Meet the Kardashian family of the fossil world

Hallucigenia, my bestie.

Remember this weird little dude, Hallucigenia, who lived about 500 million years ago?

He's so freaky that scientists can't place him in a family tree with any other animals -- they don't even know which end is his head and which is his rear. Oh, Hallucigenia, you oddball, orphaned critter with a mysterious butt, I love you truly.

But wait. What's this I hear? Some scientists have just discovered its family tree! Turns out Hallucigenia has two living relatives, who also happen to be among the most lovable and preposterous creatures on our planet. Hallucigenia is related to:

1. Velvet worms

In some species, the male puts some sperm
onto the female's back, then the sperm
melts her skin to get inside her body.
Ouch, tough break for the ladies.

OK, get this. Turns out Hallucigenia's legs each ended in a kind of foot with two opposing claws. These claws later evolved to form the mouth of today's velvet worms.

Yes, that said mouth. Velvet worms' jaws are "no more than legs modified for chewing," according to the scientists. 

Think how weird this is. The shape of the Hallucigenia claw turned out to be pretty handy for chewing, so after a few hundred million years -- voila! -- there's the foot, right in somebody's mouth, chewing. Just goes to show you that evolution is willing to make use of any tool for any job. (But don't try feeding your foot a sandwich. It probably won't work.)

2. Water bears

Way kooler than any Kardashian.

If you don't know about water bears, hang on to your hat. These tiny eight-legged dudes can survive basically anything. No really, anything. Temperatures from nearly absolute zero to above boiling. Enough direct radiation to kill a person. They can dehydrate and go dormant for ten years, and then come back to life, all fine and ready to party. Best of all, they have survived the vacuum of space. All true; look it up and fall in love.

As a longtime fan of both Hallucigenia and water bears, I am so happy to find out they are cousins. How did I miss the family resemblance?

This excellent family tree also includes several fan favorites in the extinct category, such as Anomalocaris and Opabinia. Check your Giant Evolution Timelines for those little guys.

Like the Kardashians, everyone in this family tree is bizarre, attention-getting, and related in confusing ways. They are physically repulsive and riveting at the same time. I can't look away. When's the family reunion? 

Smith MR, Ortega-Hernández J. Hallucigenia's onychophoran-like claws and the case for Tactopoda. Nature. 2014 Aug 17. doi: 10.1038/nature13576. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 25132546.

In which we get a nibble from National Geographic Kids

Friends, something went down in New Paltz, New York last weekend. Something small, nerdy, and delightful. It was:

I learned many, many delicious things there, but most importantly, I met one Ms. Shelby Alinsky, Children's Book Editor at National Geographic Kids. Take a good look at Shelby, my Rockstar #1.

Shelby (left) and I weren't actually
standing in a lovely meadow.
But we look nice there, right?

I had arranged for a one-on-one consultation with Shelby, and I confess to some nerves. National Geographic Kids is one of the publishers I have daydreamed about for years, and now I was meeting an actual, living, Homo Sapien editor who might just hate the Timeline. Oh, jeez, how's my hair?

Rarely have my fears been so thoroughly dismissed by reality. Shelby is lovely. Within a few minutes was on the floor with me, checking out the Timeline and asking great questions. We got to chatting, and ended up taking about 45 minutes instead of the planned 15.

Best of all, she expressed interest! She took a Timeline and Ancient Creature Cards to "discuss with the team." By the end of the weekend she was saying things like, "I could see a great future for this." Oh, Shelby, how I love thee.

I know, I know, I know. I shouldn't get my hopes up and all that. Whatever. They're up already.

David (left) and I weren't really flying
through space close to the Rosette Nebula.
But he's a big ol' space geek, so I put us there.

Also, there was a Rockstar #2, one David Aguilar, Director of Science Information at the Harvard Observatory, and author of many great books for kids about space. Check out this recent one, which also deals with evolution in really funny, unexpected ways.

