(* THE-ARC *)

Ancient Jews in Japan?

2012-01-20T11:40:00.000-08:00

http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~magi9/isracame.htm
http://biblicalanthropology.blogspot.com/2012/01/abrahams-anu-ancestors.html

interesting parallels between Hebrew (Yahudi) and Japanese (Nihoni) Shinto culture & script language, and genetic linkage (including Tibet as well).

Perhaps more accurate, Phoenician/Venician/Vennicones/Veneti/Fennic/Venne/Vinland voyagers/vikings (from way-go-n/vaya-/vika-/vector-/via-duct)* were a maritime trading people that used phonetic script in syllabary form (like Japanese) which was later adapted as alphabetical by western languages & Hebrew. First using wicker & hide punted roundboats (from inverted dome basket huts), then streamlined paddled rafts/canoes/umiaks & dogs, then ribbed-decked-keeled sailing vessels (with livestock) & then wagons/camel caravans, these marine technologies allowed fast dispersals around the old world and then the new world.

http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/faculty/gordon/gradation.pdf
Finnish roof: katto (resembles kota, a Lapp conic tent cf tipi)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnic_languages
http://www.paabo.ca/uirala/Farfarers.html

Note: Dan/Jordan/Sudan, anu/ainu, Sweden/Denmark, Danube/Don/Dniester, Fennu/Finn, Khotan/Turpan Turpan oasis (China) means 'the lowest place' in Uygur Language and 'the fertile land' in Turki [a schoolmate of mine from Finland was named Pannu, perhaps related to water voyager?)

Note: Ra/Rhone/Rhine, Dan/Den/Don, Finn/Fenn/Uenn refer to River/Coast valley way, and their harbor trading posts: Samar/Somal/Sumer/Suma, House: Dama/Duomo/Domus.

Dan: honorific "master of" [see Bucky Fuller's navigator-priests], c.1300, from O.Fr. dan/don from dominus; ancient northern Israel tribe Dan; Danaid: Greek myth daughter of Danaus, Argos king, condemned to draw water perpetually in bottomless buckets (origin of watermill?).

Danube: river of Europe (Ger. Donau, Hungarian Duna, Rus. Dunaj), from L. Danuvius, from Celtic *danu(w)-yo-, from PIE *danu- "river" (cf. Don, Dnieper, Dniester).
Dane: "native of Denmark," Daner, (replacing O.E. Dene (pl.) Perhaps ultimately from a source related to O.H.G. tanar "sand bank," [Sanskrit dhanu "sand shore"] or from P.Gmc. *den- "low ground", OE dhennu "river valley", cf anu

Dhanab (serpentine "tail"), Sudan, Red Sea shallows: http://itouchmap.com/?c=su&UF=-4747&UN=-6844&DG=RSV

dene "bare, sandy tract by the sea," late 13c., of uncertain origin, perhaps connected to dune, but the sense difference is difficult. "small valley," from O.E. denu "valley" (see den), PIE den/dan "down, low ground". Dendro (tree) probably related as serpentine form to both tail and river valley.

Before wheeled carts, traders would invert their skinboats to roof their stone/log foundationed market wares ashore along calm shallow waters.

"Note in the following map, the names Vennicones in the British north and Vennicni (obviously an abbreviation of the same Vennicones) in the north of Ireland. I see them as settlements of traders, handling wares from "Picts" on the one hand and visiting VENNE trader ships from "Scythia" on the other"

Rhobogdi: "(We bear in mind that Estonian has a very strong sea-trader tradition and would qualify as being located on the coast of "Scythia"!) The Rho at the front, would be the RA found in Rhone, Rhine, etc. which means 'way, path' and is often seen in the names of the earlier trade waterways (Ptolemy named the Volga Rha) but more often ot appeared as a suffix: Lige-RA, Wese-RA, Od-RA, etc.
There probably were two types of historic Picts. One type were sea-harvesters and used skin boats made from walrus hides, lived nomadically on outer shores and islands, and lived in semi buried circular rock shelters (like igloos, but made of rock and covered with sod)."

From the Bambuti leaf-shingled dome huts to sod-shingled domes to snow-block domes...

* annual: L. annalis form of annus "year," from PIE *at-no-, from base *at- "to go," on notion of "period gone through" (cf. Skt. atati "goes, wanders," as opposed to vasati static/stable/sedentary "stays")

stay: Gk. hestia "hearth," from PIE base *wes- "to dwell, stay" (cf. Skt. vasati "stays, dwells," Goth. wisan, O.E., O.H.G. wesan "to be").

PIE *stai- "stone," also "to thicken, stiffen" (cf. Skt. styayate "curdles, becomes hard;" Avestan stay- "heap;" Gk. stear "fat, tallow," stia, stion "pebble;" O.C.S. stena "wall").

Bowl boats & Bull boats

2012-01-10T10:34:00.000-08:00

Vietnamese bamboo bowl boat

http://www.extrasleepy.com/photo/pages/photo-bowl-boat.html

Mandan willow-frame buffalo skin boat
http://www.minnehahacounty.org/museums/exhibits/l_c_gifts_mandan/teachers/artifact_pages/32_buffalo_bull_boat.htm

Tibetan willow-frame yak skin boat (kudru) w/ yak butter grease (ghee) waterproofing
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Kudru.jpg/220px-Kudru.jpg

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Giant art gallery yacht, Seafair, stops in Miami: http://www.expoships.com/

Humans & Huts, Apes & Nests, Monkeys & Masses

2011-11-30T10:01:00.000-08:00

'Conch-shell' dome hut of bamboo and rice straw:

http://dornob.com/deformed-dome-bamboo-hut-builds-on-a-modeling-mistake/

77ka bedding with insecticide:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/6061/1388.abstract

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56ma- Opposable big toe/thumb allows clinging to twigs, (no claws for
trunk climbing, no lemur leaping)

52ma- Noct to diurnal, increased sociality (group noct. sleep, less insectivory, more leaves & fruit)

35ma- OWM/apes got color vision (canopy sleep - snakes-raptor detection,
more frugivory)

23ma- TRP2 pheromone signal disabled (olf. neural switch to RAM?),
increased visual sexual signaling in hominoids

20ma- Morotopith vertebrae - orthogrady, twig weaving bowl nests (all
extant great apes) anti-raptor mimicry

16ma- family coherance/bonding - increased altriciality & neural complexity?
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50ma: nocturnal slow-climbing insecti-folio-frugi-omni-vorous, scent-dominant (slow-loris -like)primates become diurnal/social binocular-color-sight-sound dominant, night-sleeping in plucked-leaf-cushioned tree-forks or enmassed-bunch ("snoozing-bear" mimic) defence against predators.

Opposable thumb allows clinging to twigs, sharp nails grasps trunks:
A 56 MILLION-YEAR-OLD skeleton found in Wyoming shows that one of the
earliest primate ancestors had an opposable big toe, allowing it to creep
to the outermost branches of trees to hunt nuts and fruit.

Because Carpolestes combines features of the earlier plesiadapiforms with
primate-like features, it begins to answer the question of what order these
traits evolved, and for what purpose. The study is published in the November
22 issue of the journal Science. ...
The Carpolestes, which weighed about 4 ounces (100 grams), had a long tail,
and a body about 14 inches (35 centimeters) long, shared some, but not all of
the characteristics of modern primates, and thus can be viewed as a
transitional animal. It had very primate like teeth that were highly
specialized for eating flowers, seeds, and fruit. The opposable big toe gave
it a grasping ability that indicates it spent most of its time climbing trees.

Carpolestes also had a nail on its big toe, but its eyes were not forward
facing, and it did not have the bone structure that would allow for
specialized leaping, like some of the earliest primates.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15600357
The team pinpointed the shift from non-social to social living to about 52 million years ago; a switch that appears to have happened in one step, and coincided with a move into daylight.

An analysis of over 200 primate species by a University of Oxford team suggests that our ancestors gave up their solitary existence when they shifted from being nocturnal creatures to those that are active during the day. It is likely communal living was adopted to protect against day time predators, the researchers say.
"If you are a small animal active at night then your best strategy to avoid predation is to be difficult to detect," explained Oxford's Suzanne Shultz, who led the study.

"Once you switch to being active during the day, that strategy isn't very effective, so an alternative strategy to reduce the risk of being eaten is to live in social groups," she told BBC News.

Dr Shultz thinks that the move to day-time living in ancient primates allowed animals to find food more quickly, communicate better, and travel faster through the forest.

female bonding emerged much later at about 16 million years ago.

http://www.ns.umich.edu/Releases/2003/Jun03/r061603.html
35ma- OWM got color vision but lost pheromone detection (replaced by RAM?)

Even our humble mammal cousin, the mouse, was found to have 140 genes just for pheromone receptors when its genome was completely sequenced earlier this year.
But humans are clueless when it comes to pheromone signals, according to University of Michigan evolutionary biologist Jianzhi “George” Zhang. He believes color vision put our pheromones out of business.

Zhang said. In fact, though humans and these apes still carry genes that should create pheromone receptors in our noses "Some pheromone detection genes don't function. There is considerable evidence that there are nasal receptors for pheromones in humans which affect behaviour, though their signals are not registered consciously." This may be origin of RAM memory in humans, via olfaction neural network.

A pheromone attaches to a water molecule, drifts about in the air currents and finally lands on the proper receptor in someone else’s nose. The receiver can’t immediately be sure who sent it, where it came from or when. But with sexual swelling, everyone in the troop can see precisely when and where the signal is, even at a significant distance.

Sexual swelling occurs in about 10 percent of all primate species, but only in the Old World species of Africa and Asia, which is where humans probably originated, as well.

To test their idea, Zhang’s team zeroed in on a human gene called TRP2, which makes an ion channel that is unique to the pheromone signaling pathway. They found that in humans and Old World primates, this gene suffered a mutation just over 23 million years ago that rendered it dysfunctional. But because we could use color vision for mating, it didn’t hurt us. In turn, the pheromone receptor genes that rely on this ion channel fell into disuse, and in a random fashion, mutated to a dysfunctional state because they haven’t experienced any pressure from natural selection.

34ma: New World monkeys transit Atlantic Ocean on floating vegetative raft, Red Sea opens, Antarctica freezes, equatoreal-Tethys currents changing affects forest seasonality.

20ma: Hominoids become sub-canopy open-bowl-nesting (eagle-nest mimic, outreached hooked hand = raptors' hooked beak, red scalp hair = danger sign to predator in flight, infant coo-ing = eagle chick cheeps), orthograde upright branch-hanging/standing/hand-plucking apes eg. morotopithecus, ardipithecus; development of deeper larynx and laryngeal air sac improved both upright vocalization in rainforest canopy and face-up upper-body buoyancy while wade-foraging (cf finger-raking surface-growing hydrocharis seaweed by Ndoki gorilla) in shallow forest wetlands and coastal mangroves, some slow open-ground upright bipedalism (cf siamang) with only little (above-branch) pronograde quadrupedalism.

5ma: Chromosome 2 inversion/fusion [Photic sneeze reflex activated, Iodine & Iron metabolism changes] in human ancestors, humans invert (dimple) the standard woven great ape sub-canopy open-bowl nest (leaf-lined interior) into small fully-enclosed-dome-hut with mosquito-proof/waterproof leaf-shingled exterior (reduced natural selection for fur coat), entire dome was lifted for access. Photic sneeze was advantageous against predation, eg. a leopard (or human enemy) at daybreak lifting the dome shell would flood it with sunlight, causing an explosive solar-powered sneeze (accompanied by a sharp stick) in the snout.

3.3ma: Gorilla louse transferred to humans and became human pubic louse, (possibly indicating that African Australopiths (eg. Lucy) starting at that period were HG hybrids?), Africa tropical rainforest reduced, humans more waterside and ground based. Apes (chimps, gorillas) independently develop knuckle-walking quadrupedalism to transit more open woodlands, while bipedal humans develop kneecrawling to enter/exit dome huts (no doorways yet, just lightweight dome shell).

2.6ma: First Oldawan sharp stone tools used to cut sedges/wicker/nuts/meat, reducing need for large sharp teeth, but molars enlarged for more chewing. Air sacs gradually lost, with increased submerged-face foraging (wading/swimming) in shallows for benthic rhyzomes and soft shelled seafoods along with shrub berries, herbs, eggs, larvae, etc.

1.8ma: Humans forage more often in coastal areas, develop denser bones and paranasal sinuses as result of deeper benthic gathering of shellfish, crustaceans. Females made slightly larger domes to contain small infants while foraging nearby so as to keep both hands free, males made smaller portable domes as hunting blinds/roundshields which females valued for use as baskets, these roundshields may have covered open hatchways at night to signal female's domes companionship. Likely seafoods, mangrove honey and mangrove salt-crystal leaf exudates were collected, consumed and brought inland seasonally, perhaps exchanging with inland groups. Bifacial hand axes were improved for cutting, used as bait traps when inserted into fish or animal organs to bait crocs, bears, big cats & wolves near shore.

120ka?: Humans invent portable roundshield-door-roundboat, modify hut (cone & drum), add doorway hatch.

25ka?: Humans invent orthogonal linear buildings, villages evolve from seasonal camps

DDeden
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Article from New Scientist: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21258-earliest-human-bedding-didnt-let-the-bedbugs-bite.html

After a hard day hunting and gathering, humans 77,000 years ago could count on a good night's mosquito-free sleep on a comfy bed of grass and leaves. Archaeologists have discovered the oldest evidence of humans using plant bedding, 50,000 years before it appears anywhere else.

Many animals make beds for themselves, says lead author Lyn Wadley of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, but what's interesting in the new find is the way the owners managed their bedding. To keep it clean and pest-free, they burned it.

Wadley's team has spent the past decade excavating a rock shelter called Sibudu, situated high in a cliff surrounded by forest and near the Uthongathi river in South Africa. People lived there on and off between 80,000 and 38,000 years ago, in a complex society that used stone tools and even made glue and simple ornaments.

Wadley found layers of plant material on the cave floor that date from 77,000 years ago onwards – mostly grasses, sedges and rushes. These could not have grown in the dry shelter, so people probably collected them near the river.

Burning the beds
Wadley thinks the bedding was used to make a clean area for sitting, working, eating and sleeping. Tools and other artefacts were found buried within it.

Intriguingly, all the layers of bedding that are 73,000 years old or younger show signs of burning, which Wadley suggests may have been the result of routine cleaning. Burning the plants would have killed pests and diseases. That the cave's occupants needed to do this, he says, may suggest they spent extended periods of time in the shelter, so had to keep it clean.

It seems the bed-makers were selective about the plants they would sleep on. A range of trees grow in the region, but only the Cape laurel (Cryptocarya woodii) was used.

Cape laurel leaves give off insecticidal chemicals, so they would have repelled insects and their larvae – including malarial mosquitoes. That would make the cave bedding the earliest evidence of humans using medicinal plants, although other animals have similar tricks: common starlings often use insecticidal plants in their nests to repel blood-sucking insects.

Old knowledge
The behaviours may have started sooner than this site shows. "I would guess that right back until the earliest anatomically modern humans, people would have known which plant to choose," says Wadley.

Chimpanzees also build nests, and there is some evidence that they too include insecticidal plants. Fiona Stewart of the University of Cambridge, UK, spent several nights sleeping in chimp nests, and found that insects bit her less than when she slept on the ground.

"Perhaps this purpose of bedding has been continuous throughout human evolution," Stewart suggests.

Journal reference: Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1213317

Note: I have written in an earlier post about medicinal and insecticidal plants used by archaic humans.

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantcd/crytocarwood.htm

A bedding dated from the Lower Paleolithic, 130 000 years ago, was discovered by
Henry de Lumley. It was the home of the Lazaret Man near Nice in southern
France. The site was a construction, eleven feet long and twelve feet wide,
consisting of a frame of vertical posts resting against the wall of the cave, on
which were arranged skins falling to the ground. A partition separated the
interior activity areas and one area was containing the remains of a bedding.
The men of the Lazaretto rest and sleep on thick litter of dried kelp.
http://independent.academia.edu/pfpuech/Papers/212001/Enamel_Pits_of_the_Lazaret_Man

1) 52ma from noct to diur primates -> social group (little/no aquatic
foraging, surface swim)

2) 20ma from branch to open nest, prono to orthograde locom./forag.
(wade, face-up float, surface forage)

3) 5ma phot. sneeze reflex - from open nest to dome, (subsurface
forage)

4) 100ka-50ka roundboats (super-surface forage)

5) 20ka? longboats dugout/tied raft

My time chart:

0) pre-52ma small primate size, individual/infant tree hollow sleeping
(bushbaby, tupaia), little surface swimming

1) 52ma from noct to diur primates -> social group (little/no aquatic
foraging, surface swimming) (group sleeping on branches?(proconsul))

2) 20ma from branch to large open nest, (morotopith, raptor-mimic
nest) from prono to orthograde locom./forag.
(wade, face-up float, surface forage)

3) 5ma phot. sneeze reflex - from open nest to dome, (subsurface
forage, HP split, #2 chrom. fusion)

4) 100ka-50ka roundboats (super-surface forage) qufa

5) 20ka? longboats dugout/tied raft

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Chufa = suph = sedge

Chum: Chinook - dog salmon, Siberian - cone tent (proto-tipi) for summer fishing?
Ket/a: Russian - dog salmon, Ket people of Yenisei R,
Kot/a: Saami/Lapp conic tent, Kot people of Yenisei R.

Videos

2011-10-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

Incredible videos: mussel hunting under ice during low tide, others

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Z0qGvC3vqaA

Amazing pendulum waves of Mach:

http://sciencedemonstrations.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k16940&pageid=icb.page80863&pageContentId=icb.pagecontent341734&state=maximize&view=view.do&viewParam_name=indepth.html#a_icb_pagecontent341734

Ancient predator traps

2011-09-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

Update of this post: http://the-arc-ddeden.blogspot.com/2007/12/aechulian-hand-axe-or-bifacial-bait.html

http://news.yahoo.com/giant-crocodile-captured-alive-philippines-134625838.html

http://lawnchairanthropology.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-old-is-acheulian-tool-industry-and.html

What exactly were Acheulian "hand-axes" (with their very specific forms) for?--marc

DDeden: multi-functional knives, including use as predator bait traps, inserted into flesh of prey and set at waterside to kill crocs, sharks, wolves, lions, etc. They are most commonly found near former waterside areas, (per Mikey Brass at Paleoanthro) they were made with sharp edges all around (so inconvenient for handling unless partly covered), swallowed by predators that had a habit of 'wolfing' down chunks of flesh quickly.

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/08/why-did-early-humans-leave-afric.html?ref=hp
Why Did Early Humans Leave Africa Without the Latest Gadgets?Brian Switek 31.8.11In ancient sediments near Kenya's Lake Turkana, archaeologists have foundstone hand axes dating to 1.76 Ma - the oldest examples yet found of theAcheulian stone-tool technology.People love to get their hands on the latest & greatest technology, andscientists had long believed that early humans were no exception.Paleontologists theorized that our ancestors didn't start leaving Africauntil they had developed advanced hand axes.But a new study finds that early humans began to migrate out of thecontinent with more primitive tools, even though better technology hadbeen invented. Over time, various groups of ancient humans have made various types ofstone tools. The oldest & most rudimentary instruments (sharp-edged stones created bybanging rounded rocks against larger stone "anvils") belong to the Oldowanculture ~2.6-1.7 Mao.From the Oldowan, a more complex tool culture developed called theAcheulian ~1.6 Ma. These are more complicated tools, such as teardrop-shaped hand axes,created by striking carefully selected stones with other rocks calledhammer-stones. These tools were useful for a wider range of tasks than the Oldowan ones.It was the Acheulian culture that first spread farthest around the globe,and it persisted until ~100 ka.

The Line of the Archer, the Biologist & the Polymath

2011-08-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

At Catalogue of Organisms biology blog, [http://coo.fieldofscience.com/2011/08/red-lined-wings-of-south-america.html?showComment=1312665778549#comment-c4532519180935840235 ] I made a comment regarding the original measure of the word "line", following his description : "A 'line' is a unit of measurement used by a number of 18th and 19th century biologists. The exact length of a line seems to have varied somewhat between countries (see this page for explanations), though it seems to have generally been a little more than 2 mm. Linnaeus apparently defined a line in the introduction to Philosophia Botanica as the length of a lunule (the white half-moon at the base of a fingernail) on any finger other than the thumb." (italics mine)

my comment: perhaps originally 'line' represented the diameter or thickness of a taut bowstring on an archer's bow? I'd think it fits in this way:

L-ine singlet, a-lign (ligament/tendon) (parallel fiber, straight or single coil)

Tw-ine duplet, div-ide, twisted lines -> X (double helix)

Tr-ine triplet, tri-plait, braided lines -> * (offset & interwoven)

See the picture in my earlier post here: http://the-arc-ddeden.blogspot.com/2010/05/archae-numeric.html

Note that in the 123 sequence, Roman numerals are vertical lines, Chinese numerals are horizontal lines and Indi-Arabic numerals are vertical cursively attached lines.

Per Bucky Fuller, there are no mathematically straight lines in nature, there are only progressively less non-straight lines as vector edges between and enclosing events.

http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/synergetics.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synergetics_(Fuller)

Vertebrates "are" Invertebrates

2011-06-08T13:11:00.000-07:00

I asked the following questions to Christopher at his blog Catalogue of Organisms, in his post on moths.

Are the pharyngeal arches in vertebrates homologous to the first pair of true legs in insects?

Are the abdomenal prolegs in holometabolous caterpillars homologous to the ventral mammae & milk line in mammals? (both involve fluid-dynamic flow rather than muscle movement, and woulld explain presence of most male mammals retaining vestigial nipples).

I suspect so, in both cases. Having just read The Secret Life of Lobsters by Trevor Corson, I see that female lobsters secrete protein glue (for egg attachment) from cement ducts on their caudalmost swimmerettes (homologous to caudalmost prolegs & mammae secreting casein glue-rich milk IMO). They fold their tails like crabs and deposit thousands of eggs within the folded area, protecting them from exposure. Marsupials seem to have retained this trait, except the marsupial embryo escapes the egg and womb and crawls by forelimbs to the mammae which are protected from exposure by a skin fold (pouch). The echidna, an egg laying primitive monotreme mammal with a pouch, has no external nipples, the hatched infant licks the abdomen to get milk. It appears to be a homology between these distinct taxa.

Aaron Filler's book on Vertebrae called The Upright Ape goes into detail on the spine & vertebrae as archetype, but does not mention this: Lobsters inside their eggs molt 35 times, changing their 'skin'. (After leaving the egg, lobsters eat their shed 'skin'.) The 35 molts produce the somites which form the vertebral column (in vertebrates), internally similar to the external rattles of the molting rattlesnake, I'd say. (Unlike lobsters, snakes never eat their shed skin AFAIK.) It is my contention that the 35 molts are, geometrically, 7 episodes of pentameric (5-way split) distribution, resulting in, for example, 7 cervical vertebrae in mammals, etc.

DDeden

PS. Insect wings and bird/dinosaur feathers appear to be homologous to lobster swimmerettes, (and more distantly to caterpillar prolegs and mammalian mammae). Imagine that! Nature Rules!

PPS. Insect wings appear to be homologs to a vertebrate rib "shell", that is, the delicate forewings of a butterfly are equivalent evolutionarily to the hyperdense ribcage of a dugong, the aftwings of a moth to a sauropod pelvis, the fly's vestigial flight knobs to a giant blue whales vestigial pelvis.

http://coo.fieldofscience.com/2011/06/colour-vs-crypsis.html#comments

http://www.uprightape.net/

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Life-Lobsters-Scientists-Unraveling/dp/0060555580

Also interesting to compare human embryos and giant sauropod dinosaurs:

http://svpow.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/the-worlds-longest-cells-speculations-on-the-nervous-systems-of-sauropods/

and the tentacles of squid ((4 + 1) x 2) with the typical prolegs of a caterpillar ((4 + 1) x 2)...

=================================================================

Church forests of Lake Tana, Ethiopia 'Trees are the jewels of God"

http://blogs.plos.org/blog/2011/02/25/church-forest/

They function similarly to the European tradition of Royal Forest. Interesting the name of the island forests is Coptic Forest, similar to Coppice Forest.

pedelec bikes

2011-06-07T08:08:00.000-07:00

http://www.fastcompany.com/1585081/sanyo-eneloop-solar-charging-hybrid-bike-park-japan-alt-power

http://www.kalkhoffusa.com/pedal-assisted-bikes.php

Hushai the Archite - Friend of King David

2011-06-06T08:05:00.000-07:00

Various interpretations are given to the epithet "The Archite." According to one opinion it was because he was one of David's highest officials (from the Greek archē, "chief of government"); according to another it is the name of his birthplace; and others that he was so called "because through him the house of David was to be put on a firm footing, and through him the house of David was to be kept in good repair," the word ארך in Aramaic meaning to keep in good order (Mid. Ps. 3:3).

The name Hushai itself is most probably a short form of the name Ahishai, Ahushai.

http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist+Information/Ethnic+Groups/Druze/The+Tomb+of+Hushai+the+Archite+in+Yirka.htm

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol13no2/html/v13i2a04p_0001.htm

Hushai
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Hushai or Chusai was a friend of David and a spy according to the Hebrew Bible.

Hushai was an Archite, that is, possibly a native of Archi, a place south of the portion of Ephraim, near Bethel (Joshua 16:2). He is called in 1 Chronicles 27:33 "the king's friend". This title is similar to that of counselor given to Ahitophel, or that of leader of the army to Joab. We see a like use of the term in 1 Kings 4:5. In the Books of the Maccabees it is an official title given by the Seleucids to persons of confidence who have important military or civil functions (1 Maccabees 2:18; 3:38; 6:10, 14, 28; 7:6-8; etc.). It is likely then, that Hushai's title of "friend" of King David does not imply the intimate relations suggested by the term.
Nevertheless, the account that is given of him during Absalom's rebellion (2 Samuel 15-17) shows that in his case the title was not merely official. Just after David has heard of the treason of his counselor Ahitophel, he is met, on his way up the Mount of Olives by Hushai, whose garments are rent and whose head is covered with dust. He is probably an old man, for David tells him he would be a burden in the flight. But the king does honour to Hushai's cleverness by sending him to Jerusalem to "defeat the counsel of Ahitophel". Hushai persuades Absalom to take him into his confidence, and, in the council held shortly afterwards in regard to the measures to be taken against David, he obtains a delay which secures the safety of the king. He is able likewise to convey information to David through Zadok, Abiathar, and their sons.
[edit] References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). "Chusai". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. The original article was by Joseph P. Thomas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archi_language

steps

2011-06-03T07:52:00.000-07:00

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/gobekli-tepe/musi-photography
http://www.uprightape.net/Image_Pages/UA_Fig3-2_DjedDrawing.html

Note similarity of the T pillar at Gobleki Tepe 9ka and the Djed column in Ancient Egypt (fig. B), both have hands extended forward, both have bench (or ladder rungs) below and T (or multiple Ts) above.

Note similarity of vertebrae, mastaba (mammae + stepped pyramid), stupa/pagoda, stair, stele/tel/tepe...

The first dwelling of humanity was the triangularly woven geodesic dome of branches with a waterproof external coil of inserted leaf shingles (cf modern BaMbuti mongolu dome hut constructed by Pygmy women from intertwined branches.), an inversion of the great ape nest (which had been naturally selected due to its effective mimicry of the raptors large canopy open nest, with internal leaves inserted for lining). The dome hut occurred after the #2 chromosome inversion/fusion in humans, when human ancestors (46 chromosomes) permanently separated from apes (48 chromosomes) and exchanged open-nest-tree-canopy dwelling for enclosed-dome-ground dwelling. From this, humans expanded from their forest origins outwards omnidirectionally, modifying their dome huts. This included changing from a coil of large leaves to a coil of grass or reed bundles (more insulating), clumps of clay-roots (first Jericho huts) or slate-slabs or rocks (more permanent, eg. Natufian) or even mammoth skulls & bones covered by animal furs or tree bark or grass bundles, depending on availability of leaves etc. and amount of rain and temperature changes. The partly buried sod dome (at first hand-pulled root-soil clumps, then serrated-blade-obsidian-knife-cut square clods and later sawn snowblocks for dome igloos (eg. Alaskan Eskimo Inuit) and sundried clay-straw bricks (eg. Sudan Nile huts, India Harappa) were derived gradually. (By this time the original all-branch geodesic frame was replaced by tied-stick frame, knots/lashings and glues more recent than weaving.) Nomads following herd seasonal migrations developed the cone (stick-hide Saami kota, Dakota tipi) in areas with few trees, and the stilted coned column (stick-lathe-felt yurt, stick-lather-manure-clay roundhouse hut) followed in seasonally semi-permanent villages. Then square base huts and longhouses formed due to population pressure, round huts became "squished" and straightened by permanent fences/walls/roads and more concentration, height became functional for growth, usable for open canopy-covered patios (stick stepladders), areas not flood-prone would allow subground cool storeroom cellars (stone stairs), houses above floodprone areas had shaded patios and animal pens below.

See post on round basket craft, dome huts & round basket boats:
http://the-arc-ddeden.blogspot.com/2008/12/crescent.html

Le Tuc d'Audoubert cave, rotunda contains 2 clay sculted bison, outer chamber contains dripping stalactites (a poet referred to them as 'milky tits'), which links stalactite to galact to melt, molassis & Moses (drawn from water in a papyrus ark/teba coated in bitumen tar, as was the earlier Egyptian Horus) later getting water from stone in the land of milk (PIE melug, galact) & honey (mahdu, mead).

http://cd0901-2.blogspot.com/2009/01/birth-of-art-paleolithic-art.html

The holy sacred texts of ancient cultures speak of village squares, temples and 2 story buildings in towns & cities and fabricated tents of nomads, this dates them to long after the early human habitat of woven-branch dome shelters in small forest camps, rings of small huts (Saami kota, Malay mahakota = crown) around the central cooking/drying campfire (Mbuti apa = fire = camp, Malay api = fire, kampong = camp).

http://anthropology.net/2010/02/22/gobekli-tepe-temple-in-turkey-predates-the-pyramids-of-giza/#comment-25079

See beehive houses of Sanlurfia nearby:
http://images.travelpod.com/users/sallycousens/1.1244889872.bee-hive-houses.jpg

Compare to neolithic huts of Ban P'o site in 7ka China:
http://hilbertspaces.com/photos/china/xian/banpo/dscn1346.jpg
"Majority of them were semi subterranean, 3-5m (10-16ft) in diameter, and with floors almost a meter beneath the ground surface. Every house had timber beams that placed on stone bases, whereby they gave support to precipitously pitched roof. Moreover, the interior walls and floors were plastered with straw and clay". http://www.articlelisted.com/Art/41928/185/Neolithic-Village-Ban-po-ts-un.html

Basically a tied tipi top above ground and supported columnar bottom in or at ground level, typical for pre-brick neolithic small village settlements throughout Eurasia & Africa amongst transitional hunter-gatherer - permanent agriculturalists.

The igloo instead combined the coiled shingle unit (mongongo/pandanus leaf -> clay-straw clump (later brick) -> sod clod block -> snow block) and semi-subterranean depth with raised bed, but discarded the (scarce) wood branch geodesic framework, relying on the melt-freeze cycling of snow for rigid blocks similar to sun dried clay-straw bricks.
"Iglu is the Inuit word for a house or home built out of any material,[1] and is not restricted exclusively to snowhouses, but includes traditional tents, sod houses, homes constructed of driftwood and modern buildings.[2][3] The hole left in the snow where the blocks are cut from is usually used as the lower half of the shelter" (Similar to the semi-subterranean dome & cone structures elsewhere, inside was lower except in flood-prone areas where stilts were used.)Animal skins were used as door flaps to keep warm air in. Igloos used as winter shelters had beds made of snow, covered with twigs and caribou furs. (Furs were never used to cover the dome, only the doorway and bed.) Architecturally, the igloo is unique in that it is a dome that can be raised out of independent blocks leaning on each other and polished to fit without an additional supporting structure during construction. (Thus the wood frame was lost. In areas where snow was unreliable for blocks, huts of whale ribs and hides were built, surrounded by compacted snow for insulation.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Igloo_spirale.svg (similar to leaf coiling of BaMbuti dome)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/EskimoIglooDrawing.jpeg

Earlier, I had speculated that the igloo had been derived from Lake Baikal seal air holes which are snow pile domes. In inuit these snowpiles are called aglu. But there is no coiled block construction, so I think the term aglu is derived from the igloo, which is surely derived from coiled sod clod domes derived from geodesic branch & coiled leaf domes (mongolu)

Where trees grew or driftwood was available, a pole & sod house was built:
http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic45-2-199.pdf
Note that the ceiling was held up by either inverted forked roots or branch forks. [The T pillars of G. Tepe may have served a similar function, holding up a canopy, ceiling or dome above the central pair of Tees.] Some Siberian people had a tipi-like structure, but the smokehole was also the access hole, while a ladder was used for entry. In colder climates, the access hole was dug underground and covered. [Catal Hoyuk and other neolithic settlements also often used ceiling ladders rather than floor-level doorways or subterranean tunnels.]

