Grand tree of life study shows a clock-like trend in new species emergence and diversity

IMAGE: The tree of life compiled by Temple
University researchers is depicted in a new
way -- a cosmologically inspired galaxy of
life view -- and contains more
than 50,000 species... view more

Credit: Temple University

Eurekalert | Mar 3, 2015

Temple University researchers have assembled the largest and most accurate tree of life calibrated to time, and surprisingly, it reveals that life has been expanding at a constant rate.

"The constant rate of diversification that we have found indicates that the ecological niches of life are not being filled up and saturated," said Temple professor S. Blair Hedges, a member of the research team's study, published in the early online edition of the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution. "This is contrary to the popular alternative model which predicts a slowing down of diversification as niches fill up with species."

The tree of life compiled by the Temple team is depicted in a new way --- a cosmologically-inspired galaxy of life view --- and contains more than 50,000 species in a tapestry spiraling out from the origin of life.
For the massive meta-study effort, researchers painstakingly assembled data from 2,274 molecular studies, with 96 percent published in the last decade. They built new computer algorithms and tools to synthesize this largest collection of evolutionary peer-reviewed species diversity timelines published to date to produce this Time Tree of Life.

The study also challenges the conventional view of adaptation being the principal force driving species diversification, but rather, underscores the importance of random genetic events and geographic isolation in speciation, taking about 2 million years on average for a new species to emerge onto the scene.

"This finding shows that speciation is more clock-like than people have thought," said Hedges. "Taken together, this indicates that speciation and diversification are separate processes from adaptation, responding more to isolation and time. Adaptation is definitely occurring, so this does not disagree with Darwinism. But it goes against the popular idea that adaptation drives speciation, and against the related concept of punctuated equilibrium which associates adaptive change with speciation."

Besides the new evolutionary insights gained in this study, their Timetree of Life will provide opportunities for researchers to make other discoveries across disciplines, wherever an evolutionary perspective is needed, including, for example, studies of disease and medicine, and the effect of climate change on future species diversity.

Researchers around the world utilize molecular clocks to estimate species divergence times, calculating DNA mutational rates with species divergence times from gene and genomic sequences, that together with the fossil record and geological history, provide a constantly improving view of Darwin's "grandeur of life."

These new results add to the decade-long efforts of the Timetree of Life initiative (TTOL), which includes internet tools and a book, led by team members Hedges and Sudhir Kumar. "The ultimate goal of the TTOL is to chart the timescale of life -- to discover when each species and all their ancestors originated, all the way back to the origin of life some four billion years ago," said Hedges.

As an ongoing service to the scientific community, Hedges and Kumar plan to continue adding new data to TTOL from future peer-reviewed studies. They also will improve their current tools, such as web and smartphone apps, and develop new tools, that will make it easier to access the information and to explore the TTOL, and for scientists to update the growing tree with their new data.

###

Besides Hedges and Kumar, other members of the research team that published this new article included Julie Marin, Michael Suleski, and Madeline Paymer.

Maya Mural Reveals Ancient 'Photobomb'

A man with the title "junior obsidian" kneels before the king
in a Maya mural researchers uncovered in Guatemala in 2010.
Credit: Illustration by Heather Hurst, copyright 2014

Live Science | Feb 20, 2015 | Laura Geggel

An ancient Maya mural found in the Guatemalan rainforest may depict a group portrait of advisers to the Maya royalty, a new study finds.

Most Maya murals depict life within the royal sphere, but the newfound mural, uncovered in the Guatemalan rainforest in 2010, shows a vibrant scene of intellectuals consulting with the royal governor, who is dressed as the Maya wind god.

Behind him, an attendant, almost hidden behind the king's massive headdress, adds a unique photobomb to the mural, said Bill Saturno, the study's lead researcher and an assistant professor of archaeology at Boston University. [See Photos of the Ancient Maya Mural]

The murals also provide information about a man buried beneath them. During an excavation, the archaeologists found the skeleton of a man dressed like the sages in the mural. It's possible the man once lived in the room, which later became his final resting place, Saturno said.

Archaeologists discovered the approximately 1,250-year-old mural in the ancient city of Xultun, located in the northeastern part of present-day Guatemala. During an archaeological study of Xultun, an undergraduate student inspecting an old looters' trail noticed traces of paint on an ancient wall covered by dirt.

