Evolution of the scrollbar

Sébastien Matos used a straightforward view to show the evolution of the scrollbar, dating back to the Xerox 8010 Information System from 1981.

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Evolution of the alphabet

Matt Baker provides this nifty diagram on how the alphabet changed over the centuries, evolving to what it is now. Grab the print.

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Tree of Life

From Evogeneao:

This Tree of Life diagram is based primarily on the evolutionary relationships so wonderfully related in Dr. Richard Dawkins’ The Ancestor’s Tale, and timetree.org. The smallest branches are purely illustrative. They are intended to suggest the effect of mass extinctions on diversity, and changes in diversity through time. This diagram is NOT intended to be a scholarly reference tool! It is intended to be an easy-to-understand illustration of the core evolution principle; we are related not only to every living thing, but also to everything that has ever lived on Earth.

Design-wise, there are many things that could’ve made the graphic more readable, but something about it makes me like it just the way it is.

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Vintage chart shows the evolution in design of everyday objects

By Raymond Loewy, this chart from 1934 shows the shifts in design of the car, telephone, and clock, among other things. I assume someone is already working on updating this one to the present. [via @michaelbierut]

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Watch bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotic

bacteria-evolution

Scientists at Harvard University setup the MEGA-plate, essentially a giant petri dish, with varying levels of antibiotic. Then they let the bacteria have a go, and you can see the bacteria actually evolve. Ed Yong for the Atlantic:

What you’re seeing in the movie is a vivid depiction of a very real problem. Disease-causing bacteria and other microbes are increasingly evolving to resist our drugs; by 2050, these impervious infections could potentially kill ten million people a year. The problem of drug-resistant infections is terrifying but also abstract; by their nature, microbes are invisible to the naked eye, and the process by which they defy our drugs is even harder to visualise.

Until you watch the video, that is.

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