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re:evolution presented as though it has hands (anthropomorphising?) like it's a god of some variety or other http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21382577/ The finding, to be detailed in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Experimental Zoology, adds to growing evidence that digits in humans and other land creatures are the equivalent of fin bones in fish. It is yet another example of evolution tweaking what already works to generate novel traits. and since when does closely linked mean identical?: ~The development of fingers and toes in embryos of land animals is closely linked to a gene called Hoxd13. This gene orchestrates a series of developmental steps involving the sequential release of certain proteins that affects the outer part of the limb and the digits but not the arm bones. It was once thought that digit development was unique to tetrapods, creatures that have, or once had, fingers and toes. ~ ================================= Biology Genetics Homo Sapiens --------------- re:non foetal stem cells show promise in disease treatments http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22219601/ ~The idea of treating people with their own cells is attractive because their bodies would not be expected to reject the cells as foreign. So they would not have to take drugs to prevent rejection. The new study used stem cells taken from the muscle of Duchenne patients. These "adult" cells differ from embryonic stem cells, which are controversial because scientists must destroy embryos to harvest them.~ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22046542/ ~Their reports showed a way to get perfectly matched cells from patients that have at least some of the powers of embryonic stem cells, but without having to use cloning technology or embryos. The hope is to find a way for new medical treatments that can make use of the body's own regenerative powers.~ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21996417/ ~Researchers from Medistem, a biotechnology firm in Tempe, Ariz., reported the discovery of the new stem cells, dubbed endometrial regenerative cells, in this month’s Journal of Translational Medicine. Plans are already under way to investigate whether they can be medically useful.~ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20874872/ ~Stem cells that normally make sperm can be taught to make other tissues as well, perhaps offering men a medical repair kit, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday. They found a way to easily pick the cells out from other tissue in the testicles and to grow them into batches big enough to use medically.~ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21886974/ ~Two research groups have found different genetic recipes to give ordinary skin cells the power to turn into virtually any kind of human tissue, just as embryonic stem cells do.~ ------------------- re:gene white mutation http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121501728_pf.html ~Scientists Find A DNA Change That Accounts For White Skin By Rick Weiss Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, December 16, 2005; A01 Scientists said yesterday that they have discovered a tiny genetic mutation that largely explains the first appearance of white skin in humans tens of thousands of years ago, a finding that helps solve one of biology's most enduring mysteries and illuminates one of humanity's greatest sources of strife. The work suggests that the skin-whitening mutation occurred by chance in a single individual after the first human exodus from Africa, when all people were brown-skinned. That person's offspring apparently thrived as humans moved northward into what is now Europe, helping to give rise to the lightest of the world's races. Leaders of the study, at Penn State University, warned against interpreting the finding as a discovery of "the race gene." Race is a vaguely defined biological, social and political concept, they noted, and skin color is only part of what race is -- and is not. In fact, several scientists said, the new work shows just how small a biological difference is reflected by skin color. The newly found mutation involves a change of just one letter of DNA code out of the 3.1 billion letters in the human genome -- the complete instructions for making a human being. "It's a major finding in a very sensitive area," said Stephen Oppenheimer, an expert in anthropological genetics at Oxford University, who was not involved in the work. "Almost all the differences used to differentiate populations from around the world really are skin deep." The work raises a raft of new questions -- not least of which is why white skin caught on so thoroughly in northern climes once it arose. Some scientists suggest that lighter skin offered a strong survival advantage for people who migrated out of Africa by boosting their levels of bone-strengthening vitamin D; others have posited that its novelty and showiness simply made it more attractive to those seeking mates. The work also reveals for the first time that Asians owe their relatively light skin to different mutations. That means that light skin arose independently at least twice in human evolution, in each case affecting populations with the facial and other traits that today are commonly regarded as the hallmarks of Caucasian and Asian races. Several sociologists and others said they feared that such revelations might wrongly overshadow the prevailing finding of genetics over the past 10 years: that the number of DNA differences between races is tiny compared with the range of genetic diversity found within any single racial group. Even study leader Keith Cheng said he was at first uncomfortable talking about the new work, fearing that the finding of such a clear genetic difference between people of African and European ancestries might reawaken discredited assertions of other purported inborn differences between races -- the most long-standing and inflammatory of those being intelligence. "I think human beings are extremely insecure and look to visual cues of sameness to feel better, and people will do bad things to people who look different," Cheng said. The discovery, described in today's issue of the journal Science, was an unexpected outgrowth of studies Cheng and his colleagues were conducting on inch-long zebra fish, which are popular research tools for geneticists and developmental biologists. Having identified a gene that, when mutated, interferes with its ability to make its characteristic black stripes, the team scanned human DNA databases to see if a similar gene resides in people. To their surprise, they found virtually identical pigment-building genes in humans, chickens, dogs, cows and many others species, an indication of its biological value. They got a bigger surprise when they looked in a new database comparing the genomes of four of the world's major racial groups. That showed that whites with northern and western European ancestry have a mutated version of the gene. Skin color is a reflection of the amount and distribution of the pigment melanin, which in humans protects against damaging ultraviolet rays but in other species is also used for camouflage or other purposes. The mutation that deprives zebra fish of their stripes blocks the creation of a protein whose job is to move charged atoms across cell membranes, an obscure process that is crucial to the accumulation of melanin inside cells. Humans of European descent, Cheng's team found, bear a slightly different mutation that hobbles the same protein with similar effect. The defect does not affect melanin deposition in other parts of the body, including the hair and eyes, whose tints are