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tagged w/ Evolution
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Melting glaciers liberate ancient bacteria
The world's ice sheets serve as cold-storage for creatures the Earth hasn't seen in eons. Scientists don't expect another Contagion or Andromeda Strain, but the release of unknown life forms does pose new concerns about effects of global warming.
By Cheryl Katz
The Daily Climate
BOZEMAN, Mont. – Locked in frozen vaults on Antarctica and Greenland, a lost world of ancient creatures awaits another chance at life. Like a time-capsule from the distant past, the polar ice sheets offer a glimpse of tiny organisms that may have been trapped there longer than modern humans have walked the planet, biding their time until conditions change and set them free again.
It's a way of recycling genomes. You put something on the surface of the ice and a million years later it comes back out.
- John Priscu, Montana State University
With that ice melting at an alarming rate, those conditions could soon be at hand. Masses of bacteria and other microbes – some of which the world hasn't seen since the Middle Pleistocene, a previous period of major climate change about 750,000 years ago – will make their way back into the environment.
Once thought to be too harsh and inhospitable to support any living thing, the ice sheets are now known to be a gigantic reservoir of microbial life. Altogether, the biomass of microbial cells in and beneath the ice sheet may amount to more than 1,000 times that of all the humans on Earth.
Internment in the ice amounts to an evolutionary strategy for microorganisms: preserving genetic blueprints by storing them in deep–freeze for a future re-entry, said John Priscu, a Montana State University professor and pioneer in the study of Antarctic microbiology.
"It's a way of recycling genomes," he said. "You put something on the surface of the ice and a million years later it comes back out."
'Storehouse for genes'
Priscu has spent the past 28 Austral summers on the southernmost continent, studying what he calls "the bugs in the ice sheet." Antarctica has the oldest ice on Earth; parts of its glacial landscape date back about a million years, and some pockets are believed to be up to 8 million years old. "There's a lot of history in that ice sheet," said Priscu.
Much of that history appears to still be alive. Priscu has found living bacteria in cores of 420,000-year-old ice and gotten them to grow in his laboratory. Other researchers report bringing far older bacteria back to life.
We don't really understand how an organism can sit around for 750,000 years in some sort of suspended animation like when Han Solo was put in carbonite.
- Brent Christner,
Louisiana State University
The ice allows microbes to enjoy a sort of immortality, preserving ancient genetic material and allowing creatures that have long disappeared from the planet to someday return. "That's what's interesting about the ice – it can serve as a storehouse for those genes," said Jonathan Klassen, an evolutionary biologist and postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "Things that went extinct have the possibility of coming back."
Could this be Jurassic Park on Ice? Not likely, scientists say. The only things able to survive in these cold, dark, crushed quarters with little to eat or drink are microscopic organisms, and most of what has been found appears related to microbes from other cold and icy environments.
Still, with heat-trapping greenhouse gases warming the polar regions much faster than the rest of the planet today, investigators have many questions about the bugs in the ice sheet.
Researchers are trying to determine how these organisms can survive such a brutal habitat, some seeming to sit in what resembles a state of suspended animation for millennia. The findings could point the way for the discovery of life in other extreme climates, such as frozen planets and moons.
Methane emissions
The more immediate concerns sit here on Earth. Cells and carbon dumped out of melting glaciers could turn into huge piles of decomposing organic matter – compost – that generate carbon dioxide and methane as they decay, a potentially significant source of greenhouse gas emissions that climate researchers have yet to consider.
In addition to the effects on the atmosphere, masses of microorganisms flushed into the sea will certainly challenge marine systems and could upset the oceans' delicate chemistry. [See sidebar: Loss of 'world's largest wetland' could tip ocean balance]
And scientists see evidence that the microbes are evolving inside the ice sheets, exchanging DNA and gaining new traits. While these cold-loving organisms appear to pose little threat to warm-blooded creatures, they could force out existing microbial populations, with unknown consequences. [See sidebar: Warming climate sets evolution within ice to high]
The frozen "bacteriasicles," as Louisiana State University microbiologist Brent Christner describes them, can emerge from the ice after hundreds of thousands of years poised to grow and divide when favorable conditions arise. Christner, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, has revived bacteria encased in 750,000-year-old ice.
More at the linkThe world's ice sheets serve as cold-storage for creatures the Earth hasn't... more-
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88 Million (That’s 1 in 3 Americans) Are Invisible to Government Employment Statistics
With recovery in full swing and unemployment dropping to an Obama administration near record low of 8.2%, the US economy seems to be bouncing back stronger than ever.
Unless, of course, you look at the numbers no one in mainstream media, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, or the administration is talking about. As many of our readers already know, the official unemployment rates released monthly by the BLS (U-3, U-6) fail to account for one very key figure – those individuals who are no longer in the labor force.
The number of those folks – the ones that don’t matter anymore because counting them would hinder the President’s reelection bid – is absolutely staggering for what is supposed to be the engine of the global economy and the world’s only super power:
Were it not for people dropping out of the labor force, the unemployment rate would be well over 11%.
Over the past several years people have dropped out of the labor force at an astounding, almost unbelievable rate, holding the unemployment rate artificially low. Some of this was due to major revisions last month on account of the 2010 census finally factored in. However, most of it is simply economic weakness.
…
In the last year, the civilian population rose by 3,604,000. Yet the labor force only rose by 1,315,000. Those not in the labor force rose by 2,289,000.
