I am somewhat surprised that we only now understand this. Since I have posted extensively on dawn age reptiles I recognize that there is a great deal we do not understand. That alligators and I presume crocodiles developed this innovation during the rise of dawn age reptiles, one has to wonder why?
We have been addressing the fact that lungs were not overly important to some of these creatures. Here we are looking at the plesiosaur and the large sea serpent that evolved to operate beneath the thermo cline in the deep ocean. They collect oxygen through what are plausibly external comb like gills or fleshy surfaces.
That made the croc a transition animal between aquatic and fully land capable. In a way we know little yet about what actually arose in the so called age of amphibians. The sea serpent could easily be a survivor of that age.
It is possible that both air flow strategies arose at the same time for different reason we do not yet understand.
Breathtaking: Alligators breathe like birds, underscoring an ancient link–and possibly a survival strategy
Avian dinosaurs—aka birds—have a streamlined way ofbreathing. Instead of sending air in and out of tiny sacs in the lungs like some other animals do, their breath flows in a single direction through a series of tubes. A new study reveals that birds are not alone in this adaptation: alligators also rely on this one-way inhale/exhale, suggesting that this form of respiration emerged a lot earlier in evolutionary time than had been previously thought.
These findings, published online January 14 in Science, indicate that this method of breathing likely emerged more than 246 million years ago, during the Triassic period, before the lineage that gave rise to alligators and birds split—rather than in later bird relatives.
“Our data provide evidence that unidirectional flow predates the origins of pterosaurs, dinosaurs and birds and evolved in the common ancestor of the crocodilian and bird lineages,” Collen Farmer, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and principal researcher, said in a prepared statement. (The precise common ancestor of birds and crocodilians, an archosaur, remains unknown, but Farmer speculates that it might have been “a small, relatively agile, insect-eating animal.”)
Today, having this unidirectional airflow helps birds soar to heights that Farmer said would “render mammals comatose.” But could this little breathing trick have helped both the bird’s flightless ancestors and the ancient crocodilians outlast others?
“The real importance of this air-flow discovery in gators is it may explain the turnover in faunabetween the Permian and the Triassic,” said Farmer.
“Many archosaurs, such as pterosaurs, apparently were capable of sustaining vigorous exercise” despite a relatively oxygen-poor atmosphere, Farmer said. At that point in time, the planet was hot and dry, containing about 12 percent oxygen (compared to current levels of 21 percent) in the atmosphere, and a unidirectional flow might have meant better oxygen-intake efficiency in this harsher environment. “Lung design may have played a key role in this capacity because the lung is the first step in the cascade of oxygen from the atmosphere to the animal’s tissues.”
The researchers were tipped off to this deep link by some anatomical similarities among bird and alligator lungs. Living members of the Crocodilia order, which includes today’s crocs and gators, have long been a useful reference for evolutionary study because they have changed little in the millions of years they’ve been around. To confirm the respiration suspicions, Farmer and her colleague Kent Sanders, of the University of Utah Health Sciences Center, examined air flow through the lungs of live (though sedated) and dead (donated) alligators. They also removed some lungs and filled them with saline that contained small fluorescent beads to better understand how the fluid would move inside the lungs. Examining the fluid flow through all of these lungs, Farmer and Sanders concluded that substances were moving “in a strikingly bird-like pattern.”
Previous research has suggested that dinosaurs breathed like birds, but these new findings seem to indicate that even before the dinos came along, the lungs of early archosaurs weren’t waiting to exhale.
Opel and Vauxhall CEO Nick Reilly announced a few days ago the new management team to revive the two companies, with some members coming from the US to represent GM when making critical decisions. In a letter submitted to Opel employees last week, Reilly defended General Motors and emphasized that the US-based manufacturer must not be blamed for corporate problems.
VW Group’s light commercial vehicles (LCV) state that the automotive market’s recovery is not as close as some might think. The company warns that the market has not yet overcome last year’s difficulties.
Kimi Raikkonen already signed a deal with Citroen World Rally Team to run for their Junior outfit, meaning that he’d have no use of his former rally car Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000 from now on. Consequently, instead of having 2 rally cars, he decided to hand over the aforementioned machine to his older brother Rami.
So we always hear about how hard it is to get an iPhone app approved by Apple, but here’s an interesting case; an 11-year old boy managed to not just write an app, but get it approved, and now he’s donating some of the proceeds from the sale of that app to a children’s hospital. 
If you’re hoping to go to Twitter’s first-ever developers conference, 
After AT&T and Verizon announced new mobile rates this past weekend, many users were happy to hear that the cost of voice calls would be reduced for two major American carriers.
David Betteley, former Vice President with responsibility for financial services in the UK, Europe and Africa for Japanese carmaker Toyota has moved to Jaguar Land Rover, as the British manufacturer appointed him director of financial services. From his new post, Betteley will handle Jaguar and Land Rover financial service activities worldwide.
American builder Roush Performance released yesterday the release schedule for the 2011 model year, as well as some minor details of the upcoming conversions. The Roush assault will begin in April with the release of Stage 1 and Stage 2 versions of the Mustang. 
Dutch carmaker Spyker is still negotiating the acquisition of Saab, despite the fact that General Motors, the current owner of the Swedish unit, already started winding down the brand. CEO Victor Muller confirmed for Reuters that Spyker continues talks with GM but hasn’t mentioned whether the US-based company has imposed a new deadline for an agreement to be reached.
Ralf Schumacher seems to be contemplating a future driving seat inside the 2010 Formula One Championship, according to recent reports. Although he reportedly talked to a number of teams for an F1 return, the 34-year old was also believed to be in contention for a testing role within the Mercedes GP outfit.
The Orange County Choppers accepted a new challenge, having been commissioned by garage organization company Gladiator GarageWorks to build a Gladiator brand themed bike. The Cable network, TLC, will air the American Choppers episode featuring the build and unveil of the Gladiator GarageWorks bike on January 21, 2010. 