Siberian yaranga (arctic yurt): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaranga
Saami goahti*/kota/lavu: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goahti (peat & birch bark cover)
Siberian summer chum tipi tent: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chum_(tent)
Siberian winter pyramidal golomo uten**: http://www.grida.no/prog/polar/siberia2003/people/evenk/evenk.htm
nenet huts http://www.culturecenternorthernasia.org/housetypes.jpg
Siberian Koryak winter step hut: http://www.koryaks.net/history.html

* goahti (wide tipi) similar to: kota/cote/cottage/coat/hut/court
** golomo uten (wooden pyramid roof cabin) similar to: mongolu/igloo/harigolu/ma-gulu, uten similar to hut/wooden/hutan/(endu = interior of hut)/endura = forest interior)

DDeden

urartu sailing?

2011-05-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

Did first controlled sailing occur at these lakes for reliable trade?
[Urartu/Ararat empire that became Armenia, parts of Iran/Georgia/Turkey.
Khalde = Chaldean?, Van = Levant = Lebanon, Van - Venetia/Phoenecia/Venice/Veneti?]

The wheel is found earliest here and Poland, from dragged triangular travoix to pulled sleds to sleds with pole rollers to detachable disc wheels (droga (drag/draw)/traga to wagon/tobagon/truck/(Thai) tuktuk)) with mast-pole axle. See bottom. Only areas with snow and ice would develop this method of trade locomotion. Africa had hoops but no wheels. Controlled sailing = controlled mast 360 degrees = axle on cart.

Phoenicians originally from these "high" seas, first sailers to learn to sail against the wind?
The seas of Armenia, Lake Van, Lake Sevan, Lake Urmia

This area was extraordinarily rich in trade (eg. mined flint, lapis lazuli) with Sumeria, Med. /Red/Black/Caspian seacoasts, Tigris-Euphrates rivers, early middle east towns. Bible refers to Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, may link to Ur (city) of Urartu and the local god Khaldi. Did controlled sailing first begin in these mountain brackish lakes for ferrying products across? Nile sailboats furled sails when the current brought them downstream and unfurled sails when the winds brought them upstream, so no advantage to have tack-ability. The oceans were too rough for early sailboats. Rivers, wetlands and ponds required paddling or punt poling. Legend of Noahs' ark landing at Mount Ararat may have come from ancient Urartu lake original controlled sailing. Perhaps these seas had mountain passes which brought consistent breezes, where control of sail power was rewarded and long distance paddling was hard work due to low oxygen level?

[The Kingdom of Armenia (or Greater Armenia) was an independent kingdom from 190 BC to AD 387 and a client state of the Roman and Persian empires until 428, stretching from the Caspian to Mediterranean seas.

The predecessor of the kingdom was the Satrapy of Armenia Armenia
("Armina" in Old Persian, "Harminuya" in Elamite, and "Urartu" in the Bablylonian parts of Behistun Inscription
The Behistun Inscription is a multi-lingual inscription authored by Darius the Great, king of the Persian Empire, the successor state of the Median Empire, ruling over significant portions of what would become Greater Iran

The Orontid Dynasty was the first known Armenian dynasty and the successor state to the Kingdom of Ararat... (with Macedonian influence). ]

Tushpa, the capital of Urartu, was located near the shores of Lake Van, on the site of what became medieval Van's castle, west of present-day Van city.

Lake Van was the centre of the Armenian kingdom of Ararat from about 1000 BC, afterwards of the Satrapy of Armina, Kingdom of Greater Armenia, and the Armenian Kingdom of Vaspurakan.

Along with Lake Sevan in today's Armenia and Lake Urmia in today's Iran, Van was one of the three great lakes of the Armenian Kingdom, referred to as the seas of Armenia (in ancient Assyrian sources: "tâmtu ša mât Nairi" (Upper Sea of Nairi), the Lower Sea being Lake Urmia).

Armenian: Lake Sevan = Sevana Lich

the etymology of word "Sevan" was found in Teyseba (the cuneiform inscription by Rusa I (730—714 B.C.)). the etymology of "Sevan" is similar to Yerevan's etymology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerevan
it is likely that the city's name is derived from the Urartian military fortress of Erebuni (Էրեբունի), which was founded on the territory of modern-day Yerevan in 782 BC by Argishti I.[6] As elements of the Urartian language blended with that of the Armenian one, the name eventually evolved into Yerevan (Erebuni = Erevani = Erevan = Yerevan). Scholar Margarit Israelyan notes these changes when comparing inscriptions found on two cuneiform tablets at Erebuni:
The transcription of the second cuneiform bu [original emphasis] of the word was very essential in our interpretation as it is the Urartaean b that has been shifted to the Armenian v (b > v). The original writing of the inscription read «er-bu-ni»; therefore the prominent Armenianologist-orientalist Prof. G. A. Ghapantsian justly objected, remarking that the Urartu b changed to v at the beginning of the word (Biani > Van) or between two vowels (ebani > avan, Zabaha > Javakhk)....In other words b was placed between two vowels. The true pronunciation of the fortress-city was apparently Erebuny.[7]

So Van and Sevan were perhaps eban and seban, compare to Lebanon and venice...remarkably similar!

Lake Urmia is named after the provincial capital city of Urmia, originally a Syriac name meaning city (ur) of water (mia). OR The name Urmia is a compound. The first element--"ur" standing for 'city', is Sumerian. Ur per se, was a principal Sumerian city. The second element, "mia" is Aramaic Syriac meaning "water." Hence Urmia

In the ancient times, the west bank of Urmia lake was called Gilzan (gol-van?), and in the ninth century B.C. an independent government ruled there which later joined the Urartu or Mana empire;

the western part of the Urmia Lake has been a center of attention of the prehistoric nations, the evidence of which are the numerous ancient hills in the area, such as Gouy Tapeh, 6 kilometers southeast of the lake which competes with the oldest hills of Mesopotamia, Asia the Minor, and the Iranian Plateau. Many old Islamic historians have acknowledged Urmia as the birthplace of prophet Zoroaster.

The Catholic Encyclopedia mentions Urmia as the seat of a Chaldean diocese.[7]

Turkish: Lake Van = Van Golu

Wheel:
The earliest examples of wheeled vehicles were little more than sleds with 2 attached solid wheels, but this was an enormous improvement over dragging. Early examples of these wheeled vehicles were found within a region between Lake Van in eastern Asia Minor and Lake Urmia in northern Iran, an area no more than 1,200 mi. across. This evidence indicates that these wheeled vehicles emerged more than 5,000 years ago, during the final centuries of the 4th Millennium. The remains of later vehicles, both carts and wagons, often survive as nothing more than stains in the soil, such as those found in the royal tombs at Kish and Ur, in Mesopotamia. Evidence was found during the mid-1960s in the region between the Black and Caspian seas of the U.S.S.R. that disk-wheeled vehicles flourished during the Kura-Araxes culture, beginning about 3000 B.C. Here pottery models of vehicles with wellmarked, hubbed, disk wheels were found that were identical to the vehicles buried at a later date in Kish and Ur.

http://dev.laptop.org/~arael/preview/wikislice-en/wikislice-en.xol/articles/Wheel.htm

Spoked wheels (cart/chariot/car/(Malay) kereta) were later, for lightweight/speed (using goats and donkeys as much as oxen) rather than heavy loads.

Can you hear the thunder

2011-04-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

some rough samples of my (unpolished) songs here http://www.myspace.com/neweurekans/music

root names

2010-09-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

The name Dedan (identical to Deden) comes possibly from (dwd 410) the root for beloved (aunt, uncle, even the name David).

A clay tablet from Elba from 7,000 years ago had the name daud-um, which meant, land of daud/david.

There's a town near Mecca & Medina along the Red Sea coast named Dedan, mentioned in bible books. Deden & Dedan would be the same, since the vowels were not elucidated until more recently.
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Reversed words:
May/Mar (Arabic, Sea)~ Yam (Hebrew, Sea)
Madrasa (Arabic, College) ~ Asrama (Malay, College) ~ Ashram (Hindu, Guru center)
Rome ~ Meroe
Remus ~ Sumer
Samar, Samaria ~ Rama

Derived from Oromo, (Ethiopian tribe who have an ancient legend of Adam)?
Adam (man in Hebrew)...Abram...Abraham...Brahmasutra...Ahuramazda...Urheimat
Oraham (Chaldean)...T/ora/h...K/ora/n...Oracle...Oralstories...Origins...Ur

Satan (adversary in Hebrew)

Analects of Confucius, Book One, 1st Saying: "That friends should come to one from afar, is that not after all delightful?"

mans origins

2010-08-20T11:48:00.001-07:00

Jerry Randal Bauer wrote:
> I've just read "Genesis Revisited" by Glenn G. Strickland. (1979)
> (ISBN: 0-8037-2828-X)
>
> I didn't like it, but I recommend it anyway.
>
> I didn't like it because the author adopts a very arrogant attitude
> toward anthropologists. He has figured out the answers to all the
> mysteries of human evolution; they have not, because they are unable
> to think rationally. He has been able to do this because he is
> (trumpet flourish here) a _RETIRED OPERATIONS RESEARCHER_!
>
> I didn't like it because the author failed to convince me of the
> validity of several of his conclusions. This is, in part, because he
> has made a definite effort to avoid anything the least bit technical.
> However, I think that many of his arguments just are not well thought
> out.
>
> His central thesis is that humankind developed where the Mediterranean
> Sea is now. Evidence exists that between 10 and 20 million years ago,
> the Mediterranean was dry. Tectonic forces had closed Gibraltar, and
> the sea had evaporated. The author posits that around each river
> "delta", where the river fell into the basin to evaporate, an
> ecological community developed, and that these areas were conducive to
> the development of our ancestors.
>
> This is why, even though I found the book flawed in content and
> presentation, I recommend it. This thesis is intriguing. The
> drying-up of the Mediterranean is well-supported by geological
> evidence beyond that given in this book. It happened at the time our
> ancestors were developing, according to some chronologies. It seems
> that such a situation could not but have some effect.
>
> So I would say read it. Some of the points raised within are quite
> original, and may serve to spark more effectively supportable
> theories.
>
> But, please, if you are or aspire to be an author, avoid any
> temptation to adopt Mr. Strickland's hubris.
>
> Jerry Randal Bauer

The arc of the universe

2010-08-13T13:17:00.000-07:00

The Arc of the Universe Is Long But It Bends Towards Justice

On April 4, 2008, then-Senator Barack Hussein Obama, speaking on the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, declared:

"Dr. King once said that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. It bends towards justice, but here is the thing: it does not bend on its own. It bends because each of us in our own ways put our hand on that arc and we bend it in the direction of justice...."

(My birthday is April 4th)

Oil at the Gulf coast

2010-05-25T16:39:00.000-07:00

NOAA Response, Deepwater Horizon

Village of Islands/Islamorada, Florida Keys: VI

All those tourists covered with oil...? Tar balls in paradise...?

Tar balls have been found at Key West, broken oil sheens have been seen pulled into the loop current from the eddy towards the Gulf stream between the Keys and Cuba

Time for the ARC to investigate the British Petroleum crude oil slick at the Gulf coast, possibly an opportunity to do some good...

[Potential transport funding being arranged via official channels, preliminary destination is the village of islands, awaiting further information and confirmation]

DDeden, Director
Aquamarine Research Center
Eureka-Arcata, Humboldt Bay, northern California

Archae-Numeric and origin of XYZ

2010-05-20T16:06:00.000-07:00

[click pic to enlarge]

re. the numbers, seems to me that the last common numerical language was 1-12
_ (1 horiz line)
= (2 lines)
3 (3 horiz lines, cursive)
[=] square (4 lines, 2 vert 2 horiz)
_ above a square (5 lines)
= above a square (6 lines, 2 vert, 4 horiz)
3 above a square (7 lines)
square above a square (8 lines)
square above _ above a square (9 lines) (became % sign?)
square above = above a square (10 lines)
square above 3 above a square (11 lines)
square above a square above a square (12 lines)

12 might have been quickly drawn as a cube triface (a Y at center of angled cube)?
(A simple paint program or cad could show all this better.)

originally zero was a point or dot, not a circle, so 4 and 8 were curved.

Used probably 8,000 years ago, with local variations.
I'd wondered how 10, 11, 12 appeared before decimal notation.

Primitive numerical symbols used in early merchant/market trade, with local variations?

Numer = Sumer (symbol) name, used in Samar, Meroe, Meru, Samarkand, Somali, Sumatra... mer = merchant marine or port

> re. origin of XYZ in alphabet:
>
> XXXXXX if these letters all touched as a grid, they'd
> XXXXXX produce a bi axial weave of 90 deg. = squares
> XXXXXX add duplicate overlay & tilt = octagons
>
> YYYYYY if these letters all touched as a grid, they'd
> YYYYYY produce tri axial chicken wire weave = hexagons
> YYYYYY add duplicate overlay & tilt = rhombi (below)
>
> ZZZZZZ if these letters all touched as a grid, they'd
> ZZZZZZ produce bi axial 120,60 deg. weave = rhombi
> ZZZZZZ add duplicate overlay & tilt = 60 deg. triangles

add a duplicate overlay to get tetrahedral grid
add a duplicate overlay to get cube grid (?)

Maybe buy some cheap chickenwire, cut into 6 layers and overlay them, noting the cells (X-Y-Z-delta-tetra-cube?)
I'm sure someone has done this, but I don't recall seeing it anywhere, could be done with nets flat or on a sphere (notching where necessary.).
-

Polynesian contact with California?
here

Hair mats & booms & Oil spill

2010-05-18T19:30:00.000-07:00

Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone, caused by Mississippi River effluents of Nitrates, Phosphates, Sulfates, from rural agricultural run-off and urban sewers producing eutrophication, overgrowth of algae blooms and reduced oxygen.
dead zone of Gulf

Below: massive crude oil spill in Gulf from offshore rig explosion, ongoing

article

Must see this video

Hair & fur sponge up oil in water, a lb. of hair retains a quart of oil from water.

video: how to make a hair boom

The ottimat and hair boom use the principle of high surface area of hair/fur adsorbs oil but not water. Synthetic product mats absorb the oil and can't be reused, while hair mats can be wrung out into oil barrels and reused 100 times.

volunteers needed at Florida Keys to protect mangroves

"Locks for Keys" donate locks of hair and pet fur to save the coastal regions of the Florida Keys and other island reefs from the second worst oil spill ever, the Deepwater Gulf spill, which is expected to be pulled into the Gulf loop current towards the Keys and Florida coastal mangroves.
mangroves

http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/topic_subtopic_entry.php?RECORD_KEY(entry_subtopic_topic)=entry_id,subtopic_id,topic_id&entry_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=8&subtopic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=13&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1

If you want to construct a building you must file an Environmental Impact Statement, but British Petroleum did not file an EIS for their huge deepwater oil project, and they bypassed numerous safety measures.

Perhaps its time for another tea party? What say you, oil addicts? Care for a spot of petrol?

bird-dino postures

2010-05-18T10:42:00.000-07:00

uncinate process in birds

JR Codd 2010 Compar.Biochem.Physiol.A156:303-8
Uncinate processes in birds: morphology, physiology, and function

The avian respiratory system is remarkable in terms of its complexity &
efficiency. The evolution of this system with its unique lung morphology &
physiology has contributed to birds being one of the most successful
vertebrate lineages.
Despite holding the attention of the scientific community for a long time,
much remains to be discovered about the complexities of this system. Recent
advances have highlighted the important role that accessory breathing
structures, the uncinate processes, play in understanding how this system
functions & evolved.
Almost all spp of extant bird have uncinate processes extending from the
mid-point of the vertebral ribs. These processes are integral to the
mechanics of ventilation in birds, being active in both in- & expiration,
but also playing some role during locomotion.
The morphological variation in the uncinate processes suggests that the
constraints placed on the body by adaptations to different forms of
locomotion are key to understanding differences in how birds breathe.
These processes also occur in the theropod dinosaurs, providing further
evidence that they are the ancestors of modern birds, but also highlighting
the intrinsic flexibility in the ventilatory systems of these animals.
-
death pose of long necked dinos & posture of resting geese: sleeping with head on back above abd. air sacs (parallel to backfloating & whale blowhole on back) while floating or on nest, the eyes see behind when awake but static, able to see predators which approach from behind. Uncinate processes probably evolved as air sac flexible cages allowing leaping-breathing like kangaroos) but bellows not deflating during sleep which would result in sinking.
kangaroo leap breathe

Amazing argonaut octopus: here

We be neandertals

2010-05-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

Gene expression

1 - 4% of genome of anyone derived from outside sub-saharan Africa is shared with neandertal genome.
-

Atlatl spear-throwers include a launcher, a long narrow dart with flint tip, and a stone weight: atlatl
Compare to harpoons, polespears, Hawaiian slings, throwing spears, lances, bow & arrows
paleo art atlatls
-

Grey whale in Mediterranean Sea
here

""Over a lifetime, a gray whale migrates the equivalent distance of a return trip to the moon."
-

Salt springs in the Sahara: Niger has clays rich in salt from ancient seabeds, the salt springs of Teguidda-n-Tessoumt are surrounded by small round pools of brine, where salt crystals form on top slowing evaporation so children sprinkle water to break the crust which then settles at the bottom as crystals, later collected as loaves. Then the salt ponds are cleaned of remaining clay mud and reused, the mud dumped onto manmade hillocks. Much of the salt is traded via desert-edge nomads for use by domestic herds. Trees are very rare in the Sahara, but two trees grow nearby. (from article in Awake! Jan 09)

Sloths & jitterbugging heart & earth & dive foraging

2010-04-30T00:34:00.000-07:00

marine sloth
outhouse sloth

-
layers of the heart
rotary venticular blood flow & torsion of heart muscle similar to VE jitterbug transform, with opposing heart muscle groups (123 45 678) :
article
Note pic 14, similar to tao/dau symbol or rolling surf wave, and general similar form of heart to a marine snail, which filter feeds and breathes by pumping seawater through gills and gut tissue.

"Pettigrew¹⁴ performed careful dissection of the heart of mammals and man, demonstrating 7 muscle layers. The three outer layers spiral with an increasing angle from the perpendicular, while the fourth layer is horizontal. The three inner layers spiral in the opposite direction, increasing toward the vertical. The layers are arranged in opposition so that 1 opposes 7, 2 opposes 6, and 3 opposes 5, with the fourth layer being a connecting layer (tensional frame?)."

jitterbug

-

6,000 year old human artifacts contains indications of 3/4 protein from marine diet

Quantitative evaluation of marine protein contribution in ancient diets
based on nitrogen isotope ratios of individual amino acids in bone collagen:
An investigation at the Kitakogane Jomon site
YI Naito, NV Honch, Y Chikaraishi, N Ohkouchi, M Yoneda 2010 AJPA

Nitrogen stable isotopes analysis of individual bone collagen amino acids
was applied to archeological samples as a new tool for assessing the
composition of ancient human diets and calibrating radiocarbon dates. We
used this technique to investigate human and faunal samples from the
Kitakogane shell midden in Hokkaido, Japan (5,300-6,000 cal BP). Using
compound-specific nitrogen isotope analysis of individual amino acids, we
aimed to estimate i) the quantitative contribution of marine and terrestrial
protein to the human diet, and ii) the mean trophic level (TL) from which
dietary protein was derived from marine ecosystems. Data were interpreted
with reference to the amino acid trophic level (TLAA) model, which uses
empirical amino acid 15N from modern marine fauna to construct mathematical
equations that predict the trophic position of organisms. The TLAA model
produced realistic TL estimates for the Kitakogane marine animals. However,
this model was not appropriate for the interpretation of human amino acid
15N, as dietary protein is derived from both marine and terrestrial
environments. Hence, we developed a series of relevant equations that
considered the consumption of dietary resources from both ecosystems. Using
these equations, the mean percentage of marine protein in the Kitakogane
human diet was estimated to be 74%.
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Diaphragmatic contractions pump oxygen to the brain during hypoxia, increasing the cerebral blood flow volume. Involuntary breathing movements improve cerebral o... [J Appl Physiol. 2009] - PubMed result

We investigated whether the involuntary breathing movements (IBM) during the struggle phase of breath holding, together with peripheral vasoconstriction and progressive hypercapnia, have a positive effect in maintaining cerebral blood volume. The central hemodynamics, arterial oxygen saturation, brain regional oxyhemoglobin (bHbO(2)), deoxyhemoglobin, and total hemoglobin changes and IBM were monitored during maximal dry breath holds in eight elite divers. The frequency of IBM increased (by approximately 100%), and their duration decreased ( approximately 30%), toward the end of the struggle phase, whereas the amplitude was unchanged (compared with the beginning of the struggle phase). In all subjects, a consistent increase in brain regional deoxyhemoglobin and total hemoglobin was also found during struggle phase, whereas bHbO(2) changed biphasically: it initially increased until the middle of the struggle phase, with the subsequent relative decline at the end of the breath hold. Mean arterial pressure was elevated during the struggle phase, although there was no further rise in the peripheral resistance, suggesting unchanged peripheral vasoconstriction and implying the beneficial influence of the IBM on the cardiac output recovery (primarily by restoration of the stroke volume). The IBM-induced short-lasting, sudden increases in mean arterial pressure were followed by similar oscillations in bHbO(2). These results suggest that an increase in the cerebral blood volume observed during the struggle phase of dry apnea is most likely caused by the IBM at the time of the hypercapnia-induced cerebral vasodilatation and peripheral vasoconstriction.
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Levant 800ka - (Hula/Jordan, fire, food prep) African Rift drought
doi 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.03.007
The paleoclimate of the Eastern Mediterranean during the transition from
early to mid Pleistocene (900 to 700 ka) based on marine and non-marine
records: an integrated overview
Ahuva Almogi-Labin 2010 JHE

Climate change is frequently considered an important driver of hominin
evolution and dispersal patterns. The role of climate change in the last
phase (900700 ka) of the Middle Pleistocene Transition (MPT) in the Levant
and northeast Africa was examined, using marine and non-marine records.
During the MPT the global climate system shifted from a linear 41 k.yr. into
a highly non-linear 100 k.yr. system, considerably changing its global
modulation. Northeast Africa aridity further intensified around 950 ka, as
indicated by a sharp increase in dust flux, and a jump to overall higher
levels thereafter, coinciding with a lack of sapropels in the deep eastern
Mediterranean (930690 ka). The increased dust flux centering at 800 ka
corresponds to the minima in 400 k.yr. eccentricity, a minima in 65 °N solar
forcing and in the weakest African monsoon precession periodicity. This
resulted in expansion of hyper-arid conditions across North Africa, the
lowest lake levels in eastern Africa and the lowest rainfall in the Nile
River headwaters. In the eastern Mediterranean an increasing continental
signature is seen in glacial stages 22 (880 ka) and 20 (800 ka). Lower
arboreal pollen values also indicate arid conditions during these glacial
stages. The southern and eastern parts of the Negev Desert, unlike its
northern part, were hyper-arid during the MPT, making them highly
unsustainable. The fluctuations in the stands of Lake Amora follow global
climate variability but were more moderate than those of its last glacial
Lake Lisan successor. In the northern Jordan-Valley Hula Lake, frequent
fluctuations in lake level coincide with both global climate changes and
minor changes in water salinity varying from fresh to oligohaline. It
appears therefore that the most pronounced and widespread deterioration in
climate occurred in northeast Africa from 900 to 700 ka, whereas in the
Levant the corresponding climatic changes were more moderate.
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Warmbloodedness & respiration in dinosaurs and mammoths

A Clarke & H-O Poertner 2010 Biol.Rev.PRESS
Temperature, metabolic power, and the evolution of endothermy

Endothermy has evolved at least twice, in the precursors to modern mammals
and birds. The most widely accepted explanation for the evolution of
endothermy has been selection for enhanced aerobic capacity. We review this
hypothesis in the light of advances in our understanding of ATP generation
by mitochondria and muscle performance. Together with the development of
isotope-based techniques for the measurement of metabolic rate in
free-ranging vertebrates, these have confirmed the importance of aerobic
scope in the evolution of endothermy: absolute aerobic scope, ATP generation
by mitochondria, and muscle power output are all strongly
temperature-dependent, indicating that there would have been significant
improvement in whole-organism locomotor ability with a warmer body. New data
on mitochondrial ATP generation and proton leak suggest that the thermal
physiology of mitochondria may differ between organisms of contrasting
ecology and thermal flexibility. Together with recent biophysical modelling,
this strengthens the long-held view that endothermy originated in smaller,
active eurythermal ectotherms living in a cool but variable thermal
environment. We propose that rather than being a secondary consequence of
the evolution of an enhanced aerobic scope, a warmer body was the means by
which that enhanced aerobic scope was achieved. This modified hypothesis
requires that the rise in metabolic rate, and the insulation necessary to
retain metabolic heat, arose early in the lineages leading to birds and
mammals. Large dinosaurs were warm, but were not endotherms, and the
metabolic status of pterosaurs remains unresolved.

KL Campbell cs 2010 Nature Genetics PRESS
Substitutions in woolly mammoth hemoglobin confer biochemical properties
adaptive for cold tolerance

We have genetically retrieved, resurrected and performed detailed
structure-function analyses on authentic woolly mammoth hemoglobin to reveal
for the first time both the evolutionary origins and the structural
underpinnings of a key adaptive physiochemical trait in an extinct species.
Hemoglobin binds and carries O2; however, its ability to offload O2 to
respiring cells is hampered at low temperatures, as heme deoxygenation is
inherently endothermic (that is, hemoglobin-O2 affinity increases as
temperature decreases). We identify amino acid substitutions with large
phenotypic effect on the chimeric ¦Â/¦Ä-globin subunit of mammoth
hemoglobin
that provide a unique solution to this problem and thereby minimize
energetically costly heat loss. This biochemical specialization may have
been involved in the exploitation of high-latitude environments by this
African-derived elephantid lineage during the Pleistocene period. This
powerful new approach to directly analyze the genetic and structural basis
of physiological adaptations in an extinct species adds an important new
dimension to the study of natural selection.

"Archae-tecture"

2010-04-21T23:26:00.000-07:00

Some thoughts on how housing developed:

I had puzzled over what happened many many thousands of years ago when some humans switched from semi-nomadic hunting and gathering housed in round tensional hut village dwellings to sedentary semi-agricultural square/rectilinear town housing. Although caves and rockshelters have always provided some forms of shelter, they were not often conveniently located, and probably used more for special activities (meeting place, food stores, art studios, temples, quarries) than regular domestic housing. I think simple dome piles, originally like beaver lodges, of stacked circular sedges & interwoven branches/saplings, may have been long employed for housing, and gradually they became more vertical and with thinner walls, transforming into the typical round hut, which then differentiated depending on the seasonal climate and migratory patterns of the people and various associated flora and fauna, and the increasing level of resource control and sedentary community development.

from (^) ( ^ ) (^)

to (^|^) and {^ X ^} and [^|^]

to [^|^|x|^|^]

to-- ^
- / _X_ \
/_|___|_\
|_|___|_|

to

|===|===|===|===|====|====|
|___|___|___|___|____|____|
|___|___|___|___|____|____|
|___|___|___|___|____|____|

I 'knew' it was due to population concentration around a wellspring, a semi-controllable "domesticated" resource, where freshwater was always available and semi-domesticated animals were kept safe from predators by a wall or thorn fence.

But I didn't know how the dome huts converted to pyramid-roofed cube/rectilinear housing. Domes are stronger, stabler, roomier, better airflow control. Why change to a "worse" arrangement?

I think as populations grew, instead of enlarging the outer perimeter fence, they tightened their domes to fit more in, making them from hemisphere dome to round house to square house, then added a patio on top, then added a roof on top, which then became a second story house, which then became a 3 story apartment building.

It was hard to understand why didn't they just expand the perimeter fence, and keep making more domes outwardly. I think partly this was due to generations spent enclosed in the "permanent" compound, the children were told not to mess with the fences to prevent breaking it which would allow night-time predators to sneak in, and when the children grew they subconsciously continued to maintain that rule, repairing when necessary but not altering it. Only when subgroups moved in or out would the fence perimeter become a bit flexible, as part of a change in social order.

Also, to avoid polluting the well, all the food scraps & waste would be deposited outside the fence, resulting in a ring around, with only paths radiating from the center well, so people wouldn't want to build a house just outside the fence in the fertile wasteland, (better to move beyond to a "suburban" colony).

So the result was a concentric but discontinous ring of dome huts that evolved over generations to a series of rectangular huts in interconnected arcs (but split by paths/roads) radiating out from the center. Over time, 2nd and 3rd floors were added, which depended on both the house below and the neighboring house structural strength, while domes changed from houses to central social buildings like temples, later they also became more rectilinear due to population concentrations, canals and road congestion.

So, I'm glad to finally make sense of this prehistorical transition from dome structure housing to multiple unit subdivision blocks/longhouses. Interestingly, I figured it out by thinking about bubbles! A single bubble on a pond surface is a dome, but two combined bubbles form an adjoining vertical plane, and a ring of pond-floating bubbles produce rectilinear radiating vertical inner walls and horizontal floors (lacking only entrance/exit paths). I recall some Chinese traditional ring housing, 3 stories, vertical walls, around a central well. The residents said it was to protect them from predatory bandits, it may be a stage of social structural development which some cultures already passed through (like huge modern hyperpopulated rectilinear-imposed-grid cities) while others went through a parallel but distinctly different route (like feudal castles). DDeden
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Brief add: post-hole artifacts probably derived from a period after dome huts were 'tightened' into roundhouses by tensional fence/wall effect on population density as function of social-physical concentration/compression; self-stabilized domes replaced by roundhouses with ground soil friction supporting post foundation (indicating shovels/drills used in well digging in soil).

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Interesting information on theoretical structural architecture archaeology:
theoretical structural archaeology

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Brief on housing in nature, in reference to Bucky Fuller (geodesic domes, isotropic vector matrix IVM):

Also, in a general sense, in nature, many animals tend to distribute their burrows/nests in an IVM pattern, not perfectly since the terrain contains many different local features (hills, ponds, dry spots) but in a generalized ecosystematic way. This depends on a lot of other factors, but holds true for many very different species, excluding highly social types (honeybees pack em in tight in hexagonal packing). I was thinking about how beaver families in small streams stay apart from other families (topographically descending knotted rope), but in large swampy lakes they tend to be horizontally equidistanced, that is, vectorially equilibrium distributed in a horizontal space-conserving fashion, (topographically planar crystal).
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Etymology: commercial, merchant, marchand, mercantile, market, marine, mire/moor/mer
mer - sumer/meru/meroe/samar...,
cent/kent/zehn/ten/centum-satum
Malay: satu, Uzbek(?): sato

Why did Greek use thalassa for sea? thalassa sounds like Arab Selasa/thelatha (wednesday/3), did "thalassa = sea" come from salt-aqua/sal-akwa/thal-acca?
Malacca/malaga/malaya from mal-aqua?
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update:

"Oddly, all tent-based cultures that evolved to locational permanency and more sophisticated materials use, seem to have rather naturally adopted the vertical-walls method." JB

Not so likely, since tents were specialized implements and derivative of dog domestication, long after generalized dome huts had been in use. Until then, skins and hides were food wraps and scraps, the whole furry carcass burned, just as in nature after wildfires.

Post-holes are found only after dome huts got (fence-tensionally) squeezed into ("vertical") roundhouses and longhouses with triangular roofs (from which nomads derived tipis, yurts, tents), and are associated with improved well-digging and early irrigation, which then encouraged vertical wall construction. DD

article on 10,000ka lakeside roundhouse:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100810101724.htm

Pygmies & bushmen: dome hut = mongolu (igloo, ger, geodesic, judaic, masjid?)

http://music000001.blogspot.com/2009/10/222-deconstructing-postmodern-condition.html

Double Crescent

2010-04-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

From Barry Evans' Field Notes in the North Coast Journal
Mars, Earth, Moon

View from Mars, showing Earth and Moon as crescents.

Beautiful planetary pictures: (Earth & Saturn, Earth rise on Moon)
here

Earth, tiny, upper left of Saturns' rings: (click pic twice to magnify image)

The ISS Intl Space Station orbiting through the aurora borealis:
here
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Yawning: http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2010/04/at_the_yawn_of_time.html
Empathic mirror neurons in humans:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627565.600-empathetic-mirror-neurons-found-in-humans-at-last.html

Stingrays, mollusks, humans in African Rift Valley 1.5ma

2010-04-11T16:28:00.000-07:00

First, mangrove, mollusk econiche evolution via tectonic plate rift activity at Tethys shoreline, why SE Asian/west Pacific mangroves more diverse than Africa or So. America mangroves (Ellison):
here
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African Rift, Lake Turkana - Ileret footprints in mud 1.5ma, shellfish harvesting
picture

Apiths may have dug/finger-raked and consumed floating vegetation, shallow-shore tubers and shallow benthic invertebrates. But only genus Homo submerged fully while foraging, losing the laryngeal air sac and developing oral breathing and flatter hands and longer feet with short toes.

site habitat

"In 1984, the most complete hominin skeleton to date, KNM-WT 15000, was discovered eroding from a hillside at NK III. The specimen, which retained the skull and almost entire postcranial skeleton, belonged to a juvenile male Homo erectus/ergaster. Nicknamed the “Turkana Boy,” the specimen was determined to be 1.5 ma.

