HAPPY NEW YEAR
Wish you Happiness and Joy...
And Blessings for the New Year.
Wish you the best of everything...
That you so well deserve.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU !!!
Saturday, December 31
Wish you Happiness and Joy...
And Blessings for the New Year.
Wish you the best of everything...
That you so well deserve.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU !!!
Friday, December 30
A rare spiky football shape fungus found in city park.
A rare fungus named after a hedgehog because of its spiky football shape has been found in a Brighton park.Volunteer nature warden Pru Gridley saw the white hedgehog fungus in Stanmer Woods this autumn, the council said.
Research by Brighton council has found that the endangered species has been seen only 12 other times in the UK in the past 45 years.
The protected fungus found on an ancient beech tree "must have been there for centuries", the council said.
The council said a national action plan had been formed to protect the fungus, which highlighted the need to protect ancient trees as a key to conservation.
Councillor Joyce Edmond-Smith said: "It goes to show that even in an urban area there are some really special discoveries still waiting to be made."
source : BBC.
Evidence of prehistoric Native Americans has been unearthed.
Evidence of prehistoric Native Americans has been unearthed in Central Texas at a secret excavation site.
A Texas Department of Transportation worker found multiple ancient campsites while working on a construction project in Williamson County.
The campsites date back some 8,000 years.
Jonathan Budd, an archeologist who works for TxDOT, says sites like these are sometimes found during work on their projects, but this one is unique.
"This in itself is extraordinary. This is found to be eligible for the National Register for Historic Places," said Budd. "We have significant archeological deposits here. For the last 7,000- 8,000 years you have multiple occupations like a birthday cake."
Even though archeologists are focusing on an area that's 70 by 30 meters, they believe the campsite is much larger. And for the most part, the artifacts they're finding have been remarkably preserved.
"For some reason, and we haven't really determined it yet, this was protected over the last 7-8,000 years.
Scientists are hoping to learn how and when early Native Americans utilized the prehistoric landscape to scratch out a living.
They're trying to keep the site a secret, but looters have already compromised a small section.
Steve Carpenter, an archeologist helping TxDOT with the dig, says looting can destroy a site.
"It has an adverse effect on our understanding of the entire site as a whole," he said. "People don't really know it's against the law."
Archeologists say the looters are after prehistoric tools like a bifacial stone that was uncovered or a stone burin, which was used to make holes through animal hides.
"They're fairly rare. That's the first one we've recovered from the site."
Even the dirt is valuable for archeologists.
"You can look at it through a microscope and figure out what kind of species of plants were burned."
The dig is expected to continue through the early part of February.
Source : KVUE News.
A Texas Department of Transportation worker found multiple ancient campsites while working on a construction project in Williamson County.
The campsites date back some 8,000 years.
Jonathan Budd, an archeologist who works for TxDOT, says sites like these are sometimes found during work on their projects, but this one is unique.
"This in itself is extraordinary. This is found to be eligible for the National Register for Historic Places," said Budd. "We have significant archeological deposits here. For the last 7,000- 8,000 years you have multiple occupations like a birthday cake."
Even though archeologists are focusing on an area that's 70 by 30 meters, they believe the campsite is much larger. And for the most part, the artifacts they're finding have been remarkably preserved.
"For some reason, and we haven't really determined it yet, this was protected over the last 7-8,000 years.
Scientists are hoping to learn how and when early Native Americans utilized the prehistoric landscape to scratch out a living.
They're trying to keep the site a secret, but looters have already compromised a small section.
Steve Carpenter, an archeologist helping TxDOT with the dig, says looting can destroy a site.
"It has an adverse effect on our understanding of the entire site as a whole," he said. "People don't really know it's against the law."
Archeologists say the looters are after prehistoric tools like a bifacial stone that was uncovered or a stone burin, which was used to make holes through animal hides.
"They're fairly rare. That's the first one we've recovered from the site."
Even the dirt is valuable for archeologists.
"You can look at it through a microscope and figure out what kind of species of plants were burned."
The dig is expected to continue through the early part of February.
Source : KVUE News.
Thursday, December 29
Climate change driving pika to extinction.
The tiny rabbit-like American pika, an animal species considered to be one of the best canaries in a coal mine for detecting global warming in the western United States, appears to be veering toward the brink of extinction in the Great Basin.New research indicates the small mammals, which are very sensitive to high temperatures, are being pushed upward in their mountain habitat and are running out of places to live. Climate change and human activities appear to be primary factors imperiling the pika, reports University of Washington archaeologist Donald Grayson in the current issue of the Journal of Biogeography.
"Human influences have combined with factors such as climate change operating over longer time scales to produce the diminished distribution of pikas in the Great Basin today. This makes controlling our current impacts on them all that more important," said Grayson.The animals are isolated in patches across mountainous areas in western North America, from the southern Sierra Nevada and Rocky mountains to central British Columbia in Canada. In the Great Basin, these mountains are separated by large valleys with desert-like conditions that pikas can't tolerate. Pikas live in rock-strewn talus slopes that provide them with air-conditioning from hot temperatures and protection from predators.
"We might be staring pika extinction in the Great Basin, maybe in Yosemite, too, right in the face. Today, the Great Basin pika is totally isolated on separated mountain ranges and there is no way one of these populations can get to another," said Grayson. "They don't have much up-slope habitat left."
"Pikas are an iconic animal to people who like high elevations. They are part of the experience. What's happening to them is telling us something about the dramatic changes in climate happening in the Great Basin. Climate change will have a dramatic effect including important economic impacts, such as diminished water resources, on people."
University of Washington
Amazing relationship between Owen and Mzee
The unlikely couple of a baby hippo and a 130-year-old tortoise are still together, a year after the hippo was separated from its family by the Boxing Day tsunami.
The relationship between Owen, the two-year-old hippopotamus, and Mzee, the giant tortoise, surprised conservation workers and made international headlines.
Owen was living with his family on the Sabaki River in Kenya when massive waves from the tsunami reached the east African coast. He was washed into the ocean and stranded on a reef.
Residents of Malindi, a small coastal town, used fishing nets to catch him. He was then taken to the Haller Park sanctuary where he met Mzee, adopting him as a surrogate parent.
Owen may have been attracted by Mzee's round shape and grey colour, features that are somewhat similar to those of an adult hippopotamus.
The tortoise at first resisted. But the persistent Owen kept following him around the park, into the pool and trying to sleep next to him.
Mzee relented after several days. As the bond grew, the tortoise even returned signs of affection. They are now inseparable.
Conservation workers plan to introduce Owen to a 13-year-old female hippo named Cleo early next year, hoping to see the two develop a strong relationship.
The female hippo has lived without companionship from within its species for more than a decade.
The delicate process will begin with getting the two animals to meet and become used to each other's smell before moving them into a larger enclosure - together with the tortoise.
source : AP.
The relationship between Owen, the two-year-old hippopotamus, and Mzee, the giant tortoise, surprised conservation workers and made international headlines.
Owen was living with his family on the Sabaki River in Kenya when massive waves from the tsunami reached the east African coast. He was washed into the ocean and stranded on a reef.
Residents of Malindi, a small coastal town, used fishing nets to catch him. He was then taken to the Haller Park sanctuary where he met Mzee, adopting him as a surrogate parent.
Owen may have been attracted by Mzee's round shape and grey colour, features that are somewhat similar to those of an adult hippopotamus.
The tortoise at first resisted. But the persistent Owen kept following him around the park, into the pool and trying to sleep next to him.
Mzee relented after several days. As the bond grew, the tortoise even returned signs of affection. They are now inseparable.
Conservation workers plan to introduce Owen to a 13-year-old female hippo named Cleo early next year, hoping to see the two develop a strong relationship.
The female hippo has lived without companionship from within its species for more than a decade.
The delicate process will begin with getting the two animals to meet and become used to each other's smell before moving them into a larger enclosure - together with the tortoise.
source : AP.
Wednesday, December 28
Elvis - the elusive woodpecker.
Elvis. That is the nickname that Larry Mallard, refuge manager for the White River National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Arkansas, uses for the ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis), now being sought in Mallard’s woods by Cornell Lab of Ornithology staffers and volunteers.Mallard betrays a hint of mixed feelings: He has been managing the area for other endangered species, but only since the woodpecker's rediscovery has the refuge's conservation needs received any attention.
"Elvis is the rock star," said Mallard about the elusive woodpecker. "It's one thing to have endangered species. It's another thing to have a species that's been gone for 60 years that reappeared." But he fully appreciates that the bird has brought attention, and could bring money, to the area in an era when national wildlife refuge budgets are low. "You've got to take advantage of what comes along."
Study finds plastic in 95% of dead birds
THOUSANDS of seabirds are being killed each year after a massive rise in plastics pollution in the North Sea, according to a new report.
Studies on the bodies of 600 fulmars washed up on beaches revealed that 95 per cent had plastic litter in their stomachs - with an average of 40 pieces of plastic per bird. One fulmar had 1,600 pieces of plastic in its guts, says the Save the North Sea project, which was set up by volunteers and professional organisations in all countries with North Sea coastlines.
Fulmars - gull-like, tube-nosed birds with a massive colony on St Kilda - are affected because they mistake discarded plastic for jellyfish floating on the sea's surface.
The south-east area of the North Sea - around the Channel exit to German Bight - is the worst-affected and plastics pollution is not only killing birds but also putting off bathers, contributing to beach clean-up costs and causing fouled propellers and blocked water intakes.
Do Women Prefer 'Manly' Faces ?
What makes a face beautiful ? What makes people seek out and desire to mate with the owners of beautiful faces ? In recent years, scientists have turned to the theory of evolution to help us understand why some faces are judged to be more attractive than others.
According to the evolutionary view, the attractiveness of individuals is directly linked to their value as mates. A "high-value" mate is someone who best enhances your reproductive success. Going back into the evolutionary past of the human race, someone who noticed the cues to the value of a potential partner, and intentionally selected a high-value mate, would leave behind more children. These children would tend to inherit genes for attentiveness.
Attention to attractiveness is thus part of our evolutionary design.
This scientific analysis is reflected in the fact that our magazines and television screens are filled with attractive people. It's obvious that both women and men are highly concerned with good looks in a partner.
The same is true across the animal kingdom. A diverse range of species relies on external factors to attract mates, such as the size, shape, and colour of their feathers, fur and antlers. Why has evolution accentuated these particular characteristics? A variety of mechanisms may be responsible. The most obvious is that attractiveness is associated with the quality of an individual's genes.
According to the evolutionary view, the attractiveness of individuals is directly linked to their value as mates. A "high-value" mate is someone who best enhances your reproductive success. Going back into the evolutionary past of the human race, someone who noticed the cues to the value of a potential partner, and intentionally selected a high-value mate, would leave behind more children. These children would tend to inherit genes for attentiveness.
Attention to attractiveness is thus part of our evolutionary design.
This scientific analysis is reflected in the fact that our magazines and television screens are filled with attractive people. It's obvious that both women and men are highly concerned with good looks in a partner.
The same is true across the animal kingdom. A diverse range of species relies on external factors to attract mates, such as the size, shape, and colour of their feathers, fur and antlers. Why has evolution accentuated these particular characteristics? A variety of mechanisms may be responsible. The most obvious is that attractiveness is associated with the quality of an individual's genes.
Tuesday, December 27
Language affects the thought process - study finds.
Scientists and philosophers have wondered whether each person’s language determines, to some extent, how he or she sees the world.
“Every language is a vast pattern-system, different from others,” wrote the 20th-century American linguist Benjamin Whorf. And through language, he added, a person “analyzes nature, notices or neglects types of relationship and phenomena, channels his reasoning, and builds the house of his consciousness.”
Whorf famously argued that Eskimos have 200 words for snow, indicating that they think differently about the substance than do, say, English-speakers. Other scientists have disputed that the word count is that high, or that it really reflects different ways of thinking.
Whorf’s whole theory remains controversial. But a team of scientists says new research clarifies the debate.
Their study found that Whorf was correct—but only for the left half of the brain, which, aptly enough, handles language.
“Every language is a vast pattern-system, different from others,” wrote the 20th-century American linguist Benjamin Whorf. And through language, he added, a person “analyzes nature, notices or neglects types of relationship and phenomena, channels his reasoning, and builds the house of his consciousness.”
Whorf famously argued that Eskimos have 200 words for snow, indicating that they think differently about the substance than do, say, English-speakers. Other scientists have disputed that the word count is that high, or that it really reflects different ways of thinking.
Whorf’s whole theory remains controversial. But a team of scientists says new research clarifies the debate.
Their study found that Whorf was correct—but only for the left half of the brain, which, aptly enough, handles language.
Volcano of Fire spews lava and ash.
Guatemala's Volcano of Fire erupted on Tuesday, sending rivers of lava down its slopes and a huge cloud of ash and smoke into the sky.
About 25,000 local residents were put on alert. Emergency teams said there was no immediate need for evacuations but they might be necessary if there were more eruptions.
Experts said two rivers of lava, both about 1.5 miles (2 km) long, were flowing down the volcano's slopes, although they posed no threat to villagers in the area. A column of ash rose 1.5 miles and ash fell on areas south of the capital.
The volcano stands 40 miles southwest of Guatemala's capital and its peak is about 12,000 feet (3,700 metres) above sea level. It is one of the most active of Guatemala's 33 volcanoes.
About 25,000 local residents were put on alert. Emergency teams said there was no immediate need for evacuations but they might be necessary if there were more eruptions.
Experts said two rivers of lava, both about 1.5 miles (2 km) long, were flowing down the volcano's slopes, although they posed no threat to villagers in the area. A column of ash rose 1.5 miles and ash fell on areas south of the capital.
The volcano stands 40 miles southwest of Guatemala's capital and its peak is about 12,000 feet (3,700 metres) above sea level. It is one of the most active of Guatemala's 33 volcanoes.
Love motel for dogs.
A love motel in Soa Paulo has opened for amorous dogs. The love motel offers decorated rooms for dogs of pet owners who are concerned for their animal's needs.Robson Marinho, owner of a pet shop, built the air-conditioned room on the second floor and hung a sign that reads "Pet Love Motel".
The rooms in the motel, at Barra Funda, are decorated in the same way as love motels for humans, with satin sheets, ceiling heart-shaped mirrors, special control panel to dim the lights, romantic music and lots of cushions. Even the windows have thick curtains for timid dogs that want discretion.
Marinho said: "I am absolutely certain this is the first love motel for dogs in the world".
Sure it is.
Monday, December 26
Researchers discover gene that influences skin colour.
Scientists in the United States have discovered what they believe is the gene that helps determine whether a human has dark or light coloured skin.
In an article published in the journal Science, a team from Pennsylvania State University said two variations of the same gene strongly influence skin pigmentation.
The researchers reported that according to their findings 99 per cent of the population of Europe has one version of the gene SLC24A5.
In Africa, between 93 and 100 per cent of the population have the other type.
According to the main author of the article, Keith Cheng, the discovery has revealed important insights into the evolution of skin colour in human beings.
In an accompanying article also published in Science, the Australian molecular biologist Richard Sturm described the discovery as absolutely original and pioneering'.
According to the researchers' work, our ancestors developed dark skin one and half million years ago as the amount of hair on their bodies reduced.
Dark pigmentation protects skin from harmful ultraviolet rays emitted by the sun.
Ultraviolet destroys vitamin B folic acid in the body which can lead to a number of serious health problems and in some cases to birth defects.
But in climates with relatively little sunshine, dark pigmentation also prevents important chemical processes that take place in the skin such as vitamin D production.
So as humans migrated to colder climates in the north it became important for skin to evolve to adapt to changing conditions.
Cheng and his colleagues identified the colour gene for the first time in a rare breed of zebrafish.
They examined the genetic code of a variety of zebrafish that had lighter coloured stripes as well as a golden pigmentation than the common version.
They concluded a gene that influences the melansomes - granules that make the pigment melanin - in the skin caused the difference between the two types of fish.
The equivalent gene in humans is SLC24A5. It causes melansomes to either grow in size and clump together causing dark skin, or to shrink and the space between the particles to increase in light coloured skin.
In an article published in the journal Science, a team from Pennsylvania State University said two variations of the same gene strongly influence skin pigmentation.
The researchers reported that according to their findings 99 per cent of the population of Europe has one version of the gene SLC24A5.
In Africa, between 93 and 100 per cent of the population have the other type.
According to the main author of the article, Keith Cheng, the discovery has revealed important insights into the evolution of skin colour in human beings.
In an accompanying article also published in Science, the Australian molecular biologist Richard Sturm described the discovery as absolutely original and pioneering'.
According to the researchers' work, our ancestors developed dark skin one and half million years ago as the amount of hair on their bodies reduced.
Dark pigmentation protects skin from harmful ultraviolet rays emitted by the sun.
Ultraviolet destroys vitamin B folic acid in the body which can lead to a number of serious health problems and in some cases to birth defects.
But in climates with relatively little sunshine, dark pigmentation also prevents important chemical processes that take place in the skin such as vitamin D production.
So as humans migrated to colder climates in the north it became important for skin to evolve to adapt to changing conditions.
Cheng and his colleagues identified the colour gene for the first time in a rare breed of zebrafish.
They examined the genetic code of a variety of zebrafish that had lighter coloured stripes as well as a golden pigmentation than the common version.
They concluded a gene that influences the melansomes - granules that make the pigment melanin - in the skin caused the difference between the two types of fish.
The equivalent gene in humans is SLC24A5. It causes melansomes to either grow in size and clump together causing dark skin, or to shrink and the space between the particles to increase in light coloured skin.
EU aids African 'Silent Tsunamis'
The European Union is to set aside 165.7m euros (£114m) for humanitarian aid to 10 African countries which it says are ravaged by "silent tsunamis".
EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said many disasters - flood, drought, and conflict - do not hit the headlines but still cause suffering.
Sudan, which has largest population of internally displaced people, is to be the biggest beneficiary - 48m euros.
The projects will be implemented by relief agencies in the target regions.
Specific projects are outlined in the report.
They include relief for the so-called night commuters in northern Uganda - children who abandon their homes for fear of abduction - and clean water for the Comoros after another volcanic eruption.
Resources for water and sanitation are set aside for Liberia, Ivory Coast, and Chad, health care in Burundi, agricultural aid for Madagascar after insect infestations, and aid for refugees in Tanzania.
"Today we remember the victims of the tsunami in South East Asia," Mr Michel said.
"But millions of vulnerable people in Africa are exposed to natural disasters like droughts, floods and insect infestations as well as armed conflicts.
"These are silent tsunamis. Many of these catastrophes do not hit the headlines in the western media but they still lead to great suffering."
EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said many disasters - flood, drought, and conflict - do not hit the headlines but still cause suffering.
Sudan, which has largest population of internally displaced people, is to be the biggest beneficiary - 48m euros.
The projects will be implemented by relief agencies in the target regions.
Specific projects are outlined in the report.
They include relief for the so-called night commuters in northern Uganda - children who abandon their homes for fear of abduction - and clean water for the Comoros after another volcanic eruption.
Resources for water and sanitation are set aside for Liberia, Ivory Coast, and Chad, health care in Burundi, agricultural aid for Madagascar after insect infestations, and aid for refugees in Tanzania.
"Today we remember the victims of the tsunami in South East Asia," Mr Michel said.
"But millions of vulnerable people in Africa are exposed to natural disasters like droughts, floods and insect infestations as well as armed conflicts.
"These are silent tsunamis. Many of these catastrophes do not hit the headlines in the western media but they still lead to great suffering."
Source: BBC.
tag : africa, tsunami.
Sunday, December 25
Have you seen this bird ?
If you have, then you are one of the lucky few this winter and the British Trust for Ornithology wants to hear from you. Waxwings are stunning winter visitors from Scandinavia and Russia. Arriving here in late autumn in search of berries they may appear in gardens and supermarket car parks. The BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch Survey needs your help to find out which gardens they are visiting and where.Each winter, varying numbers of Waxwings descend on our shores looking for berries. In some years they appear in their thousands, adding a touch of colour to dull winter days. This year seems to be relatively poor for them but the BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch Survey really needs garden owners around the country to become 'Waxwing Watchers' and report their sightings so we can find out where they have been visiting and in what numbers.
Martin Fowlie, of the BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch Team, said "We want garden owners around the country to tell us whether they have any visiting Waxwings this winter. Hearing from people who don't have Waxwings is just as important as hearing from those that do, so we can build up an accurate picture of where these birds are. Waxwings are very distinctive birds, about the size of a Starling, with a brown crest and bright red, wax-like, tips to some of their wing feathers, hence their name."To be part of the ‘Waxwing Watch’ and to receive a free information pack, phone on 01842 750050 or write to Waxwing Watch, Garden Bird Watch, British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU.
Scientists observe rare continental rift process in Ethiopia
A continental rifting process that normally takes millions of years to form has developed over a span of seven weeks in the Afar region of northeastern Ethiopia.
It was a close study, using radar interferometry, of an earth rupture developing into a rare axial rift zone -- a future possible ocean basin.
As Associate Professor Atalay Ayele of the Geophysical Observatory of the Addis Ababa University (AAU) tells it, scientists from Ethiopia and Britain made four expeditions to the Da'ure locality in the Afar Depression between mid-September and early October to collect geophysical and geological data.
The series of quakes was first recorded at the AAU on September 14 in Da'ure, an area in the lowlands of the Western Ethiopia Escarpment that stretches from the central part of the country to the Dahlak Islands of Eritrea in the Red Sea.
The volcanic activity, recorded at N 12.651 degrees longtitude and E 40.519 degrees latitude, spewed ash for three continuous days and eventually numerous cracks appeared in the ground, spreading fear among the pastoralist inhabitants.
Unsettled by the unusual phenomena of rumbling tremors they approached the regional authorities to ask the federal government in Addis Ababa to look into it.
The government asked experts in the field at the AAU to investigate the phenomena in the Afar region, and if need be ask for assistance from universities abroad, which is where the British scientist got involved.