The Civilian Labor Force fell by 164,000.
Those “Not in Labor Force” increased by 310,000. If you are not in the labor force, you are not counted as unemployed.
Those “Not in Labor Force” is at a new record high of 87,897,000.
Source: Townhall Finance
With some 248 million people over the age of of 15, nearly one in three Americans in this country are not working.
While the participation rate includes people like those in retirement and stay-at-home moms (because they definitely haven’t worked a day in their lives, as was recently noted by democrat strategist Hilary Rosen) who have no intention of joining the traditional labor force, the last four years have seen an unprecedented drop in the rate of labor force participation as well as unemployment overall. Charlie McGrath of Wide Awake News explains:
The government… pretending everything is getting better because we spent trillions of dollars bailing out firms we now call too-big-to-fail. But the fact of the matter is, in order to get this kind of 8.3% fictitious fantasy number they had to lower the participation rate.
In the last four years we’ve lost 10 million people out of the participation rate. Just to give you an idea of how many people that is, it would take the city of Dallas, Salt Lake, San Diego, Spokane, Roanoke and Cincinnati… the people living in those city limits. If you double that number that gives you the number of people that have left the participation rate that are no longer in the working pool.
Yet, that isn’t stopping the mainstream media from reporting that things are getting better. We’ve spent this nation into absolute financial servitude.
…
Understand that when you turn on the mainstream media you are being fed propaganda.
The Obama administration is pulling out all the stops.
If the real story came out – that the true unemployment rate in this country (those out of work plus those who the government deems as no longer participating) is almost triple that of the official BLS U-3 rate of 8.2% – confidence in the financial markets and the government’s ability to mitigate the crisis would be lost almost immediately. So, too, would Obama’s hope for another four years of fundamentally changing America.
But just because the President and his media conglomerates are preaching of recovery doesn’t mean that everyone believes it. A large portion of Americans, especially those millions of people without jobs, are not going to be swayed by the mainstream propaganda.
They are living in a modern day depression right here and now, and they, too, will be headed to the polls in November. And, as Jim Clifton, CEO of Gallup, recently pointed out to RT, they don’t care about anything else except for their personal economic and financial circumstances:
RT: What are the dynamics in terms of opinion polls as far as the economy goes, among the American people, the way it was four years ago and the way it is now?
JC: We were going just fine in 2007, first part of 2008, then we crashed down. Now it’s coming back a little bit.
RT: Enough to win President Obama the next election?
JC: I don’t think quite yet… According to the Gallup poll, if we vote tonight, Romney will beat him… They are not voting for Romney – they just vote against the president.
RT: What are the main reasons not to vote for the president?
JC: Strictly unemployment. Just one reason. Foreign policy plays no role at all right now. If something really big happens… that will only make a little bit of a difference. Americans don’t want to hear about foreign policy. They should, but they don’t. Gallup shows real unemployment is close to 20 per cent in America. Not 8.5 but 20 per cent. 30 million people are out of work. 60 per cent of them told Gallup they have no hope of getting a job. That is 18 million.
RT: Do Americans blame the president for that?
JC: There are two questions here. Do I think they should? No. Do they? Yes.
President Obama most certainly inherited this crisis from his predecessor(s), but he’s taken no steps to change anything for the better.
The hope many had that life would improve under policies designed to redistribute wealth to the masses by taking from those with the ability and giving to those with the need is rapidly diminishing.
The trillions of dollars backed by human collateral that has been thrown at the crisis has done nothing to fix the underlying issues that caused it in the first place. All of the problems we faced in 2007/2008 are still here, and they are only going to get worse.
If you think 88 million not participating and 20%+ unemployment is bad, give it another four years.
Right now the safety nets are in place to help most of those who can’t find work – at least for 99 weeks until they are no longer counted as unemployed. But those safety nets, including medical care and food assistance, can only take so much before they snap.
That moment is rapidly approaching.
http://www.freedominfonetwork.org/profiles/blogs/88-million-that-s-one-in-three-americans-are-invisible-to-governmWith recovery in full swing and unemployment dropping to an Obama administration near... more -
A Brief Explanation of Humankind
Historian Herber Farquar, DMV, explains how humanity has been genetically programmed to self-destruct via use of the internal combustion engine.Historian Herber Farquar, DMV, explains how humanity has been genetically programmed... more-
- Progresshiv
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Were early humans cooking their food a million years ago?
The discovery of million-year-old ash and charred bone in a South African cave suggests that human ancestors were using fire much earlier than previously thought.
By Eoin O'Carroll, Staff / April 3, 2012
Early humans harnessed fire as early as a million years ago, much earlier than previously thought, suggests evidence unearthed in a cave in South Africa.
Charred bones and ash discovered in South Africa's Wonderwerk Cave indicate the presence of frequent, controlled fires at the site one million years ago, writes an international team of scientists in a study published Monday in the Procedings of the National Academy of Sciences. If these findings are correct, they will overtake the earliest widely accepted evidence of early human use of fire, which was discovered in northern China and dates to 400,000 years ago.
Those fires, as well as the fires in Wonderwerk Cave, were probably burned by Homo erectus, a species thought to be a human ancestor or a relative of one. The cave itself is one of the oldest known sites of human habitation, with signs of early human settlement dating back two million years.
