Nurture of Nature

Earth wobbles linked to mammal extinctions: study
Wed Oct 11, 1:47 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Wobbles or variations in the Earth's orbit and tilt are associated with extinctions of rodent and mammalian species, Dutch scientists said on Wednesday.

They studied rodent fossil records in central Spain dating back 22 million years and found that the rise and fall of mammal species was linked to changes in the Earth's behavior which caused cooling periods.

Spaceship freakin' Earth, indeed.

We really are all flying wicked fast around a gravity well on a billions years ride of chemical possibilities. Anything physically possible depends on both the ride and the riders, whether either is conscious or not. It's not yet Biblical in its meaning to folks who still swear by religious traditions with Populistic emotional bases, so we may still be quite likely to add some more mammalian life to those extinction records.

Too bad we won't be around to measure 'em.

"The environment is responsible to what happens to species," said Van Dam. "Biological factors are secondary, according to our results."

I'm thinkin' that's supposed to be is responsible for, but didn't wanna assume a typo. The fundamental point is mnemonically simple: If there's no nature, there's nothing to nurture, eh.