'We were thus involved in collaborative undertaking with earth scientists from Britain to undertake further study to collect data in and around the Da'ure locality,' said Dr. Atalay.
An image of the Da'ure locality taken by an earth orbiting NASA satellite showed that an area of 60 kilometres had developed an eight-metre opening.
'This was a fast opening rate within a span of about two months, from September 14 to early November, an exciting event in scientific terms,' said Dr. Atalay.
Tag : Afar, Geology, Africa.
It was a close study, using radar interferometry, of an earth rupture developing into a rare axial rift zone -- a future possible ocean basin.
As Associate Professor Atalay Ayele of the Geophysical Observatory of the Addis Ababa University (AAU) tells it, scientists from Ethiopia and Britain made four expeditions to the Da'ure locality in the Afar Depression between mid-September and early October to collect geophysical and geological data.
The series of quakes was first recorded at the AAU on September 14 in Da'ure, an area in the lowlands of the Western Ethiopia Escarpment that stretches from the central part of the country to the Dahlak Islands of Eritrea in the Red Sea.
The volcanic activity, recorded at N 12.651 degrees longtitude and E 40.519 degrees latitude, spewed ash for three continuous days and eventually numerous cracks appeared in the ground, spreading fear among the pastoralist inhabitants.
Unsettled by the unusual phenomena of rumbling tremors they approached the regional authorities to ask the federal government in Addis Ababa to look into it.
The government asked experts in the field at the AAU to investigate the phenomena in the Afar region, and if need be ask for assistance from universities abroad, which is where the British scientist got involved.
'We were thus involved in collaborative undertaking with earth scientists from Britain to undertake further study to collect data in and around the Da'ure locality,' said Dr. Atalay.
An image of the Da'ure locality taken by an earth orbiting NASA satellite showed that an area of 60 kilometres had developed an eight-metre opening.
'This was a fast opening rate within a span of about two months, from September 14 to early November, an exciting event in scientific terms,' said Dr. Atalay.
Tag : Afar, Geology, Africa.
Saturday, December 24
Friday, December 23
Strange Photo of Animal-Human Hybrid.
The strange, half-human creatures in the image above are neither real nor a hoax; they are part of a sculpture by Australian artist Patricia Piccinini entitled "The Young Family," which, in turn, is part of a larger installation called "We Are Family," described by Jane Silversmith of the Australian Council for the Arts as an exploration of "the changing relationship between what is considered natural and what is considered artificial."Tag : Weird.
Possible volcanic eruption may lead to another tsunami !
A restless volcano near Alaska's most populated region is being watched by scientist and officials, who warned on Thursday of the risk of clouds of ash and a tsunami from a possible eruption.The intensifying rumblings in the past few weeks at Augustine Volcano, an island peak 175 miles southwest of Anchorage in Cook Inlet, have produced a series of steam explosions, releases of sulfur gas and signs that there may be an eruption similar to events in 1986 and 1976 which sent ash clouds as high as 40,000 feet, scientists said.
There has even been an increase of 1 inch at the top of the 4,134-foot (1,260-m) volcano, a sign that seismic activity is causing the summit to bulge slightly, said John Power, a seismologist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory, a joint office run by the U.S. Geological Survey and state agencies.
"All of these things are very typical of what you would expect to see in a volcano that is reawakening," Power said.
Although there are no specific signs that an eruption is imminent, flight restrictions are already in place and there are plans to expand those if activity increases at the volcano.
If Augustine does erupt, that could result in grounded flights, school closures and even evacuations, officials said. It is also possible that there will be a landslide from the volcano into the waters of Cook Inlet, causing a tsunami, they said.
Such an event occurred in 1883, when a wave believed to be 20 feet high hit the Native Alutiiq village of Nanwalek, 50 miles east of Augustine.
Tag : volcano, alaska, tsunami, earthquake.
Like to have a genetically deformed fish ?
Looks like a tasty addition to your dish ? Though it looks scary, but Clarence Olberding just cant wait to smoke it up & eat it.He pulled a rainbow trout with two mouths out of Holmes Lake.
"I reached down and grabbed it to take the hook out and that's when I noticed that the hook was in the upper mouth and there was another jaw protruding out below," the 57-year-old said.
In his 40 years of fishing, Olberding has seen fish with missing fins — and a fish with one eye — but he’d never seen two mouths.
Don Gabelhouse, head of the fisheries division of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, said a two-mouthed fish was new to him, too.
"It's probably a genetic deformity," he said. "I don't think there's anything wrong with it."
Tag : weird.
Thursday, December 22
Village on wheels.
A small island in Vanuatu is claimed to be the first in the world to have to move its community because of rising sea levels. Ben Bohane visits Tegua island.
"THE sea has its own ways. We can't control it," says Chief Reuben Selwyn as he stands on a thin wall of coral which is all that now separates his little village from the invading sea.
The destiny of Tegua island, home to 64 people in the remote Torres group of islands in far north Vanuatu, has always rested on the sea.
But for some years, the sea has been literally eating away this pristine coral island.
Chief Reuben, paramount head of the island and father of six boys and six girls, claims that at least once a year a combination of king tides and a surging sea whipped up by strong winds floods his village of Loteu. He remembers as a young boy he could walk 30 metres from his house and fish from a rocky beach platform. Now the platform is submerged and he has been forced to abandon his childhood home.
"I'd say the sea has come up 10 or 20 metres (horizontally) since I was a boy," he says. "I can't say if it's because of humans or because nature has its own power. But for us here we have no choice; early next year we will move into a new village further inland."
Tag : nature, global warming.
"THE sea has its own ways. We can't control it," says Chief Reuben Selwyn as he stands on a thin wall of coral which is all that now separates his little village from the invading sea.
The destiny of Tegua island, home to 64 people in the remote Torres group of islands in far north Vanuatu, has always rested on the sea.
But for some years, the sea has been literally eating away this pristine coral island.
Chief Reuben, paramount head of the island and father of six boys and six girls, claims that at least once a year a combination of king tides and a surging sea whipped up by strong winds floods his village of Loteu. He remembers as a young boy he could walk 30 metres from his house and fish from a rocky beach platform. Now the platform is submerged and he has been forced to abandon his childhood home.
"I'd say the sea has come up 10 or 20 metres (horizontally) since I was a boy," he says. "I can't say if it's because of humans or because nature has its own power. But for us here we have no choice; early next year we will move into a new village further inland."
Tag : nature, global warming.
Trees are not always environment friendly.
Planting trees willy-nilly to counter increased carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere may actually result in other environmental damage, new research shows.An international team publishing in this week's journal Science argues that while tree plantations can be an effective tool for slowing CO2 concentrations, the wrong plantings in the wrong area at the wrong time can suck streams dry and turn fresh water salty.
Tag : environment, atmosphere, research.
How male elephants woo female elephants.
The researchers at the Oregon Health and Science University (US) and the University of Auckland (NewZealand) have unveiled how male elephants woo females: very specific pheromones.
This study reveals the precision and specificity of inter-animal signaling possible,' said co-author L.E.L. Rasmussen, a research professor of environmental and biomolecular systems at OHSU.
Tag : chemistry, science, wildlife.
A specific molecular mixture in male-emitted pheromones has been detected which attracts female elephants' interest during musth - an annual period of sexual activity and increased aggression.
Not only does the exact chemical blend of a pheromone emitted by older male elephants in musth influence female elephants` interest in mating, but also determines how other nearby elephants behave.
This study reveals the precision and specificity of inter-animal signaling possible,' said co-author L.E.L. Rasmussen, a research professor of environmental and biomolecular systems at OHSU.
Tag : chemistry, science, wildlife.
The Pupfish on a slide to extinction.
Scientists are unable to explain the reason behind the steady decline in the number of pupfish. The Desert pupfish was first listed on March 31, 1986. It is currently designated as Endangered species. This species is known to occur in Arizona, California and Mexico.The population last month was tallied at 84 -- the same as in February.
Jim Deacon, a University of Nevada-Las Vegas biologist, said, 'The expected increase this fall did not happen. All through last summer there was egg-laying and babies produced, but not enough to increase the adult population, so we're still at very dangerous levels.'Unless we do something quickly, they will disappear forever.
'It doesn't look like there was a change in the ecological relationships,' Deacon told the Sun. 'One easy cop out is to say there is a genetic bottleneck, but I think that's too easy.
Tag : pupfish, environment, nature, ecology.
Wednesday, December 21
Earliest human footprints in Australia.
The shifting sands of time have revealed Australia's earliest human footprints, giving a glimpse of life at the height of the last ice age.At tens of thousands of years old the find is the largest group of human footprints from the Pleistocene era ever found.
Archaeologist Dr Matthew Cupper of the University of Melbourne and colleagues report their findings from the New South Wales Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area online ahead of print publication in the Journal of Human Evolution.
"It's a little snapshot in time," says Cupper. "The possibilities are endless in terms of getting a window into past Aboriginal society."
Cupper says a young woman by the name of Mary Pappin Jnr of the Mutthi Mutthi people found the footprints in August 2003 while exploring the area with team member Professor Steve Webb of Bond University on Queensland's Gold Coast, as part of a project to educate young Aboriginal people in archaeology.
"They found a clay pan area up in the dunes near one of the lakes and found the first of what's turned out to be about 450 footprints over 700 square metres or so."
He says the team has found 22 trackways, some up to 20 metres long, from where single people had walked in a line.
The prints are between 19,000 and 23,000 years old, dating from the height of the last glacial period.
"It's quite remarkable," says Cupper. "We haven't found any footprints from the Pleistocene in Australia before."
He says the prints are also the largest group of Pleistocene human footprints in the world.
Tag : Anthropology, Australia.
Shiitake Mushrooms' Secret May Benefit Earth-Friendly Fuels
Fallen logs on the forest floor make a perfect home for Shiitake mushrooms. These fungi--sold as a delicacy in the produce section of your local supermarket--thrive on the downed wood, turning it into sugars that they use for food.
Now, Agricultural Research Service scientists in California are looking at bringing the gourmet mushrooms' mostly unstudied talent indoors. And, as a first step towards doing that, they've found and copied a Shiitake gene that's key to the mushroom's ability to dissolve wood.
Called Xyn11A, the gene carries the instructions that the mushroom uses to make an enzyme known as xylanase. The researchers want to see if a ramped-up version of the gene could be put to work digesting rice hulls or other harvest leftovers.
If enzymes can do that quickly and efficiently in huge vats, or fermenters, at biorefineries, they could help make ethanol and other products a practical alternative to today’s petroleum-based fuels, for example. That’s according to Charles C. Lee, an ARS research chemist.
Tag : Mushroom, Fuel, California, Science.
Scientists Unlock the Mystery of Liquid Crystal Alignment
The alignment of liquid crystals in devices such as lap-top computers and palm pilots makes the displays on these devices readable. For more than 30 years, scientists have worked to understand the exact mechanism responsible for liquid crystal alignment, to no avail – until now. A group of researchers at Kent State University, headed by Dr. Satyendra Kumar, professor of physics, have finally uncovered the mechanisms of liquid crystal alignment.
The results of a Kent State study of a variety of glass substrates of the type used in liquid crystal displays (LCDs) revealed for the first time the way liquid crystals align. All substrates used in LCDs have anisotropic surface roughness. Such a surface is smooth along the grooves but rough in the perpendicular direction. When liquid crystal molecules in LCDs find themselves near such a surface, they orient parallel to the “smooth” direction. This is true of all surfaces, irrespective of the nature of the surface and the treatment method used to prepare it.
In order to make LCDs work, companies have aligned liquid crystal molecules with the optic axis in liquid crystal displays. The most common method used requires glass plates coated with a polymer that are mechanically “rubbed” with a linen cloth. The surface becomes smooth along the rubbing direction and the LCD’s optic axis aligns along the rubbing direction. Several methods other than rubbing also have been developed, including UV treatment and plasma exposure. The results show that even when the surface is untouched but exposed to polarized UV, it develops a structure that is anisotropic and rough.
This research was performed over the past 10 years and appeared as a report in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters.
For more information, Kumar can be reached at 330-672-2566 or skumar@kent.edu.
source : Brightsurf.com
Tag : Physics, Research, Science.
The results of a Kent State study of a variety of glass substrates of the type used in liquid crystal displays (LCDs) revealed for the first time the way liquid crystals align. All substrates used in LCDs have anisotropic surface roughness. Such a surface is smooth along the grooves but rough in the perpendicular direction. When liquid crystal molecules in LCDs find themselves near such a surface, they orient parallel to the “smooth” direction. This is true of all surfaces, irrespective of the nature of the surface and the treatment method used to prepare it.
In order to make LCDs work, companies have aligned liquid crystal molecules with the optic axis in liquid crystal displays. The most common method used requires glass plates coated with a polymer that are mechanically “rubbed” with a linen cloth. The surface becomes smooth along the rubbing direction and the LCD’s optic axis aligns along the rubbing direction. Several methods other than rubbing also have been developed, including UV treatment and plasma exposure. The results show that even when the surface is untouched but exposed to polarized UV, it develops a structure that is anisotropic and rough.
This research was performed over the past 10 years and appeared as a report in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters.
For more information, Kumar can be reached at 330-672-2566 or skumar@kent.edu.
source : Brightsurf.com
Tag : Physics, Research, Science.
Melting of permafrost threatens homes and roads.
Global warming could melt almost all of the top layer of Arctic permafrost by the end of the century. Scientists say the thaw would release vast stocks of carbon into the atmosphere, threaten ocean currents and wreck roads and buildings across Canada, Alaska and Russia.
David Lawrence, a climate scientist with the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said: "There's a lot of carbon stored in the soil. If the permafrost does thaw, as our model predicts, it could have a major influence on climate." Thawing permafrost is one of several climate "tipping points" feared by environmental experts, because carbon released by melted soil would accelerate global warming. Permafrost makes up about a quarter of land surface in the northern hemisphere and the upper layer is believed to hold at least 30% of the carbon stored in soil worldwide.
Dr Lawrence said: "In terms of its impact on the global climate, I don't see how it can be good news, but just how bad it is is unclear. It's very difficult to see how we can halt it. We may be able to slow it down."
Tag : Nature, Environment.
David Lawrence, a climate scientist with the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said: "There's a lot of carbon stored in the soil. If the permafrost does thaw, as our model predicts, it could have a major influence on climate." Thawing permafrost is one of several climate "tipping points" feared by environmental experts, because carbon released by melted soil would accelerate global warming. Permafrost makes up about a quarter of land surface in the northern hemisphere and the upper layer is believed to hold at least 30% of the carbon stored in soil worldwide.
Dr Lawrence said: "In terms of its impact on the global climate, I don't see how it can be good news, but just how bad it is is unclear. It's very difficult to see how we can halt it. We may be able to slow it down."
Tag : Nature, Environment.
Tuesday, December 20
Indian Ocean Nations Prepare for Next Tsunami.
The next time a tsunami strikes the Indian Ocean rim -- and scientists say that could happen anytime -- an early warning system should detect it and trigger warnings in time to millions living in coastal communities.
That's the plan anyway.
A $53 million interim warning system using a string of tidal gauges and undersea sensors is nearing completion in the Indian Ocean with help from the U.N's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
Tsunami national warning centres are being planned for 27 countries around the Indian Ocean rim -- three of them will be regional centres.
Thailand and Indonesia are installing warning towers on vulnerable beaches. Sri Lanka has established model "Tsunami Protection Villages". India is spending $27 million to set up a regional warning centre by 2007.
But when a tsunami strikes again, will the warning centres cascade alerts down to remote villages? Will they be staffed 24 hours, seven days a week? Will authorities be able to put evacuation plans into effect when they do get warned?
Can governments, in the words of the IOC, "manage tsunami risk"?
"The latter implies emergency preparedness planning, legal and administrative frameworks, awareness campaigns and education, and the development of the operational capabilities to act in an emergency," IOC Executive Director Patricio Bernal said after a conference on a regional warning system last week in Hyderabad, India.
Tag : India, Tsunami, Earthquake.
That's the plan anyway.
A $53 million interim warning system using a string of tidal gauges and undersea sensors is nearing completion in the Indian Ocean with help from the U.N's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
Tsunami national warning centres are being planned for 27 countries around the Indian Ocean rim -- three of them will be regional centres.
Thailand and Indonesia are installing warning towers on vulnerable beaches. Sri Lanka has established model "Tsunami Protection Villages". India is spending $27 million to set up a regional warning centre by 2007.
But when a tsunami strikes again, will the warning centres cascade alerts down to remote villages? Will they be staffed 24 hours, seven days a week? Will authorities be able to put evacuation plans into effect when they do get warned?
Can governments, in the words of the IOC, "manage tsunami risk"?
"The latter implies emergency preparedness planning, legal and administrative frameworks, awareness campaigns and education, and the development of the operational capabilities to act in an emergency," IOC Executive Director Patricio Bernal said after a conference on a regional warning system last week in Hyderabad, India.
Tag : India, Tsunami, Earthquake.
Scientists Sequence DNA Of Woolly Mammoth.
Experts in ancient DNA from McMaster University (Canada) have teamed up with genome researchers from Penn State University (USA) for the investigation of permafrost bone samples from Siberia. The project also involved paleontologists from the American Museum of Natural History (USA) and researchers from Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.
The researchers' report on the first genomic sequences from a woolly mammoth will be published on 22 December 2005 by the journal Science on the Science Express website. This majestic mammal roamed grassy plains of the Northern Hemisphere until it became extinct about 10,000 years ago.
The scientific breakthrough allows for the first time comparion of this ancient species with today's populations of African and Indian elephants, not just at the level of mitochondrial sequences, but also encompassing information from the nuclear genome.
Analyzing organellar DNA from mitochondria has been the only method of studying ancient DNA in the past, as it is more tractable due to its 1000-fold higher copy number per cell. However, the mitochondrial genome codes for only a tiny fraction of an organism's genetic information -- 0.0006 percent in the case of a mammal.
In contrast, most hereditary information is organized on chromosomes located in the cell's nucleus (nuclear DNA). A mammoth was chosen for study in part because of its close evolutionary relationship to the African elephant, whose nuclear DNA sequence has been made publicly available by the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA). Using comparisons with elephant DNA, the researchers identified 13 million base pairs as being nuclear DNA from the mammoth, which they showed to be 98.5 percent identical to nuclear DNA from an African elephant.
Tag : DNA, Biology, Science, Africa.
The researchers' report on the first genomic sequences from a woolly mammoth will be published on 22 December 2005 by the journal Science on the Science Express website. This majestic mammal roamed grassy plains of the Northern Hemisphere until it became extinct about 10,000 years ago.
The scientific breakthrough allows for the first time comparion of this ancient species with today's populations of African and Indian elephants, not just at the level of mitochondrial sequences, but also encompassing information from the nuclear genome.
Analyzing organellar DNA from mitochondria has been the only method of studying ancient DNA in the past, as it is more tractable due to its 1000-fold higher copy number per cell. However, the mitochondrial genome codes for only a tiny fraction of an organism's genetic information -- 0.0006 percent in the case of a mammal.
In contrast, most hereditary information is organized on chromosomes located in the cell's nucleus (nuclear DNA). A mammoth was chosen for study in part because of its close evolutionary relationship to the African elephant, whose nuclear DNA sequence has been made publicly available by the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA). Using comparisons with elephant DNA, the researchers identified 13 million base pairs as being nuclear DNA from the mammoth, which they showed to be 98.5 percent identical to nuclear DNA from an African elephant.
Tag : DNA, Biology, Science, Africa.
Christmas Tree Threat.
Picking just the right Christmas tree can be as much of an art form as decorating it. Some people go for the short bushy ones, while for others it's a tall, slender tree with small needles that fits the bill. For those who want a pleasing aroma, dark green color, and needles that don't fall off as soon as your ornaments go on, the Fraser fir (Abies fraseri) is a top choice.
"Fraser firs are considered one of the premier Christmas trees species in the U.S.," says Christmas tree geneticist John Frampton.
But hundreds of thousands of these North Carolina natives are dying. A microscopic fungus called Phytophthora cinnamomi rots away the roots of the trees, and spreads from tree to tree through moisture in the soil. 87 species of Phytophthora have been identified around the globe, and they attack a whole array of plants.
Tag : Nature, Environment.
"Fraser firs are considered one of the premier Christmas trees species in the U.S.," says Christmas tree geneticist John Frampton.
But hundreds of thousands of these North Carolina natives are dying. A microscopic fungus called Phytophthora cinnamomi rots away the roots of the trees, and spreads from tree to tree through moisture in the soil. 87 species of Phytophthora have been identified around the globe, and they attack a whole array of plants.
Tag : Nature, Environment.
Diesel fumes impair blood vessels.
Breathing in diesel exhaust fumes at levels typically found in large cities disrupts important blood vessel functions, new research has shown, suggesting a potential mechanism linking increased heart attack rates during periods of high air pollution.
Numerous studies over the last 20 years have shown that the numbers of deaths and hospitalizations due to heart attack and stroke go up as traffic-induced air pollution rises.
The link between air pollution and cardiovascular disease is strongest for fine-particle pollutants, of which the combustion of fossil fuels from vehicles is a major source. Yet the underlying factors responsible for air pollution's effects on the heart and blood vessels had remained largely unknown.
The study led by Dr. Nicholas Mills, a researcher at the Centre for Cardiovascular Science at the University of Edinburgh, suggests what some of those factors might be.
Researchers found that exposure to diesel exhaust for one hour during exercise caused a significant decrease in the blood vessels' ability to expand, or dilate. Exposure to the air pollution also decreased levels of an enzyme that helps prevent clots from forming in the blood and possibly causing a heart attack.
"Low levels of diesel exhaust are having real effects on our blood vessels, and the way in which they function, that may potentially be sufficient to act as a trigger for a heart attack," Mills said yesterday from Edinburgh, Scotland.
