Many animal species die after they reproduce. But in octopus mothers, this decline is particularly alarming.
Researchers have found links between the oral microbiome and the risk of certain cancers, such as esophageal and pancreatic cancers.
Monkey kids takeover via LiveScience.
LiveScience recently caught up with Robinson about his inspiration for 'Shaman,' his new book set for release on Sept. 3, 2013.
A major winter storm walloped the eastern United States from Alabama up to New England. LiveScience collected photos of the snow and ice from across the area.
By Bjorn Carey, LiveScience Staff Writer posted: 19 February 2006 ST. LOUIS—The first humans to spread across North America may have been seal hunters from France and Spain. This runs counter to the long-held belief that the first human entry into the Americas was a crossing of a land-ice bridge that spanned the Bering Strait about 13,500 years ago. The new thinking was
A recent Livescience article1 is entitled “The Galápagos Islands: Laboratory of Evolution.” It addresses, among other things, “unique examples of plant and animal life.” The islands contain a variety of biota (the animal and plant life in a particular area), such as the Galápagos giant tortoise, sea lions, the varieties of finches, waved albatrosses, penguins, marine iguanas, and hundreds of native plants. A wide variety of unique species are normal for environments around the world
“Creationists claim there are no transitional fossils, aka missing links. Biologists and paleontologists, among others, know this claim is false,” according to a recent LiveScience article that then describes what it claims are 12 specific transitional form fossils.1 But do these examples really confirm Darwinism? Charles Darwin raised a lack of transitional fossils as a possible objection to his own theory: “Why, if species have descended from other species by fine gradations, do we not
What Is Inflammation And How To Get Rid Of It Inflammation is a trending topic in the health & wellness world lately, and for good reason. You may be hearing it from your doctor, a family member, a colleague, but let’s clear up what it is, how to recognize it and what to do about it. According to LiveScience, “inflammation is a vital part of the immune system's response to injury and infection. It is the body's way of signalling the immune system to heal and repair damaged tissue, as well as defend itself against foreign invaders, such as viruses and bacteria.” Sounds like a pretty beneficial and necessary physiological process, right? So, is there actually a downside to inflammation? Yes! The downside is when inflammation becomes widespread and unrelenting in the body. However, there’s a pretty big difference between acute inflammation, as described above, and the more detrimental, disease-promoting type of chronic inflammation.
Birds depend on their color vision for selecting mates, hunting or foraging for food, and spotting predators. Until recently, ultraviolet vision was thought to have arisen as a one-time development in birds. But a new DNA analysis of 40 bird species shows the shift between violet (shorter wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum) and ultraviolet vision has occurred at least 14 times. "Birds see color in a different way from humans," study co-author Anders Ödeen, an animal ecologist at Uppsala University in Sweden, told LiveScience. Human eyes have three different color receptors, or cones, that are sensitive to light of different wavelengths and mix together to reveal all the colors we see. Birds, by contrast, have four cones, so "they see potentially more colors than humans do," Ödeen said. Birds themselves are split into two groups based on the color of light (wavelength) that their cones detect most acutely. Scientists define them as violet-sensitive or ultraviolet-sensitive, and the two groups don't overlap, according to Ödeen. Birds of each group would see the same objects as different hues. The study researchers sequenced the DNA from the 40 species of birds, from the cockatiel to the whitebearded manakin. They extracted DNA from the bases of feather quills, blood, muscle or other tissue. From that DNA, the scientists reconstructed the proteins that make up the light-sensitive pigments in the birds' eyes. Differences in the DNA revealed which birds were sensitive to violet light versus ultraviolet. "That change is very simple, apparently," Ödeen said. "It just takes a single mutation" in the DNA sequence. While that change may seem insignificant, it can be compared to the difference humans see between red and green. Why the bird lineages switched their color sensitivity — essentially species of a certain branch on the family tree evolved to have the reverse type of vision — is still something of a mystery. The ability to attract mates while still evading predators could be one reason. Ultraviolet light might also provide higher contrast that makes finding food easier. Other factors are environmental — open spaces have more UV light than do forests, for example. Ultimately, the color sensitivity may be a result of other changes that affect the amount of ultraviolet light the birds' eyes receive.
