Intense and widespread seismicity during the end-Triassic mass extinction due to emplacement of a large igneous province
Authors:
Lindström et al
Abstract:
Multiple levels of earthquake-induced soft-sediment deformations (seismites) are concentrated in the end-Triassic mass extinction interval across Europe. The repetitive nature of the seismites rules out an origin by an extraterrestrial impact. Instead, this intense seismic activity is linked to the formation of the Central Atlantic magmatic province (CAMP). By the earliest Jurassic the seismic activity had ceased, while extrusive volcanism still continued and biotic recovery was on its way. This suggests that magmatic intrusions into sedimentary strata during early stages of CAMP formation caused emission of gases (SO2, halocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) that may have played a major part in the biotic crisis.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Massive Earthquake(s?) at the Triassic-Jurassic Extinction
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Indonesia has Lost its Patience, Delcares China has no Right to South China Sea
Indonesian President Joko Widodo said China'a claims to the majority of the South China Sea have "no legal foundation in international law," he told Japan's Yomiuri newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.
This was the first time Widodo, who took office in October, has taken a position on the South China Sea dispute.
link.
Oops! Another Guest Blog Post at the Power and the Money: The Calm Before the Storm
I have had another guest blog post on the situation in Ukraine up for a few days at Noel's The Power and the Money. The post is entitled 'The Calm Before the Storm.'
Friday, March 20, 2015
General Curtis LeMay and General Thomas Power Get Their Orions
It turns out the Orion Project was closer to happening in some ways than has been publicly acknowledged. It seems if not for McNamara's people, the US Air Force was going to push through building a fleet of Orion spacecraft. At the center of it all was the ever infamous Generals Curtis LeMay and Thomas Power. Power went as far sign off on a requirement for a 'Strategic Earth Orbit Base' and LeMay pushed the civilian leadership of the US Air Force to get Orion added to the 1962 USAF budget for the tune of $1.36 Billion. As much as my space cadet side sorta wishes for it, the adult side of me is glad the Secretary of the Air Force Zuckert killed it and he did so because McNamara would have been against it.
That does make for an interesting what-if.
Let's say right after the Cuban Missile Crisis, McNamara gets hit by a car in DC. He's dead.
LeMay takes another crack at after McNamara is dead.
We'll handwave he gets it. We also handwave in the exception to the Partial Test Ban Treaty the US attempted to get for propulsion. Even so, the probable outcome of Orion getting funded in 1963 is it gets cancelled around 1968. Nixon comes on and, well, problem. They honestly need a decade worth to get an Orion working. This would probably end up like the MOL or Dynasoar.
LeMay would probably want to at least get a flight out before he retires. That took place in 1965. However, that was due to his hostility with McNamara who is in this Alternate Time Line (ATL) now dead. LeMay was initially a supporter of Nixon, so its possible with the different SecDef, LeMay could skip over the stupidity of running with Wallace and end up keeping his job for a time at least.
Even so, I bet he'd push for a first launch of an Orion in 1968. This would probably end up something like the 880 ton version. It becomes a space station, America's first. If it were up to me, I'd dump the propulsion module and let it fall into the Pacific. 300 tons of spacestation would be rather impressive. The ISS masses about 450 tons and Skylab was about 100 tons. It would be imaginable the space station would have twice the volume of Skylab. It would probably need a reboost or risk coming back into the atmosphere. The second Orion launch in 1972 of the full size (4,000 ton) version does the reboost.
With the launch of the 4,000 ton Orions, we see a new Orion launched each year from 1972 to 1978 and one last in 1981 (unmanned as a cargo haul, redesigned to larger mass as a one off). The militarized Orions would carry 12 orbital bombardment missiles of roughly the equivalent of the Polaris missile (call it 30 tons). Each of these would have 10 warheads. The remaining payload would have sufficient supplies and whatnot for 10 years of operation without resupply for the crew of 16 (open ended life support, about the best we could do at the time, requires 10 lbs/per person/day).
However, Orions cannot be left in LEO. They would be extremely vulnerable to a nuclear strike. This means placing them out at one of the LaGrange Points. L-1 is easiest to get to. So they go into a Halo Orbit at the L-1 point. Crew cycling would take place every year. An Orion would come down to LEO to dock with the space station. The 'acclimated' replacement crew would have been ferried up by 5 Saturn IBs. The crew rotating out would ride back down to the surface on the Apollo capsules. This would continue until an alternate Space Shuttle was developed. Given what we got from the space shuttle OTL, we'd probably see the USAF purchasing a total of 5 of them. These would compliment the 5 for NASA.
Five missions per year would be to the space station for personnel exchange for the Orions. Another five missions per year would be to reboost and resupply the aging space station.
