Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny Alert

["Ralph W. Miller III" <gbabcock@best.com>]

Tonight, in the US, PBS will broadcast "Nova: the Odyssey of Life, Part
I," which features computer morphing, time lapse photography, and
astonishing in vitro photography by Lennart "Miracle of Life" Nilsson.
See a pig embryo, a chick embryo, a chimp embryo, and a human embryo
develop before your very eyes.

Decide for yourself whether the chick embryo looks more like the embryo
of a crocodilian or a maniraptoran theropod, and debate whether one can
learn anything of phylogenetic value from embryos.  Are embryos cute,
grotesque, or both?    For a preview, visit <www.pbs.org> and click on
"Nova: the Odyssey of Life" to see some little morphing embryos.

-- Ralph W. Miller III       gbabcock@best.com