NK III site: Turkana Boy and fossil taxa include the freshwater stingray, Dasyatis Africana; the catfish, Synodontis; the extinct pig, Metrodiocherus; two extinct species of hippopotamus, Hippopotamus gorgops and H. aethiopicus; chelonian carapaces (turtle shells); some avian limb bones and phalanges; two species of bovid; sponge spicules; several species of ostracod (a crustacean); cichlids (a family of perciform fish); cyprinids (carps and minnows); and several varanids (monitor lizards). The paleoenvironment of the Nariokotome region during the time of the Turkana Boy has been reconstructed as a temporary marshland formed by the annual flooding of the Omo River with interspersed grassland and patches of woodland. One or more lakes were probably present as well."
anthro site history
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Archaic Humans: Beavers & cleavers, sea waters & sea otters

Bilzingsleben, Germany, 325,000 years ago, microlith, pebble tools
Hoxne, England, 325,000 years ago - handaxes, extinct beaver, otter
Furze Platt, England, 325,000 years ago - large pointed handaxes, cleavers
Tan Tan, Morocco, 325,000 years ago - Mid Acheulian tools, female figurine
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Beavers modify their habitat like humans do: Logging, Damming, Lodging
beavers arrested
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here

A waterway linked the East African Rift Valley with the Indian Ocean 1.9ma, freshwater stingrays evolved there between 1.9 and 1.3ma after a marine incursion, the H erectus/ergaster skeleton Turkana boy was found there at waterside region. Probably Homo species, stingrays and 3 species of mollusks moved from Indian Ocean estuaries into the Rift valley lakes then, during a wet/high sea level period. The same time, Dmanisi, Georgia had H erectus/georgicus occupants living between the Caspian and Black seas. Tectonic plate collisions have uplifted the area since 1.8ma.
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This site of early hominins is in Republic of Georgia, south of the Caucasus Mountains, east of the Black Sea, west of the Caspian Sea, on a wooded promontory surrounded by steep cliffs and water on three sides, that might have provided an ideal place to drive and ambush game.

Did they speak? Most likely they clicked & hummed/sang:
"
Meyer and his colleagues — David Lordkipanidze and Abesalom Vekua, both of the Georgian State Museum in Tbilisi — compared the size, shape, and volume of the Dmanisi vertebrae with more than 2 200 corresponding bones from people, chimpanzees, and gorillas.

"The Dmanisi spinal column falls within the human range and would have comfortably accommodated a modern human spinal cord," Meyer says.

Moreover, the fossil vertebrae would have provided ample structural support for the respiratory muscles needed to articulate words, he asserts. Although it's impossible to confirm that our prehistoric ancestors talked, Meyer notes, H. erectus at Dmanisi faced no respiratory limitations on speech.

In contrast, the 1984 discovery in Kenya of a boy's 1.6-million-year-old skeleton, identified by some researchers as H. erectus and by others as Homo ergaster, yielded small, chimplike vertebrae. Researchers initially suspected that the ancient youth and his presumably small-spined comrades lacked the respiratory control to talk as people do today." http://www.donsmaps.com/dmanisi.html

Old man with one tooth, cooking or shellfish food?
In the new work, David Lordkipanidze of the Georgian State Museum in Tbilisi and his colleagues describe a skull and jawbone from a hominid male who had lost all but one tooth. The tooth sockets had been resorbed into the skull, suggesting that he had lost the teeth several years before dying. The discovery represents the earliest case of severe masticatory impairment in the fossil record yet found, the researchers say.

Near the site of their latest find, the scientists also uncovered stone artifacts and animal bones with toolmarks on them. In order to survive without the ability to chew or bite meat, the gummy individual would have needed to collect sufficient soft food, including bone marrow, brain matter or soft plant food. Such gathering or processing could have been done alone, but the scientists posit that other individuals may have helped because of the individual's advanced age or illness, either of which could have been responsible for the loss of his teeth. The discovery, the authors conclude, "raises interesting questions regarding social structure, life history and subsistence strategies of early Homo that warrant further investigation." --Sarah Graham

Dmanisi site had both African ostriches, Kudaro macaques and short-necked giraffes and EurAsian wolves, sabercats and EurAsian beavers (skull wider than neolithic Polish beaver which were larger and faster growing than modern EurAsian beavers).
Simple stone pebble tools were used, probably with stick tools. http://www.pjoes.com/pdf/16.5/697-705.pdf
BUR CZAK-ABRAMOWICZ N. The beaver and some other interesting animals in Caucasus. Przegląd Zool. 8, 51, 1964. [in Polish]
Dmanisi seems to have dried out after the pliocene/pleistocene border.

Black Sea beaver species plentiful from Miocene to Pleistocene:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:r7qdVn9-DEwJ:www.isez.pan.krakow.pl/journals/azc_v/pdf/52A(1-2)/52A(1-2)_05.pdf+caucasus+beaver+fossil&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShIHf6nddQWt5r5GQUHg1EpZtgR9lM5aujcurYqi6cwb_4Dx8GUHzXvAW6i5F_x9scKtiMZ-vgjm_PlJvLL8BFK1LhjPFoZpbgUifI-4kzwMxehiRhHHKFM6LGzuo_FxWDPRuwr&sig=AHIEtbTUnw9qk40z-qG1csiS_SzfF0K1TQ

Conjecture: ARC Diving was synchronized tandem Aqua-photic Respiratory Cycle dive foraging, when one partner dove down to the benthos the other backfloated above, communication was retained via clicks (at depth) and tones (at surface) which eventually merged to become uniquely human click-consonant tonal speech. ARC diving included in complement the Mammalian Diving Reflex (MDR), engaged upon submergence optimally conserving oxygen, the Photic Sneeze (or Surfacing) Reflex (PSR), engaged upon emergence at the surface, optimally exchanged carbon dioxide and oxygen-rich air. The combination of descent and ascent reflexes allowed sustained dive foraging for coastal seafood in sub/tropical lagoons, while seasonal inland freshwater herbs/rhyzomes were harvested by shoreside shallow wading, especially around Eurasian beaver-dammed woodland/wetland ponds and Peri-Tethyan estuaries. Caves and rockshelters offered sleeping sites in addition to wood-stick and reed-plastered dome huts.
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Chicken pox can be spread by humans to apes, per a zoo account. Unknown if mumps are uniquely human, as I conjectured earlier.
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Borneo frog breathes through skin, lost lungs, better hydrodynamics and less ascents.
A frog that breathes through its skin because it has no lungs, which makes it appear flat. This aerodynamic shape allows the frogs to move swiftly in fast flowing streams.
Neandertal face long, modern human face short: http://www.pnas.org/content/100/14/8142.abstract

Cybernetics, Synergetics, Synarctics

2010-04-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

The top diagram is mine, entitled 'Trident Earth' (Earth as nuclear sphere surrounded by partially stellated duo-cuboctahedron with incidental owl imagery due to unfolding the top and bottom tets like flower petals opening), the next image is Bucky Fullers 'Cosmic Hierarchy' without the relative volume data.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetic#Overview
"The term cybernetics stems from the Greek (kybernetes, steersman, governor,
pilot, or rudder — the same root as government)."
Does that mean Trim-Tab?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_theory
"Systems theory is an interdisciplinary theory about the nature of complex
systems in nature, society, and science, and is a framework by which one can
investigate and/or describe any group of objects that work together to produce
some result."
Is that Synergetics?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synergetics

Synarctics: supplement to Synergetics by Bucky Fuller
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Reciprocal relative volume calculation, conversion constant:: {via ku @ Synergeo}
XYZ -> IVM: sqrt (9/8)
IVM -> XYZ: sqrt (8/9)
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Synergetics, tet cube

Fig. 986.210 Diagonal of Cube as Unity in Synergetic Geometry: In synergetic geometry mensural unity commences with the tetra edge as prime vector. Unity is taken not from the cube edge but from the edge of one of the two tetra that structure it. (Compare Fig. 463.01.) Proportionality exactly known to us is not required in nature's structuring. Parts have no existence independent of the polyhedra they constitute.

Synergetics, chefs' hat

fig 16
fig 17

416.02 If you next take two triangles, each made of three balls in closest packing, and twist one of the triangles 60 degrees around its center hole axis, the two triangular groups now may be nested into one another with the three spheres of one nesting in the three intersphere tangency valleys of the other. We now have six spheres in symmetrical closest packing, and they form the six vertexes of the octahedron. This twisting of one set to register it closepackedly with the other, is the first instance of two pairs internested to form the tetrahedron, and in the next case of the two triangles twisted to internestability as an octahedron, is called interprecessing of one set by its complementary set.
416.03 Two pairs of two-layer, seven-ball triangular sets of closestpacked spheres precess in a 60-degree twist to associate as the cube. (See Fig. A, illustration 416.01.) This 14-sphere cube is the minimum cube that may be stably produced by closest-packed spheres. While eight spheres temporarily may be tangentially glued into a cubical array with six square hole facades, they are not triangulated; ergo, are unstructured; ergo, as a cube are utterly unstable and will collapse; ergo, no eight-ball cube can be included in a structural hierarchy.
416.04 The two-frequency (three spheres to an edge), two-layer tetrahedron may also be formed into a cube through 90-degree interprecessional effect. (See Fig. A.)
417.00 Precession of Two Sets of 60 Closest-Packed Spheres

Fig. 417.01 417.01 Two identical sets of 60 spheres in closest packing precess in 90 degree action to form a seven-frequency, eight-ball-to-the-edge tetrahedron with a total of 120 spheres; exactly 100 spheres are on the outer shell, exactly 20 spheres are in theinner shell, and there is no sphere at the nucleus. This is the largest possible double-shelled tetrahedral aggregation of closest-packed spheres having no nuclear sphere. As long as it has the 20- sphere tetrahedron of the inner shell, it will never acquire a nucleus at any frequency.
417.02 The 120 spheres of this non-nuclear tetrahedron correspond to the 120 basic triangles that describe unity on a sphere. They correspond to the 120 identical right- spherical triangles that result from symmetrical subdividing of the 20 identical, equilateral, equiangular triangles of either the spherical or planar-faceted icosahedron accomplished by the most economical connectors from the icosahedron's 12 vertexes to the mid-edges of the opposite edges of their respective triangles, which connectors are inherently perpendicular to the edges and pass through one another at the equitriangles' center and divide each of the equilaterals into six similar right triangles. These 120 triangles constitute the highest common multiple of system surface division by a single module unit area, as these 30º , 60º , 90º triangles are not further divisible into identical parts.
417.03 When we first look at the two unprecessed 60-ball halves of the 120-sphere tetrahedron, our eyes tend to be deceived. We tend to look at them "three-dimensionally," i.e., in the terms of exclusively rectilinear and perpendicular symmetry of potential associability and closure upon one another. Thus we do not immediately see how we could bring two oblong quadrangular facets together with their long axes crossing one another at right angles.
417.04 Our sense of exclusively perpendicular approach to one another precludes our recognition that in 60-degree (versus 90-degree) coordination, these two sets precess in 60-degree angular convergence and not in parallel-edged congruence. This 60-degree convergence and divergence of mass-attracted associabilities is characteristic of the four- dimensional system.
418.00 Analogy of Closest Packing, Periodic Table, and Atomic Structure
418.01 The number of closest-packed spheres in any complete layer around any nuclear group of layers always terminates with the digit 2. First layer, 12; second, 42; third, 92 . . . 162, 252, 362, and so on. The digit 2 is always preceded by a number that corresponds to the second power of the number of layers surrounding the nucleus. The third layer's number of 92 is comprised of the 3 multiplied by itself (i.e., 3 to the second power), which is 9, with the digit 2 as a suffix.
418.02 This third layer is the outermost of the symmetrically unique, nuclear-system patterns and may be identified with the 92 unique, selfregenerative, chemical-element systems, and with the 92nd such element__ uranium.
418.03 The closest-sphere-packing system's first three layers of 12, 42, and 92 add to 146, which is the number of neutrons in uranium__which has the highest nucleon population of all the self-regenerative chemical elements; these 146 neutrons, plus the 92 unengaged mass-attracting protons of the outer layer, give the predominant uranium of 238 nucleons, from whose outer layer the excess two of each layer (which functions as a neutral axis of spin) can be disengaged without distorting the structural integrity of the symmetrical aggregate, which leaves the chain-reacting Uranium 236.
418.04 All the first 92 chemical elements are the finitely comprehensive set of purely abstract physical principles governing all the fundamental cases of dynamically symmetrical, vectorial geometries and their systematically self-knotting, i.e., precessionally self-interfered, regenerative, inwardly shunting events.
418.05 The chemical elements are each unique pattern integrities formed by their self-knotting, inwardly precessing, periodically synchronized selfinterferences. Unique pattern evolvement constitutes elementality. What is unique about each of the 92 self- regenerative chemical elements is their nonrepetitive pattern evolvement, which terminates with the third layer of 92.

Small duotet 1.5tv, small int octa .5tv, small cube 3tv
Large duotet 12tv, large int octa 4tv, large cube 24tv
Double Duo-tet = includes VE w/o 1/2-octas, in IVM and cubic matrix

4F tet (slightly offset)
Cubes ahoy!
1 F tet, volume 1, surface area 4 (triangle faces).
2 F tet, volume 8, surface area 16.
3 F tet, volume 27, surface area 36.
4 F tet, volume 64, surface area 64.
5 F tet, volume 125, surface area 100.
6 F tet, volume 216, surface area 144.

What about the oddball relative volumes of the icosa and vector edge cube? (cont'd)
18.51 + 8.49 = 27. 8 icosas in 2F cube pattern has central vector edge cube
27 = 3 x 3 x 3 (3 Freq small cube). 8 = 2 x 2 x 2 (2 Freq small cube)
3 layers of a cube of 9 spheres/cubes

01.02.03. + 04.05.06. + 07.08.09.
10.11.12. + 13.14.15. + 16.17.18.
19.20.21. + 22.23.24. + 25.26.27.

000+000+000
000+000+000
000+000+000

000+000+000x000+000+000x000+000+000

27 + 27 = 54 (2 cubes)
54 - 42 = 12 (2 cubes - 2nd freq VE vertices = 1st freq VE 12 vertices)
54 - 12 = 42 (2 cubes - 1st freq icosa vertices = 2nd freq icosa vertices)

92 = 90 + 2 where 2 is suffix, 90 is 9 x 10, 9 is the full set.

Wonky watercube: foam has 14 sided cells of minimal surface area
here

involution, revolution, evolution A geodesic hemispheric dome of aluminium tubing and fabric with congruent torus with central funnel column as supporting mast, wind turbine, tracking solar collector, chimney, water spout reservoir, air conditioning.

. In single symmetrical systems, all the vertexes are equidistant radially from their common volumetric centers, and the centers of area of all their triangular facets are also equidistant from the system's common volumetric center.
400.41 The minimum single symmetrical system is the regular tetrahedron, which contains the least volume with the most surface as compared to all other symmetrical single systems. There are only three single symmetrical systems: the regular tetrahedron, with a "unit" volume-to-skin ratio of 1 to l; the regular octahedron, with a volume-to- surface ratio of 2 to 1; and the regular icosahedron, with a volume-to-surface ratio of 3.7 to 1. Single asymmetrical systems contain less volume per surface area of containment than do symmetrical or regular tetrahedra. The more asymmetrical, the less the volume-to- surface ratio. Since the structural strength is expressed by the vector edges, the more asymmetrical, the greater is the containment strength per unit of volumetric content.

VE to octa showing icosa phases
Flexible polyhedra, VE, golden icosa/tetra, the Arc: red curve at upper left at page 12 includes the Synergetics jitterbug transformation from VE cuboctahedron through the various icosahedral phases to the octahedron. The Synarctics full jitterbug actually continues through to the tetrahedron and triangle without stopping, though it can reverse at any click-stop phase.

The Synarctic version of structural dimensionality of the jitterbug transformation, with decrease in bond distribution:

Dimension	Single Jitterbug	Dual Jitterbugs	Int plane polygons

6th Dimension	VE non-nuclear cuboctahedron	Dual non-nuc cuboctahedra	hexagon
5th Dimension	fluid icosahedra	rigid icosahedron	pentagon
4th Dimension	octahedron	cube faced w/ 6 octamids	square
3rd Dimension	tetrahedron	tri prism w/ 3 octamids & 2 tetramids	triangle
2nd Dimension	2 Freq triangle	"winged" octahedron	triangle
1st Dimension	equil triangle 8 layer non-Z "prism"	octa? tet? SoD? triangle? non-Z "anti-prism"	triangle

internal flat planar polygon defines dimension:

cuboctahedron = 6 dimension, hexagon, dynamic cycle
icosahedron = 5 dimension, pentagon, static shell
octahedron/cube/triprism = 4 dimension, square, matrix
tetrahedron = 3 dimension, triangle, structure, crystal
2 Freq triangle = 2 dimension, triangle, system, tile
1 Freq triangle = 1 dimension, triangle, unit, cell

Note on Synarctic Jitterbug:
VE vertex single bond pin hinged, (compress able)
octa double bond edge hinged, (torque able)
tetra tri bond cirumferentially hinged (squish able)
triangle 8 plane full face hinged (coplanar polar layerable)
SoD nuclear plane face hinged (noncoplanar neutral layerable)

12, 42, 92
12 = 6 x 2, 3 x 4
42 = 6 x 7, 6 is non-nuc hexagon, 7 is nuc hexagon
42 = 3 x 14, 3 is prime triangle, 14 is VE & foam faces
92 = 90 degrees/surface spheres + polarity suffix

am: A regular octahedron can be cumulated so that it is either a rhombic
dodecahedron or a stella octangula.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Cumulation.html
Math World won't admit this, but if you cumulate an octahedron, then
you can get the rhombic dodecahedron, just as if you cumulate the cube.

A stella octangula and rhombic dodecahedron are identical on a spherical surface AFAICT.
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VE as 5tv
VE**5 = 160tv

Table: Initial Frequencies of Vector Equilibrium
Close-packed
Spheres Freq Tetravolumes
Radius 1 VE0/2 2 1/2
Radius 1 VE0 5
Radius 2 VE1 20
Radius 4 VE2 160

patern(pattern/path/pith/pathos) matern(matrix/matter/material/math/method)

Monogamy in treefrogs & humans

2010-04-02T14:40:00.000-07:00

Monogamy in humans, hominoids and tree frogs
here

Air sac in a puddle frog species used for visual gesture more than vocalization, probably due to a 'tuned-in' aural predator abundance similar to Hawaiian crickets which lost their song due to predation:
here

Some frogs lack vocal sacs, such as those from the genera Heleioporus and Neobatrachus, but these species can still produce a loud call. Their buccal cavity is enlarged and dome-shaped, acting as a resonance chamber that amplifies their call. The noise of flowing water overpowers any call, so some river frogs communicate by other means.

The main reason for calling is to allow males to attract a mate. Males call either individually or in a group called a chorus. Females of many frog species, for example Polypedates leucomystax, produce calls reciprocal to the males', which act as the catalyst for the enhancement of reproductive activity in a breeding colony.[39] A male frog emits a release call when mounted by another male. Tropical species also have a rain call that they make on the basis of humidity cues prior to a rain shower. Many species also have a territorial call that is used to chase away other males. All of these calls are emitted with the mouth of the frog closed.

A distress call, emitted by some frogs when they are in danger, is produced with the mouth open, resulting in a higher-pitched call. The effectiveness of the call is unknown; however, it is suspected the call intrigues the predator until another animal is attracted, distracting them enough for its escape.

Many species of frog have deep calls, or croaks. The English onomatopoeic spelling is "ribbit". wikipedia

Nature by number: spatial geometry in natural growth patterns

here

New apith skeletons found

Humboldt Bay, Nor Cal Pacific events

2010-03-25T22:29:00.000-07:00

Humboldt Bay / Kuala Walu Wiki current mariculture Bay conditions
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HUMBOLDT BAY SYMPOSIUM
DATE: APRIL 22-24, 2010
VENUE: WHARFINGER BUILDING, EUREKA, CA
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CeNCOOS HSU Abstract on Humboldt Bay mariculture, chlorophyll & oysters
abstract

Chlorophyll Levels in the Bay F. J. Shaughnessy
1; G. B. Crawford1 1. Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA, United States.
A variety of ocean observation platforms exist in Humboldt Bay and the outer northern coast of California. Part of this system, now operated by CeNCOOS, includes fixed instrument packages in Humboldt Bay containing a variety of basic water quality sensors including chlorophyll fluorometers. The first such system was deployed in the bay in 2003. Oyster growers in the bay, who account for 60-70% of California’s oyster production, immediately started using the near real time chlorophyll data to make decisions about when to plant out and harvest the bivalves. The growers have since indicated they would also like to be able to predict the availability of food (i.e. phytoplankton) in the bay in order to improve their business decisions. This presentation focuses on the development of a statistical model for predicting bay chlorophyll...

Poster on Nor Cal coast huge persistent clockwise eddy, effect of temp & tide: http://www.cencoos.org/documents/about/OceanSci_poster_2010_sm.pdf

CeNCOOS
Central & Northern California Coastal Observing System
(Govt. funded)
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April 26 - Freediving Apnea Scandi discussion group in Dahab Egypt
http://www.deeperblue.com/newsfull.php/2244
The current programme being proposed include the following presentations:

* Bubbles and DCS in deep diving
* Eating or fasting before maximal apnea
* Effects of dry apnea training on protective responses
* Warm up – or not before maximal apnea
* SaO2 recovery and pulmonary oedema
* Mental training and diving performance
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May 26 - DHA celebration in London, including seafood heritage.

Omega 3 fish oils (DHA) are essential to human diet, they are most plentiful at the shores.

For information on the DHA conference, request a pdf here.
To register online: go here

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Sea otters sleep on their backs while floating on the water surface.

Northern elephant seals sleep on their backs while sinking down into the depths.

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Biol Lett. 2010 Apr 23;6(2):163-6. Epub 2009 Oct 28.
Three-dimensional resting behaviour of northern elephant seals: drifting like a falling leaf.

Mitani Y, Andrews RD, Sato K, Kato A, Naito Y, Costa DP.

National Institute of Polar Research, 10-3, Midorikawa, Tachikawa, Tokyo 190-8518, Japan. yo_mitani@fsc.hokudai.ac.jp

During their long migrations through the Pacific, northern elephant seals, Mirounga angustirostris, never haul out on land and they rarely spend more than a few minutes at a time at the surface. They are almost constantly making repetitive, deep dives, raising the question of when do they rest? One type of dive, the drift dive, characterized by a time-depth profile with a phase of lower than average descent speed is believed to be a resting dive. To examine the behaviour of seals during drift dives, we measured body position and three-dimensional diving paths of six juvenile seals. We found that seals rolled over and sank on their backs during the drift phase, wobbling periodically so that they resembled a falling leaf. This enabled seals to drastically slow their descent rate, possibly so that negatively buoyant seals can rest without ending up in the abyss. This reduces the work required to return to the surface to breath, and allows them time to rest, process food or possibly sleep during the descent phase of these dives where they are probably less susceptible to predation.

PMID: 19864274 [PubMed - in process]
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Small World Indah Center

Re. Jenny
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The Big 5 Ideas of Science

Biological evolution via natural selection of genetic permutation
Geological plate tectonic continental drift and seafloor spreading
Atomic model of matter - nuclear/electromagnetic mass energy
Periodic table of chemical elements - tetrahedral form of table
Big bang origin of universe - big beats

(relativity, ico-octet structure, gravity as surface area?)

Plate tectonic theory explains the processes that have shaped Earth in terms of plates (large movable segments of the lithosphere) and their movement, including continental drift, seafloor spreading, seismic and volcanic activity, and the structures of Earth's crust to provide a unifying model of Earth's evolution.

The subducting slab contains many hydrous minerals, which release their water on heating during subduction under the continental plate margin; this water then causes the mantle to melt, producing volcanism. Examples of this are the Andes mountain range in South America and the Japanese island arc.

Driving forces of plate motion

Tectonic plates are able to move because of the relative density of oceanic lithosphere and the relative weakness of the asthenosphere. Dissipation of heat from the mantle is acknowledged to be the original source of energy driving plate tectonics. The current view, although it is still a matter of some debate, is that excess density of the oceanic lithosphere sinking in subduction zones is the most powerful source of plate motion. When it forms at mid-ocean ridges, the oceanic lithosphere is initially less dense than the underlying asthenosphere, but it becomes denser with age, as it conductively cools and thickens. The greater density of old lithosphere relative to the underlying asthenosphere allows it to sink into the deep mantle at subduction zones, providing most of the driving force for plate motions. The weakness of the asthenosphere allows the tectonic plates to move easily towards a subduction zone.[22] Although subduction is believed to be the strongest force driving plate motions, it cannot be the only force since there are plates such as the North American Plate which are moving, yet are nowhere being subducted. The same is true for the enormous Eurasian Plate. The sources of plate motion are a matter of intensive research and discussion among earth scientists. wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercontinent_cycle

Strange that they claim Plate Tectonic Theory explains, yet, they they can't explain how or why plates actually move.

Supercontinental ice house & green house cycles

There are two types of global earth climates: Icehouse and Greenhouse. Icehouse is characterized by frequent continental glaciations and severe desert environments. We are now in the icehouse phase, moving towards Greenhouse. Greenhouse is characterized by warm climates. Both reflect the supercontinent cycle.

* Icehouse Climate
o Continents moving together
o Sea level low due to lack of seafloor production
o Climate cooler, arid
o Associated with Aragonite seas
o Formation of Supercontinents

* Greenhouse Climate
o Continents dispersed
o Sea level high
o High level of sea floor spreading
o Relatively large amounts of CO2 production at oceanic rifting zones
o Climate warm and humid
o Associated with Calcite seas

Periods of Icehouse Climate: Much of Neoproterozoic, Late Paleozoic, Late Cenozoic.

Periods of Greenhouse Climate: Early Paleozoic, Mesozoic-Early Cenozoic.
[edit] Relation to evolution

The principal mechanism for evolution is natural selection among diverse populations. As genetic drift occurs more frequently in small populations, diversity is an observed consequence of isolation. Less isolation, and thus less diversification, occurs when the continents are all together, producing both one continent and one ocean with one coast. In Latest Neoproterozoic to Early Paleozoic times, when the tremendous proliferation of diverse metazoa occurred, isolation of marine environments resulted from the breakup of Pannotia.

An arrangement of N-S continents and oceans leads to much more diversity and isolation than E-W oceans and continents. This forms zones that are separated by water or land and that merge into climatically different zones along communication routes to the north and south. Formation of similar tracts of continents and ocean basins, only oriented E-W would lead to much less isolation, diversification, and slower evolution. Through the Cenozoic, isolation has been maximized by an arrangement of N-S ocean basins and continents.

Diversity, as measured by the number of families, follows the supercontinent cycle very well.

Algebra in Wonderland?

2010-03-22T15:52:00.000-07:00

Brief moment of math:

"The word “algebra,” De Morgan said in one of his footnotes, comes from an Arabic phrase he transliterated as “al jebr e al mokabala,” meaning restoration and reduction".

Was Lewis Carrols' Alice in Wonderland a satire of the new math of the time period?

NY Times article

Donald Duck in Mathmagic land: Disney cartoon movie from 1959
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_in_Mathmagic_Land

video short of film
http://www.kheper.net/topics/theoryofeverything/Reflexive.htm
h/t Kirby U @ synergeo
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Synergetics

646.18 Atoms dislodged from the outer layer of the omniintermagnetized ball bearings would always roll around on one another to relocate themselves in some closest- packing array, with any two mass-interattracted atoms being at least in tangency. When another dynamic-spherical-domain atom comes into closest-packing tangency with the first two, the mutual interattractiveness interrolls the three to form a triangle. Three in a triangle produce a "planar" pattern of closest packing. When a fourth ball bearing lodges in the nest formed between and atop the first three, each of the four balls then touches three others simultaneously and produces a tetrahedron having a concave-faceted void within it. In this tetrahedral position, with four-dimensional symmetry of association, they are in circumferential closest packing. Having no mutual sphere, they are only intercircumferentially mass-interattracted and cohered: i.e., gravity alone coheres them, but gravity is hereby seen experimentally to be exclusively circumferential in interbonding.
646.19 With further spherical atom additions to the initial tetrahedral aggregate, the outermost balls tend to roll coherently around into asymmetrical closest-packing collections, until they are once more symmetrically stabilized with 12 closest packing around one and as yet exercising their exclusively intercircumferential interattractiveness, bound circumferentially together by four symmetrically interacting circular bands, whereby each of the 12 surrounding spheres has four immediately adjacent circumferential shell spheres interattracting them circumferentially, while there is only one central nuclear ball inwardly__i.e., radially attracting each of them. In this configuration they form the vector equilibrium.

What Bucky didn't address there is that any spherical configuration (with any number of spheres) produces a geometrical nucleus, but the surface area (number of surface facets) determines if the nucleus is vertexial like the VE (sometimes defined as a small rhombic dodeca) or skeletal polyhedral like the star tetra, star octa, star icosa core polyhedra.

Tools & Tetrapods Table

2010-03-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

Comparison of species tool use habits:

Species	Tool Type	Tool Use	Locale Used

Orangutan	small stick, leaf	neesia seed, squeak	canopy
Gorilla	long stick, stone	wading/bridging smash	ground waterside
Chimpanzee	stick, stone	smash, dig, spear, carry	ground canopy
Ar. Human	stick stone shell	smash, pry, cut, dam...	ground waterside
Capuchin	stone, shell	smash, pry	ground waterside
Sea Otter	stone	smash, carry	waterside
Beaver	stick	dam, carry	ground waterside

H erectus 2ma Africa/Asia

H Heidelbergensis .4ma Spain

Anoiapithecus 12ma Spain: A hominoid with skull features similar to orangutans. Did Orangs live around the Mediterranian Sea forested bays, along with gibbons, and some moved along the Tethys coasts to south east Asia, while others transformed into hominids? Oreopithecus of Sardinia, Sahelanthropus of Chad, Orrorin etc. of east African Rift valley.
Spanish Orangutan 12 million years ago

Spanish Miocene apes 12ma: http://scienceblogs.com/laelaps/2010/04/fossil_teeth_tell_of_ancient_a.php#more

Are orangutans genetically closer to humans than chimps are?
Did lungfish only recently derive lungs like tetrapods?
orangs & lungfiswh

Dinosaur-Avian evolution

2010-03-07T11:58:00.000-08:00

see my comments

Early bird-dino types had long straight bony tails used to prop upright while static on ground and perch upright on tree branches. Their long necks allowed them to sleep with the head swivelled back between the arms/wings, giving them ability to see behind & above while resting, advantage against predators which normally attack from the rear or above. This tucked-back posture (seen also in giraffes & geese) has resulted in many fossil birdinos found in this position, the "death pose", because they died asleep on the ground, perhaps in buried hollows or underbrush during sandstorms.

When these 'birdinos' developed bristle filament protofeathers on the caudal ventral surface, it allowed better perching while on branches, the feather tips and edges acting like velcro or fingertip ridges, the long fan of feathers giving part-circumferential anchorage, from bone to bark, while the long curved hyperextended toes were above the branch, the other toes clamped from below. Eventually a side toe moved sidewards, then reversed, giving better traction and reducing need for a long heavy tail, so they replaced the bony tail with long tail feathers and short pygostyle, while shrinking the long neck (except in waders/surface feeders) and replacing teeth with lightweight beaks, improving aerial traits. Non-aquatic arboreal birds greatly shortened the body axis, grounded birds less so.

Compare arboreal (carni-frugi?) birdinos to tupaia tree shrews:

Nocturnal pen-tailed tree shrew (Ptilocercus lowi) with bony feather-fan tail which drinks wine from bertram palm and hops when on the ground (compare to early birdinos with long bony tail with feather fans):
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93001529
http://weirdimals.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/pen-tailed-tree-shrew/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugeissona
(Tree shrews are very small insectivore/frugivore/nectarivores, close cousins to primates, niche habits similar to early birdinos? (cf drunken monkey hypothesis and Asian Flush reaction to nectar-fruit-yeast alcohol consumption on metabolism re sugar/carb/aldehyde/diabetes.)

Diurnal mountain tree shrew with fluffy squirrel tail which after feeding on pitcher plant nectar exudates then deposits Nitrogenous poo into the loo, the bowl of the pitcher plant, and runs swiftly while on the ground:
http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/5/5/632
http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/090623-tree-shrew-lavatory.html

Coelecanth - dinosaur fish that swam on 4 legs, uses trimtab tail rudder
dinofish
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Petro city Monstrosity: Cities have become havens for engines, not humans.
http://www.beyondtheedge.org/automotive/a-world-without-cars/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BeyondTheEdge+(Beyond+The+Edge)

Dolphins & diabetes II

2010-03-02T19:46:00.000-08:00

Diabetes II: only in humans and dolphins? Large brain needs O2 & energy balance:
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Model for human health

“While some people may eat a high protein diet to help control diabetes, dolphins appear to have developed a diabetes-like state to support a high protein diet,” veterinary epidemiologist Stephanie Venn-Watson, director of clinical research at the NMMF, told a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in San Diego.

It’s the first time researchers have found a natural animal model for type II diabetes in humans.

This not only allows scientists to explore diabetes-like functions in an animal model, but studying their genome may help find a completely new treatment.

Large brain demand high blood glucose

“Shared large brains that have high blood glucose demands may explain why two completely different species - humans and dolphins - have developed similar physiological mechanisms to handle sugar,” she added.

There are also hints that humans and dolphins may share similar chronic conditions associated with diabetes, such as insulin resistance, haemochromatosis (or iron overload) and kidney stones.
dolphin diabetes

Dolphins have harmless diabetic fast during sleep which pumps up blood glucose levels. Most animals get their glucose from eating carbs, but not dolphins. Brains need suhgar to function, but fish has none. 3 dolphins with abnormal insulin levels also had iron overload, a condition associated with diabetes in people. While humans and dolphins aren't closely related, both have big brains and blood cells that can move large amounts of glucose, so both may have a switch.

