Lamarck and the Missing Lnc
Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories tell tales not so much of evolution, but of the magic and wonder of the animal world. He describes the wizard who gave the camel a hump for its laziness, and the alligator who snapped and stretched the nose of a naïve young elephant to its current lengthy proportion. Those delightful fables, published some 70 years after Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s death, provide entertaining explanations for such evolved traits, and were clearly inspired by Lamarck’s description of adaptive change, not Charles Darwin’s. In his 1809 publication Philosophie Zoologique, Lamarck wrote of the giraffe, from whose habit of reaching for the green leaves of tall trees “it has resulted . . . that the animal’s forelegs have become longer than its hind legs, and that its neck is lengthened to such a degree that the giraffe, without rearing up on its hind legs ... attains a height of six meters.”
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Becoming Human: The Origin of Stone Tools
For decades, anthropologists believed the ability to use tools separated modern humans from all other living things. Then scientists discovered chimpanzees use rocks to hammer open nuts and twigs to fish out termites from mounds. And then they learned tool use wasn’t even limited to apes. Monkeys, crows, sea otters and even octopuses manipulate objects to get what they want. Yet there’s no denying humans have taken technology to a completely different level. Given that our high-tech tools are one of our defining features, you’d think anthropologists would know when hominids began modifying stones to make tools and which species was the first to do so. But there’s still much to be learned about the origins of stone tools.
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Egyptian Toes Likely to be the World’s Oldest Prosthetics
The results of scientific tests using replicas of two ancient Egyptian artificial toes, including one that was found on the foot of a mummy, suggest that they’re likely to be the world’s first prosthetic body parts.
The University of Manchester researcher Dr Jacky Finch wanted to find out if a three part wood and leather toe dating from between 950 to 710 BC found on a female mummy buried near Luxor in Egypt, and the Greville Chester artificial toe from before 600 BC and made of cartonnage (a sort of papier maché mixture made using linen, glue and plaster), could be used as practical tools to help their owners to walk. Both display significant signs of wear and their design features also suggest they may have been more than cosmetic additions. |  |
Prehistoric builders reveal trade secrets
A fossil which has lain in a museum drawer for over a century has been recognized by a University of Leicester geologist as a unique clue to the long-lost skills of some of the most sophisticated animal architects that have ever lived on this planet.
It has provided evidence that early organisms developed specialised roles and that these specialists displayed co-operation in order to construct their homes – much like today's builders employ a team of bricklayers, plasters and decorators. |  |
Amazon tribal warfare sheds light on modern violence, anthropologist says
In the tribal societies of the Amazon forest, violent conflict accounted for 30 percent of all deaths before contact with Europeans, according to a recent study by University of Missouri anthropologist Robert Walker. Understanding the reasons behind those altercations in the Amazon sheds light on the instinctual motivations that continue to drive human groups to violence, as well as the ways culture influences the intensity and frequency of violence.
"The same reasons - revenge, honor, territory and jealousy over women - that fueled deadly conflicts in the Amazon continue to drive violence in today's world," said Walker, lead author and assistant professor of anthropology in MU's College of Arts and Science. "Humans' evolutionary history of violent conflict among rival groups goes back to our primate ancestors. It takes a great deal of social training and institutional control to resist our instincts and solve disputes with words instead of weapons. Fortunately, people have developed ways to channel those instincts away from actual deadly conflict. For example, sports and video games often involve the same impulses to defeat a rival group." |  |
It Pays to Be a Nice Baboon
Like humans, baboons with good friends often enjoy better health and longer lives. Now research suggests the strength of a baboon's social circle depends less on its rank than its personality — and being nice pays off.
"These results have allowed us to, for the first time in a wild primate, link personality characteristics, social skill and reproductive success," researcher Robert Seyfarth, of the University of Pennsylvania, said in a statement. "By being a nice baboon, you increase the likelihood of having strong social bonds, which in turn translates to a better chance of passing on your genes.". |  |
How Brains Make Money
You and I would look at Wall Street and see the epitome of capitalism, a place where the marketplace, while more manic than in times past, still drives decisions.
But a group of scientists gathering today for a conference in Miami would see it differently. They would argue that if you really want to understand why investors and traders behave the way they do, you need to look inside their brains. Meet the neuroeconomists, pioneers of sorts in an emerging field based on the notion that financial decisions have their roots in neuron connections. They’re building a science around using brain scans to try to figure out what’s going on when people choose to chase rewards, or conversely, avoid risk. They’re also hoping this will help them understand why people make irrational choices, even when the reasoning part of their minds seems to know better. |  |
Spacetime Crystal Could Be a Reality
Remember when we said that "Doctor Who" fans eager to build their own TARDIS would first need to obtain an odd little item called a trachoid time crystal? The exotic item was first mentioned in a 1976 episode called "The Hand of Fear" as being key to the machine's ability to travel through space and time.
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek (MIT) suggested such a thing might be mathematically possible, giving hope to aspiring Time Lords everywhere. |
Atomic clocks get a grip on gravity
MEASURING Earth's hidden structures could soon be as simple as looking at your watch - provided it's a super-accurate atomic clock.
Such clocks are nearly good enough to deliver a detailed geoid, says Ruxandra Bondarescu at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and her colleagues. The geoid is a model of Earth's density variations - from the surface down to the mantle - as revealed by anomalies in the planet's gravitational pull. Knowing the geoid's shape can aid studies of deeply buried geological structures and show how mass is being redistributed over time, such as by the melting of polar ice sheets.
