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Resetting the evolutionary clock with fossils and DNA
A typical expedition for paleontologist Michael J. Foote, SM'88, PhD'89, means a short walk across the science quad from his second-floor office in Hinds Laboratory to the John Crerar Library. The professor in geophysical sciences has nothing against fieldwork-last summer he spent a week helping two Chicago graduate students collect fossils in the Marshall Wilderness of northwest Montana. [ MORE ]

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Tweet Dreams
Biologist Daniel Margoliash reported in the October 27 Science that sleeping songbirds dream of singing. Margoliash's team studies the activity of brain cells in sleeping Australian zebra finches. Though the researchers have speculated on this in the past, improved recording technology now lets them track the firing of birds' neurons throughout the night, revealing complex patterns similar to those generated when the birds are awake and singing. The activity patterns of the sleeping birds vary slightly from their waking patterns-as if they are improvising variations on the songs. The study sheds new light on the theory that rehearsing new skills during sleep is important in the human learning process. [ MORE ]