All Things Science

[mmm...Jaz]

3 new ancient crocodile species fossils found

WASHINGTON – A 20-foot-long crocodile with three sets of fangs — like wild boar tusks — roamed parts of northern Africa millions of years ago, researchers reported Thursday. While this fearsome creature hunted meat, not far away another newly found type of croc with a wide, flat snout like a pancake was fishing for food.

And a smaller, 3-foot-long relative with buckteeth was chomping plants and grubs in the same region.

The three new species, along with new examples of two previously known ancient crocodiles, were detailed Thursday by researchers Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago and Hans Larsson of McGill University in Montreal. They spoke at a news conference organized by the National Geographic Society, which sponsored the research.

"These species open a window on a croc world completely foreign to what was living on northern continents," Sereno said of the unusual animals that lived 100 million years ago on the southern continent known as Gondwana.

In this image released by National Geographic, National
Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Paul Sereno, enveloped
by the jaws of SuperCroc, holds the fossil head of DogCroc.
DogCroc, along with four other newly described crocs,
lived in the Sahara when the 8-ton SuperCroc did, at a
time when dinosaurs ruled.


A flesh model of the head of PancakeCroc (above) and its
fossil lower jaw are seen in this combo handout image by
National Geographic made available to Reuters on November
19, 2009. PancakeCroc was a fish eater with a 3-foot-long,
pancake-flat skull. It likely rested motionless for hours, its
open jaws waiting for prey.


A flesh model of the head of BoarCroc (above) and its actual
fossil skull discovered in the Sahara by a team led by
paleontologist Paul Sereno, a professor at the University of
Chicago, are seen in this combo photograph by National
Geographic made available to Reuters on November 19, 2009.
BoarCroc was a 20-foot-long meat eater with three sets of
dagger-shaped fangs.

[mmm...Jaz]

Thousands of strange creatures found deep in ocean

By CAIN BURDEAU, Associated Press Writer – Sun Nov 22, 3:51 pm ET

NEW ORLEANS – The creatures living in the depths of the ocean are as weird and outlandish as the creations in a Dr. Seuss book: tentacled transparent sea cucumbers, primitive "dumbos" that flap ear-like fins, and tubeworms that feed on oil deposits.

A report released Sunday recorded 17,650 species living below 656 feet, the point where sunlight ceases. The findings were the latest update on a 10-year census of marine life.

"Parts of the deep sea that we assumed were homogenous are actually quite complex," said Robert S. Carney, an oceanographer at Louisiana State University and a lead researcher on the deep seas.


This undated photo released by Census
of Marine Life and the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution shows a
transparent sea cucumber, Enypniastes,
creeping forward on its many tentacles
at about 2 cm per minute while sweeping
detritus-rich sediment into its mouth at
2,750 meters in the Northern Gulf of Mexico.
Thousands of marine species eke out an
existence in the ocean's pitch-black depths
by feeding on the snowlike decaying matter
that cascades down, and even sunken whale
bones, according to a report released
Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009.

Thousands of marine species eke out an existence in the ocean's pitch-black depths by feeding on the snowlike decaying matter that cascades down — even sunken whale bones. Oil and methane also are an energy source for the bottom-dwellers, the report said.

The researchers have found about 5,600 new species on top of the 230,000 known. They hope to add several thousand more by October 2010, when the census will be done.

The scientists say they could announce that a million or more species remain unknown. On land, biologists have catalogued about 1.5 million plants and animals.
They say they've found 5,722 species living in the extreme ocean depths, waters deeper than 3,280 feet.

"The deep sea was considered a desert until not so long ago; it's quite amazing to have documented close to 20,000 forms of life in a zone that was thought to be barren," said Jesse Ausubel with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a sponsor of the census. "The deep sea is the least explored environment on earth."

More than 40 new species of coral were documented on deep-sea mountains, along with cities of brittlestars and anemone gardens. Nearly 500 new species ranging from single-celled creatures to large squid were charted in the abyssal plains and basins.

Also of importance were the 170 new species that get their energy from chemicals spewing from ocean-bottom vents and seeps. Among them was a family of "yeti crabs," which have silky, hairlike filaments on the legs.
In the mid-Atlantic, researchers found 40 new species and 1,000 in all, said Odd Aksel Bergstad, an oceanographer with the University of Bergen in Norway who was reached by telephone in the Azores islands.

"It was a surprise to me to find such rich communities in the middle of the ocean," he said. "There were not even good maps for the area. Our understanding of the biodiversity there was very weak."