"My assumption was that there would be very little to see," Saturno said. "Not because the Maya didn't paint murals — they did — but they don't preserve well in a tropical environment."

However, the elements had been kind to the building and its treasures. The excavation uncovered a rectangular room covered with murals and a Maya calendar, the oldest known Maya dating system on record.

Mysterious obsidians

The mural is one of only two known murals in the eastern Maya lowlands that have lasted throughout the ages, the researchers said. The Xultun paintings, illustrated in vibrant red, blue, green and black pigments, cover three of the room's four walls. The fourth wall, damaged by looters, contains the door.

Saturno and his colleagues excavated past the point where the looters tunneled, and came face-to-face with "the polychrome face of a king seated with his blue-feathered headdress," Saturno said. A man kneeling before the king, labeled itz'in taaj, or "junior obsidian," faces the king in profile.

ch'ok, or "youth," and another is called sakun taaj, or "senior obsidian."

This illustration shows a view of the northern
and western walls in the Xultun mural chamber.
Credit: Illustration by Heather Hurst, copyright 2014

Behind the junior obsidian, on the west wall, are three men dressed in black and sitting cross-legged. One of the men is labeled

It's unclear what "obsidian" means, the researchers said.

"Are they religious? Are they scholars? Is there a line between those things?" Saturno said. "They seem to be making books and painting tables on the walls."

All three men wear the same headdress with a medallion and feathery plume, a white loincloth and a medallion on their chests.

"You see these three guys dressed identically and lining up on one wall," Saturno said. "That's strange. They're clearly being represented as a unit."

The fact that they're all wearing the same uniform suggests the obsidians shared similar duties, Saturno said. Moreover, the people who filled the obsidian order probably lived in the room for a period of time, as there are dozens of texts painted on the walls. [Maya Murals: Stunning Images of King & Calendar]

Water and tree roots largely damaged the east wall, but the archaeologists still managed to find the painted remains of three individuals.

All the king's men

The mural may depict a consultation between the king and the obsidian, the researchers said. The king is dressed as a version of the wind god, holding a staff with wind symbols on it.

"Maya kings often dress up as deities in performance," Saturno said. "Essentially re-enacting events from the mythic past."

The timing of the performance was important, and the obsidian may have been advising the king about its correct date, he said. To remember meetings such as these, obsidians or artists may have painted the mural, he said.

"The mural establishes a direct relationship between a particular order, or guild, of Xultun artists and scribal-priests and their lord, and it celebrates its members’ achievement in consulting and producing work for their sovereign's reign," the researchers wrote in the study.

The king sports blue, green and orange accessories, whereas the obsidians are painted in reddish and black colors. The pigments from the king's portrait "are not common to that part of the region where it's from," Saturno said. "These are materials that are being traded in."

The painting also shows an attendant behind the king, possibly to hold up his headdress, Saturno said. "It's like a photobomb," he joked. "He's almost like, 'Do you see me here?'"

In contrast, the orange and red colors are made from local pigments, which likely helped differentiate between royal and non-royal subjects in the mural, the researchers said.

The study is "a brilliant gem of scholarship," said David Freidel, a professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, who was not involved with the study.

"This room celebrates a special group of members of the royal court of Xultun that are called obsidian, [or] taaj," Freidel said. "The obsidian people appear to be present at other sites, but we don't know much about them."

It's remarkable that the intricate mural wasn't painted at the royal residence, said Takeshi Inomata, a professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona, who wasn't involved in the study.

"This comes from the residence of a courtier, a court official," Inomata said. "This tells us about how those political organizations of Maya society were run, and then we can really get to the people who are really doing all of those things."

The study was published in the February issue of the journal Antiquity. The coauthors are Heather Hurst at Skidmore College in New York, Franco Rossi at Boston University and David Stuart at the University of Texas at Austin.

Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

A World Gone Mad: Little Boxes on the Hillside… And We’re All the Same

TruthStream Media | Feb 11, 2015 | Aaron Dykes and Melissa Melton

We have indeed been reduced to mere cogs in the machines… look around us at the automated, redundant, cliche, monotonous and generic society that has been built up around us. Conformity becomes us.


No one is saying that your home and your things define you, but just why exactly are they ALL virtually the exact same? Just little cookie cutter houses. Everyone’s “just doin’ their job.” All the smart devices are just spying. The subtle tyranny creeps in.