Short-term exposure to air pollution can worsen existing problems and lead to hospitalization for heart attack and other heart and lung conditions. Long-term repeated exposure increases the risk of death from coronary heart disease, abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure.
"Long-term exposure could be contributing to the formation of coronary artery disease," said Mills, whose study is published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Tag : Health.
Numerous studies over the last 20 years have shown that the numbers of deaths and hospitalizations due to heart attack and stroke go up as traffic-induced air pollution rises.
The link between air pollution and cardiovascular disease is strongest for fine-particle pollutants, of which the combustion of fossil fuels from vehicles is a major source. Yet the underlying factors responsible for air pollution's effects on the heart and blood vessels had remained largely unknown.
The study led by Dr. Nicholas Mills, a researcher at the Centre for Cardiovascular Science at the University of Edinburgh, suggests what some of those factors might be.
Researchers found that exposure to diesel exhaust for one hour during exercise caused a significant decrease in the blood vessels' ability to expand, or dilate. Exposure to the air pollution also decreased levels of an enzyme that helps prevent clots from forming in the blood and possibly causing a heart attack.
"Low levels of diesel exhaust are having real effects on our blood vessels, and the way in which they function, that may potentially be sufficient to act as a trigger for a heart attack," Mills said yesterday from Edinburgh, Scotland.
Short-term exposure to air pollution can worsen existing problems and lead to hospitalization for heart attack and other heart and lung conditions. Long-term repeated exposure increases the risk of death from coronary heart disease, abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure.
"Long-term exposure could be contributing to the formation of coronary artery disease," said Mills, whose study is published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Tag : Health.
Monday, December 19
Mysterious Life Of Borneo's Pygmy Elephants
The same satellite system used by the U.S. military to track vehicle convoys in Iraq is helping World Wildlife Fund shed light on the little-known world of pygmy elephants in Borneo.
This week marks the six-month anniversary of the first pygmy elephant's being captured and outfitted with a collar that can send GPS locations to WWF daily via satellite. Now, for the first time, the public can track the movements of the elephants online through an interactive web map at www.worldwildlife.org/borneomap.
"No one has ever studied pygmy elephants before, so everything we're learning is groundbreaking data," said Dr. Christy Williams, who leads WWF's Asian elephant conservation efforts and worked with experts to use commercial satellite technology to track Asian elephants for the first time. "We will be following these elephants for several years by satellite to identify their home ranges and working with the Malaysian government to conserve the most critical areas."
The pygmy elephants were determined by WWF in 2003 to be a likely new subspecies of Asian elephant but very little is known about them, including how many there are. Pygmy elephants are smaller, chubbier and more gentle-natured than other Asian elephants. They are found only on the northeast tip of Borneo, mainly in the Malaysian state of Sabah.
Tag : Environment, Wildlife.
This week marks the six-month anniversary of the first pygmy elephant's being captured and outfitted with a collar that can send GPS locations to WWF daily via satellite. Now, for the first time, the public can track the movements of the elephants online through an interactive web map at www.worldwildlife.org/borneomap.
"No one has ever studied pygmy elephants before, so everything we're learning is groundbreaking data," said Dr. Christy Williams, who leads WWF's Asian elephant conservation efforts and worked with experts to use commercial satellite technology to track Asian elephants for the first time. "We will be following these elephants for several years by satellite to identify their home ranges and working with the Malaysian government to conserve the most critical areas."
The pygmy elephants were determined by WWF in 2003 to be a likely new subspecies of Asian elephant but very little is known about them, including how many there are. Pygmy elephants are smaller, chubbier and more gentle-natured than other Asian elephants. They are found only on the northeast tip of Borneo, mainly in the Malaysian state of Sabah.
Tag : Environment, Wildlife.
Circus tigers 'perk up' before performing.
Circus tigers increase their pacing ahead of performances, say researchers, who believe such behaviour indicates the big cats positively anticipate their time on stage.
But an animal rights group disagrees, saying instead that the pacing is a sign of anxiety and dread.
Professor Ted Friend of the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University and colleagues report their study in the December issue of Applied Animal Behaviour Science.
The authors received cooperation and assistance from Feld Entertainment, Inc., the owners of Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
Previously, the researchers analysed other repetitive behaviour, such as weaving, in which a circus elephant moves its body or head from side to side.
They came to a similar conclusion, suggesting the animals perked up before performing.
Tag : Wildlife.
But an animal rights group disagrees, saying instead that the pacing is a sign of anxiety and dread.
Professor Ted Friend of the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University and colleagues report their study in the December issue of Applied Animal Behaviour Science.
The authors received cooperation and assistance from Feld Entertainment, Inc., the owners of Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
Previously, the researchers analysed other repetitive behaviour, such as weaving, in which a circus elephant moves its body or head from side to side.
They came to a similar conclusion, suggesting the animals perked up before performing.
Tag : Wildlife.
China to breed rare white dolphin.
CHINA will set up its first artificial breeding base for the highly endangered Chinese white dolphin in the south-eastern province of Fujian, state media said.
The city of Xiamen in Fujian will set aside an area on its coast for the rare dolphins to live and reproduce, and the protected area will be modelled after dolphin breeding bases in Singapore and Thailand, the Xinhua news agency said.
Sometimes called "the pandas of the ocean" for their rarity, the Chinese white dolphin is a species unique to China and high on China's most-protected animal list, Xinhua said.
It is also one of the most endangered species in the world.
Tag : Nature.
The city of Xiamen in Fujian will set aside an area on its coast for the rare dolphins to live and reproduce, and the protected area will be modelled after dolphin breeding bases in Singapore and Thailand, the Xinhua news agency said.
Sometimes called "the pandas of the ocean" for their rarity, the Chinese white dolphin is a species unique to China and high on China's most-protected animal list, Xinhua said.
It is also one of the most endangered species in the world.
Tag : Nature.
Sunday, December 18
World is at its 'hottest' since prehistory.
The world is now hotter than at any stage since prehistoric times, a top climatologist announced last week. His startling conclusion comes as Nasa reported that 2005 has been the hottest year ever recorded.
Dr Michael Coughlan, head of the National Climate Centre at the Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology, said: "One probably has to go back into prehistoric times - and way back in them - to be seeing these sorts of temperatures."
Top British climatologists agree privately but are cautious of saying so in public because, naturally, no measurements were taken of temperatures then.
Dr Coughlan is supported by research that shows carbon dioxide levels in the air - the main cause of global warming - are higher now than at any time in the past hundreds of thousands of years.
Scientists in Bern, Switzerland, and Oregon in the United States analysed levels of the gas in tiny air bubbles trapped in Antarctic ice during the past 650,000 years. They found current levels were 27 per cent greater than the highest level over that period.
Professor Sir David King, the Government's Chief Scientist, has said the last time levels of the gas were that high was 60 million years ago. And that was during a period of rapid warming in the Palaeocene epoch, which caused a massive reduction in life on Earth.
Meanwhile, top climatological bodies around the world report that 2005 is vying with 1998 as the warmest year on record. Nasa says it just beats it, while the Met Office says it is just behind it, and the US government's National Climatic Data Centre says the two years are statistically indistinguishable.
Whichever is right, 2005 has been a remarkable year, for 1998 was made much hotter by a strong El Niño, the warm Pacific current that strongly affects weather around the globe.
Last June, September and October were all logged as the warmest ever, world-wide. The past 10 years are all in the warmest 10 ever recorded, apart from 1996 whose place is taken by 1990.
This year Arctic sea ice dropped to its smallest ever extent, the Atlantic suffered a record hurricane season and an unprecedented drought reduced the flow of the Amazon to its lowest ever level. Canada and Australia had their hottest ever weather this year, while India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Algeria suffered heatwaves touching 50C.
By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor, The Independent.
Dr Michael Coughlan, head of the National Climate Centre at the Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology, said: "One probably has to go back into prehistoric times - and way back in them - to be seeing these sorts of temperatures."
Top British climatologists agree privately but are cautious of saying so in public because, naturally, no measurements were taken of temperatures then.
Dr Coughlan is supported by research that shows carbon dioxide levels in the air - the main cause of global warming - are higher now than at any time in the past hundreds of thousands of years.
Scientists in Bern, Switzerland, and Oregon in the United States analysed levels of the gas in tiny air bubbles trapped in Antarctic ice during the past 650,000 years. They found current levels were 27 per cent greater than the highest level over that period.
Professor Sir David King, the Government's Chief Scientist, has said the last time levels of the gas were that high was 60 million years ago. And that was during a period of rapid warming in the Palaeocene epoch, which caused a massive reduction in life on Earth.
Meanwhile, top climatological bodies around the world report that 2005 is vying with 1998 as the warmest year on record. Nasa says it just beats it, while the Met Office says it is just behind it, and the US government's National Climatic Data Centre says the two years are statistically indistinguishable.
Whichever is right, 2005 has been a remarkable year, for 1998 was made much hotter by a strong El Niño, the warm Pacific current that strongly affects weather around the globe.
Last June, September and October were all logged as the warmest ever, world-wide. The past 10 years are all in the warmest 10 ever recorded, apart from 1996 whose place is taken by 1990.
This year Arctic sea ice dropped to its smallest ever extent, the Atlantic suffered a record hurricane season and an unprecedented drought reduced the flow of the Amazon to its lowest ever level. Canada and Australia had their hottest ever weather this year, while India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Algeria suffered heatwaves touching 50C.
By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor, The Independent.
Oranges are not the safest fruit.
Orange peel gives zest to Christmas - spicing up festive fare from mince pies to mulled wine, brandy butter to the pudding itself. But official monitoring, published last week, shows that our seasonal sustenance also contains a hidden peril.
Checks by the Government Pesticides Residues Committee have found that every single orange examined was contaminated by pesticides.
Many of the chemicals found are suspected of causing cancer and "gender-bender effects", about half are banned for use in Britain, and more than a third were found at levels above European or British danger limits.
Two of the pesticides - Carbofuran and Methidathion, banned in Britain - are classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as "highly hazardous".
Carbofuran - which was found at above the EC danger level for infants - is thought to damage the nervous and reproductive systems and may also cause headache, sweating, nausea, diarrhoea, chest pains, blurred vision, anxiety and general muscular weakness.
Methidathion - found to be exceeding the European level for all children under 14 - is suspected of causing cancer, and can also bring on nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach pains.
A third banned pesticide, Fenthion, which is classed as "moderately hazardous" by the WHO was found to break EU safety limits for those under 14.
Two suspected gender-benders, Diazinon and Dimethoate, were both found in oranges imported from Egypt at above British legal limits. Dimethoate is also classed as a possible carcinogen.
In all, six suspected carcinogens and six possible gender-benders were found in the oranges. The pesticide thought to be the likeliest to cause cancer, Imazalil, was found in every orange tested but one, and one orange was contaminated by no fewer than seven different pesticides.
The committee - criticised for being too tolerant of pesticide contamination - admits that "the margins of safety have been eroded" on the poisons found at above EU levels, but adds that "there are no expected concerns for consumer safety".
Tag : Nature.
Checks by the Government Pesticides Residues Committee have found that every single orange examined was contaminated by pesticides.
Many of the chemicals found are suspected of causing cancer and "gender-bender effects", about half are banned for use in Britain, and more than a third were found at levels above European or British danger limits.
Two of the pesticides - Carbofuran and Methidathion, banned in Britain - are classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as "highly hazardous".
Carbofuran - which was found at above the EC danger level for infants - is thought to damage the nervous and reproductive systems and may also cause headache, sweating, nausea, diarrhoea, chest pains, blurred vision, anxiety and general muscular weakness.
Methidathion - found to be exceeding the European level for all children under 14 - is suspected of causing cancer, and can also bring on nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach pains.
A third banned pesticide, Fenthion, which is classed as "moderately hazardous" by the WHO was found to break EU safety limits for those under 14.
Two suspected gender-benders, Diazinon and Dimethoate, were both found in oranges imported from Egypt at above British legal limits. Dimethoate is also classed as a possible carcinogen.
In all, six suspected carcinogens and six possible gender-benders were found in the oranges. The pesticide thought to be the likeliest to cause cancer, Imazalil, was found in every orange tested but one, and one orange was contaminated by no fewer than seven different pesticides.
The committee - criticised for being too tolerant of pesticide contamination - admits that "the margins of safety have been eroded" on the poisons found at above EU levels, but adds that "there are no expected concerns for consumer safety".
Tag : Nature.
Christmas is Damaging the Environment, Report Says
Christmas is damaging the environment, says a new report by the Australian Conservation Foundation.
The report titled "The Hidden Cost of Christmas" calculated the environmental impact of spending on books, clothes, alcohol, electrical appliances and lollies during the festive season.
Every dollar Australians spend on new clothes as gifts consumes 20 litres (four gallons) of water and requires 3.4 square metres (37 sq feet) of land in the manufacturing process, it said.
Last Christmas, Australians spent A$1.5 billion (US$1.1 billion) on clothes, which required more than half a million hectares (1.2 million acres) of land to produce, it said.
Water that would approximately fill 42,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools was used in the production of Christmas drinks last December -- most was used to grow barley for beer and grapes for wine.
"If your bank account is straining under the pressure of Christmas shopping, spare a thought for our environment," Don Henry, the foundation's executive director, said in a statement.
"It's paying for our Christmas presents with water, land, air and resources. These costs are hidden in the products we buy."
The report said that gifts like DVD players and coffee makers generated 780,000 tonnes of greenhouse pollution, even before they were unwrapped and used. A third was due to fuel consumption during production.
Even a box of A$30 chocolates or lollies this Christmas, will consume 20kg (44 pounds) of natural materials and 940 litres (207 gallons) of water.
"We can all tread more lightly on the earth this Christmas by eating, drinking and giving gifts in moderation, and by giving gifts with a low environmental cost, such as vouchers for services, tickets to entertainment, memberships to gyms, museums or sports clubs, and donations to charities," said Henry.
The report titled "The Hidden Cost of Christmas" calculated the environmental impact of spending on books, clothes, alcohol, electrical appliances and lollies during the festive season.
Every dollar Australians spend on new clothes as gifts consumes 20 litres (four gallons) of water and requires 3.4 square metres (37 sq feet) of land in the manufacturing process, it said.
Last Christmas, Australians spent A$1.5 billion (US$1.1 billion) on clothes, which required more than half a million hectares (1.2 million acres) of land to produce, it said.
Water that would approximately fill 42,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools was used in the production of Christmas drinks last December -- most was used to grow barley for beer and grapes for wine.
"If your bank account is straining under the pressure of Christmas shopping, spare a thought for our environment," Don Henry, the foundation's executive director, said in a statement.
"It's paying for our Christmas presents with water, land, air and resources. These costs are hidden in the products we buy."
The report said that gifts like DVD players and coffee makers generated 780,000 tonnes of greenhouse pollution, even before they were unwrapped and used. A third was due to fuel consumption during production.
Even a box of A$30 chocolates or lollies this Christmas, will consume 20kg (44 pounds) of natural materials and 940 litres (207 gallons) of water.
"We can all tread more lightly on the earth this Christmas by eating, drinking and giving gifts in moderation, and by giving gifts with a low environmental cost, such as vouchers for services, tickets to entertainment, memberships to gyms, museums or sports clubs, and donations to charities," said Henry.
Group ends protests of Alaska Wolf hunts.
The howling has stopped. An animal-rights group is dropping the "howl-ins" it conducted as part of a nationwide campaign to stop the killing of wolves in Alaska, but members will continue their call for a tourism boycott of the state
Over the past two years, Friends of Animals helped stage hundreds of demonstrations in cities across the country to protest Alaska's predator-control program, intended to allow moose and caribou to increase in numbers. Some activists dressed in wolf outfits at the gatherings, and some howled in imitation of wolves to protest the hunts.
But the campaign failed to convince Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski that killing wolves is wrong, said Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals, based in Darien, Conn.
"If the boycott was designed to get Murkowski to sacrifice an attitude, it didn't happen," Feral said.
The animal-rights group had better success about a decade ago, when then-Gov. Wally Hickel stopped a wolf-hunting program after 53 howl-ins in 51 cities.
Tag : Alaska, USA, Wildlife.
Over the past two years, Friends of Animals helped stage hundreds of demonstrations in cities across the country to protest Alaska's predator-control program, intended to allow moose and caribou to increase in numbers. Some activists dressed in wolf outfits at the gatherings, and some howled in imitation of wolves to protest the hunts.
But the campaign failed to convince Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski that killing wolves is wrong, said Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals, based in Darien, Conn.
"If the boycott was designed to get Murkowski to sacrifice an attitude, it didn't happen," Feral said.
The animal-rights group had better success about a decade ago, when then-Gov. Wally Hickel stopped a wolf-hunting program after 53 howl-ins in 51 cities.
Tag : Alaska, USA, Wildlife.
Overfishing hits deep-sea stocks.
Some of Europe's most spectacular deep-sea fish species are being wiped out by overfishing, according to reports from fisheries scientists and WWF, the global conservation organisation.
They warn that tough restrictions are needed to save exotic species such as the orange roughy, the black scabbard fish and the Portuguese shark.
Fisheries ministers from across Europe are preparing for a meeting of the European Union fisheries council tomorrow that will decide how heavily stocks can be exploited.
One of the documents they will consider comes from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, which co-ordinates marine and fisheries research for 19 countries bordering the north Atlantic. It will warn that catches should be reduced until they can be shown to be sustainable.
Council secretary David Griffith said: "Deep-sea fish are long-lived, slow-reproducing species that can withstand only low levels of fishing." In Britain, these fish are mainly used in processed food.
The origins of the crisis for deep-water species began 20 years ago with a rapid decline in the population of cod, hake, haddock and other shallower-water species.
Tag : Environment, Ecology, Nature.
They warn that tough restrictions are needed to save exotic species such as the orange roughy, the black scabbard fish and the Portuguese shark.
Fisheries ministers from across Europe are preparing for a meeting of the European Union fisheries council tomorrow that will decide how heavily stocks can be exploited.
One of the documents they will consider comes from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, which co-ordinates marine and fisheries research for 19 countries bordering the north Atlantic. It will warn that catches should be reduced until they can be shown to be sustainable.
Council secretary David Griffith said: "Deep-sea fish are long-lived, slow-reproducing species that can withstand only low levels of fishing." In Britain, these fish are mainly used in processed food.
The origins of the crisis for deep-water species began 20 years ago with a rapid decline in the population of cod, hake, haddock and other shallower-water species.
Tag : Environment, Ecology, Nature.
Saturday, December 17
Fears over nuclear plant blast.
An explosion in a scrap metal smelter on the site of a Russian nuclear power plant killed a worker and severely injured two others, but state nuclear agency Rosenergoatom said last night that radiation levels were normal.
The blast occurred yesterday at the Leningrad nuclear power plant in the closed town of Sosnovy Bor, outside St Petersburg. The blast threw a spotlight on what environmentalists called uncontrolled operations by such companies on sensitive sites.
"The enterprise ... functions illegally because there was no mandatory environmental impact assessment on its construction," said Dmitry Artamonov, head of the St Petersburg branch of Greenpeace.
Rosenergoatom said the smelter was in the grounds of the plant's second unit. Plant spokesman Sergei Averyanov said it was about 1km from the reactor. Oleg Bodrov, a physicist who heads the Green World ecological group in Sosnovy Bor, said the reactor was only 700m from the smelter, which also lies 50m from a liquid radioactive waste pond.
Three people were injured in the blast, Rosenergoatom said. The Emergency Situations Ministry said two of the injured had burns over 90 per cent of their bodies. A 33-year-old worker died of his injuries, said Yuri Lameko, chief doctor of the Sosnovy Bor hospital.
A plant spokesman said the blast had caused molten metal to burst out of a smelter. Usually operator Ekomet-S reprocesses scrap with low levels of radioactivity, but yesterday the metal was clear of radiation, he said.
He blamed the blast on violations of technical and production rules. Sosnovy Bor prosecutor Stanislav Rumyantsev said he had opened a criminal investigation into charges of violations of safety regulations.
In March 1992, an accident at the Sosnovy Bor nuclear plant caused radioactive gases and iodine to be leaked into the air.
One of the reactors at the 30-year-old plant is of the same type as the one at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that exploded in Soviet Ukraine in 1986, in the world's worst nuclear accident.
Tag : Environment, Earth, Nature.
The blast occurred yesterday at the Leningrad nuclear power plant in the closed town of Sosnovy Bor, outside St Petersburg. The blast threw a spotlight on what environmentalists called uncontrolled operations by such companies on sensitive sites.
"The enterprise ... functions illegally because there was no mandatory environmental impact assessment on its construction," said Dmitry Artamonov, head of the St Petersburg branch of Greenpeace.
Rosenergoatom said the smelter was in the grounds of the plant's second unit. Plant spokesman Sergei Averyanov said it was about 1km from the reactor. Oleg Bodrov, a physicist who heads the Green World ecological group in Sosnovy Bor, said the reactor was only 700m from the smelter, which also lies 50m from a liquid radioactive waste pond.
Three people were injured in the blast, Rosenergoatom said. The Emergency Situations Ministry said two of the injured had burns over 90 per cent of their bodies. A 33-year-old worker died of his injuries, said Yuri Lameko, chief doctor of the Sosnovy Bor hospital.
A plant spokesman said the blast had caused molten metal to burst out of a smelter. Usually operator Ekomet-S reprocesses scrap with low levels of radioactivity, but yesterday the metal was clear of radiation, he said.
He blamed the blast on violations of technical and production rules. Sosnovy Bor prosecutor Stanislav Rumyantsev said he had opened a criminal investigation into charges of violations of safety regulations.
In March 1992, an accident at the Sosnovy Bor nuclear plant caused radioactive gases and iodine to be leaked into the air.
One of the reactors at the 30-year-old plant is of the same type as the one at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that exploded in Soviet Ukraine in 1986, in the world's worst nuclear accident.
Tag : Environment, Earth, Nature.
