seriously, octopuses?

As has been often said - one can safely discuss most anything other than politics and religion, and any attempt to mention 'evolution' just brings out the people with entrenched positions on both sides of the debate.

Personally, I think the article was not useful, as it just rehashed a lot of old data and did not really offer much new - normally I look to Popsci to run items that provide new insight, share some new innovation or answer some previously unanswered question. This article actually did little, other than get the usual suspects to act in their predictable manner.

Its a pity..

The really strange one here is the platypus. It's almost like it was cobbled together from a random collection of other creatures!

It's interesting that even the creatures that are basically the same as their ancestors from hundreds of millions of years ago have changed in small ways to make them better. This is a reminder that natural selection always occurs when there is a low survival rate to adulthood.