Unambiguous evidence for controlled fires is notoriously hard to come by. Outdoor sites are dubious, as they could have been natural blazes sparked by lightning. Even sites inside caves can be suspect, as ash and other burnt materials can be blown or washed in from elsewhere. The scientists working at Wonderwerk Cave examined the ash, which was found some 100 feet from the cave's entrance, under a microscope. The pieces of ash still had jagged edges, which would have likely been smoothed out had they been carried by wind or water from outside the cave.
According to Nature, the scientists even searched the site for bat feces, "because large piles of rotting guano can become hot enough to ignite spontaneously." But fortunately for the researchers, that layer of sediment was bat-excrement free.
As for the charred bones, the Los Angeles Times's Amina Khan notes that it's difficult to determine if a million-year-old bone appears charred because it was heated or because it has fossilized. So the researchers examined the bone fragments under a microscope.
Bones are filled with a mineral called hydroxylapatite, which gives them their strength. It forms in tiny plate-like crystals that slowly fuse together as an old bone is fossilized. When a bone is heated to high temperatures, however, the crystals change shape, growing into large needles rather than small plates.
The researchers found that the bone fragments indeed contained the large-needled crystals rather than the more conventional plate-like patterns. Based on their analysis, the bones had to have been heated to more than 750 degrees Fahrenheit.
The results caught [Boston University archaeologist and lead researcher Francesco] Berna by surprise. "I needed some time to convince myself — and then I needed some time to convince my colleagues," he said.
If it's hard to identify signs of a controlled fire, it's even trickier to determine if humans used it for cooking. After all, the bones could have simply been tossed into the fire after being stripped of raw meat.
And although the depth of the sediment suggests that fires burned on the same spot over and over again, the researchers found no signs of a stone hearth – a sure sign of deliberate fire – anywhere near the spot.
All of this points to the important distinction between using fire and mastering it. Nature quotes Wil Roebroeks, an archaeologist at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
“I think it likely that humans were using fire at this site, but I don’t think that this means these hominins were regular fire users. For a claim like that to be made, we would need to see hearths and fire places, and we do not,” he says. “If we were to discover many more fire sites at this time in history and find that natural cave fires look distinctly different, that would support an early-cooking hypothesis, but we are not there yet."The discovery of million-year-old ash and charred bone in a South African cave... more-
- coolplanet
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What on Earth! Hot news on our planet’s formation
As of today, the world might have changed forever.
A fundamental assumption underpinning much of modern geochemistry is that the earth has the same composition as a class of meteorites called chondrites. These are small fragments of rock-like, primeval material that have survived from the birth of the sun with few subsequent changes.
So ingrained is this chondritic assumption in geochemical thinking that, as recently as three years ago, to write a paper questioning the chondritic theory would have been regarded as an act of scientific heresy. It’s unlikely any reputable scientific journal would have published it.
Every professor and every textbook has been telling students for more than 40 years that the composition of Earth is chondritic. Consequently, all geochemists assume the chondritic hypothesis forms an unshakable foundation upon which we can build future advances in geochemistry.
But today, with a paper published in Nature, we’re challenging this fundamental assumption, arguing Earth’s composition isn’t chondritic.
While our paper could be a turning point, geochemists have been questioning aspects of the “chondritic” hypothesis for three or four years now.
We know that the argon content of the atmosphere is only about half that predicted by the chondritic hypothesis. This insight has led to the suggestion that the earth’s mantle – the rocky part between the iron-nickel core at the centre of the earth and the surface – is divided into two layers, and only the outer layer has lost argon.
Our study shows this can’t be the case, but more on that in a moment.
Our challenge to the chondritic paradigm comes from studies of neodymium isotopes in volcanic rocks and meteorites. Our studies show that the ratio of samarium to neodymium (both “rare-earth” metals) in Earth’s volcanic rocks is higher than it is in chondritic meteorites.
This means rare-earth elements abundant in the upper part of the earth, as seen in volcanoes, are not chondritic. The simplest explanation for this observation? The composition of the Earth is not chondritic.
But there are other theories being proposed as an explanation of the neodymium paradox. One is that there must be a complementary hidden reservoir of material near the core-mantle boundary with a low samarium-to-neodymium ratio. This would balance out the high samarium-to-neodymium ratio of upper Earth, thereby maintaining the chondritic hypothesis.
Many geochemists have found this hidden reservoir a convenient place to hide excesses or deficiencies of other elements that do not conform to the chondritic Earth hypothesis.
But the “hidden reservoir” hypothesis has a flaw. It requires about 40% of the mantle’s heat-producing elements – uranium, thorium and potassium – to be concentrated near the core-mantle boundary. The problem with the hypothesis is while you can hide elements that don’t fit your theory, you can’t hide the heat they produce.
The only mechanism by which the heat produced by the putative hidden layer of low-samarium-to-neodymium-ratio material can be removed is through mantle plumes. These are columns of hot rock that rise from the core-mantle boundary, almost 3,000km below the surface, and give rise to volcanoes such as those in Hawaii.
The hidden reservoir hypothesis therefore requires 40% of the mantle’s heat-loss to come from mantle plumes. This is inconsistent with the observation that plumes carry less than 20% of the mantle’s heat loss. Consequently the hidden layer hypothesis cannot be correct.
So what’s the alternative? Well, in conjunction with Professor Herbert Palme, my co-author Professor Hugh O'Neill developed an alternative hypothesis for the composition of the earth.