Long-sought "glueball" particles may be found.
Physicists have been on a three decades' long search for a strange type of subatomic particle called a glueball.
But the hunt may be almost, or already, over, a researcher claims. And if that's true, it could clarify what nature's most fundamental particles are.
The glueball quest is connected with a popular theory called quantum chromodynamics, which claims matter's most basic components are tiny entities called quarks. Other particles, called "gluons," act as a "glue" that binds quarks together to form the protons and neutrons of the atomic nucleus.
Most particle physicists consider the theory definitive; atom-smashing experiments have confirmed it, says Michael Chanowitz, a theoretical physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif.
Yet one of its most dramatic predictions, he added, has yet to be verified. That is the existence of glueballs, particles made only of gluons.
Glueballs would be "an intriguing new form of matter," he said. Little is known about what they're like, and what they might be useful for—probably nothing, he added. But their discovery could raise new questions that lead to further progress in physics, and as for their practical applications, "you never know."
Either way, he said, glueballs would certainly be unique, because they would be the only force-carrying particles known to stick together.
Tag : Science, Physics.
But the hunt may be almost, or already, over, a researcher claims. And if that's true, it could clarify what nature's most fundamental particles are.
The glueball quest is connected with a popular theory called quantum chromodynamics, which claims matter's most basic components are tiny entities called quarks. Other particles, called "gluons," act as a "glue" that binds quarks together to form the protons and neutrons of the atomic nucleus.
Most particle physicists consider the theory definitive; atom-smashing experiments have confirmed it, says Michael Chanowitz, a theoretical physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif.
Yet one of its most dramatic predictions, he added, has yet to be verified. That is the existence of glueballs, particles made only of gluons.
Glueballs would be "an intriguing new form of matter," he said. Little is known about what they're like, and what they might be useful for—probably nothing, he added. But their discovery could raise new questions that lead to further progress in physics, and as for their practical applications, "you never know."
Either way, he said, glueballs would certainly be unique, because they would be the only force-carrying particles known to stick together.
Tag : Science, Physics.
Fish gene plays role in human skin colour.
A striped aquarium fish has helped scientists find a gene that plays a role in determining human hair, skin and eye colour.Researchers commonly use zebrafish, a small, colourful fish that reproduces rapidly, as a laboratory model for human health research.
Geneticist Keith Cheng of Pennsylvania State University and his colleagues were originally using African zebrafish to look for genes involved in cancer.
Cheng said researchers can't use human genetics to explain complex diseases such as heart disease or diabetes without first working out fundamental characteristics such as how skin colour is determined.
The findings could help find ways to treat malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.
A gene called SLC24A5 appeared to make zebrafish sport lighter, "golden" stripes, instead of darker colouring. Closely related genes are found in all vertebrates, the researchers said.
People of European descent have fewer, smaller and lighter pigment granules called melanosomes, compared to people of West African ancestry. East Asians fall in between.
The difference led researchers to look for a genetic mechanism behind variation in human skin colour.
Tag : Nature, Research.
Rice research pays off big.
Rice research leading to new and improved varieties resulted in some in farmers being lifted from poverty in China and India, a study shows.
Rice production grew by 170 percent, from 199 million tons in 1961 to 540 million tons in 2000, mostly because of the research resulting in improved rice varieties. This yield improvement not only helped millions avoid starvation but also saved thousands of acres of fragile natural habitats from falling under the plow to create new rice fields.
"The results indicate that rice varietal improvement research has contributed tremendously to increases in rice production, accounting for 14 (percent) to 24 percent of the total production value over the last two decades in both countries," says lead author, Dr. Shenggen Fan, of the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute.
Rice production grew by 170 percent, from 199 million tons in 1961 to 540 million tons in 2000, mostly because of the research resulting in improved rice varieties. This yield improvement not only helped millions avoid starvation but also saved thousands of acres of fragile natural habitats from falling under the plow to create new rice fields.
"The results indicate that rice varietal improvement research has contributed tremendously to increases in rice production, accounting for 14 (percent) to 24 percent of the total production value over the last two decades in both countries," says lead author, Dr. Shenggen Fan, of the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute.
Global warming may be shrinking Alaska’s lakes.
On a day of near-record high temperatures in Anchorage, a dramatic announcement from scientists in the United Kingdom, 2005 was the warmest year on record in the Northern Hemisphere. The news comes in the wake of a new finding by researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Alaska's lakes appear to be draining into the state’s thawing tundra.The lakes that are being studied are not in Anchorage or the southern part of the state, for that matter. The lakes they are studying are in the northern half of Alaska. And those lakes are disappearing as if someone pulled the stopper out of a bathtub.
Dr. Larry Hinzman (pictured at left) has been studying lakes on Alaska's Seward Peninsula using aerial and satellite photos going back more than five decades.
"And we can see that over these various dates, that these lakes were steadily shrinking in size," said Hinzman, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Tag : Alaska, Environment.
Friday, December 16
Ozone around Tibet poses danger to mountaineers.
Not only is the air around the Tibetan plateau thin but it's also thick with ozone, posing a medical danger to mountaineers, says a new study by researcher at the University of Toronto.The ring of ozone around the plateau, which rises 4,000 metres above sea level and includes such famous peaks as Mount Everest and K2, is as concentrated as the ozone found in heavily polluted cities -- and may put climbers at risk, a university release said.
These findings are published in a recent issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
"Around the circumference of Tibet, there's a halo of very high levels of ozone," said GW Kent Moore of the university and lead author of the study.
Ozone is a highly reactive gas that can cause coughing, chest pain and damage to the lining of the lungs.
Study co-author John Semple was initially interested in how weather changes at high altitude can have a medical impact on climbers. Along with Moore, he examined earlier data and found several studies that alluded to higher ozone levels.
Tag : India, Nepal, Tibet, Environment.
Japan hopes to predict big one with journey to center of earth
An ambitious Japanese-led project to dig deeper into the Earth's surface than ever before will be a breakthrough in detecting earthquakes including Tokyo's dreaded "Big One," officials said Thursday.
The deep-sea drilling vessel Chikyu made a port call Thursday in Yokohama after ending its first training mission at sea since being built in July at a cost of 500 million dollars.
The 57,500-ton Chikyu, which means the Earth in Japanese, is scheduled to embark in September 2007 on a voyage to collect the first samples of the Earth's mantle in human history.
The project, led by Japan and the United States with the participation of China and the European Union, seeks clues on primitive organisms that were the forerunners of life and on the tectonic plates that shake the planet's foundations.
Tag : Science.
The deep-sea drilling vessel Chikyu made a port call Thursday in Yokohama after ending its first training mission at sea since being built in July at a cost of 500 million dollars.
The 57,500-ton Chikyu, which means the Earth in Japanese, is scheduled to embark in September 2007 on a voyage to collect the first samples of the Earth's mantle in human history.
The project, led by Japan and the United States with the participation of China and the European Union, seeks clues on primitive organisms that were the forerunners of life and on the tectonic plates that shake the planet's foundations.
Tag : Science.
Archaeologists dig up ancient “war zone” near Iraq border.
Archaeologists say they have uncovered the earliest evidence for large-scale warfare in the area of Mesopotamia, an ancient civilization in what is now Iraq.
The conflict occurred near the present-day Syrian border, the researchers say, the same border where U.S. forces have lately been battling to quell a flow of suspected terrorists into Iraq from Syria.
The archaeologists said a huge battle destroyed one of the Mesopotamia's earliest cities at around 3500 B.C. The conflict left behind, preserved in their places, artifacts from daily life in an urban settlement in upper Mesopotamia, according to researchers from the University of Chicago and the Syrian government.
"The whole area of our most recent excavation was a war zone," said the university's Clemens Reichel, who co-directed a team that spent October and November at the site.
Tag : Archaeology, Iraq.
The conflict occurred near the present-day Syrian border, the researchers say, the same border where U.S. forces have lately been battling to quell a flow of suspected terrorists into Iraq from Syria.
The archaeologists said a huge battle destroyed one of the Mesopotamia's earliest cities at around 3500 B.C. The conflict left behind, preserved in their places, artifacts from daily life in an urban settlement in upper Mesopotamia, according to researchers from the University of Chicago and the Syrian government.
"The whole area of our most recent excavation was a war zone," said the university's Clemens Reichel, who co-directed a team that spent October and November at the site.
Tag : Archaeology, Iraq.
Sacred minds.
Catholic theology says that all people — including children — are considered spiritual. And now neurological evidence shows that inherent brain biology and neuron connections formed during childhood may greatly influence how people develop spiritually.
The research says that even though spirituality may start out as biology and develop through learning, these connections inevitably work together over a lifetime to create the whole person.
“The child’s spirituality cannot be dissected from the cognitive, emotional, moral or behavioral,” said Dr. Judith Hughes, a former psychiatry professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
All these factors contribute to spiritual development in order to get a complete picture, but currently the information isn’t shared across disciplines, said Dr. Daniel Siegel, a psychiatry professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine.
Understanding children’s spiritual development is much like the story of the blind men describing an elephant, said Siegel. Even agreeing on basic definitions for words like “mind” is difficult because each of scientific discipline has a clear idea of what reality is, Siegel said.
“The anthropologist might understand the tail, and the neuroscientists might be convinced of the trunk,” he said. Siegel said that pinning the tail on what he called “the entire elephant of human existence” couldn’t be attributed to just genetics or environment but the interplay of both.
The research says that even though spirituality may start out as biology and develop through learning, these connections inevitably work together over a lifetime to create the whole person.
“The child’s spirituality cannot be dissected from the cognitive, emotional, moral or behavioral,” said Dr. Judith Hughes, a former psychiatry professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
All these factors contribute to spiritual development in order to get a complete picture, but currently the information isn’t shared across disciplines, said Dr. Daniel Siegel, a psychiatry professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine.
Understanding children’s spiritual development is much like the story of the blind men describing an elephant, said Siegel. Even agreeing on basic definitions for words like “mind” is difficult because each of scientific discipline has a clear idea of what reality is, Siegel said.
“The anthropologist might understand the tail, and the neuroscientists might be convinced of the trunk,” he said. Siegel said that pinning the tail on what he called “the entire elephant of human existence” couldn’t be attributed to just genetics or environment but the interplay of both.
'Dead Sea' found at tsunami's epicentre.
A "dead zone" devoid of life has been discovered at the epicentre of last year's tsunami four kilometres beneath the surface of the Indian Ocean.
Scientists taking part in a worldwide marine survey made an 11-hour dive at the site five months after the disaster.They were shocked to find no sign of life around the epicentre, which opened up a 1000-metre chasm on the ocean floor. Instead, there was nothing but eerie emptiness. The powerful lights of the scientists' submersible vehicle, piercing through the darkness, showed no trace of anything living.
A scientist working on the Census of Marine Life project, Ron O'Dor, of Dalhousie University in Canada, said: "You'd expect a site like this to be quickly recolonised, but that hasn't happened. It's unprecedented."The scientists teamed with television crews from the BBC and Discovery Channel to investigate the heart of the deadliest tsunami on record. On Boxing Day last year an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.3 tore the earth apart off the west coast of Sumatra.
Part of the ocean floor was thrust up to create a 40-metre-high undersea cliff that then collapsed.Huge volumes of water were displaced in the process, creating the giant waves that killed more than 270,000 people."Normally, when you go to the bottom of the sea anywhere and take a sample or look around, there's always something alive," Professor O'Dor said. "But five months after the earthquake, this entire plain, created by the collapse of the cliff, was essentially devoid of life.
"The group had expected to find several species of fish, plus cephalopods, sea cucumbers, brittle stars, corals and sponges, crustaceans and worms. Professor O'Dor thought the collapsing cliff had buried the food sources of bottom feeders, which in turn had an effect on larger predators. "No one has ever got to a site like this so quickly before," he said.
Tag : Tsunami, Earthquake, Science, Nature.
Scientists taking part in a worldwide marine survey made an 11-hour dive at the site five months after the disaster.They were shocked to find no sign of life around the epicentre, which opened up a 1000-metre chasm on the ocean floor. Instead, there was nothing but eerie emptiness. The powerful lights of the scientists' submersible vehicle, piercing through the darkness, showed no trace of anything living.
A scientist working on the Census of Marine Life project, Ron O'Dor, of Dalhousie University in Canada, said: "You'd expect a site like this to be quickly recolonised, but that hasn't happened. It's unprecedented."The scientists teamed with television crews from the BBC and Discovery Channel to investigate the heart of the deadliest tsunami on record. On Boxing Day last year an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.3 tore the earth apart off the west coast of Sumatra.
Part of the ocean floor was thrust up to create a 40-metre-high undersea cliff that then collapsed.Huge volumes of water were displaced in the process, creating the giant waves that killed more than 270,000 people."Normally, when you go to the bottom of the sea anywhere and take a sample or look around, there's always something alive," Professor O'Dor said. "But five months after the earthquake, this entire plain, created by the collapse of the cliff, was essentially devoid of life.
"The group had expected to find several species of fish, plus cephalopods, sea cucumbers, brittle stars, corals and sponges, crustaceans and worms. Professor O'Dor thought the collapsing cliff had buried the food sources of bottom feeders, which in turn had an effect on larger predators. "No one has ever got to a site like this so quickly before," he said.
Tag : Tsunami, Earthquake, Science, Nature.
Thursday, December 15
Mysterious Mongolia.
When Genghis Khan set out to unify the Mongolian tribes in the thirteenth century, the man whose ruthless ambition would bind most of Eurasia into the greatest empire in history began with the tribes of an obscure northern valley, the Darkhat. Today lying near the border with Siberian Russia, the Darkhat Valley marks the boundary between the vast central Asian steppe and the forested Siberian taiga. From the earliest times, this region has been a crossroads, a place where the worlds of Central Asia and the Arctic met. The result is a landscape littered with dramatic archaeological monuments, especially huge rock burial mounds known as khirigsuurs and upright stones carved with mysterious symbols.It's likely that Bronze Age nomads erected these graceful and mysterious megaliths throughout the northern regions of Mongolia and southern Siberia around 1000 B.C., though some scholars think they may be the work of later, Iron Age peoples who appeared by 700 B.C. Known as deer stones for their carved depictions of flying deer, the monuments rival Europe's megaliths in their intricate designs and careful craftsmanship. Just why they were created and what role they played in ancient nomadic cultures are two of the many puzzles in Mongolian archaeology.
Tag : Mongolia, Asia, Archaeology.
Louse-Borne Diseases That Ravaged Napoleon’s Army
Using dental pulp extracted from the teeth of soldiers who died during Napoleon’s disastrous retreat through Russia in 1812, a new study finds DNA evidence that epidemic typhus and trench fever ran rampant among the French Grand Army. The study, published in the Jan. 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online, identifies the specific species of louse-borne pathogens that were a major cause of death among the remains of the retreating army.
Napoleon marched into Russia in the summer of 1812 with a half-million soldiers. Only a few thousand staggered out again, victims of war, weather, and disease. Twenty-five thousand arrived in Vilnius that winter, but only 3,000 lived to continue the retreat. The dead were buried in mass graves.
Construction work in 2001 unearthed one such grave, containing between 2,000 and 3,000 corpses. Didier Raoult, MD, PhD, from the Université de la Méditerranée in Marseille, France, and colleagues identified body segments of five lice in a forensic excavation of two kilograms of earth containing fragments of bone and remnants of clothing. Three of the lice carried DNA from Bartonella quintana, which causes the disease commonly known as trench fever, which afflicted many soldiers in World War I.
Napoleon marched into Russia in the summer of 1812 with a half-million soldiers. Only a few thousand staggered out again, victims of war, weather, and disease. Twenty-five thousand arrived in Vilnius that winter, but only 3,000 lived to continue the retreat. The dead were buried in mass graves.
Construction work in 2001 unearthed one such grave, containing between 2,000 and 3,000 corpses. Didier Raoult, MD, PhD, from the Université de la Méditerranée in Marseille, France, and colleagues identified body segments of five lice in a forensic excavation of two kilograms of earth containing fragments of bone and remnants of clothing. Three of the lice carried DNA from Bartonella quintana, which causes the disease commonly known as trench fever, which afflicted many soldiers in World War I.
'Dodo atlas' helps to put extinction of species on map.
AN ATLAS of the world’s extinction hot spots, in which at least one species is in imminent danger of dying out, has been drawn up by scientists to guide global conservation.
The map, prepared by researchers from the Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE), pinpoints 595 clearly defined sites that provide either the only or major remaining habitat for an endangered or seriously endangered species. Only a third of the hot spots are currently protected as conservation areas, and most are surrounded by large human populations that are threatening their future.
Urgent action to safeguard these sites is critical if humanity is to prevent a biodiversity crisis in which species are being lost at between 100 and 1,000 times the natural rate, scientists behind the study said.
NORTH AMERICA AND MEXICO
Mexico/Sur del Valle de Mexico: volcano rabbit
US/Huachuca mountains: Ramsey Canyon leopard frog
US/Cache river: ivory-billed woodpecker
SOUTH AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN
Colombia/Reserva Natural El Mirador: Fuertes’s parrot
Chile/Robinson Crusoe Island: Juan Fernández firecrown
Jamaica/Hellshire Hills: Jamaican ground iguana
EUROPE, CENTRAL ASIA AND JAPAN
China/Ahnui Chinese Alligator National Nature Reserve: Chinese alligator
Portugal/Azores, east of São Miguel: Azores bullfinch
Turkey/Silifke: Asia Minor spiny mouse
AFRICA AND MADAGASCAR
Madagascar/Daraina forest: golden-crowned sifaka
Madagascar/Tsimanampetsotsa Strict Nature Reserve: Giant-striped mongoose
Ivory Coast, Guinea, Liberia/Mont Nimba: Mont Nimba viviparous toad
SOUTH EAST ASIA
Indonesia/Ujung Kulon: Javan rhinoceros
Indonesia/Roti Island: Roti Island snake-necked turtle
AUSTRALASIA AND PACIFIC
Australia/Epping Forest National Park: northern hairy-nosed wombat
New Zealand/Codfish Island: kakapo
The map, prepared by researchers from the Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE), pinpoints 595 clearly defined sites that provide either the only or major remaining habitat for an endangered or seriously endangered species. Only a third of the hot spots are currently protected as conservation areas, and most are surrounded by large human populations that are threatening their future.
Urgent action to safeguard these sites is critical if humanity is to prevent a biodiversity crisis in which species are being lost at between 100 and 1,000 times the natural rate, scientists behind the study said.
NORTH AMERICA AND MEXICO
Mexico/Sur del Valle de Mexico: volcano rabbit
US/Huachuca mountains: Ramsey Canyon leopard frog
US/Cache river: ivory-billed woodpecker
SOUTH AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN
Colombia/Reserva Natural El Mirador: Fuertes’s parrot
Chile/Robinson Crusoe Island: Juan Fernández firecrown
Jamaica/Hellshire Hills: Jamaican ground iguana
EUROPE, CENTRAL ASIA AND JAPAN
China/Ahnui Chinese Alligator National Nature Reserve: Chinese alligator
Portugal/Azores, east of São Miguel: Azores bullfinch
Turkey/Silifke: Asia Minor spiny mouse
AFRICA AND MADAGASCAR
Madagascar/Daraina forest: golden-crowned sifaka
Madagascar/Tsimanampetsotsa Strict Nature Reserve: Giant-striped mongoose
Ivory Coast, Guinea, Liberia/Mont Nimba: Mont Nimba viviparous toad
SOUTH EAST ASIA
Indonesia/Ujung Kulon: Javan rhinoceros
Indonesia/Roti Island: Roti Island snake-necked turtle
AUSTRALASIA AND PACIFIC
Australia/Epping Forest National Park: northern hairy-nosed wombat
New Zealand/Codfish Island: kakapo
Moon over 4.5 billion years old.
The Moon's surface cooled and solidified to make its current grey and white face more than 4.5 billion years ago, say researchers who have applied new dating techniques to rocks brought back by Apollo astronauts.
This age puts the Moon's first solid rocks at about the same age Earth's first crust, bolstering the popular idea that both bodies formed crusts at about the same time and in the wake of a mega collision of a Mars-sized body with early Earth.
"For the first time we have determined the age of the Moon, which has not been done before," says German lunar researcher Dr Thorsten Kleine of the University of Munster's Institute for Mineralogy.
The results of the new work are reported in the current issue of the journal Science.
The reason it's taken so long to figure out the Moon's age is that there aren't many elements available in Moon rocks to serve as timekeepers from the time the rocks solidified.
Tag : Science, Space, Moon, Astronomy.
This age puts the Moon's first solid rocks at about the same age Earth's first crust, bolstering the popular idea that both bodies formed crusts at about the same time and in the wake of a mega collision of a Mars-sized body with early Earth.
"For the first time we have determined the age of the Moon, which has not been done before," says German lunar researcher Dr Thorsten Kleine of the University of Munster's Institute for Mineralogy.
The results of the new work are reported in the current issue of the journal Science.
The reason it's taken so long to figure out the Moon's age is that there aren't many elements available in Moon rocks to serve as timekeepers from the time the rocks solidified.
Tag : Science, Space, Moon, Astronomy.
Soon Africa's Gorillas will only survive in wildlife parks and zoos.
We don't believe gorillas and forest people should be made homeless by the European construction and furniture industries. That's why we dumped three tonnes of tropical timber in front of France's Agricultural Ministry, crushing fake gorillas, to demand action against the flood of illegal timber from Africa's last ancient forests.
The African Forest of the Great Apes, a spectacular lowland rainforest of Central Africa, stretches across regions of Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. It is second in size only to the Amazon rainforest and is the most species-rich place in Africa.
Africa has already lost two-thirds of its ancient forests in the last thirty years, industrial logging threatens most of what remains. In as little as five to ten years Africa's apes, the gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos, will disappear with the last undisturbed forest areas.
Tag : France, Africa, Wildlife, Nature.