Whale carcass muscles contain so much iron-rich myoglobin that they smell metallic until they rot.

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Stone age Norway: sealers, whalers stone age
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Red Sea Reefs had freshwater templates
reef
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Hormones-neurotransmitters: vasopressin, oxytocin, serotonin
http://zinjanthropus.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/eating-disorders-oxytocin-and-vasopressin/#comment-494
http://www.lucasbrouwers.nl/blog/2010/03/on-the-origin-of-animals/
http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2010/01/redbellies_harlequins_plump_toads.php
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chimps: stones & sticks in food processing in trees and on ground
gorillas: sticks in wading water, stones in food processing nuts on ground
orangs: small sticks in food processing (neesia seeds between lips) in trees
humans: sticks, stones, shells for domes, dams, food processing, in water and on ground
capuchins: shells, stones for food processing on ground and waterside trees
sea otters: stones in food processing in water
beavers: sticks in food processing, dome huts, dams, in water and on ground

Ancient calendars?

2010-02-23T18:23:00.000-08:00

Is there more than just a chance resemblance shared by Göbekli Tepe, the Anykthera mechanism, and stonehenge, regarding earth solunar cycles? Check it out for yourself:

Göbekli Tepe, Anatolia

Gobekli Tepe

Antikythera Mechanism, Greek island

Antikythera mechanism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism

Stonehenge from birds eye view: (rotated)

stonehenge

Stonehenge (rotated) overlapped on the Antikthera mechanism:

Tepe showing supposed calender:

Aside from some similar angles I don't see too much overlap, but interesting to compare 10,000 & 5,000 year old large earthworks to a small astronomic 'computer' from the Archimedes Greek period of 2,100 years ago.

BTW, words from very different languages overlap via common descent:
top/tip/up/alp - above
tipi/teepee - Dakota cone tent
topi - Malay, Hindu - dome skullcap
tepe - Turkish (hill)
tepec - Aztec (hill)
tila - Assamese (hillock)
o'por - Assamese (upper/over/above/upon)

http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/29041-tepec-nahuatl-tepe-turkish-hill/

tip top vs pit pot (sound & position inversion) bottom, boat, bottle, butt, tub
tip chip vs top chop (small vs large)

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The Ends of the Earth

Field notes by Barry Evans, describing the difference between direction and position
polarity

(Earth has no end, only cycles)

xkcd pieces

Air Air everywhere

2010-02-22T14:40:00.000-08:00

Diving physiology bio-chem: respiration, apnea

Divers should not hyperventilate causing alkalosis in blood, due to susceptibility to sudden black-out from lack of oxygen (with no chemoreceptor warning).
Rather they should be neutral pH, during dive the accumulation of carbon dioxide produces acidosis in the blood (even if there is abundant oxygen) which in MDR (mammalian divers reflex) is a safer mode, high CO2 triggers air hunger (oxygen conservation) and diaphragmatic contractions pump O2 & CO2 around efficiently.

REFINING THE BREATH by DOUG KELLER 2007

And then there are times when we anticipate physical stress and begin to breathe harder, using the chest muscles. The problem is that this situation of persistent mental and emotional stress has become more the rule of daily life than the exception. The body is on constant alert via the sympathetic nervous system, but the physical exertion — and the need for accelerated breathing — never comes. As a result, we’ve both pumped in more oxygen and pumped out carbon dioxide in this process of hyperventilation, and a vital chemical balance in the body has been seriously upset.

Here begins the vicious cycle that is so familiar to hyperventilators. The harder we breathe, the more oxygen-starved we feel, and we can’t ‘catch’ our breath. This is not for lack of oxygen, but because so much carbon dioxide has been forced out in the process of overbreathing. The presence of carbon dioxide in our blood allows the hemoglobins to transport oxygen to the body’s tissues. If too much carbon dioxide is ‘blown off’ by hyperventilation, the blood becomes alkaline, and the hemoglobin can’t release the oxygen molecules, which are chemically ‘stuck’ to it. The blood is carrying around plenty of oxygen: the problem is that the body can’t get any of it!
Carbon dioxide also provides the chemical message in the blood that leads us to take our next breath. At the end of the exhalation, there is a natural, restful pause before we breathe in again. During that pause, carbon dioxide builds up in the blood at the same time that oxygen is being released into the tissues. When it reaches a certain level, the respiratory center of the brain sends a signal through the phrenic nerve to the diaphragm to take another breath.

In the normal course of breathing, the entire process of respiration is driven by carbon dioxide, from the first neurochemical impulse that initiates the inhalation, to the chemical balancing act in the blood that delivers oxygen to the body. All of this happens without our having to think about or consciously direct the process, and the whole process works astoundingly well, with carbon dioxide playing a central role from beginning to end.

That, of course, describes the natural process of the breath, in which the conscious mind, with its slurry of desire, emotion and expectation, is not factored in. But what happens when we overbreathe? Usually an excess of carbon dioxide in the blood tells us to take another breath in, and the process is quite relaxed. But when carbon dioxide drops below a certain level (due to anticipatory fast hard breathing), the message from the body — which is now not receiving the oxygen it needs — is that we are suffocating! And so the breath is driven by the body’s panic, and we breathe harder, making the situation worse instead of better. A subtle chemical imbalance soon becomes a full-blown panic attack. The age-old cure for panic attacks — to breathe into a paper bag — has a very good biochemical basis: it’s meant to increase the levels of carbon dioxide by re-breathing the same air, until the proper balance is restored.

When it comes to stressful breathing patterns, or patterns of ‘overbreathing, certainly the vicious cycle of the biochemistry of hyperventilation plays the part of gasoline thrown on the fire. Mental anticipation and anxiety, however, is the match that lights the fire.
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So relax, and just glow a little. ;)

h/t kelp princess @ Deeper Blue

water water everywhere

2010-02-18T18:45:00.000-08:00

A few hotels in Eureka have small guest swimming pools. A local fitness club has a lap pool.
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Eureka High School swimming pool closed

Superintendent Haulk reported the Eureka High School pool has been closed. It was the desire of Eureka City Schools to work cooperatively with the non-profit group raising money to keep the pool open. Due to the Federal Swimming Pool and Spa Drain Cover Standard established by the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, beginning December 19, 2008, all public pools, like the EHS pool, are required to meet the new drain cover standard. The Director of the North Coast School's Insurance Group has stated that knowing failure to comply with laws such as the Act could void liability coverage for the district. Legal counsel has advised that "it would be prudent to close the pool and permit no one to use it on or after December 19, 2009..." To bring the pool up to compliance would cost an estimated $100,000-$200,000. If this amount of work were to be invested in the pool, it would kick in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act for the building that would require mandated upgrades that would be cost prohibitive. In addition to the non-compliant drain, the heater for the pool broke down and is difficult to repair. (EHS news)
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The Eureka warm water Easter Seals therapy pool is closing.
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_14424955
State budget cuts, the loss of a major business sponsor and exorbitant fixes needed at its pool facility have all combined to leave the Humboldt County chapter of Easter Seals no options other than to shut its doors, officials say. Effective April 30, Easter Seals will cease operations after six decades on the North Coast.
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College of the Redwoods swimming pool is closed.
http://www.redwoods.edu/sports/pool/
http://www.redwoods.edu/District/Maintenance/Pool%20Study%20Rev%202.pdf
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The Arcata community pool and Arcata's Humboldt State University new Natatorium pool (20 minute drive, 2 hr walk from Eureka) are open but heavily used by students, swim clubs, scuba & kayak/sculling groups. For a combined urban population of 45,000 residents, not much swimming available except ocean rough coldwater surfing and summer river swimming holes.

http://www.northcoastjournal.com/issues/2008/06/19/cant-swim/

http://www.athleticbusiness.com/articles/printpreview.aspx?a=2470&template=print-article.htm

http://now.humboldt.edu/news/hsu-opens-new-kinesiology-and-athletics-building/

interim

2010-02-12T22:57:00.000-08:00

"Every physical body has four basic sides, or four comers: two points alone are only collinear, and three are only coplanar; not until there are four comers can the property of spatial existence be recognized. As a result, any physical body must be held at four noncoplanar points (triangulated distally), with three torque restraints at each point (triangulated locally), in order to be stabilized.
There are four fundamental corners in every system, and each must be triangulated: 4 × 3 = 12. Thus there are twelve degrees of freedom, tetrahedrally organized." Amy Edmondson, A Fuller Explanation, Re. R. Buckminster Fuller, vector equilibrium

Relative Volume Table: (tetra volumes) | (cube volumes)

form	= tv\|cv	form	= tv \| cv

tetra/coupler	= 1 \| 1/3	star octa	= 12 \| 4
double tetra	= 2 \| 2/3	star rh dodeca	= 12 \| 4
duo-tet cube	= 3 \| 1	cmpd cubocta ext	= 20 \| ~7
reg octa	= 4 \| 4/3	reg icosa int	:~18 \| ~6
star tetra	= 5 \| 5/3	star icosa ext	= 20 \| ~7
rhom dodeca	= 6 \| 2	cubocta int	= 20 \| ~7
2F coupler	= 8 \| 8/3	2F cube	= 24 \| 8

Icosa = 18.51 tv +
Vector edge Cube = 8.49 tv =
Icosa + Vector edge Cube = 27 tv -
Vector diagonal Cube = 3 tv (2 small duotets) =
2F lattice Cube = 24 tv (2 big duotets) -
Octa = 4 tv =
Star Icosa ext = 20 tv or
Cubocta = 20 tv + 8 ext tetra =
Star Cubocta Cube = 28 tv + 6 ext sq pyramids =
Cmpd Cubocta = 40 tv - 8 ext tetra =
Superocta = 6 octa & 8 tetra = 32 tv

compound of (1st stellation of) cube & octahedron (not star cubocta)

Cumulation: tet, octa, cube, icosa, dodeca can be cumulated 4 times
CUMULATION
(Cube & tet can't be stellated but both can be cumulated)
tetra, triakis tetra, cube, 12-faced star deltahedron (star tetra)
cube, tetrakis hexahedron, rhomb dodeca, 24 face star deltahedron (star cube)
octa, sm triakis octa, stella octangula/duotet (star octa)

star tetra, star octa (domain net of cubocta), star icosa

Now excluding the nucleic polyhedron volume:
View of surface tets as skeletal structure, equi length struts
Star Tet: nuc tet void, 4 tets, 6 circ + 12 ext struts = 18
Star Octa: nuc octa void, 8 tets, 12 circ + 24 ext struts = 36
Star Icosa: nuc icosa void, 20 tets, 30 circ + 60 ext struts = 90

I think the star tetra, star octa and star icosa qualify as 'VE', if the central polyhedra (reg tet, reg octa, reg icosa) is considered to be the nucleus. All the connecting vectors are same length AFAICT. Eg. the star icosa has all equal length vectors and has no centroid vectors (which would be a different length). So you need to specify which VE:

VE cubocta
VE star tetra
VE star octa
VE star icosa

The star tetra has 12 face planes
Multiplication by division: http://synergeticists.org/synergetics/plates/figs/plate03.html

Noting Kirby's & Alan's relative volume tables here:
math
Eschers solid

A 1F cube has 3 tv. First stellation of a cube is a rhombic dodeca of 6 tv.
First stellation of a rhombic dodeca is Escher's Solid, of 12 tv,
half the volume of the 2F cube, same as the star octa.

The volume of the cuboctahedron is 5/6 of that of the enclosing cube and 5/8 of that of the enclosing octahedron. The cuboctahedron shares its edges and vertex arrangement with two nonconvex uniform polyhedra: the cubohemioctahedron (having the square faces in common) and the octahemioctahedron (having the triangular faces in common).

I suggest adding one more, some star polyhedra with identical regular tetrahedra, the internal central polyhedron is a void*, since the external tetras produce the structure, so no additional struts required:

star tetra: 4 tetras (star tet - tet nucleus)
star octa: 8 tetras (duotet - octa nucleus)
star cubocta: 8 tetras (cube - cubocta nucleus)
=====================
star icosa: 20 tetras (4 + 8 + 8) * jitterbug transformation

*These exclude the nuclear polyhedron, since it is a void built by the exoskeleton of structural tets and overlapped struts are unnecessary.

I haven't checked if the orientation of the 20 tets of the star icosa match with those of the others, or if they need to be rotated or jitterbugged to fit the icosa.

compound cubocta & 120 cell

What can fit into an icosa? a tet. an octa. a star tet? a star octa?
unknown.

rhombic dodeca (cube with pyramidal faces combine coplanar pairs of triangles into rhombi) rhomdodeca from cube+6pyramid (differs from star cube with noncoplanar pairs of triangles)

star rhombic dodeca & star octa:
star vol

C60 Carbon buckyball fullerene: 60 vertices divided into 12 pentagon sets; 32 faces of 12 pentas and 20 hexas, 90 edges of 60 pentagonal edges (single bonds)and 30 hexagonal edges (double bonds), each hexagon has alternating single and double bonds. Dual of truncated icosahedron C60 with 32 faces and 60 vertices is the pentakis dodecahedron (triangulated C60) of 60 faces and 32 vertices.

syn

1033.53 The vector equilibrium jitterbug provides the articulative model for demonstrating the always omnisymmetrical, divergently expanding or convergently contracting intertransformability of the entire primitive polyhedral hierarchy, structuring as you go in an omnitriangularly oriented evolution.
1033.54 As we explore the interbonding (valencing) of the evolving structural components, we soon discover that the universal interjointing of systems__and their foldability__permit their angularly hinged convergence into congruence of vertexes (single bonding), vectors (double bonding), faces (triple bonding), and volumetric congruence (quadri-bonding). Each of these multicongruences appears only as one vertex or one edge or one face aspect. The Eulerean topological accounting as presently practiced__innocent of the inherent synergetical hierarchy of intertransformability__accounts each of these multicongruent topological aspects as consisting of only one of such aspects. This misaccounting has prevented the physicists and chemists from conceptual identification of their data with synergetics' disclosure of nature's comprehensively rational, intercoordinate mathematical system.
1033.55 Only the topological analysis of synergetics can account for all the multicongruent__doubled, tripled, fourfolded__topological aspects by accounting for the initial tetravolume inventories of the comprehensive rhombic dodecahedron and vector equilibrium. The comprehensive rhombic dodecahedron has an initial tetravolume of 48; the vector equilibrium has an inherent tetravolume of 20; their respective initial or primitive inventories of vertexes, vectors, and faces are always present__though often imperceptibly so__at all stages in nature's comprehensive convergence transformation.

2 fold: triangle octavalent
3 fold: tetra quadruvalent
4 fold: cube, octa, apparent cubocta, rhom dodeca
5 fold: icosa, penta dodeca
6 fold: actual cubocta in motion when surface squares collapse
7 axes of symmetry, 14 faces of bubbles & cells: 14faces
Carbon C60 buckyball: truncated icosahedron C60
Boron B80 buckyball: truncated rhombic triacontahedron B80
Tetrakaidecahedron: 14 sided polyhedra includes VE, truncated octahedra (space filler) and hexagonal truncated trapezohedron (14 sided soap foam)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrakaidecahedron

The more regular honeycombs dualise neatly:
* The cubic honeycomb is self-dual.
* That of octahedra and tetrahedra is dual to that of rhombic dodecahedra.

Check: quasicrystal matrix composed of icosa & star tetra, where the icosa contain nuclei of star tetra.
Da Vincis' star tetrahedron & icosahedron: star tet

Jitterbug transformation: from 4 fold VE through 5 fold icosa to 3 fold tetra VV
The nucleated cubocta is a unique 3D system in Vector Equilibrium, where all 24 circumferential vectors (edges) are the same length as the 12 nuclear radiating vectors (rays). The non-nucleated VE is not structurally rigid with rubber joints (unlike the tetra, octa and icosa of 60 degrees) due to the 6 collapsable square faces of 90 degrees, but with polarised kinetic energy applied (compressed, extended or torqued at opposing triangle or square faces) will transform as follows:

Compressing polar triangles inward: spins through an incomplete icosa to an octa.
Extending polar triangles outward: unstable convex-concave tri-prism, which if equatorially compressed (at evertices or invertices) or polarly torqued forms a webbed pin-hinged double tetra hourglass.
Torqueing polar triangles laterally: 2f (nuc) triangle, folds to tetra.

Compressing polar squares inward: star square, folds to 1/2-octa to 1f triangle.
Extending polar squares outward produces stretched cube, which if equatorially compressed or polarly torqued forms a pin-hinged double 1/2-octa hourglass, folds to a single 1/2-octa to 1f triangle.
Torqueing polar squares laterally: incomplete 2f tetra, folds to saddle form or hexagon or 2f (nuc) triangle to tetra.

Jitterbug collapse to tetra: http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/s04/figs/f6108.html
Jitterbug collapse to octa:
6 loops circumscribe a spherical VE: 6 loop VE

Relative Volumes at Grunch: http://grunch.net/archives/47
Concentric hierarchy: here
Quintet dodeca: http://www.newciv.org/Synergetic_Geometry/Quintet_Dodeca.JPEG
http://www.newciv.org/Synergetic_Geometry/amoeba.htm
xkcd symmetree
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Octet truss IVM virtual space frame allows tourists to see ancient artifacts without disturbing them at Java, Indonesia.
Time & Space Perspective
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On spherical gravity "attraction" & EM radial wave "repulsion" relationships

2 round objects have more surface area than 1, so they are "attracted" to each other, collision reduces total surface area. Energy has no surface area so is independent of gravity, (it 'curves' around bodies due to reflection pressure?) it radiates outwardly in periodic (tidal) waves linearly from sphere center.

circumferential vectors & great circles: icosa edge vectors 30, icosa great circles 31; cubocta edge vectors 24, cubocta great circles 25

1052.21 Isaac Newton discovered the celestial gravitation interrelationship and expressed it in terms of the second power of the relative distance between the different masses as determined by reference to the radius of one of the interattracted masses. The gravitational relationship is also synergetically statable in terms of the second power of relative frequency of volumetric quanta concentrations of the respectively interattracted masses. Newton's gravitational constant is a radially (frequency) measured rate of spherical surface contraction, while Einstein's radiational constant is a radial (frequency) rate of spherical expansion. (See Secs. 960.12, 1009.31 and 1052.44.)
1052.30 Gravitational Constant: Excess of One Great Circle over Edge Vectors in Vector Equilibrium and Icosahedron: Pondering on Einstein's last problem of the Unified Field Theory, in which he sought to identify and explain the mathematical differentiations between electromagnetics and gravity__the two prime attractive forces of Universe__and recalling in that connection the conclusion of synergetics that gravity operates in spherical embracement, not by direct radial vectors, and recalling that electromagnetics follows the high-tension convex surfaces, possibly the great-circle trunk system of railroad tracks (see Secs. 452 and 458); led to pondering, in surprise, over the fact that the vector equilibrium, which identifies the gravitational behaviors, discloses 25 great circles for the vector equilibrium in respect to its 24 external vector edges, and the icosahedron, which identifies the electron behaviors of electromagnetics, discloses 31 great circles in respect to its 30 external vector edges.
1052.31 In each case, there is an excess of one great circle over the edge vectors. Recalling that the circumferential vector edges of the vector equilibrium exactly equal the radial explosive/implosive forces, while the icosahedron's 30 external edges are longer and more powerful than its 30 radial vectors [What 30 radial vectors?? A star icosa has external equilength pentalateral-bond tets, a cubocta has equilength quadrilateral-bond & equilength mono-radial vectors.], yet each has an excess of one great circle, which great circles must have two polar axes of spin, we encounter once more the excess two polar vertexes characterizing all topological systems, and witness the excess of embracingly cohering forces in contradistinction to the explosively disintegrative forces of Universe.
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A star tetra, a star octa, and a star icosa each contain a nuclear void (empty space tet, octa, icosa) polyhedron surrounded and structured by reg ext tets. A star cubocta does not contain a void nucleus. A star rh dodeca and star non-nucleated cubocta contain void polyhedron nuclei, but lacking full tet surfaces are not structured. Empty stars can be nucleated by structures: star icosa accepts a nuclear star tetra (free spinning? quasicrystal matrix), star cubocta accepts a nuclear star octa (IVM crystal matrix).

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domed dive mask
I'd like to get this dive mask, great vision underwater for those who are nearsighted (myopic) like me, and lack sufficient visual accomodation for clear dark adapted acuity.

Vortices in dragonfly flight animation:
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/March00/APS_Wang.hrs.html

Spiral column foldable origami: spiral

Fish bones, fermented fish vs cooked fish, calcium carbonate in sea water, sleep

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=921452
Fish-bone peptides (FBP) with a high affinity to Ca were isolated using hydroxyapatite affinity chromatography, and FBP II with a high ratio of phosphopeptide was fractionated in the range of molecular weight 5·0–1·0kDa by ultramembrane filtration. In vitro study elucidated that FBP II could inhibit the formation of insoluble Ca salts in neutral pH. In vivo effects of FBP II on Ca bioavailability were further examined in the ovariectomised rat. During the experimental period, Ca retention was increased and loss of bone mineral was decreased by FBP II supplementation in ovariectomised rats. After the low-Ca diet, the FBP II diet, including both normal level of Ca and vitamin D, significantly decreased Ca loss in faeces and increased Ca retention compared with the control diet. The levels of femoral total Ca, bone mineral density, and strength were also significantly increased by the FBP II diet to levels similar to those of the casein phosphopeptide diet group (no difference; P>0·05). In the present study, the results proved the beneficial effects of fish-meal in preventing Ca deficiency due to increased Ca bioavailability by FBP intake

ocean alkalinity & fish
New research reveals the major influence of fish on maintaining the delicate pH balance of our oceans, vital for the health of coral reefs and other marine life.
The discovery, made by a team of scientists from the UK, US and Canada, could help solve a mystery that has puzzled marine chemists for decades. Published 16 January 2009 in Science, the study provides new insights into the marine carbon cycle, which is undergoing rapid change as a result of global CO2 emissions.

Until now, scientists have believed that the oceans' calcium carbonate, which dissolves to make seawater alkaline, came from the external 'skeletons' of microscopic marine plankton. This study estimates that three to 15 per cent of marine calcium carbonate is in fact produced by fish in their intestines and then excreted. This is a conservative estimate and the team believes it has the potential to be three times higher.

Fish are therefore responsible for contributing a major but previously unrecognised portion of the inorganic carbon that maintains the ocean's acidity balance. The researchers predict that future increases in sea temperature and rising CO2 will cause fish to produce even more calcium carbonate.

To reach these results, the team created two independent computer models which for the first time estimated the total mass of fish in the ocean. They found there are between 812 and 2050 million tonnes (between 812 billion and 2050 billion kilos) of bony fish in the ocean. They then used lab research to establish that these fish produce around 110 million tonnes (110 billion kilos) of calcium carbonate per year.

Calcium carbonate is a white, chalky material that helps control the delicate acidity balance, or pH, of sea water. pH balance is vital for the health of marine ecosystems, including coral reefs, and important in controlling how easily the ocean will absorb and buffer future increases in atmospheric CO2.

This calcium carbonate is being produced by bony fish, a group that includes 90% of marine fish species but not sharks or rays. These fish continuously drink seawater to avoid dehydration. This exposes them to an excess of ingested calcium, which they precipitate into calcium carbonate crystals in the gut. The fish then simply excrete these unwanted chalky solids, sometimes called 'gut rocks', in a process that is separate from digestion and production of faeces.

The study reveals that carbonates excreted by fish are chemically quite different from those produced by plankton. This helps explain a phenomenon that has perplexed oceanographers: the sea becomes more alkaline at much shallower depths than expected. The carbonates produced by microscopic plankton should not be responsible for this alkalinity change, because they sink to much deeper depths intact, often becoming locked up in sediments and rocks for millions of years. In contrast, fish excrete more soluble forms of calcium carbonate that are likely to completely dissolve at much shallower depths (e.g. 500 to 1,000 metres).

Lead author Dr Rod Wilson of the University of Exeter (UK) said: "Our most conservative estimates suggest three to 15 per cent of the oceans' carbonates come from fish, but this range could be up to three times higher. We also know that fish carbonates differ considerably from those produced by plankton"

toads, fish, sharks, CaCO3, etc.
reefs
Photic Sneeze
Photic sneeze: vestige of past tropical lagoon diving ancestors? Aqua-photic Respiratory Cycle forage divers, fast dark-adapted sunlight exhalations...

Y DNA Haplogroup T: Salt trade, boiling brine to trade via dugout for inland goods?
coastal transit/trade 30ka

Upper Rift seasonal fishing camp 770ka: carp, acorn, olive pit, raisin, bark
carp fishing with acorn bait & crabbing 770ka at Lake Hula
23ka bedding, salt and freshwater springs at Sea of Galillee
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC409895/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19125919?ordinalpos=1&itool=PPMCLayout.PPMCAppController.PPMCArticlePage.PPMCPubmedRA&linkpos=2

Similarities between Hs & Pt: proteins, DNA, chromosome
http://academic.reed.edu/biology/professors/srenn/pages/teaching/431S05/431S05_readings/431s05_examples/king_wilson_1975(classic).pdf

numeric sequences

Earthquake offshore Eureka

2010-01-09T23:25:00.000-08:00

Chile earthquake/tsunami: http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/2010/02/27/725245/08/ttvu725245-08.jpg

New Update: Feb 4

The Jan 9th quake caused our Muni building to be red tagged, forcing us to move to another building in downtown Eureka. This morning at our meeting, I mentioned being grateful that we didn't have more quakes lately. Half an hour later, we had another earthquake! A small one offshore, 5.9 on Richter scale although it felt like a 4.0 locally. Now we have a bad windstorm blowing outside, the big trees blown sideways... what a day!

Update: Jan 10

shake & quake

A strong earthquake occurred at 4:27:38 PM (PST) on Saturday, January 9, 2010.
The magnitude 6.5 event occurred 43 km (27 miles) W of Ferndale, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 22 km (14 miles).

Magnitude 6.5 - regional moment magnitude (Mw)
Time Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 4:27:38 PM (PST)
Distance from Ferndale, CA - 43 km (27 miles) W (280 degrees)
Humboldt Hill, Eureka, CA - 48 km (30 miles) W (259 degrees)

- Jan 9

We had a quake about 5pm, more roller than rocker, either a 6 or 6.5, I had estimated a 5.5 - 6.0 on Richter scale. Haven't heard of any tsunamis.

Rockers are worst, when 2 waves collide at an angle, very jolting.
Rollers are single directional, so unless very large they just move like a normal surf wave.

I happened to be outside near the garden, so no problem except possible electric wires breaking (they were whipsnapping a lot). No external cracks in the Muni bldg [except a crack in the ramp], a window fell out, lots of plaster fell from the ceiling, books and art fell, etc. no injuries here. Lights back on by 11pm. [Part of the building shifted up a bit.]

After working so hard on the new wood floor and painting the galleries... alas.

Tetrapods: 400ma coral lagoon ancestors

2010-01-06T15:43:00.000-08:00

Tetrapod tracks
"Another key surprise from the research is the recognition that these tetrapods lived in a marine environment, perhaps a coral lagoon. The favoured origin before now for the emergence of tetrapods had been marshy environments, such as deltas or lakes where freshwater dominated. The team behind the latest research said the new explanation made sense because it would have allowed marine ancestors of tetrapods gradually to acquire terrestrial competence while accessing a new and essentially untouched resource of food washed up with the tides.

"In the intertidal setting, you've got a smorgasbord laid out twice a day," said Dr Ahlberg. "Every time the tide goes out, it leaves behind this drift-line of dead and moribund animals. All this was just left there for vertebrates - our ancestors - to emerge on to land and pick them off."
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Cape clawless otter vs cape clawed toad?
Definition of Toads versus Frogs from the " Encyclopedia of Animals A complete Visual Guide"
Univ of Cal Press ISBN 0-520-24406-0
Toads family ( Bufonidae) have short legs for hopping, dry warty skin and are terrestrial. Frogs( Family Ranidae) have long, slender legs for leaping great distances, moist skin, and are aquatic. The use of the term "Toad" depends on the region of the world you are in. in Africa, the smooth and moist- skinned aquatic Cape clawed frog ( Xenopus gilli) is called a clawed Toad."
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Sea otter: note similarity to human backfloating with arms behind head
sea otter
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Swimming sloths: aqua-arboreal sloths
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Size of eyes, Snake eyes
"The habits of Snakes can be seen in their eyes: small degenerate eyes suggest burrowers, vertical elliptical pupils are nocturnal/[crepuscular] species, large round eyes are active diurnal/[crepuscular?] predators that chase down their prey"
Posted by: Bob Michaels at Tet zoo
http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2010/01/micropechis_ikaheka_snake.php

Neandertal eyes vs sapien eyes

Neandertal orbits were larger than modern human orbits, is this due to more nocturnal activity, as parallel in new world tarsier-like nocturnal owl monkeys vs other new world monkeys? Did neandertals specialize in crepuscular (early morning/late evening) ambushes at waterside? Was dark adaptation an aquatic feature, as seen in seals and sea lions with large orbits? See page 15 of this pdf:
them and us article

Perhaps erectines were more shellfish gatherers (dive partners at tropical lagoons) and only opportunistic hunters/scavengers, neandertals were more waterside ambushers (groups with jabbing spears in cooler climates) and sapiens were high-tech fishermen and trappers (including herding into traps/canyons).

Did neandertals have slit pupil eyes, like cats and some nocturnal primates (galagos, owl monkey)? The large orbit and occipital bun might indicate that. Note that aquatic animals do not have slit eyes, despite their dark hunting environment, since the refractive value of light in water differs from air.

Did neandertals retain a fur coat, growing longer in winter and shedding in spring, as in other paleoarctic fauna? Did only erectines lose this fur, due to basking on tropical shorelines? Did sapiens develop clothes and animal furs only as they moved away from the tropics, or in addition/substitution to body paints/perfumes for insect repellants?

Convergent evolution of echolocation in bats and whales
high freq hearing

Shellfish saved humans but not AAT!!??

2010-01-03T02:14:00.000-08:00

Humans: Mammals of the Seashores
Video

Shellfish fed human ancestors

map & photo of Buia & Djibouti bays
(Note similarity and nearness to Djibouti harbor just south along coast, with islands offshore rich in coral reefs and mangroves. During a slightly wetter period, paradise, but now desert isles.)

1ma beef at Buia, Eritrea: Surf & Turf at tropical lagoons
Surf & Turf @ coast

Dahlak archipelago settled 2ka, speak Dahalik dialect of Tigrinya, pastoral/fishing/pearl diving

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Epic of Gilgamesh/Noah's ark was round
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/01/noahs-ark-was-circular

similar to the marsh Arab barns or coracles?

Finkel's research throws light on the familiar Mesopotamian story, which became the account in Genesis, in the Old Testament, of Noah and the ark that saved his menagerie from the waters which drowned every other living thing on earth.

In his translation, the god who has decided to spare one just man speaks to Atram-Hasis, a Sumerian king who lived before the flood and who is the Noah figure in earlier versions of the ark story. "Wall, wall! Reed wall, reed wall! Atram-Hasis, pay heed to my advice, that you may live forever! Destroy your house, build a boat; despise possessions And save life! Draw out the boat that you will built with a circular design; Let its length and breadth be the same."

The tablet goes on to command the use of plaited palm fibre, waterproofed with bitumen, before the construction of cabins for the people and wild animals.
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50,000 year old pigments in shells for body paint
paint or mosquito repellant?
Scientists unearthed the shells at two archaeological sites in the Murcia province of southern Spain. Professor Joao Zilhao, the archaeologist from Bristol University in the UK, who led the study, said that he and his team had examined shells that were used as containers to mix and store pigments. Black sticks of the pigment manganese, which may have been used as body paint by Neanderthals, have previously been discovered in Africa. "[But] this is the first secure evidence for their use of cosmetics," he told BBC News. "The use of these complex recipes is new. It's more than body painting." The scientists found lumps of a yellow pigment, that they say was possibly used as a foundation. They also found red powder mixed up with flecks of a reflective brilliant black mineral. The shells were coated with residues of mixed pigments
Some of the sculpted, brightly coloured shells may also have been worn by Neanderthals as jewellery. [I think this was H sapiens, not neandertals.]
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My dear sir, in this world it is not so easy to settle these plain things. I have ever found your plain things the knottiest of all.

- Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
________

'We are coming now rather into the region of guesswork', said Dr Mortimer.
'Say, rather, into the region where we balance probabilities and choose the most likely. It is the scientific use of the imagination, but we have always some material basis on which to start our speculation', [replied Holmes].

- The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
-----------

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and
thus clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series
of hobglobins, all of them imaginary." -- H.L. Mencken
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Some years ago — it was February, 1955, late in the southern summer — I was introduced by Professor Raymond A. Dart to a room filled with fossil bones in the basement of Johannesburg's Medical School. In that room I met more than bones, for I encountered a variety of things that I had never heard of. I had never heard of man's origin on the continent of Africa. I had never heard of our probable ancestors, the australopithecines, a zoological group of small-brained erect-running creatures, hesitating between the roles of ape and man, who haunted the high African savannahs a million or two years ago.

Authors, being shameless, tend to rush into print. So fathomless was my ignorance, however, and so oceanic were the dimensions of scientific accomplishment while my back had been turned, that the rush consumed six years of my life, and even then I learned only to float. For it was not just a matter of Australopithecus and the predatory transition; there were alpha fish and pecking orders, gene pools and displacement activities, exploratory behavior and ritualized aggression, and all had bearing on the human condition. Above all, there was territory.