With Carter or whomever takes over ultimately from the Nixon/Ford era, the Orion Program gets cancelled. Or rather new built ones do. The last three Orions built get retasked to be NASA spacecraft and unarmed. Prior to handing over to NASA, they do a supply run for the other Orions at the L-1 point. This would extend the Orion mission to 1992 minimum. However, when the resupply run is done, it is acknowledged the Orions will need to be decommissioned in 1992.
While there is a study and the beginning of a replacement done under Reagan - the Strategic Offensive Initiative - it gets canned by 1989 without building much hardware. Edward Teller had argued to place advanced weaponry on the Orions such as lasers and whatnot to counter the Soviet nuclear arsenal. He thought the next generation Orions could be built as strategic defense as well as offense. This muddied the waters and the program objectives and as the Cold War drew to a close, very few were interested in flying new Orions.
In 1992, the Orions were decommissioned. The Bush administration used the 500th Year Anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the Americas to do so in a spectacular war. Starting in 1988, Bush negotiated their withdrawal and the ban of nuclear weapons in space. NASA was tasked with reusing the Orions. These were not to be used as manned spacecraft, but rather as the first interstellar unmanned probes. The first four Orions would launch off to Alpha Centauri (133 years to arrive), Barnard's Star (187 years), epsilon Eridani (330 years) and tau Ceti (400 years). The fifth weaponized Orion was stripped of its thrust plate and its pulse bombs transferred to the NASA Orions. It remained in place at the L-1 point as a space station and refurbished to that end (christened Columbus Station).
The actual nuclear weapons we deweaponized and transported back to Earth under treaty obligatory supervision. Under the treaty the plutonium was rebuilt as pulse bombs for the NASA Orions under Russian observation. This would provide enough fuel for another two full loads. However, it was agreed after this, nonnuclear or rather non-plutonium using propulsion would have to be used.
In the mean time...
NASA in 1980 used one of its Orions to build the first permanent Moon base similar to Operation Deep Freeze. The last three Saturn Vs were not put out to pasture or used for Skylab, but to supply the Orion's mission. After the initial push a base of 40 people was regularly resupplied from Earth. The base, at the lip of the Shackleton Crater near the south pole has grown and is still operational today. However, after 1982, no Orions were involved in the base.
On 1982, the two manned NASA Orions launched on their first mission to Mars. Two carried carried 250 ton crewed landers (and 500 tons of fuel for another landing and take off: they were chemical rockets) which had been brought up by the unmanned Orion in 1981, the last retasked, rebuilt unmanned Orion. These landers were SSTOs...Martian SSTOs, much easier than on Earth. Six sites were surveyed on the first mission. The famous picture of the astronaut saluting the Viking probe and the associated group picture of the 20 astronauts around it became quite famous.
The second Mars Mission took place in 1984. It followed a similar pattern to the first mission, surveying another six sites. A third mission took place in 1986 doing likewise.
In 1988, Operation Ares was launched and built a Martian base. This was done near the Valles Marineris. An 800 ton unmanned cargo lander was dropped from one of the Orions and the other brought another 200 ton unmanned lander as well. The crewed lander put down and they spent the next 3 months building out the base. A crew of 20 was left behind for the next two years. It would be the last time both Orions would go to Mars. Resupply missions to Mars would take place every two years, but one only have one Orion at a time. The last Orion run to Mars would be in 2001. The Mars base was semi self sufficient at that time and supported by other means for the rest.
In April 1993, the second Orion would embark for Jupiter for a 18 month mission (galileo flew in 1982 on time). Landings would take place on three of the Galilean Moons: twice on Europa and once on Callisto and Ganymede. A second expedition would be mounted in October 1996. And a final one in 2000.
The last mission for the Orions would be to Saturn. It was a stretch. They launched in 2005. They would land on Titan and Enceladus; however, the crews were much smaller than the Mars or Jupiter missions, totally only 12 each. The Orions would return to earth in 2008 where they would be decommissioned at Columbus Station. Their thrust plates would be destroyed under treaty obligation. The rest habitable sections of the ships would be remodeled and used as part of Columbus station.
Since there was no good replacement for them in the near term, it would not be until 2038 when the first laser implosion fusion powered ships were launched until their capability was replaced.
The Lunar Base by their end had an international population of about 1,000: multiple nations were landing and using the lunar base for science and exploration. There are no native selenites.
Mars has a population of 203. OTOH, there are three native born Martians.
We'll handwave he gets it. We also handwave in the exception to the Partial Test Ban Treaty the US attempted to get for propulsion. Even so, the probable outcome of Orion getting funded in 1963 is it gets cancelled around 1968. Nixon comes on and, well, problem. They honestly need a decade worth to get an Orion working. This would probably end up like the MOL or Dynasoar.
