Free Republic

The darker the egg, the better the dad 15:50 12 November 2007 NewScientist.com news service Roxanne Khamsi Male spotless starlings seem to be better dads when eggs are dark (Image: Carlos Navarro) Females in poorer condition tend to lay light coloured eggs (Image: Carlos Navarro)In a dark twist to parenting, it appears male spotless starlings make better dads if the eggs their mate lays look healthier. Male spotless starlings tend to feed offspring that hatch from darker blue eggs twice as frequently as those that hatch from pale eggs, a new study shows. Scientists had wondered why some birds lay...

The Dark Ages : Were They Darker Than We Imagined? By Greg Bryant Published in the September 1999 issue of Universe As we approach the end of the Second Millennium, a review of ancient history is not what you would normally expect to read in the pages of Universe. Indeed, except for reflecting on the AD 837 apparition of Halley's Comet (when it should have been as bright as Venus and would have moved through 60 degrees of sky in one day as it passed just 0.03 AU from Earth - three times closer than Hyakutake in 1996), you may...

The Dark Ages : Were They Darker Than We Imagined? By Greg Bryant Published in the September 1999 issue of Universe As we approach the end of the Second Millennium, a review of ancient history is not what you would normally expect to read in the pages of Universe. Indeed, except for reflecting on the AD 837 apparition of Halley's Comet (when it should have been as bright as Venus and would have moved through 60 degrees of sky in one day as it passed just 0.03 AU from Earth - three times closer than Hyakutake in 1996), you may...