The African Forest of the Great Apes, a spectacular lowland rainforest of Central Africa, stretches across regions of Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. It is second in size only to the Amazon rainforest and is the most species-rich place in Africa.
Africa has already lost two-thirds of its ancient forests in the last thirty years, industrial logging threatens most of what remains. In as little as five to ten years Africa's apes, the gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos, will disappear with the last undisturbed forest areas.
Tag : France, Africa, Wildlife, Nature.
Protecting the Great Barrier Reef of Australia
Tourism operators will be paid to kill giant coral-chomping starfish on the Great Barrier Reef in a move to protect its fragile ecosystem, the Australian government has announced.
Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell said a $440,000 grant would fund a two-year program to eradicate crown-of-thorns starfish from some of the reef's most popular patches of coral.
The Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators will be in charge of the program to remove the spiny starfish -- which can measure nearly 3 feet in diameter -- from the reef.
"The program focuses on protecting tourism sites and will operate at locations where the tourism operators have active measures to control crown-of-thorns starfish in place themselves," Campbell said.
Tag : Australia, Nature.
Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell said a $440,000 grant would fund a two-year program to eradicate crown-of-thorns starfish from some of the reef's most popular patches of coral.
The Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators will be in charge of the program to remove the spiny starfish -- which can measure nearly 3 feet in diameter -- from the reef.
"The program focuses on protecting tourism sites and will operate at locations where the tourism operators have active measures to control crown-of-thorns starfish in place themselves," Campbell said.
Tag : Australia, Nature.
Wednesday, December 14
Did humans colonise north Europe earlier than thought ?
Humans may have colonised northern Europe 200,000 years earlier than previously thought. Stone tools found in eastern England suggest that humans were there at least 700,000 years ago.
"We don't know for sure what species it was," says team member Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London, "but my bet is it's an early form of Homo heidelbergensis or Homo antecessor."
H. heidelbergensis is known to have been present in central Europe about 500,000 years ago. Bones were first discovered in 1907 near Heidelberg, Germany, and have since been found in France and Greece. Hominin remains about 800,000 years old have been found in Spain and Italy, indicating that early humans had colonised southern Europe by this time. These early humans have been classed as another species, H. antecessor, though arguments remain over whether it is a really separate species to H. heidelbergensis.
The 32 stone tools, made of black flint and many of them still sharp, were discovered by amateur archaeologists at Pakefield, Suffolk. They have been dated using several methods. Firstly, the magnetic polarity of iron-containing minerals in the sedimentary rocks where the tools were found is aligned north-south, just as it is today. The Earth's magnetic field underwent a polarity reversal 780,000 years ago, so the site must be younger than that.
The tools were found beneath glacial deposits laid down during a period 450,000 years ago when the region was blanketed in ice, so they must be older than this. Also present were fossils of a water vole Mimomys, which was superseded by another vole species called Arvicola around 500,000 years ago. This leads the authors to speculate that the tools are around 700,000 years old.
Tag : Archaeology.
Harvard scientists make odd-shaped bubbles.
Harvard University scientists say they've found gas bubbles can exist in stable, non-spherical shapes without the application of external force.
The researchers say they created the micron- to millimeter-scale peapod-, doughnut- and sausage-shaped bubbles by coating ordinary gas bubbles with a tightly packed layer of tiny particles and then fusing them.
"Particles have been used to stabilize emulsions and foams for over 100 years," said lead author Anand Bala Subramaniam, a research associate in Harvard's Division of Engineering and Applied Science.
"However, we've demonstrated that not only are particles useful for making bubbles last longer, they fundamentally alter the properties of these bubbles," said Subramaniam.
The researchers say they created the micron- to millimeter-scale peapod-, doughnut- and sausage-shaped bubbles by coating ordinary gas bubbles with a tightly packed layer of tiny particles and then fusing them.
"Particles have been used to stabilize emulsions and foams for over 100 years," said lead author Anand Bala Subramaniam, a research associate in Harvard's Division of Engineering and Applied Science.
"However, we've demonstrated that not only are particles useful for making bubbles last longer, they fundamentally alter the properties of these bubbles," said Subramaniam.
Fish with chips reveal ocean migration route.
Thousands of salmon, tuna and other fish with electronic tags are revealing mysterious Pacific Ocean migration highways that may give clues about how to rebuild dwindling stocks, scientists said on Wednesday.
Marine experts also found 78 new species of fish in 2005 along with scores of other creatures ranging from a 3-metre rocket-shaped jellyfish in the Arctic to a tiny carnivorous sponge in the South Atlantic.
"Fish with chips", hi-tech implants that enable either satellite or seabed tracking, were one of the breakthroughs to uncover ocean migration paths, scientists in the 73-nation Census of Marine Life (COML) said.
Tag : Science, Nature, Environment.
Marine experts also found 78 new species of fish in 2005 along with scores of other creatures ranging from a 3-metre rocket-shaped jellyfish in the Arctic to a tiny carnivorous sponge in the South Atlantic.
"Fish with chips", hi-tech implants that enable either satellite or seabed tracking, were one of the breakthroughs to uncover ocean migration paths, scientists in the 73-nation Census of Marine Life (COML) said.
Tag : Science, Nature, Environment.
Teens may be forced to have paternity test.
Young people between the ages of 12 and 18, may be required to have a DNA paternity test against their wishes, as a result of a new Australian government proposal.
The proposal comes in a recent government response to a 2003 report on protection of human genetic information.
A report by the Australian Law Reform Commission and the National Health and Medical Research Council's Australian Health Ethics Committee recommended nearly three years ago that the government bring in laws giving young people, deemed to have sufficient maturity, the choice of saying 'no' to a paternity test.
"It was an empowering provision in terms of giving a children a voice in these proceedings," says Professor Margaret Otlowski of the University of Tasmania, an expert on legal aspects of genetics.
"It's all very well for parents to consent but if we've got a mature minor, 12 and up, with views about what they want, their consent should be sought as well."
But the government has rejected this recommendation saying it would be inconsistent with the Family Law Act.
Otlowski says while one would normally expect the court to take the child's wishes into consideration, it may make a ruling against a child who doesn't want a blood sample taken or the issue of paternity dealt with.
"A 15 year old child could be compelled to be tested because a court thought it was in their best interest," says Otlowski.
The proposal comes in a recent government response to a 2003 report on protection of human genetic information.
A report by the Australian Law Reform Commission and the National Health and Medical Research Council's Australian Health Ethics Committee recommended nearly three years ago that the government bring in laws giving young people, deemed to have sufficient maturity, the choice of saying 'no' to a paternity test.
"It was an empowering provision in terms of giving a children a voice in these proceedings," says Professor Margaret Otlowski of the University of Tasmania, an expert on legal aspects of genetics.
"It's all very well for parents to consent but if we've got a mature minor, 12 and up, with views about what they want, their consent should be sought as well."
But the government has rejected this recommendation saying it would be inconsistent with the Family Law Act.
Otlowski says while one would normally expect the court to take the child's wishes into consideration, it may make a ruling against a child who doesn't want a blood sample taken or the issue of paternity dealt with.
"A 15 year old child could be compelled to be tested because a court thought it was in their best interest," says Otlowski.
Function of "Unicorn" Whale's 8-foot Tooth Discovered.
Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) researcher Martin Nweeia, DMD, DDS, has answered a marine science question that has eluded the scientific community for hundreds of years: why does the narwhal, or "unicorn," whale have an 8-foot-long tooth emerging from its head, and what is its function?
The narwhal has a tooth, or tusk, which emerges from the left side of the upper jaw and is an evolutionary mystery that defies many of the known principles of mammalian teeth. The tooth's unique spiral, the degree of its asymmetry to the left side, and its odd distribution among most males and some females are all unique expressions of teeth in mammals. The narwhal is usually 13 to 15 feet in length and weighs between 2,200 and 3,500 pounds.
Its natural habitat is the Atlantic portion of the Arctic Ocean, concentrating in the Canadian High Arctic: Baffin Bay, Davis Strait, and northern Hudson Bay. It is also found in less numbers in the Greenland Sea, extending to Svalbard to Severnaya Zemlya off the coast of Russia.
Nweeia has discovered that the narwhal's tooth has hydrodynamic sensor capabilities. Ten million tiny nerve connections tunnel their way from the central nerve of the narwhal tusk to its outer surface. Though seemingly rigid and hard, the tusk is like a membrane with an extremely sensitive surface, capable of detecting changes in water temperature, pressure, and particle gradients.
Because these whales can detect particle gradients in water, they are capable of discerning the salinity of the water, which could help them survive in their Arctic ice environment. It also allows the whales to detect water particles characteristic of the fish that constitute their diet. There is no comparison in nature and certainly none more unique in tooth form, expression, and functional adaptation.
The narwhal has a tooth, or tusk, which emerges from the left side of the upper jaw and is an evolutionary mystery that defies many of the known principles of mammalian teeth. The tooth's unique spiral, the degree of its asymmetry to the left side, and its odd distribution among most males and some females are all unique expressions of teeth in mammals. The narwhal is usually 13 to 15 feet in length and weighs between 2,200 and 3,500 pounds.
Its natural habitat is the Atlantic portion of the Arctic Ocean, concentrating in the Canadian High Arctic: Baffin Bay, Davis Strait, and northern Hudson Bay. It is also found in less numbers in the Greenland Sea, extending to Svalbard to Severnaya Zemlya off the coast of Russia.
Nweeia has discovered that the narwhal's tooth has hydrodynamic sensor capabilities. Ten million tiny nerve connections tunnel their way from the central nerve of the narwhal tusk to its outer surface. Though seemingly rigid and hard, the tusk is like a membrane with an extremely sensitive surface, capable of detecting changes in water temperature, pressure, and particle gradients.
Because these whales can detect particle gradients in water, they are capable of discerning the salinity of the water, which could help them survive in their Arctic ice environment. It also allows the whales to detect water particles characteristic of the fish that constitute their diet. There is no comparison in nature and certainly none more unique in tooth form, expression, and functional adaptation.
Tuesday, December 13
Oldest Known Maya Painting Found in Guatemala.
U.S. archeologists have unearthed the oldest known Maya painting, a 30-foot-long, brightly colored mural that depicts the Maya creation myth, the divine rights of kings and the coronation of the first human king in Mayan society.
The paint-on-plaster image, nearly 2,100 years old, predates other depictions of the creation myth by several centuries and is "perhaps the most important new [Maya] find in many, many years," said archeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli of Vanderbilt University, who was not involved in the discovery.
"It's the equivalent for the Maya of the biblical account of Genesis, but it's more than that because it provides a link between the gods of creation and the Maya kings," he said.
And that story has passed down almost unchanged to the modern era, said archeologist William Saturno of the University of New Hampshire, who discovered the mural.
"A Mayan today could say, 'This story is the same story I tell my kids,'." he said.
The finding also supports the arguments of many researchers that the so-called late pre-Classic period from about 300 BC to AD 300 was not substantially different from the Classic period that encompassed the following 600 years.
Many archeologists have argued that the pre-Classic societies were not fully civilized because they did not have writing and they did not have formal kingships similar to those of later periods.
The new mural discounts both of those arguments "without any doubt," Estrada-Belli said.
It shows that they had a sophisticated system of writing and that the kings obtained and exercised their powers with all the trappings and symbols of kingship found in later Mayan societies.
Tag : Archaeology.
The paint-on-plaster image, nearly 2,100 years old, predates other depictions of the creation myth by several centuries and is "perhaps the most important new [Maya] find in many, many years," said archeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli of Vanderbilt University, who was not involved in the discovery.
"It's the equivalent for the Maya of the biblical account of Genesis, but it's more than that because it provides a link between the gods of creation and the Maya kings," he said.
And that story has passed down almost unchanged to the modern era, said archeologist William Saturno of the University of New Hampshire, who discovered the mural.
"A Mayan today could say, 'This story is the same story I tell my kids,'." he said.
The finding also supports the arguments of many researchers that the so-called late pre-Classic period from about 300 BC to AD 300 was not substantially different from the Classic period that encompassed the following 600 years.
Many archeologists have argued that the pre-Classic societies were not fully civilized because they did not have writing and they did not have formal kingships similar to those of later periods.
The new mural discounts both of those arguments "without any doubt," Estrada-Belli said.
It shows that they had a sophisticated system of writing and that the kings obtained and exercised their powers with all the trappings and symbols of kingship found in later Mayan societies.
Tag : Archaeology.
Strange new object found at edge of Solar System
A large object has been found beyond Pluto travelling in an orbit tilted by 47 degrees to most other bodies in the solar system. Astronomers are at a loss to explain why the object's orbit is so off-kilter while being almost circular.
Researchers led by Lynne Allen at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, first spotted the object in observations made with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in December 2004. Since October 2005, they have made follow-up observations that have revealed the object's perplexing path.
Tentatively named 2004 XR190, the object appears to have a diameter of between 500 and 1000 kilometres, making it somewhere between a fifth and nearly half as wide as Pluto. It lies in a vast ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune called the Kuiper Belt, most of which orbit in nearly the same plane as Earth.
But at 47 degrees, 2004 XR190's orbit is one of the most tilted, or inclined, Kuiper Belt Objects known. That suggests it was flung out of the solar system's main disc after a close encounter with another object - such as Neptune or perhaps a star that passed by the Sun billions of years ago.
Tag : Solar System, Space, Science, Astronomy.
Researchers led by Lynne Allen at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, first spotted the object in observations made with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in December 2004. Since October 2005, they have made follow-up observations that have revealed the object's perplexing path.
Tentatively named 2004 XR190, the object appears to have a diameter of between 500 and 1000 kilometres, making it somewhere between a fifth and nearly half as wide as Pluto. It lies in a vast ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune called the Kuiper Belt, most of which orbit in nearly the same plane as Earth.
But at 47 degrees, 2004 XR190's orbit is one of the most tilted, or inclined, Kuiper Belt Objects known. That suggests it was flung out of the solar system's main disc after a close encounter with another object - such as Neptune or perhaps a star that passed by the Sun billions of years ago.
Tag : Solar System, Space, Science, Astronomy.
Fiber May Not Protect Against Colorectal Cancer
Here's the latest word on whether a diet rich in fiber helps prevent cancer of the colon and rectum: Probably not.
While several studies have found a lower risk of colorectal cancer for people who have a high intake of dietary fiber, a new study that combined the results of 13 studies including more than 725,000 people found no overall protective effect when all risk factors were taken into account.
A first look at the data did find a 16 percent lower incidence of the cancer in the 20 percent of people with the highest fiber intake. But then the researchers began compensating for other risk factors -- such as multivitamin use, folate intake, red meat consumption, milk and alcohol intake.
As a result, "we did not find support for a linear inverse relationship between dietary fiber intake and risk of colorectal cancer," the researchers wrote.
The study results appear in the Dec. 14 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Tag : Health.
While several studies have found a lower risk of colorectal cancer for people who have a high intake of dietary fiber, a new study that combined the results of 13 studies including more than 725,000 people found no overall protective effect when all risk factors were taken into account.
A first look at the data did find a 16 percent lower incidence of the cancer in the 20 percent of people with the highest fiber intake. But then the researchers began compensating for other risk factors -- such as multivitamin use, folate intake, red meat consumption, milk and alcohol intake.
As a result, "we did not find support for a linear inverse relationship between dietary fiber intake and risk of colorectal cancer," the researchers wrote.
The study results appear in the Dec. 14 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Tag : Health.
Deep sea gardens everywhere
Ocean explorers are uncovering a whole gaggle of new undersea gardens from the Arctic to the Indian Ocean powered by nothing but hot water, and rich in both exotic life and valuable ores.
Geothermal vents on the ocean floor had previously been thought possible only in places like the eastern Pacific, where the relatively rapid spreading apart of tectonic plates creates seafloor volcanic activity to power the fields of smoking hot water.
Now, scientists have found vents in the Arctic Ocean, along the mid-Atlantic Ridge and discovered a vastly productive hot water spout in the Indian Ocean.
"Up to 20 years ago all these new discoveries were in regions that were off-limits," says hydrothermal vent specialist Professor Peter Rona of Rutgers University.
In other words, they were in places where the seafloor is spreading apart more slowly than in the eastern Pacific, where Rona discovered the famous "black smoker" vents in 1979.
Then, a hydrothermal site known as TAG was found with a huge mound of hydrothermally created iron, copper, zinc, gold and silver ores about 3 kilometres underwater along the mid-Atlantic Ridge.
"It changed the picture of seafloor hot springs from regional to global," Rona said at a recent meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
Geothermal vents on the ocean floor had previously been thought possible only in places like the eastern Pacific, where the relatively rapid spreading apart of tectonic plates creates seafloor volcanic activity to power the fields of smoking hot water.
Now, scientists have found vents in the Arctic Ocean, along the mid-Atlantic Ridge and discovered a vastly productive hot water spout in the Indian Ocean.
"Up to 20 years ago all these new discoveries were in regions that were off-limits," says hydrothermal vent specialist Professor Peter Rona of Rutgers University.
In other words, they were in places where the seafloor is spreading apart more slowly than in the eastern Pacific, where Rona discovered the famous "black smoker" vents in 1979.
Then, a hydrothermal site known as TAG was found with a huge mound of hydrothermally created iron, copper, zinc, gold and silver ores about 3 kilometres underwater along the mid-Atlantic Ridge.
"It changed the picture of seafloor hot springs from regional to global," Rona said at a recent meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
New air pollution limits introduced.
Switzerland has set itself new air pollution limits based on the Göteborg Protocol, which came into effect in the country on Tuesday.
The environment ministry says current legislation should allow targets set out in the international accord to be met by 2012.
Switzerland has agreed to cut sulphur emissions by 40 per cent compared with 1990 levels, nitrous oxide (NOx) output by 52 per cent, ammonia emissions by 13 per cent and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by over half.
The aim is to reduce summer smog and the presence of ozone. The environment ministry hopes that by 2010 air quality will greatly improve in urban areas, especially in the southern canton of Ticino, which is largely affected by cross-border traffic with Italy.
"When the 31 countries that signed the protocol have applied it, sulphur emissions in Europe will fall by 60 per cent, and emissions of ozone precursors – NOx and VOCs – will drop by 40 per cent," said the ministry in a statement.
To enforce the protocol's guidelines, the Swiss will not have to introduce new legislation.
"Based on current figures, we should reach our targets if we continue to apply the law in a consequent fashion, especially air protection measures and pollution limits for motor vehicles," added the ministry.
This was not the case for the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions.
To have a chance of reaching the aims set out in the accord – to cut carbon dioxide emissions to ten per cent below 1990 levels by 2010 - the Swiss introduced a climate levy of 1.5 centimes per litre of petrol or diesel in October.
If these measures prove inadequate a further tax could be levied on fuel for transport.
The environment ministry says current legislation should allow targets set out in the international accord to be met by 2012.
Switzerland has agreed to cut sulphur emissions by 40 per cent compared with 1990 levels, nitrous oxide (NOx) output by 52 per cent, ammonia emissions by 13 per cent and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by over half.
The aim is to reduce summer smog and the presence of ozone. The environment ministry hopes that by 2010 air quality will greatly improve in urban areas, especially in the southern canton of Ticino, which is largely affected by cross-border traffic with Italy.
"When the 31 countries that signed the protocol have applied it, sulphur emissions in Europe will fall by 60 per cent, and emissions of ozone precursors – NOx and VOCs – will drop by 40 per cent," said the ministry in a statement.
To enforce the protocol's guidelines, the Swiss will not have to introduce new legislation.
"Based on current figures, we should reach our targets if we continue to apply the law in a consequent fashion, especially air protection measures and pollution limits for motor vehicles," added the ministry.
This was not the case for the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions.
To have a chance of reaching the aims set out in the accord – to cut carbon dioxide emissions to ten per cent below 1990 levels by 2010 - the Swiss introduced a climate levy of 1.5 centimes per litre of petrol or diesel in October.
If these measures prove inadequate a further tax could be levied on fuel for transport.
Mysteries of early aging syndrome unlocked.
Scientists say they are unraveling a longstanding mystery of how a rare syndrome causes its victims to die in their early teens, apparently of old age.
The answer could do more than help those children, researchers say. It could also lead to a better understanding of how normal aging happens, and what if anything one could do to stop it.
An estimated one in 8 million children are born with the condition, called Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome. They start life in apparent good health but by six to 18 months develop signs of premature aging, including hair loss, stiff joints, osteoporosis and atherosclerosis. Typically, they die by 13, finished by heart attacks or strokes.
No effective treatments are known, although scientists reported last September that a drug currently being tested against cancer might help the patients.
The cause of the condition, too, remains unknown. But researchers reported one breakthrough in 2003. They traced the condition to a spontaneous mutation in a gene encoding a component of the cell nucleus, the compartment of a cell that stores our genes.
The nucleus must keep this DNA safe but accessible inside a strong protective envelope. Tough but adaptable molecules called lamins line the inner membrane of this envelope. The progeria mutation causes a defect in one type of lamin, called nuclear lamin A, causing cells to age rapidly.
This left researchers asking: what is it about this defect that causes cells to age so rapidly? And might it have some relevance to normal aging? In other words, is progeria a warp-speed version of normal aging?
In research presented Tuesday at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in San Francisco, Robert Goldman and collaborators at Northwestern University and elsewhere said they’ve made some headway into the first question at least.
Tag : Health.
The answer could do more than help those children, researchers say. It could also lead to a better understanding of how normal aging happens, and what if anything one could do to stop it.
An estimated one in 8 million children are born with the condition, called Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome. They start life in apparent good health but by six to 18 months develop signs of premature aging, including hair loss, stiff joints, osteoporosis and atherosclerosis. Typically, they die by 13, finished by heart attacks or strokes.
No effective treatments are known, although scientists reported last September that a drug currently being tested against cancer might help the patients.
The cause of the condition, too, remains unknown. But researchers reported one breakthrough in 2003. They traced the condition to a spontaneous mutation in a gene encoding a component of the cell nucleus, the compartment of a cell that stores our genes.