The prevailing theory holds Earth was formed by collisions of planetary bodies of ever-increasing size. Our suggestion is that by the time the planetary bodies reached moderate size (a few hundred kilometres across), they developed an outer shell rich in heat-producing elements and with a samarium-to-neodymium ratio below the chondritic value.
We suggest that during the final stages of formation of the earth, the outer shell was lost by a process called collisional erosion.
This erosion produced an Earth that is depleted in heat-producing elements compared with the value predicted by the chondritic hypothesis and with a higher samarium-to-neodymium ratio.
Our new theory explains why the samarium-to-neodymium ratio of Earth is above the chondritic value and why the atmosphere has less argon.
(The collisional erosion hypothesis predicts the earth will have less potassium, and argon comes from the decay of potassium.)
Many of the paradoxes that have puzzled geochemists for the last 40 years are predicated on the assumption that the composition of Earth’s mantle is chondritic. If we abandon the chondritic hypothesis many of the problems that have been puzzling geochemists for years disappear.
If our theory is correct and Earth isn’t chondritic, then this necessitates a dramatic rethink of the way we understand the formation of Earth.
We might even have spent the past 40 years developing ingenious solutions to problems that didn’t even exist – problems that stemmed from the chondritic hypothesis.
By Ian Campbell | 29 March 2012, 2.42pm AESTAs of today, the world might have changed forever. A fundamental assumption... more-
- coolplanet
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Santorum: Americans Must Challenge Science — With Biblical Dogma
DO YOU Really want a doctor that is an Evangelical Christian and doesn't believe in science? I surely don't.
Santorum takes two of the most scientifically-settled concepts known to man: evolution and climate change, and says that just because ninety-something percent of the world agrees that both concepts are true and correct, there’s no reason to accept them as fact because here in America, we have our bibles and our faith.
Of course, when it comes to science, well, why should we use science? Why trust scientists? We should look to God and religious leaders — not to scientists and those trained, often for decades, in scientific exploration and the pursuit of knowledge and truth, right, Senator?
This reminds me of bible-thumping Senator James Inhofe, who last week told Rachel Maddow he was angered that his grandchildren are being taught in public schools “nonsense” climate change information provided by the EPA. Inhofe stated that people should trust elected officials — not lifetime civil servants — when it comes to important matters like knowledge and science.
Of course we should trust lawmakers who have to pander to millions of Americans — often uneducated or undereducated – to get elected and re-elected, as opposed to, say, scientists at the EPA whose jobs are dependent upon how well they do at their jobs — just like you and me.
http://tinyurl.com/7bu6rm3DO YOU Really want a doctor that is an Evangelical Christian and doesn't believe... more-
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Tennessee Science Bill Allowing Discussion Of Creationism In Schools Passes State Senate
The Tennessee state Senate passed a bill Monday that protects teachers who allow student to question and criticize "controversial" scientific theories like evolution.
The Senate voted 24-8 for SB 893, which would allow teachers to help students "understand, analyze, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories" like "biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming and human cloning."
"The idea behind this bill is that students should be encouraged to challenge current scientific thought and theory," Republican state Sen. Bo Watson told The Tennesseean. Watson is the bill's sponsor.
The proposal also instructs teachers on how to comfortably and appropriately "address students' concerns about certain scientific theories" within a curriculum established by the Board of Education. The bill would not affect the state's science curriculum.
Democratic opponents of the bill, however, question whether the motives behind the measure are more political than educational. Democratic Sen. Andy Berke said the bill would cast Tennessee in a negative light, referencing the state's historical battleground for evolution in education.
"We're simply dredging up the problems of our past with this bill that will affect our future," Berke told The Tennessean. "I'm a person of faith. If my children ask, 'How does that mesh with my faith?' I don't want their teacher answering that question."
The measure has also drawn staunch opposition from several groups, including the National Center for Science Education and the American Civil Liberties Union. In a statement to legislators, eight Tennesseans who are members of the National Academy of Science said the bill will likely lead to "scientifically unwarranted criticisms of evolution," the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports.
"By undermining the teaching of evolution in Tennessee's public schools, HB368 and SB893 would miseducate students, harm the state's national reputation, and weaken its efforts to compete in a science-driven global economy," the statement reads.
A version of the legislation passed the state House last April, and now the revised Senate version returns to the House for a vote. Gov. Bill Haslam said Monday he would discuss the bill with the state Board of Education.
"It is a fair question what the general assembly's role is," he said. "That's why we have a state board of education."
The move among Tennessee lawmakers is one of several across the country that seeks more wiggle room for discussion or of intelligent design in public schools. Indiana legislators in January moved forward on a bill that would allow school districts to decide whether to include creationism alongside teachings of evolution in science curriculum.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/indiana-senate-creationism-teaching-bill_n_1234185.html?ir=Education
Oklahoma, New Hampshire and Missouri have also considered similar bills designed to encourage critical examination of evolution theory.
Research from two Pennsylvania State University professors revealed last year that the majority of public school biology teachers in the U.S. shy away from teaching evolution because they're either unwilling or unprepared to teach it: some advocate creationism while others are afraid to address the topic for fear of controversy.
