Pondering the Precambrian #39

Proterozoic:

NeoProterozoic:

Global microfossil changes across the Ediacaran/Cambrian are characterized.

A new method of characterizing oxygen availability across the Ediacaran/Cambrian boundary has been found.

The lack of attention to taphonomy can mislead about the late Ediacaran fossils.

Data from Argentina covers the Ediacaran's oxygenation event.

Simulations of Ernettia suggest it was a filter feeder and fed better in groups.

Has there been a case of lateral gene transfer detected in bilaterians?

Ancient paralogies suggest jellyfish are a sister group to all other metazoans.

Green algae transitioned to macroscopic growth multiple times, but only as recently as the NeoProterozoic.

There is evidence of strange magmatism in the Sahara from the Ediacaran 580 million years ago.

An astronomical time scale for the middle/upper Doushantuo Formation has been established.

Braided rivers were not the rule prior to the evolution of plant life despite previous thought.

The Paleo Hunan Ocean was completely closed by 830 million years ago during the Tonian.

Evidence of two carbon excursions are detected in Tonian deposits in Namibia.

MesoProterozoic:

A new model suggests a sluggish, tepid mesoproterozoic ecosystem.

A very large igneous magmatic province has been found in South Africa from Stenian of South Africa.  These provinces are associated with mass extinctions like the Permian and Triassic/Jurassic.

An impact has been found in Scotland dating from the Mesoproterozoic.

Was anaerobic photosynthesis the reason for the delayed rise in oxygen in Earth's atmosphere?

PaleoProterozoic:

Iron stones were laid down by iron oxidizing bacteria during the Statherian.

There is evidence of deep subduction from North China from the Paleoproterozoic.

There is also evidence of a significant back arc continental collision during the Orosirian in the North China Craton.

There is evidence, according to Retallack, of macroscopic terrestrial life from the Orosirian.

The shape of the Dhala Crater in India from the Rhyacian is reconstructed.

Paleoproterozoic dolomites shed some light on the evolution of marine chemistry.

Archean:

The early Earth's oceans may not have been as hot as originally thought.

Compared to later granites, Archean granites had relatively unstable compositions.

Archean sulfur isotopes from Australia's Fraser Zone have unexplained ratios and amounts.

Did the subduction of the oceanic basins take place during the mesoarchean?

Could continents have existed from the dawn of the Archean, during the Eoarchean?

Eoarchean hydrothermal vent boron deposits give some insight to the origin of life.

Origin of Life:

Peptides can form without amino acids.

Could microscopic bubbles (interfaces) have helped kickstart life?

China CLaims to be Testing Controversial EM Drive in Space

Dr. Chen Yue, Director of Commercial Satellite Technology for the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) announced on December 10, 2016 that not only has China successfully tested EmDrives technology in its laboratories, but that a proof-of-concept is currently undergoing zero-g testing in orbit (according to the International Business Times, this test is taking place on the Tiangong 2 space station).

link.

Wait! What?! 2.6 Million Year Old Stone Tools From Pliocene Neogene India

The first Indo-French Prehistorical Mission in Siwaliks and the discovery of anthropic activities at 2.6 million years

Author:

Malassé

Abstract:

This paper presents the first Indo-French Prehistorical Mission in the Himalayan foothills, northwestern India, and introduces the results of the multidisciplinary research program “Siwaliks” under the patronage of Professor Yves Coppens, from the Collège de France and Académie des Sciences, France. This program is dedicated to the discovery of cut marks on mineralized bovid bones collected among vertebrate fossils in a fluviatile formation named “Quranwala zone” in the Chandigarh anticline, near the village Masol, and located just below the Gauss–Matuyama polarity reversal (2.58 Ma). Artefacts (simple choppers, flakes) have been collected in and on the colluviums. This important discovery questions the origins of the hominins which made the marks.

