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The current wisdom on cousins marrying is that it’s not all that genetically dangerous -unless it happens over several generations. That is exactly what happened in Charles Darwin’s family, according to James Moore, professor of science history at the Open University, who studied Darwin’s family tree. Charles Darwin married his first cousin Emma Wedgewood. Of their ten children, three died young and three more had no children. Some notes:
- Darwin’s maternal grandfather, Josiah Wedgwood, the founder of the pottery dynasty, had married his own third cousin, Sarah, and had eight children.
- The couple’s eldest daughter, Susannah Wedgwood, married Robert Darwin, her cousin. Charles was their child.
- Meanwhile, Josiah and Sarah’s second eldest son, also Josiah, had nine children, of whom four, including Emma, married first cousins.
Moore, who is about to publish a research paper on Darwin, said: “The results of this unintended experiment in close-cousin breeding are striking — 26 children were born from these first-cousin marriages, yet 19 of the offspring did not reproduce. Five died prematurely, five were unmarried and considered deficient, and nine married without issue.
A first edition of Charles Darwin’s "On The Origin of Species" was discovered on a bookshelf in the guest bathroom of a house in southern England. Only 1,250 of the books were printed when the book was first released in 1859.
Leaving aside the thought that Darwin is not what one generally thinks of in terms of bathroom reading, how many people sat there leafing through the thing before somebody finally realized what they were holding?
The book will be auctioned on Tuesday, the 150th anniversary of the publication of the famous work. Christie’s said the book is likely to sell for 60,000 pounds ($99,000).
Why don’t I ever find stuff like that? Link
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by 
If you like the neat color optical illusion posted by Neatoramanaut Minnesotastan from the Upcoming Queue, check this one out by Rob Jenkins of the University of Glasgow and Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire:
The picture below shows two monkeys. Set your computer monitor to maximum brightness and then stare at the centre of the picture for about 30 seconds without moving your eyes. Next, look to a white wall and blink a few times. The monkeys should suddenly transform into a perfect picture of Darwin!
Previously on Neatorama: 10 Fun Facts About Charles Darwin
Knowledge on evolution fills many books, which can be intimidating to someone just beginning to learn about it. Geeks are Sexy has a post explaining in layman’s terms how evolution works and the reason why the theory is so important as a tool when examining the world. The basics boil down to four statements:
* Variation, which arises through mutation, exists within and between populations for every trait.
* More individuals are born into a population than can survive (usually because of the scarcity of resources).
* Traits are passed down from parents to their offspring.
* Individuals most fit to survive in their environment generally do (Natural Selection).
Of course, there’s a lot more which is easier to absorb once you have the basics. Link
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by 
If you’ve ever damaged your stuff because you packed it wrong, take heart: even Charles Darwin made the same error.
When a volunteer was cataloging a collection at University of Cambridge’s Zoology Museum, she ran across a curious egg with writings on it:
… Lowe and Curator of Ornithology Dr Mike Brooke, traced the specimen’s origin in the notebook of Professor Alfred Newton, a friend of Darwin’s and Professor of Zoology in the latter 19th Century.
Prof Newton had written: "One egg, received through Frank Darwin, having been sent to me by his father who said he got it at Maldonado (Uruguay) and that it belonged to the Common Tinamou of those parts.
"The great man put it into too small a box and hence its unhappy state."
Previously on Neatorama: 10 Fun Facts About Charles Darwin