According to results of the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federal test known as the Nation's Report Card, less than half of U.S. fourth-, eighth- and 12-th grade students were considered proficient in science.The Tennessee state Senate passed a bill Monday that protects teachers who allow... more-
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What Darwin Never Knew
Earth teems with a staggering variety of animals, including 9,000 kinds of birds, 28,000 types of fish and more than 350,000 species of beetles. What explains this explosion of living creatures, 1.4 million different species discovered so far, with perhaps another 50 million to go? The source of life's endless forms was a mystery until Charles Darwin's revolutionary idea of natural selection, which he showed could help explain the gradual development of life on Earth. But Darwin's radical insights raised as many questions as they answered. What actually drives evolution and turns one species into another? And how did we evolve?
On the 150th anniversary of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species," NOVA reveals answers to the riddles that Darwin couldn't explain. Breakthroughs in a brand new science nicknamed "evo devo" are linking the enigma of origins to another of nature's great mysteries, the development of an embryo. NOVA takes viewers on a journey from the Galapagos Islands to the Arctic and from the Cambrian explosion of animal forms half a billion years ago to the research labs of today. Here scientists are finally beginning to crack nature's biggest secrets at the genetic level. And, as "NOVA" shows, the results are confirming the brilliance of Darwin's insights while exposing clues to life's breathtaking diversity.Earth teems with a staggering variety of animals, including 9,000 kinds of birds,... more-
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Evolution Under a Temperamental Sun
Philadelphia Inquirer...
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Monday, March 19, 2012
Evolution Under a Temperamental Sun
By Faye Flam
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
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You didn’t need to be a solar physicist to be riveted by the “solar storm” that sent a blast of charged particles our way this month. That particular flare-up fizzled, but in the long term, the sun’s temper is worthy of our attention.
Our sun changes, and living things adapt or die.
Our planet circled a very different star when life first emerged on Earth some four billion years ago. The sun was dimmer and cooler, but more violent, sending deadly blasts of X-rays as well as particles that would have lit up the skies with spectacular auroras.
The displays would have been visible worldwide, but probably had no spectators, since life needed to stay deep underwater or buried inside minerals to survive until the sun calmed down.
For most of human history no one realized that the sun was fickle, breaking out in spots, flares, and eruptions, and would eventually kill all life on our planet.
“It was a huge part of Western culture that the heavens were forever and unchanging,” said University of Michigan astronomer Fred Adams, who has written books on the beginning of the universe and the end.
Galileo was the first to see spots on the sun, which did not ingratiate him with the church. Even Einstein was influenced by the cultural bias toward unchanging heavens, Adams said, altering his theory of general relativity to work in a static universe. Soon after he published his theory, Edwin Hubble showed the universe was in fact expanding.
It wasn’t until the mid-20th century that people realized the sun was running on nuclear fusion, and that when its fuel started to run low, the sun would die a violent death, blowing up into an enormous red giant.
For those concerned that the Mayans have forecast the end of the world this year, the astronomers’ threat of more solar storms may seem even more ominous.
It’s true we’re moving into a stormy season that should last into 2013, but this happens every 11 years, said Douglas Duncan, an astronomer at the University of Colorado and director of the Fiske Planetarium. Astronomers still don’t know why solar storms come in cycles or why it takes 11 years, he said. Duncan has catalogued similar cycles on other stars, and learned that sunspots and solar storms come in cycles all over the galaxy.
The cycles vary in length depending on a star’s age — the cycles lengthening as stars get older.
During the peaks, or solar maxima, the spots on the sun increase, and the sun bursts with flares and storms. The sun always sends us a solar wind of protons and electrons, but during a solar storm, these shoot out in gusts. When the particles reach Earth, they light up molecules in our atmosphere as if it were a giant fluorescent bulb.
The effects on Earth are more dramatic if the gusts are released on a direct path to Earth, as scientists thought happened earlier this month. That would be unlikely to affect human health directly, but it could have disabled satellites, particularly ones that channel GPS signals.
When Duncan was comparing sunspot cycles on different stars, he said he got a call from Carl Sagan wanting to know how solar activity might influence the course of life on Earth. That, Duncan said, would take an expert on our planet’s early history.
We humans couldn’t have tolerated the ultraviolet radiation and X-rays that pummeled our planet during life’s early history. About three billion to four billion years ago, the UV intensity was between 8 and 20 times what we have now, said geochemist Stephen Mojzsis of the Université Claude Bernard in Lyon, France. So for several billion years, life survived protected by water. As the sun cooled down and oxygen began to rise with the advent of blue-green algae, he said, life expanded to fill up the land as soon as it became habitable.
The sun was also cooler and was red rather than yellow, and we may carry an evolutionary fossil of that time in our eyes, he said. On the early Earth, microbes that were just starting to use photosynthesis began manufacturing a pigment called rhodopsin, which is good for absorbing red light. As the sun became yellow, the ability to make rhodopsin persisted, though different organisms used it for other purposes.
We use it in our retinas for night vision.
The sun was also 30 percent dimmer in the distant past, said Mojzsis. If it dimmed that much now, the Earth would freeze solid, but on the early Earth, different configurations of land masses and a different atmospheric chemistry kept the oceans liquid under such a cool sun.
The sun is getting hotter because it’s fusing hydrogen into the heavier element helium. That’s causing the sun to get denser and the nuclear fusion that powers it to become more efficient.
Scientists estimate that in 500 million to 1.5 billion years, the sun will be hot enough to wipe out all life on Earth. Moving to Mars would only postpone the apocalypse.
Our neighbor, Alpha Centauri, shines in a brighter, more bluish light because it’s older and hotter than our sun. If it had any habitable planets, they are now burnt to a crisp, said Mojzsis.