David and I also had a one-on-one consultation, in which he was kind and supportive. By the end of the weekend we were like old friends. Well, old friends who just met. And who don't really know each other. Listen, I got his card, what do you want?

So there you have it: hope.

Hello there, Disappointment. Please come right in.

Fans of the Giant Evolution Timeline, I salute you.

Last summer when I requested help with persuading a company to produce the Giant Evolution Timeline, you responded beautifully. You are clearly a discerning, talented, and good-looking bunch.

And now lets all prepare ourselves for the arrival of Disappointment.

Before we usher Disappointment into the living room and offer it a drink, let me lay out a few key facts regarding the company that expressed interest in producing the Giant Evolution Timeline:

• Emails to my contact there have gone unanswered all summer.
• As of this week their website seems to be down. I get an error message about robot.txt or something.
• The company's social media sites haven't been updated in a couple of months.
• The President appears to be working somewhere else now.
• The other day I left a message with the only voice mail that picked up. No response.

...aaaaaaand now we can open wide the door and invite Disappointment in. Somebody please take its coat and hat. Oh, and I'll share in that drink.

Clearly this company isn't going to produce anything soon. I'm curious about its fate of course, but more curious about how to get the Giant Evolution Timeline back out into the world.

Kids' books on evolution: One atrocious example

I came across this book from 1907 with a tantalizing title:

"Well, well!" I think to myself, "Let's see what Mr. William Trumbull, LL. B. had to say to his children about evolution more than a hundred years ago." I put my feet up, start reading, and am instantly happy that I was not a child of Mr. William Trumbull, LL. B. more than a hundred years ago.

Ooo-eee this thing is dull. Mr. William Trumbull, a Yale-educated lawyer, pontificates like death itself. Here's a sentence from somewhere:

This would appear to be an admirably simple and compact statement of the crowning positive phenomenon of creation, when interpreted in its true evolutionary sense of a gradual development.

Wha?? This is for children? Maybe adult children. Or probably children's books were different in 1907: more dour and soul-crushing than ours today.  

I keep reading. Things get worse. From a modern perspective, Mr. Bill Trumbull's ideas are monstrous, piling up like that mountain of zombies climbing over the wall in World War Z. (You know the scene I'm talking about, yes you do.)

First there's the raging sexism. But you'd expect that from 1907, I guess. Then there's the raging racism. Trumbull says things like:

It seems a far cry from the low bestial nature of an Australian or South African bushman to the god-like intelligence of a Socrates or Plato.

That's right kids, lap it up! Next comes the inevitable eugenics:

We do not begin to go far enough ... eradicating the criminal, the vicious, the parasitic, and the worthless ... We must view the world as a sort of huge stock farm, and rigorously adopt for our ideal toward the race the scientific methods of stock breeding.

This pile of zombies
is a wicked handy metaphor.

Bushmen of the world, you've been warned: Trumbull is coming at you with a vasectomy.

And of course there's the cultural arrogance. The second half of the book is a review of world religions, starting with those "we see in Africa to-day ... the lowest of all forms of existing religions," and moving through others sprinkling various smug judgments all around. Finally, Christianity:

is the highest type in the evolution of religion, inasmuch as it has taken and gathered up into itself all the perfections of the other religions of the world.

Oh, William Trumbull, LL. B., what are we going to do with you?

I gamely remind myself that Willy is only reflecting the prevailing attitudes of his his time. I plow on, setting aside the bad writing, the sexism, the racism, the eugenics, and the arrogance. What's left?

Here's his story in a nutshell. 

1. Humans evolved through natural selection.
2. As they evolved, they first had crude, incorrect religions and then discovered Christianity.
3. Altruistic behavior is important in human survival.
4. Humans were at first altruistic only toward their family or clan, like animals, but later widened the altruistic circle to nations or races.
5. Christianity teaches humans the next evolutionary step, which is altruism toward all people.
6. God was behind the whole magilla. 

OK, fair enough. It's not the worst merging of creationist and evolutionary ideas, and it celebrates altruism, which is quite nice in a children's story. Along the way old Billy also hints at some ideas that seem way before their time: environmentalism, the social construction of race, and even memes.