Extraordinary Claim: Mesozoic Tetrapod PaleoDiversity Stagnated

Near-Stasis in the Long-Term Diversification of Mesozoic Tetrapods

Authors:

Benson et al

Abstract:

How did evolution generate the extraordinary diversity of vertebrates on land? Zero species are known prior to ~380 million years ago, and more than 30,000 are present today. An expansionist model suggests this was achieved by large and unbounded increases, leading to substantially greater diversity in the present than at any time in the geological past. This model contrasts starkly with empirical support for constrained diversification in marine animals, suggesting different macroevolutionary processes on land and in the sea. We quantify patterns of vertebrate standing diversity on land during the Mesozoic–early Paleogene interval, applying sample-standardization to a global fossil dataset containing 27,260 occurrences of 4,898 non-marine tetrapod species. Our results show a highly stable pattern of Mesozoic tetrapod diversity at regional and local levels, underpinned by a weakly positive, but near-zero, long-term net diversification rate over 190 million years. Species diversity of non-flying terrestrial tetrapods less than doubled over this interval, despite the origins of exceptionally diverse extant groups within mammals, squamates, amphibians, and dinosaurs. Therefore, although speciose groups of modern tetrapods have Mesozoic origins, rates of Mesozoic diversification inferred from the fossil record are slow compared to those inferred from molecular phylogenies. If high speciation rates did occur in the Mesozoic, then they seem to have been balanced by extinctions among older clades. An apparent 4-fold expansion of species richness after the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary deserves further examination in light of potential taxonomic biases, but is consistent with the hypothesis that global environmental disturbances such as mass extinction events can rapidly adjust limits to diversity by restructuring ecosystems, and suggests that the gradualistic evolutionary diversification of tetrapods was punctuated by brief but dramatic episodes of radiation.

Extraordinary Claim by China: Will Double Economy by 2020

China's leaders on Thursday affirmed plans to double the size of the country's economy by 2020 from 2010 levels, a goal that sets up a potential clash with efforts to nurture more self-sustaining growth.

Communist Party leaders are struggling with conflicting goals of pushing ahead a painful economic restructuring and preventing growth that declined to a six-year low of 6.9 percent last quarter from falling too low, leading to potential job losses and unrest.

Thursday's pledge followed a meeting aimed at crafting a development plan for the rest of this decade. Such Soviet-style five-year plans are a throwback to central planning but guide official policy and highlight party goals.

In a statement carried by the official Xinhua News Agency, party leaders affirmed plans to develop a consumer economy and promote technology to replace a worn-out model based on trade and investment.

link.

Extraordinary Claim: More Computer Use in School Doesn't Improve Student Learning

Investing heavily in school computers and classroom technology does not improve pupils' performance, says a global study from the OECD.

The think tank says frequent use of computers in schools is more likely to be associated with lower results.

link.

Extraordinary Claim: Over Productive Ocean Drove Permian Extinction in the Marine Environment?!

Flourishing ocean drives the end-Permian marine mass extinction

Authors:

Schodden et al

Abstract:

The end-Permian mass extinction, the most severe biotic crisis in the Phanerozoic, was accompanied by climate change and expansion of oceanic anoxic zones. The partitioning of sulfur among different exogenic reservoirs by biological and physical processes was of importance for this biodiversity crisis, but the exact role of bioessential sulfur in the mass extinction is still unclear. Here we show that globally increased production of organic matter affected the seawater sulfate sulfur and oxygen isotope signature that has been recorded in carbonate rock spanning the Permian−Triassic boundary. A bifurcating temporal trend is observed for the strata spanning the marine mass extinction with carbonate-associated sulfate sulfur and oxygen isotope excursions toward decreased and increased values, respectively. By coupling these results to a box model, we show that increased marine productivity and successive enhanced microbial sulfate reduction is the most likely scenario to explain these temporal trends. The new data demonstrate that worldwide expansion of euxinic and anoxic zones are symptoms of increased biological carbon recycling in the marine realm initiated by global warming. The spatial distribution of sulfidic water column conditions in shallow seafloor environments is dictated by the severity and geographic patterns of nutrient fluxes and serves as an adequate model to explain the scale of the marine biodiversity crisis. Our results provide evidence that the major biodiversity crises in Earth’s history do not necessarily implicate an ocean stripped of (most) life but rather the demise of certain eukaryotic organisms, leading to a decline in species richness.

Extraordindary Claim? Possible Russian Submarine Wreck Found in Swedish Waters

The Swedish military is studying a video taken by shipwreck hunters who say it shows a wrecked submarine just off the eastern coast of Sweden which appears to be Russian, a spokesman said on Monday.

The discovery comes less than a year after Swedish troops and ships unsuccessfully hunted for a Russian submarine reportedly cited near Stockholm, in the country's biggest military mobilization since the Cold War.

Swedish Armed Forces spokesman Anders Kallin did not say whether the military also believed it was a Russian submarine.