The remains of a bustling port and barracks for sailors or military troops have been discovered near the Giza Pyramids. They were in use while the pyramids were being built about 4,500 years ago. Archaeologists have discovered evidence of what is believed to be ancient barracks, pictured, close to the site of a port near Giza in Egypt. The location of the barracks to this port suggests the settlement could have been home to soldiers or sailors [Credit: AERA] The archaeologists have been excavating a city near the Giza Pyramids that dates mainly to the reign of the pharaoh Menkaure, who built the last pyramid at Giza. Also near the pyramids they have been excavating a town, located close to a monument dedicated to Queen Khentkawes, possibly a daughter of Menkaure. The barracks are located at the city, while a newly discovered basin, that may be part of a harbor, is located by the Khentkawes town. Several discoveries at the city and Khentkawes town suggest Giza was a thriving port, said archaeologist Mark Lehner, the director of Ancient Egypt Research Associates. For instance, Lehner's team discovered a basin beside the Khentkawes town just 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) from the nearest Nile River channel. This reconstruction of the ancient barracks shows how troops lived and worked in the three-storey settlement. The total size of the site is said to cover almost ten football pitches. AERA believes the it would have been built in the 35 to 50 years that spanned the reigns of pharoahs Khafre and Menkaure [Credit: AERA] This basin may be "an extension of a harbor or waterfront," Lehner said at a recent symposium held here by the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities. Lehner said his team also found at Giza charcoal remains of cedar, juniper, pine and oak, all trees that grew in a part of the eastern Mediterranean called the Levant, along with more than 50 examples of combed ware jars, a style of pottery from that region. Additionally, large amounts of granite from Aswan, located on ancient Egypt's southern border, have long been known to be at Giza, and these could have been brought down the Nile River to Giza's port. "Giza was the central port then for three generations, Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure," said Lehner in his presentation, referring to the three pharaohs who built pyramids at Giza. A military presence Where there is a port there are sailors. At the city the archaeologists found evidence that a series of long buildings called "galleries" held troops who could have participated in voyages to the Levant and possibly guarded VIPs while at Giza. These galleries were about 23 feet (7 meters) high and each set was at least 113 feet (34.5 meters) long, north to south. Near the Giza Pyramid archaeologists have discovered a basin that may have been part of a thriving harbor and a "silo building complex," suggesting royal cult priests occupied the complex [Credit: AERA] Archaeologists once assumed galleries like these held pyramid workers, something that recent discoveries call into question; in recent excavations of the galleries Lehner's team found charcoal remains from wood, particularly cedar, that was originally from the Levant. "What was all this cedar from the Levant doing in a common workers barracks?" Lehner asked. In fact, these troops are represented in the tombs of highly placed officials and in pyramid temples. "You have representations of these gangs, these troops, repeated over and over again," he said, adding that the word for them can be translated as "escort" or "the following." Each individual gallery could hold about 40 people comfortably, which is a unit these troops could be organized into, Lehner said. This reconstructions shows how the galleries may have looked. It is thought that sailors may have travelled to and from the barracks from the Levant. Researchers also found charcoal remains of trees, and pottery from the Levant region in the eastern Mediterranean [Credit: AERA] "I wonder if we are basically seeing barracks not of the workers, but of elite crews of ships," Lehner said. A pharaoh named Sahure had images in his valley temple (part of his pyramid complex) of troops near the king's "ship of state," he noted. Lehner's suspicions that the galleries were meant for troops were reinforced in 2012 when the archaeologists discovered a broken hippo hip. In ancient Egypt, hippos were considered nuisances, as the animals ate crops at night. "The young troops go out and they harpoon them and spear them," he told the Toronto audience. Elsewhere, on the site of the Lost City, the archaeologists found evidence of long buildings called galleries, pictured, that could have been used to house visitors to the port. The galleries would have been approximately 113ft long and 23ft tall [Credit: AERA] There's actually a ritual in which a captured and bound hippo is harpooned to death. This ritual could have taken place at Giza at a public place such as the harbor, the hippo meat (apparently quite tasty) being consumed afterwards by the troops in the galleries. These troops didn't always get the best food. The hippo meat would have been a nice respite from their everyday diet. The bones the archaeologists found in the galleries indicate they consumed lots of goat and sheep as well as oily, bony, catfish, said Richard Redding, chief research officer at Ancient Egypt Research Associates, in another symposium presentation. The troops didn't get as much cattle or Nile perch, which were considered the more desirable forms of meat and fish. Redding is also a research scientist at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan. Where are the pyramid builders? The recent discoveries at Giza leave a mystery in their wake: Where were the dwellings of the pyramid builders, the regular workers, located? Basin in Egypt [Credit: AERA] The answer may be on the pyramids themselves. "We could probably be correct imagining workers staying on the immense ramps, on the unfinished pyramid as it rose," said Lehner in an email to LiveScience, adding that they could also have been living in the quarries in simple dwellings akin to "lean-to's." The remains of these workers can be found in ancient dumps near the pyramids. "In 2004 we helped the Giza inspectors salvage material from an immense dump off the northern side of the Great Pyramid," said Lehner in the email. "We did not find remains of workers huts or lean-to's, but we did find old cattle bone, strips of cloth, rope and string of all gauges, fragments of wood, including part of a hammer, and other material of the workers." For more information see Ancient Egypt Research Associates (AERA) website. Author: Owen Jarus | Source: LiveScience [January 29, 2014] Labels Ancient, ArchaeoHeritage, Archaeology, Breakingnews, Egypt, Greater Middle East, Near East TANN you might also like Newer Post Older Post