In an additional five billion years, the sun will start to run out of fuel, and before it dies, it will expel its outer layers, becoming a red giant. Astronomers used to assume that the sun would swallow our planet, said Duncan, but more recent calculations show it will expand to just about the size of Earth’s orbit. Either way, it will broil us.
As for those pessimists who worry about the Mayan predictions, Duncan said he’s looked into the matter and the ancient civilization didn’t really predict the world would end this year. Mayans did create an advanced calendar that was so good they extended it many centuries into the future. It just happened to end with 2012.
.Philadelphia Inquirer... . Monday, March 19, 2012 Evolution Under a... more-
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First Gorilla Genome Map Offers Clues to Human Evolution
CNN...
First gorilla genome map offers clues to human evolution
By Matthew Knight, CNN
updated 12:17 PM EST, Thu March 8, 2012 | Filed under: Innovations
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Scientists have completed the DNA map of an African western lowland gorilla
Research hopes to shed light on human evolution and biology
Western lowland gorilla population estimated to be 100-200,000 individuals in the wild
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(CNN) -- The first complete gorilla genome has been mapped by scientists giving fresh insights into our own origins.
Gorilla are the last of the genus of living great apes (humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans) to have their DNA decoded, offering new perspectives on their evolution and biology.
"The gorilla genome is important because it sheds light on the time when our ancestors diverged from our closest evolutionary cousins around six to 10 million years ago," says Aylwyn Scally, postdoctoral fellow at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge and lead author of the report.
"It also lets us explore the similarities and differences between our genes and those of gorilla, the largest living primate," he added.
A team of researchers examined more than 11,000 genes in humans, chimpanzees and gorillas, looking for evolutionary clues.
Initial findings have revealed that 15% of the gorilla genome is closer to human DNA than to our nearest evolutionary relative, the chimpanzee.
Researchers found that genes relating to sensory perception, hearing and brain development showed "accelerated evolution" in all three, but particularly in humans and gorillas.
Having the entire length of the gorilla genome now means scientists can start to compare all the four great apes at every position on the genome, Scally says.
It forms the baseline, he says, from which to move forwards and really explore why and when our genes and those of the great apes diverged.
"Did it happen quite quickly or was it something that gradually happened? At the moment we don't know," he said.
"It could have been some climatic change that separated humans in the east of Africa from chimpanzees in the forest -- that's an idea some have floated. If we can see some imprint of it in the genome that would very, very useful information."
Scientists used the DNA of a female western lowland gorilla (called Kamilah) who resides at San Diego Zoo.
In the wild, it is the most widespread species of gorilla, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), with a estimated population of 100-200,000 individuals.
The majority are found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, west Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Angola.
It's cousin, the eastern lowland gorilla is less prevalent (fewer than 20,000 individuals) and can only be found in the rainforests of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, says WWF.
The research is published in the science journal Nature.
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PHOTO (ABOVE):
The complete DNA of a female western lowland gorilla called Kamilah (left) has been mapped by scientists, completing the set of genomes for all great apes (humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans).
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.CNN... First gorilla genome map offers clues to human evolution By Matthew... more-
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The evolution of drones and the way they've changed how war works - from 1917.
We think of drones as a modern invention, but they've been part of warfare for longer than you think. Here's a look at the evolution of drones and the way they've changed how war works. --------------------------------------- photo-video essay http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/your-details/43052-the-evolution-of-drones-and-the-way-theyve-changed-how-war-works-from-1917We think of drones as a modern invention, but they've been part of warfare for... more-
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Want to Understand Republicans? First Understand Evolution
by Chris Mooney
Earlier this week, yesterday's Republican primary champ Rick Santorum called global warming a "hoax." Yes, a hoax. In other words, apparently scientists are in a global cabal to needlessly alarm us about what's happening with the climate -- and why would they do such a thing?
Well, presumably to help advance an economy-choking agenda of global governance -- or perhaps, to line their own pockets with government research grants. Seriously.
Santorum's absurd global warming conspiracy theory is the kind of thing that absolutely outrages liberals -- but to my mind, they really ought to be getting used to it by now. From global warming denial to claims about "death panels" to baseless fears about inflation, it often seems there are so many factually wrong claims on the political right that those who make them live in a different reality.
So here's an idea: Maybe they actually do. And maybe we can look to science itself -- albeit, ironically, a body of science whose fundamental premise (the theory of evolution) most Republicans deny -- to help understand why it is that they view the world so differently.
Continued at link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-mooney/want-to-understand-republ_b_1262542.htmlby Chris Mooney Earlier this week, yesterday's Republican primary champ Rick... more-
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Honoring Darwin Day
Co-authored by U.S. Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) and American Humanist Association Executive Director Roy Speckhardt.
On Feb. 12 we'll commemorate the anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, a celebration around the world known as Darwin Day, to appreciate the advancement of human knowledge and the achievements of science and reason. It must also be a day when we push back against the politicization and undermining of science by ideologues and zealots.
We owe a debt of gratitude to Charles Darwin, who changed the course of human history by bringing science and reason to the fore. His theory of evolution by natural selection not only provided a compelling explanation for the diversity of life on earth, it became the foundation of modern biology, genetics, and medicine. His scientific curiosity and discovery led to breakthroughs that have helped humanity solve innumerable problems and improve our quality of life.