under the control of other genes. A few genes have previously been associated with human pigment disorders -- most notably those that, when mutated, lead to albinism, an extreme form of pigment loss. But the newly found glitch is the first found to play a role in the formation of "normal" white skin. The Penn State team calculates that the gene, known as slc24a5, is responsible for about one-third of the pigment loss that made black skin white. A few other as-yet-unidentified mutated genes apparently account for the rest. Although precise dating is impossible, several scientists speculated on the basis of its spread and variation that the mutation arose between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago. That would be consistent with research showing that a wave of ancestral humans migrated northward and eastward out of Africa about 50,000 years ago. Unlike most mutations, this one quickly overwhelmed its ancestral version, at least in Europe, suggesting it had a real benefit. Many scientists suspect that benefit has to do with vitamin D, made in the body with the help of sunlight and critical to proper bone development. Sun intensity is great enough in equatorial regions that the vitamin can still be made in dark-skinned people despite the ultraviolet shielding effects of melanin. In the north, where sunlight is less intense and cold weather demands that more clothing be worn, melanin's ultraviolet shielding became a liability, the thinking goes. Today that solar requirement is largely irrelevant because many foods are supplemented with vitamin D. Some scientists said they suspect that white skin's rapid rise to genetic dominance may also be the product of "sexual selection," a phenomenon of evolutionary biology in which almost any new and showy trait in a healthy individual can become highly prized by those seeking mates, perhaps because it provides evidence of genetic innovativeness. Cheng and co-worker Victor A. Canfield said their discovery could have practical spinoffs. A gene so crucial to the buildup of melanin in the skin might be a good target for new drugs against melanoma, for example, a cancer of melanin cells in which slc24a5 works overtime. But they and others agreed that, for better or worse, the finding's most immediate impact may be an escalating debate about the meaning of race. Recent revelations that all people are more than 99.9 percent genetically identical has proved that race has almost no biological validity. Yet geneticists' claims that race is a phony construct have not rung true to many nonscientists -- and understandably so, said Vivian Ota Wang of the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda. "You may tell people that race isn't real and doesn't matter, but they can't catch a cab," Ota Wang said. "So unless we take that into account it makes us sound crazy." © 2005 The Washington Post Company~ ---------- re:old wives tale validated,low blood sugar and dioxins fingered for girl births in report that reduces mens genetic importance http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article3220934.ece ~Have a burger and chips before getting pregnant and you're more likely to have a baby boy – whereas a girl is more likely if you eat chocolate or ice cream. It may sound about as convincing as puppy-dogs' tails, but this is the latest cutting-edge science as reported in New Scientist. Researchers at the University of Pretoria in South Africa found that mice given drugs that reduced their blood-sugar levels produced more female than male pups. And the finding fits with traditional wisdom that mothers should feed on red meat and salty snacks if they want a boy and chocolates and sweets if they want a girl, according to lead researcher, Professor Elisa Cameron. The team used a steroid called dexamathasone that inhibits the transport of glucose into the blood to study the impact of raised or lowered blood sugar level. "It is very interesting that meat raises blood sugar levels for a sustained period of time while sugar-based snacks are associated with a slump in blood glucose," she explains. Cameron's study adds to the evidence that a baby's gender is not simply down to whether the father delivers an X or a Y chromosome. The environment of the womb, it is claimed, can be manipulated to favour either male or female sperm. Over the last half decade, animal research has come up with the same kind of results. Rats fed a low protein diet prior to conception in a Japanese study had more females in the litter, while American researchers reported that a diet rich in animal fat led to more male mice pups. For Professor Richard Sharpe, head of the Medical Research Council's Human Reproductive Sciences Unit at Edinburgh University, however, the findings are not necessarily good news. "There is a global trend that more girls are being born than boys and the number of girls are increasing," he says. "It's a fractional increase. But all the evidence suggests that the underlying trend is an increase in physiological stress in women that causes the low blood sugar levels that is being reported in the New Scientist." A major cause of this stress appears to be pollution, particularly from the chemical dioxin. One of the biggest leaks of the chemical, from a factory in the Italian town of Seveso in 1976, had a dramatic impact on the sex ratio of babies born in the area: in the seven years after the accident, births totalled 46 girls and only 28 boys. A similar impact was reported in October (2007) from airborne dioxins: a Canadian study published in the journal of the American Chemical Society found that the sex ratio of newborns was 54 females to 46 males in a 25-mile radius of sources of dioxin pollution – compared with the normal 51 boys born for every 48 girls. Such an effect makes sense from an evolutionary viewpoint, says Michel Odent, director of the Primal Health Research Centre (www.birthworks.org). " In a population facing an adverse situation where survival is paramount, it makes good evolutionary sense to increase the number of females and to eliminate the weakest males. In that way, the healthiest males survive." It also makes biological sense, says Professor Sharpe. Male Y chromosome sperm are more fragile than the X chromosome and the male of the species is more vulnerable both at the point of fertilisation and for the difficult first few weeks of life in the womb. "We know that the process of masculinisation is a cascade of events over a period of seven weeks and culminates in the switching on of a key gene on the Y chromosome at seven weeks," says Professor Sharpe. Until that time, he explains, both sexes have "indifferent" gonads and " the female gender is the blueprint". As well as pollution, the weight of the mother may also play a part, he says. "Women's weight is increasing at the same time as the ratio of female babies. Women with an above average BMI [body mass index] are more prone to gestational diabetes and have lower blood sugar levels and this seems to explain why they have a higher chance of having a girl baby. It could even explain why some researchers claim that single mothers are more likely to have girls, as they may be subject to more physiological stress," he says. Thousands of couples are yearning for a baby of a particular sex, but Professor Sharpe warns that "messing about" with diet is not a good preparation for conception. "There are a few simple steps that are worth taking to prevent harm to the baby – stopping smoking and drinking, eating a healthy diet, cutting out irritants including cosmetics. That's the responsible way to prepare for parenthood." How to choose: the theories * Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis The gold standard method is the only accurate method of