Squiggler

Paleontology: Big Bird's Big Bad Brother

And I thought getting a bite from my Cockatoo hurt. This is one bad boy. Heck of a drumstick, though.

Sara Bertelli -- Fossil of a skull found in 15-million-year-old rock outcrops in Argentina.

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

Published: October 31, 2006

Fossils of the largest known bird, an extinct flightless predator with a skull the size of a horse’s and a menacing beak like an eagle’s, have been discovered in Argentina, paleontologists reported last week.

Palaeontology: Skull Morphology of Giant Terror Birds (Nature)

 

   

Stephanie Abramowicz

The big bird, which stood about 10 feet tall and probably weighed 400 pounds, was fleet of foot and able to chase down and devour rodents, reptiles and small mammals 15 million years ago on the plains of Patagonia. Not for nothing are its closely related species, a group known as phorusrhacids, more commonly called the “terror birds.”

Such avian giants evolved and prospered in the time of South America’s total isolation from other continents. All of these birds were apparently flightless, and most of them ate only plants. Until now, the only known species of carnivorous terror birds averaged five to nine feet tall and had relatively small heads.

Paleontologists said the new fossil discovery might force them to reconsider previous ideas that the terror birds that evolved the biggest bodies were significantly slower runners.

“This is not only the largest bird ever found,” said Luis M. Chiappe, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. “It also tells us the idea we have heard and repeated over the years may not be entirely valid.”

Dr. Chiappe and Sara Bertelli, also at the Los Angeles museum, described the find in the current issue of the journal Nature. They said the skull, more than 28 inches long, was virtually complete and remarkably different from and at least 10 percent bigger than skulls of related species. The researchers inferred the bird’s running ability from its leg and foot bones.

“We conclude that reconstructions of the skull of gigantic phorusrhacids on the basis of smaller relatives are unwarranted,” the two paleontologists wrote, “and that the long-established correlation between their corpulence and reduced cursorial agility needs to be re-evaluated.”

The skull and limb bones were found two years ago by a high school student, Guillermo Aguirre-Zabala. They were embedded in 15-million-year-old rock outcrops near the railroad station in his home village, Comallo, Argentina, which is east of Bariloche, where the fossils, as yet unnamed, are kept at a paleontological museum.

Before the discovery, knowledge of the skulls of large-bodied terror birds was limited to fragmentary specimens collected more than two decades ago. So scientists tended to interpret and illustrate the heads of the bigger birds as scaled-up versions of the better-known smaller species. These smaller cousins were about two to two and a half feet tall, big for birds but hardly the stature of the predatory giants.

In their examination of the new specimen, Dr. Chiappe and Dr. Bertelli noted many distinctive skull traits, particularly the shape and proportions of the face, a lower and longer beak and a flat cranial roof.

Even more revealing, they said, were the long, slender leg bone and the foot bones fused together. The foot bones bore a superficial resemblance to the three-toed rhea, a living flightless bird. The newfound terror bird was indeed big, they surmised, but “substantially swifter” than had been assumed for other enormous species of its group.

“It may not have been as fast as an ostrich,” Dr. Chiappe said, referring to the speediest of living flightless birds, able to reach speeds around 45 m.p.h. “But it clearly was a land bird that could run fast.”

And with this ability, these big birds appear to have become the top predator of the continent for millions of years. Other fossil evidence shows that the phorusrhacids lived the fast life between 60 million and 2 million years ago, passing from the scene after the emergence of the Panamanian land bridge ended South America’s isolation

New bird species found and how beautiful ...

I love birds. I have a Medium Sulphur Crested Cockatoo and he is like a member of our family. I love outside birds too. Not in a geeky bird-watching way, but I used to watch each year for the robins to come back as harbingers of Spring, and the beauty of the cardinals, the rat-a-tat-tat of the woodpeckers, and I even saw a bluebird once, although later I was told, "can't be they are extinct." I know what I saw and I know the difference between a Blue Jay and a Blue Bird. I  thought the Great Horned Owl that lived in my yard in Indiana was a beauty, but he scared me because I had small dogs and kitties running around. The one bird I hated was a resident Screech Owl. There is nothing that will raise the dead, or at least the dead to the world sleeper, quicker than a Screech Owl at 3:00 AM. Out here in California, my yard is full of Hummingbirds. Beautiful little balls of energy who flit through my weeping willow and build their nests among the bougainvillas. My Mother used to think it was good luck to see a Red-winged Blackbird. I, as a small child, just thought they were cool. And one time, on one of my many trips back and forth from the East Coast to the West, I stopped at a scenic spot on top of a mountain and eagle flew by as I stood there taking in the magnificent scenery. He was almost at eye level with me and I swear he looked me directly in the eye as if to rub it in how free he was.

