Actually, I woke up at about 1... that's 1300 hours... yesterday, and played video games until my eyes were really tired. So I slept early. But the circadian rule tells me that I can't do that, so I woke up and got on the computer. I've noticed that I've been posting less regularly. Probably because of said video game. And also because I haven't really found anything to write about.
I've also been visiting other blogs. The kind that often features strange and wonderful occurrences, and other really cool stuff. I was wondering, if it would be good if I added a bit of that sort of media into my posts. Probably would be, but my sources of news are often second-hand, found on forums and... certain... websites.
Ah, brilliant. I've found something interesting enough to warrant a write-up.
An enormous scorpion's claw, measuring 46cm in length, was recently unearthed in a quarry somewhere in western Germany. It was fossilised, of course, and once belonged to an aquatic scorpion that lived about 500 million years ago, or something close to that. These scorpions(based on the remnants of their exoskeletons) were estimated to be about 3 metres in length, and have the frightening look of giant insects in bad horror movies. The scientists who discovered them also gave them long and complex names that could give anyone hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. Google it.
Now, even though we've known about these sea scorpions for decades, this new find is significant. The scorpion that once owned the claw is estimated to be over 50cm longer than the largest previous specimen. This means, that either our current perception of size limits is way off, or that this big guy was an anomaly. I prefer to believe the first one, because even though it suggests human error, it also gives rise to the possibility of huge, and I mean, HUGE arthropods that once roamed the earth. Which, sounds really awesome to me.
So far, I've learned from documentaries that the only reason insects could grow so large in prehistoric times, was that the oxygen content of the earth was much higher than today. Since insects and arachnids breathe through spiracles, by passive diffusion, a high oxygen level is needed to sustain large body masses, thus explaining the puny-ness of insects today. Yes, it's a bad thing. Look at it this way: If insects were huge, we could shoot them. How fun would that be? Think Starship Troopers, minus the humans being flamed and having their brains sucked out.
Aaand there we go. A C.G interpretation of our fossilised friends. You may want to watch the rest of the program. It's all hosted on YouTube.
Alright, that's about it. Here's the link to the main article :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7104421.stm
If bugs could have changed so drastically in half a billion years, who knows what we'll become in that same time?
-Joe