Such clocks are nearly good enough to deliver a detailed geoid, says Ruxandra Bondarescu at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and her colleagues. The geoid is a model of Earth's density variations - from the surface down to the mantle - as revealed by anomalies in the planet's gravitational pull. Knowing the geoid's shape can aid studies of deeply buried geological structures and show how mass is being redistributed over time, such as by the melting of polar ice sheets.
"What Will a Civilization a Million Years Ahead of Earth Look Like?"
For one of this weekend's features, we thought it would be interesting to revisit Carl Sagan's question: "What does it mean for a civilization to be a million years old? We have had radio telescopes and spaceships for a few decades; our technical civilization is a few hundred years old ... an advanced civilization millions of years old is as much beyond us as we are beyond a bushbaby or a macaque."
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Titan Shows Surprising Seasonal Changes
Detailed observations of Saturn's moon Titan have now spanned 30 years, covering an entire solar orbit for this distant world. Dr. Athena Coustenis from the Paris-Meudon Observatory in France has analyzed data gathered over this time and has found that the changing seasons of Titan affect it more than previously thought.
Coustenis explains, "As with Earth, conditions on Titan change with its seasons. We can see differences in atmospheric temperatures, chemical composition and circulation patterns, especially at the poles. For example, hydrocarbon lakes form around the north polar region during winter due to colder temperatures and condensation. |  |
Jupiter's Big Moon Ganymede Mapped by Amateur Astronomer
An amateur astronomer has created the first-ever homemade brightness map of Jupiter's huge moon Ganymede in a magnificent display of how non-professional skywatchers can contribute to the field of observational astronomy.
Greek skywatcher Emmanuel Kardasis of the Hellenic Amateur Astronomy Association created the new Ganymede map using a common "hobby" telescope and off-the-shelf camera and computer equipment. His map matches up well with images of Ganymede's surface taken by professionals, said officials with the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC), which is meeting this week in Madrid. |  |
Weather On Mars Surprisingly Warm, Curiosity Rover Finds
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is enjoying some nice, warm weather on the Red Planet — and spring hasn't even come to its landing site yet.
Curiosity's onboard weather station, which is called the Remote Environment Monitoring Station (REMS), has measured air temperatures as high as 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius) in the afternoon. And temperatures have climbed above freezing during more than half of the Martian days, or sols, since REMS was turned on, scientists said. These measurements are a bit unexpected, since it's still late winter at Gale Crater, the spot 4.5 degrees south of the Martian equator where Curiosity touched down on Aug. 5. |  |
'Green Brain' project to create an autonomous flying robot with a honey bee brain
Scientists at the Universities of Sheffield and Sussex are embarking on an ambitious project to produce the first accurate computer models of a honey bee brain in a bid to advance our understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and how animals think.
The team will build models of the systems in the brain that govern a honey bee's vision and sense of smell. Using this information, the researchers aim to create the first flying robot able to sense and act as autonomously as a bee, rather than just carry out a pre-programmed set of instructions.
The team will build models of the systems in the brain that govern a honey bee's vision and sense of smell. Using this information, the researchers aim to create the first flying robot able to sense and act as autonomously as a bee, rather than just carry out a pre-programmed set of instructions.
Glacier and Climate Mysteries in Shangri La
Today we set out on what is to be a collaborative, interdisciplinary scientific effort to examine the links among climate, glaciers and society in the high passes of the Bhutan Himalaya.
Nearly 3.2 billion people in South Asia depend on the water that originates from melting glaciers and snowpack of the high Himalaya, yet a gulf of uncertainty hinders our ability to assess the fate of this ice and snow in a warming world. Thus, the goals of this expedition are to collect data that will shed light on the sensitivity of Himalayan mountain glaciers to rising atmospheric temperatures, and to place these glaciers into the context of past climate change. |  |
Great Barrier Reef loses more than half its coral cover
Coral cover in the Great Barrier Reef has dropped by more than half over the last 27 years, according to scientists, a result of increased storms, bleaching and predation by population explosions of a starfish which sucks away the coral's nutrients.
At present rates of decline, the coral cover will halve again within a decade, though scientists said the reef could recover if the crown-of-thorns starfish can be brought under control and, longer term, global carbon dioxide emissions are reduced. |  |
Did a Massive Extraterrestrial Body Impact Earth 12,000 Yrs Ago? [updated]
New research results are consistent with a controversial theory that an extraterrestrial body – such as a comet – impacted the Earth approximately 12,900 years ago, possibly contributing to the significant climatic and ecological changes that date to that time period. The paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) includes significant findings about the nature of so-called "microspherules" that were found at a number of prehistoric sites, based on research done at North Carolina State.
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Scientists Want to Print Lasers onto Nearly Everything
Laser-emitting materials can be put onto nearly any surface through inkjet printers, which could lead to more-lifelike video displays, as well as unusual applications such as digital wallpaper, scientists say.
The lasers are made using liquid crystals, the same materials found in LCDs (liquid crystal displays) now common in laptop displays, flat-screen televisions and digital watches. Liquid crystals are a broad class of what are known as self-organized materials, whose ingredients naturally assemble themselves into orderly structures. |  |
Two identical UFO's almost 1,000 miles apart caught on Google Street View
Two mysterious and identical UFO's almost 1,000 miles apart have been observed on Google Maps - raising questions as to what they are and how they were photographed there in the first place.
The red orb-like shapes are visible to all users of the application online at Jacksonville in Texas and at the Sky City Casino Hotel on 32 Indian Service Route 30, Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico. At both locations the same object appears in the sky hovering over the street and was first pointed out to ABC News affiliate KLTV in East Texas by Andrea Dover who noticed the first UFO while using Google Maps to get directions. To see the Texan UFO you don't even have to enter a street into the search bar, just Jacksonville, Texas and go to street view, pan around there it is. |  |
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