This new species is beautiful, don't you think. How many species of all types are still to be discovered?

New Bird Species Found in Colombian Cloud Forest

BOGOTA, Colombia —  A colorful new bird has been discovered in a previously unexplored Andean cloud forest, spurring efforts to protect the area, conservation groups said Monday.

The bright yellow and red-crowned Yariguies brush-finch was named for the indigenous tribe that once inhabited the mountainous area where it was discovered.

For conservationists the discovery of the species came at a crucial time — the government has decided to set aside 500 acres of the pristine cloud forest where the bird lives to create a national park.

"The bird was discovered in what is the last remnants of cloud forest in that region," Camila Gomez, of the Colombia conservation group ProAves, said on Monday. "There are still lots of undiscovered flora and fauna species that live in the area."

The small bird can be distinguished from its closest relative — the yellow-breasted brush finch — by its solid black back and the lack of white marks on its wings.

Continue reading here

Archeology - "Once in a lifetime find"

This is cool.

Nearly Complete 'Missing Link' Skeleton Found in Ethiopia

AP

   

NEW YORK  —  Scientists have discovered a remarkably complete skeleton of a 3-year-old female from the ape-man species represented by "Lucy."

The discovery should fuel a contentious debate about whether this species, which walked upright, also climbed and moved through trees easily like an ape.

The remains are 3.3 million years old, making them the oldest known skeleton of such a youthful human ancestor.

"It's pretty unbelievable" to find such a complete fossil from that long ago, said scientist Fred Spoor. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime find."

Continue reading here

• Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Evolution & Paleontology Center.         

Space Shuttle has picture perfect lift off ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Sept. 9 — The space shuttle Atlantis made a thunderous ascent into partly cloudy skies on Saturday morning, carrying its crew of six to a rendezvous with the International Space Station.

Pluto demoted, Mickey has "no comet."

Pluto, Outcast

From AP: Dinky Pluto loses its status as planet.

Lower voice indicates dominance ...

When I was a little girl somewhere around five, six, or seven, my Mother was on me all the time to lower my voice. Screeching was absolutely forbidden! She did not mean lower the volume. She would make me sit at the piano and practice bringing my voice down from Middle C, down, down, down. She would frequently remind me that no one likes to be around a whiny sounding person and that in public speaking a high tonal voice becomes so annoying the content is lost as we tune out. Well, who would have guessed that there is science behind my Mother's admonitions, although in this case the science is limited to men. Hmmmm. The one thing I can say about my Mother is that she was as success driven as any man I've ever known and her success, which I always attributed to her brilliance, may have stemmed as much from her low and dominant (but melodic) speaking voice as it did from her natural ability and incredible intellect. This made especially more so as she was often the lone female competing in a man's world in her career.

Fox is running a "Live Science" story today that seems to prove my Mother's point, at least for men:

A male dog will whine and beg in deference to a stronger dog, but will lower its voice into a guttural growl if it thinks it has a fighting chance.

Men unconsciously do a similar thing, scientists say.

A new study finds that the lower the pitch of a man's voice, the more physically dominant other men think he is. And men lower their voice pitch when addressing a man they believe to be less dominant than themselves, but raise it when speaking to someone they think is more dominant.

The findings, detailed in the July issue of the journal of Evolution and Human Behavior, could help explain why vocal pitch in men and women are so different.

Big and low

Vocal pitch, determined by the main frequencies in a voice, is about half as high in men as in women. This difference has traditionally been explained as a product of sexual selection, in which women favored men with lower-pitched voices. ... Continued

This is when I wish I was very very rich ...

Money has never been a big deal to me as long as I have enough to pay my mortgage and buy food and gas. Now, comes an opportunity for those with lots of money. I want to do this sooooooooooo much ... anyone out there willing to donate the $15 million or so it would take to send Sara to space?

Space tourists offered walkabout

By Jonathan Fildes Science and technology reporter, BBC News

Space walkers will spend 1.5 hours circling the Earth

A company that blasted the first space tourists into orbit is offering future clients the chance to do a space walk.