The nucleus must keep this DNA safe but accessible inside a strong protective envelope. Tough but adaptable molecules called lamins line the inner membrane of this envelope. The progeria mutation causes a defect in one type of lamin, called nuclear lamin A, causing cells to age rapidly.
This left researchers asking: what is it about this defect that causes cells to age so rapidly? And might it have some relevance to normal aging? In other words, is progeria a warp-speed version of normal aging?
In research presented Tuesday at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in San Francisco, Robert Goldman and collaborators at Northwestern University and elsewhere said they’ve made some headway into the first question at least.
Tag : Health.
Monday, December 12
At least 9 whales, 24 dolphins die on Cape Cod
More than two dozen whales and dolphins became stranded on the shores of Cape Cod Bay last week, and experts say the snowstorm may have contributed to their deaths.
In all, at least nine pilot whales and 24 dolphins died. Five of the whales and seven of the dolphins had to be euthanized, while the rest were found dead, according to Kristen Patchett of the Cape Cod Stranding Network, a group that works to free stranded animals.
Officials suspect that high winds and strong tidal fluctuations from Friday's storm caused the dolphins and whales to become trapped in shallow water. Illnesses also could have contributed to the strandings, the network said.
Tag : Nature.
In all, at least nine pilot whales and 24 dolphins died. Five of the whales and seven of the dolphins had to be euthanized, while the rest were found dead, according to Kristen Patchett of the Cape Cod Stranding Network, a group that works to free stranded animals.
Officials suspect that high winds and strong tidal fluctuations from Friday's storm caused the dolphins and whales to become trapped in shallow water. Illnesses also could have contributed to the strandings, the network said.
Tag : Nature.
How to celebrate Christmas, the ecofriendly way.
I take my lead from nature at Christmas. She takes a rest and hibernates in the middle of winter. I, too, look on the wonderful break from work as a time to rest, reflect and recharge for the coming year. I have a wonderfully busy life as a media environmentalist and charity worker, with the usual plethora of e-mails, telephone calls, deadlines, paperwork, text messages, interviews and so on. I will often spend Christmas Day quietly by myself at home, with a simple lunch of veggie pie and roast potatoes and some organic Christmas cake for afters. To me, a day by myself away from the hurly-burly is sheer bliss.
But Christmas is also meant to be a time of peace and goodwill towards our fellow tenants on the planet. It is crucial that the way you celebrate the festivities not only fosters love between you and those close to you, but is also not causing troubles for others on the planet. With the climate crisis bearing down upon us, we Britons need to cut our CO2 emissions by 80 per cent to stop the planet burning up. However, our modern Christmas celebrations have become an orgy of consumption, almost every aspect of which involves copious CO2 emissions. Not wishing to be a seasonal spoil-sport, I am going to set out here how you could have a wonderful and loving Christmas, and still reduce your festive CO2 emissions by 80 per cent.
Tag : Christmas, Environment.
But Christmas is also meant to be a time of peace and goodwill towards our fellow tenants on the planet. It is crucial that the way you celebrate the festivities not only fosters love between you and those close to you, but is also not causing troubles for others on the planet. With the climate crisis bearing down upon us, we Britons need to cut our CO2 emissions by 80 per cent to stop the planet burning up. However, our modern Christmas celebrations have become an orgy of consumption, almost every aspect of which involves copious CO2 emissions. Not wishing to be a seasonal spoil-sport, I am going to set out here how you could have a wonderful and loving Christmas, and still reduce your festive CO2 emissions by 80 per cent.
Tag : Christmas, Environment.
Tea drinking linked to lower ovarian cancer risk.
Woman who drink two or more cups of tea every day may cut their risk of ovarian cancer in half, a new study shows.
Both black and green teas are rich in antioxidant chemicals called polyphenols, which have been shown to block cancer growth in lab and animal studies, Susanna C. Larsson and Alicja Wolk of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm note.
To investigate whether tea drinking might protect against ovarian cancer, Larsson and her colleagues followed 61,057 women participating in a mammography screening program. All of the women had completed questionnaires with information on diet, education and other factors. The women ranged in age from 40 to 76 at the beginning of the study.
During follow-up, which averaged about 15 years, 301 of the women developed ovarian cancer.
Compared with women who never drank tea, those who drank less than a cup a day had an 18-percent lower risk of developing ovarian cancer. One cup daily cut risk by 24 percent, while two or more cups lowered risk by 46 percent.
Tag : Health.
Both black and green teas are rich in antioxidant chemicals called polyphenols, which have been shown to block cancer growth in lab and animal studies, Susanna C. Larsson and Alicja Wolk of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm note.
To investigate whether tea drinking might protect against ovarian cancer, Larsson and her colleagues followed 61,057 women participating in a mammography screening program. All of the women had completed questionnaires with information on diet, education and other factors. The women ranged in age from 40 to 76 at the beginning of the study.
During follow-up, which averaged about 15 years, 301 of the women developed ovarian cancer.
Compared with women who never drank tea, those who drank less than a cup a day had an 18-percent lower risk of developing ovarian cancer. One cup daily cut risk by 24 percent, while two or more cups lowered risk by 46 percent.
Tag : Health.
Environmental impact of oil blaze.
As always when large quantities of a substance like oil are involved, the depot fire at Buncefield holds the potential to cause environmental damage.
However, there is little sign of any impact so far.
Compared with the oil-well fires which raged in Iraq during its turbulent recent history, the quantities involved at Buncefield are small.
"It's similar, except there's only one location and fires will burn for a short time," said Professor Ian Colbeck, from Essex University, who worked on the Iraq fires.
"But data measured over large areas of southern England show elevated concentrations of particulate matter - not so high that it can become a serious hazard, but five or six times background levels," he told BBC News.
"If you're susceptible to asthma or respiratory problems the advice would be to stay indoors."
Particulate matter is basically soot, and comes in different sizes; smaller particles are known to be carcinogenic in sufficient quantities, but Professor Colbeck said this is unlikely to be an issue with a one-off fire.
Tag : Environment, Health.
However, there is little sign of any impact so far.
Compared with the oil-well fires which raged in Iraq during its turbulent recent history, the quantities involved at Buncefield are small.
"It's similar, except there's only one location and fires will burn for a short time," said Professor Ian Colbeck, from Essex University, who worked on the Iraq fires.
"But data measured over large areas of southern England show elevated concentrations of particulate matter - not so high that it can become a serious hazard, but five or six times background levels," he told BBC News.
"If you're susceptible to asthma or respiratory problems the advice would be to stay indoors."
Particulate matter is basically soot, and comes in different sizes; smaller particles are known to be carcinogenic in sufficient quantities, but Professor Colbeck said this is unlikely to be an issue with a one-off fire.
Tag : Environment, Health.
Sunday, December 11
Effluent alters sexuality of fish.
Treated wastewater is altering the genes of native fish — making male fish more like females and females more like males.
A study is finding that an endangered fish species experiences dramatic hormonal changes after being immersed for three months in treated effluent from Pima County's Roger Road sewage plant.
For some hormones, male and female bonytail chub tested in wastewater contain up to five times more hormones of the opposite sex than of their own sex.
The University of Arizona and federal researchers worry it's not just fish that could be affected.
Sometime around 2020, Tucsonans may start drinking wastewater — in a much more highly treated form than the Roger Road plant now dumps into the Santa Cruz River.
Nobody knows if the compounds in treated wastewater can harm human reproduction because their effects on people haven't been thoroughly studied, said David Walker, a UA research scientist who is a lead investigator on the fish study, and Gail Cordy, a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist who also works on it.
But Tucson Water will not serve treated wastewater "unless we could be assured that we were removing any elements that might be of concern," said its spokesman, Mitch Basefsky.
Researchers say the fish hormones are probably affected by what many scientists call endocrine disruptors.
A study is finding that an endangered fish species experiences dramatic hormonal changes after being immersed for three months in treated effluent from Pima County's Roger Road sewage plant.
For some hormones, male and female bonytail chub tested in wastewater contain up to five times more hormones of the opposite sex than of their own sex.
The University of Arizona and federal researchers worry it's not just fish that could be affected.
Sometime around 2020, Tucsonans may start drinking wastewater — in a much more highly treated form than the Roger Road plant now dumps into the Santa Cruz River.
Nobody knows if the compounds in treated wastewater can harm human reproduction because their effects on people haven't been thoroughly studied, said David Walker, a UA research scientist who is a lead investigator on the fish study, and Gail Cordy, a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist who also works on it.
But Tucson Water will not serve treated wastewater "unless we could be assured that we were removing any elements that might be of concern," said its spokesman, Mitch Basefsky.
Researchers say the fish hormones are probably affected by what many scientists call endocrine disruptors.
Toxic risk on your plate.
Seafood for sale in area stores is contaminated with mercury, Tribune testing shows. Government and industry fail to protect consumers, even as Americans buy more fish than ever.
Supermarkets throughout the Chicago area are routinely selling seafood highly contaminated with mercury, a toxic metal that can cause learning disabilities in children and neurological problems in adults, a Tribune investigation has found.
In one of the nation's most comprehensive studies of mercury in commercial fish, testing by the newspaper showed that a variety of popular seafood was so tainted that federal regulators could confiscate the fish for violating food safety rules.
The testing also showed that mercury is more pervasive in fish than what the government has told the public, making it difficult for consumers to avoid the problem, no matter where they shop.
Tag : usa, seafood, health.
Supermarkets throughout the Chicago area are routinely selling seafood highly contaminated with mercury, a toxic metal that can cause learning disabilities in children and neurological problems in adults, a Tribune investigation has found.
In one of the nation's most comprehensive studies of mercury in commercial fish, testing by the newspaper showed that a variety of popular seafood was so tainted that federal regulators could confiscate the fish for violating food safety rules.
The testing also showed that mercury is more pervasive in fish than what the government has told the public, making it difficult for consumers to avoid the problem, no matter where they shop.
Tag : usa, seafood, health.
Norwegian killer Whales most toxic mammals in Arctic.
Initial scientific results show Norwegian killer whales are the most toxic mammals in the Arctic, says WWF, the global conservation organization.
Previous research awarded this dubious honour to the polar bear, but a new study shows that killer whales have even higher levels of PCBs, pesticides and a brominated flame retardant.
The results are based on blubber samples taken from killer whales in Tysfjord, a fjord in arctic Norway. This is the first time the findings of the research, carried out by the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), and partly funded by the Norwegian Research Council, have been revealed.
"Killer whales can be regarded as indicators of the health of our marine environment," said Dr Hans Wolkers, a researcher with NPI.
Tag :Arctic, Norway,Wildlife.
Previous research awarded this dubious honour to the polar bear, but a new study shows that killer whales have even higher levels of PCBs, pesticides and a brominated flame retardant.
The results are based on blubber samples taken from killer whales in Tysfjord, a fjord in arctic Norway. This is the first time the findings of the research, carried out by the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), and partly funded by the Norwegian Research Council, have been revealed.
"Killer whales can be regarded as indicators of the health of our marine environment," said Dr Hans Wolkers, a researcher with NPI.
Tag :Arctic, Norway,Wildlife.
Glaciers Eroded Mountains Faster
U.S. researchers have have documented how fast glaciers eroded the topography of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada.
University of Michigan, California Institute of Technology and Occidental College researchers used a new geochemical tool to quantify the rates and magnitude of glacial erosion across a major valley.
They found that glaciers radically altered the landscape around 1.8 million years ago -- about the time that Earth began to experience a number of ice ages.
Tag : USA ,Canada ,Nature.
University of Michigan, California Institute of Technology and Occidental College researchers used a new geochemical tool to quantify the rates and magnitude of glacial erosion across a major valley.
They found that glaciers radically altered the landscape around 1.8 million years ago -- about the time that Earth began to experience a number of ice ages.
Tag : USA ,Canada ,Nature.
Saturday, December 10
Jupiter's moon.
This Galileo image mosaic of Jupiter's moon Io was made of pictures taken from 130,000 km, during Galileo's closest flyby of Io on 3 July 1999.
click HERE for a larger image.
Tag : Space, Science.
India's High-Tech Hub Bangalore To Be Renamed 'Town Of Boiled Beans' ( Bangalore to Bengaluru )
India's High-Tech Hub Bangalore To Be Renamed 'Town Of Boiled Beans' [ Bangalore to Bengaluru ]
India's high-tech capital Bangalore, known worldwide as an outsourcing hub, will change name to reflect the local language and become "the town of boiled beans", the state chief minister said Monday.
The city in southwest India, capital of Karnataka, will officially use the local Kanada language name Bengaluru next year to mark the 50th anniversary of the state, N. Dharam Singh told AFP.
"It will give the feel of Kanada language," Singh said. "Bombay has been changed to Mumbai, Calcutta to Kolkata. We are doing the same."
"The name change will happen on November 1, 2006, coinciding with the launch of the state's Golden Jubilee year. I have issued a directive."
Bangalore, according to state historians, got its name from Bendakalooru (the town of boiled beans) after a king strayed into the area during a hunting trip in the late 14th century.
A woman offered him a meal of boiled beans which the king enjoyed so much that he named the town after the dish.
Bengaluru is a transliteration of the original spelling, according to state historians.
Several cities in India have been renamed since independence from British colonial rule in 1947 to reflect local languages and nationalist sentiments.
The southern Indian state of Kerala rechristened its capital Trivandrum in 1991 to Thiruvananthapuram and Maharashtra state's Bombay became Mumbai to reflect the Maratha language in 1995.
The Tamil Nadu state capital of Madras was renamed as Chennai in 1996 and West Bengal's Calcutta became Kolkata in 2001.
source : Terradaily.
India's high-tech capital Bangalore, known worldwide as an outsourcing hub, will change name to reflect the local language and become "the town of boiled beans", the state chief minister said Monday.
The city in southwest India, capital of Karnataka, will officially use the local Kanada language name Bengaluru next year to mark the 50th anniversary of the state, N. Dharam Singh told AFP.
"It will give the feel of Kanada language," Singh said. "Bombay has been changed to Mumbai, Calcutta to Kolkata. We are doing the same."
"The name change will happen on November 1, 2006, coinciding with the launch of the state's Golden Jubilee year. I have issued a directive."
Bangalore, according to state historians, got its name from Bendakalooru (the town of boiled beans) after a king strayed into the area during a hunting trip in the late 14th century.
A woman offered him a meal of boiled beans which the king enjoyed so much that he named the town after the dish.
Bengaluru is a transliteration of the original spelling, according to state historians.
Several cities in India have been renamed since independence from British colonial rule in 1947 to reflect local languages and nationalist sentiments.
The southern Indian state of Kerala rechristened its capital Trivandrum in 1991 to Thiruvananthapuram and Maharashtra state's Bombay became Mumbai to reflect the Maratha language in 1995.
The Tamil Nadu state capital of Madras was renamed as Chennai in 1996 and West Bengal's Calcutta became Kolkata in 2001.
source : Terradaily.
New Ocean Forming In Africa.
Ethiopian, American and European researchers have observed a fissure in a desert in the remote northeast that could be the "birth of a new ocean basin," scientists said.Researchers from Britain, France, Italy and the United States have been observing the 37-mile long fissure since it split open in September in the Afar desert and estimate it will take a million years to fully form into an ocean, said Dereje Ayalew, who leads the team of 18 scientists studying the phenomenon.
The fissure, now 13 feet wide, formed in just three weeks after a Sept. 14 earthquake in a barren region called Boina, some 621 miles north east of the capital, Addis Ababa, said Dereje on Friday.
"We believe we have seen the birth of a new ocean basin," said Dereje of Addis Ababa University. "This is unprecedented in scientific history because we usually see the split after it has happened. But here we are watching the phenomenon."
The findings have been presented at a weeklong American Geophysical Union meeting taking place in San Francisco that ends Friday.
Tag : Africa, Science.
Squinting Computer Users Run Risk of Dry Eyes.
If you squint your eyes too much while looking at your computer screen, you could end up with a painful condition called dry eye, Ohio State University researchers warn.
Their study of 10 college students found that just a slight amount of squinting at the computer screen reduced blink rates by a half -- from 15 blinks a minute to 7.5 blinks a minute. The more the students squinted, the less they blinked. The less the students blinked, the more their eyes ached or burned, and the more they reported sensations of dryness, irritation and tearing in their eyes.
"People tend to squint when they read a book or a computer display, and that squinting makes the blink rate go way down," study lead author James Sheedy, a professor of optometry, said in a prepared statement.
"Blinking rewets the eyes. So if your job requires a lot of reading or other visually intense work, you may be blinking far less than normal, which may cause eye strain and dry eye," Sheedy said.
While it can be painful and irritating, dry eye is rarely a debilitating condition. It's usually treatable with over-the-counter eye drops, the researchers said.
Tag : Computer, Health.
Their study of 10 college students found that just a slight amount of squinting at the computer screen reduced blink rates by a half -- from 15 blinks a minute to 7.5 blinks a minute. The more the students squinted, the less they blinked. The less the students blinked, the more their eyes ached or burned, and the more they reported sensations of dryness, irritation and tearing in their eyes.
"People tend to squint when they read a book or a computer display, and that squinting makes the blink rate go way down," study lead author James Sheedy, a professor of optometry, said in a prepared statement.
"Blinking rewets the eyes. So if your job requires a lot of reading or other visually intense work, you may be blinking far less than normal, which may cause eye strain and dry eye," Sheedy said.
While it can be painful and irritating, dry eye is rarely a debilitating condition. It's usually treatable with over-the-counter eye drops, the researchers said.
Tag : Computer, Health.
Researchers Discover Trees in Amazon much older than assumed
Researchers discover trees in Amazon much older than assumed, raising questions on global climate impact of region.
Older trees may have less capacity for taking in carbon dioxide.
Trees in the Amazon tropical forests are old. Really old, in fact, which comes as a surprise to a team of American and Brazilian researchers studying tree growth in the world's largest tropical region.
Using radiocarbon dating methods, the team, which includes UC Irvine's Susan Trumbore, found that up to half of all trees greater than 10 centimeters in diameter are more than 300 years old. Some of the trees, Trumbore said, are as much as 750 to 1,000 years old. Study results appear in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Tag : Amazon, Brazil, Environment.
Older trees may have less capacity for taking in carbon dioxide.
Trees in the Amazon tropical forests are old. Really old, in fact, which comes as a surprise to a team of American and Brazilian researchers studying tree growth in the world's largest tropical region.
Using radiocarbon dating methods, the team, which includes UC Irvine's Susan Trumbore, found that up to half of all trees greater than 10 centimeters in diameter are more than 300 years old. Some of the trees, Trumbore said, are as much as 750 to 1,000 years old. Study results appear in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Tag : Amazon, Brazil, Environment.
Friday, December 9
The vanishing small blue: why butterfly is starving
Little bigger than a 10p piece, one of Britain's smallest butterflies is fighting for existence on the most northerly edge of its range.Although common among the sheltered open spaces of Europe, from northern Spain to Scandinavia, and across Asia and Mongolia, the small blue, aka Cupido minimus, is just about clinging on to life in the north of Scotland.
As one of nature's most fussy eaters, the tiny creature eats only the yellow flowers of the kidney vetch plant which often grows among sheltered grasslands along the coastal areas of Britain, in man-made habitats such as quarries, gravel pits, road embankments and disused railway lines.
However, increasing pressure from human development, changing agricultural practices and coastal use has driven the tiny butterfly into just a few remaining selected strongholds in the south of England and northern Scotland.
Tag : Nature, Scotland, Environment.
Australia's greatest river runs dry as drought takes hold
Australia's greatest river is running dry because of a prolonged drought that has exacerbated the problems caused by farmers taking too much water to irrigate unsuitable crops.
Scientists fear that years of below-average rainfall in south-east Australia is turning the once mighty Murray river - known as the Australian Mississippi - from a gushing torrent to a trickling stream.
A build-up of sand and salt is the biggest problem generated by low rainfall that has dramatically changed the nature of the river over the past couple of decades.
"When we first came down here, we had wetlands in front of us," said Richard Owen, whose old shack overlooks the mouth of the Murray as it runs into the Southern ocean. "Now you can just walk up and across the sand. It's just filled up," Mr Owen said.
For the past three years, dredgers have been operating round the clock to keep the river's mouth from silting up. Even temporary respites in the drought - heavy rains last month and earlier in the year - do not seem to make much of an impact on the problem.
A forecast by the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, the organisation set up to manage the waterway, predicts that the total storage capacity of the river system will continue to decline next year, even with average rainfall.
Tag : climate, climate change, environment, nature.
Scientists fear that years of below-average rainfall in south-east Australia is turning the once mighty Murray river - known as the Australian Mississippi - from a gushing torrent to a trickling stream.
A build-up of sand and salt is the biggest problem generated by low rainfall that has dramatically changed the nature of the river over the past couple of decades.
"When we first came down here, we had wetlands in front of us," said Richard Owen, whose old shack overlooks the mouth of the Murray as it runs into the Southern ocean. "Now you can just walk up and across the sand. It's just filled up," Mr Owen said.
For the past three years, dredgers have been operating round the clock to keep the river's mouth from silting up. Even temporary respites in the drought - heavy rains last month and earlier in the year - do not seem to make much of an impact on the problem.
A forecast by the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, the organisation set up to manage the waterway, predicts that the total storage capacity of the river system will continue to decline next year, even with average rainfall.
Tag : climate, climate change, environment, nature.
Large Himalaya Earthquakes May Occur Sooner Than Expected
While the rupture zones of recent major earthquakes are immune to similar-sized earthquakes for hundreds of years, they could be vulnerable to even bigger destructive temblors sooner than scientists suspect, according to analysis by University of Colorado seismologist Roger Bilham.
Bilham and his research colleagues explained that the magnitude 9.3 Indian Ocean earthquake of December 2004 showed scientists that a giant earthquake can rupture through a region with a recent history of quakes with magnitudes as large as 7.9 on the Richter Scale.