LeMay would probably want to at least get a flight out before he retires. That took place in 1965. However, that was due to his hostility with McNamara who is in this Alternate Time Line (ATL) now dead. LeMay was initially a supporter of Nixon, so its possible with the different SecDef, LeMay could skip over the stupidity of running with Wallace and end up keeping his job for a time at least.
Even so, I bet he'd push for a first launch of an Orion in 1968. This would probably end up something like the 880 ton version. It becomes a space station, America's first. If it were up to me, I'd dump the propulsion module and let it fall into the Pacific. 300 tons of spacestation would be rather impressive. The ISS masses about 450 tons and Skylab was about 100 tons. It would be imaginable the space station would have twice the volume of Skylab. It would probably need a reboost or risk coming back into the atmosphere. The second Orion launch in 1972 of the full size (4,000 ton) version does the reboost.
With the launch of the 4,000 ton Orions, we see a new Orion launched each year from 1972 to 1978 and one last in 1981 (unmanned as a cargo haul, redesigned to larger mass as a one off). The militarized Orions would carry 12 orbital bombardment missiles of roughly the equivalent of the Polaris missile (call it 30 tons). Each of these would have 10 warheads. The remaining payload would have sufficient supplies and whatnot for 10 years of operation without resupply for the crew of 16 (open ended life support, about the best we could do at the time, requires 10 lbs/per person/day).
However, Orions cannot be left in LEO. They would be extremely vulnerable to a nuclear strike. This means placing them out at one of the LaGrange Points. L-1 is easiest to get to. So they go into a Halo Orbit at the L-1 point. Crew cycling would take place every year. An Orion would come down to LEO to dock with the space station. The 'acclimated' replacement crew would have been ferried up by 5 Saturn IBs. The crew rotating out would ride back down to the surface on the Apollo capsules. This would continue until an alternate Space Shuttle was developed. Given what we got from the space shuttle OTL, we'd probably see the USAF purchasing a total of 5 of them. These would compliment the 5 for NASA.
Five missions per year would be to the space station for personnel exchange for the Orions. Another five missions per year would be to reboost and resupply the aging space station.
With Carter or whomever takes over ultimately from the Nixon/Ford era, the Orion Program gets cancelled. Or rather new built ones do. The last three Orions built get retasked to be NASA spacecraft and unarmed. Prior to handing over to NASA, they do a supply run for the other Orions at the L-1 point. This would extend the Orion mission to 1992 minimum. However, when the resupply run is done, it is acknowledged the Orions will need to be decommissioned in 1992.
While there is a study and the beginning of a replacement done under Reagan - the Strategic Offensive Initiative - it gets canned by 1989 without building much hardware. Edward Teller had argued to place advanced weaponry on the Orions such as lasers and whatnot to counter the Soviet nuclear arsenal. He thought the next generation Orions could be built as strategic defense as well as offense. This muddied the waters and the program objectives and as the Cold War drew to a close, very few were interested in flying new Orions.
In 1992, the Orions were decommissioned. The Bush administration used the 500th Year Anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the Americas to do so in a spectacular war. Starting in 1988, Bush negotiated their withdrawal and the ban of nuclear weapons in space. NASA was tasked with reusing the Orions. These were not to be used as manned spacecraft, but rather as the first interstellar unmanned probes. The first four Orions would launch off to Alpha Centauri (133 years to arrive), Barnard's Star (187 years), epsilon Eridani (330 years) and tau Ceti (400 years). The fifth weaponized Orion was stripped of its thrust plate and its pulse bombs transferred to the NASA Orions. It remained in place at the L-1 point as a space station and refurbished to that end (christened Columbus Station).
The actual nuclear weapons we deweaponized and transported back to Earth under treaty obligatory supervision. Under the treaty the plutonium was rebuilt as pulse bombs for the NASA Orions under Russian observation. This would provide enough fuel for another two full loads. However, it was agreed after this, nonnuclear or rather non-plutonium using propulsion would have to be used.
In the mean time...
NASA in 1980 used one of its Orions to build the first permanent Moon base similar to Operation Deep Freeze. The last three Saturn Vs were not put out to pasture or used for Skylab, but to supply the Orion's mission. After the initial push a base of 40 people was regularly resupplied from Earth. The base, at the lip of the Shackleton Crater near the south pole has grown and is still operational today. However, after 1982, no Orions were involved in the base.
On 1982, the two manned NASA Orions launched on their first mission to Mars. Two carried carried 250 ton crewed landers (and 500 tons of fuel for another landing and take off: they were chemical rockets) which had been brought up by the unmanned Orion in 1981, the last retasked, rebuilt unmanned Orion. These landers were SSTOs...Martian SSTOs, much easier than on Earth. Six sites were surveyed on the first mission. The famous picture of the astronaut saluting the Viking probe and the associated group picture of the 20 astronauts around it became quite famous.
