• Moore's law probably doesn't apply to biology, but if it did, it suggests that life as we know it began before the Earth existed. Genetic complexity as a function of time has been extrapolated backwards, but it's obviously more of an interesting thought experiment than a meaningful biological theory. [url]
• NASA's Curiosity rover has analyzed some martian rock samples to answer the question: "could life have ever been supported on Mars?" The answer seems to be yes, but that still doesn't mean Mars had (or has) any life. [url]
• Do we need to look for alien life that's already amongst us? A shadow biosphere on earth could be an explanation for some mysteries like "desert varnish"... or Occam's razor might start cutting in here. [url]

• How much money would it take to identify all the animal species on Earth? Let's ask Mr. Owl. He'll say, "Three" -- but another estimate puts it closer to $263 billion. [url]
• NYU researchers have found a fish species in the Hudson River that's apparently evolved to be immune to PCBs. Previously, other scientists found a worm that adapted to pollution in the Hudson by becoming immune to cadmium. [url]
• Berkeley scientists are looking into the possibility of a mass extinction of animals, estimating Earth's sixth mass extinction could happen in 3-22 centuries. And we'll be fossil fuels for the hyper-intelligent lizards a few hundred centuries after that. [url]
• Maybe super-smart elephants will help us save the planet. Elephants have just proven that they can work together, so... [url]
• To discover more interesting biological curiosities, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

Some 34,000-year-old bacteria have been found in suspended animation -- trapped in a salt crystal. When 34,000 years old you are, look as good, you will not. [url]

During the Archaean eon, it looks like the Earth's atmosphere had increasing oxygen levels -- and a huge growth of new kinds of bacteria. It's actually pretty neat what we can learn about the biosphere a couple billion years ago by just looking at modern DNA samples. [url]

Mrs. T is the first discovered female pterodactyl, confirming that the male pterodactyls had large head crests. And Mr. T pities the fool who thought the female pterodactyls were the ones who had the head crests. [url]

A 30,000-year-old pinkie bone from a little girl has DNA that suggests there's another link in the chain of human ancestors. Or it could be another branch on our family tree.... Either way, someday she'll be cloned, and we'll see what she looked like. [url]