Evolution Lab

April 28, 2015 12:25 PM

"What could you possibly have in common with a mushroom, or a dinosaur, or even a bacterium? More than you might think. In this Lab, you’ll puzzle out the evolutionary relationships linking together a spectacular array of species. Explore the tree of life and get a front row seat to what some have called the greatest show on Earth. That show is evolution." Evolution Lab is a educational game created by the Life on Earth Project and NOVA Labs
posted by brundlefly (13 comments total)

"What could you possibly have in common with a mushroom, or a dinosaur, or even a bacterium"

We all enjoy the piano stylings of Bill Evans.

I know, I was surprised too.
posted by Sangermaine at 12:36 PM on April 28, 2015 [8 favorites]

Dammit, I have work to do today... but a mushroom is more closely related to me than it is to a plant? Tell me more...
posted by Huck500 at 12:44 PM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

PARSIMONY!
The Game
posted by overeducated_alligator at 12:49 PM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

This is cool and fun and I need to stop now.
posted by blurker at 12:52 PM on April 28, 2015

a mushroom is more closely related to me than it is to a plant? Tell me more...

Okay. Well, you do look like a fungi...
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:53 PM on April 28, 2015 [4 favorites]

a mushroom is more closely related to me than it is to a plant? Tell me more...

It's true, at least as far as we can tell! And it's super cool [pdf]!
posted by dialetheia at 1:18 PM on April 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

Ok, this is crazy...this past Saturday we took our daughter to the University Museum in Lincon, and they had a gigantic touchscreen console with what I'm pretty sure is this exact software running. I actually commented as we left, "Man, it would be fun just to have this to play around with at home."
posted by Ipsifendus at 1:27 PM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

This looks really cool; can't wait to explore it more.
posted by benito.strauss at 2:51 PM on April 28, 2015

Oh good, this can be today's "Thing I do in the evening instead of working on a manuscript."
posted by pemberkins at 3:16 PM on April 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

But where are the transitional forms?
posted by Renoroc at 4:59 PM on April 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'd love to play this, but it's one of those weird things that actually shrinks as I zoom in the browser, and the text is too small to read (It expands as I zoom out, maximising at around 75%, then shrinks again.)

I'd say it's not very intelligently designed.
posted by Devonian at 6:19 PM on April 28, 2015 [4 favorites]

But where are the transitional forms?

... Raises pseudopod
posted by sneebler at 6:33 AM on April 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

Good one, Renoroc!
posted by agregoli at 7:09 AM on April 29, 2015