The second Mars Mission took place in 1984. It followed a similar pattern to the first mission, surveying another six sites. A third mission took place in 1986 doing likewise.
In 1988, Operation Ares was launched and built a Martian base. This was done near the Valles Marineris. An 800 ton unmanned cargo lander was dropped from one of the Orions and the other brought another 200 ton unmanned lander as well. The crewed lander put down and they spent the next 3 months building out the base. A crew of 20 was left behind for the next two years. It would be the last time both Orions would go to Mars. Resupply missions to Mars would take place every two years, but one only have one Orion at a time. The last Orion run to Mars would be in 2001. The Mars base was semi self sufficient at that time and supported by other means for the rest.
In April 1993, the second Orion would embark for Jupiter for a 18 month mission (galileo flew in 1982 on time). Landings would take place on three of the Galilean Moons: twice on Europa and once on Callisto and Ganymede. A second expedition would be mounted in October 1996. And a final one in 2000.
The last mission for the Orions would be to Saturn. It was a stretch. They launched in 2005. They would land on Titan and Enceladus; however, the crews were much smaller than the Mars or Jupiter missions, totally only 12 each. The Orions would return to earth in 2008 where they would be decommissioned at Columbus Station. Their thrust plates would be destroyed under treaty obligation. The rest habitable sections of the ships would be remodeled and used as part of Columbus station.
Since there was no good replacement for them in the near term, it would not be until 2038 when the first laser implosion fusion powered ships were launched until their capability was replaced.
The Lunar Base by their end had an international population of about 1,000: multiple nations were landing and using the lunar base for science and exploration. There are no native selenites.
Mars has a population of 203. OTOH, there are three native born Martians.
An Update on the USS Ford, America's Next Aircraft Carrier Class
US Navy getting Ready to Test the EM Catapult on the Ford:
The Navy is preparing to launch the first ship-board tests of a new Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System designed to replace steam catapults and propel fighter jets and other aircraft off the deck of an aircraft carrier, service officials said.
“In June, we’ll start shooting dead loads into the James River. The ship is pointed bow out. It will be the first time in 60-years that we have shot something off a ship using something other than a steam catapult,” said Rear Adm. Thomas Moore, Program Executive Officer, Carriers.
The EMALS system, which uses an electromagnetic field to propel aircraft instead of the steam catapult, is slated for the new Ford-class aircraft carriers. The first EMALS system has been under construction for several years aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford, or CVN 78, the first in class of the new carriers expected to deliver to the Navy next year.
link.
There is a flaw in the aircraft landing arresting system which could cause a major delay:
A design flaw in the system the Navy plans to help safely recover aircraft onboard its next generation Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) aircraft carrier has set testing for the program back two years and risks extending the delivery of the ship past its March 31, 2016 deadline, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) officials told reporters on Thursday.
The General Atomics built Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) was found to have a design flaw that set testing at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, N.J. back two years, according to the head of Program Executive Officer for Aircraft Carriers Rear Adm. Tom Moore said.
“We are about two years behind where we should be up at Lakehurst in terms of having the systems installed and testing it with real aircraft,” he said.
“Right now my major concern on Ford is AAG. I have to get equipment installed. It’s now all arrived at the shipyard. The shipyard is installing the equipment now and concurrently with that I have to get Lakehurst to start testing the upgraded system.”
The flaw was found in the AAG’s water twister — a complex paddle wheel that is designed to absorb 70 percent of the force when the tailhook of a landing aircraft pulls against an arresting wire to come to a stop.
link.
Jet car testing of the AAG has started and switching out the radar on the Ford class in general:
At almost $13 billion, the cutting-edge aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford (CVN-78) has become a byword for military overruns. With the Ford‘s cost now stable and the costs of the second ship, Kennedy, coming down, however, the Navy seems convinced it’s got the money problem under control. Now they can talk about the fun stuff. But even the fun stuff is hard.
“Jet car testing is underway,” said a straight-faced Rear Adm. Thomas Moore, the Navy’s program executive officer for carriers, in a conversation with reporters Thursday morning.
[...]
On a more mundane level, not having to maintain leak-prone hydraulics should allow cutting at least 600 sailors from the crew and help save $4 billion over the 50-year life of the ship. The only major piece of hydraulics left on the Ford is the elevators that move aircraft between the flight deck and the hanger deck. And they won’t be around on the next ship in the class. Electric elevators will be ready for installation on the Kennedy.