gender selection and the one that is used when gender selection is carried out for medical reasons in the UK. * Sperm sorting Known as the Ericcson technique, it's based on the idea that Y chromosome sperm can be separated from X chromosome sperm because they swim faster. "In my view, companies that claim to be able to do this are charlatans," says Professor Richard Sharpe. * Timing Have sex three or more days before ovulation and you're more likely to have a girl, according to a routine first described by Dr Landrum B Shettles more than two decades ago. Sex closer to ovulation increases the chances of a boy as Y chromosome. Websites still encourage this – and a new edition of Shettles' book, How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby, was recently published – but there is no proof it works. * Acid or alkaline This popular theory promotes the view that X chromosome sperm is better able to survive in a harsher acidic environ-ment in the female reproductive tract while the Y-chromosome is comfortable in alkaline. Go online to buy pH (measure of acidity or alkalinity) testing kits as well as acid and alkaline douches. However, experts say there is little chance of this method working. ~ ------- re:out of africa,,then back to 'evolve' some more.like africa is the only place it could happen?And where all there was,,only there? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21761002/GT1/10547/ ~According to Begun's hypothesis, the early ancestors of African apes and humans initially left Africa for Europe in search of more seasonal fruits, but some 7 million years later their descendants returned. Back in Africa, the hominids continued their evolution, where they eventually gave rise to gorillas, chimpanzees and humans. "But the events that led to the divergence of Asian and African ape lineages happened in Europe at least 2 million years before the [N. nakayamai] came into existence," Begun said. ~ (anything to hold ideological superiority) ----------------------- ~Scientists: Teen Brain Still Maturing Published: 12/2/07, 7:46 PM EDT By MALCOLM RITTER NEW YORK (AP) - The teenage brain, Laurence Steinberg says, is like a car with a good accelerator but a weak brake. With powerful impulses under poor control, the likely result is a crash. And, perhaps, a crime. Steinberg, a Temple University psychology professor, helped draft an American Psychological Association brief for a 2005 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty for crimes committed before age 18. That ruling relies on the most recent research on the adolescent brain, which indicates the juvenile brain is still maturing in the teen years and reasoning and judgment are developing well into the early to mid 20s. It is often cited as state lawmakers consider scaling back punitive juvenile justice laws passed during the 1990s. "As any parent knows," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy for the 5-4 majority, youths are more likely to show "a lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility" than adults. "These qualities often result in impetuous and ill-considered actions and decisions." He also noted that "juveniles are more vulnerable or susceptible to negative influences and outside pressures, including peer pressure," causing them to have less control over their environment. Some child advocates have pointed to the Supreme Court decision and the research as evidence that teens - even those accused of serious crimes - should not be regarded in the same way as adults in the criminal justice system. Dr. David Fassler, a psychiatry professor at the University of Vermont College of Medicine who has testified before legislative committees on brain development, says the research doesn't absolve teens but offers some explanation for their behavior. "It doesn't mean adolescents can't make a rational decision or appreciate the difference between right and wrong," he said. "It does mean, particularly when confronted with stressful or emotional decisions, they are more likely to act impulsively, on instinct, without fully understanding or analyzing the consequences of their actions." Experts say that even at ages 16 and 17, when compared to adults, juveniles on average are more: _impulsive. _aggressive. _emotionally volatile. _likely to take risks. _reactive to stress. _vulnerable to peer pressure. _prone to focus on and overestimate short-term payoffs and underplay longer-term consequences of what they do. _likely to overlook alternative courses of action. Violence toward others also tends to peak in adolescent years, says psychiatrist Dr. Peter Ash of Emory University. It's mostly likely to start around age 16, and people who haven't committed a violent crime by age 19 only rarely start doing it later, he said. The good news here, he said, is that a violent adolescent doesn't necessarily become a violent adult. Some two-thirds to three-quarters of violent youth grow out of it, he said. "They get more self-controlled." Some of the changes found in behavioral studies are paralleled by changes in the brain itself as youths become adults. In fact, in just the past few years, Steinberg said, brain scans have given biological backing to commonsense notions about teen behavior, like their impulsiveness and vulnerability to peer pressure. It's one thing to say teens don't control their impulses as well as adults, but another to show that they can't, he said. As for peer pressure, the new brain research "gives credence to the idea that this isn't a choice that kids are making to give in to their friends, that biologically, they're more vulnerable to that," he said. Consider the lobes at the front of the brain. The nerve circuitry here ties together inputs from other parts of the brain, said Dr. Jay Giedd of the National Institute of Mental Health. This circuitry weighs how much priority to give incoming messages like "Do this now" versus "Wait! What about the consequences?" In short, the frontal lobes are key for making good decisions and controlling impulses. Brain scans show that the frontal lobes don't mature until age 25, and their connections to other parts of the brain continue to improve to at least that age, Giedd said. The inexplicable behavior and poor judgments teens are known for almost always happen when teens are feeling high emotion or intense peer pressure, conditions that overwhelm the still-maturing circuitry in the front part of brain, Giedd said. As Steinberg sees it, a teenager's brain has a well-developed accelerator but only a partly developed brake. By around 15 or 16, the parts of the brain that arouse a teen emotionally and make him pay attention to peer pressure and the rewards of action - the gas pedal - are probably all set. But the parts related to controlling impulses, long-term thinking, resistance to peer pressure and planning - the brake, mostly in the frontal lobes - are still developing. "It's not like we go from becoming all accelerator to all brake," Steinberg said. "It's that we go from being heavy-foot-on-the-accelerator to being better able to manage the whole car." Giedd emphasized that scientists can't yet scan an individual's brain and draw conclusions about how mature he is, or his degree of responsibility for his actions. Brain scans do show group differences between adult and teen brains, he said, "but whether or not that should matter (in the courtroom) is the part that needs to be decided more by the judicial system than the neuroscientist." Steinberg, who frequently testifies on juvenile justice policy and consults with state legislators on the topic, said it's not clear to him how much the research on teen brains affects lawmakers. They seem more swayed by pragmatic issues like the cost of treating teens as adults, he