Study Re-evaluates Evolution of Mammals

New York Times today summarizes recent research that shows that the ancestors of most mammals were alive long before the global extinction of dinosaurs and that it took a much longer time -- 10-15 million years -- than previously believed, for those lines to diversify and flourish. What does all that mean? It's too early to know, but certainly one thing: there's still much work to be done to fully understand the history of life on earth.

EO News: NASA Olympics Blue Marble Release; February 6, 2002: "This spectacular “blue marble” image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet. These images are freely available to educators, scientists, museums, and the public."

BioethicsWeb: a "searchable catalogue of Internet sites and resources covering biomedical ethics."

Why A.I. is Brain Dead - Wired interviews Marvin Minsky about why the field of artificial intelligence is going nowhere right now -- and why it should.

The Bright Stuff: Daniel C. Dennett "comes out of the closet" -- as someone who does not believe in "ghosts or elves or the Easter Bunny -- or God." Well, he was not so much in the closet before -- but finds that the new term "brights" has helped him talk about this rather large and much-maligned group of Americans.