Comments on: Like A Frightened Turtle? http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/03/03/like-a-frightened-turtle/ A blog about life, past and future. Written by DISCOVER contributing editor and columnist Carl Zimmer. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:08:33 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: David B. Benson http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/03/03/like-a-frightened-turtle/comment-page-1/#comment-15438 David B. Benson Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:40:52 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/03/03/like-a-frightened-turtle/#comment-15438 Near optimum profile for efficient swimming suggests that the head has to grow along with the body. But once there is enough brain, maybe it doesn't. Plausible, anyway. Near optimum profile for efficient swimming suggests that the head has to grow along with the body. But once there is enough brain, maybe it doesn’t.

Plausible, anyway.

]]> By: Jackal http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/03/03/like-a-frightened-turtle/comment-page-1/#comment-15436 Jackal Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:15:42 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/03/03/like-a-frightened-turtle/#comment-15436 <i>In many sharks and other fishes, the brain stops growing after birth, while the skull keeps growing</i>. Same goes for many religious fundamentalists, but that's a nurture thing. In many sharks and other fishes, the brain stops growing after birth, while the skull keeps growing. Same goes for many religious fundamentalists, but that’s a nurture thing.

]]> By: Chris http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/03/03/like-a-frightened-turtle/comment-page-1/#comment-15431 Chris Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:55:16 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/03/03/like-a-frightened-turtle/#comment-15431 Anytime I hear talk of brain shrinkage, I always think of koalas. For a long time there was this great theory that koala's brains had shrunk as part of a suite of metabolic adjustments ncessary for eating toxic eucalyptus leaves. Unfortunately Taylor et al (2006) blew a hole in this idea by doing MRI scans of the brains of living koalas, which suggested that there was a lot of post-mortem shrinkage going on. See - Taylor J., Brown G., De Miguel C., Henneberg M. , Rühli F. J. (2006) MR imaging of brain morphology, vascularisation and encephalization in the koala.. Australian Mammology 28, 243–247. Anytime I hear talk of brain shrinkage, I always think of koalas. For a long time there was this great theory that koala’s brains had shrunk as part of a suite of metabolic adjustments ncessary for eating toxic eucalyptus leaves. Unfortunately Taylor et al (2006) blew a hole in this idea by doing MRI scans of the brains of living koalas, which suggested that there was a lot of post-mortem shrinkage going on. See -

Taylor J., Brown G., De Miguel C., Henneberg M. , Rühli F. J. (2006) MR imaging of brain morphology, vascularisation and encephalization in the koala.. Australian Mammology 28, 243–247.

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