scientific journals. But that's not the point. The BBC and most other news organizations are well behind
the curve in science and technology. They report science "News" that is usually about 10 years out of date.
Bob W wrote:
Hi,
Saturday, November 20, 2004, 5:14:15 PM, Peter wrote:
David Brin used this hypothisis, butresed by the fact that Humans have
the largest, by percentage of body size and weight,
heat exchanger, of any mamal in a Science Fiction Novel written at least
7 years ago. I don't think the theory was original to him.
I don't think Sci Fi is peer-reviewed, so it doesn't count.
I think Richard Leakey had some idea of this when he first started in paleoanthropology in the 1960s. I seem to recall a story that he claimed to be able to outrun a gazelle or something. Somebody took the bet, so he ran a gazelle to exhaustion over several hours, and they all had a barbecue supper.
About a year ago I saw a fascinating TV programme about some hunter-gatherers in East Africa who still do this for survival. It included one of the most interesting pieces of anthropological film I've ever seen, in which some of the hunters ran down some kind of large, very strong antelope. Again, it took hours, but at the end of it the animal dropped dead from exhaustion. I assume that the payback in terms of energy to the people was enormous.
--
I can understand why mankind hasn't given up war. During a war you get to drive tanks through the sides of buildings and shoot foreigners - two things that are usually frowned on during peacetime.
--P.J. O'Rourke