The Kennedy will also have a less expensive and less powerful radar than the Ford. That’s a rare example of a military service reining in its ambitions rather than letting requirements — and the cost to meet them — grow. “A $500 million radar on an aircraft carrier is overkill at this point,” Moore told reporters earlier this week, after speaking at the McAleese Associates/Credit Suisse defense conference.
Originally developed for the DDG-1000 destroyer, the Dual-Band Radar on the Ford will be the finest in the fleet. It’ll also be the only one in the fleet, since even the painfully truncated DDG-1000 program — reduced to just three ships — won’t use the full DBR. Since carriers don’t coordinate their own air and missile defense, a function served by specialized Aegis cruisers and destroyers, Moore says the Kennedy and subsequent Ford-class ships will get by just fine with the same kind of radar that will be used on big-deck amphibious ships, starting with the future LHA-8. That Enterprise Air Search Radar (EASR) hasn’t been selected yet, but any number of off-the-shelf radars would meet the criteria, Moore said, as could a scaled-down version of the Air & Missile Defense Radar being built for the new Aegis destroyers. Accepting less capability, he said, should save at least $180 million per ship.
link.
Whoa-Awesome Level: Fossil Ripple Marks Indicate Middle Devonian Wind Direction During dry Season (April to July)
Ripple marks indicate Mid-Devonian palaeo-wind directions in the Orcadian Basin (Orkney Isles, Scotland)
Authors:
De Vleeschouwer et al
Abstract:
Few climate proxies provide information on palaeo-wind directions. However, fossilized bedform elements can provide insight into the direction of flow that formed them. Wave-formed ripple marks, for example, which developed in shallow waters, extend transverse to the wind direction. In this study, Middle Devonian palaeo-wind directions are reconstructed by measuring the orientation of 511 fossilized wave ripple marks in the Rousay Flagstone Formation on the island of Westray, Orkney, Scotland. The orientation of ripple marks was measured in four different localities on the island. A chi-squared test demonstrates that these four ripple-mark subsets show the same distribution of ripple mark orientation and thus indicates that the studied ripple marks display the same distribution of palaeo-winds. Two dominant ripple mark orientations were observed at all studied localities. The most abundant ripple mark orientation suggests palaeo-winds from the present-day North or South. Second most abundant are ripple marks that suggest palaeo-winds from the present-day ENE or WSW (70° or 250°). When a 40° clockwise rotation of Orkney since the Middle Devonian is taken into account, the ripple marks suggest that the dominant wind directions were south-southeast (SSE) and north-northeast (NNE) in the tropical setting of the Orcadian basin. The SSE wind-direction is represented by the abundant ripple marks, with a present-day near N-S orientation of the line perpendicular to the crests. These ripple marks are also characterized by the largest wavelengths. The abundance of the latter ripple marks with long wavelengths is the result of a lower water level and thus a larger wave-exposed surface during the dry winter season, from April to July, which was mainly characterized by SSE palaeo-trade winds.
Did a Volcano Kill off the Neandertals?
The Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) eruption in Italy 40,000 years ago was one of the largest volcanic cataclysms in Europe and injected a significant amount of sulfur-dioxide (SO2) into the stratosphere. Scientists have long debated whether this eruption contributed to the final extinction of the Neanderthals. This new study by Benjamin A. Black and colleagues tests this hypothesis with a sophisticated climate model.
Black and colleagues write that the CI eruption approximately coincided with the final decline of Neanderthals as well as with dramatic territorial and cultural advances among anatomically modern humans. Because of this, the roles of climate, hominin competition, and volcanic sulfur cooling and acid deposition have been vigorously debated as causes of Neanderthal extinction.
They point out, however, that the decline of Neanderthals in Europe began well before the CI eruption: "Radiocarbon dating has shown that at the time of the CI eruption, anatomically modern humans had already arrived in Europe, and the range of Neanderthals had steadily diminished. Work at five sites in the Mediterranean indicates that anatomically modern humans were established in these locations by then as well."
"While the precise implications of the CI eruption for cultures and livelihoods are best understood in the context of archaeological data sets," write Black and colleagues, the results of their study quantitatively describe the magnitude and distribution of the volcanic cooling and acid deposition that ancient hominin communities experienced coincident with the final decline of the Neanderthals.
In their climate simulations, Black and colleagues found that the largest temperature decreases after the eruption occurred in Eastern Europe and Asia and sidestepped the areas where the final Neanderthal populations were living (Western Europe). Therefore, the authors conclude that the eruption was probably insufficient to trigger Neanderthal extinction.
However, the abrupt cold spell that followed the eruption would still have significantly impacted day-to-day life for Neanderthals and early humans in Europe. Black and colleagues point out that temperatures in Western Europe would have decreased by an average of 2 to 4 degrees Celsius during the year following the eruption. These unusual conditions, they write, may have directly influenced survival and day-to-day life for Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans alike, and emphasize the resilience of anatomically modern humans in the face of abrupt and adverse changes in the environment.
link.