Robert Ardrey - The Territoreal Imperative
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Babble from Bab-El, syllabic phonetic language roots in Hebrew/Arabic/Phoenician/Venetian
http://www.edenics.org/
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SS Earth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_Manual_for_Spaceship_Earth

Spaceship earth: The idea that the earth is a spaceship, with the sun as our energy supplier.
General systems theory: The idea of the earth is as a mechanical vehicle that requires maintenance, and that if you do not keep it in good order it will cease to function.
Synergy: Likens humanity to a chick that has just broken out of its shell and is now ready to enter the next phase of its existence. Suggests "How big can we think?"
Integral functions: Where the whole of a system is greater than the sum of its parts. "Ergo, only complete world desovereignization can permit the realization of an all humanity high standard support."
Regenerative landscape: Wealth is expanded by the development of tools which go beyond what was integral to man. States that the highest priority need of world society is a realistic accounting system, instead of one where a top toolmaker in India gets paid in a month what he would make in a day in Detroit. Defines tools as either craft tools that can be invented by one man such as bows and arrows and industrial tools that can not be produced by one man such as the S.S. Queen Mary. Finds language to be the first industrial tool. States that craft tools were used to create industrial tools. States that to take advantage of potential wealth we must give life fellowships to each person who is or becomes unemployed, and states that for every 100,000 fellowships given out one person will come up with something so valuable that it will pay for the remaining 99,999 fellowships. Predicts that soon the great office buildings will be turned into residences and that all the work that had been done in them will be done in the basements of a few buildings. States that we "must operate exclusively on our vast daily energy income from the powers of wind, tide, water, and the direct Sun radiation energy".

This quotation, referring to fossil fuels, reflects his approach:

"...can make all of humanity successful through science's world-engulfing industrial evolution provided that we are not so foolish as to continue to exhaust in a split second of astronomical history the orderly energy savings of billions of years' energy conservation aboard our Spaceship Earth. These energy savings have been put into our Spaceship's life-regeneration-guaranteeing bank account for use only in self-starter functions."

"Spaceship earth" may have been derived from a passage in Henry George's best known work, Progress and Poverty[1] (1879). From book IV, chapter 2:

It is a well-provisioned ship, this on which we sail through space. If the bread and beef above decks seem to grow scarce, we but open a hatch and there is a new supply, of which before we never dreamed. And very great command over the services of others comes to those who as the hatches are opened are permitted to say, "This is mine!"
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Darwin's Origin of Species, David Winters @ Atavism blog:
http://sciblogs.co.nz/the-atavism/2009/12/31/the-origin-of-species-and-the-origin-of-species/

Biological speciation vs Social specialization.
species: separate full-time from parent group type due to divergent geo/bio-niche
specialists: separate part-time from parent group type

"You can see where my number came from once you consider that only about 4% of the genome is functional DNA - 150 mutations in your genome will lead to about 6 mutations in functional regions."

5 digits primitive, others derived from ancestral form

2010-01-03T00:23:00.000-08:00

fish & tetrapods (article missing)

Pentadactyly (from Greek pente- = "five" plus δακτυλος = "finger") is the condition of having five digits on each limb. It is believed that all living tetrapods are descended from an ancestor with a pentadactyl limb, although many species have now lost or transformed some or all of their digits by the process of evolution

"Major branching events in vertebrate evolution occurred long ago. Sharks branched off the human lineage at least 430 million years ago.

The ray-finned fishes, technically known as Actinopterygians, branched off 420 million years ago.
"Teleosts, the largest subgroup of Actinopterygians, include the vast majority of fishes today," Coates said.

Acanthostega looked like "a large, grotesque salamander," Coates said. It had legs and digits, with rudimentary ankles and wrists, but also internal gills and a large tail fin. Acanthostega, along with new work by Coates and Clack on other previously discovered early tetrapods, contradicted long-held paleontological beliefs that early tetrapods all had five digits on each limb. But, Acanthostega had eight, while other creatures of the same period had seven and six digits."

[DD: Ancanthostega derived 8 from 5 primary digits for better swimming (just as the ray finned fish did), it probably lacked interdigital skin webbing (unlike todays' frogs and salamanders, think sturgeon) so more digits were selected, with multiple extra digits, some becoming mere t
hin needle-like bones in teleosts. Tiktaalik had 5 digits, and was ancestral to tetrapods.]

Interesting note:

Didactyly (from Greek di-="two" plus δακτυλος = "finger") or bidactyly is the condition of having two digits on each limb, as in the Hypertragulidae and Two-toed Sloth, Choloepus didactylus. In humans this name is used for an abnormality in which the middle digits are missing, leaving only the thumb and fifth finger, or big and little toes.

197th post: Hey, Its Ant-a Claws !!

2009-12-22T22:14:00.000-08:00

South of Spain: Mar Menor Lagoon

Ant-a Claws
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In honor of Darwins' anniversary of On the Origin of Species.
New Papyrus: Darwin

it takes 20 000 genes to make a nematode and 25 000 to make a human

http://www.livescience.com/technology/technovelgy_eyes_041104.html
Charles Darwin recognized that the eye would be a real test of the theory of evolution. He suggested that it might be possible to evolve an eye from "imperfect and simple" forms:

"To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree.

"Yet reason tells me, that if numerous gradations from a perfect and complex eye to one very imperfect and simple, each grade being useful to its possessor, can be shown to exist; if further, the eye does vary ever so slightly, and the variations be inherited, which is certainly the case; and if variation or modification in the organ be ever useful to an animal under changing conditions of life, then the difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection, though insuperable by our imagination, can hardly be considered real."

Scientists today believe that the eye could evolve from a single light-sensing cell. Scientists disagree over whether it evolved just once, or many times.

It turns out that Nature is both creative and generous with her gifts. Recent research has shown that the tiny marine worm Platynereis dumerilii has two types of light-sensing cells. The eyes of the worm have rhabdomeric photoreceptors, a compound lens formation that is seen almost exclusively in insect eyes. Rhabdomeric photoreceptors are covered in little finger-like protrusions. In its brain, however, it has a different kind of light-sensing cells - ciliary cells that are seen in vertebrate animals. Ciliary cells have hair-like cilia that extend outward and branch out like tiny umbrellas. Two different ways of sensing light in a single organism! images
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/09/rhabdomeric_and_ciliary_eyes.php

Researcher Joachim Wittbrodt of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany speculates that the ciliary cells may regulate the worm's daily activity cycle, saying "We think they are related to circadian rhythms. We have found that there is a direct connection to the area used for locomotion... In the beginning we had a toolbox... what was in the brain in the worm ends up in our eye." If the animal had two copies of the genes needed to make one kind of photoreceptor, speculates Wittbrodt, then the extra set would have been free to evolve into the other photoreceptor. Different animals would subsequently evolve to use the two options in different ways.
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Genome: Ramen noodle folding form (no knots) is fractal globule based on icosa-dodecahedron.
"perfect" genome code
empirical genome code
"perfect" periodic table
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I have speculated earlier here and elsewhere, that the human thumb's missing bone and associated muscle evolutionarily moved to become the fused mandible (lower jaw) and tongue.
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I posted this comment at a biology website (RDF), in response to why flies have 6 legs and most vertebrates have only 4 [clue - beetles have 4 wings/jaws, reptiles have 4 legs]:

bilateral pentadactyle digits (insect legs/"hands"/wings/"jaws")*
bilateral pentadactyle digits (invertebrate squid tentacles)*
bilateral pentadactyle digits (vertebrate fingers/toes)*
(larval bilateral) pentadactyle digits (starfish or sand dollar)*
icosahedral/pentameric (eg. virus) symmetry (12 oral/anal sets of five cilia)

*digits can be asexually replicated (due to incomplete meiosis?) or mutatively lost, body segments also, so bilateral millipedes simply have axial multiple copies of their earlier rear set, while bilateral vertebrates have axial duplicated the pelvis from the forelimb carriage or axial duplicated the rear limbs on a rear part of the primitive forelimb carriage which eventually moved caudally.

Flies have 6 legs, 2 wings, 2 wing knobs = 10 digits (no jaws just sharp tubes, larval jaws are forelimbs)
Spiders/crabs have 8 legs, 2 pedipalps ("jawclaws") = 10 digits (no wings)
Squid have 8 regular tentacles, 2 long "thumb" tentacles = 10 digits
Reptiles, fish, mammals (primitive) have 10 digits (forelimbs), 10 digits (rear limbs)

Evo-devo, human mandible/tongue associates with the missing thumb bone and muscle, while the maxillae associates with the four fingers (before mandibular separation, all five fingers).

Probably, due to the developmental order, a fly would be more likely born without wing knobs or wings than to be born without legs, since legs seem to be more ancient. One born without a leg pair probably also has other more severe genetic mutations, especially in internal segmental replication. While a reptile with 6 legs must oxygenate them with lungs, sufficient oxygenation is critical (dolphins lost their legs as oxygen conservation became more significant) while small insects' spiracles provide enough O2 for many legs, and wings help gain more O2. Perhaps.
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There is an invertebrate (marine proto-crustacean?) which cannot eat unless it locomotes all limbs, its jaws can't chew unless its digits are moving. This would seem very primitive, since lobster claws and fish jaws operate independently from the legs or fins. Note that while larval caterpillars chew using their 4 forelegs/jaws, adult butterflies only suck nectar while still.

Caterpillars chew with forelimbs modified into jaws, during pupation these jaws reform into webbed wings, so butterflies can fly but can't chew. Grasshoppers do not pupate, they go through stages of enlargement and add wings at a certain instar stage (they can't eat at this stage). The adult grasshopper can both leap and fly. Humans have webbing between thumb and forefinger and between maxillae and mandible (cheeks), in flying insects the same genes form webbed wings associated with jaws; initially (ancestrally) this webbing assisted in filter feeding in early marine invertebrate, moving food particles closer to the mouth orifice.

The primitive invertebrate ancestor had an oral-GI-anal pore/tube with 5 mobile cilia, with variable degrees of rigidity (tentacle vs tendon/bone) and inter-digital webbing, depending on whether the food drifted by current (river) or was static and required cilia pulsation and attachment.

Interesting news confirms earlier speculations
link
Public release date: 20-Apr-2007
[ Print Article | E-mail Article | Close Window ]

Contact: Anna-Lynn Wegener
wegener@embl.de
49-622-138-7452
European Molecular Biology Laboratory

Researchers discover that the centralised nervous system of
vertebrates is much older than expected

The rise of the central nervous system (CNS) in animal evolution has
puzzled scientists for centuries. Vertebrates, insects and worms
evolved from the same ancestor, but their CNSs are different and were
thought to have evolved only after their lineages had split during
evolution. Researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory
(EMBL) in Heidelberg now reveal that the vertebrate nervous system is
probably much older than expected. The study, which is published in
the current issue of Cell, suggests that the last common ancestor of
vertebrates, insects and worms already had a centralised nervous
system resembling that of vertebrates today.

Many animals have evolved complex nervous systems throughout the
course of evolution, but their architectures can differ substantially
between species. ...all these species descend from a common ancestor
called Urbilateria. If this ancestor already possessed a nervous
system, what it might have looked like and how it gave rise to the
diversity of nervous systems seen in animals today is what Detlev
Arendt and his group study at EMBL. To do so, they investigate the
nervous system of a marine annelid worm called Platynereis dumerilii.

"Platynereis can be considered a living fossil," says Arendt, "it
still lives in the same environment as the last common ancestors used
to and has preserved many ancestral features, including a prototype
invertebrate CNS. Comparing the molecular fingerpint of Platynereis
nerve cells with what is known about vertebrates revealed surprising
similarities.

"Our findings were overwhelming," says Alexandru Denes, who carried
out the research in Arendt's lab. "The molecular anatomy of the
developing CNS turned out to be virtually the same in vertebrates and
Platynereis. Corresponding regions give rise to neuron types with
similar molecular fingerprints and these neurons also go on to form
the same neural structures in annelid worm and vertebrate."...

The findings provide strong evidence for a theory that was first put
forward by zoologist Anton Dohrn in 1875. It states that vertebrate
and annelid CNS are of common descent and vertebrates have turned
themselves upside down throughout the course of evolution.

"This explains perfectly why we find the same centralised CNS on the
backside of vertebrates and the bellyside of Platynereis," Arendt
says. "How the inversion occurred and how other invertebrates have
modified the ancestral CNS throughout evolution are the next exciting
questions for evolutionary biologists."

http://chancenecessity.blogspot.com/2009/02/geoffroys-lobster-and-animal-common.html
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urbilateria
A similar study involving Platynereis dumerlii comes to much the same conclusion. PZ Meyers has a explanation of this bit of research. This result, that humans are evolutionarily slow has been portrayed as a bit of a surprise, but is something that has been in the works for awhile. For example, as early as 1992 it was known that insulin genes in humans and apes evolved at a slower rate than in monkeys. The phenomena, called the “Hominid-rate-slowdown hypothesis”. was first suggested by Goodman in a 1961 paper entitled “The Role of Immunochemical Differences in the Phyletic Development of Human Behavior” (published in Human Biology) and led to papers being published on the subject up to the present (here and here for example).
http://www.hoxfulmonsters.com/2008/12/living-fossil-platynereis-dumerilii-unraveling-the-first-steps-of-eye-evolution
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updated from earlier post (Vertebrates are inverted invertebrates).
To continue, with slight clarification, if interested:

See Neil Shubins slideshow, especially page 6 slide 5, to compare Hox gene positions in human and fruit fly.
http://tiktaalik.uchicago.edu/book-tools.html

My earlier explanation of primitive pentadactylity (5 digits) didn't well cover the duplication of reptile/mammal rear limbs from the forelimb carriage, this duplication is actually the same as the duplication of (beetle) 4 wings / 4 jaw mouthparts from the primitive frontal digits.
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(I've briefed the text)
Dragonflies & damselflies (Odonates) can chew but they can't walk, their 6 legs are for perching and grabbing.
http://theatavism.blogspot.com/2009/11/sunday-spinelessness-damselflies.html
"You can tell a damselfly from a dragonfly thanks to the way they hold their wings - damselflies fold them up over their body when they land (butterfly-like) while dragonflies hold them open (moth-like)..." Interesting, butterflies or moths can walk a bit but can't chew, beetles & grasshoppers can walk and chew but their flight is not so well controlled.

wiki lacewings/netwings/antlions
The insect order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The adults of this order possess four membranous wings, with the forewings and hindwings about the same size, and with many veins. They have chewing mouthparts, and undergo complete metamorphosis. Neuropterans are soft-bodied insects with relatively few specialised features. They have large lateral compound eyes, and may or may not also have ocelli. Their mouthparts have strong mandibles suitable for chewing, and lack the various adaptations found in most other endopterygote insect groups.

They have four wings, which are usually similar in size and shape, have a generalised pattern of veins. Some Neuropterans have specialised sense organs in their wings, or have bristles or other structures to link their wings together during flight.[4]

The larvae are specialised predators, with elongated mandibles adapted for piercing and sucking. The larval body form varies between different families, depending on the nature of their prey. In general, however, they have three pairs of thoracic legs, each ending in two claws. The abdomen often has adhesive discs on the last two segments.[4] ...ant lions, which bury themselves completely out of sight and ambush prey from "pits" in the soil. Larvae of some Ithonidae are root feeders, and larvae of Sisyridae are aquatic, and feed on freshwater sponges. A few mantispids are parasites of spider egg sacs.

As in other holometabolic orders, there is a pupal stage, generally enclosed in some form of cocoon composed of silk and soil or other debris. The pupa eventually cuts its way out of the cocoon with its mandibles, and may even move about for a short while before undergoing the moult to the adult form.[4] Adults of many groups are also predatory, but some do not feed, or consume only nectar. They are delicate or cumbersome flyers, the spoon wings have rear wings like birds of paradise. Nemoptera
Nemoptera larvae

http://theatavism.blogspot.com/search/label/sci-blogs
It's a springtail (Collembola) - a member of a group of arthropods closely related to (but distinct from insects). They get their common name from a long forked organ, the furcula, that usually sits folded up under the abdomen. The earliest fossil hexapod, and one of the first terrestrial animals, Rhyniella praecursor, is a springtail...'Gomph's live in Antarctic mainland, springtails importantly make soil. Tail derived from crab/crayfish folded tail?

Orobophana pacifica: They are tiny, live on coral rubble on Cook Islands. Even though they live on land they aren't closely related to the "true" landsnails in the order Stylommatophora. To see the difference you need to look into their eyes. If you click on the image above to get a high resolution version you might just be able to see the eye - it's a black dot just underneath the tentacles ("feelers"). In true landsnails like the ones you find in you garden the eyes sit on the ommatophores, a second set of tentacles which are retractable.

bird feet, talons, webbing

Can you walk and talk and chew gum at the same time ?

The mechanics of being Human: a self-balancing, 28-jointed adaptor-based biped; an electro-chemical reduction plant, integral with segregated stowages of special energy extracts in storage batteries, for subsequent actuation of thousands of hydraulic and pneumatic pumps, with motors attached; 62,000 miles of capillaries.... R. Buckminster Fuller-
Bucky: Dictators never create their own opportunities.

A neat series of articles on human facial expressions (non-verbal communication), especially interesting after having read that human cheeks are merely muscular/fatty webbing connecting the mandible to maxilla like butterfly wings. Makes me wonder about the link of the smile to the crinkling of the eyelids or the tightening of the eyebrows, all these facial muscles which communicate internal feelings instantly which are usually masked by reflexive social gestures. They must have evolved in deep time, and gradually fine tuned in humans, a super-social species.

facing others

Human social traits: anonymous, cooperative, infants
Hrdy sociality hypothesis

Corneal blink reflex: trigeminal nerve senses, facial nerve motors to blink at bright light or loud sound or irritating particle in eye.
Corneal reflex
Accomodation reflex
Pupillary light reflex

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Pigmentation in desert lizards
white lizards
Pigmentation in humans: Baltic blonde & blue eyes from Gulf stream & grain?
pigment

"There is only one spot on the planet where grains will grow despite sub-arctic sunlight.
It is where the warm waters of the Gulf Stream wash ashore. The Baltic is the only place on earth where ocean currents keep it warm enough to grow grain despite dim sunlight. When the inhabitants of this region switched to grain about 6 KYA, they suddenly got insufficient vitamin D to survive. They had stopped eating mostly meat and fish in a place where sunlight was too dim to produce vitamin D in normally pigmented skin. And so they adapted by retaining into adulthood the infantile trait of extreme paleness. Blonde hair and blue eyes were other infantile traits that were just swept along accidentally."

Why did they shift from hunting/gathering (grain processing sorghum in Mozambique 100ka) to complete absolute dependence on grain? What about their cattle/goats/dogs? Fishing seems to have increased rather than decreased amongst Baltic sea peoples with better boat/net technology. Camouflage is always important, whether for predator, prey or combat, but less for farmers. Clothing in cold? Baltic was warm in winter? Europeans also adapted by retaining the ability to digest lactose in adulthood, obtaining vitamin D from milk.
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Medieval rural Briton women had wider thicker bones than city women
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/dec/17/women-yorkshire-archeaology-find

Language evolution
http://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/q-and-a-the-death-of-languages/

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Whale fossil 4.5ma in Spain: deposited on seafloor 50m deep, now 80m above ground 24km inland. So 4.5ma Medit was high, or tectonic uplifting or both.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091215101716.htm

Dwarf suction-feeding Australian baleen whale
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8430402.stm

Bittersweet: genes for taste

2009-12-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

The bitter taster gene, I hadn't known that it is stronger in some groups. How does it fit with increased eating of mint/mustard? Cooking? Adding salt? Alcohol? Fermented milk vs fresh milk - lactase persistence? PTC/PROP? Malaria?

Some Neandertals and some humans lack it, some have multiple copies.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16335-genes-give-africans-a-better-sense-of-taste.html

New research suggests that Africans have more sensitive palates than Europeans and Asians - at least for bitter tastes. A survey of numerous African populations in Kenya and Cameroon found a striking amount of diversity in a gene responsible for sensing bitter tastes. "If they have more genetic diversity, there's more variation in their ability to taste," says Sarah Tishkoff, a geneticist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, who presented the findings at a recent conference. Europeans and Asians typically have only one of two forms of a gene called TAS2R38, which detects a bitter-tasting compound called PTC and similar chemicals in vegetables such as broccoli and Brussels sprouts. The gene makes the difference between people tasting a weak dilution of the compound or not, with little nuance in between.

However, the compounds that cause bitter tastes can be thyroid-damaging, notes Paul Breslin, a neuroscientist at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. If you have a healthy thyroid you want to eat these things because they're packed with vitamins, he says. [Cooking?]

Seafood benefits : A diet high in iodine - common in coastal-dwelling people - protects against such thyroid damage, but, iodine intake typically drops off the further people live from the ocean. So bitter-sensitive genes could help these people avoid toxic veggies, Breslin speculates. Tishkoff wonders why, then, Europeans lost some the ability to sense bitterness. Different diets and evolutionary forces offer one explanation, she says. Their lack of bitter taste diversity could also be due to a paucity of genetic variation in the small number of African migrants that became ancestors to the Europeans. In general, sub-Saharan Africans boast more genetic diversity than people native to Europe and other continents.

Avoiding potentially toxic plants might not be the only reason for diversity in bitter taste genes, says Theodore Schurr, an anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved in the study. His team found lots of variation in bitter taste genes in a Siberian population that has historically eaten few vegetables.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6668-genetic-variation-gives-a-taste-for-alcohol.html
People with a gene variation that dulls their taste buds to bitter flavours drink twice as much alcohol as those with more sensitive palates, suggests a US study. The bitter chemical 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) is often used in taste tests and in 2003 a gene influencing the sensitivity to PROP was discovered. The gene, TAS2R38, codes for a taste bud receptor and has several natural variations.

TAS2R38. About half of the world's population have at least one copy of the low-sensitivity variant AVI, he says.

A new study of ancient DNA offers preliminary support for that conclusion. Neanderthals possessed a gene mutation that would have meant they couldn't taste bitter chemicals found in many plants. There has been speculation that this mutation, which occurs in a taste receptor gene called TAS2R38, is beneficial to humans because it makes vitamin-packed vegetables more palatable. It probably arose in the common ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals more than a million years ago. The gene encodes a receptor that detects a chemical called phenylthiocarbamide, which is closely related to compounds produced by broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17595-seafood-gave-us-the-edge-on-the-neanderthals.html
He and colleague Erik Trinkaus at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, compiled chemical measurements taken from bone collagen protein belonging to 13 Neanderthals and 13 modern humans, all recovered in Europe. They also added data collected from a 40,000-year-old human recovered in Romania's Oase cave.

Because our bones are constantly destroyed and rebuilt while we are alive, the atoms that make up collagen hold a record of what we've eaten. "When you take a sample of a bone you're getting all those breakfasts, lunches and dinners for 20 years," Richards says.
Telltale atoms

Measurements of the abundance of heavy isotopes of carbon and nitrogen hold the key. Marine environments contain a higher proportion of heavy carbon atoms (carbon-13) than land ecosystems, so lots of carbon-13 in the recovered collagen points to a seafood diet. Meanwhile, heavy nitrogen (nitrogen-15) tends to build up as the atom moves up the food chain, from plants to herbivores to carnivores.

High levels of heavy nitrogen can also come from a diet with lots of freshwater fish. Aquatic food webs tend to contain more steps than terrestrial ecosystems, so large fish often have higher levels of heavy nitrogen than land predators.
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A very unusual mammal: the short tailed shrew, echolocates, clicks, venomous, cannibalistic...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Short-tailed_Shrew

Skull density in hominids

2009-12-16T23:25:00.000-08:00

Gauld SC 1996 AJPA 100:411-426
Allometric patterns of cranial bone thickness in fossil hominids

Skull thickness in He is more than twice that of other primates of
comparable body size, Hn is intermediate, Hs is still above most other
primates, and A.africanus is somewhat above other equally-sized primates,
but I need more figures of other apiths, esp. robust ones.

Extraordinarily thick skull vaults are typically (AFAIK exclusively) seen in
shallow slow parttime diving animals. Slow divers in sea water (density c
1.024) are expected to have much thicker skulls than those in freshwater.
Alan Shabel found that in dentitions & enamel thickness apiths resembled
mungoes & other carnivores that fed (partly) on hard-shelled invertebrates.
Might africanus (& other apiths??) have parttime dived (or ducked) for
bottom shell+crayfish in the wetlands & swamp forests where they lived??
We need a lot more measurements of skull thicknesses esp. of fossil
hominids, but also of other animals.

I made a graph (somebody did it for me) with
- x-axis = the cubic root of the body weight of different primate spp,
- y-axis = their skull thickness.
It was almost a straight line, with small spp a bit below that line,
medium-sized a bit above (esp.orang & chimp), and very large ones (gorilla)
a bit lower.
But there were 3 obvious exceptions:
- He was far above that line (but it might have been heavier than the usual
estimation of c 50 kg),
- Hs was clearly above it,
- A.africanus was also clearly above it (depending on its body weight, which
might be a bit higher IMO than usu.estimated).
Other data suggest Hn was intermediate between He & Hn, but I still lack
enough comparable data on apiths, Ardipith etc.

Does anybody know where to find more data? MV @ AAT
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This fits the pattern -

early hominoid, foraging on pond surface AHV aquatic herbs, congo lowland gorillas raking high-protein hydrocharis and yanking up sedges for their rhyzomes, not dunking their faces nor seeking benthic foods, with large inflatable laryngeal air sacs for partial flotation, with lightweight skulls. Apith afarensis similar, but in Rift valley, less fruit trees, more sedges.

Apith africanus ate more water lily rhyzomes, reaching below water so smaller air sacs and denser skull, more invertebrate foods crayfish/snails and small vertebrates, more high fruit trees. Rift - So. Africa shallow lakes?

Human ancestors similar, but more tidal saltwater, lost air sacs and gained dense skull, ate tidal mangrove oysters at lagoons, more shrub berries, less high fruit trees, Medit. zone?
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Myrica gale is a flowering plant native to Europe, with sweet resinous scent, and is a traditional insect repellent, used by campers to keep biting insects out of tents. Sweet Gale can grow in a narrow band in the intertidal zone, especially if it has some logs, washed down into the estuary on which to establish itself. It is a favorite food of beavers and low beaver dams can be found in the intertidal zone if sufficient sweet gale is present. The ponds thus formed are often completely submerged at high tide but retain water at low tide and provide deep enough water to provide a refuge for fish, including juvenile salmon where the water is too deep for predation by wading birds. wiki
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Ear wax & Scent: Difference of appocrine sweat glands in Europeans, Africans and Asians
scent, ear wax

rice, milk, alcohol in ancient Eurasians

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Gorilla hybrids, Ardi party @ Lawnchair anthropology
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Molars in hominoids
Gorilla and chimp molars evert earlier than orang and human due to more forest ground foraging (parallel with knucklewalking), orang probably has primitive hominoid condition, human also but even more so do to beaver lodge - hut/cave nesting & aquatic foraging & mainly food processing & cooking.

Speaking of dense bones and waterside herbivores, article on neolithic dugong & fishing rituals:
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/excavation-uncovers-ritual-site-1.523925

Natural mosquito repellents

2009-12-14T23:23:00.000-08:00

Bog Myrtle/Myrica Gale
Myrica gale is a species of flowering plant in the genus Myrica, native to northern and western Europe and parts of northern North America. The foliage has a sweet resinous scent, and is a traditional insect repellent, used by campers to keep biting insects out of tents.It is also marketed by Totally Herby of Scotland [3] as an insect repellent, and by The Highland Soap Company [4] as a soap.In Scotland it has been traditionally used to ward off the dreaded midge.Sweet Gale can grow in a narrow band in the intertidal zone, especially if it has some logs, washed down into the estuary on which to establish itself. It is a favorite food of beavers and low beaver dams can be found in the intertidal zone if sufficient sweet gale is present. The ponds thus formed are often completely submerged at high tide but retain water at low tide and provide deep enough water to provide a refuge for fish, including juvenile salmon where the water is too deep for predation by wading birds. Thus the presence of Sweet Gale can enhance salmon recruitment. Myrica gale is listed as an abortifacient and, therefore, should not be consumed by women who are, or might be, pregnant.[6][7] wikipedia

Swedish scientists have found that Achillea_millefolium/ yarrow extract repels mosquitoes.[1]

A Thai study found both clove oil and celery seed extract to be effective mosquito repellants:
study

Carvacrol Carvacrol inhibits the growth of several bacteria strains, e.g. Escherichia coli[5] and Bacillus cereus. Its low toxicity together with its pleasant taste and smell suggests its use as a food additive to prevent bacterial contamination.
The cause of the antimicrobial properties is believed to be disruption of the bacteria membrane.
It is a potent activator of the human ion channels transient receptor potential V3 (TRPV3) and A1 (TRPA1).

Physiology of TRPV3 channel: TRPV3, is a human gene encoding the protein of the same name.

The TRPV3 protein belongs to a family of nonselective cation channels that function in a variety of processes, including temperature sensation and vasoregulation. The thermosensitive members of this family are expressed in subsets of sensory neurons that terminate in the skin, and are activated at distinct physiological temperatures. This channel is activated at temperatures between 22 and 40 degrees C.

The TRPV3 channel is widely expressed in the human body, especially in the skin in keratinocytes, but also in the brain. It functions as a molecular sensor for innocuous warm temperatures.[2] Mice lacking these protein are unable to sense elevated temperatures (>33 °C) but are able to sense cold and noxious heat.[3] In addition to thermosenstation TRPV3 channels seem to play a role in hair growth because mutations in the TRPV3 gene cause hair loss in mice.[4] The role of TRPV3 channels in the brain is unclear.

The TRPV3 channel is directly activated by various natural compounds like carvacrol, thymol and eugenol.[5] Several other monoterpenoids which cause either feeling of warmth or are skin sensitizers can also open the channel.

Herbal insect repellents (caution, see medical information for possible side-effects)
insect repellents
* Achillea alpina (mosquitos)
* alpha-terpinene (mosquitos)[17]
* Basil[18] Further information: Ocimum basilicum
* Callicarpa americana (Beautyberry)[19]
* Camphor (moths)[20]
* Carvacrol (mosquitos)[17]
* Castor oil (Ricinus communis) (mosquitos)[21]
* Catnip oil (Nepeta species) (nepetalactone against mosquitos)[22]
* Cedar oil (mosquitos)[21]
* Celery extract (Apium graveolens) (mosquitos)
* Cinnamon[24] (leaf oil kills mosquito larvae)[25]
* Citronella oil (repels mosquitos)[21]
* Clove oil (mosquitoes)[21]
* Eucalyptus oil (70%+ eucalyptol), (cineol is a synonym), mosquitos, flies, dust mites[26])
* Fennel oil (Foeniculum vulgare) (mosquitos)[17]
* Garlic (Allium sativum) (rice weevil, wheat flour beetle)[27] (NB: a dose similar to the one as a food ingredient should be used for the time being)
* Geranium oil (also known as Pelargonium graveolens) [28], [21]
* Lavender[29][30]
* Lemon eucalyptus (Corymbia citriodora) essential oil and its active ingredient p-menthane-3,8-diol (PMD)
* Lemongrass oil (Cymbopogon species) (mosquitos)[21]
* Marigolds (Tagetes species)
* Marjoram (Spider mites Tetranychus urticae and Eutetranychus orientalis)[32]
* Neem oil (Azadirachta indica) (Repels or kills mosquitos, their larvae and a plethora of other insects including those in agriculture)
* Peppermint (Mentha x piperita) (mosquitos)[34]
* Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) (mosquitos,[26] fleas[35]), but very toxic to pets.[35]
* Pyrethrum (from Chrysanthemum species, particularly C. cinerariifolium and C. coccineum)
* Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) [32] (mosquitos)[21]
* Spanish Flag Lantana camara (against Tea Mosquito Bug, Helopeltis theivora) [36]
* Solanum villosum berry juice (against Stegomyia aegypti mosquitos)[37]
* Tea tree[38]
* Thyme (Thymus species)(mosquitos)[17]

Also note that chimps consume noxious herbs to remove stomach parasites, capuchin monkeys rub citrus rinds on their backs to protect against insects, and spider monkeys use twigs/chewed foliage as body rubs. http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/07/31/spider-monkey-scratcher.html
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Butterfly wings & typhoon probability
flap
These proponents of chaos theory never mention that flying insects/birds/bats cause stratified gases in sub-canopy humid rainforests to mix, improving photosynthesis & respiration efficiency.