"Following what we learned in 2004, we believe that regions of the Himalaya that have recently experienced magnitude 7.8 earthquakes - like the Kangra district, a hundred years ago - may not be immune to a future larger earthquake," he said.
Bilham's research of Himalayan earthquakes in the last 1,000 years is part of findings presented in an invited talk, "Unprecedented massive earthquakes in the Himalaya driven by elastic strain stored within the Tibetan Plateau?" Dec. 7 at the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting in San Francisco.
Bilham recently returned from Kashmir, where he conducted a series of measurements along with Pakistani scientists to assess subsurface fault slip and damage in that region's October earthquake.
"The Kashmir event released almost 100 times less energy than the Sumatra-Andaman quake in 2004," he said. "The Kashmir rupture was about 16 times smaller in length and five times smaller in width, yet it flattened whole cities in its path."
The Kashmir earthquake was the deadliest earthquake ever in the Indian subcontinent, mostly because of the poor construction quality in the area, Bilham said. "Most of the buildings that collapsed had been constructed in the past two decades.
"It is distressing to see how little attention has been focused on this earthquake by news media in the United States," he said.
Bilham believes medieval earthquakes beneath the Himalaya may have been larger than any in the past 300 years. Bilham and his colleagues are trying to determine what governs the recurrence interval and the size of these historically much larger earthquakes.
"We postulate that a giant reservoir of elastic energy exists not just in the Himalaya but also beneath southern Tibet," he said. "This reservoir of energy is tapped by Himalayan earthquakes more efficiently if ruptures are geographically long."
Bilham and his colleagues developed a "theoretical law" linking earthquakes of different size to their geographic length and repeat time. They concluded that recent earthquakes require about 500 years to repeat, but the medieval ones require almost 2,000 years.
"We suggest that these rare events must have exploited much longer ruptures than any we have seen recently, like those that slipped in the Kangra and Kashmir earthquakes," he said. "We find also that these rare great events can re-rupture parts of the plate boundary that slip in modest earthquakes up to magnitude 7.6. As a result, recent rupture zones could be vulnerable to greater destruction sooner than one might suspect from India's rate of approach toward Asia."
Tag : Nature, India, Himalayas, Earthquake.
Bilham and his research colleagues explained that the magnitude 9.3 Indian Ocean earthquake of December 2004 showed scientists that a giant earthquake can rupture through a region with a recent history of quakes with magnitudes as large as 7.9 on the Richter Scale.
"Following what we learned in 2004, we believe that regions of the Himalaya that have recently experienced magnitude 7.8 earthquakes - like the Kangra district, a hundred years ago - may not be immune to a future larger earthquake," he said.
Bilham's research of Himalayan earthquakes in the last 1,000 years is part of findings presented in an invited talk, "Unprecedented massive earthquakes in the Himalaya driven by elastic strain stored within the Tibetan Plateau?" Dec. 7 at the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting in San Francisco.
Bilham recently returned from Kashmir, where he conducted a series of measurements along with Pakistani scientists to assess subsurface fault slip and damage in that region's October earthquake.
"The Kashmir event released almost 100 times less energy than the Sumatra-Andaman quake in 2004," he said. "The Kashmir rupture was about 16 times smaller in length and five times smaller in width, yet it flattened whole cities in its path."
The Kashmir earthquake was the deadliest earthquake ever in the Indian subcontinent, mostly because of the poor construction quality in the area, Bilham said. "Most of the buildings that collapsed had been constructed in the past two decades.
"It is distressing to see how little attention has been focused on this earthquake by news media in the United States," he said.
Bilham believes medieval earthquakes beneath the Himalaya may have been larger than any in the past 300 years. Bilham and his colleagues are trying to determine what governs the recurrence interval and the size of these historically much larger earthquakes.
"We postulate that a giant reservoir of elastic energy exists not just in the Himalaya but also beneath southern Tibet," he said. "This reservoir of energy is tapped by Himalayan earthquakes more efficiently if ruptures are geographically long."
Bilham and his colleagues developed a "theoretical law" linking earthquakes of different size to their geographic length and repeat time. They concluded that recent earthquakes require about 500 years to repeat, but the medieval ones require almost 2,000 years.
"We suggest that these rare events must have exploited much longer ruptures than any we have seen recently, like those that slipped in the Kangra and Kashmir earthquakes," he said. "We find also that these rare great events can re-rupture parts of the plate boundary that slip in modest earthquakes up to magnitude 7.6. As a result, recent rupture zones could be vulnerable to greater destruction sooner than one might suspect from India's rate of approach toward Asia."
Tag : Nature, India, Himalayas, Earthquake.
Laser beams message between Satellites.
Two satellites have become the first to exchange information from different orbits using a laser . The feat may lead to super-fast data-relay systems between spacecraft.The laser link took place on Friday between two satellites designed to test communications technologies.
One, a Japanese mission called Kirari (Optical Inter-orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite), flies at an altitude of 610 kilometres, in low-Earth orbit. The other, a European satellite called ARTEMIS (Advanced Relay and Technology Mission), soars 36,000 kilometres above Earth in geostationary orbit.
Pointing and maintaining a laser connection between the two satellites is difficult because they can be as much as 45,000 kilometres apart and are moving at a relative speed of several kilometres per second.
Tags : space, science, communications.
Thursday, December 8
Supermarket launches musical sandwich
Tired of the same old lunch at your office desk? Help is at hand. A supermarket is launching the ultimate life-enhancing snack – the musical sandwich.
In a trial certain to be welcomed by the estimated one million Britons who eat their lunch at their desks each day, Tesco will use technology similar to that used in singing greetings cards to sell musical sandwiches.
Opening the top of the sandwich box will activate a tiny sound module that plays a selection of music. This season's offering will be a medley of Christmas tunes including Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
Tesco Spokesman Jonathan Church said the potential of the melodic munch was enormous.
In a trial certain to be welcomed by the estimated one million Britons who eat their lunch at their desks each day, Tesco will use technology similar to that used in singing greetings cards to sell musical sandwiches.
Opening the top of the sandwich box will activate a tiny sound module that plays a selection of music. This season's offering will be a medley of Christmas tunes including Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
Tesco Spokesman Jonathan Church said the potential of the melodic munch was enormous.
Trees May Be Bad for You.
In the effort to slow earth's rising temperatures, even a well-intentioned proposal could backfire, scientists said Wednesday.
One suggestion has been to grow more trees, which absorb carbon dioxide, the gas blamed for trapping heat. More trees mean more carbon dioxide removed from the air.
New computer simulations, however, indicate that establishing new forests across North America could provide a cooling effect for a few decades to a century, but that after that, they would lead to more warming.
"There's really no simple answer," said Ken Caldeira, a scientist at the Carnegie Institution Department of Global Ecology in Stanford, Calif., who presented the research at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union here. "At least in this calculation, there is predicted to be a net warming effect."
One suggestion has been to grow more trees, which absorb carbon dioxide, the gas blamed for trapping heat. More trees mean more carbon dioxide removed from the air.
New computer simulations, however, indicate that establishing new forests across North America could provide a cooling effect for a few decades to a century, but that after that, they would lead to more warming.
"There's really no simple answer," said Ken Caldeira, a scientist at the Carnegie Institution Department of Global Ecology in Stanford, Calif., who presented the research at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union here. "At least in this calculation, there is predicted to be a net warming effect."
Painkiller Liver Failure Warning.
Scientists are warning about the risks posed by paracetamol after it emerged the painkiller had become the leading cause of liver failure in the US.
The annual proportion of cases caused by paracetamol - known in the US as acetaminophen - had risen from 28% in 1998 to 51% in 2003, researchers said.
The annual proportion of cases caused by paracetamol - known in the US as acetaminophen - had risen from 28% in 1998 to 51% in 2003, researchers said.
World's largest mass extinction probably caused by poisonous Volcanic Gas
The world's largest mass extinction was probably caused by poisonous volcanic gas, according to research published today.
The research, published in the journal Geology, reveals vital clues about the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period, 250 million years ago, when mammal-like reptiles known as synapsids roamed the earth.
Many scientists had previously thought that an asteroid hitting the earth or a deep-sea methane release had caused the extinction, which obliterated more than two-thirds of reptile and amphibian families.
However, analysis of a unique set of molecules found in rocks taken from the Dolomites in Italy has enabled scientists to build up a picture of what actually happened. The molecules are the remains of polysaccharides, large sugar-based structures common in plants and soil, and they tell the story of the extinction.
The research, published in the journal Geology, reveals vital clues about the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period, 250 million years ago, when mammal-like reptiles known as synapsids roamed the earth.
Many scientists had previously thought that an asteroid hitting the earth or a deep-sea methane release had caused the extinction, which obliterated more than two-thirds of reptile and amphibian families.
However, analysis of a unique set of molecules found in rocks taken from the Dolomites in Italy has enabled scientists to build up a picture of what actually happened. The molecules are the remains of polysaccharides, large sugar-based structures common in plants and soil, and they tell the story of the extinction.
Former KGB Chief Reveals Supernatural Truth.
Former KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov spent 20 years in the Soviet intelligence agencies. In an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily he reveals what the KGB knows about UFOs and other supernatural phenomena, life in space and secret agents’ secret methods.
The media keep telling us about UFOs and a variety of other supernatural phenomena. Researchers and cosmonauts may have different opinions on the matter, but all of them are sure of one thing: that exact information can be obtained from the intelligence agencies. You headed the Soviet secret service for the longest period of time, 17 years, that is, from 1971 to 1988. You also chaired the KGB from 1988 to 1991. You must be able to give us the ultimate truth — are there any UFOs out there?
We have never received any proof whatsoever that UFOs or other supernatural phenomena actually exist.
The authorities asked me many times to prove or refute reports of this or that inexplicable incident on the planet. Most frequently I received requests concerning UFOs and yetis, the “snow people”. I would commission our best specialists and agents to find out where the reports that worried society so much came from. In the end it always turned out to be pure imagination. Sometimes an ignorant observer would interpret an unfamiliar phenomenon in a mystical way, sometimes a perfectly ordinary event would be called supernatural to make news. Often the people would add the KGB knew about the supernatural phenomenon, but wanted to keep it secret.
With full responsibility I have to state — never ever during the long period of my work with the intelligence service was anything really supernatural spotted, either in Russia or in any other country. When I say “other country”, I rely on the information from the highest officials, military, research and of course the intelligence agencies of foreign states.
The point is, in every “important” country presidents, prime ministers and secret service chiefs requested investigations into resonant abnormal incidents. And in every case, in each country, competent people would give one and the same answer — no. I have personally read copies of these reports.
I finally came to the conclusion that, for better or for worse, there is nothing supernatural on the Earth.
The media keep telling us about UFOs and a variety of other supernatural phenomena. Researchers and cosmonauts may have different opinions on the matter, but all of them are sure of one thing: that exact information can be obtained from the intelligence agencies. You headed the Soviet secret service for the longest period of time, 17 years, that is, from 1971 to 1988. You also chaired the KGB from 1988 to 1991. You must be able to give us the ultimate truth — are there any UFOs out there?
We have never received any proof whatsoever that UFOs or other supernatural phenomena actually exist.
The authorities asked me many times to prove or refute reports of this or that inexplicable incident on the planet. Most frequently I received requests concerning UFOs and yetis, the “snow people”. I would commission our best specialists and agents to find out where the reports that worried society so much came from. In the end it always turned out to be pure imagination. Sometimes an ignorant observer would interpret an unfamiliar phenomenon in a mystical way, sometimes a perfectly ordinary event would be called supernatural to make news. Often the people would add the KGB knew about the supernatural phenomenon, but wanted to keep it secret.
With full responsibility I have to state — never ever during the long period of my work with the intelligence service was anything really supernatural spotted, either in Russia or in any other country. When I say “other country”, I rely on the information from the highest officials, military, research and of course the intelligence agencies of foreign states.
The point is, in every “important” country presidents, prime ministers and secret service chiefs requested investigations into resonant abnormal incidents. And in every case, in each country, competent people would give one and the same answer — no. I have personally read copies of these reports.
I finally came to the conclusion that, for better or for worse, there is nothing supernatural on the Earth.
Halting exploding lakes.
It sounds like a bad horror movie: exploding killer lakes. But such lakes are a reality in Cameroon, Africa. Scientists there are developing a solution, however, to stop the natural hazard.
In 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon exploded with a deadly cloud of carbon dioxide. Since then, researchers have been working to lower the carbon dioxide concentration in the lake by running an exhaust pipe 24 hours a day, expunging the lake of its extra gas, like the uncorking of a champagne bottle. Image courtesy of George Kling.
In 1984 and 1986, volcanic lakes Monoun and Nyos, respectively, silently erupted poisonous columns of carbon dioxide that swept out of their craters and into the valleys below — asphyxiating thousands of animals and 1,800 people along the way. “It came as a total surprise to everyone,” says Johan Varekamp, a geologist at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. “Exploding lakes were a hazard we didn’t even know about,” he says. Since then, scientists have found only one other lake with similarly high concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane: Lake Kivu, also in Africa, may have similarly burst in the past several thousand years.
The carbon dioxide and methane in Monoun and Nyos, which have reached saturation levels of 97 percent, originate from magma deep beneath the lakes. The lakes are layered, with heavy carbon dioxide-laden waters at depth, topped by distinct layers of successively less concentrated waters. The climate in the area is not conducive for mixing, so the lakes stay layered unless something disturbs them, as happened in the 1980s (though scientists still do not know the exact cause of that disturbance).
In 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon exploded with a deadly cloud of carbon dioxide. Since then, researchers have been working to lower the carbon dioxide concentration in the lake by running an exhaust pipe 24 hours a day, expunging the lake of its extra gas, like the uncorking of a champagne bottle. Image courtesy of George Kling.
In 1984 and 1986, volcanic lakes Monoun and Nyos, respectively, silently erupted poisonous columns of carbon dioxide that swept out of their craters and into the valleys below — asphyxiating thousands of animals and 1,800 people along the way. “It came as a total surprise to everyone,” says Johan Varekamp, a geologist at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. “Exploding lakes were a hazard we didn’t even know about,” he says. Since then, scientists have found only one other lake with similarly high concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane: Lake Kivu, also in Africa, may have similarly burst in the past several thousand years.
The carbon dioxide and methane in Monoun and Nyos, which have reached saturation levels of 97 percent, originate from magma deep beneath the lakes. The lakes are layered, with heavy carbon dioxide-laden waters at depth, topped by distinct layers of successively less concentrated waters. The climate in the area is not conducive for mixing, so the lakes stay layered unless something disturbs them, as happened in the 1980s (though scientists still do not know the exact cause of that disturbance).
Evidence points to man-made disaster
Investigators and residents have picked through the battered New Orleans levee system's breaches, churned-up soil and bent sheet pile in the 100 days since Hurricane Katrina struck, they have uncovered mounting evidence that human error played a major role in the flood that devastated the city.
Floodwall breaches linked to design flaws inundated parts of the city that otherwise would have stayed dry, turning neighborhoods into death traps and causing massive damage. In other areas, poorly engineered gaps and erosion of weak construction materials accelerated and deepened flooding already under way, hampering rescue efforts in the wake of the storm.
These problems turned an already deadly disaster into a wider man-made catastrophe and have made rebuilding and resettlement into far tougher and more expensive challenges.
That's the picture that emerges from investigations of the levee system by teams sponsored by the state government, the American Society of Civil Engineers and the National Science Foundation, as well as from dozens of interviews with local residents, officials and engineers.
Experts say the New Orleans flood of 2005 should join the space shuttle explosions and the sinking of the Titanic on history's list of ill-fated disasters attributable to human mistakes.
Read the full article.
Floodwall breaches linked to design flaws inundated parts of the city that otherwise would have stayed dry, turning neighborhoods into death traps and causing massive damage. In other areas, poorly engineered gaps and erosion of weak construction materials accelerated and deepened flooding already under way, hampering rescue efforts in the wake of the storm.
These problems turned an already deadly disaster into a wider man-made catastrophe and have made rebuilding and resettlement into far tougher and more expensive challenges.
That's the picture that emerges from investigations of the levee system by teams sponsored by the state government, the American Society of Civil Engineers and the National Science Foundation, as well as from dozens of interviews with local residents, officials and engineers.
Experts say the New Orleans flood of 2005 should join the space shuttle explosions and the sinking of the Titanic on history's list of ill-fated disasters attributable to human mistakes.
Read the full article.
Wednesday, December 7
Snails may bring back Memories.
The humble pond snail is playing a crucial role in the search for ways to improve human memory.
Scientists at the University of Sussex have been awarded a £750,000 grant from the Medical Research Council to investigate developing a "Viagra for the brain" to build up long-term memory and learning.
Scientists at the University of Sussex have been awarded a £750,000 grant from the Medical Research Council to investigate developing a "Viagra for the brain" to build up long-term memory and learning.
Eating seafood reduces risk for 'Sudden Death'
Eating seafood reduces risk for sudden death due to heart disease – the primary killer of Americans – by up to 90 percent say scientists and health care professionals, citing new research on the relationship between seafood consumption and human health.
Eating a small amount of seafood high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as shrimp, tuna, salmon, pollock and catfish daily can cut the risk of death due to heart disease by 20 percent, according to studies released at the Seafood and Health conference in Washington this week.
Eating a small amount of seafood high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as shrimp, tuna, salmon, pollock and catfish daily can cut the risk of death due to heart disease by 20 percent, according to studies released at the Seafood and Health conference in Washington this week.
Think your PC is 'safe' online? Think again.
While most Internet users think they are safe online, they're not, according to a new study released Wednesday by America Online and the National Cyber Security Alliance. In fact, about 80 percent are exposed to common Internet threats, the study found.
More than half of the participants either had no anti-virus protection or had not updated it within the last week, researchers found. About half did not have a properly-configured firewall, and four in ten didn't have spyware protection. Taken collectively, more than 4 in five consumers lacked at least one of the three types of basic protection.
Still, 83 percent told researchers they were "safe from online threats," the study found.
The results mirror a similar study conducted last year by AOL and Cyber Security Alliance. The sweeping study is thorough; researchers follow-up survey responses with in-home visits, and technicians inspect consumers' PCs. Among the key findings -- consumers often falsely believe their computers have up-to-date Internet pest protection when they don't.
"People have a false sense of security," said Tatiana Platt, senior vice president at AOL.
Read the full article.
More than half of the participants either had no anti-virus protection or had not updated it within the last week, researchers found. About half did not have a properly-configured firewall, and four in ten didn't have spyware protection. Taken collectively, more than 4 in five consumers lacked at least one of the three types of basic protection.
Still, 83 percent told researchers they were "safe from online threats," the study found.
The results mirror a similar study conducted last year by AOL and Cyber Security Alliance. The sweeping study is thorough; researchers follow-up survey responses with in-home visits, and technicians inspect consumers' PCs. Among the key findings -- consumers often falsely believe their computers have up-to-date Internet pest protection when they don't.
"People have a false sense of security," said Tatiana Platt, senior vice president at AOL.
Read the full article.
Why do Men have 'ONE-TRACK MINDS'?
Men are often accused of having a one-track mind. When filled with lust, it seems they simply cannot think of anything else. Now scientists have found there really may be a direct relationship between the male brain and his private parts. They found evidence that males can create plenty of sperm, or lots of brain cells but not both.
How Long Can Borneo's New Creature Survive?
All we know about the mysterious beast of Borneo is that it comes out at night, has a long, muscular tail, and looks a bit like a cross between a domestic cat and a wide-eyed lemur.
Naturalists have taken just two photographs of the creature when it sauntered across the infrared beams of a night-time camera trap - and that was back in 2003. Repeated attempts since then to track down the animal in the dense jungles of Borneo's Kayan Mentarang National Park have failed. Even the locals, who know the jungle inside-out, profess to have no knowledge of the creature's existence.
Zoologists believe that the mammal, which is slightly larger than a cat and has dark red fur, is a new species of carnivore. It is the first meat-eating animal to be found in these forests since 1895 when a specimen of the Borneo ferret-badger was captured.
"It is incredibly unusual to find a new species of large carnivore and it's proving rather elusive and shy," said Callum Rankine, head of the species programme at WWF-UK, the wildlife conservation charity.
Read the full article.
Naturalists have taken just two photographs of the creature when it sauntered across the infrared beams of a night-time camera trap - and that was back in 2003. Repeated attempts since then to track down the animal in the dense jungles of Borneo's Kayan Mentarang National Park have failed. Even the locals, who know the jungle inside-out, profess to have no knowledge of the creature's existence.
Zoologists believe that the mammal, which is slightly larger than a cat and has dark red fur, is a new species of carnivore. It is the first meat-eating animal to be found in these forests since 1895 when a specimen of the Borneo ferret-badger was captured.
"It is incredibly unusual to find a new species of large carnivore and it's proving rather elusive and shy," said Callum Rankine, head of the species programme at WWF-UK, the wildlife conservation charity.
Read the full article.
Tuesday, December 6
BEETHOVEN Died from Lead Poisoning.
Tests on the hair and skull fragments of Ludwig van Beethoven show the legendary 19th century German composer died from lead poisoning, scientists say.Bone fragments from Beethoven's skull had high concentrations of lead, matching an earlier finding of lead in his hair, say researchers at the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois.
"The finding of elevated lead in Beethoven's skull, along with DNA results indicating authenticity of the bone-hair relics, provides solid evidence that Beethoven suffered from a toxic overload of lead," says Dr Bill Walsh, director of the Beethoven Research Project.
"There is no doubt in my mind ... he was a victim of lead poisoning," he says.
Colour blindness may have hidden advantages.
People with red-green colour blindness are better at discerning shades of khaki.
The most common form of colour blindness makes it difficult for those with the condition to distinguish between red and green. But scientists have found that it also helps these people to discern subtle shades of khaki that look identical to those with normal vision.