More than 2,000 scientists from 80 countries are working to catalog the oceans' species.

Researching the abyss has been costly and difficult because it involved deep-towed cameras, sonar and remotely operated vehicles that cost $50,000 a day to operate, Carney said.

Once the census is complete, the plan is to publish three books: a popular survey of sea life, a second book with chapters for each working group and a third focusing on biodiversity.

[StockJock-e]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8375486.stm

Cern's Large Hadron Collider makes first collisions


By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News


The LHC's tunnel runs for 27km under the Franco-Swiss border

Engineers operating the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have smashed together proton beams in the machine for the very first time.
The step was described as a "great achievement" for those working on the huge physics experiment.
The low-energy collisions came after researchers circulated two beams simultaneously in the LHC's 27km-long tunnel earlier on Monday.
The LHC will smash together beams of protons to shed light on the cosmos.

[Whitney]

Originally Posted by StockJock-e

Cern's Large Hadron Collider makes first collisions
Engineers operating the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have smashed together proton beams in the machine for the very first time.
The step was described as a "great achievement" for those working on the huge physics experiment.
The low-energy collisions came after researchers circulated two beams simultaneously in the LHC's 27km-long tunnel earlier on Monday.
The LHC will smash together beams of protons to shed light on the cosmos.

Was just reading that article; guess now we know what the 2012 catalyst will be. Big Bang giveth... and the Big Bang taketh away

[mmm...Jaz]

Originally Posted by StockJock-e

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8375486.stm

Cern's Large Hadron Collider makes first collisions


By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News


The LHC's tunnel runs for 27km under the Franco-Swiss border

Engineers operating the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have smashed together proton beams in the machine for the very first time.
The step was described as a "great achievement" for those working on the huge physics experiment.
The low-energy collisions came after researchers circulated two beams simultaneously in the LHC's 27km-long tunnel earlier on Monday.
The LHC will smash together beams of protons to shed light on the cosmos.

I sensed a disturbance in the Force...

[mmm...Jaz]

Originally Posted by mmm...Jaz

Thousands of strange creatures found deep in ocean

By CAIN BURDEAU, Associated Press Writer – Sun Nov 22, 3:51 pm ET

NEW ORLEANS – The creatures living in the depths of the ocean are as weird and outlandish as the creations in a Dr. Seuss book: tentacled transparent sea cucumbers, primitive "dumbos" that flap ear-like fins, and tubeworms that feed on oil deposits.

A report released Sunday recorded 17,650 species living below 656 feet, the point where sunlight ceases. The findings were the latest update on a 10-year census of marine life.

"Parts of the deep sea that we assumed were homogenous are actually quite complex," said Robert S. Carney, an oceanographer at Louisiana State University and a lead researcher on the deep seas.

Here's more pictures of those odd creatures...

http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/sci...us-marine-life

[Slappified]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,...tml?test=faces

Man 'Trapped in Coma' for 23 Years Was Awake Whole Time
Monday, November 23, 2009

Rom Houben, 46, spent 23 years in a coma, and it turns out he was conscious the entire time.
An engineering student thought to be in a coma for 23 years was actually conscious the whole time, it has emerged.

Rom Houben was misdiagnosed as being in a vegetative state after a car crash left him totally paralyzed.

But, in actuality, he was trapped in his own body the whole time with no way of letting friends and family know he could hear every word they were saying.

The 46-year-old, who can now tap out computerized messages and read books on a device above his hospital bed, has revealed: "I screamed, but there was nothing to hear.

"All that time I literally dreamed of a better life. Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt," he said. "I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me — it was my second birth. I want to read, talk with my friends via the computer and enjoy life now people know I am not dead."

His misdiagnosis was discovered by neurological expert, Dr. Steven Laureys, who fears there may be similar cases all over the world.

He looked at Houben's case again at the University of Liege, Belgium, using state-of-the-art imaging that showed the patient was aware of what was happening around him even though he had lost control of his body.

Laureys, who leads the Coma Science Group, was unavailable for comment when contacted by Sky News Online.

He told the Daily Telegraph: "In Germany alone each year some 100,000 people suffer from severe traumatic brain injury.

"About 20,000 are followed by a coma of three weeks or longer. Some of them die, others regain health," he continued. But an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people a year, remain trapped in an intermediate stage: they go on living without ever come back again."