Mind control in its blandest form, creating predictable, simple people, with simple problems, too trapped in a maze of sameness to ever look upwards or outwards, too concentrated on the tiny problems of fitting in and making it up the corporate ladder to do much questioning of the system. Too worried about keeping up with the Jones’ to question why we’re here, what it means, and why things ended up this way.

A subtle, but horrible conspiracy of conformity, a brutal chilling of dissent by efficient copy & pasted lifestyles dictated by those steering the market from Wall Street and beyond.

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.” – Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1929)

Read these lyrics from Malvina Reynolds:
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There’s a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there’s doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.
And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
There’s a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
 

NASA Unveils New Dark Side of the Moon Video

Sputnik | Feb 6, 2015

No one has seen the moon quite like this before.


Coming on the heels of new footage of Jupiter’s moons, NASA has released a new look at the so-called “dark-side” of our lunar satellite. Mapping data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a robotic NASA satellite, recorded a video of the phases of the moon from the side never seen.

"Just like the near side, the far side goes through a complete cycle of phases," NASA says. "But the terrain of the far side is quite different. It lacks the large dark spots, called maria, that make up the familiar Man in the Moon on the near side."

Supernova mystery found at the bottom of the sea

© Discovery News

SOTT | Jan 20, 2015 | Ian O'Neill

One of the least likely places you might think astronomers would learn about ancient supernovae is at the bottom of the ocean, but in new research scientists have done just that.

Through the careful analysis of ocean sediment, tiny particles that originated from deep space have settled on the seabed, locking the chemical secrets to supernova processes that would have otherwise remained a mystery.

"Small amounts of debris from these distant explosions fall on the earth as it travels through the galaxy," said lead researcher Anton Wallner, of the Australian National University.

"We've analyzed galactic dust from the last 25 million years that has settled on the ocean and found there is much less of the heavy elements such as plutonium and uranium than we expected."

Supernovae are powerful explosions triggered when massive stars reach the ends of their lives. During these powerful events, many elements are forged, including elements that are essential for life to thrive - such as iron, potassium and iodine.

However, as pointed out by an Australian National University press release, even heavier elements like lead, gold and radioactive elements like uranium and plutonium can be created. But it appears that the formation processes for the heaviest elements are at odds with current astrophysical theory.

Wallner and his team studied samples of sediment from the bottom of a stable area at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. But when measuring the quantities of plutonium-244, a radioisotope that is produced by supernovae, they found something strange in their results - there was 100 time less plutonium-244 than predicted.

Plutonium-244 has a half-life of 81 million years, making it an excellent indicator of the number of supernovae that have exploded nearby in recent galactic history. "So any plutonium-244 that we find on earth must have been created in explosive events that have occurred more recently, in the last few hundred million years," said Wallner.

But the fact that there is less recent deposition of the heaviest of elements, despite the fact that we know supernovae have erupted nearby, suggests a different formation mechanism may be responsible for plutonium-244 and elements like it.

"It seems that these heaviest elements may not be formed in standard supernovae after all," concludes Wallner. "It may require rarer and more explosive events such as the merging of two neutron stars to make them."

This research has been published in Nature Communications.

Source: Discovery News

Best Of: Wal Thornhill: An Electric Cosmology for the 21st Century | EU Workshop

Thunderbolts Project | Jan 17, 2015 | Wal Thornhill

This talk by Wal Thornhill at the EU Workshop Nov 14-16, 2014 offers a compendium of the things that scientifically curious people need to know in order to see the electric force in its dynamic role from microcosm to macrocosm.

WHAT IF? Asking the Dangerous Questions with Tom Wilson

Thunderbolts Project | Jan 3, 2015

With this video, Dr.Tom Wilson begins a series of discourses looking at critical issues in the theoretical sciences. The series will give special attention to themes highlighted by the science of the Electric Universe.

Subscribe to Thunderbolts Update newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ETy41
The Thunderbolts Project Home: http://www.thunderbolts.info
Essential Guide to the Electric Universe: http://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/eg-co...
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thunderboltsp...
Electric Universe by Wal Thornhill: http://www.holoscience.com/wp/
Electric Universe T-shirts and Gifts: http://www.thunder-stuff.com

How The Elite Stay In Power

We Are Change | Dec 30, 2014

In this video we break down in simple terms a very complex game that is happening behind the scenes that many do not notice. A complex game played by the very few against everyone else.