About six percent of men, and a much smaller fraction of women, have deuteranomaly, commonly known as red-green colour blindness. It is caused by a genetic mutation that affects one of the three pigments found in the cone-shaped cells in the retina that respond to different colours of light.
Read the Full Article.
The most common form of colour blindness makes it difficult for those with the condition to distinguish between red and green. But scientists have found that it also helps these people to discern subtle shades of khaki that look identical to those with normal vision.
About six percent of men, and a much smaller fraction of women, have deuteranomaly, commonly known as red-green colour blindness. It is caused by a genetic mutation that affects one of the three pigments found in the cone-shaped cells in the retina that respond to different colours of light.
Read the Full Article.
Microsoft wil release new public IE7 beta Q1 2006.
Bink.nu is the source for the latest Microsoft news, technology, and downloads.
Marital Stress Slows Wound Healing...
The stress a typical married couple feels during an ordinary half-hour argument is enough to slow their bodies’ ability to heal from wounds by at least one day, a study has found.
And if the couple’s relationship is routinely hostile toward each other, the delay in that healing process can be even doubled, according to the researchers.
They added that the findings have major implications for hospitals and health care insurers, which bear much of the cost for longer hospital stays.
The study is reported in the current issue of the research journal Archives of General Psychiatry.
And if the couple’s relationship is routinely hostile toward each other, the delay in that healing process can be even doubled, according to the researchers.
They added that the findings have major implications for hospitals and health care insurers, which bear much of the cost for longer hospital stays.
The study is reported in the current issue of the research journal Archives of General Psychiatry.
Anti - Fog Glass
Car windows, eyeglasses, camera lenses, even our bathroom mirrors are all victims of the frustrating effects of fogging. But scientists at MIT might finally have a solution.
Ozone Hole Recovery May Take Longer.
The eventual recovery of the gaping ozone hole over Antarctica, first discovered two decades ago, may take years longer than previously predicted, scientists reported Tuesday.
Researchers suspect that's because of all the older model refrigerators and car air-conditioning systems in the United States and Canada that are still releasing ozone-killing chemicals. Both countries curbed those chemicals in newer products.
If scientists are right, that means longer-term exposure to harmful ultraviolet radiation, which raises the risk of skin cancer and cataracts for people. Long-term UV exposure is bad for the biodiversity of the planet too.
Since the discovery of the ozone hole over the South Pole in the 1980s, satellites and ground stations have been monitoring it. Current computer models suggest the ozone hole should recover globally by 2040 or 2050, but Tuesday's analysis suggests the hole won't heal until about 2065.
Researchers suspect that's because of all the older model refrigerators and car air-conditioning systems in the United States and Canada that are still releasing ozone-killing chemicals. Both countries curbed those chemicals in newer products.
If scientists are right, that means longer-term exposure to harmful ultraviolet radiation, which raises the risk of skin cancer and cataracts for people. Long-term UV exposure is bad for the biodiversity of the planet too.
Since the discovery of the ozone hole over the South Pole in the 1980s, satellites and ground stations have been monitoring it. Current computer models suggest the ozone hole should recover globally by 2040 or 2050, but Tuesday's analysis suggests the hole won't heal until about 2065.
Greenpeace protests outside Hewlett-Packard.
Greenpeace members staged a protest outside Hewlett-Packard's Palo Alto headquarters this morning, carrying signs and launching a blimp with the words "HP = Harmful Products.''
Protesters also broadcast their message on a radio station -- 91.3 FM -- that could only be heard near the company's site along Page Mill Road.
The environmental group was protesting what it called the company's practice of using toxic materials in its computers and other products cannot be disposed of without hurting the environment, according to an announcement on the group's Web site.
Protesters also broadcast their message on a radio station -- 91.3 FM -- that could only be heard near the company's site along Page Mill Road.
The environmental group was protesting what it called the company's practice of using toxic materials in its computers and other products cannot be disposed of without hurting the environment, according to an announcement on the group's Web site.
Are you afraid of the number 666 ?
Are you afraid of the number 666? If you were issued an automobile license plate or a telephone number that included a string of three sixes would you ask for a different number? Do you think the number 666 is inherently evil? Do you believe any number can in and of itself be evil?
The issue of FATE magazine that you are holding in your hands right at this moment is issue number 666. The 666th word in this article is "dead." Does this make you just a little bit nervous?
If it does, you are not alone. There is a name for your condition - "Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia" - the fear of the number 666.
Everyone has at least one or two superstitions that we feel somehow comfortably obliged to observe. My father was a geologist and a high-degree Freemason. He was for the most part a very logical and scientific man. Still, he was oddly superstitious about little things like spilling salt and walking under ladders.
For a lot of people the number 666 is particularly terrifying. After all, it's the devil's number, isn't it? For the better part of 2,000 years many in the Western world have certainly thought so. What is it about these three digits that makes so many of us uncomfortable?
Read the full article.
The issue of FATE magazine that you are holding in your hands right at this moment is issue number 666. The 666th word in this article is "dead." Does this make you just a little bit nervous?
If it does, you are not alone. There is a name for your condition - "Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia" - the fear of the number 666.
Everyone has at least one or two superstitions that we feel somehow comfortably obliged to observe. My father was a geologist and a high-degree Freemason. He was for the most part a very logical and scientific man. Still, he was oddly superstitious about little things like spilling salt and walking under ladders.
For a lot of people the number 666 is particularly terrifying. After all, it's the devil's number, isn't it? For the better part of 2,000 years many in the Western world have certainly thought so. What is it about these three digits that makes so many of us uncomfortable?
Read the full article.
Monday, December 5
China spill could Threaten 'ENDANGERED TIGER'
It’s time for Volya the tiger to open wide and say "ahhh" so experts can see how the 1½-year-old cub is recovering from surgery that saved her after she was shot in the head by poachers.
Volya is one of the most endangered animals on the planet — a Siberian tiger, huge cats that roam the snowy mountainous terrain of Russia’s Far East and northeast China.
Along with other endangered animals and plants, the tigers are part of a unique ecosystem that faces a new threat: a toxic benzene slick headed toward the Amur River after an explosion upriver at a chemical factory in China.
The World Wide Fund for Animals considers the area a "high-priority conservation region." It has expressed concern about the effects of the spill and called for stricter monitoring of chemicals.
Volya is one of the most endangered animals on the planet — a Siberian tiger, huge cats that roam the snowy mountainous terrain of Russia’s Far East and northeast China.
Along with other endangered animals and plants, the tigers are part of a unique ecosystem that faces a new threat: a toxic benzene slick headed toward the Amur River after an explosion upriver at a chemical factory in China.
The World Wide Fund for Animals considers the area a "high-priority conservation region." It has expressed concern about the effects of the spill and called for stricter monitoring of chemicals.
Love is a DRUG.
It may be better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, but why is it so hard to find again? It may be that our brains are fixated on our former lovers, according to scientists.
Researchers at Florida State University examined the nature of love by studying the brains and behaviour of male prairie voles, picked for their habit of lifelong monogamy and aggression towards other females once they have found a mate.
The scientists found that males became devoted to females only after they had mated. The bond coincided with a huge release of the feelgood chemical dopamine inside their brains.
Researchers at Florida State University examined the nature of love by studying the brains and behaviour of male prairie voles, picked for their habit of lifelong monogamy and aggression towards other females once they have found a mate.
The scientists found that males became devoted to females only after they had mated. The bond coincided with a huge release of the feelgood chemical dopamine inside their brains.
The Effect of 'Birth Control Pills' on the Brain.
Confirming what women have known for years, researchers have found that changes in hormone levels can have dramatic effects on the female brain. While the new findings lend weight to the old time-of-the-month cliché, they should also raise concerns about the effects that various hormonal treatments, such as the birth control pill, may have on the brain.
The findings - presented at the 2005 Society for Neuroscience Meeting - show that the "wiring" in the brains of female rats expands and contracts in relation to the amount of estrogen present during the menstrual cycle.
The findings - presented at the 2005 Society for Neuroscience Meeting - show that the "wiring" in the brains of female rats expands and contracts in relation to the amount of estrogen present during the menstrual cycle.
Living in a HORROR Movie
Rats reported to be "the size of cats" are taking over an estate in Belfast, according to residents.
The Giant Rats have been seen jumping out of bins and even going into houses at the Inverary estate in the east of the city for over a month.
Residents said it was like "living in a horror movie".
Many residents believe the problem started when Translink dug up an old fence making the rats homeless.
Translink has set down traps and the council's pest control has put out poison.
Residents want the problem eradicated as soon as possible.
The Giant Rats have been seen jumping out of bins and even going into houses at the Inverary estate in the east of the city for over a month.
Residents said it was like "living in a horror movie".
Many residents believe the problem started when Translink dug up an old fence making the rats homeless.
Translink has set down traps and the council's pest control has put out poison.
Residents want the problem eradicated as soon as possible.
Blind People can 'SEE' with Sixth Sense.
THE uncanny ability of blind people to "sense" unseen objects has been demonstrated for the first time in sighted volunteers whose vision was blanked out by scientists.
The findings suggest "blindsight", which has been observed in blind people whose eyes function normally but who have suffered damage to the brain's visual centre, is a real and not imagined phenomenon.
In tests, the blind have been able to distinguish basic shapes of objects they cannot see, as well as their orientation and direction of motion. On other occasions a blind person has reported experiencing a "feeling" that an object is present, while not being able to see it.
The findings suggest "blindsight", which has been observed in blind people whose eyes function normally but who have suffered damage to the brain's visual centre, is a real and not imagined phenomenon.
In tests, the blind have been able to distinguish basic shapes of objects they cannot see, as well as their orientation and direction of motion. On other occasions a blind person has reported experiencing a "feeling" that an object is present, while not being able to see it.
Southern Louisiana is Sinking.
A Louisiana State University scientist says Southern Louisiana is sinking and restoring flooded marshes to protect the state's Gulf coast is futile.
LSU researcher Roy Dokka says Louisiana coastal areas are sinking 2 to 4 feet since 1950, with some sections, including New Orleans, sinking 2 inches a year, the Baton Rouge (La.) Advocate reported Monday.
Using GPS and other methods, Dokka's says he's found the Earth's crust beneath the Mississippi River delta is bending under the weight of the material the river has dumped into the Gulf of Mexico.
LSU researcher Roy Dokka says Louisiana coastal areas are sinking 2 to 4 feet since 1950, with some sections, including New Orleans, sinking 2 inches a year, the Baton Rouge (La.) Advocate reported Monday.
Using GPS and other methods, Dokka's says he's found the Earth's crust beneath the Mississippi River delta is bending under the weight of the material the river has dumped into the Gulf of Mexico.
Sunday, December 4
16 things that took me over 50 years to learn.
- Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
- If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved and never will achieve its full potential, that word would be "meetings."
- There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
- People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.
- You should not confuse your career with your life.
- Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
- Never lick a steak knife.
- The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.
- You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.
- You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
- There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age eleven.
- The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.
- A person who is nice to you but rude to a waiter is not a nice person.
(This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.) - Your friends love you anyway.
- Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.
- Men are like fine wine. They start out as grapes, and it's up to the women to stomp the crap out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.
by Dave Barry , Nationally Syndicated Columnist
Saturday, December 3
What your sneeze says about you ?
Sooner or later you're going to sneeze.And what with allergies, cold and flu season and furnaces blasting dust through your house like a leaf blower, we're betting on sooner. Ah, well. Or should we say "Achoo" ?
But before you reach for a tissue again, ask yourself how much you really know about the noble sneeze ? You might know, for instance, that when you do sneeze you spew 100,000 bacteria through the air at better than 100 mph. But did you know that you're also revealing aspects of your personality ?
See which one best matches your personality.
Wanna Taste Vodka in a tube ?
"Go Wodka Extreme" is marketed as the world's first drink in a tube. It's fruit flavored vodka, containing 10.5% alcohol by volume. They also have a more modest line of tubes with just 4% ABV.
Currently only available in Austria and Germany, the 190ml Extreme tubes come in three varieties: Cranberry, Lemon, and Energy.
Brains of men and women work differently.
University of Alberta researchers say that using magnetic resonance imaging they found a man's brain works differently than a woman's brain.
Study author Dr. Peter Silverstone, a psychiatrist, said the research team analyzed the MRIs of 23 men and 10 women and found that the sexes use different areas of the brain even when working on exactly the same task, The Washington Times reported Friday.
"The larger implications of this work is that we may increasingly find out that there are differences in the 'hard wiring' of male and female brains," said Silverstone.
Study author Dr. Peter Silverstone, a psychiatrist, said the research team analyzed the MRIs of 23 men and 10 women and found that the sexes use different areas of the brain even when working on exactly the same task, The Washington Times reported Friday.
"The larger implications of this work is that we may increasingly find out that there are differences in the 'hard wiring' of male and female brains," said Silverstone.
Friday, December 2
A Paint That Repairs Scratches On Its Own.
Nissan Motor said Friday it had created a paint that repairs scratches on its own, restoring a car's surface to normal within a week.
The Japanese automaker said the paint contains a newly developed resin that can stop scratches from marking the car's outer layer.
The Japanese automaker said the paint contains a newly developed resin that can stop scratches from marking the car's outer layer.
Marry me - I'm certified as a good husband.
When his girlfriend refused to marry him, a Romanian tried to lodge a complaint with consumer protection officials.
He asked to be "tested" and wanted a certificate to prove he is qualified to become a decent husband.
He asked to be "tested" and wanted a certificate to prove he is qualified to become a decent husband.
'Torture remains widespread' in China.
The use of torture is widespread in China and the country needs major structural reform to its legal system for the situation to improve, a top U.N. envoy said on Friday.
Manfred Nowak, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, said his team was under frequent surveillance during a two-week trip that included Tibet and the northwestern Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang -- the first visit granted his office in a decade.
There was also evidence authorities had intimidated victims and family members the U.N. team tried to interview, he said.
Manfred Nowak, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, said his team was under frequent surveillance during a two-week trip that included Tibet and the northwestern Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang -- the first visit granted his office in a decade.
There was also evidence authorities had intimidated victims and family members the U.N. team tried to interview, he said.
Invisible Diet
Researchers are working a high-tech way to trick people into desiring less fat without dangerous side effects.
In an effort to curb obesity, they would inject the body with manufactured nanoparticles designed to fool the brain.
"You could call it an invisible diet," said biologist Tim Gilbertson of Utah State University. "It's really simple. This technology will help people to feel satisfied with a small serving of food instead of a large helping."
In an effort to curb obesity, they would inject the body with manufactured nanoparticles designed to fool the brain.
"You could call it an invisible diet," said biologist Tim Gilbertson of Utah State University. "It's really simple. This technology will help people to feel satisfied with a small serving of food instead of a large helping."
Gmail Now Scans for Viruses
Google has added a virus scanning feature to its Gmail Web mail service, complementing the existing virus protection based on blocking certain types of file attachments, such as executables.
Google informed users of the new feature on a Web page where the company announces new Gmail features.
Now, Gmail will automatically scan all attachments users send and receive, according to a frequently asked questions section devoted specifically to this new functionality.
Gmail will attempt to clean or remove viruses from infected attachments so that users can access the attachment's information; otherwise, users will not be able to download the attachment. Gmail will also prevent users from sending messages with infected attachments.
Until now, Google has protected Gmail users by blocking messages that carry attachments commonly associated with virus attacks.
Google informed users of the new feature on a Web page where the company announces new Gmail features.
Now, Gmail will automatically scan all attachments users send and receive, according to a frequently asked questions section devoted specifically to this new functionality.
Gmail will attempt to clean or remove viruses from infected attachments so that users can access the attachment's information; otherwise, users will not be able to download the attachment. Gmail will also prevent users from sending messages with infected attachments.
Until now, Google has protected Gmail users by blocking messages that carry attachments commonly associated with virus attacks.
Tango : World's Tiniest Car.
Tango : An ultra-narrow, freeway-capable, stable, safe vehicle that fits anywhere a motorcycle fits.It was designed to be so much fun and so convenient that if you are going anywhere by yourself or with a friend, there should be no hesitation in deciding which car to take.
Thursday, December 1
Singing Iceberg.
Scientists monitoring Earth movements in Antarctica believe they have found a singing iceberg.
Sound waves from the iceberg had a frequency of around 0.5 hertz, too low to be heard by humans.
But by playing them at higher speed the iceberg sounds like a swarm of bees or an orchestra warming up, the scientists say.
Two-headed marine turtle found in Costa Rica
A deformed two-headed olive ridley sea turtle hatchling was found on a beach on Costa Rica’s northwest Pacific coast, leading experts to believe that contaminants, increased temperatures possibly resulting from climate change and other factors may be at play.
“This is something that no one here has seen in more than 50 years of working with sea turtles,” said Melvin and Olger Chavarría, owners of a local lodge who found the hatchling.
Despite being born with two heads, the turtle hatchling appears to be in good health. It has a full range of movement and is able to move in one direction in what looks like a well-coordinated effort of both front flippers to propel the body forward
“This is something that no one here has seen in more than 50 years of working with sea turtles,” said Melvin and Olger Chavarría, owners of a local lodge who found the hatchling.
Despite being born with two heads, the turtle hatchling appears to be in good health. It has a full range of movement and is able to move in one direction in what looks like a well-coordinated effort of both front flippers to propel the body forward
Upload, Store, Play and Share in a Few Clicks
Here's another stab: it's a personal Web site (www.glidedigital.com) to which you can upload your favorite photos, MP3 files, video clips and even Word, PowerPoint or PDF documents. (A separate companion program speeds the uploading process by letting you drag and drop big batches of files at once.) Once everything's posted on the Web site, you can do two things with it: manage it or share it.
America today feels like communist Russia
A professor of mathematics at the local college, who left the Soviet Union just before its dissolution, makes a most scathing indictment of the social and political atmosphere in present-day America. Old enough to remember Khrushchev, he says, "America today feels like communist Russia."
Candles lit for condemned man
Human rights activists are leaving candles at the front gate of Singapore's Changi Prison, as the execution of Australian man Van Nguyen draws nearer.
They say they hope his death will not be in vain.
The execution of the 25-year-old Melbourne man is scheduled to take place in the next hour.
He was sentenced to death after being convicted of trying to smuggle nearly 400 grams of heroin through Changi Airport.
It is not expected there will be any official announcement that the execution has taken place, just the understanding that by the time the sun comes up, he will have been hanged.
One of Nguyen's lawyers says Nguyen's mother, Kim, now appears to be accepting her son's fate
Julian MacMahon says the mood among the Australians in Singapore is mixed.
"Everyone is grief-stricken in some way," he said.
"But I think pretty much everyone has come to a point of acceptance of what is the reality and thank goodness Kim has come to that point.
"I spent a lot of time with her yesterday and she's better now than she has been for months."
They say they hope his death will not be in vain.
The execution of the 25-year-old Melbourne man is scheduled to take place in the next hour.
He was sentenced to death after being convicted of trying to smuggle nearly 400 grams of heroin through Changi Airport.
It is not expected there will be any official announcement that the execution has taken place, just the understanding that by the time the sun comes up, he will have been hanged.
One of Nguyen's lawyers says Nguyen's mother, Kim, now appears to be accepting her son's fate
Julian MacMahon says the mood among the Australians in Singapore is mixed.
"Everyone is grief-stricken in some way," he said.
"But I think pretty much everyone has come to a point of acceptance of what is the reality and thank goodness Kim has come to that point.
"I spent a lot of time with her yesterday and she's better now than she has been for months."
Giant Water Scorpion Walked on Land
Tracks found in Scotland look to be from an ancient water scorpion as big as a kitchen table. If the analysis is right, it is the first evidence of the creature coming ashore.
The scorpion, a six-legged thing called Hibbertopterus, was about 5 feet long and 3 feet wide. It is long since extinct.
Researchers already knew Hibbertopterus existed from fossils, but they've debated whether it ever came on land.
The tracks, found by Martin Whyte of the University of Sheffield, cover nearly 20 feet of ground. They reveal a lumbering, jerky motion, Whyte explains in the Dec. 1 issue of the journal Nature.
The scorpion, a six-legged thing called Hibbertopterus, was about 5 feet long and 3 feet wide. It is long since extinct.
Researchers already knew Hibbertopterus existed from fossils, but they've debated whether it ever came on land.
The tracks, found by Martin Whyte of the University of Sheffield, cover nearly 20 feet of ground. They reveal a lumbering, jerky motion, Whyte explains in the Dec. 1 issue of the journal Nature.
Ice Core Extends Climate Record Back 650,000 Years
Researchers have recovered a nearly two-mile-long cylinder of ice from eastern Antarctica that contains a record of atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane--two potent and ubiquitous greenhouse gases--spanning the last two glacial periods. Analysis of this core shows that current atmospheric concentrations of CO2--380 parts per million (ppm)--are 27 percent higher than the highest levels found in the last 650,000 years.
The ice core data also shows that CO2 and methane levels have been remarkably stable in Antarctica--varying between 300 ppm and 180 ppm--over that entire period and that shifts in levels of these gases took at least 800 years, compared to the roughly 100 years in which humans have increased atmospheric CO2 levels to their present high. "We have added another piece of information showing that the timescales on which humans have changed the composition of the atmosphere are extremely short compared to the natural time cycles of the climate system," says Thomas Stocker of the University of Bern in Switzerland, who led the research.
Read the FULL ARTICLE.
The ice core data also shows that CO2 and methane levels have been remarkably stable in Antarctica--varying between 300 ppm and 180 ppm--over that entire period and that shifts in levels of these gases took at least 800 years, compared to the roughly 100 years in which humans have increased atmospheric CO2 levels to their present high. "We have added another piece of information showing that the timescales on which humans have changed the composition of the atmosphere are extremely short compared to the natural time cycles of the climate system," says Thomas Stocker of the University of Bern in Switzerland, who led the research.
Read the FULL ARTICLE.
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