[ad_1]
Godzilla model (stock image).
Godzilla debuted in 1954. In its early days, it was a 50-meter-tall metaphor describing the indiscriminate destruction, particularly the testing of hydrogen bombs in the United States in the Marshall Islands, which destroyed the ecosystem of the sea depths of Godzilla. Sixty-five years and 35 films later, Godzilla is back and bigger than ever in Godzilla: The King of Monsters. With a height of 119.8 meters, Godzilla fights for supremacy against three monsters at God's height, all with the future of humanity at stake. Movie critics and fans have long watched that Godzilla grew with time, as the buildings grew. In fact, Godzilla has evolved 30 times faster than other organisms on Earth, according to a team of Dartmouth scientists whose results are published in Science.
The researchers propose that Godzilla "evolves in response to a collective anxiety spike in humanity". They used US military spending as a substitute for our collective anxiety and found a strong correlation between it and Godzilla's size between 1954 and 2019. If Godzilla is the embodiment of our anxiety, they argued, so our collective anxiety seems to be more lively. did during the nuclear era of the 1950s.
If we admit that Godzilla is a ceratosaurid dinosaur from the Jurassic period, as indicated in the film series, it represents a sensational example of evolutionary stability over a period of at least 145 million years. However, the size of Godzilla has doubled since 1954, far exceeding the rate of change observed in 2,500 natural organisms today. "Godzilla's body was constant for about 150 million years until 1954, suggesting a sudden and strong selective pressure on body size over the past 65 years," said the co-author Nathaniel J. Dominy, professor of anthropology Charles Hansen and professor in the graduate program in ecology, evolution, ecosystems and society in Dartmouth. Dominy co-authored this study with Ryan Calsbeek, associate professor of biological sciences and Dartmouth's graduate program in ecology, evolution, ecosystems and society.
The co-authors add that Godzilla persists as a cultural icon because it is a "fable with a lesson for our time".
Source of the story:
Material provided by Dartmouth College. Note: Content can be changed for style and length.
Journal reference:
- Nathaniel J. Dominy, Ryan Calsbeek. A movie monster evolves, fed with fear. Science2019; 364 (6443): 840-841 DOI: 10.1126 / science.aax5394
Quote this page:
Dartmouth College. "Godzilla is back and he's bigger than ever: the evolutionary biology of the monster." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, May 30, 2019.
Dartmouth College. (2019, May 30). Godzilla is back and he is bigger than ever: The evolutionary biology of the monster. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 31, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190530101120.htm.
Dartmouth College. "Godzilla is back and he's bigger than ever: the evolutionary biology of the monster." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190530101120.htm (accessed May 31, 2019).
[ad_2]
Source link