"We choose not to comment on it before we have seen more material. We will continue the analysis together with the company in the coming days," Kallin said.

Ocean X Team, the company behind the discovery, said on its website: "It is unclear how old the submarine is and for how long it has been at the bottom of the sea, but the Cyrillic letters on the hull indicate that it is Russian."

One of the men who discovered the submarine, Dennis Asberg, told the Expressen newspaper it looked modern. But one expert quoted by the paper said he believed it was a Russian submarine that sank in 1916.

link.

I tagged with the 'extraordinary claim' because Dennis Asberg, one of the finders, is noted for the heavily criticized 'Baltic Sea Anomaly' back in the day.  

Extraordinary Claim (Frightening if True): Hackers Took Over German Patriot Missile Battery in Turkey

The attack took place on anti-aircraft ‘Patriot’ missiles on the Syrian border. The American-made weapons had been stationed there by the Bundeswehr (German army) to protect Nato ally Turkey.

According to the civil service magazine, the missile system carried out “unexplained” orders. It was not immediately clear when these orders were carried out and what they were.

link.

Extraordinary Claim: Russia Will Have Military Thought Controlled Exoskeleton Prototype in 5 Years

The world’s most capable armies, the US, China, and Russia, are constantly trying to improve their strategic and warfare capabilities on the battlefield. This so-called “struggle” often involves improving the equipment of the infantry and other troops that are directly exposed to enemy fire.

We know that there is a project that has a goal to develop, an exoskeleton that will be commercially used. The Russian army is willing and is planning to find a way to upgrade some of its infantry units with such (exoskeleton) devices. The exoskeletons would allow soldiers improve their warfare abilities: huge jump, power tilting and throwing items, physical protection from bullets and smaller missiles, chemical and biological protection and built-in weapons.

With this kind of exoskeletons, Russian troops would be able to carry up to 300 kilograms of military equipment. For a comparison at the moment, a vehicle would be needed for that equipment. Additionally, exoskeletons will be controlled by brain impulses, which is significant progress in the field.

Alexander Cooley is the head of the department for the development and manufacturing of medical equipment in the Russian United Corporation for the production of instruments (Rostec). He has noted that the Russian army could have the prototypes no later than 5 years.

link.

To say I am skeptical is an understatement.  Especially since the Russians recently released their own line of computer processors (import substitution anyone?) which are at least 5 years behind their equivalent American/Western designs.

Beyond Extraordinary Claim: Gravitational Constant is Variable (& its a solution to the faint sun paradox!)

Can a variable gravitational constant resolve the Faint Young Sun Paradox ?

Authors:

Sahni et al

Abstract:

Solar models suggest that four billion years ago the young Sun was about 75% fainter than it is today, rendering Earth's oceans frozen and lifeless. However, there is ample geophysical evidence that Earth had a liquid ocean teeming with life 4 Gyr ago. Since L⊙∝G7M5⊙, the Sun's luminosity L⊙ is exceedingly sensitive to small changes in the gravitational constant G. We show that a percent-level increase in G in the past would have prevented Earth's oceans from freezing, resolving the faint young Sun paradox. Such small changes in G are consistent with observational bounds on ΔG/G. Since LSNIa∝G−3/2, an increase in G leads to fainter supernovae, creating tension between standard candle and standard ruler probes of dark energy. Precisely such a tension has recently been reported by the Planck team.

Extraordinary Claim: A Gamma Ray Burst CAUSED the Cambrian Explosion?!

Did Gamma Ray Burst Induce Cambrian Explosion?

Authors:

Chen et al

Abstract:

One longstanding mystery in bio-evolution since Darwin's time is the origin of the Cambrian explosion that happened around 540 million years ago (Mya), where an extremely rapid increase of species occurred. Here we suggest that a nearby GRB event ~500 parsecs away, which should occur about once per 5 Gy, might have triggered the Cambrian explosion. Due to a relatively lower cross section and the conservation of photon number in Compton scattering, a substantial fraction of the GRB photons can reach the sea level and would induce DNA mutations in organisms protected by a shallow layer of water or soil, thus expediting the bio-diversification. This possibility of inducing genetic mutations is unique among all candidate sources for major incidents in the history of bio-evolution. A possible evidence would be the anomalous abundance of certain nuclear isotopes with long half-lives transmuted by the GRB photons in geological records from the Cambrian period. Our notion also imposes constraints on the evolution of exoplanet organisms and the migration of panspermia.