Ants & plants: plants control guardian ants with chemicals, repellants & food
ants & plants

Cycads (pre-conifers) & thrips (ant-like), chemicals attract & repulse, push-pull pollination
cycad attraction/repulsion

flower color changes

100ka India (tubers) to 10ka China (rice) migration

2009-12-12T10:42:00.000-08:00

http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2009/12/are_chinese_subsets_of_southea.php?utm_source=editorspicks

Actually, I think 120ka Hs was thinly distributed along coasts and river valleys throughout the tropics from the East African Rift and coast, then 74ka Mt Toba exploded killing many around India, so from Papua some went to Malaya and split to west to India or east to China, while some from N Africa/Rift went east to Arabia/Iran/Caspian... tough call.
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Interesting, grain seeds were cut with stone tools 105ka in Mozambique:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT/message/55114

750ka Jordan Valley site shows use of waterside flora/fauna:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT/message/55115
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From Africa to India 100ka, from India to China 10ka

Scientists rejig human evolution, Indians ancestors of East Asians
Africa-India-China
Calcutta News.Net
Friday 11th December, 2009 (IANS)

The ancestors of the present-day populations of China, Japan and other east Asian countries had migrated from India, scientists from 10 countries including India said Friday after achieving a breakthrough in the study of the evolution of humans and their spread across the world. This large study establishes that ancient Indian population was a source of ancestors of Japanese, Chinese and all other East Asians... Samir Brahmachari, director general of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) told IANS Friday. According to the study, people from India moved to southeast Asia and east Asia. 'They all have a common genetic origin. It shows that India represents a microcosm of Asia's genetic diversity,' Brahmachari, who was a key researcher in this study, later informed media persons here. Scientists said that earlier it was believed that several groups of people from Africa entered India, China, Japan and other eastern Asian regions separately.

'But this study now negates them all. There was only a single group of entry from southern Africa to India around 100,000 years ago. They entered India through land but in and around the coastal belt. They slowly spread to southern India and moved to south east and east Asian regions,' the CSIR chief added. He said these Indians and their genetic mutation variety slowly migrated to other parts of Asia. 'This will give a new meaning to human evolution theory and its spread.' The study, which traces the 'genetic origins of Asian population' was conducted by 90 scientists from 10 countries in over 30 scientific institutions. At least 10 scientists from three key Indian science research labs were part of the study.

It took five years for these top scientists to come up with these new findings which will pave the way for more historical, medical and anthropological studies. Congratulating Indian scientists and the 'path breaking study', Science and Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan said: 'It has important implications, in furthering the understanding of migratory patterns in human history and for the study of genetics and diseases.'

It also has political ramifications, he noted. 'In spite of many political differences, these Asian nations worked together to produce such a study that has wide implication on the origin of people. The study suggest that there was a single initial entry into the continent of Asia, instead of multiple inflows,' Chavan added.
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Taiwan not homeland of Austronesians?
"In addition, the topology of the maximum-likelihood population tree (Fig. 1)
seems to suggest that Taiwan aborigines may be derived from, rather than
ancestral to other Austronesian populations, because they occupy central, rather
than peripheral positions within the cluster of Austronesian speaking
populations. This observation seems to contradict a commonly cited Taiwan
"homeland" hypothesis of Austronesian populations. Given a nearly total lack of
prior autosomal data from Southeast Asian populations (9, 10), and conflicting
evidence based on mtDNA analyses, some of which questions the Taiwan homeland
story...

The scientists also reported a clear increase in genetic diversity from northern to southern latitudes. Their findings also suggest that there was one major inflow of human migration into Asia arising from Southeast Asia, rather than multiple inflows from both southern and northern routes as previously proposed. This indicates that Southeast Asia was the major geographic source of East Asian and North Asian populations.

(A figure illustrating the paper shows plausible routes of pre-historical migration of Asian human populations. According to the study, the PanAsia SNP Initiative, the most recent common ancestors of Asians arrived first in India and later, some of them migrated to Thailand, and South to the lands known today as Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The first group of settlers must have gone very far south before they settled successfully. These included the Malay Negritos , Philippine Negritos , the East Indonesians, and early settlers of the Pacific Islands. Thereafter, one or several groups of people migrated North, mixed with previous settlers there and, finally, formed various populations we now refer to as Austronesian, Austro-Asiatic, Tai-Kadai, Hmong-Mien, and Altaic. The figure is titled, "Putative Pre-Historical Migration Routes of Asian Human Populations.")
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-12/afst-gah120909.php

"…More than 90% of East Asian (EA) haplotypes could be found in either Southeast Asian (SEA) or Central-South Asian (CSA) populations and show clinal structure with haplotype diversity decreasing from south to north. Furthermore, 50% of EA haplotypes were found in SEA only and 5% were found in CSA only, indicating that SEA was a major geographic source of EA populations…"

"…The geographic source(s) contributing to EA populations have long been debated. One hypothesis
suggests that all SEA and EA populations derive primarily from a single initial migration,
which entered the continent along a southern, largely coastal route (19, 20). Another hypothesis
argues for at least two independent migrations into East Asia, first along a southern route, followed later by a series of migrations along a more northern route that served to bridge European and EA populations, but with little contribution to populations in Southeast Asia…"

"…the evidence from our autosomal data and the accompanying simulation studies (figs.
S29 and S30) point toward a history that unites the Negrito and non-Negrito populations of Southeast and East Asia via a single primary wave of entry of humans into the continent…"

India centre of Asian evolution?
NDTV Correspondant, Friday December 11, 2009, New Delhi
How did Asian populations evolve? Did they come from Europe, were they native to Asia? A new study that mapped human diversity across Asian nations reinforces an older controversial theory that after human beings first evolved in Africa, they possibly migrated to India via the land and sea routes. So out of Africa, India became the melting pot where humans evolved and then slowly spread all over Asia. This also means that after Africa some of the oldest living populations of humans can be found in India. Some of the tribes in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands the Jarawas, Onges and Great Andamanese are the closest relative mans ancestors.
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Out of Africa to China: African Eve of Chinese
All modern humans are descended from a 200,000-year-old African woman. In 1987 the New Zealander Allan Charles Wilson and Rebecca Cann published a study of mitochondrial DNA that supported the "African Eve" theory that all human beings living today are descendents of a single woman who lived in Africa around 200,000 years ago. According to Wilson and Cann descendents of this "African Eve" migrated around the world and later evolved into the different varieties of modern humans. Since then more and more genetic evidence has accumulated, all supporting the view that modern humans, including Chinese people, originated from a single population in Africa. In 1998, Chinese scientist Chu Jiayou and his team analyzed the DNA microsatellites (also known as simple sequence repeats) of northern and southern Chinese, both those of Han and ethnic minorities. Chu concluded that the ancestors of the modern Chinese had migrated to China from Africa via South Asia. As the mutation rate of DNA microsatellites is high, it is not the best method available for researching ancient human migration and the evolution process. Su Bing and other scientists from the Kunming Institute of Zoology proposed an alternative approach using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the Y-chromosome (Y-SNP). This was the approach used by Prof. Jin Li and associate professor Li Hui.

DNA molecules point to a startling conclusion: Jin chose the Y-chromosome because it is relatively pure from a genetic perspective. Human beings have two sets of chromosomes, X and Y, inherited from our mothers and fathers respectively. The Y-chromosome comes from male and has a low mutation rate. It reflects how human genes are passed on from generation to generation more clearly than the X chromosome. As a result, geneticists see it as ideal material for the study of human origins. Jin and his team focused on three SNPs on the Y-chromosome M89, M130 and YAP. They are mutations of another mutated DNA molecule M168, which originated in Africa between 31,000 and 79,000 years ago.

"M168 originated only in East Africans. All people outside Africa and some Africans still have it. So it is the most direct evidence to prove that modern humans came from Africa." Jin wrote in his paper. How do scientists work out the age of a DNA component? How do scientists know M168 existed in ancient Africa? How do they work out exactly when it originated? Associate Professor Li Hui said that non-genic DNA sequences are used in molecular anthropology because genes possess many physiological functions. If a gene mutates, a person's health may be greatly affected. There are two fundamental features of the materials Jin and his team chose: they were non-genic and genetic haploid. Mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomes belong to this category. Most of the Y-chromosome consists of non-genic sequences. The team analyzed two types of mutation of the non-genic sequence. The first was SNP. This type of mutation is rare and stable. It will not repeat or change back to its original form. The structural relationships of all types of Y-chromosome all over the world are based on this feature. The other type of mutation was short tandem repeats (STR). These lengthen and shorten at a constant speed. Thus the origin of each type of Y chromosome can be dated by dividing the total number of mutations by the rate of mutation.

In other words analysis of SNP and SRT mutations show when the M168 mutation occurred. DNA from modern Chinese proves their African origins. Jin Li and his team randomly selected 9,988 Chinese males as samples. They found that all samples of M89, M130, and YAP led to only three mutations. 9,329 samples (93.4 percent) mutated into M89T0M130C and YAP-; 370 samples (3.7 percent) mutated into M89C0M130T and YAP-. 290 samples (2.9 percent) mutated into M89C0M130C and YAP+. No new mutation was found. The results coincided with findings in other parts of the world, that is, M168 displayed no new mutations in China. The result proved that Chinese people must have come from Africa, along with all other modern humans. But Jin Li's research also supported the African origin theory from another perspective, which was beyond their original expectations.

Tracing human migration routes using DNA: Besides trying to find evidence to prove one way or another whether Chinese people had an independent origin, Jin and his team wanted to study the genetic differences among people living in different parts of China by investigating the distribution frequency of the three ancient Y-chromosomes.

The molecular genetic structure of each ethnic group has its own particular characteristics. By analyzing the mutation process of M89, M130 and YAP, they figured out the distribution and migration routes of the different ethnic groups in China. For example, most samples that mutated into M89T, M130C and YAP- were from Han Chinese individuals. The other two types of mutation were more common in ethnic minorities.

Li Hui tested his own DNA to see where his ancestors came from. His Y-chromosome is type 01, which originated around Beibu Bay and the west of Hainan Province about 20,000 years ago. Type 01 then traveled to Guangdong, Taiwan and Fujian about 10,000 years ago and moved to the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang 8,000 years ago. So Li's ancestors must have followed the same route.

Scientists use similar methods to tell how the original Africans migrated around the world. Li Shilin, a teacher at RCCASFU, says human ancestors didn't have any specific destination. They roamed wherever was favorable for their survival. Judging by the geographic and environmental conditions at the time, our African ancestors probably traveled along the coast where they could find food both on land and in the sea. As the population increased they moved to other parts of the world, including China. Why did the African migrants survive but not the original Chinese? Though ancient Africans survived the formidable difficulties and managed to travel to China thousands of years ago, why do geneticists claim they are ancestors of Chinese? What happened to the original primitive human inhabitants of China? Is it possible that modern Chinese people are descendents of these early native hominids or the result of interbreeding between them and the African migrants? Jin and his team originally took this possibility into consideration. After all, many ancient human fossils had been discovered in Asia, especially in China. Their shapes and timelines displayed continuity and the inheritance of traits. To allow for this possibility, Jin's team collected their samples from all over China to see if they could find a different mutation of M168. But they found nothing new. Their conclusion remained that the ancestor of all modern Chinese people was a pure-blooded African. How did the original human population of China disappear?

Regarding the question, what happened to the original hominid population of China, Jin Li pointed out that there is a 60,000 year gap in the human fossil record. All ancient human fossils are older than 100,000 years, while modern human fossils are all less than 40,000 years old (and mostly 10,000 to 30,000 years old). That means no human fossils from 50,000 to 100,000 years old, that might support the hypothesis of multi-regional evolution, have yet been found in China. Jin Li believes this gap is not accidental. During that 50,000 year period, the majority of biological species on the East Asian mainland became extinct.

That fossil gap corresponds to the Quaternary ice age, which killed off the majority of species, including indigenous humans, in East Asia, as well as other parts of the world. But in Africa, near the equator, where the temperature remained relatively high, ancient human beings were able to survive and reproduce. Kong Xinggong from the School of Geographical Sciences of Nanjing Normal University, said that during the ice age, the average temperature in the equatorial regions was only 1-2 ! lower than now, while closer to the poles, the temperature dropped dramatically.

This explains why equatorial Africans survived, while the ancient human populations from other parts of world disappeared. The Neanderthals became extinct in Europe about 20,000 years ago, at the height of the ice age there. After the ice age, Africans migrated from Southeast Asia into Chinese mainland, replaced ancient pre-glacial man there, and became the ancestors of the modern Chinese. Professor Jin Li sees the African origin of the Chinese people as a hard fact, but not everyone agrees. Some scientists say it is wrong to rely solely on genetics to establish the origins of modern humans.

Academician Wu Xinzhi from Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that the ancient human population on the Chinese mainland did not die out, but evolved into modern Chinese. In other words, modern Chinese people have a direct lineal descent from the original hominid inhabitants. On what does Wu base his argument and can it stand up to scrutiny? The history of modern humans starts with late Homo sapiens.

Dr. Xing Song from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, CAS, says we must first define what we mean by the origin of modern man. It is a completely different concept from the origin of mankind. The latter refers to when and where the ancient apes evolved into people; while the origin of modern man refers to when and where people who look like modern humans originated. The academic view is that modern humans, the latest phase in the history of human evolution, i.e. late Homo sapiens, appeared in the period from around 50,000 to 10,000 years ago.

Except for some particular characteristics, late Homo sapiens are basically the same as today's humans. Their fossils are widely distributed not only in Asia, Africa, and Europe but also in Australia and the Americas. Remains of late Homo sapiens dating back to between 50,000 to 37,000 years ago have been found all over China. The finds include Hetao man in Erdos, Inner Mongolia; Liujiang Man, dating back 50,000 to 30,000 years, in Liujiang County, Guangxi; the Upper cave man, dating back 30,000 years, in Zhoukoudian, near Beijing; and Ziyang man dating back 10,000 years, in Ziyang City, Sichuan. Professor Jin Li maintains that late Homo sapiens from all over the world, including China, had common ancestors, that is, migrating Africans, who arrived in China 60,000 years ago. China has been continuously settled by humans since the earliest times

But despite the seemingly conclusive genetic evidence, Professor Wu Xinzhi insists the debate between "single-region evolution" and "multi-region evolution," is not settled. He maintains that Africa is not the only origin of modern humans, but that modern man evolved separately in several parts of world. He believes there is ample evidence that at least some of the ancestors of modern Chinese were native to the area.

From the 1920s on, archaeologists discovered large numbers of ancient human fossils in China. According to Professor Wu, different populations of ancient humans lived in overlapping periods. Yuanmou Man in Yunnan Province dates back 1,700,000 years, Shaanxi Lantian Man 1,150,000 to 600,000 years, Peking Man 500,000 to 200,000 years, Shandong Yiyuan man 400,000 years, Anhui Hexian 300,000 to 200,000 years and Guangdong Maba Man 100,000 years.

Ancient human fossils found in China

Homo erectus:

Yuanmou Man 1,700,000 years ago, in Yuanmou County of Yunnan Province
Lantian Man 1,150,000 to 600,000 years ago, in Lantian County of Shaanxi Province
No. 1 Nanjing Man 600,000 years ago, Tangshan of Nanjing
Peking Man 500,000 to 200,000 years ago, Zhoukoudian of Beijing
Yiyuan Man 400,000 years ago, Yiyuan of Shandong Province

Early Homo sapiens:
Dali Man 230,000 to 180,000 years ago, Dali of Shaanxi Province
Maba Man 200,000 to 160,000 years ago, Maba of Guangdong Province
Changyang Man 195,000 years ago, Changyang of Hubei Province

Late Homo sapiens Upper Cave Man 30,000 years ago, Zhoukoudian of Beijing
Liujiang Man 50,000 to 30,000 years ago, Liujiang County of Guangxi Province

The fossil record shows that in China there have always been different populations of ancient humans. Therefore, it remains possible that today's Chinese people are directly descended from them. But there is a major problem facing the proponents of the multi-regional thesis: in China fossils from different eras are rarely found in the same location. This implies the different populations were unrelated and casts doubt on the thesis of continuity of settlement.

Wu says this is because not all of the ancient human remains were fossilized and became available to later generations. Essentially he is saying there are haphazard gaps in the fossil record. Is Nanjing Man the ancestor of the modern Chinese? Xu Hankui, a researcher from the Nanjing Paleontology Institute, who discovered the fossil remains of Nanjing Man, also supports the hypothesis of multi-regional evolution. When fossilized skulls of Nanjing Man were discovered by peasants exploring an ancient lava cave, Nanjing Paleontology Institute sent several experts on a field trip. Xu was among them and participated in the study of the fossils.

Later, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology showed that one of the skulls was of a 21 to 35-year-old women who lived 600,000 years ago and suffered from a bone disease called periostitis. She had many of the characteristics of Beijing Homo erectus, and genetic connections with other ancient Chinese human fossils. Another skull was from a male somewhere in the transitional phase between Homo erectus to Homo sapiens. There was gap of 100,000 years between the two skulls, and the finds showed evidence of continuous evolution of ancient Chinese human populations. Xu Hankui believes that the Nanjing Man finds are evidence of multi-regional evolution.

The puzzle of Chinese people's shovel-shaped front teeth: One of the puzzles that the out-of-Africa theory needs to account for is the prevalence of shovel-shaped front teeth among the modern Chinese population. Dr. Xing Song says the distinctively-shaped teeth are prevalent in the Mongoloid race in East Asia. Licking their inside front teeth, Chinese people will find that there's a dent in their upper teeth while the surfaces of the lower ones are even. From the inside, the upper teeth look like shovels. According to Xing, these peculiarly shaped teeth were inherited in a continuous line from early Chinese hominids. About 80 percent of Chinese have such upper front teeth in contrast to only 5 percent of Europeans and 10 percent of Africans. Xing says this is strong evidence of the continuity of human evolution in China. Moreover, hominid fossils in China share the same facial features: comparatively flat faces, a larger angle between the nose and the forehead, a flat nose bridge, rectangular eye sockets and forward-projecting cheekbones. All these features are absent in Africans.

Early Chinese lacked advanced stone technology seen in Africa. The stone artifacts unearthed in China also present difficulties for the out-of-Africa theory. In Palestine, archaeologists discovered stone artifacts from 100,000 years ago. These artifacts, very sophisticated and skillfully made, belong to the third phase of stone artifacts, much more advanced than the first and second phases. Palestine is an obvious route for African hominids to travel to the Eurasian Continent. If the geneticists are right, the African ancestors of the modern Chinese left Africa about 100,000 years ago, and passed through Palestine before reaching China some 60,000 years ago. Logically, the trekking Africans should have had the skills to make third phase stone artifacts when they arrived in China, and we would expect to find such artifacts.

But the fact is that the most basic stone artifacts, dating back 1.7 million years ago, were still in use on the Chinese mainland 30,000 years ago. About 98 percent of stone artifacts used by Chinese hominids belong to the "first phase." If migrating Africans were the ancestors of modern Chinese, why didn't they carry their advanced stone-working skills to China?

Huang Wanbo, a research fellow of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been conducting paleoanthropological research for more than 20 years in the Three Gorges area. He says that just as the physical characteristics of East Asian hominid fossils can be traced back to a single origin, so can the artifacts of ancient East Asian cultures. For example, the "hand-axe" was one of the important African stone artifacts, dating back 1.7 million years. Most were made of obsidian formed by volcanic eruptions. In contrast, the ancient Chinese mostly used choppers and crushers made of quartz.

Gao Xing, another research fellow, echoed his colleague's opinion, saying that Chinese culture had developed continuously without interruption since remote antiquity and there was no sign that it had ever been replaced by foreign cultures. Chinese may be "hybrid" descendants of "natives" and African migrants. Wu doesn't rule out that Chinese people interbred with African or European migrants but maintains this was relatively rare.

There is evidence of genetic exchanges between ancient Chinese and Europeans and Southeast Asians. Unlike the rectangular eye sockets of most Chinese hominid fossils, the Maba skulls unearthed in south China's Guangdong Province had round orbits, which may have come from interbreeding with Europeans. Another example is the bulging occipital bone in skulls discovered in Guangxi. Similar skulls were also discovered in Sichuan and Yunnan. The characteristics are also typical of Europeans. Moreover, some ancient Chinese skulls also exhibit high nose bridges, which could come from either European or African ancestors.

Xu Hankui says the similarities between the skulls of Nanjing Man and European and African Homo erectus and Homo sapiens prove that hybridization took place during the evolution of the modern Chinese. Wu says hybridization became more frequent as human travels covered a wider area. Foreign genes gradually changed the original Chinese type. As a result some modern Chinese have rectangular eye sockets and some have round ones.

Papers anti-OOA favoring multiregionalism (I suspect the mandibular foramen is due to cold water/air selecting for a parallel in neandertal and European Hs, IOW no mixing of genes)
neandertal & AMH

Flower-fruit plants => Flying fauna! CO2, O2, N2

2009-12-08T23:14:00.000-08:00

Green plants can't uptake carbon from soil, because they use water to move nutrients, water + carbon = carbonic acid (eats limestone -> caves). Soil fungi do decompose carbs, as do animals, and exude CO2. Plant leaves "breathe" O2 just like animals and fungi. Plant leaves "eat" CO2, using solar energy to decompose it into O2 & C, the C is then combined with H et al to make carbs for plant tissue. Plants (grasses) require wind to reduce stratification of gases (gas stratification starves them of C or chokes them of O2), tropical rainforests need mobile animals not only for fruit dissemination but also gas mixing (flying insects/fruit bats/fruit birds), this is the major advantage of angiosperm flora over non-fruiting gymnosperms (seeded but non-fruiting conifers) and the reason that flowering plants and symbiotic fauna "won" the competitive war against cycads, conifers, ferns, etc. Biological textbooks say little about gas stratification prevention, but it is critical in closed-canopy ecosystems (same reason that sealife comes in both mobile jetsam (tail/fin) & immobile photosynthetic flotsam). [my comment@]
flowers + fruit induce faunal flight to mix gas
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flower origin
-
ancient scorpionflies pollinating gymnosperms?
ResearchBlogging.org

"The first flowering plants evolved more than a hundred million years ago, while dinosaurs were still on the scene. Since then, they’ve come to dominate the world, largely outcompeting the plants that were there before, such as conifers, cycads, and ginkgoes...The reason for showy flowers is to attract pollinators, most commonly insects. Today, the majority of flowering plants use insects to carry their pollen, whereas most gymnosperms (the older group of plants, including conifers) are pollinated by the wind. Insects have one clear advantage over the wind: they can track down another flower of the same species...From insect fossils, it looks like there were pollinators (scorpionflies) around in the Jurassic, which had evolved together with the gymnosperms that were around at the time...some fossil gymnosperms weren't well adapted for wind pollination."

http://takluyver.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/carbon-dioxide-and-nitrogen-not-such-a-double-whammy/
"Nitrogen makes up nearly 80% of the atmosphere, but pure nitrogen (aka N2) isn’t very easy to get at. What counts is ‘reactive nitrogen’, especially dissolved nitrate (NO3-) and ammonia (NH4+). Plants can readily take this up and use it, helping them to grow faster (NPK fert). In fact, over half of the reactive nitrogen being made each year now comes from human activities.
Ecologists know quite well that adding nitrogen often leads to fewer species living together. And a recent experiment neatly showed why that might be: when plants’ roots are battling it out for nutrients (like nitrogen), it’s a relatively fair fight. But add nitrogen, and the fight moves above the ground, for the light plants need to grow. Here, bigger plants can quickly shade out smaller ones and kill (some of) them off... carbon dioxide and nitrogen have different effects on plants, and they seem to balance out to some extent. Although the effect of light wasn’t clear cut in this experiment, I think it might also be important that higher carbon dioxide lets plants grow in deeper shade."
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leaf veins

http://ecographica.blogspot.com/2009/12/evolution-is-in-veins-of-our-captors.html
"...primitive ancestors of the tyrannical angiosperms underwent adaptation to feed on the then abundant atmospheric carbon dioxide. Through undertaking a process known as photosynthesis, some early plant-forms gained reproductive advantage and quickly out-competed their rivals. In time, their numbers became so great that oxygen – a byproduct of photosynthesis - accumulated in the biosphere to such extent that it triggered a catastrophic transition to an oxygenated planet. In hindsight, this rapid transition, called the ‘Great Oxygenation Event,’ can be viewed as a first step in the angiosperms’ selfish remaking of the Earth, and as foreshadowing the eventual enslavement of all humankind.

Initially, constrained anatomy affectively limited the plants’ ability to channel the xylem tissues required for harnessing the sun’s rays. Xylem tissues are essential to photosynthesis because it is their job to convey water and nutrients throughout the plant. Early plants lacked sufficient internal structure and architecture to serve as pathways for xylem transport; this physically restricted the amount of energy that could be generated through photosynthesis. In other words, because of a lack of adequate venation, the radiation of angiosperms was kept in-check. However, this all changed during the Cretaceous Period.

Over the course of evolutionary history, natural selection tinkered at the physiology of the angiosperms, incrementally improving their clumsy and inefficient application of photosynthesis until eventually, about 120,000,000 years ago, the density of the angiosperms’ veins dramatically increased by 300-400%. The upsurge in venation meant that the plants’ xylem tissues more frequently made contact with individual plant cells; this pushed the capacity of the angiosperms’ energetic processes far beyond what they could achieve previously. Newly acquired energy surpluses were promptly invested in reproduction and as a result angiosperm populations exploded the world over."

Marine CO2 effects on shellfish, crustaceans, calcific algae:
crabs & CO2
(compare to green plants in soil which can't absorb carbonic acid through roots, so must consume CO2 in air via photosynthesis.)
eco-web-tet: ants, fungi, bacteria, plant in 4 way symbiotic relationship
plants & ants

Game theory: bacteria and human in decision making in stress
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-12/uoc--bpn121109.php

34ma migrations

2009-12-04T10:52:00.000-08:00

Cavies and new world monkeys emigrated from Africa to South America (via antarctica?) 34ma.
cavies
Cavioids and New World Monkeys migrated northwards as Antarctica froze 34ma
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT/message/50250
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT/message/50350
African Rift formed 34ma
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT/message/50253
Pinwheeling Pangea
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT/message/50257
http://tech.grou
ps.yahoo.com/group/AAT/message/50380

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007AGUFM.U21E..01C
Cosmic impacts (oceanic?) on Earth and Moon 34ma

(Note that Australia separated from Antarctica 64ma, just after the Yucatan cosmic impact, deccan traps and C/K dino extinction of ~65ma) Aust. marsupials dispersed from So. America to Australia via Antarctca during late Cretaceous–early Paleocene.
La Meseta Fauna from Patagonia before early late Paleocene, other taxa arrived in early Eocene. http://www.springerlink.com/content/h5r16469kqr06560/

Fossil Land Mammal from Antarctica
MICHAEL O. WOODBURNE 1 and WILLIAM J. ZINSMEISTER 2

1 Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, Riverside 92521
2 Institute of Polar Studies and Department of Geology, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210

A fossil land mammal, apparently the first found in Antarctica, belongs to the extinct marsupial family Polydolopidae. The fossils were recovered from rocks about 40 million years old on Seymour Island, in the northern Antarctic Peninsula. The newly discovered marsupials support theories that predicted their former presence in Antarctica and strengthen proposals that Australian marsupials perhaps originated from South American species that dispersed across Antarctica when Australia still was attached to it, prior to 56 million years ago.
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A Bizarre New Family of Marsupialia (Incertae sedis) from the Early Pliocene of Northeastern Australia: Implications for the Phylogeny of Bunodont Marsupials

We consider the distributions of a number of dental characters in bunodont marsupials and argue that no North American Late Cretaceous taxa can be convincingly referred to the order Polydolopimorphia. Thus, polydolopimorphians continue to be known only from the Cenozoic of Gondwana, with no fossil evidence that their initial divergences occurred in North America
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These marsupials went from S America to Antarctica, some continued on to Australia.

Did monkeys and cavies go from Africa to Antarctica to S America? The timing data does not seem to indicate that this had happened. More likely both had rafted across the narrow but widening straits which eventually became the Atlantic Ocean. Currents may have brought vegetative rafts from W Africa westward to approximately Bolivia.
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Today Antarctica is compressed gravitationally by millions of tons of glacial ice, pushing the former coastlines far below todays' sea level (highly susceptible to constant erosion from the antarctic circumpolar current), leaving only former highlands and mountain ranges. Fossils from 34ma monkeys and cavioids from the former rainforests there aren't accessible except at rare uplifted areas such as offshore isles, and south Argentina.
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http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/soes/staff/acng/SOFINE/SOFINE.html
The SOFINE project studies the 'frictional' processes that slow down the strongest current on Earth (the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, ACC) and drive the extension of the ocean's overturning circulation across the Southern Ocean. The experiment focuses on a major ACC meander (around the northern Kerguelen Plateau, southern Indian Ocean), which features as an area of intensified 'friction' and cross-ACC flow in most present theories and models of the Southern Ocean circulation.
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http://www.ga.gov.au/oceans/sa_Kergln.jsp
Geological sampling and scientific drilling shows that it was emergent or under shallow water for up to 40 million years of its history. Wood fragments and coal found in Late Cretaceous sediments indicate that the plateau may have been covered with forests.
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http://www.genetics.wayne.edu/lgross/Problems.html
among eutherian or placental mammals, the ceboids have one of the oldest histories in South America with 26-27 million year old fossils of the primitive ceboid Branisella (3) documenting that ceboids were already established in South America during the Oligocene. Among extant eutherians, only caviomorph rodents and edentates have older documented histories in South America, the former now being represented by a 34 million year old Eocene fossil (4,5) and the latter by early Cenzoic Paleocene fossils (6)

Branisella: oldest NWM fossil, from Bolivia: As a whole, the dentition of Branisella is very similar to that of Proteopithecus from the Late Eocene of Fayum, Egypt, except in the lower canine morphology, suggesting a close phyletic relationship between them.

New fossil platyrrhines from the Pinturas Formation, southern Argentina
John G. Fleagle

Early Miocene coastal Patagonia: Primates
Two new fossil vertebrate localities are described from the Santa Cruz Formation (late early – early middle Miocene) of coastal Patagonia. They are noteworthy because they are the lowest stratigraphically of any precisely recorded in coastal Santa Cruz Province and they contain a rich fauna including many partially articulated skeletons undisturbed by collecting. Thus, they offer the potential for taphonomic analysis and paleocommunity reconstruction. The latter is particularly intriguing because the fauna document the Miocene Climatic Optimum at >51° South latitude. Together with several previously documented sites in this region, it offers a potential window into the nature of mammalian communities farther south than any other in the world during this time and documents the farthest south distribution of primates.

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Radiometric dates indicate that the fossil mammals (including platyrrhine primates) occurring in the lower and middle parts of the formation may range in age from about 16·6 to younger than 13·3 Ma (million years ago) (Santacrucian and, almost certainly, Friasian land-mammal ages). This age range is somewhat younger than previous estimates, and suggests that the Pinturas faunas correlate broadly with those from the type Santa Cruz Formation http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WJS-4HCKFGH-6&_user=10&_coverDate=03%2F31%2F1990&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1258475485&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=844d12d7aeedf097b12b5de1b5329587
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Chronology of Cenozoic primate localities in South America
Journal of Human Evolution, Volume 19, Issues 1-2, February-March 1990, Pages 7-21
Bruce J. MacFadden

The available fossil record indicates that primates have occurred in South America since the middle Tertiary. The oldest known primate-bearing locality, Salla, Bolivia, of Deseadan age, was previously thought to be about 35 myr old, or early Oligocene age. However, 12 radioisotopic dates from Salla using40K-40Ar and fission-track methods and magnetostratigraphic correlations indicate a late Oligocene age for this site. The exact level that produced the earliest-known South American primate,Branisella, lies just above a tuffaceous zone that yielded dates of 26·4 ± 1·0 and 25·1 ± 0·7 Ma. The revision of the “primate datum” in Bolivia from early to late Oligocene has ramifications for: (1) the calibration of other, younger primate-bearing localities in South America; and (2) biogeographic hypotheses concerning primate origins in light of plate tectonics. The other known Tertiary primate localities in South America are of Colhuehuapian (ca. 18–19 Ma). Santacrucian (ca. 15–18 Ma) and possible Friasian (ca. 14–15 Ma) ages. There is a major gap of some 14 myr that exists between these primate occurrences of middle Miocene age and the next younger localities, which are all late Pleistocene.

"But some lemurs, oddly enough, have only two nipples, and they're located over the pectoral muscles where we have them, but where most other mammals don't."

Which ones? If only lemurs with enlarged air sacs have one pair of pectoral nipples, that would indicate upright aquatic foraging/floating as in gorillas and apiths (sea cows), parallel convergence.

Anthropoidea: (monkeys) subset of Haplorhines have only two actual breasts, pectoral mammae which are unlike those of other mammals. And unlike lemurs, most monkeys have completely lost the ability to move their ears. Monkeys also lack the specialized sensory whiskers and the wet nose that lemurs and so many "lesser" animals have, and lost the ability to synthesize either vitamin D3 or vitamin C.

Amazing animals

2009-11-28T00:37:00.000-08:00

platymolekiwiduck
A Hawaiian duck that resembled a platypus-mole-kiwi, probably foraged in forest duff and shallow streams, huge trigeminus - why? electrosensory bill or nares? apnea adaptation? whiskery feathers?

An octopus carries and uses coconut shells
octopus hand tools

long tail glider
the tail has 2 rows of ventral ridges, reminds me of my interpretation of dino-bird and pterosaur long bony tails with bristle scale feathers to grasp tree bark, both taxa co-evolved into short tailed flyers with improved perching rear toe claws but in this "squirrel" which lacks wings is sufficient for gliding from tree to tree.