Quantum Physics and Romanesque Art - Lothar Schäfer, Ph.D.

scienceandnonduality | Dec 26, 2014

Deep Truths Are Eternal. They constantly return and engage the Human Mind. The discovery of Quantum Physics that there is an invisible part of the world, which doesn't consist of things, but of non-material forms, is such a truth. We find it, for example, in the work of the European Romanesque Artists, between 1000 – 1120 CE. the artists at that time believed that the basis of reality is an invisible mystery, and they wanted to reveal that mystery in their art. In this lecture the parallels between the world view of Quantum Physics and that of the Romanesque Artists will be described, which suggest that our mind is connected with a Cosmic Mind, which expresses its principles as thoughts in our mind and as material structures in the external world.

Lothar Schäfer is Distinguished Professor (emeritus) of Physical Chemistry at the University of Arkansas. His research in physical chemistry, electron diffraction, applied quantum chemistry, and computational chemistry led to developing the first real-time gas electron diffraction instrument in which data is recorded online, enabling the first pulsed-beam, timeresolved studies of laser-excited molecules, and to performing the first quantum chemical geometry determinations of peptide molecules, predicting structural trends in proteins a decade before experimental observation. Author of Infinite Potential and In Search of Divine Reality.

Rosetta Mission Update | Oops! No Water on Comet 67P?

Thunderbolts Project | Dec 18, 2014

The comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko will be in the news for several months. And it has the potential to spark extensive controversy.  Issues could range from electric fields in space, to solar system history and the history of earth itself.

See Segment 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UliV...

Executive Producer: Gerald Simonson
Script and Narration: David Talbott
Chief Science Advisor: Wal Thornhill
Animation and Editing: Brian Talbott
Executive Assistant: Susan Schirott
Music: Softsound (Nancy Holt)

Subscribe to Thunderbolts Update newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ETy41
The Thunderbolts Project Home: http://www.thunderbolts.info
Essential Guide to the Electric Universe: http://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/eg-co...
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thunderboltsp...
Electric Universe by Wal Thornhill: http://www.holoscience.com/wp/
Electric Universe T-shirts and Gifts: http://www.thunder-stuff.com

NASA satellites sees a question mark in Tropical Storm Ana as it approaches Hawaii

© NASA
NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured this
image of Tropical Storm Ana approaching Hawaii
in the Central Pacific Ocean on Oct. 17
at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT).

SOTT | Oct 17, 2014 | NASA

NOAA's GOES-West satellite captured an image of Tropical Storm Ana that showed the outer clouds were already reaching the big island by 11 a.m. EDT and the storm resembled a giant question mark.

Tropical Storm Ana was nearing hurricane strength mid-day on Oct. 17 and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) expects the storm to become a hurricane before reaching the big island of Hawaii.

NOAA's GOES-West satellite took an infrared picture of Tropical Storm Ana as it was approaching Hawaii on Oct. 17 at 11 a.m. EDT (5 a.m. HST). Ana looked like a giant question mark in the infrared image, as a large band of thunderstorms wrapped into the center from the eastern side of the storm and extended south of the storm.

Despite the storm looking like a question mark from space, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center said that there is no question the storm has been intensifying.

A Tropical Storm Watch remained in effect for Hawaii County on Oct. 17. A tropical storm watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area, in this case within 24 to 36 hours. Interests elsewhere in the main Hawaiian Islands, and in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument Area, should monitor the progress of Ana.

The CPHC expects tropical-storm-force winds to affect the Big Island of Hawaii by tonight, Oct. 17. In addition, heavy rainfall with total rain accumulations between 6 and 8 inches, with isolated totals of 12 inches are possible. Heavy rain could potentially affect the other islands Saturday and Sunday. This rainfall could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides.


In addition to the winds and heavy rainfall, dangerous surf will precede and Ana. CPHC noted that large swells are expected to build over the eastern end of the main Hawaiian island chain today (Oct. 17) through Saturday. These large swells will continue to spread up the island chain through the weekend. Surf produced by these swells could potentially be damaging along exposed south and southeast shorelines beginning later today and Saturday, and persisting through the weekend in some areas.

