably resilient: Even when stepped upon or bludgeoned with a hammer, the robot is able to inch away, unscathed.

Sangbae Kim, the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, says such a soft robot may be useful for navigating rough terrain or squeezing through tight spaces.

Meshworm: The worm-like robot that can survive a hammer blow | Digital Trends

Researchers created the “artificial muscle” using nickel and titanium, producing a soft, flexible, mesh-like tube that stretches and contracts with heat.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Meshworm is its ability to withstand some pretty rough treatment. Clobber most robots with a hammer and it will likely result in some sparks, puffs of smoke and a major malfunction. Clobber Meshworm and it just continues crawling along as if nothing’s happened – as demonstrated in the video below. It can also survive someone stepping on it.


DARPA Funds MIT's Soft Meshworm Biomimcry Robot

Resilient Robots for the U.S. Military

Meshworm has the ability to survive a frightening degree of misuse, and that provides one clue into DARPA’s interest in the new technology.

As described by writer Jennifer Chu, the field of soft robotics is of growing interest to engineers. With little or no need for bulky hardware, soft robots are more durable and lend themselves to miniaturization more easily than their mechanical counterparts.

In terms of military purpose, soft robots like Meshworm could be air-dropped, launched or thrown over relatively long distances, land without damage, and set about crawling silently around, squeezing through tight openings and conducting surveillance.

Scientists Create Worm-like Robot That Can Inch Along the Ground

The Meshworm uses peristalsis, contracting and expanding different muscle segments, to inch across the ground. Image via MIT

But there might well be more benign uses as well. Kellar Autumn, a professor at Lewis and Clark College who studies biomechanics in robotics, told MIT that devices similar to the Meshworm could someday be useful for a wide range of applications, including both consumer technology and medical devices such endoscopes, implants and prosthetics. “Even though the robot’s body is much simpler than a real worm—it has only a few segments—it appears to have quite impressive performance,” Autumn said. “I predict that in the next decade we will see shape-changing artificial muscles in many products, such as mobile phones, portable computers and automobiles.”

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2012-08-06

World’s First Solar-Powered Nation

Tokelau To Be World's First Solar-Powered Nation -


The small nation of Tokelau in the South Pacific will be entirely powered by solar energy by the end of 2012, reports 3News in New Zealand, making it the first nation in the world to do so.

More than 4,000 solar panels are being installed on the three atolls that make up the nation – Fakaofo, Nukunonu and Atafu – and will supply all the energy needed by its 1,400 residents. The first atoll to go completely solar, Fakaofo, is scheduled to have its diesel generators turned off next week. “It’s been quite a milestone week for us, we now have all the solar panels erected, 1584 solar modules, all the batteries are in place,” said mechanical engineer Dean Parchomchuk from Powersmart Solar, which is responsible for the panel installations.

Tokelau : A Tourism, Travel, and Information Guide : Basecamp International

Introduction to Tokelau:

Tokelau is a non-self-governing territory of New Zealand consisting of three coral atolls in the South Pacific: Atafu, Nukunonu, and Fakaofo. These atolls lie approximately mid-way between Hawaii and New Zealand and about 500 km north of Samoa.

Formerly known as the Union Islands, the name 'Tokelau Islands' was adopted in 1946 and then shortened to 'Tokelau' in 1976.

The roughly 1500 hardy inhabitants of Tokelau, unofficially known as Tokelauans, are thought to have settled the islands more than a thousand years ago- thus, they are generically recognized as being Polynesians (and darn proud of it) - and this pride fits well with their culture...
Simply put, Tokelau culture IS Polynesian culture.

Tokelau To Shed Diesel Dependence In Favour Of Solar... | Stuff.co.nz

Lead contractor Powersmart Solar is helping Tokelau replace its diesel generators - which burn about 200 litres of fuel daily - with 4032 solar panels, 392 inverters and 1344 batteries.

Powersmart Solar director Mike Bassett-Smith said the company was proud to be leading the project because of the impact it would have on the well-being of the people of Tokelau.

[...]

The solar power systems will be capable of providing 150 per cent of the annual electricity demand without increasing diesel demand.

Companies from all over the globe tendered for the project and it was a "big win" for the Mount Maunganui-based company, Bassett-Smith said.

Tokelau to become world's first solar-powered country - Story - Environment/Sci - 3 News


Workers from Kiwi company Powersmart Solar are just a week away from converting the atoll Fakaofo from being diesel powered to solar powered.
“It’s been quite a milestone week for us, we now have all the solar panels erected, 1584 solar modules, all the batteries are in place,” says mechanical engineer Dean Parchomchuk.