said. But he noted that he has been asked to testify more in the past few years than before. In any case, experts say, there's nothing particularly magic about the age 18 as a standard dividing line between juveniles and adults in the courtroom. Different mental capabilities mature at different rates, Steinberg notes. Teens as young as 15 or 16 can generally balance short-term rewards and possible costs as well as adults, but their ability to consider what might happen later on is still developing, he said. A dividing line of age 18 is better than 15 and not necessarily superior to 19 or 17, but it appears good enough to be justified scientifically, he said. Steinberg said he thinks courts should be able to punish some 16- or 17- year olds as adults. That would be reserved for repeat violent offenders who've resisted rehabilitation by the juvenile justice system, and who could endanger other youth in the juvenile system if they returned. "I don't think there are a lot of these kids," Steinberg said. For the rest, he thinks it makes sense to try rehabilitating young offenders in the juvenile justice system. That's better than sending them through the adult system, which can disrupt their development so severely that "they're never going be able to be a productive member of society," Steinberg said. "You're not doing society any favor at all." Ash said that to decide whom to treat as an adult, courts need some kind of guideline that combines the defendant's age with the crime he's accused of. That should leave room for individual assessments, he said. But "we don't have very good measuring sticks" for important traits like how impulsive a juvenile is, he said. In any case, the decision for each defendant should balance a number of reasons for punishment, like retribution, protecting society, deterring future crime, and rehabilitation, said Ash, who's a member of the American Psychiatric Association's Committee on Judicial Action. Even if a 14-year-old murderer is held morally responsible for the crime, he will have matured by the time he's 18, and in the meantime he may be more amenable to rehabilitation than an adult murderer is, Ash said. In fact, most experts conclude that rehabilitation works better for juveniles than for adult offenders, he said. And just as parents know how irrational juveniles can be, Ash said, they also know that rehabilitation is a key goal in punishing them. "What we really want," he said, "is to turn delinquent kids into good adults." ___ On the Net: American Psychiatric Association statement on youth sentencing: http://www.psych.org/edu/other_res/lib_archives/archives/200507.pdf Psychiatrists' brief in Supreme Court case: http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/juvjus/simmons/ama.pdf American Psychological Association brief: http://www.apa.org/psyclaw/roper-v-simmons.html ___ AP National Writer Sharon Cohen contributed to this story.~ ================================== Technology Robotics/Wireless Communications http://apnews.excite.com/article/20071121/D8T25N982.html ~New Hitachi Robot Rolls Around, Crashes Nov 21, 11:21 AM (ET) By YURI KAGEYAMA (AP) Hitachi Ltd. humanoid robot EMIEW 2 performs during a press preview at its research center in... HITACHINAKA, Japan (AP) - Hitachi's new toddler-like robot rolled around and waved for reporters Wednesday, only to crash into a desk and demonstrate the challenge of turning automatons into everyday helpers. The red and white robot, designed to run errands in offices, wasn't prepared for the jam of lunch-break wireless network traffic at the company's research center. Unable to communicate with its handler's laptop, it smashed into the office furniture as reporters gasped. Still, the 31.5-inch tall, 29-pound EMIEW 2 was able to show how it can scoot on two wheels, get on its knees to move on four wheels and even lift its foot about an inch to step over thresholds and bumps. One feature - wireless control - was at the heart of Wednesday's mishap. While showing off its ability to understand human speech, a spectator asked where someone was sitting. It responded in a boylike electronic voice: "I will take you there. Follow me." Seconds later, when it tried to maneuver between two desks, it smashed into one of them. A demonstrator reached out just in time to catch the robot by its winglike handles before it toppled over. Reporters had to wait for an hour until after the lunch break to watch the robot repeat the demonstration - this time smoothly making its way between the desks. Developers said the robot had performed fine on test runs but acknowledged kinks had to be worked out. Besides the collision, it also suddenly stood motionless at one point. "We are studying what hurdles need to be overcome to make robots practical," said Hitachi researcher Takashi Teramoto. "One characteristic we feel we need to ensure for robots is safety." (AP) Hitachi Ltd. Advance Research Laboratory staff Ryoko Ichinose holds humanoid robot EMIEW 2 during... Robots are now mostly used as industrial machinery and toys. Hitachi Ltd. (HIT)'s robot is the latest attempt by Japanese companies to develop one that can be an assistant in daily life. In 2005, Hitachi showed the robot's 51-inch-tall predecessor, the EMIEW (for "excellent mobility and interactive existence as workmate"). The improved EMIEW 2 demonstrated Wednesday has shed some pounds to be safer around people and easier to carry around. It can shift from moving on two wheels to a more stable position on four wheels. EMIEW 2 robot also features a gyrosensor to maintain its balance, lithium ion batteries for an hour worth of power before recharging and a laser radar to map out its surroundings in its computer brain, according to Hitachi. It can also dodge human-size obstacles in its way, the Tokyo-based company said. Hitachi declined to say when the robot will be ready for commercial use. It also refused to say how much the robot cost or how much it spent on its research. Japan is among the world's leaders in robotics, and the government is pushing major companies like Hitachi to develop robots for practical use. Honda Motor Co. (HMC) and Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) have also developed human-like robots that reporters have seen working as guides at the Japanese automakers' facilities. Other electronics makers such as NEC Corp. and Fujitsu have shown robots, but Sony Corp. (SNE) has discontinued the Aibo dog-shaped entertainment robot. ~ ------------------ ================================== HISTORY/ARCHEOLOGY Cave of Romulus found ~Sanctuary of Rome's 'Founder' Revealed Published: 11/20/07, 10:45 AM EDT By ARIEL DAVID ROME (AP) - Archaeologists on Tuesday unveiled an underground grotto believed to have been revered by ancient Romans as the place where a wolf nursed the city's legendary founder Romulus and his twin brother Remus. Decorated with seashells and colored marble, the vaulted sanctuary is buried 52 feet inside the Palatine hill, the palatial center of power in imperial Rome, the archaeologists said at a news conference. In the past two years, experts have been probing the space with endoscopes and laser scanners, fearing that the fragile grotto, already partially caved-in, would not survive a full-scale dig, said Giorgio Croci, an engineer who worked on the site. The archaeologists are convinced that they have found the place of worship where Romans believed a she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of the god of war Mars who were abandoned in a basket and left adrift on the Tiber. Thanks to the wolf, a symbol of Rome to this day, the twins survived, and Romulus founded the city, becoming its first king after killing Remus in a power struggle. Ancient texts say the grotto known as the "Lupercale"_ from "lupa," Latin for she-wolf - was near the palace of Augustus, Rome's first emperor, who was said to have restored it, and was decorated with a white eagle. That symbol of the Roman Empire was found atop the sanctuary's vault, which lies just below the ruins of the palace built by Augustus, said Irene Iacopi, the archaeologist in charge of the Palatine and the nearby Roman Forum. Augustus, who ruled from the late 1st century B.C. to his death in the year 14, was keen on being close to the places of Rome's mythical foundation and used the city's religious traditions to bolster his hold on power, Iacopi said. "The Lupercale must have had an important role in Augustus' policies," she said. "He saw himself as a new Romulus."