Ah, William, in the end I find myself a bit fond of you. There you lie under your huge disgusting pile of zombies, just a father who wants to pass his world view on to his kids. This is what I try to do every day. Bit of a different world view, and different zombies, but whatever, you get the idea.

See a PDF of the book here.

Fond farewell to Charlie’s Playhouse. Big hello to “Evolution for Kids!”

Yes, friends, it’s true: Charlie needs to retire.

“But Kate, why?” I hear you cry, rending your garments.  

So many reasons. I have neglected this business dreadfully, and while I would like to blame that on my day job, the real reason is that my heart just isn’t in it anymore. There are so many boring bits to running a business, and I am so very bad at marketing. I just want the interesting bits: talking with kids about evolution, designing fun things, and being outraged politically.

So change is called for. Here’s the new plan.

First, license my evolution products to other manufacturers: people who actually know what they’re doing, people who have whole marketing departments. A company in Connecticut is nibbling, and you, my friends, can help move that deal forward. More on that in the next post.

Second, evolve a new animal called Evolution for Kids, an online community of grownups who love kids, science, and putting the two together. 

Here’s what I'd like Evolution for Kids to offer:

• Fun ways to introduce kids to evolution
• Reviews of children’s books on evolution
• Links to kid-friendly evolution resources
• A smidgeon of science blogging on new research
• Color commentary on the politics of evolution education
• Why all this matters

Here are some cesspools I'd like to avoid:

• "Debates" about whether evolution is "controversial"
• Polarizing "religion vs. evolution" diatribes
• Personal attacks, nastiness, bad karma
• Spinach between the teeth, parking tickets, Murphy's Law

Welcome. This is going to be fun!

Does Steven Pinker have kids? He should.

World-renowned psychologist Steven Pinker of the brilliant mind and ridicu-tastic hair was on Countdown with Keith Olbermann the other night. He was chatting about, of all things, reasons to teach kids evolution. I'm all ears, Steven.

You can watch the whole interview here, but to me this is the interesting bit:

Olbermann: Why is it so important that we teach kids evolution?

Re-imagining your mom

Hey kids, ever wonder how your mom and dad can see what you're doing behind their backs? How did they know that you fed your lima beans to the dog when they weren't even looking?

Well, scientists have dug up a 100-million-year-old fly that might just have the answer. It looks just like a regular old fly except that it has a horn on top of its head WITH THREE EYEBALLS ON IT. Yes, three eyeballs.

Can kids tell earthworms apart?

Here's how it went with Caleb (5) and me (42).

Me: Hey, Caleb, I have a question for you. Let's say there's a bunch of giraffes, grownup giraffes, some boys and some girls. Do you think those giraffes are different from each other?

Caleb: Yeah, they're different.

Me: Really? How?

Caleb: Their spots, they have different spots. And their necks too! Some are longer than others. Oh, and their personalities.

Me: Hmmm, cool. What about earthworms? Remember those earthworms we dug up last summer? Do you think they're different from each other?

Kids in the UK get an evolutionary treat

How magnificent is the UK? First, the entire nation drinks tea incessantly, much as I do. Second, my splendid dad was born and raised there. Third, it produced our big man Darwin.

Well, it gets better, folks.

A real-life kid learnin' some real-life evolution!

They said it couldn't be done. They said "Aw, don't bother talking to young kids about evolution, they just can't grasp it." But aha, they were wrong! We have proof right here in the form of delightful 4-year-old Satori, answering questions from her mom Angela using the Giant Evolution Timeline. Check out her accurate and full-body understanding of the sequence of evolutionary events! Go Satori!

This video makes me weep with geeky & maternal happiness. Yes, it is true.

You can read Angela and Satori's review of the Giant Evolution Timeline and see more pictures at the Satori Smiles Blog.

PS. I don't know Angela or Satori personally. This is not a plant! Oh, and many thanks to them both for permission to use the video.