At 11 a.m. EDT (5 a.m. HST) maximum sustained winds were near 70 mph (110 kph) and Ana is expected to become a hurricane later in the day with gradual weakening expected Saturday and Sunday. The center of tropical storm Ana was located near latitude 15.7 north, longitude 154.2 west. Ana was moving toward the west-northwest near 14 mph (22 kph)

Ana is expected to turn slightly to the northwest and slow over the weekend of Oct. 18 and 19. After a brief stint as a hurricane overnight Oct.17 and early Oct. 18 when it will be west of the Big Island, it is expected to weaken back to a tropical storm and move almost parallel to the Hawaiian Islands while remaining over water, west of the islands. By mid-week next week, around Oct. 18, the CPHC expects Ana to track through the French Frigate Shoals.

Rosetta Could Change Science Forever | Space News

Thunderbolts Project | Oct 15, 2014

Human beings around the world may be witnessing one of the most significant dramas in the modern history of the space sciences. The ESA’s Rosetta mission to the comet 67P has shattered the theoretical predictions of standard comet science. For many decades, we were told that comets are dirty snowballs, which formed billions of years ago, tracing back to the solar system’s origins. In contrast, the electric universe has stated for decades that comets, meteors and asteroids are materials excavated electrically from planetary surfaces. Wal Thornhill explains that the Rosetta mission has already provided a stunning confirmation of the electric comet theory.

The Electric Comet feature-length documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34wtt...

Previous Space News on Rosetta mission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYIpU...

Looking for a fast track to comprehensive education on the Electric Universe? Those most eager to learn are invited to the EU Workshop, November 14-16, 2014 at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown. This event will be led by Wal Thornhill and Dave Talbott, who are preparing full summaries of their life’s work, something that has never been presented publicly. Wal’s talks will be complemented by additional material from electrical theorist Dr. Donald Scott, and Dave’s presentations will be reinforced by Ev Cochrane, author of several essential books on the ancient sky. Seating will be limited. Check out: https://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/2014...

Subscribe to Thunderbolts Update newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ETy41
The Thunderbolts Project Home: http://www.thunderbolts.info
Essential Guide to the Electric Universe: http://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/eg-co...
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thunderboltsp...
Electric Universe by Wal Thornhill: http://www.holoscience.com/wp/
Electric Universe T-shirts and Gifts: http://www.thunder-stuff.com

"Interstellar" – Science Fiction or Pure Fantasy?

Thunderbolts Project | Oct 13, 2014

In November of this year, movie theaters around the world will begin showing perhaps the year's most anticipated film, the science-fiction blockbuster, "Interstellar." The plot of the film features scientists on Earth devising a plan to send human beings through a wormhole, in a desperate effort to find a new, habitable system. But what is a "wormhole." Mathematician Stephen J. Crothers tells us all the reasons why the wormhole concept is physically meaningless.

Stephen's website, including many of his papers available for free viewing: http://www.sjcrothers.plasmaresources...

Stephen's talk at EU 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXF09...

Electric Sparks Shape Lunar Surface | Space News

Thunderbolts Project | Sep 25, 2014

According to a recent paper, scientists are now exploring whether so-called “electrical sparking may occur on the moon, altering the lunar soil. The scientists have developed computer models to explore how strong electric fields might accumulate in permanently shadowed regions on the moon, creating electrical sparking that fragments soil grains. Wal Thornhill offers a brief overview of the evidence of vastly greater, high-scale electrical discharge events that shaped the lunar surface.

Source story: http://www.space.com/27009-electric-m...

Previous Space News on electrical scarring on planets and moons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DEvb...

Looking for a fast track to comprehensive education on the Electric Universe? Those most eager to learn are invited to the EU Workshop, November 14-16, 2014 at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown. This event will be led by Wal Thornhill and Dave Talbott, who are preparing full summaries of their life’s work, something that has never been presented publicly. Wal’s talks will be complemented by additional material from electrical theorist Dr. Donald Scott, and Dave’s presentations will be reinforced by Ev Cochrane, author of several essential books on the ancient sky. Seating will be limited. Check out: https://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/2014...

Largest known prehistoric predator turns out to be uniquely semi-aquatic

A replica of Spinosaurus (AFP Photo/Patrick Lin)

RT | Sep 12, 2014

You might recognize Spinosaurus, the gigantic dinosaur from Jurassic Park 3, as a fierce land predator that could dethrone the Tyrannosaurus Rex, but it now turns out the timorous beastie was also part-duck and a formidable aquatic killer as well.

"If we base the ferocious factor on the length of the animal, there was nothing that ever lived on this planet that could match this creature,” paleonthologist John R. Horner said in the film.

