Saturday, February 7, 2009

Think you're smarter than a freshman in high school?

Quick: Is the giant panda more closely related to the raccoon or to other bears? If you, like me, said the raccoon you would have been wrong. I learned this from my son today. Maybe you were thinking of the red panda, which is more closely related to the raccoon. Good spin! Apparently, scientists studying radioactive DNA strands and biochemical comparisons of enzymes and other proteins have recently concluded that the giant panda is more closely related to bears than to raccoons. Huh? Apparently, there's a lot more grant money sloshing around out there than we thought, too. And somewhere--right now--John McCain is grinding his teeth as a result.

But that's what's great about science. Unlike religion, it's constantly changing. So if you don't like what they conclude today, stick around; they might conclude differently tomorrow.

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