Tag: evolution

Darwinner

The hunch that Evolution sold

Extolling those who break the mold:

Life’s go-getters, the versatile,

Does not include the crocodile.

Throughout its 80 million years

As each Age comes, then disappears

Left standing in the starting blocks

The croc has yet to change its socks.

Quite unconcerned with each debut

Of nature’s latest ingénue

These veterans forgo the pomp

Preferring life inside a swamp.

Perhaps, the way to win the race

Is holding at a steady pace.

The croc has this down to an art

And 80 million years’ head start.

Off The Scale

We sprang from a primordial soup

Of RNA and cosmic goop

We breathed through gills and swam in schools

Among the depths and rocky pools

Bedazzling, streamlined, clad in scales

Propelled by tails with fins for sails.

Until one day, so goes the lore

We cast a fishy eye to shore

And surfed the tide across the sand

To where the water meets the land.

Not ones to walk, we lacked technique

All thanks to our unique physique

But in the end we found our feet

Soon after, gills were obsolete.

Yet, Evolution is perverse

And sometimes throws it in reverse…

For, now we’ve waterparks with slides

We snorkel, sail and scuba dive

We swim with dolphins, live on boats

And teach our small fry how to float.

Tots splash in puddles with delight

While summer’s one long water fight

Still, others love the touch of rain

But when asked Why? they can’t explain.

We left a world now out of reach

The day we clambered up that beach

The price of such a compromise?

This constant need to moisturize.

You Can’t Be Sirius

Image result for Martian microbe funny

The push is on to get to Mars
Because down here we’ve blown it
I’m just not sure if Mars is ours
For who’s to say we own it?
Maybe its own inhabitants
Will greet us when we cruise in
In tiny, shiny disco pants
And shout We’re all called Susan!
We’ll tell them all about the Earth
Its sky, its seas, the land
How right from birth we know the worth
Of taking someone’s hand
Of running jumps into a lake
To beat the summer heat
And hopes that Grandma’s gonna bake
Our favourite thing to eat
The satisfaction we derive
From finding the right gift
And pulling over when we drive
To give a friend a lift
Why monkeys make us laugh out loud
While spiders make us shriek
How lovers can tune out a crowd
When dancing cheek to cheek.
Of course, they’ll think us all absurd
Forsaking paradise
But why come here? Haven’t you heard?
We’ve only rocks and ice!
Dumbfounded we would roam so far
They’ll note down in their book:
Good Lord, these Earthlings really are as stupid as they look…

Glamour Puss

The platypus unsettles those

Who organise their socks in rows

Who’d never sport a check with stripes

The this-goes-better-with-that types.

Is it both mammal and a bird?

The mere suggestion is absurd

A beaver that can lay an egg?

Now try and pull the other leg…

Although it doesn’t quack or cluck

At first glance, it might be a duck

But if so, what’s with all the fur?

And is that venom in its spur?

This oddity that broke the mold

Still has the boffins in its hold

And while we mock the platypus

One wonders what it thinks of us

A Sine of Genus

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Imagine sitting by a lake

And wondering what it would take

To calculate the area

The formula would scare ya.

Or, fancy while beneath a tree

You’re struck by thoughts of gravity

Quite tough with which to grapple

Whilst snacking on an apple.

Or, say you’re watching tortoises

When what you start to notice is

Through clever adaptation

They’ve dodged annihilation.

Imagine peering into space

Amazed how it all hangs in place  

Then arguing dark matter

Might make the cosmos scatter.

Great minds considered these and more

From ancient Greece to Ecuador

This group of geeks is quite well-versed

At sorting out our universe.

What theorem might I devise?

Am I not wise? There is some doubt

For I’ve just only realised

You close the fridge, the light goes out…

Egg Head

Image result for ostrich face

While teaching a class of 12 year olds, one of my students asked about the origins of life.

(for the record, she was supposed to be conjugating the present tense of avoir)

“Can you narrow it down a bit for me?” I wasn’t sure where she was going with it.

“Well, something had to start something… so what started everything?” Lucy wondered.

“It’s a kind of Chicken & Egg question,” I replied.

“What do you mean, sir?” she persisted.

“Whenever we contemplate the origin of anything we often ask Which came first: the chicken or the egg? Some questions we just can’t answer. Well, not yet anyway but I think we’re getting closer.”

Lucy stared at nothing in particular but I could see her wheels turning.

“And now I’ve confused you,” I laughed.

“Only because you’re confused, sir,” she stated, as respectfully as possible. “The answer to the Chicken & Egg Theory is easy. Chickens are birds. Birds are descendants of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs didn’t give birth to live young but laid eggs, therefore the eggs some dinosaurs laid eventually evolved into chickens through a process called speciation.“

Wow.

A colleague once told me, “The best thing about being a teacher is that we are, indeed, the smartest people in the room.”

Some days I’m not so sure.