To read the rest of this Huffington Post article, click here: http://hmn.st/yxU8iLCo-authored by U.S. Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) and American Humanist Association Executive... more-
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Public Schools: A Battleground for the Religious Right
If you have a child currently enrolled in public school be warned: a heavy dose of religion may accompany his or her studies.
According to Kimberly Winston of Religion News Service, a number of state legislators are now pushing some legislation that would introduce studying the Bible as a choice in their state's public schools, and other legislation that would teach creationism as valid.
Bible courses, offered as elective "literature" classes, are being considered by lawmakers in Arizona and have already been approved in South Dakota, South Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Since these classes are not mandatory and are supposed to be taught with religious neutrality, there has not been a great deal of public opposition to them. Some school districts within the states where they are allowed still choose to not offer them at all.
To read the rest of this article by AHA Executive Director Roy Speckhardt, click here: http://hmn.st/xXKSCIIf you have a child currently enrolled in public school be warned: a heavy dose of... more-
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Beware Of The Republican Knuckle-Draggers
http://www.thethinkingblue.com/knuckledraggers.html
Those who wish to take us back to the beginnings of our evolutionary past.
February is Black History Month, a time when we Americans celebrate the great successes and accomplishments (against all odds) of African Americans. It’s a pity that we had to single out one month for this event; there shouldn’t have been a necessity for it. Other heritages in America have not been so ignored because they have been treated as one group who made this land a better place. But of course our dismal history of slavery and bigotry has made Americans, for too long, discount the triumphs of those who didn’t fit the profile of a “True American” which of course can only be some WHITE GUY. We sure have a past to be ashamed of but as long as there are efforts made to correct our ugly antiquity, we can hold our heads high and feel pride at our excellence.
But unfortunately, there are those who keep trying to take us back to a time full of hatred and intolerance. They wish not to feel prideful for those they deem beneath them. It is truly sad that no matter how far we’ve advanced along our evolutionary path, the knuckle-draggers are waiting in the wings to annul enlightenment and drag us back to ignorance. These are the people; I like to shed light upon because they are a plague waiting to happen. We need diligence, an alertness of mind to recognize and stop their contamination before it can ruin what so many have tried to build using much blood, sweat and tears.
My little town puts out a neighborhood biweekly newspaper that tries to inform and report the many happenings around the community. We would be looking at a garbage dump at the entrance of our town http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NGFbxgDtvk
if it were not for the professional staff of this paper who investigated and exposed those who tried to sneak this abomination under our unsuspecting noses. I would actually say that I love this little paper but there is something that stops me. They have employed a syndicated columnist who writes a weekly article on his chosen subject of hate. In other words he pushes intolerance and animosity. Oh did I mention he also is of African descent, what a sad commentary for Black America month. Please read his misinformed and Sarah Palin babble of an article below and remember, we the ones who THINK must expose these agitators whenever or wherever we notice them; they are in the words of the late great Bill Hicks, A VIRUS WITH SHOES. thinkingblue
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Obama's racial politics
http://www.wnd.com/2012/01/obamas-racial-politics/
Walter E. Williams hammers BHO for liberal use of skin-color agitation
There’s been a heap of criticism placed upon President Barack Obama’s domestic policies that have promoted government intrusion and prolonged our fiscal crisis and his foreign policies that have emboldened our enemies. Any criticism of Obama pales in comparison with what might be said about the American people who voted him in to the nation’s highest office.
Obama’s presidency represents the first time in our history that a person could have been elected to that office who had long-standing close associations with people who hate our nation. I’m speaking of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s pastor for 20 years, who preached that blacks should sing not “God Bless America,” but “God damn America.” Then there’s William Ayers, now professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago but formerly a member of the Weather Underground, an anti-U.S. group that bombed the Pentagon, U.S. Capitol and other government buildings. Although Ayers was never convicted of any crime, he told a New York Times reporter, in the wake of the September 2001 terrorist attack, “I don’t regret setting bombs. … I feel we didn’t do enough.” Obama has served on a foundation board and appeared on panels with Ayers, and even held campaign events in his home, joined by Ayers’ former-fugitive wife, Bernardine Dohrn. Bill Ayers’ close association with Obama is reflected by his admission that he helped write Obama’s memoirs, “Dreams from My Father.”
{{{FACT CHECK}}} In a Web ad and in repeated attacks from the stump, McCain describes the two as associates, and Palin claims they "pal around" together. But so far as is known, their relationship was never very close.
The GOP says in an Internet ad that the two "ran a radical ‘education’ foundation" in Chicago. But the supposedly "radical" group was supported by a Republican governor and included on its board prominent local civic leaders, including one former Nixon administration official who has given $1,500 to McCain’s campaign this year. Education Week says the group’s work "reflected mainstream thinking" among school reformers. The group was the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, started by a $49 million grant from the Annenberg Foundation, which was established by the publisher Walter Annenberg, a prominent Republican whose widow, Leonore, is a contributor to the McCain campaign.
{{{FACT CHECK}}} President Barack Obama on some of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's comments– “Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue.
Because these particular statements by Rev. Wright are so contrary to my own life and beliefs, a number of people have legitimately raised questions about the nature of my relationship with Rev. Wright and my membership in the church. Let me therefore provide some context.