~ ------------ re:throne in herculaneum,pompeii with images of transgender god ~Roman Throne Discovered in Italian Ruins Published: 12/4/07, 9:45 PM EDT By ARIEL DAVID ROME (AP) - Remnants of the first known surviving Roman throne have been discovered in the lava and ash that buried the city of Herculaneum in the first century, archaeologists said Tuesday. Decorated with ivory bas-reliefs depicting ancient deities, two legs and part of the back of the wooden throne were dug out between October and November. They were found 82 feet below ground near Herculaneum's Villa dei Papiri, a first century country home that is believed to have been the residence of Julius Caesar's father-in-law. Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae were destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that killed thousands in the year 79. The layers of volcanic ash preserved the sites for centuries, providing precious information on domestic life in the ancient world. Archaeologists said the throne was an exceptional find; furniture of its type had previously only been seen in artistic depiction. "It's the first original throne from Roman times that has survived until today," Pietro Giovanni Guzzo, Pompeii's archaeological superintendent, told a news conference in Rome. Villa dei Papiri, so called because it has yielded a library of hundreds of ancient papyruses, has only been partially excavated and it is not yet clear whether the throne belonged to the ancient residence, said Maria Paola Guidobaldi, the dig's director. The throne depicts Greek mythological figures absorbed by Rome's culture and is decorated with images of the gods Attis and Dionysus, as well as pine cones and phalluses. Experts said the reliefs recall the "Attideia" ceremonies, which commemorated the death and resurrection of Attis, husband and victim of the goddess Cibele, and were introduced to the Roman calendar by the Emperor Claudius. The fragile remains will now undergo a lengthy restoration, while archaeologists hope to discover many more precious artifacts as the dig in the Villa dei Papiri continues, Guidobaldi said. __ Associated Press reporter Alessandra Molinari in Rome contributed to this report. ~ ---------- re:source for 'noahs flood'? http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071118213213.htm ------------- 2,2 tailed crocs begat mammals and birds =============== HISTORY/PALEONTOLOGY ------------- re:antartic dinosaur found,,changes data interpretations http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22202402/ The Glacialisaurus discovery, along with that of a possible sauropod at roughly the same location in Antarctica, lends additional support to a theory that the earliest sauropods coexisted with their more primitive sauropodomorph cousins for an extended period, the researchers conclude. "They are important because they help to establish that primitive sauropodomorph dinosaurs were more broadly distributed than previously thought, and that they coexisted with their cousins, the true sauropods," Smith said. ----------- http://apnews.excite.com/article/20071121/D8T22M6O0.html ~Scientists Find Fossil of Enormous Bug Nov 21, 7:54 AM (ET) By THOMAS WAGNER LONDON (AP) - This was a bug you couldn't swat and definitely couldn't step on. British scientists have stumbled across a fossilized claw, part of an ancient sea scorpion, that is of such large proportion it would make the entire creature the biggest bug ever. How big? Bigger than you, and at 8 feet long as big as some Smart cars. The discovery in 390-million-year-old rocks suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were far larger in the past than previously thought, said Simon Braddy, a University of Bristol paleontologist and one of the study's three authors. "This is an amazing discovery," he said Tuesday. "We have known for some time that the fossil record yields monster millipedes, super-sized scorpions, colossal cockroaches, and jumbo dragonflies. But we never realized until now just how big some of these ancient creepy-crawlies were," he said. The research found a type of sea scorpion that was almost half a yard longer than previous estimates and the largest one ever to have evolved. The study, published online Tuesday in the Royal Society's journal Biology Letters, means that before this sea scorpion became extinct it was much longer than today's average man is tall. Prof. Jeorg W. Schneider, a paleontologist at Freiberg Mining Academy in southeastern Germany, said the study provides valuable new information about "the last of the giant scorpions." Schneider, who was not involved in the study, said these scorpions "were dominant for millions of years because they didn't have natural enemies. Eventually they were wiped out by large fish with jaws and teeth." Braddy's partner paleontologist Markus Poschmann found the claw fossil several years ago in a quarry near Prum, Germany, that probably had once been an ancient estuary or swamp. "I was loosening pieces of rock with a hammer and chisel when I suddenly realized there was a dark patch of organic matter on a freshly removed slab. After some cleaning I could identify this as a small part of a large claw," said Poschmann, another author of the study. "Although I did not know if it was more complete or not, I decided to try and get it out. The pieces had to be cleaned separately, dried, and then glued back together. It was then put into a white plaster jacket to stabilize it," he said. Eurypterids, or ancient sea scorpions, are believed to be the extinct aquatic ancestors of today's scorpions and possibly all arachnids, a class of joint-legged, invertebrate animals, including spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks. Braddy said the fossil was from a Jaekelopterus Rhenaniae, a kind of scorpion that lived only in Germany for about 10 million years, about 400 million years ago. He said some geologists believe that gigantic sea scorpions evolved due to higher levels of oxygen in the atmosphere in the past. Others suspect they evolved in an "arms race" alongside their likely prey, fish that had armor on their outer bodies. Braddy said the sea scorpions also were cannibals that fought and ate one other, so it helped to be as big as they could be. "The competition between this scorpion and its prey was probably like a nuclear standoff, an effort to have the biggest weapon," he said. "Hundreds of millions of years ago, these sea scorpions had the upper hand over vertebrates - backboned animals like ourselves." That competition ended long ago. But the next time you swat a fly, or squish a spider at home, Braddy said, try to "think about the insects that lived long ago. You wouldn't want to swat one of those." --- On the Net: http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk ~ ================== re:cyprus examines ancient hippos in search for origins of early inhabitants Dwarf Hippo Fossils Found on Cyprus Published: 12/5/07, 11:25 PM EDT By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS AYIA NAPA, Cyprus (AP) - An abattoir used by early Cypriots, a place where animals went to die, or a shelter that ultimately proved a death trap? Cypriot and Greek scientists are studying a collapsed cave filled with the fossilized remains of extinct dwarf hippopotamuses - descendants of hippos believed to have reached the island a quarter-million years ago. Paleontologists have unearthed an estimated 80 dwarf hippos in recent digs at the site just outside the resort of Ayia Napa on the island's southeastern coast. Hundreds more may lie beneath an exposed layer of jumbled fossils. Scientists hope the fossil haul, tentatively dated to 9,000-11,500 B.C., could offer clues to when humans first set foot on this Mediterranean island. "It's about our origins," said Ioannis Panayides, the Cyprus Geological Survey Department official in charge of the excavations in conjunction with the University of Athens. "Knowledge of our geological history makes us more knowledgeable about ourselves." Until the Ayia Napa discovery, the earliest trace of humans on Cyprus dated to 8,000 B.C. But signs of human activity at the new dig could turn back the clock on the first Cypriots by as much as 3,500 years. "That's very significant, but we can't be certain yet. The task of examining is laborious and time consuming," said University of Athens Professor George Theodorou, who is tasked with examining some 1.5 tons of fossils. The dwarf hippopotamuses were herbivores, like their modern cousins, but were only about 2 1/2 feet tall and 4 feet long. Unlike modern hippos, whose upturned nostrils seem designed for swimming, Cypriot hippos had low-slung nostrils better suited to foraging on land. Panayides said the fossils show the Cypriot hippos had legs and feet adapted to land, enabling them to stand on their hind legs to reach tree branches. Experts believe hippos arrived on Cyprus between 100,000 to 250,000 ago, and likely got smaller to adapt to the hilly island landscape. But scientists do not know how the animals reached Cyprus, which has never been physically linked to another land mass. Panayides said paleontologists theorize hippos may have swum or floated here during a Pleistocene ice age from land that is now Turkey or Syria. They may have clung to tree trunks and other debris during the crossing. Lower sea levels at the time made Cyprus much larger than its present 3,570 square miles, meaning it was much closer to other lands. By some estimates, what is now Syria was a mere 18 miles away. Digs over the last century uncovered smaller numbers of dwarf hippo fossils at 40 locations across Cyprus. One cave found 20 years ago had evidence of fire, stone tools and scorched bones indicating dwarf hippos were hunted by humans. Carbon dating on those hippo fossils showed the site dated to 8,000 B.C. Evidence of human activity at Ayia Napa means the island may have been settled by humans as much as 3,500 years earlier. A human footprint at the Ayia Napa site could bolster the theory that the island's earliest inhabitants could have driven the dwarf hippos to extinction through hunting, said Panayides. "If these new bones are found to be older than bones previously discovered and scientists can find an association with humans, then the discovery has the potential to tell us more about the island's first human inhabitants," said Eleanor Weston, a paleontologist at London's Natural History Museum who was not connected with the Ayia Napa discovery. Panayides said indications that hippo bones at Ayia Napa had been crushed as if trampled by other hippos, suggesting successive generations came to the cave. Shelter is the most likely explanation, but Panayides didn't rule out the possibility the hippos returned to an ancient burial ground to die.~ (okay,,how does a location in which to die become instinctual?) =================== re:venus http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071128-venus-earth.html ~Venus Craft Reveals Lightning, Supports Watery Past James Owen for National Geographic News November 28, 2007 Despite its currently hellish environment, Venus started out much like our own planet and still shows some surprisingly Earthlike traits, scientists announced today. The discoveries mark the first findings from Venus Express, a European Space Agency (ESA) craft launched in November 2005 to investigate our "sister" planet. Observations from the first year of the mission suggest that Venus experiences lightning storms, hurricane-force atmospheric winds, and massive cloud vortexes over both its polar regions. The mission also found evidence as to why Venus turned out more like Earth's "evil twin" despite being similar in size, mass, chemical makeup, and distance from the sun. "Earth is a water planet, and Venus is its near-twin, so what happened to all the water [on Venus]?" asked team member David Grinspoon of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in Colorado. "Fortunately, we now have some clues." Case of the Missing Water Venus is the second planet from the sun and is only a few hundred miles smaller in diameter than the third planet, Earth. But Venus's thick, rapidly spinning clouds create a scorching atmosphere with an average temperature of 864°F (462°C) and a surface pressure roughly 90 times that of Earth's. Like present-day Earth, Venus could once have been covered in oceans, although the only water there now exists as vapor or as traces dissolved in vast clouds of sulfuric acid. (Read "Early Venus Had Oceans, May Have Been Habitable" [October 11, 2007].) Scientists suspect Venus's oceans may have "boiled off" due to a runaway greenhouse effect that saw carbon dioxide levels rise until the gas made up 96.5 percent of the planet's atmosphere.~ ~The latest findings, reported in this week's issue of the journal Nature, support this theory. An instrument on the ESA spacecraft known as a plasma analyzer showed that the main ions escaping Venus's atmosphere are oxygen, helium, and hydrogen.~ ~Hydrogen and oxygen ions were shown to be escaping in the same proportions as they are found in water, H2O—providing a likely mechanism for how water has been leaving Venus. "If you break up an H2O molecule, the hydrogen and oxygen escape at a proportional rate, so that seems to be where the water's going," Grinspoon said today at a press conference at ESA headquarters in Paris, France. Further evidence for Venus's vanished water comes from high levels of atmospheric heavy hydrogen, or deuterium, the study team said. "As hydrogen escapes, it leaves behind the heavier deuterium, so the amount of deuterium residue is an important clue to the amount of water that's been lost," Grinspoon said. Estimates based on Venus's levels of deuterium suggest that the planet has lost anywhere from 13 feet (4 meters) of surface water up to "an Earth's ocean's worth," the scientist added. Analysis of newly gathered data on the amounts of deuterium found at different levels of Venus's atmosphere should lead to much better estimates of exactly how much water has disappeared into space, Grinspoon said. Lightning Strikes The Venus Express team also found unexpected evidence for a warm layer of air 56 to 75 miles (90 to 120 kilometers) above the night side of the planet. Previously the upper atmosphere of Venus's night side was thought to be so cold that it was named the cryosphere. Violent winds were also detected in the planet's upper atmosphere. At 43 miles (70 kilometers) above Venus's surface, wind speeds reached 225 miles (360 kilometers) an hour. In addition, the mission team found that Venus, like Earth, has huge areas of circulating air over both its polar regions. But Venus's mass of swirling polar clouds forms a double vortex with temperatures much higher than the surrounding area. The warm air may be evidence