Space Adventures say the optional excursion will cost $15m (£8m) on top of the $20m cost for the flight.

For that, private space explorers will get a 1.5 hour accompanied extra-vehicular-activity (EVA) outside the International Space Station (ISS).

The EVA would lengthen a stay on the ISS from 10 days to between 16 and 18 and would require additional training.

Eric Anderson, president of and CEO of Space Adventures said they already had "potential clients" for the spacewalks.

Those with enough money would get to "hang out" outside the space station with a trained cosmonaut as a guide, he said.

"One and a half hours in about one orbit of the earth so they'd see the entire planet," said Mr Anderson. "They'd experience complete day-time and night-time and watch the planet in its beauty and splendour." ... Continued

New Genome Project

As a nonscientist, I find the subject of DNA mindboggling. Amazing, but mindboggling. As a genealogist, I find it fascinating. Some of the genealogical DNA projects that are ongoing are finding amazing links. But this new genome project is, to this nonscientist, incredible.

Jan Woitas/European Pressphoto Agency

From left, Michael Egholm, Svante Paabo and Ralf W. Schmitz showing an original cast of a Neanderthal bone.

Scientists Hope to Unravel Neanderthal DNA

By NICHOLAS WADE

Researchers in Germany said Thursday that they planned to collaborate with an American company in an effort to reconstruct the genome of Neanderthals, the archaic human species that occupied Europe from 300,000 years ago to 30,000 years ago until being displaced by modern humans.

     

Long a forlorn hope, the sequencing, or decoding, of Neanderthal DNA suddenly seems possible because of a combination of analytic work on ancient DNA by Svante Paabo, of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and a new method of DNA sequencing developed by a Connecticut company, 454 Life Sciences.

The initial genome to be decoded comes from 45,000-year-old Neanderthal bones found in Croatia, though bones from other sites may be analyzed later. Because the genome must be kept in constant repair and starts to break up immediately after the death of the cell, the material surviving in Neanderthal bones exists in tiny fragments 100 or so DNA units in length. As it happens, this is just the length that works best with the 454 machine, which is also able to decode vast amounts of DNA at low cost.

Recovery of the Neanderthal genome, in whole or in part, would be invaluable for reconstructing many events in human prehistory and evolution. It would help address such questions as whether Neanderthals and humans interbred, whether the archaic humans had an articulate form of language, how the Neanderthal brain was constructed, if they had light or dark skin, and the total size of the Neanderthal population.

The project is still at an early stage, but much groundwork has been laid. Most Neanderthal bones contain no Neanderthal DNA at all, but almost all are heavily contaminated with the DNA of the many people who have handled the bones. Dr. Paabo has developed stringent methods to address this contamination problem.

Even with the DNA that is known to be ancient, some 95 percent of that in the Neanderthal bones belongs to ancient bacteria, said Michael Egholm, a vice president of 454 Life Sciences. But bacterial sequences can be recognized and discarded, he said.

Because Neanderthal DNA is so scarce, Dr. Paabo and the 454 Life Science researchers developed their methods on ancient DNA from cave bears and mammoth.

Turning to Neanderthal bones, they have already recovered considerable amounts of DNA sequence, which are derived from every chromosome in the Neanderthal cell, as judged by matching the Neanderthal DNA to the human genome sequence that was first fully decoded in 2003.

The first goal of the project will be to sequence three billion units of Neanderthal DNA, corresponding to the full length of the Neanderthal genome. This will require decoding 20 times as much DNA, because so much of the DNA in the Neanderthal bones belongs to bacteria.

Genomes usually must be decoded several times over to get a complete and accurate sequence, but the first three billion bases of Neanderthal should “hit all the essential differences,” Dr. Egholm said.

The researchers’ hope is to recover the entire sequence of the Neanderthal genome, but that will depend on whether they can recover enough DNA. From sampling so far, no particular gaps in the sequence are apparent. “We are hitting all the chromosomes and getting good coverage,” Dr. Egholm said. If no single specimen yields a full sequence, the genome might be recovered by combining DNA from several individuals.

One of the most important results that researchers are hoping for is to discover, from a three-way comparison of chimp, human and Neanderthal DNA, which genes have made humans human. The chimp and human genomes differ at just 1 percent of the sites on their DNA. At this 1 percent, Neanderthals resemble humans at 96 percent of the sites, to judge from the preliminary work, and chimps at 4 percent. Analysis of these DNA sites, at which humans differ from the two other species, will help understand the evolution of specifically human traits “and perhaps even aspects of cognitive function,” Dr. Paabo said.