Neandertal Eagle Talon Jewelry Found From Pleistocene Quaternary Croatia
Evidence for Neandertal Jewelry: Modified White-Tailed Eagle Claws at Krapina
Authors:
Radovčić et al
Abstract:
We describe eight, mostly complete white-tailed eagle (Haliaëtus [Haliaeetus] albicilla) talons from the Krapina Neandertal site in present-day Croatia, dating to approximately 130 kyrs ago. Four talons bear multiple, edge-smoothed cut marks; eight show polishing facets and/or abrasion. Three of the largest talons have small notches at roughly the same place along the plantar surface, interrupting the proximal margin of the talon blade. These features suggest they were part of a jewelry assemblage, --- the manipulations a consequence of mounting the talons in a necklace or bracelet. An associated phalanx articulates with one of the talons and has numerous cut marks, some of which are smoothed. These white-tailed eagle bones, discovered more than 100 years ago, all derive from a single level at Krapina and represent more talons than found in the entire European Mousterian period. Presence of eight talons indicates that the Krapina Neandertals acquired and curated eagle talons for some kind of symbolic purpose. Some have argued that Neandertals lacked symbolic ability or copied this behavior from modern humans. These remains clearly show that the Krapina Neandertals made jewelry well before the appearance of modern humans in Europe, extending ornament production and symbolic activity early into the European Mousterian.
First Genetically Adapted Population of Humans Tolerant of Arsenic Found
High up in the high Andes mountains of Argentina, researchers have identified the first-ever evidence of a population uniquely adapted to tolerate the toxic chemical arsenic.
For thousands of years, in some regions of the Andes, people have been exposed to high levels of arsenic, a naturally occurring phenomenon that happens when arsenic in the volcanic bedrock is released into the groundwater. How could this population adapt to tolerate arsenic, a potent killer of such ill repute that it's often the overused plot-driver of many murder mysteries?
In a new study published in the advanced online edition of Molecular Biology and Evolution, a Swedish research team led by Karolinska Institutet and Uppsala University professor Karin Broberg, performed a genome wide survey from a group of 124 Andean women screened for the ability to metabolize arsenic (measured by levels in the urine). The study pinpointed a key set of nucleotide variants in a gene, AS3MT, which were at much lower frequencies in control populations from Columbia and Peru. The researchers estimate that the increase in frequency of these variants occurred recently, between 10,000-7,000 years ago, based on the age of a recently excavated mummy that was found to have high arsenic levels in its hair.
link.
Eocyathispongia qiania: an Ediacaran NeoProterozoic Sponge With Fossil Cells
Sponge grade body fossil with cellular resolution dating 60 Myr before the Cambrian
Authors:
Yin et al
Abstract:
An extraordinarily well preserved, 600-million-year (Myr)-old, three-dimensionally phosphatized fossil displaying multiple independent characters of modern adult sponges has been analyzed by SEM and synchrotron X-ray tomography. The fossilized animal (Eocyathispongia qiania gen. et sp. nov.) is slightly more than 1.2 mm wide and 1.1 mm tall, is composed of hundreds of thousands of cells, and has a gross structure consisting of three adjacent hollow tubes sharing a common base. The main tube is crowned with a large open funnel, and the others end in osculum-like openings to the exterior. The external surface is densely covered with flat tile-like cells closely resembling sponge pinacocytes, and this layer is punctuated with smaller pores. A dense patch of external structures that display the form of a lawn of sponge papillae has also survived. Within the main funnel, an area where features of the inner surface are preserved displays a regular pattern of uniform pits. Many of them are surrounded individually by distinct collars, mounted in a supporting reticulum. The possibility cannot be excluded that these pits are the remains of a field of choanocytes. The character set evinced by this specimen, ranging from general anatomy to cell type, uniquely indicates that this specimen is a fossil of probable poriferan affinity. So far, we have only this single specimen, and although its organized and complex cellular structure precludes any reasonable interpretation that its origin is abiogenic, confirmation that it is indeed a fossilized sponge will clearly require discovery of additional specimens.
Thursday, March 19, 2015
The American West Saved From Zombie Apocolypse by Great American Desert
I started my zombie infection in NYC (Sorry Carlos) and let it run for a considerable time (77 days simulated). The infection rate dropped to the point where the sim stopped. I tried adding a couple more zombies in the edge cities which ought to go next and the infection still stopped.
Its a fun little sim you can leave running in a tab in your web browser.
For the edge effects, I imagine the Mexicans and Canadians (mostly the latter) sat there with BFGs shooting any Yanqi which came within 100 ft of the border. Alive or undead.