of a planetary circulation system, with hot air flowing to the poles from equatorial regions. The ESA spacecraft also provided the first solid evidence for lightning on Venus, according to the study team. "It's quite possible there's as much lightning on Venus as on Earth," team member Grinspoon said. This finding is highly surprising, according to planetary scientist Andrew Ingersoll with the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. "There shouldn't be any [lightning] on Venus, whose clouds are like [Earth's] smog clouds, which do not produce lightning," Ingersoll wrote in a commentary also appearing in Nature. "Perhaps we have simply not thought of all the ways electricity can be generated in a planetary atmosphere," he added. Venus Express mission scientist Fred Taylor from the University of Oxford, England, said that while Venus's climate is very different from Earth's, there are many common processes at work. "On Venus, these have worked to virtually eliminate water from the planet while maintaining high levels of carbon dioxide, while Earth has retained much of its water and lost most of its atmospheric carbon dioxide," he said. "In the light of the new data, it is possible to construct a scenario in which the climates on Venus and Earth were very similar when they started out, and then evolved to the state we see now, like twins separated at birth," Taylor said. "Billions of years ago there is even the possibility that Venus would have been habitable." ~ =================== http://www.crypticthinking.com/alien_cosmology_sun_disk.html =================== re:panpsychism ~Mind of a Rock By JIM HOLT Published: November 18, 2007 Most of us have no doubt that our fellow humans are conscious. We are also pretty sure that many animals have consciousness. Some, like the great ape species, even seem to possess self-consciousness, like us. Others, like dogs and cats and pigs, may lack a sense of self, but they certainly appear to experience inner states of pain and pleasure. About smaller creatures, like mosquitoes, we are not so sure; certainly we have few compunctions about killing them. As for plants, they obviously do not have minds, except in fairy tales. Nor do nonliving things like tables and rocks. The Mental Atoms “If evolution is to work smoothly, consciousness in some shape must have been present at the very origin of things. Accordingly we find that the more clear-sighted evolutionary philosophers are beginning to posit it there. Each atom of the nebula, they suppose, must have had an aboriginal atom of consciousness linked with it; ... the mental atoms ... have fused into those larger consciousnesses which we know in ourselves and suppose to exist in our fellow-animals.” William James, “The Principles of Psychology,” 189 All that is common sense. But common sense has not always proved to be such a good guide in understanding the world. And the part of our world that is most recalcitrant to our understanding at the moment is consciousness itself. How could the electrochemical processes in the lump of gray matter that is our brain give rise to — or, even more mysteriously, be — the dazzling technicolor play of consciousness, with its transports of joy, its stabs of anguish and its stretches of mild contentment alternating with boredom? This has been called “the most important problem in the biological sciences” and even “the last frontier of science.” It engrosses the intellectual energies of a worldwide community of brain scientists, psychologists, philosophers, physicists, computer scientists and even, from time to time, the Dalai Lama. So vexing has the problem of consciousness proved that some of these thinkers have been driven to a hypothesis that sounds desperate, if not downright crazy. Perhaps, they say, mind is not limited to the brains of some animals. Perhaps it is ubiquitous, present in every bit of matter, all the way up to galaxies, all the way down to electrons and neutrinos, not excluding medium-size things like a glass of water or a potted plant. Moreover, it did not suddenly arise when some physical particles on a certain planet chanced to come into the right configuration; rather, there has been consciousness in the cosmos from the very beginning of time. The doctrine that the stuff of the world is fundamentally mind-stuff goes by the name of panpsychism. A few decades ago, the American philosopher Thomas Nagel showed that it is an inescapable consequence of some quite reasonable premises. First, our brains consist of material particles. Second, these particles, in certain arrangements, produce subjective thoughts and feelings. Third, physical properties alone cannot account for subjectivity. (How could the ineffable experience of tasting a strawberry ever arise from the equations of physics?) Now, Nagel reasoned, the properties of a complex system like the brain don’t just pop into existence from nowhere; they must derive from the properties of that system’s ultimate constituents. Those ultimate constituents must therefore have subjective features themselves — features that, in the right combinations, add up to our inner thoughts and feelings. But the electrons, protons and neutrons making up our brains are no different from those making up the rest of the world. So the entire universe must consist of little bits of consciousness. Nagel himself stopped short of embracing panpsychism, but today it is enjoying something of a vogue. The Australian philosopher David Chalmers and the Oxford physicist Roger Penrose have spoken on its behalf. In the recent book “Consciousness and Its Place in Nature,” the British philosopher Galen Strawson defends panpsychism against numerous critics. How, the skeptics wonder, could bits of mind-dust, with their presumably simple mental states, combine to form the kinds of complicated experiences we humans have? After all, when you put a bunch of people in the same room, their individual minds do not form a single collective mind. (Or do they?) Then there is the inconvenient fact that you can’t scientifically test the claim that, say, the moon is having mental experiences. (But the same applies to people — how could you prove that your fellow office workers aren’t unconscious robots, like Commander Data on “Star Trek”?) Finally, there is the sheer loopiness of the idea that something like a photon could have proto-emotions, proto-beliefs and proto-desires. What could the content of a photon’s desire possibly be? “Perhaps it wishes it were a quark,” one anti-panpsychist cracked. Panpsychism may be easier to parody than to refute. But even if it proves a cul-de-sac in the quest to understand consciousness, it might still help rouse us from a certain parochiality in our cosmic outlook. We are biological beings. We exist because of self-replicating chemicals. We detect and act on information from our environment so that the self-replication will continue. As a byproduct, we have developed brains that, we fondly believe, are the most intricate things in the universe. We look down our noses at brute matter. Take that rock over there. It doesn’t seem to be doing much of anything, at least to our gross perception. But at the microlevel it consists of an unimaginable number of atoms connected by springy chemical bonds, all jiggling around at a rate that even our fastest supercomputer might envy. And they are not jiggling at random. The rock’s innards “see” the entire universe by means of the gravitational and electromagnetic signals it is continuously receiving. Such a system can be viewed as an all-purpose information processor, one whose inner dynamics mirror any sequence of mental states that our brains might run through. And where there is information, says panpsychism, there is consciousness. In David Chalmers’s slogan, “Experience is information from the inside; physics is information from the outside.” But the rock doesn’t exert itself as a result of all this “thinking.” Why should it? Its existence, unlike ours, doesn’t depend on the struggle to survive and self-replicate. It is indifferent to the prospect of being pulverized. If you are poetically inclined, you might think of the rock as a purely contemplative being. And you might draw the moral that the universe is, and always has been, saturated with mind, even though we snobbish Darwinian-replicating latecomers are too blinkered to notice. Jim Holt, a contributing writer, is working on a book about the puzzle of existence.