The degree of resemblance between humans and Neanderthals is fiercely debated by archaeologists, and even issues like whether Neanderthals had language have not been resolved. Dr. Paabo believes that genetic analysis is the best hope of doing so. He has paid particular attention to a gene known as FOXP2, which from its mutated forms in people seems to be involved in several advanced aspects of language.

A longstanding dispute among archaeologists is whether the modern humans who first entered Europe 45,000 years ago, ultimately from Africa, interbred with the Neanderthals or forced them into extinction. Interbreeding could have been genetically advantageous to the incoming humans, says Bruce Lahn, a geneticist at the University of Chicago, because the Neanderthals were well adapted to the cold European climate — the last ice age had another 35,000 years to run — and to local diseases.

Evidence from the human genome suggests some interbreeding with an archaic species, Dr. Lahn said, which could have been Neanderthals or other early humans. ... Continued Here

Freaky fish with human-like teeth ...

WHAT IS IT?

A fish caught in Lubbock, Texas, with teeth that look like they belong to a human has baffled wildlife officials in the area, according to a report.

• Video: Freaky Fish Caught In Texas

More on the stem cell veto (Transcript with video link)

President Discusses Stem Cell Research Policy
The East Room

View

President Vetoes H.R. 810, the "Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005"

Fact Sheet: President Bush's Stem Cell Research Policy

2:08 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon.  Congress has just passed and sent to my desk two bills concerning the use of stem cells in biomedical research. These bills illustrate both the promise and perils we face in the age of biotechnology. In this new era, our challenge is to harness the power of science to ease human suffering without sanctioning the practices that violate the dignity of human life.  (Applause.)

In 2001, I spoke to the American people and set forth a new policy on stem cell research that struck a balance between the needs of science and the demands of conscience. When I took office, there was no federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research.  Under the policy I announced five years ago, my administration became the first to make federal funds available for this research, yet only on embryonic stem cell lines derived from embryos that had already been destroyed.

My administration has made available more than $90 million for research on these lines.  This policy has allowed important research to go forward without using taxpayer funds to encourage the further deliberate destruction of human embryos.

One of the bills Congress has passed builds on the progress we have made over the last five years.  So I signed it into law.  (Applause.)  Congress has also passed a second bill that attempts to overturn the balanced policy I set. This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others.  It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect, so I vetoed it.  (Applause.)

Like all Americans, I believe our nation must vigorously pursue the tremendous possibility that science offers to cure disease and improve the lives of millions.  We have opportunities to discover cures and treatments that were unthinkable generations ago. Some scientists believe that one source of these cures might be embryonic stem cell research.   Embryonic stem cells have the ability to grow into specialized adult tissues, and this may give them the potential to replace damaged or defective cells or body parts and treat a variety of diseases.

Yet we must also remember that embryonic stem cells come from human embryos that are destroyed for their cells.  Each of these human embryos is a unique human life with inherent dignity and matchless value.  We see that value in the children who are with us today.  Each of these children began his or her life as a frozen embryo that was created for in vitro fertilization, but remained unused after the fertility treatments were complete.  Each of these children was adopted while still an embryo, and has been blessed with the chance to grow up in a loving family.

These boys and girls are not spare parts. (Applause.) They remind us of that is lost when embryos are destroyed in the name of research. They remind us that we all begin our lives as a small collection of cells. And they remind us that in our zeal for new treatments and cures, America must never abandon our fundamental morals.

Some people argue that finding new cures for disease requires the destruction of human embryos like the ones that these families adopted.  I disagree.  I believe that with the right techniques and the right policies, we can achieve scientific progress while living up to our ethical responsibilities.  That's what I sought in 2001, when I set forth my administration's policy allowing federal funding for research on embryonic stem cell lines where the life and death decision had already been made.

This balanced approach has worked.  Under this policy, 21 human embryonic stem cell lines are currently in use in research that is eligible for federal funding.  Each of these lines can be replicated many times.  And as a result, the National Institutes of Health have helped make more than 700 shipments to researchers since 2001.  There is no ban on embryonic stem cell research. To the contrary, even critics of my policy concede that these federally funded lines are being used in research every day by scientists around the world.  My policy has allowed us to explore the potential of embryonic stem cells, and it has allowed America to continue to lead the world in this area.