So, World War Z, the book version, actually has some epidemiological support for the US rallying from California. And the American West was saved by the Great American Desert.
Robopocalypse is Nigh: FAA Grants Amazon Permission to Begin Test Flights of Delivery Drones (With Restrictions)
Amazon.com Inc has won approval from U.S. federal regulators to test a delivery drone outdoors, as the e-commerce company pursues its goal of sending packages to customers by air, even as it faces public concern about safety and privacy.
The Federal Aviation Administration said on Thursday it issued an experimental airworthiness certificate to an Amazon business unit and its prototype drone, allowing test flights over private, rural land in Washington state.
The FAA also granted Amazon an exemption from other flight restrictions so the experimental drone can conduct those flights.
The approval is a win for Seattle-based Amazon, the largest e-commerce company in the United States, and advances plans by the company and others to deliver packages using small, self-piloted aircraft.
There are limitations, however. The experimental certificate applies to a particular drone and Amazon must obtain a new certification if it modifies the aircraft or flies a different version, making it difficult to adapt the model quickly in the field. Amazon's petition for permission indicated it was testing several iterations of a drone at an indoor facility in Seattle.
Amazon must keep flights below 400 feet (120 meters) and keep the drone in sight, according to the FAA.
link.
DARPA Wants, Working on Neural Prostheses (Brain Implants)
An experimental Pentagon program has already developed two types of a highly advanced, Terminator-like prosthetic arm.
What's more, a quadriplegic woman with sensors implanted onto her brain controlled one of the robotic limbs to grab a cup, shake hands and eat a chocolate bar. She even flew an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter simulator using just her thoughts.
Now, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) wants to expand on that cutting-edge work to build other potential breakthrough medical technologies, including a pacemaker-sized device that might someday improve the memory of troops who suffered a traumatic brain injury. Think of it as a hard drive of sorts for the brain.
"We know we need a next-generation device that doesn't exist today," said Justin Sanchez, who manages DARPA's Biological Technologies Office in Arlington, Virginia. "That's what these new programs are all about -- not only understanding the brain and these conditions, but building the hardware that enables us to address those issues. You need both."
link.
Teotihuacan's Collapse due to Internal Strife?
The demise of Mexico's enigmatic pre-Hispanic city of Teotihuacan stemmed from a conflict among the civilization's elite classes, with buildings set ablaze in the clash, according to a study.
The famed pyramids of the Sun and Moon are among the majestic structures that remain at the tourist site near Mexico City, centuries after Teotihuacan's population vanished.
What caused the civilization to abandon the sprawling city in the 7th century has been the subject of many studies, with political, economic and social problems believed to be behind the exodus.
Linda Manzanilla, an anthropologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, now says the collapse was the result of a confrontation between the city's rulers and an "intermediate elite" comprised of entrepreneurs.
The governing class ruled like a "corporate organization" that distributed power among each other, without dynasties or kings -- unlike the Mayan civilization elsewhere in Mexico.
The city, which at some point housed 125,000 people, was divided into neighborhoods where "mid-rank nobles who acted like entrepreneurs" competed to show off the best luxury goods, she told AFP.
"They competed among themselves to bring raw materials, and luxury goods from distant regions, and demonstrate the most attractive and rarest items," said Manzanilla.
This rivalry gave rise to tensions within the city, said Manzanilla, whose conclusions were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States.
The clash, she said, finally took place when "the governing elite realized that the neighborhood elites around the center of the city were getting richer and functioning in an autonomous way."
"They tried to take control, but it was too late," the researcher said.
Around 550 A.D., the revolt of the neighborhood entrepreneur led to the destruction of the Street of the Dead, which is now a major tourist site, and the main buildings of the ruling elite.
link.
Using Digital Enhancement to Study Prehistoric Rock Art
An assessment of methods for the digital enhancement of rock paintings: the rock art from the precordillera of Arica (Chile) as a case study
Authors:
Cerrillo-Cuenca et al
Abstract:
The digital tracing of rock art is becoming a standard for archaeologists working in this field of research. The lack of specific software for this task has resulted in archaeologists either using solutions that are not statistically robust enough or working with overly generic fields of image analysis. This paper will assess the application of three techniques for digital tracing: Principal Components Analysis, K-means, and Decorrelation Stretch. In addition to these techniques of image analysis, this paper will also explore three selective techniques that classify or enhance pigmentation. These analyses have been implemented in a software package called PyDRA (developed by one of the authors, ECC). This software makes use of several scientific libraries for the digital analysis of an image.
