I'm pretty sure you don't 'need' the visual cortex for memory. For visual memory yes but other types of memory no. I once taked to a blind guy who had damaged his visual cortex late in life so he could not bring an image to his mind but could still remember the sound of peoples voices etc.
I...
As far as the cause goes, i'd say it's got something to do with the fluid in your inner ear wooshing round and not matching what you are observing. Your brain goes into overdrive. I'd agree with the distraction thing too. I think if you're a bit animated the subtle motions of the car would be...
I'm only guessing, but I imagine that when it comes down to fine details, dna probably doesn't worry too much. Especially bits that aren't really necesarry for a healthy existence. I think dna is a lossy algorithm to use an analogy. Things like fingerprints might have some vague encoding which...
I had a look around about the endotherm stuff. It would seem that the smithsonian sees the idea of endothermic dinosaurs as not substantiated. Some of the ideas are based around the fact that most (all?) modern reptiles lie flat, unlike dinosaurs, dinos have bird like skeletons and birds are...
I'm pretty sure that industrial diamonds are deposited on a surface using some sort of condensation method so they are tiny. I imagine that it would be ok for abrasion resistance but as far as structural strength I think diamond is fairly brittle. You can still smash a diamond with a hammer...
You're right about the monotreme bit. They are still mammals though, defined by the fact that they have mammary glands which produce milk. The Echidna and platypus are the only monotremes, I have no idea what a Pangalyn is.
I'm really making the suggestion that all of the large dinosaurs...
A bit of an aside, but does anyone know if it is possible from fossil records of dinosaurs to tell whether any were mammalian. I was thinking recently about egg laying mammals we have here like the Echidna and the Platypus and wondering if there was any chance at all that dinosaurs might have...