[Junior]

Ping

[TaxRelief]

So, in summary class:

If global warming is a reality, then mankind and all the beasties on the earth are actually shrinking, despite what you have been told by the WHO (World Health Organization).

[VadeRetro]

"If an animal has a one- or two-year period in which to grow to maturity and reproduce, and it's trying to do that on a diet that's difficult to digest and not very nutritious, it's not surprising that it would evolve to be smaller. And it's also not surprising that when times are good again and carbon dioxide levels are lower and plants grow like they normally should, that the animals would go back to what we think of as their normal size."

He didn't mention that a siamese-cat-sized horse dissipates heat from its surface area more easily than a collie-sized horse. Internal volume is a cubic function. Surface area is a square function. Changes in size scale change the ratio of the volume to be cooled and the surface area available to cool it. Resistance to heat stress could be a selection factor in a world that is heating up.

[Jaxter]

"... a period of warming that occurred about 55 million years ago."

How could that be? There weren't even any Republicans around back then.

[ClearCase_guy]

Uh, is this article hinting that horses were big, millions of years ago, but, through large amounts of CO2, eventually adapted and became the diminitive eohippus? And then got big again later? Adapting through dwarfism??

Also, I thought that the fossil record showed dragonflies with wingspans of 2 feet or more. The old theory was that different atmospheric makeup allowed such growth. Now, we're being told that poor atmosphere led to low-quality vegatation, and thus, slower insect growth.

I know science is supposed to change and improve as new information comes in, but much of evolution theory strikes me as CYA after new information destroys the old model. They don't throw out the theory, they just twist their brains around the new information so that it can fit the same old theory.

[The Shootist]

"Within about 10,000 years of peak warming, mammals such as primates and the groups that include horses and deer appeared together for the first time in North America, apparently having crossed land bridges from other continents."

Let me get this straight. The climate warmed. The ice caps melted. The sea levels rose. But LAND BRIDGES appeared between continents? How's that again?

[TADSLOS]

Were doomed...

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from March 4, 2003.

the past offers clues, say scientists who are studying a period of warming that occurred about 55 million years ago.

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