As a case study, we chose three rock art sites located between 3100 and 3500 m above sea level in the precordillera of Arica, the northern region of Chile. All of the paintings are located inside rock shelters that are easily accessible; however, we lack a systematic recording for analysing these sites. Pampa El Muerto 14 and Mullipungo 1 were recorded through direct tracings between 1980 and 1990. The Lupica 1 site was identified only in 2013 and has not been recorded until now. Due to the advancement of technology in the years since the 1980s, we have been able to compare the proficiency of different digital and statistical techniques. Our study uses the most adequate parameters and enables us to trace the paintings digitally without actually handling the surface of the rock.
Pre Sturtian Cryogenian NeoProterozoic Deposits Hint at Strange Open PaleoOcean Sea Water Chemistry
Pre-Sturtian (800–730 Ma) depositional age of carbonates in sedimentary sequences hosting stratiform iron ores in the Uppermost Allochthon of the Norwegian Caledonides: A chemostratigraphic approach
Authors:
Melezhik et al
Abstract:
Carbon and strontium isotope chemostratigraphy (52 δ13Ccarb and δ18O, and 50 87Sr/86Sr analyses of carbonate components in whole-rock samples) was applied for constraining an apparent depositional age of the carbonate protolith to amphibolite-grade, calcite marbles occurring in siliciclastic sedimentary sequences hosting iron formations (the Dunderlandsdalen type iron ores) of previously unknown age in the Rödingsfjället Nappe Complex of the Rana region, Nordland, Norway. The least altered 87Sr/86Sr (0.70676) and δ13C (+2.5 to +5.6‰) values of the marbles (Dunderland Marble 2a) in the hanging wall sequence of the Stensundtjern iron formation in the Rana region are consistent with seawater composition in the time interval 800–730 Ma, hence the Middle Cryogenian (pre-Sturtian). The least altered Sr- and C-isotopic values obtained from two other marbles units (Marble 3 and 4) of the Rödningsfjället Nappe Complex are consistent with the Late Cryogenian (c. 660 and 670–700 Ma, respectively). The ages obtained provide the first insight into the depositional time of sediment-hosted iron formations of the Uppermost Allochthon in the North-Central Norwegian Caledonides. The Middle Cryogenian-age of marbles associated with iron formations in the Rana region and those located c. 250 km to the north (the Håfjellet iron ore horizon) share similar 87Sr/86Sr and δ13C ratios and hence similar chemostratigraphic ages. These iron formations were originally accumulated outside of Baltica, on a glacially influenced carbonate-siliciclastic shelf, apparently on a margin of an unknown microcontinent. The Scandinavian Dunderlandsdalen and the Håfjellet iron ores of Middle Cryogenian age (800–730 Ma) were accumulated in an open marine environment distant from volcanic centres, and hence represent an outstanding exception to other reported Neoproterozoic iron formations which were all accumulated in volcanically active continental rift settings.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Yet Another Bitcoin Scam: Dark Web Market Evolution Disappears With $12+ Million Worth of Bitcoin
In the 18 months since the Silk Road online black market for narcotics was taken down by a swarm of three-letter agencies, a site known as Evolution has taken its place at the top of the dark web drug trade. Now Evolution, too, has suddenly dropped off the face of the internet. But unlike its Silk Road predecessor, there’s no indication that law enforcement took down the newer black market. Instead, it’s simply, mysteriously vanished—with rumors swirling that its own administrators may have run off with many millions of dollars of its users’ drug money.
Over the past weekend, the massive anonymous market known as Evolution halted withdrawals of bitcoin from its website, telling users that it was dealing with technical difficulties. Then on Tuesday evening, both its market and user forum went offline, with no opportunity for drug buyers and sellers to pull out the funds they had stored in their Evolution accounts. The result has been a wave of panic that’s shaken the online black market economy as much as any of the law enforcement drug busts of the last two years.
Late Tuesday, a Reddit user named NSWGreat who had earlier self-described as an Evolution drug dealer and “public relations” staffer —he or she had even hosted an “ask me anything” session about the job days earlier—wrote a post to Reddit’s darknet markets forum that claimed to confirm Evolution’s administrators had in fact shut down the site’s back end too, and escaped with users’ money; NSWGreat described confronting Evolution’s two pseudonymous owners, Verto and Kimble, who he or she says then admitted they were closing the market and stealing its funds. “I am so sorry, but Verto and Kimble have f–ked us all. I have over $20,000 in escrow myself from sales,” NSWGreat wrote. “I’m sorry for everyone’s loses, I’m gutted and speechless. I feel so betrayed.”
link.
You Want a Piece of *ME*, boy?
My Starcraft Terran Marine has adorned my desk since I bought one in 1998. As I am cleaning up my Lab office, I thought it was time to pass the mantle to the next gen Terran BC & Marine terror. Orest loves him.
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