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 !!!
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 !!!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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