(New) soft bodied cephalopods from the Cambrian.

Is it Cephalopodmas already?!?! No, but it sure feels like it. Today the journal Nature published an article describing a previously known species, Nectocaris pteryx, in an entirely new light. In their new paper, Martin R. Smith and Jean-Bernard Caron reinterpret Nectocaris based on the holotype and 91 additional (brand spanking new) specimens that help show where this peculiar Middle Cambrian critter belongs on the "Tree of Life".

Restoration of Nectocaris based on old evidence, by Ghedoghedo, from Wikimedia Commons.

Dana Carvey is "DARWIN".

I'm a huge fan of Funny or Die, and as you all probably know, of Charles Darwin as well. So naturally, I got a good laugh out of this. I just hope that people appreciate it for its humor, and not for its inaccurate portrayal of a remarkably humble and non-violent man.

Dana Carvey is "DARWIN" - watch more funny videos

By Dana Carvey & Spike Feresten, via Funny or Die.

For more accurate portrayals of Mr. Darwin, check out "Creation", "Darwin's Darkest Hour", and "Darwin's Dangerous Idea".

R. Dakin & Co., 1986 - My First Dinosaur Toy Collection

(Complete?) collection of dinosaur toys, made by R. Dakin & Co., 1986

To be young again. I just posted an inquiry on The Dinosaur Toy Forum (the official forum of The Dinosaur Toy Blog) regarding the above pictured vinyl dinosaur figures I got when I was only three or four years old. These things are adorable, and I'm sure are what inspired what has been a life-long hobby of collecting dinosaur (and other extinct and extant animal) figures.

These cartoonish depictions are clearly based on known species, and given the diagnostic characters they posses, I imagine we are looking at (back row, left to right) Apatosaurus, Saurolophus, Spinosaurus, (front row, left to right) Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus, and Monoclonius. I particularly like the fact that they went for less well known (at the time) species like Monoclonius and Spinosaurus, rather than Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus.

So, now the question: does anyone know anything about these figures? The only identifying feature on them is an inscription on each figure that reads "(c) R. Dakin & Co., 1986". Google search results haven't yielded a lot of clues, but if anyone else out there has ever seen these figures or knows anything about them (particularly if I have a complete set), I'd appreciate the information.

Thanks!