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Speculative Evolution
Speculative evolution is a subgenre of science fiction and an artistic movement focused on hypothetical scenarios in the evolution of life, and a significant form of Biology in fiction, fictional biology. It is also known as speculative biology and it is referred to as speculative zoology in regards to hypothetical animals. Works incorporating speculative evolution may have entirely conceptual species that evolve on a planet other than Earth, or they may be an alternate history focused on an alternate evolution of terrestrial life. Speculative evolution is often considered hard science fiction because of its strong connection to and basis in science, particularly biology. Speculative evolution is a long-standing trope within science fiction, often recognized as beginning as such with H. G. Wells's 1895 novel ''The Time Machine'', which featured several imaginary future creatures. Although small-scale speculative faunas were a hallmark of science fiction throughout the 20th century, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dinosauroid
The dinosauroid is a Speculative evolution, hypothetical species created by Dale A. Russell in 1982. Russell theorized that if a dinosaur such as ''Stenonychosaurus'' had not perished in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, its descendants might have evolved to fill the same ecological niche as humans. While the theory has been met with criticism from other scientists, the dinosauroid has been featured widely in books and documentaries since the theory's inception. Theory In 1982, Dale A. Russell, then curator of vertebrate fossils at the Canadian Museum of Nature, National Museum of Canada in Ottawa, conjectured a possible evolutionary path for ''Stenonychosaurus'', if it had not perished in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, suggesting that it could have evolved into intelligent beings similar in body plan to humans. Over geologic time, Russell noted that there had been a steady increase in the encephalization quotient or EQ (the relative brain weight when compa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
After Man
''After Man: A Zoology of the Future'' is a 1981 speculative evolution book written by Scottish geologist and paleontologist Dougal Dixon and illustrated by several illustrators including Diz Wallis, John Butler, Brian McIntyre, Philip Hood, Roy Woodard and Gary Marsh. The book features a foreword by Desmond Morris. ''After Man'' explores a hypothetical future set 50 million years after extinction of humanity, a time period Dixon dubs the "Posthomic", which is inhabited by animals that have evolved from survivors of a mass extinction succeeding our own time. ''After Man'' used a fictional setting and hypothetical animals to explain the natural processes behind evolution and natural selection. In total, over a hundred different invented animal species are featured in the book, described as part of fleshed-out fictional future ecosystems. Reviews for ''After Man'' were highly positive and its success spawned two follow-up speculative evolution books which used new fictional setti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederik Pohl
Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American list of science fiction authors, science-fiction writer, editor, and science fiction fandom, fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first published work, the 1937 poem "Elegy to a Dead Satellite: Luna", to the 2011 novel ''All the Lives He Led''. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited ''Galaxy Science Fiction, Galaxy'' and its sister magazine ''If (magazine), If''; the latter won three successive annual Hugo Awards as the year's best professional magazine. His 1977 novel ''Gateway (novel), Gateway'' won four "year's best novel" awards: the Hugo voted by convention participants, the Locus voted by magazine subscribers, the Nebula voted by American science-fiction writers, and the juried academic John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, John W. Campbell Memorial Award. He won the Campbell Memorial Award again for the 1984 collection of novellas ''The Ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethnic Group
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, religion, history or social treatment. Ethnicities may also have a narrow or broad spectrum of genetic ancestry, with some groups having mixed genetic ancestry. ''Ethnicity'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''nation'', particularly in cases of ethnic nationalism. It is also used interchangeably with '' race'' although not all ethnicities identify as racial groups. By way of assimilation, acculturation, amalgamation, language shift, intermarriage, adoption and religious conversion, individuals or groups may over time shift from one ethnic group to another. Ethnic groups may be divided into subgroups or tribes, which over time may become separate ethnic groups themselves due to endogamy or physical isolation from the parent gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecosystem
An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Ecosystems are controlled by external and internal Environmental factor, factors. External factors—including climate—control the ecosystem's structure, but are not influenced by it. By contrast, internal factors control and are controlled by ecosystem processes; these include decomposition, the types of species present, root competition, shading, disturbance, and succession. While external factors generally determine which Resource (biology), resource inputs an ecosystem has, their availability within the ecosystem is controlled by internal factors. Ecosystems are wikt:dynamic, dynamic, subject to periodic disturbances and always in the process of recovering from past disturbances. The tendency of an ecosystem to remain clo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barsoom Green Martian
Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs. The first Barsoom tale was serialized as ''Under the Moons of Mars'' in pulp magazine '' The All-Story'' from February to July 1912 and published compiled as a novel as '' A Princess of Mars'' in 1917. It features John Carter, a late-19th-century American Confederate veteran who is mysteriously transported from Earth to the dying world of Mars where he meets and romances the beautiful Martian princess Dejah Thoris. Ten sequels followed over the next three decades, further extending his vision of Barsoom and adding other characters. The ''Barsoom'' series, particularly the first novel, is considered a major influence on early science fiction. Series Burroughs began writing the Barsoom books in the second half of 1911 and produced one volume a year between 1911 and 1914; seven more were produced between 1921 and 1941. The first Barsoom tale was serialized in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morlock
Morlocks are one of the two fictional species of post-humans created by H. G. Wells for his 1895 novel ''The Time Machine'' (the other being the Eloi). The origin of the names is not established (with regard to Wells' inspiration or inspirations). In the Wells' story, the Morlocks are the novel's main antagonists. Since their creation by Wells, Morlock characters have appeared in many other works, including sequels, films, television shows, as well as in works by other authors (many of which deviate from the original description). Name origin With regard to the choice of the name, one writer has made a specific association between Wells' "Morlocks" and the Morlachs, a rural people of Venetian Dalmatia, frequently demonized by Westerners in the 16th–18th centuries. Alternatively, the name may have been inspired by Moloch, the Canaanite god of child sacrifice, which positions Eloi as analogous to children. In ''The Time Machine'' The Morlocks are at first a mysterious presenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eloi
The Eloi are one of the two fictional species of post-humans, along with the Morlocks, in H. G. Wells' 1895 novel ''The Time Machine''. In H. G. Wells' ''The Time Machine'' By the year AD 802,701, humanity has diverged into two separate species: the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi live a banal life of ease on the surface of the Earth while the Morlocks live underground, tending machinery and providing food, clothing, and inventory for the Eloi. The narration suggests that the divergence of species may have been the result of a widening separation between social classes. The Eloi are suggested to be the descendants of a privileged, surface-dwelling, upper class, which once dominated the subterranean working class. The Time Traveler, the story's protagonist, surmises that the surface-dwelling civilization had reached its zenith and devolved into decadence and indifference. At the same time, the "underworlders", who supported the surface world, grew accustomed to labor and ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamisiocaris
''Tamisiocaris'' (from Latin ''tamisium'', sieve, and Greek ''karis'', crab, shrimp) is a radiodont genus from the Cambrian period. The taxon was initially described in 2010 based on frontal appendages discovered from the Sirius Passet lagerstatte in northern Greenland. A subsequent study by Vinther and colleagues in 2014 revealed that the frontal appendages were segmented and bore densely packed auxiliary spines, which were adapted to suspension feeding in a manner analogous to modern baleen whales. It is assigned to the family Tamisiocarididae, and is measured about long. Phylogeny ''Tamisiocaris'' in cladogram after Vinther ''et al''., 2014. References {{Taxonbar, from=Q2391651 Radiodonta Prehistoric arthropod genera Cambrian arthropods Cambrian Greenland Fossils of Greenland Sirius Passet fossils Buen Formation Fossil taxa described in 2010 Cambrian genus extinctions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anomalocarida
Radiodonta is an extinct order of stem-group arthropods that was successful worldwide during the Cambrian period. Radiodonts are distinguished by their distinctive frontal appendages, which are morphologically diverse and were used for a variety of functions. Radiodonts were among the earliest large predators, but they also included sediment sifters and filter feeders. Some of the most famous species of radiodonts are the Cambrian taxa ''Anomalocaris canadensis'', '' Hurdia victoria'', ''Peytoia nathorsti'', '' Titanokorys gainesi, Cambroraster, Cambroraster falcatus'' and ''Amplectobelua, Amplectobelua symbrachiata''. The later surviving members include the subfamily Aegirocassisinae from the Early Ordovician of Morocco and the Early Devonian member ''Schinderhannes bartelsi'' from Germany. Etymology The name Radiodonta (Latin for ''radius'' "spoke of a wheel" and Greek for ''odoús'' "tooth") refers to the radial arrangement of tooth plates (oral cone) surrounding the mouth, al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Darren Naish
Darren William Naish (born 26 September 1975) is a British vertebrate palaeontologist, author and science communicator. As a researcher, he is best known for his work describing and reevaluating dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles, including '' Eotyrannus'', '' Xenoposeidon'', and azhdarchid pterosaurs. Much of his research has focused on Wealden Group fossils from the Isle of Wight. He is founder of the vertebrate palaeozoology blog Tetrapod Zoology, and has written several popular science books. Naish also makes frequent media appearances and is a scientific consultant and advisor for film, television, museums and exhibitions. Naish is also known for his scepticism and work examining cryptozoology and sea monster sightings and beliefs from a scientific perspective. Research He obtained a geology degree at the University of Southampton and later studied vertebrate palaeontology under British palaeontologist David Martill at the University of Portsmouth, where he obtained ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
