Youve seen it too? Did all three of you go to the same Popcorn tree? --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Science is great -- but this is a good illustration of just how > ridiculous even scientist can get. So it only took the Big Lizard > how many millions of years to say "Good night and good luck?" > > -------------- Original message -------------- > From: "ShieldsFamily" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > And I thought it was just because they were too big to fit on the > ark! J izzy > > 'Lack of deep sleep led to dinosaurs' demise' > RHIANNON EDWARD > DINOSAURS were most likely killed off because they never got a good > night's sleep, scientists have claimed. > Giant meteorites from outer space, fire storms, tidal waves and an > ice age have all been suggested by experts to explain the demise of > T-Rex and other giant dinosaurs. > However, the latest theory to explain their extinction claims they > did not survive because their reptilian sleeping patterns meant their > brains did not learn new skills properly. > Unlike mammals and birds, reptiles are unable to experience slow wave > sleep, the type of sleep believed to be responsible for boosting > memories, especially those connected to performing new tasks. > As a result, reptiles are much more limited in the type of complex > behaviour they can experience than other animals such as mammals and > birds. > The implication of new research by Niels Rattenborg, of the Max > Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany, is that the inability of > dinosaurs - which are ancestors of modern-day reptiles - to > experience slow wave sleep may have been one of the reasons why they > became extinct. > Slow wave - or deep - sleep leads to enhancements in both learning > and physical performance. It effectively shuts down the parts of the > brain that have learned new skills and allows this learning to become > consolidated without interruption. > Without this crucial ability it could be that, when the earth > experienced huge climatic changes towards the end of the era of the > dinosaurs, they were unable to pick up sufficient new tricks to learn > their way out of extinction. > The research also shows that, although birds and mammals appear to > have developed the same brain structures and, importantly, the same > series of connections between structures that allow slow wave sleep > to take place, these developments must have happened independently. > Despite the common ancestry of birds and reptiles among the > dinosaurs, regarding sleep at least it is in fact birds and mammals > that have more in common in terms of brain structure and function. > The paper is published by Elsevier in its journal Brain Research > Bulletin. > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