Though Horner was a fictional character, scientists agree that a fully grown Spinosaurus could stretch to 15 meters and weigh over 20 tons – way bigger than the largest T. Rex ever discovered.

Now, new evidence gathered in the Moroccan Sahara and published on the Science Express website suggests the ferocious creature actually roamed prehistoric rivers as well, more so than land. The place used to be a large river system.

The fossils point to a primarily aquatic existence and reveal Spinosaurus to be the first of its kind to adopt a semi-aquatic lifestyle. It was almost certainly predatory toward sharks and other large fish, and when it swam, all you could see was the large fin on its back.



“The animal we are resurrecting today is so bizarre, it’s going to force dinosaur experts to rethink many things they thought they knew about dinosaurs,” said Nizar Ibrahim, a real-life paleoanthologist at Chicago University. Although theories about this type of lifestyle for Spinosaurus have existed for some time now, the chemical signature on its teeth pointed to a marine diet, Chinese scientists discovered.

The new research is, however, more conclusive. The Spinosaurus, it turns out, is the only known dinosaur to show the following adaptations to living and hunting underwater:

- small nostrils and a crocodile-like snout and skull, to allow for breathing underwater;

- flat claws, which hint at webbed feet, ideal for paddling, the way a goose might;

- peculiar teeth for a land predator, shaped more for biting into softer prey, such as sharks and other large fish;

- an elongated neck and trunk, that allowed the creature to shift its center of mass forward (thus making walking on land much more difficult than swimming); and

- a small pelvis and short hind legs, resembling the earliest whales much more than similar land predators.

“Working on this animal was like studying an alien from outer space,” said Ibrahim, who led the new study. “It’s unlike any other dinosaur I have ever seen.”

It was first dug up in the early 20th century, but that at time scientists had fewer ways to fully study the 95-million-year-old creature. Then, the Munich museum where the fossils were kept was bombed during WWII.

There were other fossil hunts, and to discover the newer fossils, Ibrahim had to find another fossil hunter who got to the latest fossil first. Then the team set about creating a digital model of the entire skeleton, using CT scans and digital recreations of earlier specimens.

“We relied upon cutting-edge technology to examine, analyze and piece together a variety of fossils. 

For a project of this complexity, traditional methods wouldn’t have been nearly as accurate,” said Simone Maganuco, another member of the study team.

Scientists Claim Discovery "Confirms" Standard Solar Nuke Model

Thunderbolts Project | Sep 12, 2014

On this series Space News from the Electric Universe, we have presented numerous recent findings that challenge the underpinnings of solar physics and the nature of the sun and all stars. However, based on a new scientific study, some science media are proclaiming a confirmation of the standard solar model, which states that a thermonuclear reaction powers the sun at its core. Wal Thornhill weighs in with the Electric Universe perspective.

Source story: http://news.sciencemag.org/physics/20...

Previous Space News on solar neutrinos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxAtAp...

[...]

Kurdish ‘ghost’ oil tanker reemerges near Texas – with $100mn cargo

A still image from video taken by a U.S. Coast Guard HC-144
Ocean Sentry aircraft shows the oil tanker United Kalavyrta
(also known as the United Kalavrvta), which is carrying a
cargo of Kurdish crude oil, approaching Galveston,
Texas July 25, 2014 (Reuters / US Coast Guard)

RT | Sep 1, 2014

A “ghost ship” oil tanker carrying approximately $100 million of disputed Iraqi Kurdish crude oil has reappeared on satellite imagery near the US coast Monday, after disappearing for several days. The tanker seems not to have offloaded its oil.

According to the US Coast Guard and Reuters, the tanker, United Kalavrvta, is still 95 percent full and has not yet unloaded its cargo. The vessel was anchored Monday in the Galveston Offshore Lightering Area, close to its previously known position.

The Iraqi government has deemed this shipment of Kurdish crude oil illegal. Baghdad filed a lawsuit in the US in June, preventing any purchaser from unloading the Kurdish shipment.

When Iraq’s government initially filed the law suit, US District Judge Nancy K. Johnson ordered the seizure of the tanker’s $100 million payload, but only if the tanker entered the territorial waters of the US.

This isn’t the first time Kurdish oil tankers have switched off their electronic transponders to avoid detection – essentially making their movements impossible to track.

