Thursday, March 06, 2008


TUATARA DNA - SO QUICK TO EVOLVE - FOUND ONLY IN NEW ZEALAND...


Tuatara DNA - so quick to evolve - found only in New Zealand...

Published first On Qassia:


Tuatara are only found in New Zealand. They are apparently very slow growing and reproducing, and have a sluggish metabolism. They are an ancient form of lizard and the oldest living form of wildlife in New Zealand. Tuatara have often been called 'living dinosaurs' and have largely not changed physically over extremely long aeons of evolution going back millions of years.

But they have reportedly broken records for DNA evolution, something that has astonished New Zealand scientists. An analysis of their bones has shown their DNA has evolved faster than any other animal species yet studied.

An evolutionary biologist, Professor David Lambert, at the Massey University based team from the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, established through study of tuatara DNA that the reptiles have evolved very quickly.

Professor Lambert said recently it had been expected that the tuatara, which did everything else slowly, would therefore evolve slowly too, but the new DNA research questioned such ideas.

Scientists had recovered DNA sequences from the bones of tuatara up to 8750 years old and compared them to modern tuatara blood samples, to establish the speed of the DNA changes in the species.

There will undoubtably be more up to date information released in the near future, which is of great interest to the writer.

Tuatara are not only the oldest living species in NZ, but would rank with some of the oldest in the world.

Tuatara Site

Monday, March 03, 2008


HOW WAS I GOING TO PAY THE BILLS...HEY I'M RICH BROTHER!

How was I going to pay the bills... hey I'm rich!

I woke up this morning and thought about how wealthy I am; hey I'm actually as poor as a church mouse! Well, lets see how much there is in my wallet. I opened it and was nearly hit in the eye by a cloud of moths; I obviously hadn't been in there for a while because those moths had been settled in by the look of it!

I grabbed my bank statement, found my phone bank and account numbers and rang up. An almost metallic voice uttered, " You have sixty cents only." I slammed the phone down. I looked around at my unopened mail lying on the kitchen table. The power bill: $345 .00; the phone account including my internet, $398.00; my Farmers card account, $378.00. A repair bill for my car, $765.00. There were more envelopes there, but I didn't open them. What was the point?


I was in deep shit; I was broke; how the bloody hell was I going to pay these outstanding accounts? Get another personal loan from the bank? I owe them about five grand already! I could imagine myself going down to the bank and seeing that tightarse Harris, and the likely comments. " Are you serious Mr Hutt? You owe us over $5,000 and you are behind with two months repayments already! "


I looked out at the driveway, where my car should be. It wasn't there! God almighty, they must have repossessed it already. Yeah, I was behind on the payments alright. I went over to the fridge and took out a can of beer. I drank it down in a couple of gulps! It tasted good, and made me feel a little better. I felt even better after the next three cans.


I felt in my pocket and took out a handful of bits of paper. A betting slip for the horses. It wasn't any good, as I expected, A few receipts, load of rubbish really. What was this one, all screwed up? It looked like a Lotto ticket. I'd better check it out, though. Just for the record. I looked around for the Sunday paper and checked the ticket out... I skimmed through quickly... and through again more slowly. And again...I looked at six winning numbers worth a half a million dollars. I had shared first prize with somebody at the other end of the country.


I was rich... I was bloody rich and the bills, the bloody bills were going to be paid, and the prick at the bank, whats his bloody name...Harris, will get his money this week. And I can get my car car back too! Yahoo! I'm rich!