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2012-08-03

The Perfect Sandcastle

How do you make the perfect sandcastle? A little water can give you a five meter high castle

ScienceDaily (Aug. 2, 2012) — All children who build sandcastles on the beach know that in addition to sand you also need to add a little water to prevent the structure from collapsing. But why is this? In an article which appeared today in Scientific Reports from the publishers of Nature, researchers from the University of Amsterdam’s (UvA) Institute of Physics (IoP) answer this question.

The function of water in sandcastles is to form small 'bridges' which make the grains of sand stick together, thus increasing  the solidity of the structure. The researchers show that the optimum amount of water is very small (only a few per cent). If this optimum concentration is used, sandcastles reaching five metres in height can be built.

The Science of Building the Perfect Sandcastle


While it might sound flippant, building the best structures out of sand is a tricky civil engineering problem. That's why a team of scientists, led by Daniel Bonn from the Laboratory of Physical Statistics in Paris, set to a complex series of experiments involving theoretical and practical modelling of sand castles.

By testing different levels of sand wetness, they studied how columns of sand buckled as they were built higher and higher. Eventually, they found that there's an optimum sand wetness: you should be aiming to have a liquid volume fraction of 1 percent. That means that, by volume, you need to combine 99 parts of perfectly dry sand with 1 part water to build the ultimate castle. The result is published by Nature.

How to construct the perfect sandcastle : Scientific Reports : Nature Publishing Group

How to construct the perfect sandcastle  
Maryam Pakpour,   Mehdi Habibi,   Peder Møller   & Daniel Bonn  
Scientific Reports  2, Article number:  549  doi:10.1038/srep00549
Received  11 June 2012  Accepted  17 July 2012  Published  02 August 2012

Just a bit of water enables one to turn a pile of dry sand into a spectacular sandcastle. Too much water however will destabilize the material, as is seen in landslides. Here we investigated the stability of wet sand columns to account for the maximum height of sandcastles. We find that the columns become unstable to elastic buckling under their own weight. This allows to account for the maximum height of the sand column; it is found to increase as the 2/3 power of the base radius of the column. Measuring the elastic modulus of the wet sand, we find that the optimum strength is achieved at a very low liquid volume fraction of about 1%. Knowing the modulus we can quantitatively account for the measured sandcastle heights.
Figure 1: Sandcastles with diameters 2 cm and 7 cm.


The physics of sand castles: Just add water | The Economist

An easy way to achieve the right amount of water, Dr Bonn suggests, is to tamp wet sand in a mould (open at the top and the bottom) with a thumper at least 70 times, as he did in his experiments.

As for the design itself, unsurprisingly, the wider the base the taller the castle. According to calculations, using ideally moist sand, a column with a three inch diameter could rise as high as two metres. At 12 metres, the current world record for the tallest sandcastle, set by Ed Jarrett in 2011, used a base of roughly 11 meters. If Dr Bonn is right, sand engineers could in principle beat that with a castle thrice the height upon the same foundation.



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2012-06-01

Lap-Dance Science

Lap dancers provide evidence for human estrus | Dr Shock MD PhD

Eighteen professional lap dancers working in a gentlemen’s club recorded their menstrual cycle, work shifts and tip earnings for 60 days on a study website. A mixed model analysis of 296 work shifts showed an interaction between cycle phase and hormonal contraception use.



Ten Unusual Experiments in the Name of Science – The Ovulating Lap Dancer | UA Magazine


The results: Normally cycling strippers (not on birth control) earned about US$ 335 per 5-hour shift during estrus, US$260 per shift during the lower fertility phase, and US$185 per shift during menstruation. Why exactly? The psychologists are not sure. It could be related to smell, or sound maybe, but this should be investigated in further research.

Lap-Dance Science - New York Times

“Studies like this,” Miller says, “can tell us about the nature of human sexuality and attraction and answer important questions scientists have been debating for decades.” For example: Conventional scientific wisdom says that almost all mammals except humans go into estrus (a k a “heat”). Cats yowl and raise their hind ends in the air; female primates get visibly engorged in relevant areas. But humans, scientists have long believed, do no such things. Miller and Jordan’s research indicates otherwise. “It’s highly controversial because it’s science blurring the line between humans and other primates,” Miller says, “but our results give clear economic evidence that human estrus actually does exist.”

Next they hope to uncover how women signal that they’re in estrus: Do they smell different? Sound different? Their research could have practical applications as well. “The findings that estrus impacts earnings could have implications for women selling cars or giving big presentations as C.E.O.’s,’’ Miller says. ‘‘Should women schedule big job interviews during certain weeks of the month? We don’t know. But maybe.”

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2012-05-31

A Zero-Star Hotel

The World's First Zero-Star Hotel | Bangstyle :: A Global Image Community for Hair


Located between the mountains in Switzerland, the Null Stern Hotel is the brainchild of Swiss artists ( and twin brothers) Frank and Patrik Riklin and happens to be the world’s only zero-star hotel.