Since I announced my policy in 2001, advances in scientific research have also shown the great potential of stem cells that are derived without harming human embryos. My administration has expanded the funding of research into stem cells that can be drawn from children, adults, and the blood in umbilical cords, with no harm to the donor.  And these stem cells are already being used in medical treatments.

With us today are patients who have benefited from treatments with adult and umbilical-cord-blood stem cells.  And I want to thank you all for coming.  (Applause.)

They are living proof that effective medical science can also be ethical. Researchers are now also investigating new techniques that could allow doctors and scientists to produce stem cells just as versatile as those derived from human embryos.  One technique scientists are exploring would involve reprogramming an adult cell.  For example, a skin cell to function like an embryonic stem cell.  Science offers the hope that we may one day enjoy the potential benefits of embryonic stem cells without destroying human life.

We must continue to explore these hopeful alternatives and advance the cause of scientific research while staying true to the ideals of a decent and humane society.  The bill I sign today upholds these humane ideals and draws an important ethical line to guide our research. The Fetus Farming Prohibition Act was sponsored by Senators Santorum and Brownback -- both who are here.  (Applause.)  And by Congressman Dave Weldon, along with Nathan Deal.  Thank you, Congressmen.  (Applause.)  This good law prohibits one of the most egregious abuses in biomedical research, the trafficking in human fetuses that are created with the sole intent of aborting them to harvest their parts.  Human beings are not a raw material to be exploited, or a commodity to be bought or sold, and this bill will help ensure that we respect the fundamental ethical line.

I'm disappointed that Congress failed to pass another bill that would have promoted good research.  This bill was sponsored by Senator Santorum and Senator Arlen Specter and Congressman Roscoe Bartlett. Thanks for coming, Roscoe.  (Applause.)  It would have authorized additional federal funding for promising new research that could produce cells with the abilities of embryonic cells, but without the destruction of human embryos. This is an important piece of legislation.  This bill was unanimously approved by the Senate; it received 273 votes in the House of Representatives, but was blocked by a minority in the House using procedural maneuvers. I'm disappointed that the House failed to authorize funding for this vital and ethical research.

It makes no sense to say that you're in favor of finding cures for terrible diseases as quickly as possible, and then block a bill that would authorize funding for promising and ethical stem cell research.  At a moment when ethical alternatives are becoming available, we cannot lose the opportunity to conduct research that would give hope to those suffering from terrible diseases, and help move our nation beyond the current controversies over embryonic stem cell research.

We must pursue this research.  And so I direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary Leavitt, and the Director of the National Institutes of Health to use all the tools at their disposal to aid the search for stem cell techniques that advance promising medical science in an ethical and morally responsible way.  (Applause.)

Unfortunately, Congress has sent me a bill that fails to meet this ethical test.  This legislation would overturn the balanced policy on embryonic stem cell research that my administration has followed for the past five years. This bill would also undermine the principle that Congress, itself, has followed for more than a decade, when it has prohibited federal funding for research that destroys human embryos.

If this bill would have become law, American taxpayers would, for the first time in our history, be compelled to fund the deliberate destruction of human embryos. And I'm not going to allow it. (Applause.)

I made it clear to the Congress that I will not allow our nation to cross this moral line.  I felt like crossing this line would be a mistake, and once crossed, we would find it almost impossible to turn back. Crossing the line would needlessly encourage a conflict between science and ethics that can only do damage to both, and to our nation as a whole. If we're to find the right ways to advance ethical medical research, we must also be willing, when necessary, to reject the wrong ways.  So today, I'm keeping the promise I made to the American people by returning this bill to Congress with my veto.

As science brings us ever closer to unlocking the secrets of human biology, it also offers temptations to manipulate human life and violate human dignity.  Our conscience and history as a nation demand that we resist this temptation.  America was founded on the principle that we are all created equal, and endowed by our Creator with the right to life.  We can advance the cause of science while upholding this founding promise.  We can harness the promise of technology without becoming slaves to technology.  And we can ensure that science serves the cause of humanity instead of the other way around.

America pursues medical advances in the name of life, and we will achieve the great breakthroughs we all seek with reverence for the gift of life.  I believe America's scientists have the ingenuity and skill to meet this challenge.  And I look forward to working with Congress and the scientific community to achieve these great and noble goals in the years ahead.

Thank you all for coming and may God bless.  (Applause.)

END       2:23 P.M. EDT