Approximately a week ago, a Kurdish tanker carrying crude disappeared from satellite tracking north of Egypt’s Sinai, only to reappear empty two days later near Israel.

As recently as June, Iraq’s central government made an attempt at illegalizing Kurdish oil sales but it was ultimately rejected by Iraq’s Supreme Court.

Kurds have argued that the sale of their crude is essential to their dreams of an independent Kurdistan – while the US State Department has publicly backed Baghdad’s stance.

Given the recent violence and uncertainty in Iraq, this makes for a hard decision for both the stranded tanker and its would-be US buyer.

Scientists Drastically Underestimated Amount of Fukushima Radiation Worldwide

Washington's Blog | Aug 29, 2014

Fukushima Radiation Has Spread Worldwide 

We noted 2 days after the Japanese earthquake that radiation from Fukushima could end up on the West Coast of North America. And see this.

We started tracking the radioactive cesium released by Fukushima within weeks of the accident.

In fact, U.S. nuclear authorities were extremely worried about the West Coast getting hit by Fukushima radiation … but publicly said it was safe.

We reported that Fukushima radiation spread worldwide.

And we’ve documented for years that the failure to test the potentially high levels of radiation hitting North America is a scandal.

Sadly, we were right to be worried …

The Journal Environmental Science & Technology – published by the American Chemical Society – reported last year that airborne levels of radioactive cesium were raised by 100 to 1,000 times (what scientists describe as two to three “orders of magnitude“):

Before the FDNPP accident, average 137Cs levels were typically of 1 μBq m−3 in Central Europe and lower average values (<0.3 μBq m−3) were characteristic of northern, western and southern Europe.

***

During the passage of contaminated air masses from Fukushima, airborne 137Cs levels were globally enhanced by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude.

Indeed, even hot particles and nuclear core fragments from Fukushima were found to have traveled all the way to Europe.

The French government radiation agency – IRSN – released a video of Fukushima cesium hitting the West Coast of North America.  EneNews displays a screenshot from the IRSN video, and quantifies the extreme cesium spikes:

• Cesium-137 levels in 2010: 0.000001 mBq/m³ of Cs-137 (blue writing)
  
• Cesium-137 levels in Mar. 2011: 1 to 10 mBq/m³ in Western U.S. (orange plume)
• Cs-137 levels increased 1,000,000 – 10,000,000 times after Fukushima

Levels on the West Coast were up to 500 times higher than estimated.  Cesium levels from Fukushima were higher than expected worldwide, including in the arctic region of Europe:

 Radioactive cesium bioaccumulates in large fish and animals.

The radioactive half life of cesium 137 is usually 30 years. But scientists at the Savannah River National Laboratory say that the cesium at Chernobyl will persist in the environment between 5 and 10 times longer – between 180 and 320 years.

And the Fukushima accident has pumped out some entirely new forms of radioactive materials … in “glassy spheres“, buckyballs, ball-like spheres, and bound to organic matter.  Scientists don’t really know how long these new forms will last …

Gamma-Ray Burst Shatters Old Theories

ThunderboltsProject | May 21, 2014 | Subscribe

A team of scientists studying the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst tell us that their findings will re-write scientific theories. Using the Very Large Array Telescope, the team examined the afterglow of a gamma ray burst which mainstream astronomers assume is formed by a so-called shockwave. What they observed does not match the theoretical predictions of the standard model. Wal Thornhill tells listeners how the Electric Universe paradigm would view the findings. Story: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Sho...


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Piers Corbyn on the Myth of Man-Made Global Warming | Space News

ThunderboltsProject | May 14, 2014 | Subscribe

The recent Electric Universe conference in Albuquerque New Mexico featured investigators from wide ranging disciplines, who had come to a common conclusion. The key to understanding so-called climate change is the electromagnetic connection between Earth and the Sun. One of the most powerful of these voices is Piers Corbyn, who has received international acclaim for the accuracy of his long-range forecasts. Although we hear daily of a scientific consensus to the contrary, what does Piers make of mankind's alleged role in affecting the climate on Earth?



Subscribe to Thunderbolts Update newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ETy41
Thunderbolts Project Home: http://www.thunderbolts.info
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thunderboltsp...
Picture of the Day: http://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/daily...
Electric Universe (Wal Thornhill): http://www.holoscience.com/wp/
Essential Guide to the Electric Universe: http://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/eg-co...