[wolf825]

Mad science? Growing meat without animals

Pork chops or burgers cultivated in labs could eliminate multiple problems



updated 12:42 p.m. ET, Thurs., Nov . 19, 2009

Winston Churchill once predicted that it would be possible to grow chicken breasts and wings more efficiently without having to keep an actual chicken. And in fact scientists have since figured out how to grow tiny nuggets of lab meat and say it will one day be possible to produce steaks in vats, sans any livestock.
Pork chops or burgers cultivated in labs could eliminate contamination problems that regularly generate headlines these days, as well as address environmental concerns that come with industrial livestock farms.
However, such research opens up strange and perhaps even disturbing possibilities once considered only the realm of science fiction. After all, who knows what kind of meat people might want to grow to eat?

Advantages touted
Increasingly, bioengineers are growing nerve, heart and other tissues in labs. Recently, scientists even reported developing artificial penis tissue in rabbits. Although such research is meant to help treat patients, biomedical engineer Mark Post at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and his colleagues suggest it could also help feed the rising demand for meat worldwide. The researchers noted that growing skeletal muscle in labs — the kind people typically think of as the meat they eat — could help tackle a number of problems:

• Avoiding animal suffering by reducing the farming and killing of livestock.
• Dramatically cutting down on food-borne ailments such as mad cow disease and salmonella or germs such as swine flu, by monitoring the growth of meat in labs.
• Livestock currently take up 70 percent of all agricultural land, corresponding to 30 percent of the world's land surface, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Labs would presumably require much less space.
• Livestock generate 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, more than all of the vehicles on Earth, the FAO added. Since the animals themselves are mostly responsible for these gases, reducing livestock numbers could help alleviate global warming.

Need to scale up
Stem cells are considered the most promising source for such meat, retaining as they do the capacity to transform into the required tissues, and the scientists pointed to satellite cells, which are the natural muscle stem cells responsible for regeneration and repair in adults. Embryonic stem cells could also be used, but they are obviously plagued by ethical concerns, and they could grow into tissues besides the desired muscles.
To grow meat in labs from satellite cells, the researchers suggested current tissue-engineering techniques, where stem cells are often embedded in synthetic three-dimensional biodegradable matrixes that can present the chemical and physical environments that cells need to develop properly. Other key factors would involve electrically stimulating and mechanically stretching the muscles to exercise them, helping them mature properly, and perhaps growing other cells alongside the satellite cells to provide necessary molecular cues.
So far past scientists have grown only small nuggets of skeletal muscle, about half the size of a thumbnail. Such tidbits could be used in sauces or pizzas, Post and colleagues explained recently in the online edition of the journal Trends in Food Science & Technology, but creating a steak would demand larger-scale production.
Dark thoughts
The expectation is that if such meat is ever made, scientists will opt for beef, pork, chicken or fish. However, science fiction has long toyed with the darker possibilities that cloned meat presents.
In Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson's epic sci-fi satire "Transmetropolitan," supermarkets and fast food joints sell dolphin, manatee, whale, baby seal, monkey and reindeer, while the Long Pig franchise sells "cloned human meat at prices you like."
"In principle, we could harvest the meat progenitor cells from fresh human cadavers and grow meat from them," Post said. "Once taken out of its disease and animalistic, cannibalistic context — you are not killing fellow citizens for it, they are already dead — there is no reason why not."



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34042394...ce-innovation/




-w

[wolf825]

Intel Wants Brain Implants in Its Customers' Heads by 2020


Researchers expect brain waves to operate computers, TVs and cell phones
By Jeremy Hsu Posted 11.20.2009 at 2:00 pm 26 Comments

Mind Trip Intel wants into your brain Warner Bros.

If the idea of turning consumers into true cyborgs sounds creepy, don't tell Intel researchers. Intel's Pittsburgh lab aims to develop brain implants that can control all sorts of gadgets directly via brain waves by 2020.
The scientists anticipate that consumers will adapt quickly to the idea, and indeed crave the freedom of not requiring a keyboard, mouse, or remote control for surfing the Web or changing channels. They also predict that people will tire of multi-touch devices such as our precious iPhones, Android smart phones and even Microsoft's wacky Surface Table.
Turning brain waves into real-world tech action still requires some heavy decoding of brain activity. The Intel team has already made use of fMRI brain scans to match brain patterns with similar thoughts across many test subjects.


http://www.popsci.com/technology/art...ers-heads-2020


-w

[NoJobRob]

http://www.blacktable.com/gillin030901.htm