Considered a truly underground experience, the Null Stern has the tagline: “The only star is you,” and they mean it. This hotel is literally placed inside of a Cold War bunker.



Null Stern Hotel "the only star is you"

The world’s first Null Stern Hotel in Teufen, Switzerland, closed its doors on June 4, 2010 – exactly one year after opening – to focus on opening in urban locations. The Null Stern Hotel in Teufen has been converted into a museum.
[...]
Museum
The Null Stern Hotel Biedermeier beds have welcomed guests from 29 countries in one year.  The hotel is now open as a museum and is ready for visitors to experience and discover the birthplace of the world’s first Null Stern Hotel. The founders will personally escort you on a tour to explain the unique features of the Null Stern Hotel such as the wheel of fate, the virtual window or the second check in.





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2012-05-19

Giant Prehistoric Turtle

Turtle Fossil The Size Of A Car Was Found In Colombia

When we’re thinking about nowadays turtles, we often forget how huge these can get. We often think about cute little turtles heading towards the ocean we’re being shown footages on National Geographic. But we forget that some 66 million years ago, animals were quite different. For instance, have you ever imagined a turtle as big as your car, that could have fed with crocodiles?

Giant prehistoric turtle from Colombia chomped everything in sight–including crocodiles! | Smithsonian Science

The turtle in question is Carbonemys cofrinii, which means “coal turtle,” and is part of a group of side-necked turtles known as pelomedusoides. The fossil was named Carbonemys because it was discovered in 2005 in a coal mine that was part of northern Colombia’s Cerrejon formation. The specimen’s skull measures 24 centimeters, roughly the size of a regulation NFL football. The shell which was recovered nearby – and is believed to belong to the same species – measures 172 centimeters, or about 5 feet 7 inches, long. That’s the same height as Edwin Cadena, the NC State doctoral student who discovered the fossil.

NC State News :: NC State News and Information » Ancient Giant Turtle Fossil Revealed

“We had recovered smaller turtle specimens from the site. But after spending about four days working on uncovering the shell, I realized that this particular turtle was the biggest anyone had found in this area for this time period – and it gave us the first evidence of giantism in freshwater turtles,” Cadena says.

Smaller relatives of Carbonemys existed alongside dinosaurs. But the giant version appeared five million years after the dinosaurs vanished, during a period when giant varieties of many different reptiles – including Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the largest snake ever discovered – lived in this part of South America. Researchers believe that a combination of changes in the ecosystem, including fewer predators, a larger habitat area, plentiful food supply and climate changes, worked together to allow these giant species to survive. Carbonemys’ habitat would have resembled a much warmer modern-day Orinoco or Amazon River delta.

In addition to the turtle’s huge size, the fossil also shows that this particular turtle had massive, powerful jaws that would have enabled the omnivore to eat anything nearby – from mollusks to smaller turtles or even crocodiles.


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2012-04-02

Tuatara, a Living Baby Dinosaur

File:Tuatara Sphenodon punctatus standing proud.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Sphenodon punctatus. Tuatara in front of its burrow at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. The Tuatara isn't a lizard - according the the Wikipedia entry about Tuatara: "Its origin probably lies close to the split between the Lepidosauromorpha and the Archosauromorpha, making it the closest living thing we can find to a "proto-reptile".

Live baby dinosaur discovered in New Zealand - by Terrence Aym - Helium

[...]
Meet the tuataras

Often called living fossils by those who know they really do exist, the tuataras sure might look like a lizard, but they're not. The tuatara is really a living dinosaur that belongs to the order Rhynchocephalia. That order of dinosaur became extinct about 60 million years in the past. All went extinct…except the tuataras.    
[....]
Fascinating tuataras facts

1. These little dinosaurs only require a breath of air once an hour.

2. They don't drink water.

3. They have three eyes. Every tuataras sports a third pineal eye on top of their heads that has a retina and primitive lens. The eye is functional—it's connected to the brain. By the time the dinosaurs become adults the third eye is overgrown with skin and no longer functions.

4. Some researchers believe the third eye evolved to protect the babies from flying predators that might swoop down from the sky.

4. Female tuataras carry their eggs for four years.


Tuatara - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cladogram showing relationships of extant members of the Sauria.[15] Numbered items are:
1. Tuatara
2. Lizards
3. Snakes
4. Crocodiles
5. Birds
"Lizards" are paraphyletic. Branch lengths do not indicate divergence times.


Current distribution of tuatara (in black).[57][58][59] Circles represent the North Island tuatara, squares the Brothers Island tuatara. Symbols may represent up to seven islands.



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