Both from Christopher Taylor's nature blog, Catalogue of Organisms

From Zooillogix nature blog: antarctic seals & elephant birth
leopard seals
weddell seals
http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/2009/11/graphic_elephant_birth.php

Cameron's blog: Galapagos Marine iguana

Marine CO2 effects on shellfish, crustaceans, calcific algae:
crabs & CO2
(compare to green plants in soil which can't absorb carbonic acid through roots, so must consume CO2 in air via photosynthesis.)
eco-web-tet: ants, fungi, bacteria, plant in 4 way symbiotic relationship

Ich! Parasite has 2 endoparasites:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-12/uog-url120209.php
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Humans and saltwater: (h/t Frank at Greg's site)

a recent study in ultra-marathon runners (100 mi) found that they lost between 11.2 and 144 g of sodium during the event. Obviously the range is huge and it really depends on the person. Total water loss in the same event ranges from 14 to 36 liters.

A liter of seawater contains approximately 35g of salt. One liter of blood contains 9g of salt. For every liter of seawater you drank you would need to add 2.8 liters of fresh unsalted water to be “even.”
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While sweating excessive amounts of salt would be deleterious to humans inhabiting hot and humid inland environments, sweating large quantities of salt that was isotonic with the blood stream would be advantageous in a hot and humid coastal marine environment where signiﬁcant
quantities of marine invertebrates were consumed." MW

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PZ on evo development of nervous system: exaptation of simple organelles in protists to tissue cells, salt control, electric potential...
nerve evolution

Relative volumes & concentric hierarchy

2009-11-24T13:29:00.000-08:00

tetra tripod table, balloonage

Icosa alloys mimic elements:
Icosa
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050205125336.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091228152348.htm

Sphere/tet/cube packing, entropy, tets in quasicrystal disks, density in box container
quasi-crystal tet packing
Researchers packed tetrahedra into a cubic box more densely than ever before: 85.03
(Cubes have a 100 percent packing fraction in a cubic box, while spheres pack at only 74 percent.) The tetrahedron was for decades conjectured to be the only solid that packs less densely than spheres, until just last year when U-M mathematics graduate student Elizabeth Chen found an arrangement of 77% that proved that speculation wrong.

the more significant finding is that the tetrahedrons can unexpectedly organize into intricate quasicrystals at a point in the computer simulation when they take up roughly half the space in the theoretical box.

In this computer experiment, many thousands of tetrahedrons organized into dodecagonal, or 12-fold, quasicrystals made of parallel stacks of rings around pentagonal dipyramids. A pentagonal dipyramid contains five tetrahedrons arranged into a disk. The researchers discovered that this motif plays a key role in the overall packing. In the simulation, the tetrahedrons organized into a quasicrystal and settled on a packing that, when compressed further, used up 83 percent of the space. Engel then reorganized the shapes into a "quasicrystalline approximate," which is a periodic crystal closely resembling the quasicrystal. He found an arrangement that filled more than 85 percent of the space.

This is the first result showing such a complicated self-arrangement of hard particles without help from attractive interactions such as chemical bonds, Glotzer said.

Thermos vacuum allows IR radiation outwards through glass, photonic crystals reduce IR heat loss better than pure vacuum
In a typical thermos, a vacuum is used to reduce heat transfer. Scientists have found that layers of photonic crystals in a vacuum can reduce the thermal conductance to about half that of a pure vacuum. Basically, heat can be transferred from one material to another in three main ways: convection, conduction, and radiation. Conduction and convection both require some kind of material medium for heat to pass through; therefore, the lack of material in a pure vacuum greatly minimizes the effectiveness of these two processes. However, heat can also be transferred through infrared radiation, a form of light that is invisible but can be felt as heat. In the example of the thermos, infrared radiation can travel through the vacuum to the thermos' outer wall; when absorbed by the outer wall, the radiation causes the molecules in the outer wall to vibrate and release heat. Significantly, photonic crystals can have band gaps that forbid propagation of certain frequency ranges of light. In this case, they could be used to block infrared radiation.

The scientists found that a 100-micron-thick structure made of a stack of 10 photonic crystal layers, each 1 μm thick and separated by 90-μm gaps of vacuum, could reduce the thermal conductance to about half that of a pure vacuum. In a more recent study, Fan and his colleagues calculated the fraction of all frequencies that the photonic crystal allows through. They were somewhat surprised to find that the thermal conductance doesn't depend on the thickness of the layers but only on how fast light travels through the material, or its index of refraction.

Circles & spheres, flakes and crystals, water & ice
NYTimes
link
super cold
water-tet
Take a regular tetrahedron and set the distance from vertex to tet center as unit 1. Then an
edge of the tet is 1.632993.. . So this number is directly related to the ubiquitous Maraldi angle, 109.47.. degrees (the caltrop angle -- the vertex-center-vertex angle in a regular tet).
CircumsphereRadius/Edge = (1/4)*SQRT(6)
Edge/CircumsphereRadius = 4/SQRT(6)
Vertex-Vertex central Maraldi Angle = arc cos -1/3 ( or ) 2*ACOS(SQRT(1/3))
Giacomo_F._Maraldi: "In math known for obtaining experimentally the angle in the
rhombic dodecahedron shape in 1712, which is still called Maraldi angle."

"Water is a network-forming matter. You can imagine the structure of the network as a kitchen sponge, Matsumoto continues. The sponge structure is originally a kind of foam but membranes are lost, and only the beams - bonds - remain. In both network of water and kitchen sponge, four bonds meet at a point, or node, to form a three dimensionally connected random network. As Plateau pointed out in 19th century, four beams of a foam crosses at a node with regular tetrahedral angle - Maraldi's angle - similar to the waters hydrogen bond network. Matsumoto used computer simulation to look at three ways to change the volume of the foam cells: extension of the bonds, a change in the containing angle between the bonds, and a change in network topology. By discriminating the three contributions, the mechanism became very clear. One contributes to thermal expansion, another one contributes to thermal contraction, and the last one does not. Density maximum is a result of these competing contributions, he explains. "

Caltrops: reg tet 'land mines' The simple design paradigm says that the most elegant, efficient, iconic inventions are necessarily the simplest; like the elastic band, the brick, and the pizza. A caltrop is a simple piece of shaped metal (concrete tank killers); a spiky tetrahedron which, when liberally scattered on the ground, causes a great deal of annoyance to any passing dudes or ponies. And the brilliant thing is that however you drop them, they always land spiky point up.

Biological size, volume, area, fluid flow
size & form

Interaction on Bucky Fuller's tetrahedra as unit volume in synergetic sequence, with input from Allan, Kirby, myself:

Shape: Volume (notes)
MITE: 1/8 (AAB mods)
Tetra: 1 (24 A mods)
Coupler: 1 (8 MITE's)
Stella Octangula: 1.5 (Little octahedron of .5 volume + little tets totalling volume of 1. Notice that the Stella Octangula occupies half the volume of its enclosing cube.)
Cubocta: 2.5 (1/2 ƒ)
Octa: 4 (dual of cube)
Cube: 3 (dual of octa)
Cube-Octahedron Compound: 4.5 (first stellation of cub-octahedron)*
Rh-Dodeca: 6 (12 half-couplers, other ways)
Escher's Solid: 12 tetras (or 12 couplers [see above], other ways. Notice that the Escher's Solid occupies half the volume of its enclosing cube.)
Cubocta: 20 (volume = 8*2.5)
Cube: 24 (2ƒ)
Stella Octangula: 12 (Octa volume of 4 + 8 tets. Notice that the Stella Octangula occupies half the volume of its enclosing cube.)
Octahedron: 32 (2ƒ)
Cube-Octahedron Compound: 36 (larger version)

*The (small) cube-octahedron compound has a volume of 4.5, since the cube corners are
half the heights of the regular tetrahedrons.

Relative Volume Sequence: (mine, preliminary, w/ response from Allan)

tet 1 (reg or irreg)
reg tet volume, of course!
coupler 1 (irreg octa)

tet duo 2 (vertex/edge/face bonded)
two tetrahedrons

duotet cube 3
The volume of the cube is 3 tetrahedrons.

octa 4
The volume of the octahedron is 4 tetrahedrons.

The volume of the cube-octahedron compound or first stellation of cub-octahedron is 4.5 tetrahedra. If the octants are elevated even more to regular tetrahedra, then you will get the cuboctahedral star with a volume of 5. (see below)

star tet 5 [tetra-star]
The star tetrahedron is the unfolded net of the pentachoron, which is bounded by 5 tetrahedra.
rhombic triacontahedron 5
reg tet stell cubocta 5 [cubocta star w/ reg tet ecto]

rh dodeca 6
Rhombic dodecahedron has twice the volume of the cube. The volume of the stellated rhombic dodecahedron is 12, which is half the volume of the enclosing 2ƒ cube of volume 24. (below)

star octa 12 [octa star]
Stellated octahedron has half the volume of the enclosing 2ƒ cube of volume 24.
stellated rh dodeca 12

icosa int 18.51 endo
If you think that the icosahedron has volume 20, then you're obviously from another (fourth) dimension! The icosahedron, as we know in our flat Euclidean three-dimensional realm, has a endo- volume of about 18.51 tetrahedra.

cubocta 20 endo
This is the jitterbug, fully extended.

star icosa ext 20 [icosa star reg tet ecto]
But that's assuming that each face has a REGULAR tetrahedron on it.

star cubocta 40 [cubocta star reg tet endo ecto]
The 2ƒ version of the cube-octahedron compound or stellated cuboctahedron has a volume of 36 tetrahedra. For the star cuboctahedron to have a volume of 40, each face would have to be stellated with equilateral triangles (i.e. half-octahedra and regular tetrahedra). (see above)
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> Icosa (Fuller explanation, Amy Edmondson, paraphrased)
> Its endo-volume of approximately 18.51 does not fit rationally into
> the cosmic hierarchy with whole numbers nor click-stop when
> jitterbugging.

> I found this interesting, a clue perhaps re. 18.51 1/electron

> "The icosahedron contracts to a radius less than the radii of the
> vector equilibrium from which it derived. There is a sphere that is
> tangent to the other 12 spheres at the center of an icosahedron, but
> that sphere is inherently smaller. Its radius is less than the
> spheres in tangency which generate the 12 vertexes of the vector
> equilibrium or icosahedron. Since it is no longer the same-size
> sphere, it is not in the same frequency or in the same energetic
> dimensioning. The two structures are so intimate, but they do not
> have the same amount of energy. For instance, in relation to the
> tetrahedron as unity, the [endo]volume of the icosahedron is 18.51 in
> respect to the vector equilibrium's [endo]volume of 20 [and also the
> star icosa's ectovolume of 20]. The ratio is tantalizing because the
> mass of the electron in respect to the mass of the neutron is one
> over 18.51. That there should be such an important kind of seemingly
> irrational number provides a strong contrast to all the other
> rational data of the tetrahedron as unity, the octahedron as four,
> the vector equilibrium as 20, and the rhombic dodecahedron as six:
> beautiful whole rational numbers". Syn 400.00 system

> "When the volume of a tetrahedron is specified as one unit, other
> ordered polyhedra are found to have precise whole-number volume
> ratios, as opposed to the cumbersome and often irrational quantities
> generated by employing the cube as the unit of volume. Furthermore,
> the tetrahedron has the most surface area per unit of volume".
> (sphere has least) A Fuller Explanation

> http://www.grunch.net/synergetics/ivm.html
> shows IVM in a tet
> from previous:

> Relative volumes: (endo = interior, ecto = exterior shell)

> Tet: (@IVM), vol 1
> Oct: (@IVM), vol 4
> Star Tet: center tet endovol 1 + ectovol 4 (ext tets), vol 5
> Star Oct: center oct endovol 4 + ectovol 8 (@IVM), vol 12
> Star Icosa: center icosa endovol 18.51 + ectovol 20, vol 38.51
> Star Cubocta: endovol 20 + ectovol 20, vol 40

> DD
> On Nov 23, 2009, at 8:00 AM, rybo6 wrote:

> > "Topologically, lines are composed of points."

> > I don't know how it is defined elsewhere, but to me, a line is a
> > point with depth (not = zero), and a point is a line with depth = 0.
> > [Where 'depth' is any direction.] This does not conflict with the
> > definition of a point being a line crossing (which is the same as 2
> > or more vectors meeting at a vertex).
> > The irreg tets that make an icosa, do their struts meet at the
> > center, or do each reach to the opposite face? I thought each face
> > triangle had a tet apex at the icosa center (not modelable with
> > toothpicks), but maybe it goes to the opposite side at a point. Or
> > are there no irreg tets in an icosa?

> > Here (@ link bottom) see the regular icosa and star icosa:
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_triambic_icosahedron

> > Here see that 2 halves of duotet = cubocta & 2 halves of cubocta =
> > duotet. Do the relative volumes equate?
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/synergeo/attachments/folder/1932305706/item/652172707/view

> > http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/s09/figs/f5031.html
> > http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/s10/figs/f0632.html
> > Relative volumes: (endo = interior, ecto = exterior)

> > Tet: vol 1 (@IVM)
> > Oct: vol 4 (@IVM)
> > Star Tet: center tet endovol 1 + ectovol 4 (ext tets)
> > Star Oct: center oct endovol 4 + ectovol 8 (@IVM)
> > Star Icosa: center icosa endovol 18.51 + ectovol 20
> > Star Cubocta: endovol 20 + ectovol 20

> > Icosa (Fuller explanation, Amy Edmondson, paraphrased)
> > Its endo-volume of approximately 18.51 does not fit rationally into
> > the cosmic hierarchy with whole numbers nor click-stop when
> > jitterbugging. The icosahedron is a phase in between octahedron and
> > vector equilibrium, rather than a definitive stopping point in the
> > flow. The icosahedron is thus restricted to single-layer
> > construction, able to contract/collapse to rigidity, its radius too
> > small to permit having same-size nuclear sphere. (461.05)
> > You could not have two adjacent layers of vector equilibria and then
> > have them collapse to become the icosahedron, it has to be an outside
> > layer, remote from other layers... . It may have as high a frequency
> > as nature may require. The center is vacant. (456.20-1).

> > If the center of an icosa is vacant, should its structural volume be
> > zero? Consider the volume of a donut/torus, is the donut hole volume
> > included in the donut's volume? The donut hole does not contribute to
> > the structure of the donut, it is vacant, but it is part of the donut
> > definition. That is sort of what I think the inner volume of an icosa
> > is, a sort of donut hole, a vestige, therefore not a whole number,
> > perhaps like the interstitial spaces in ball packing.

> > DD

Cubocta = cube & octahedron dual intercept, VE when complete
Octet = octahedron & tetrahedron 3D lattice (CCP), cubocta or star oct IVM
Cuboctet = IVM with cubocta voids (vector flexor) expand-contract jitterbug
shrinks from 20 tetvol hollow cubocta with single bonds to 4 tetvol octet with double bonds

Relativity on earth
Bucky's design science goal was "To make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone." Tim Tyler: How can you tell if the world is 'working' for someone? What % of humanity is the world 'working' for today? It seems rather unrealistic to expect nobody to be disadvantaged. Advantages in nature are relative - "evolution is driven by relative fitnesses, not absolute fitnesses. Santayana's aphorism, ``It is not enough to succeed; others must fail.''
At any time, an organism's chances of surviving depend not on how fit it is, but on how fit it is relative to its competition."

http://www.swintons.net/deodands/archives/cat_neutron_teaspoon.html
Neutron stars do really exist. Long after the protons and electrons have long given up the struggle to maintain their identity against the force of gravity, all that is left is neutrons, pressed together into one big atomic nucleus a few kilometres across.

Stars are big balls of gases. Their size is determined by the balance between two opposing forces: gravity pulling the gas inwards, and pressure pushing it outwards. Just like the pressure of air in a balloon, pressure reflects the fact that it's hard to push things together. The pressure depends on how many things you're trying to push together (density), but it also depends on how hard they are to push together. At higher temperatures, the air molecules have more energy, so it takes more effort to keep them from bouncing off each other. There's a relation, then, between the amount of matter and the pressure it exerts in a given setting, which is called the equation of state. We have a fairly good idea of this relationship for the interior of stars like our own sun. Eventually, as our sun radiates energy away, the internal pressure will fall and the gravitational force will increase the density until the point at which electrons are forced together (or, more precisely into degenerate states) forming a white dwarf, and for these conditions we also have a fairly good idea of the equation of state. But for more massive stars, the collapse keeps going past this point and is only halted when the remaining neutrons are forced too 'close' together. And at this point we reach some uncertainty (at least according to 1980 era graduate texts) in what the equation of state is. So there is some real scientific uncertainty in the mass of the neutron teaspoon.

Note to a colleague re. the ARC

2009-11-18T12:42:00.000-08:00

A fine diving spot: Deans Blue Hole, Bahamas
Divers paradise
Myostatin protein regulates muscle build, effect on myoglobin, brain, jaws?
myostatin vs follistatin
nose nerves, inf conchae, PSR
Physis: a marine journal, CIEE in Bonaire
Physis
Blue planet divers site, diver list
Blue Planet Divers
Shoal/slow/shallow, sandbar, reef, wave patterns at shallows
Shoal, lagoon, Ayre/lake/laut/loch
Ayre

The derivation of the word ayre is from Old Norse. It refers to a shallow bay/lake being separate from the sea by a sandspit. This may partly cut off a sheltered stretch of water from the sea to form a shallow freshwater loch.[2] This word is still in use for the particular landform in the Northern Isles of Scotland.

In Malay/Indonesian, ayer or air means water, laut means lake or sea.

The post-coastal Hadza Hunter/Gatherer camps
Hadza

Isotope markers in bone: Seal (high) vs mollusk (low) in human diet, iris bulbs, at South African coastal Holocene sites
South Africa coastal hunting and gathering diet
Through chemical analysis of bone collagen from 69 skeletons dated from 4,500 to 2,000 years before present, what foods were you able to determine that Holocene populations in Robberg/Plettenberg and the Matjes River Rock Shelter were consuming?
In this area, people were able to choose from a long menu of foods including venison and the meat of other wild animals, berries, edible roots and corms, particularly of plants in the iris family, seafood including shellfish, fish, seabirds, stranded dolphins or whales, and much else. All these items have been identified in excavated food remains. It is, however, harder to know their relative importance. Neither conventional archaeological techniques nor isotope analysis (for different reasons) permit precise quantification of individual foods, but it is clear from the high ratios of 15N/14N in their bones that people buried at Robberg/ Plettenberg Bay ate unusually large quantities of high trophic level [animals high on the food chain] marine foods, very likely the meat of seals and large predatory fish caught in the deep waters surrounding the Robberg Peninsula. Bone tissue accumulates over many years, so this was a long-term dietary pattern. People buried at Matjes River Rock Shelter, on the other hand, ate much more mixed diets, with more terrestrial food or low trophic level [low on the food chain] marine foods, such as shellfish.

Why do you think their diets were different? Why is this finding important or surprising?
Today, there is a seal colony on the Robberg Peninsula, and it was probably there in the past as well. (This inference is based on the age distribution of seals that ancient people butchered and ate.) Mainland seal colonies are relatively rare (most colonies are on offshore islands, which offer protection from predators), so this would have been a special opportunity for hunter-gatherers--a type of living larder. In addition, the peninsula juts out into deep water, allowing access to fish not usually caught by shore-based anglers. People who lived at Robberg/Plettenberg Bay made the most of their good fortune, while people who lived at Matjes River Rock Shelter didn't have these advantages. What's surprising about it is the degree of specialisation in local resources, from which we can infer that these people were living within relatively small areas, rather than trekking regularly across large areas of landscape. This is unexpected, given the very mobile lifestyle of most recent southern African hunter-gatherers.

How does ethnographic research contribute to the analysis of Stone Age societies in South Africa?
Later Stone Age societies were the ancestors of communities who continued to live a foraging lifestyle, in the Kalahari and elsewhere, into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Studies of Kalahari foragers have been of enormous importance in anthropology in recent decades. In some respects, there are clear similarities between recent and ancient southern African hunter-gatherers, and the ethnographies have provided valuable insights into earlier societies. For example, aspects of belief systems recorded in the Kalahari in the twentieth century are also expressed in rock paintings that may be several thousand years old.

What does the painted seal scapula found in the cave at Knysna tell us about the hunter-gatherer society that created it?
This is a unique artifact--it's the only painted bone we have from South Africa, so interpretation must be cautious. Paintings on the walls of caves and rock shelters, however, expressed aspects of people's belief systems, including ideas about relationships between animals and humans in this world and in the spirit world. The animals depicted are usually larger species charged with symbolic power. The choice of a seal scapula and the images painted on it, of which the left-hand one, at least, looks very seal-like, hints that seals may have been important in a spiritual, as well as an economic sense.

You describe the societies as succumbing to "opportunistic sedentism." What do you mean by this, and why is it significant? How might being sedentary affect other aspects of life?
The idea is that people might initially have practiced a degree of sedentism in areas where there were rich resources, because there was no need to move. Early on, this is likely to have been a flexible pattern. When population densities rose, and there were limited options for moving, settlement patterns became more fixed--increasing our chances of recognizing them in the archaeology. Cross-culturally, more settled lifestyles require people to develop new methods of dealing with conflict, they allow storage of food or other commodities, opening up the possibility of differential access to resources and thus to social inequality. Southern Cape peoples probably didn't go very far down this road, but these are interesting questions.
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Owl monkeys, Aotus spp: nocturnal, huge tarsier/lemur-like eyes, thyroid, low metabolism, retro? Have same NeuA5 sialic acid as humans, so susceptible to human type malaria but brains small, and furry, retro? Original morph of NWM/OWM/apes, before malaria?
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a786187256
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090427214059AAhcd0T
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=com.ubuntu:en-US:official&hs=ELV&q=owl+monkey+sialic+acid&start=10&sa=N

Java man
http://www.planetmole.org/indonesian-news/sangiran-museum-sragen-central-java.html
Prehistory of leprosy
http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/genomics/disease/leprosy-monot-2009-phylogeography.html

"How long should a dive last? A simple model of foraging decisions by breath-hold divers in a patchy environment" Authors: Thompson D.; Fedak M.A.
Source: Animal Behaviour, Volume 61, Number 2, February 2001, pp. 287-296(10) Pub: Elsevier
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W9W-45BC899-7S&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=07b1166ce0f70cea4937c616fee8c25b

Effects of increased swimming costs on foraging behavior and efficiency of captive Steller sea lions: Evidence for behavioral plasticity in the recovery phase of dives
Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, Volume 333, Issue 2, 13 June 2006, Pages 306-314 L.A. Cornick, S.D. Inglis, K. Willis, M. Horning
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T8F-4JBGKN3-3&_user=10&_coverDate=06%2F13%2F2006&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=article&_cdi=5085&_sort=v&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=34&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=05c93e6a3219bcfc6d5c4d49120eaba8

Why do macaroni penguins choose shallow body angles that result in longer descent and ascent durations? Authors: Katsufumi Sato, Jean-Benot Charrassin, Charles-André Bost, Yasuhiko Naito1
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/abstract/207/23/4057

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.../18987289
Repetitive paired stimulation of nasotrigeminal and peripheral chemoreceptor afferents cause progressive potentiation of the diving bradycardia.
Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2008 Nov 5;
Authors: Rozloznik M, Paton JF, Dutschmann M
The hallmarks of the mammalian diving response are protective apnea and bradycardia. These cardio-respiratory adaptations can be mimicked by stimulation the trigeminal ethmoidal nerve (EN5) and reflect oxygen conserving mechanisms during breath-hold dives. Increasing drive from peripheral chemoreceptors during sustained dives was reported to enhance the diving bradycardia. The underlying neuronal mechanisms, however, are unknown. In the present study, expression and plasticity of EN5-bradycardias after paired stimulation of the EN5 and peripheral chemoreceptors was investigated in the in situ working heart-brainstem preparation. Paired stimulations enhanced significantly the bradycardic responses compared to EN5-evoked bradycardia using sub-maxim…

http://www.immersionlibre.fr/

Bubbles and bubble rings:
bubblelogics

Prevalence and severity of external auditory exostoses in breath-hold divers
To explore the prevalence and severity of external auditory exostoses in a population of experienced breath-hold divers, and to compare these to the same parameters within surfing and self-contained underwater breathing apparatus diving populations.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18346299&dopt=Abstract

Indirect evidence for arterial chemoreceptor reflex facilitation
by face immersion in man
It is concluded that the intensification is caused by chemoreceptor reflex facilitation, due to stimulation of trigeminal receptors in the face.

The initiation and maintenance of bradycardia in a diving mammal
the muskrat, Ondatra zibethica
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/469759&dopt=Abstract

Extremes in human breath hold facial immersion bradycardia
Although the average human response to apneic facial immersion in ice water is a reduction in heart rate from 70 to 45 beats/min, a small proportion of healthy subjects develop diving bradycardia to less than 20 beats/min. Twenty-seven healthy subjects performed resting, seated, 30-s mid-inspiratory breath hold, facial immersion in a basin of water. Heart rate dropped more when the water temperature was 1 degree C than at 24 degrees C. Five subjects developed asymptomatic diving bradycardia to less than 15 beats/min. One physically active individual consistently had dive heart rates as low as 5.6 beats/min.

The nose is the source of many powerful reflexes, including the diving response, sneeze and sniff reflexes, and reflexes affecting autonomic nervous function to the cardiovascular system, airways in the lungs, the larynx, and other organs. The physiology of the nose 1986

The water content and glucose concentration in the whole blood of marine mammals were found to be correlated to red blood cell concentration. Because hematocrit (Hct) undergoes significant periodic shifts in these mammals during periods of apnea and/or diving, the measured values of whole blood glucose change due to alterations in Hct, independent of shifts in metabolite regulatory pathways. In contrast to humans, where red blood cell and plasma glucose concentrations are equivalent, in most other mammalian species red blood cell glucose concentration is much lower than that in plasma.
Influence of hematocrit on whole blood glucose levels: new evidence from marine mammals

Passive Flooding Of Paranasal Sinuses
And Middle Ears As A Method Of Equalisation In Extreme Breath-hold Diving
We describe a diver who, by training, is capable of allowing passive flooding of the sinuses and middle ear with (sea) water during descent, by suppressing protective (parasympathetic) reflexes during this process.
http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2008/02/28/bjsm.2007.043679.abstract

Adaptations to deep breath-hold diving: respiratory and circulatory mechanics
Respiration and circulation in diving mammals are characterized by interrelated adaptations of structure, function, and behavior that are incompletely described and understood. This speculative survey touches some of them. a) Arterial blood flow can be controlled by vasoconstriction not only in arterioles but also in large arteries. The latter physiology is not well known. b) Mechanisms that might regulate and limit nitrogen uptake are not clear, although Scholander's suggestion that airspaces become gas-free during deep dives is still accepted. c) Systemic arterial retes may be able to store oxygenated blood in some diving mammals. If so, O2 in the lung might be 'skimmed off' early in a dive, leaving the N2 behind. d) Variable clusters of interdependent adaptations in diving mammals include compliant chest walls that avoid thoracic squeeze; inspiratory breath holds that maintain high lung volumes; large tidal volumes that nearly empty the lung at end-expiration...

Renal response to head-out water immersion in Korean women divers
Head-out water immersion (HOI) induces a profound diuresis and natriuresis, which may endanger the body fluid balance of breath-hold divers during prolonged diving work.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8507293&dopt=Abstract

An intact glutamatergic trigeminal pathway is essential for the cardiac response to simulated diving http://ajpregu.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/269/3/R669

Autonomic response to auditory stimulation
Autonomic and behavioral response to fear stimulation (sudden noise 80 dB) was studied in 12 sleeping infants at ages 8-50 weeks. The aim of the present study was to identify a possible passive defense response in infants. The response, which is widespread in birds and mammals, is characterized by apnea and bradycardia with circulatory changes as seen during the forced diving response.

Trigeminal mediation of the diving response in the muskrat
These data implicate trigeminal neurons in the medullary dorsal horn as modulators of autonomic activity, especially in the cardiorespiratory adjustments after nasal stimulation.
PMID: 1760738 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
h/t Ivo @ http://apnea.cz/media.html?Lang=EN&
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Hello (...) [slightly modified]

Do you have an opinion on these?

Chromosome 2 is unique to humans amongst hominoids, it contains the genes/SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) for:
- Photic sneeze (Dark adaptation, O2/CO2 apnea regulation?)
- Hypothyroidsm (Ecto/endo-thermic adipocity, Iodine regulation?)
- Hemochromatosis (Bone density, Iron regulation?)

I do not view that as mere coincidence.

Regarding baby backfloating in warm sunlit lagoons:
Human babies have full envelope of SC white fat (insulatory) but dorsal brown fat, which provides warmth to the only sun-shaded area that also is exposed to the coolest proximal water, infant humans (and seals) AFAIK don't shiver for warmth (not useful for hydrostatic backfloating in water). Breastfeeding human infants produce/accumulate Hydrogen (nature's most buoyant material) in the gut, and this, combined with (otherwise healthy) infant colic (GI gas entrapment while backfloating and associated crying) and abundant white SC fat, would provide sufficient buoyancy in dense warm calm saltwater to allow parental foraging without hindrance, in part resulting in loss of fur coat.

Regarding human endurance locomotion: At lagoons, dive foraging would be typical, but in between optimal lagoons, shoreline walking/wading/jogging would be typical due to hazards of rough surf, cold water, box jellyfish, sharks/crocs, etc. This would be maintained during inland seasonal migrations where diving was limited.

Regarding islanding: I think that similar to how Gibralter functioned as a gateway for EurAsian macaques into north Africa, I think the Afar-Eritrea-Yemen region functioned as a gateway to and from EurAsia. The 'bridge' linking Yemen is about 100m deep, about the depth of sea level drop at various glacial periods, (disregarding lack of data on local tectonic changes). I do not view the Danakil alps region as "the refuge", but rather as a periodic gateway, similar to Gibralter and Sinai, though it may have been a stopover with a residual population, similar to today's Barbary macaques at Gibralter.

I haven't found any evidence to contradict the dark adaptation-dive / sunlight surface exhale idea (Aquaphotic Respiratory Cycle), except that it is not used today by modern human divers. I consider it plausible that during the MSC human ancestors separated from the other apes due to being trapped in the Medit. basin, where a unique environment produced selection for a unique hominid different from the others. The low UV present, similar to today's Dead Sea, may have selected for light skin tone or less fur, and unusual eyes (exposed white eye sclerae), and plausibly the sun sneeze, and also increased availability of stone, both for tools and climbing. Later filling of the basin would send various human-types in different directions, to adapt to local conditions with different morphotypes, many would go extinct later.

DD

ps. I've stepped away from AAT yahoogroup for a bit, but continue to skim the threads.

MSC refill
5.6 - 5.33ma MSC may have refilled in 2 years, H/P split 5 - 7ma
picture of Medit MSC refill 5.33ma

Human & elephants: big brains, O2, energy

2009-11-16T15:48:00.000-08:00

The Brain: relative size, speed & complexity of sensory system (including intra-specific communication): oxygen as catalyst, food as fuel

On elephant and human brains, summarized from Not Exactly Rocket Science

Both humans and elephants show both semi-aquatic and terrestrial foraging traits, throw stones, manipulate branches or sticks, squirt water, live relatively long lives, have strong social behavior, have generally low rates of mutation yet high rate of mutations among specialized amino acids involved in "aerobic energy metabolism (AEM)" genes - which govern how mitochondria metabolise nutrients in food, in the presence of oxygen.

We already knew that the evolution of AEM genes has accelerated greatly since our human ancestors split away from those of other monkeys and apes (highly beneficial to a part-time sessile-benthic submersed forager (human ancestor, elephant ancestor) which needs both apneic and aerobic capability, but not a full-time pelagic dive chaser (dolphin) which needs maximal apneic (anaerobic) capability, nor a part-time wetland floating-food forager (congo swamp gorilla) which keeps its face always above water surface and so lacks apneic capability while not transiting far habitually so no selection for aerobic endurance.

"While other mutations were reshaping our brain and nervous system, these altered AEM genes helped to provide our growing cerebral cortex with much-needed energy.
And sure enough, elephants have more than twice as many genes with high ratios of non-synonymous mutations to synonymous ones than tenrecs do, particularly among the AEM genes used in the mitochondria. In the same way, humans have more of such genes compared to mice (which are as closely related to us, as tenrecs are to elephants). Overall, his conclusion was clear - in the animals with larger brains, a suite of AEM genes had gone through an accelerated burst of evolution compared to our mini-brained cousins. Six of our AEM genes that appear to have been strongly shaped by natural selection even have elephant counterparts that have gone through the same process.

Goodman's next challenge is to see what difference the substituted amino acids would have made to us and elephants and whether they make our brains more efficient at producing aerobic energy. He also wants to better understand the specific genes that have been shaped the convergent evolution of human and elephant brains over the course of evolution."
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Both elephants and humans are very water-dependent and not well conserving of metabolic fluids (unlike full-time savanna/marine dwellers), moving from waterhole/lagoon to waterhole/lagoon, foraging opportunistically along the way.
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Elephant ancestors were semi-aquatic - Telegraph
semi-aquatic ancestors of elephants
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Tiny brains

Tiny brains: "Insects may have tiny brains, but they can perform some seriously impressive feats of mental gymnastics. According to a growing number of studies, some insects can count, categorize objects, even recognize human faces — all with brains the size of pinheads. Despite many attempts to link the volume of an animal's brain with the depth of its intelligence, scientists now propose that it's the complexity of connections between brain cells that matters most...

Whales, with brains that weigh up to 20 pounds and have more than 200 billion neurons, are no smarter than people, with our measly 3-pound brains that have just 85 billion neurons. Instead of contributing intelligence, big brains might just help support bigger bodies, which have larger muscles to coordinate [Larger muscles aren't significant, see large herbivore dinosaurs with tiny brains] and more sensory information coming in.