~ ==================== health/environment/pollution Dioxin Spot in Mich. Could Be Worst Ever Published: 11/25/07, 9:05 PM EDT SAGINAW, Mich. (AP) - A find of dioxin at the bottom of the Saginaw River could be the highest level of such contamination ever discovered in the nation's rivers and lakes, according to a federal scientist involved in cleanup efforts downstream from a Dow Chemical Co. plant. A crew testing the Saginaw and Tittabawassee rivers discovered the sample, which measured 1.6 million parts of dioxin per trillion of water, The Saginaw News and The Detroit News reported last week. That level is about 20 times higher than any other find recorded in the EPA archives. "There may be more surprises out there," said Milton Clark, a health and science expert for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "I'd be surprised if there's not more surprises out there." State guidelines require corrective action on contamination above 1,000 parts per trillion. Dioxins are toxic byproducts of the manufacture of chlorine-based products, and some have been linked to cancer and other health problems. Michigan health officials were worried enough about last week's announcement that they extended a fish consumption advisory already in effect for the Tittabawassee River - a Saginaw River tributary that winds through Dow's plant in Midland - to include the entire Saginaw River and a portion of Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay, where both rivers' water ends up. Dow is removing three dioxin concentrations along a six-mile stretch of the Tittabawassee. The company plans to remove the latest find, Dow spokesman John C. Musser said. "We don't believe there's any imminent or significant human health or environmental threat," Musser said. The Michigan Department of Community Health advisory warns against eating carp, catfish and white bass - fish that feed near the riverbed where contaminants are buried. It also alerts women of childbearing age and children against eating certain types of other fish. =================== science / marine / biology / reef restoration / ecology / environment / (+ alinsky gambit) ~Electricity Revives Bali Coral Reefs Published: 12/5/07, 7:05 PM EDT By JOSEPH COLEMAN PEMUTERAN BAY, Indonesia (AP) - Just a few years ago, the lush coral reefs off Bali island were dying out, bleached by rising temperatures, blasted by dynamite fishing and poisoned by cyanide. Now they are coming back, thanks to an unlikely remedy: electricity. The coral is thriving on dozens of metal structures submerged in the bay and fed by cables that send low-voltage electricity, which conservationists say is reviving it and spurring greater growth. As thousands of delegates, experts and activists debate climate at a conference that opened this week on Bali, the coral restoration project illustrates the creative ways scientists are trying to fight the ill-effects of global warming. The project - dubbed Bio-Rock - is the brainchild of scientist Thomas Goreau and the late architect Wolf Hilbertz. The two have set up similar structures in some 20 countries, but the Bali experiment is the most extensive. Goreau said the Pemuteran reefs off Bali's northwestern shore were under serious assault by 1998, victims of rising temperatures and aggressive fishing methods by impoverished islanders, such as stunning fish with cyanide poison and scooping them up with nets. "Under these conditions, traditional (revival) methods fail," explained Goreau, who is in Bali presenting his research at the U.N.-led conference. "Our method is the only one that speeds coral growth." Some say the effort is severely limited. Rod Salm, coral reef specialist with the Nature Conservancy, said while the method may be useful in bringing small areas of damaged coral back to life, it has very limited application in vast areas that need protection. "The extent of bleaching ... is just too big," Salm said. "The scale is enormous and the cost is prohibitive." Others note the Bali project is mostly dependent on traditionally generated electricity, a method that itself contributes to global warming. Goreau himself concedes it has yet to attract significant financial backing. Nonetheless, scientists agree that coral reefs are an especially valuable - and sensitive - global environmental asset. They provide shorelines with protection from tides and waves, and host a stunning diversity of plant and sea life.. Goreau's method for reviving coral is decidedly low-tech, if somewhat unorthodox. It has long been known that coral that breaks off the reef can be salvaged and restored if it can somehow be reattached. What Goreau's Bali project has done is to construct metal frames, often in the shape of domes or greenhouses, and submerge them in the bay. When hooked up to a low-voltage energy source on the shore, limestone - a building block of reefs - naturally gathers on the metal. Workers then salvage coral that has broken from damaged reefs and affix it to the structure. Goreau and his supporters say the electricity spurs the weakened coral to revival and greater growth. "When they get the juice, they are not as stressed," said Rani Morrow-Wuigk, an Australian-German woman who rents bungalows on the beach and has supported efforts to save the reefs for years. And indeed, the coral on the structures appear vibrant, and supporters say they have rebounded with impressive vigor. The coral in Pemuteran teems with clownfish, damselfish and other colorful tropical animals. Funding, however, is a major problem. There are some 40 metal structures growing coral in Pemuteran Bay and about 100 cables laid to feed them with electricity, but only about a third of the wires are working because of maintenance problems and the cost of running them, said Morrow-Wuigk. The electrification program is part of a wider effort in the bay to save the coral. Chris Brown, an Australian diving instructor who has lived in Bali for 17 years, said he and other people determined to save the reefs have had a long struggle driving away fishermen who use dynamite and other coral-destroying methods to maintain their livelihoods. He said a key has been demonstrating to shoreline communities the benefits of coral reef maintenance, such as growing fish stocks and jobs catering to tourists who come to dive in the area. Brown has participated in Goreau's projects, and won funding from the Australian government to set up a Bio-Rock structure electrified by solar panels fixed on a floating off-shore platform. Brown has also used seed-money from Canberra to establish the Reef Gardeners of Pemuteran, which trains islanders to dive, maintain the solar-paneled coral structure and clean the reefs of harmful animals. Kadek Darma, 25, a Balinese who has worked with Brown for two years, said the advantages of the corals to the local economy were obvious. "They attract the tourists, and more tourists means more jobs," he said. "I hope we can all keep maintaining the reefs for our great-great grandchildren."~ ==================== |
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