As I have written about in my books, I first joined Trinity United Church of Christ nearly twenty years ago. I knew Rev. Wright as someone who served this nation with honor as a United States Marine, as a respected biblical scholar, and as someone who taught or lectured at seminaries across the country, from Union Theological Seminary to the University of Chicago. He also led a diverse congregation that was and still is a pillar of the South Side and the entire city of Chicago. It's a congregation that does not merely preach social justice but acts it out each day, through ministries ranging from housing the homeless to reaching out to those with HIV/AIDS. –“
MORE HERE http://thinkingblue.blogspot.com/2012/02/beware-of-republican-knuckle-draggers.html
AND NOW IN HONOR OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH
http://www.youtube.com/v/BXcZ9p41Fk0
HD Jammin' the Blues is a 1944 short film in which several prominent jazz musicians got together for a rare filmed jam session. It features Lester Young, Red Callender, Harry Edison, Marlowe Morris, Sid Catlett, Barney Kessel, Joe Jones, John Simmons, Illinois Jacquet, Marie Bryant, Archie Savage and Garland Finney. For some, this is their only known appearance in a theatrical film. Barney Kessel is the only white performer in the film. He was seated in the shadows to shade his skin, and for closeups, his hands were stained with berry juice. Lindy Hop legends Archie Savage and Marie Bryant do the Lindy Hop (Jitterbug) on this footage. Directed by Gjon Mili and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
~~~http://www.thethinkingblue.com/knuckledraggers.html Those who wish to take us back to... more-
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Radical Theory Explains the Origin, Evolution, and Nature of Life, Challenges Conventional Wisdom
Earth is alive, asserts a revolutionary scientific theory of life emerging from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.The trans-disciplinary theory demonstrates that purportedly inanimate, non-living objects -- for example, planets, water, proteins, and DNA -- are animate, that is, alive.
link:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120126115127.htmEarth is alive, asserts a revolutionary scientific theory of life emerging from Case... more-
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Evolution Is the Greatest Show On Earth - And This Video Is Pretty Cool, Too
Gizmodo...
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By Jesus Diaz
Jan 22, 2012 12:30 PM
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Evolution Is the Greatest Show On Earth—And This Video Is Pretty Cool Too
If you liked Carl Sagan's autotuned music videos celebrating the wonders of the cosmos, you will like this one celebrating the wonders of evolution too, featuring David Attenborough, Richard Dawkins and Bill Nye.
It's the latest part of the Symphony of Science, created by musician John D. Boswell.
.Gizmodo... . By Jesus Diaz Jan 22, 2012 12:30 PM . Evolution Is... more-
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Children of Africa | The Story of Us
A musical celebration of humanity, its origins, and achievements, contrasted with a somber look at our environmentally destructive tendencies and deep similarities with other primates.
Children of Africa | The Story of Us
[Jacob Bronowski]
Man is a singular creature;
He has a set of gifts which make him unique among the animals
So that unlike them, he is not a figure in the landscape
He is the shaper of the landscape
[Alice Roberts]
We are all children of Africa
They say this is where it all began
[Bronowski]
In a parched African landscape
Man first put his foot to the ground
[Roberts]
Africa was our only home
for tens of thousands of years
until a small handful of people made their way
out of Africa
[Carolyn Porco]
These beings with soaring imagination
Eventually flung themselves and their machines
Into interplanetary space
[Roberts]
We are all children of africa
This landscape has been home to humans
Two hundred thousand years
[Porco]
We have come so far
All of this is cause for great celebration
We have come so far
This is a story about us
[Roberts]
Those early Europeans
Were people like you and me
But it is humbling
When you see the challenges they faced
People like you and me
Overcame the Neaderthals
People like you and me
Made it through the ice age
[Refrain]
[Jane Goodall]
We are not the only beings
With personalities, minds, and feelings
Chimpanzees have very clear personalities
[Robert Sapolsky]
Take a chimp brain foetally
And let it go two or three more rounds of division
And out comes symphonies and ideology
[Neil deGrasse Tyson]
Everything that we are
That distinguishes us from chimps
Emerges from that one percent
Difference in DNA
[Roberts]
People like you and me
Overcame the Neaderthals
People like you and me
Made it through the ice age
[Refrain]
[David Attenborough]
Using his burgeoning intelligence,
This most successful of all mammals
Has exploited the environment to produce food
For an ever increasing population.
Instead of controlling the environment
For the benefit of the population
Perhaps it's time we controlled the population
To allow the survival of the environmentA musical celebration of humanity, its origins, and achievements, contrasted with a... more-
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Who Says Science has Nothing to Say About Morality?
The difference between Facts and Fiction...-
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Syrian oil pipeline blown up + Syrian people want evolution – not revolution
HOMS, (SANA) - An armed terrorist group on Thursday opened fire on a crude oil transfer pipeline in al-Soltaniyeh area to the northwest of the Refinery of Homs, causing a huge fire. About CIA propaganda video one Sirian said - The narrator should learn how to communicate and to speak the Arabic language properly - what a clown! How much was he paid to use his thoraia line in order to broadcast his idiotic ideas. There have been excesses, but nothing at all like what is being propagated to the world - who, naively soak up whatever unverified garbage is sent their way. A vast majority of the Syrian people want evolution – not revolution ------------ read all http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/recent-news/43039-syrian-oil-pipeline-blown-up-syrian-people-want-evolution-not-revolutionHOMS, (SANA) - An armed terrorist group on Thursday opened fire on a crude oil... more-
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