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An islanded goat evolved coldbloodedness and delayed life span and small brain/eyes:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/11/13/0813385106.abstract

Some animals stranded on resource-poor islands shrink size and develop lethargic metabolism while absorbing sunlight (Galapagos tortoises), others adapt to a shore-based lethargy & active aquatic lifestyle with large brain/eyes (seals, sea lions).

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Discussion on baby crying relative to mother tongue:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1869
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Sports competition & aggression, instinct vs control
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/sports/22brain.html?em
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Brain and nerves slideshow at:
here

Hominid Brain to Body size: Encephalization Quotient, estimated diet

5.8 Homo sapiens - grain-meat-nut-fruit-herb/tuber-seafood-eater, boats, cooking
4.0 Homo erectus (late) - berry/nut-tuber-seafood-meat-eater, simple spears-axes
3.3 Homo erectus (early) - berry/nut/tuber-seafood-eater, sticks-pebbles
3.1 H/A habilis - mixed diet? -nut-fruit-invertebrate eater?
2.9 Australopithecus robustus - tuber-nut-berry-herb eater
2.0 Pan t. (chimpanzee) - fruit-honey-termite-meat-nut eater
1.7 Gorilla g. (gorilla) - herb-fruit-hydrocharis eater

Gibbons, Humans, Great Apes

2009-11-10T14:11:00.000-08:00

http://news.discovery.com/human/human-ancestor-diet-nuts.html

"Early hominid ancestors may have left the trees to take advantage of ground-level foods, a behavioral shift that could have resulted in two of the major defining characteristics of humans: unique teeth and walking on two legs, a mode of locomotion known as bipedalism that is extremely rare elsewhere in the animal kingdom."

No, they started at wetland/woodland edges, eating water lily/lotus/sedge rhyzomes/umbels and bush berries and low hanging fruits and fallen nuts, then apes moved higher in rainforest canopy while human ancestors moved to more coastal seashore areas.

Note folded flanges of adult male reduce sunlight in eyes, give gorilla appearance; balding scalp. Nonfolded flanges are broadly flat faced, very non-gorilla appearance, note clear beard and non-nasal mustache. Bornean and Sumatran orangs separated 1.6ma
flanges
flat flange
Very dark furred orangutan
dark orangutan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangutan
Male with flanges, eyes near center of face, long hair like mammoth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pongo_pygmaeus84-300.jpg

Human deep larynx vs ape air sacs: apnea/speech vs flotation (de Boer, Boe, Lieberman...)
http://www.babelsdawn.com/babels_dawn/2009/10/how-old-is-language.html#more
http://ebbolles.typepad.com/babels_dawn/2008/03/fossil-evidence.html
http://ebbolles.typepad.com/babels_dawn/2008/03/stop-your-yacki.html
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WKT-46MJTJN-D&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=9b118ac4f846a53b6cb9455392901a9d
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC15600/
http://www.babelsdawn.com/babels_dawn/2008/03/apes-are-not-us.html

Humans & gibbons share these traits (unlike great apes):

1) long achilles tendon
2) proportionately long legs (not neandertals)
3) protruding chin (not neandertals)*
4) upright biped primarily
5) no laryngeal air sac (exclude siamangs)
6) more monogamous pair bonding
7) continuous song rather than discrete hoots
8) low sexual dimorphism (teeth)
9) no woven branch nest (also siamangs)

gibbons and great apes share these traits (unlike humans)

1) fur coat
2) grasping big toe
3) very low carnivory
4) large canines, small molars

Chromosomes: Great apes have conserved primitive 48 chromosomes, humans derived 46, gibbons variable per species.

Gait: Gibbons and humans have conserved bipedal upright locomotion (original float-feeding/standing hominoid posture) while great apes have derived terrarboreal quadrupedalism.

Milk composition in hominoids, human milk is unique to all apes and all mammals
http://glycob.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/19/5/499

"In comparison, type I oligosaccharides predominate over type II oligosaccharides in human milk, whereas nonprimate milk almost always contains only type II oligosaccharides. The milk or colostrum of the great apes contained oligosaccharides bearing both N-glycolylneuraminic acid and N-acetylneuraminic acid, whereas human milk contains only the latter. Great ape milk, like that of humans, contained fucosylated oligosaccharides whereas siamang milk did not."

Neu5Gc in hominoids, malaria susceptibility in humans and NWM Aotus monkeys
http://www.pnas.org/content/99/18/11736.abstract

Human malaria resistance recent? "Although sickle cell is best known in Africa, there is also an India-Pakistan variant of it that seems to have evolved separately," Hawks explained. "Both variants have evolved very recently, in the last three or four thousand years, and in that time have risen to as much as 10 to 15 percent of the populations.
Surprisingly, based on skull measurements, the human brain appears to have been shrinking over the last 5,000 or so years.

"When it comes to recent evolutionary changes, brains have shrunk about 150 cubic centimeters, off a mean of about 1,350. That's roughly 10 percent," Hawks said. "As to why is it shrinking, perhaps in big societies, as opposed to hunter-gatherer lifestyles, we can rely on other people for more things, can specialize our behavior to a greater extent, and maybe not need our brains as much," he added.

Human salivary amylase multiple of chimp, especially starch-eaters? Digestion begins as soon as you shovel a forkful of those mashed potatoes into your mouth and masticate (or chew) the food. Your mouth secretes saliva (up to 1.5 quarts a day) that moistens your food and also contains enzymes (special kinds of proteins) that help break down the food before it reaches your stomach.

One of these enzymes, called salivary amylase, breaks down starches, and a new study finds that humans carry extra copies of the gene that encodes the enzyme, which may have helped spur human evolution. The study, published in the Sept. 9 issue of the journal Nature Genetics, found that humans have more copies of the gene than their ape relatives. The humans sampled carried as many as 15 copies each, while chimpanzees had only two.

The study also found a correspondence between the number of copies of the gene and the amount of starch in a population's diet. Members of the Tanzanian Hadza tribe, which ate more tubers and roots, had more copies of the gene than their neighbors (the Datog) who mostly raised livestock. The finding supports theories that some change in the diet of early humans fueled the simultaneous increases in the size of human brains and bodies, as well as the expansion of our ancestors' geographic range.

Trade distinguished Hs from others (neandertal, baboon, bonobo)
group inter-trade

Evolving group gene
dance, trance & chance

Slight chin in early Hs man 110ka in China & S Africa?
http://johnhawks.net/weblog/fossils/china/mulan-mandible-stone-2009.html

Toba supervolcano dried and cooled south Asia 73ka
Toba effects

Face & limb traits identify various congenital disorders:
traits

Herbivorous hadrosaur dinosaur: biped, quadruped, hopper or walker?
hadrosaur

Global Sea Conditions as of date posted

2009-10-18T20:37:00.000-07:00

Click on desired feature: region, wave height/direction, sea surface temperature...
http://www.oceanweather.com/data/

Compare today's sea surface temperatures to SST during the last glacial maximum 18,000 years ago in the ice age:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CLIMAP.jpg

Average sea surface salinities

https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth540/content/c3_p4.html

View Larger Map

Antarctic glacier melt: today fastest since 14ka, per 100m sediment deposit
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/nocs-pco110609.php

The Falklands islands wolf: a social isolate for 6.7 million years, related closest to North American Maned wolf which 4ma later expanded to South America.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/darwins-wolf/

Google eyes see Amazon rainforest destruction
http://scienceblogs.com/bioephemera/2009/11/google_had_never_done_anything.php

Nazca desertification due to empire growth (same everywhere).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/peru/6478168/Nazcas-destruction-of-forests-caused-downfall.html

MtDNA molecular clock proven unreliable in antarctic penguins
http://www.genengnews.com/news/bnitem_print.aspx?name=68078801

Speech genes? tospeak, Foxp2 and basal vocalization/tissue patterns
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/48680/title/A_gene_critical_for_speech
http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/revisiting_foxp2_and_the_origins_of_language.php?utm_source=networkbanner&utm_medium=link

Marine-Rift Conduit

2009-10-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

Ardi at Yardi: fossil hominin http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/10/01/ardipithecus-we-meet-at-last/
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113387960

Proconsul, Morotopith: Uganda, 21-20ma, upright spine
Orangs split 20ma
Gorilla split 8ma
Oreopithecus: Sardinia island, 9 - 7ma, very long arms, tree climbing, stilted biped.
Sahelanthropus: Chad, 7 - 6ma (SN: 7/13/02, p. 19)
Orrorin: 6ma (SN: 7/14/01, p. 20)
Ardipithecus ramidus: 4.4ma Rift - Afar
Kenyanthropus 3.5ma: (SN: 3/24/01, p. 180)
Ardipithecus kadabba: 5.8 - 5.2ma
Australopithecus afarensis: 3.2ma Lucy, Selam
Homo 2.4ma
ardi pic
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/52228/title/Evolution%E2%80%99s_Bad_Girl
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Best article on MSC: MSC

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Shallow-water habitats as sources of fallback foods for hominins
R Wrangham, D Cheney, R Seyfarth & E Sarmiento 2009 AJPA 140:630-642

Underground/underwater Storage Organs (rhyzomes) consumed
by hominins could have included both underwater and underground storage
organs, ie, from both aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Shallow aquatic
habitats tend to offer high plant growth rates, high densities, and
relatively continuous availability throughout the year.

This study differs from traditional savanna chimpanzee models
of hominin origins by proposing that access to aquatic habitats was a
necessary condition for adaptation to savanna habitats. It also raises the
possibility that harvesting efficiency in shallow water promoted adaptations
for habitual bipedality in early hominins.
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Similarities of African apes and dolphins in group behavior
http://escholarship.org/uc/item/5gv9w4jw#

But note this from Molly: Why is the discussion always between chimps and humans? Orangs are more intelligent than chimps and we share a type C viral gene with them that other apes don’t have. How do they fit in the ancestor picture?
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Scientists have tallied up genes that were accidentally duplicated in our lineage, for example, so that we now have more copies of them than do other primates. They've also identified genes that became pseudogenes. And some genes in humans got their start as noncoding DNA in other primates. Recently Aoife McLysaght of the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin discovered three proteins produced by humans that aren't found in our closest non-human relatives. McLysaght then discovered that the genes for these three human proteins correspond almost precisely to stretches of noncoding DNA in the other species. It appears that mutations transformed these pieces of genetic material into genes capable of making proteins. (per Carl Zimmer) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/beta/evolution/ten-great-advances-evolution.html

This image was added by magellan on Aug 2, 2003 7:55 AM, Dave's Garden http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/21902/
"Hardy Water Lily \\\'Arc en Ceil\\\' best known for its unusual variegated green leaves mottled with pink, cream and sometimes red. Produces many blooms which open light pink and change to off white."

Goubbat al Kharab (Gebt/Gulf from Indian Ocean) to Awash (A!k'wa'sh) River to Rift Valley, recent volcanic uplift changed watersheds
http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0201-126&volpage=photos&photo=104004
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2009/09/mvp_5_ardoukoba_djibouti.php
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=12065

http://fotobank.ru/image/JW00-5676.html
Women with ornate shell hairstyles harvesting water lily bulbs at Awash River ("nymphs from Afar?") gather nymphaea (water lilies) in the presence of dragonfly nymphs (larvae) which feed on pond mosquito larvae, see story about remarkable journey taken by these Dragonflies from India over the Indian Ocean to Africa: http://the-arc-ddeden.blogspot.com/2009/07/migration-lemurs-dragons-wings.html

Backfloating on Awash River
http://herc.berkeley.edu:16080/jdesmond_clark_memorial/jdc03.jpg
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/10877665
Post-volcanic Awash R watershed
http://gridnairobi.unep.org/chm/waterbasins/Awash%20River%20Basin-11-03-08.jpg
Post-volcanic Abbe R / Tana L watershed in Ethiopia
http://gridnairobi.unep.org/chm/waterbasins/Abbay_River_Basin-11-03-08.jpg

Note: Lake Tana & Blue Nile (Abbay) River, Ethiopia is NOT Tana river delta, Kenya coast. They are different regions. Lake Abbe (Abhe Bad) also differs, being the final depository of the Awash River on the border between Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Lake Abbe, end of Awash River
Lake Abbe, Djibouti

Tana river-delta on the Kenya coast:
Tana delta, Kenya

Lake Tana: highland source of Ethiopia Blue Nile (Abbay) River:
Lake Tana, Ethiopia

Both are linked to early human evolution and civilization.

Homo sapiens developed cane canoes, rafts, boats
Lake Tana papyrus canoe
Lake Baringo ambatch canoe

But before these composite boats evolved, simple bundles of reeds were used as floats, and wood-hafted stone axes as weights, during cyclic submersion while foraging for plant rhyzomes, cichlids, catfish, crustaceans, shellfish etc.

Kelp Highway, Blue Highway
http://the-arc-ddeden.blogspot.com/2008/05/human-ancestors-at-waterside.html
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/48574/title/Droughts_gave_early_h

University of Texas at Austin anthropologist John Kappelman presented this counterintuitive idea October 19 in a talk titled “Blue Highways,” which followed his fossil digs along the Blue Nile tributaries in Ethiopia. Early humans are thought to have taken one of two routes out of Africa: along the Red Sea, or along the Nile Valley and out across Eurasia. But “there’s been very little testing on the ground, recovering fossils and sites that actually permit us to evaluate either one of those two hypothetical migration events,” Kappelman said. Most fossils found to date come from the rift valley on the eastern side of the continent, where dry, flat, exposed land makes for good fossil hunting. In the late 1990s, Kappelman started exploring the tributaries on the western side of the Nile, where no one had looked for fossils before. The last record of western exploration there was from British naturalist Sir Samuel Baker in the 1860s.

“This area that was a blank slate for Africa is finally starting to fill in,” Kappelman said.
Samuel Barker noticed something key: The rivers are dry for most of the year, but every summer the water rushes back “like freight cars,” Kappelman said. The torrent of water gouged out deep holes that retained water even during the dry season, leaving a necklace of isolated pools.

And the pools were full of fish. “The fish were literally in a bucket,” Kappelman says. If early humans stayed near these water holes, they could feast all through the dry season without working too hard. “We think of dry seasons as a time of adversity. We’re proposing that these were the easy times,” Kappelman says.

Kappelman and his team found double-edged blades that were probably used as arrow heads and evidence of hearth fires in several sites around the Nile. He thinks using these water holes could have taught early humans crucial skills, like fishing with nets or bow and arrow, that helped them survive seasonal and climate changes after migration to other parts of the world.
“It honed the behavioral foraging habits of early humans, and taught them to exploit a wide range of food,” Kappelman said.

(Ainu culturally derived) coastal Ama divers

The traditional Ama divers of Japan south coast spent part of the year tending freshwater rice paddies and part diving at the seashores with pry tools and basket floats.

The Moken (okeos) Andaman Sea people have wooden boat communities, children dive for shellfish. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moken

Notes on tropical/fragrant water lily: Seed, tuber, buds as food

http://www.innvista.com/health/foods/seeds/waternut.htm

In times of drought in the waterlilies natural habitat what happens is the pads will die off and the tuber will remain below the soil and becomes quite nut-like, protecting the tuber through the dry season. Once the rains return and the tuber becomes moist again it will send up new growth from the terminal crown and a new plant will be born. http://www.victoria-adventure.org/waterlilies_images/sean_tuber_tutorial/page1.html

Water lilies reproduce by seed and also by new plants sprouting from the large spreading roots (underground stems called rhizomes). A planted rhizome will cover about a 15-foot diameter in about five years.

Fragrant water lily has an interesting pollination strategy. Each white or pink flower has many petals surrounding both male and female reproductive parts, and is only open during the daytime for three days. On the first morning, the flowers produce a fluid in the cup-like center and are receptive to pollen from other flowers. However, they are not yet releasing pollen themselves. Pollen-covered insects are attracted by the sweet smell, but the flower is designed so that when they enter the flower, they fall into the fluid. This washes the pollen off their bodies and onto the female flower parts (stigmas) causing fertilization. Usually the insects manage to crawl out of the fluid and live to visit other flowers, but occasionally the unfortunate creature will remain trapped and die when the flower closes during the afternoon. On the second and the third days, the flowers are no longer receptive to pollen, and no fluid is produced. Instead, pollen is released from the stamens (the flexible yellow match-shaped structures in the flower center). Visiting insects pick up the pollen and transport it to flowers in the first day of the flowering cycle. After the three days the flowers are brought under water by coiling their stalks. The seeds mature under water and after several weeks are released into the water. Water currents or ducks, which eat the seeds, distribute them to other areas. This flowering regimen is followed nearly throughout the summer, producing many eye-pleasing blooms and a large supply of seeds.

In addition to reproducing by seeds, water lilies spread by rhizomes. Anyone who has tried to curtail this plant's growth in front of their dock knows how tenacious these root systems are. Also, if pieces of the rhizome are broken off during control efforts, they will drift to other locations and establish a new patch of lilies.

The fragrant water lily was utilized in many ways by Native Americans in the eastern United States. Roots of this and other water lilies were used medicinally as a poultice for sores and tumors, internally for many aliments including digestive problems, and rinse made for sores in the mouth. The leaves and flowers were also used as cooling compresses. In addition, the rhizomes were occasionally used as food and the young leaves and lower buds were eaten as a vegetable. Even the seeds were fried and eaten or ground into flour. Wildlife, including beaver, muskrat, ducks, porcupine, and deer also will eat the leaves, roots, or seeds. http://www.ecy.wa.gov/Programs/wq/plants/weeds/lily.html

Jordan Valley frog bit Hydrocharis morsus-ranae
http://www.wildflowers.co.il/english/plant.asp?ID=750

Jordan Valley white water lily
http://www.flowersinisrael.com/Nymphaeaalba_page.htm

Jordan Valley yellow pond lily
http://www.flowersinisrael.com/Nupharlutea_page.htm

India pink lotus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbo_nucifera

Egyptian blue water lily
http://www.egyptianmyths.net/lotus.htm
The Egyptian Blue Water-lily, N. caerulea, opens its flowers in the morning and then sinks beneath the water at dusk, while the Egyptian White Water-lily, N. lotus, flowers at night and closes in the morning.

Tana river delta nymphaea
http://www.feow.org/ecoregion_details.php?eco=567

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070604230442AA91zkq

Okavango Delta: termite, tree, hippo
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0412/feature3/fulltext.html

Congo Mbeli bai, Ndoki swamp lowland gorilla eat floating frogbit hydrocharis (92%) & some sedges (8%)
http://www.springerlink.com/content/d66v4990r452721p/fulltext.html

http://www.arkive.org/western-gorilla/gorilla-gorilla/video-go08.html

http://sci.tech-archive.net/Archive/sci.anthropology.paleo/2008-08/msg00063.html
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZcTP7Kb01NAC&pg=PA365&lpg=PA365&dq=Hydrocharis+chevalieri&source=bl&ots=b6deCmBDmQ&sig=vhg4uBxNyqaoMfZFmBNaw9t4SM0&hl=en&ei=dnnFSon1HJHcsgOA7OGhBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3#v=onepage&q=Hydrocharis%20chevalieri&f=false
Picture shows superficial resemblance of Hydrocharis and water lily, but hydrocharis roots float free with stolons at surface (easily dredged from above surface by gorilla standing or sit-floating upright with inflated laryngeal air sacs), while the water lily has anchored benthic roots and horizontal rhyzomes at a depth 6"-10" below soil substrate far below the water surface, often requiring facial submersion and combined with benthic shellfish foraging).

Nassarius marine mud snail shells used for ornamentation inland
http://www.pnas.org/content/106/38/16051.full

http://taos-telecommunity.org/epow/EPOW-Archive/archive_2009/EPOW-090119.htm

Hydrocharis storage turion buds into new plant
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HydrocharisBaby.jpg

Comparatives:

Butterfly (Nymphalids) 90ma & Angiosperm (flowering plants) 100ma evolution
http://www.abhishek-tiwari.com/2009/10/butterfly-phylogenetics.html

Frog 125ma & Archeafructus 125ma (water lily predecessor?) North East China
(see earlier posts)

Human ancestors: India 3ma (see Yohn & Todaro: African primate-only viruses between 3-5ma) (also see India origin of malaria 3ma), Djibouti (unique Tuberculosis 2ma), myosin mutation 2.4ma reduced jaw muscles & brain size constraint
2ma Asian pseudogene RRm2p4 nucleotide polymorphism on human X chromosome
http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/22/2/189

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-03/uopm-mmp032204.php
In an effort to find the remaining genes that govern myosin--the major contractile protein that makes up muscle tissue Penn researchers have found one small mutation that undermines an entire myosin gene. Their estimated dating for the appearance of this mutation places it at about 2.4 million years ago, just prior to a period of major evolutionary changes in the hominid fossil record. These include the beginning of larger brain size, so important in making us human. Anthropologists have long debated how humans evolved from ancestors with larger jaw muscles and smaller brains. This newly discovered mutation seems responsible for the development of smaller jaw muscles in humans as compared to non-human primates. Did this genetic mutation lift an evolutionary constraint on brain growth in early humans? MYH16 on chromosome 7 They found the gene-inactivating mutation in all modern humans sampled, with the same inherited muscle "disease." However, the mutation was not present in the DNA of seven species of non-human primates, including chimpanzees. macaque chewing and biting muscles are nearly ten times as large as in humans, which correlates with the fact that MYH16 protein is made in macaques and not in humans. researchers calculated that the inactivating mutation appeared in a hominid ancestor about 2.4 million years ago, after the lineages leading to humans and chimpanzees diverged. Shortly thereafter, roughly 2.0 million years ago, the less muscled, larger brained skulls of the earliest known members of the genus Homo start to appear in the fossil record.

From this the investigators postulated that the first early hominids born with two copies of the mutated MYH16 gene would show many effects from this single mutation--most notably a reduction in size and contractile force of the jaw-closing muscles, some of which exert tremendous stress across and/or cause deposition of additional bone atop growth zones of the braincase. "The coincidence in time of the gene-inactivating mutation and the advent of a larger braincase in some early Homo populations may mean that the decrease in jaw-muscle size and force eliminated stress on the skull, which 'released' an evolutionary constraint on brain growth,

Ice age glacial sea level 100m drops as Yemen gateway to south Asia and Sahara-Sinai desert gateway to Europe.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT/message/54756

Based on this, we know that Ardi & Lucy were not likely to have been direct human ancestors, but possible chimp ancestors or extinct relatives which shared many phenotypical traits with early human ancestors.
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other items

Neandertals at Gibralter, Anglo Saxons of eastern England feasted on dolphin
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/sci.archaeology/browse_thread/thread/ea500d5e8628fcce#
http://anthropology.net/2009/09/16/neanderthal-hearths-at-el-salt-reveal-plant-and-fish-remains/#comment-15042

Stone/wood beaters used on tree bark cloth felt (cf Mongolian wool felt pulled/bounced behind horse, egyptian papyrus pith paper) in China, Vietnam, Tonga, Mexico.
Judith Cameron, Archaeology and Natural History, Australian National Univ.
http://dspace.anu.edu.au:8080/bitstream/1885/47191/1/ch13.pdf

Flora and fauna, fish hook and sewn plank canoe transmission between Asia and America pre-Colombian
ON LINGUISTICS AND CASCADING INVENTIONS: A COMMENT ON
ARNOLD’S DISMISSAL OF A POLYNESIAN CONTACT EVENT IN
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Terry L. Jones and Kathryn A. Klar

http://cla.calpoly.edu/~tljones/AQ74(1)%20Jones%20+%20Klar.pdf

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=8-OilJCX1moC&oi=fnd&pg=PA238&dq=archaeology+%22pre-Columbian+contact%22&ots=PB_vZlY7vy&sig=NKJwE9osSyqBM8UMjEN__3G4zFk#v=onepage&q=archaeology%20%22pre-Columbian%20contact%22&f=false

Zizyphus fruit tree of Eurasia, short stemmed: http://www.citizendia.org/Jujube

Nutrition at waterside: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT/message/54785

Cattle domestication at Mehrgarh, Indus above Indus delta.
http://www.citizendia.org/Mehrgarh
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Plausible? He only at rift & coast, not interior, Hs pre-domesticated along Levant-Indus coast, then returned to Africa as pastoralist/agriculturalist H&G only (pygmy/san/onge/kusunda?)...explains why megafauna remained in Africa long after mammoths and other megafauna all extinct throughout EurAsia.

Parallel: Further north, the Rift in the Jordan Valley, at paleo-lake Ubeidiya (3 km So of Sea of Gallilee), a large shallow freshwater lake at 100m below sea level, many acheulean hand axes found from 1.5ma. "Originally the site was on the edge of a small sweet-water lake; this accounts for the abundance of bones of mammals, reptiles, fish and birds. The hominids living at the site were hunters and scavengers. They made distinctive chopping tools of flint and spheroids of limestone, as well as hand-axes of flint and to lesser degree of basalt" (also almond and pond lily nuts). 20? km east of the Medit. along Jezreel valley, north of Dead Sea. During the Neogene, the Mediterranean penetrated into the Jordan Valley. The end of the Pliocene marks the creation of the Rift valley, cover basalt from 5ma to 3ma underlie the interesting layers. See page 11/31 at this pdf:
www.paleoanthro.org/dissertations/Miriam%20Belmaker.pdf
http://www.sitesandphotos.com/catalog/images/455911.jpg
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1966Natur.209.1268M
IN 1959 Dr, G. Haas, of the Department of Zoology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was sent some fossil animal bones which had been turned up by a bulldozer levelling a field near Tell Ubeidiya in the Jordan Valley near Lake Tiberias. In this material, Dr. Haas identified bones of extinct mammalia and ``a human incisor and two small fragments of a hominid calvarium of very great thickness''1.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118911262/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

The large carnivores from ‘Ubeidiya (early Pleistocene, Israel)
Of specific importance is the presence of the African origin saber tooth Megantereon cf. M. whitei and the Eurasian origin canids Canis moschbachensis and Lycaon lycoanoides. Hippo tusk, mammoth molar at Ubeidiya:
http://digitool.haifa.ac.il/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=88799&local_base=GEN01
http://digitool.haifa.ac.il/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=88785&local_base=GEN01

http://www.gsi.gov.il/Eng/_Uploads/141Reactivation-of-the-Levant-passive.JPG
http://www.topo-europe.eu/3-the-natural-laboratory-concept/3-7-the-caucasus-and-levant/3-7-4-crustal-structure-and-physiography

Peritethyan and Pannonian Seas of Europe 10ma
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/MSC_basin_hypotheses.svg/350px-MSC_basin_hypotheses.svg.png&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messinian_salinity_crisis&usg=__DZ63mmr9Wjv7sZ9LyhOuf7dsN5w=&h=364&w=350&sz=14&hl=en&start=34&sig2=Q1CH8sJ688ieeTITF3depQ&um=1&tbnid=81PvmHgYbY8IXM:&tbnh=121&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlevant%2Bbasin%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D20%26um%3D1&ei=XwflSqKRDpDQswPlvqCwBA

The Pannonian Sea existed for about 9 million years. Its last remains disappered in the middle of Pleistocene Epoch, about 600,000 years ago. The water of the Pannonian Sea actually ruptured its way through the modern Đerdap Gorge on the Danube river and flowed through the gorge leaving behind a large plain known as the Pannonian Plain.
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Snail fossils suggest semiarid eastern Canary Islands were wetter 50,000 years ago

Isotopic measurements performed on fossil land snail shells resulted in oxygen isotope ratios that suggest the relative humidity on the islands was higher 50,000 years ago, then experienced a long-term decrease to the time of maximum global cooling and glaciation about 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, according to new research by Yurena Yanes, a post-doctoral researcher, and Crayton J. Yapp, a geochemistry professor, both in the Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. With subsequent post-glacial climatic fluctuations, relative humidity seems to have oscillated somewhat, but finally decreased even further to modern values.

Consequently the eastern Canary Islands experienced an overall increase in dryness during the last 50,000 years, eventually yielding the current semiarid conditions. Today the low-altitude eastern islands are characterized by low annual rainfall and a landscape of short grasses and shrubs, Yanes says. The research advances understanding of the global paleoclimate during an important time in human evolution, when the transition from gathering and hunting to agriculture first occurred in the fertile Middle East and subsequently spread to Asia, North Africa and Europe.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/smu-sfs102709.php#at

Via Elaine at AAT, from Dawkins site: [Recall that Queen Hatsheput, Pharaoh of Egypt that voyagedd the Red Sea to Punt met Queen Ati there who had steatopygya as did her daughter, showing a continuum from South African Namakwa KhoiSan to Andamaners, also seen in early Hs Euro mother Venus sculptures]

"One very interesting feature is Steatopygia -- extreme obesity in women during
pregnancy, often occur in Andamanese. It's considered as a disorder, but i
suspect it's an aquatic "adaptaion" -- for that pregnant women need more energy
storage and buoyancy (u may link it to water birth), or also, as the photo show,
a "platform" for the baby staying near water surface. (well this sounds
ridiculous, but it could contribute to higher survival rate if they were that
aquatic)" The photo shows and infant standing on the protuding buttocks of the mother
hanging on to her neck... and re. buoyancy: "Human buoyancy is very close to optimal for aquatic mammals. More importantly perhaps, our center of buoyancy is compatible with marine, not terrestrial mammals (Slijper 1976). This gives us the ability to maintain a horizontal attitude near the surface of the water with minimal energy expenditure."

Asian genes
Parallel: East Asian people have reduced body and facial hair with fu manchu beard, West Asian & African people have facial hair with full beard. East Asian tigers have only small fu manchu beard, West Asian & African lions have large mane and full beard.
India/Tibet has both types of people and lions-tigers. Why? Tigers more aquatic-arboreal or colder climate?

Marcel on marine kidneys, oreopith, AHV: http://www.bautforum.com/science-technology/94562-elaine-morgan-says-we-evolved-aquatic-apes-3.html

MSC: 6ma - 5.5ma Mediterranean dried out. Last common ancestor of chimpanzee and Homo is dated to around 5.5 Mya. Papio/gelada divergence at 4 (3.99) Mya.

Wood eating crabs at depth, as well as wood boring molluscs and isopods, there are crustaceans which eat plant matter which sinks to the ocean floor, including old wooden boats and tools (so its even harder to get evidence of ancient coastal tool use!).
http://www.oceanleadership.org/2009/the-deep-sea-crab-that-eats-trees/

Seeing fish at depth: http://www.fishbase.org/photos/depth.cfm?PicName=Lamer_j0.jpg

Fluid & Rigid Spheres

2009-09-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

Wai: Hawaiian for water
Koa: Hawaiian for bold

I didn't expect that a falling raindrop inflates into an umbrella form and explodes into droplets, but it does.

I didn't expect that a waterball could contain and retain a central air bubble in microgravity, but it can.

Nature does not always conform to expectations.

I always thought that earth had a central dense rocky core, but now I'm not certain, it may be more like a turtle egg, hard shell, soft center or even gas-filled center (small or large). Earths' crust has floating tectonic plates like ice floes, floating on magmasphere, with hydrosphere floating on much of the crust.

http://www.pmmh.espci.fr/fr/gouttes/recherche/indexUS.html
http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0295-5075/80/3/34005
http://bluedroplet.com/video/8/don-pettit-nasa-expedition-6-international-space-station
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/multimedia/Exp10_image_009.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tortoise-Hatchling.jpg
Tortoise surrounded by carapace/plastron/rib cage in a soft membrane in a shell, 3 spheroids in one.

Spheres are funny, a rigid and fluid sphere are quite different, one packs together like oranges in a basket, the other conglomerates into a single waterball in microgravity or puddle on earths' surface.

What seems rough is smooth at another scale in rigid structures with straight bonds, but fluid water has no scalar difference, always spherical with curved surface bonds even at the subatomic level I guess, depending on ambient pressure and temperature and material.

Alternative rattan takraw ball weave: http://www.flickr.com/photos/woven/479585393/
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The Buddy System vs Social Network: "Individual" addiction as social epidemic?
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/17-10/ff_christakis?currentPage=1
enforcement/reinforcement as societal standing wave.

http://www.tau.ac.il/~shmulikm/Elat-Yonni.htm
Coral reefs at Red Sea at Elat, tectonics rejuvenate reefs and lagoons

Volcanic soil: New magma rock cools, crystallizes, erodes. Silt crumbles downslope, washes downstream. Plants started as ocean phototsynthesizers, some moved to shallow freshwater, some to soaked soil, some to moist soil. Plant roots anchor, support, evapotranspiratively suction mineralized water up via capillary action, exchanging with air at leaf pore surfaces, release water, O2, CO2 and phenolic resins.

Fishapods

2009-08-28T18:48:00.000-07:00

With placoderm-like forebears in brackish shallows, perhaps Tiktaalik was a
primitive proto-salamander/reptile, Acanthostega a primitive pelagic
proto-ray-finned fish (with its duplicated digits for better hydrodynamic
propulsion), and Ichthyostega a primitive proto-frog, with its lack of
abdominal ribs allowing the gradually lengthening rear limbs with broad
paddled feet to come far forward to launch or lunge (and later to leap),
"differentiated vertebral column, with a short neck, weird tall neural spines
in the pelvic region, and a tail which is proportionally shorter" sounding a
lot like a short-legged frog, to eventually lose a few digits and fuse the
coccyx, but retain the primitive skin breathing ability and need to reproduce
in shallow later.

See pictures of fishapods
http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2008/04/functional_anatomy_part_i.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiktaalik
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/fishapod