livescience--2020-10-09--Coronavirus outbreak: Live updates

Coronavirus outbreak: Live updates

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90-year-old woman in the UK receives first dose of Pfizer vaccine, FDA review confirms vaccine is safe and effective A 90-year-old woman (who will turn 91 next week) became the first in the world to be given Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine outside of clinical trials, according to the BBC. Margaret Keenan, who is originally from Northern Ireland, was given the vaccine at the University Hospital in Coventry, England. She received the first of 800,000 doses expected to be administered in the U.K. in the coming weeks, according to the BBC. "I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19," Keenan said, according to the BBC."It's the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year after being on my own for most of the year." "My advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it. If I can have it at 90, then you can have it too," she added. Up to four million doses of Pfizer's vaccine is expected to be given to people in the U.K. by the end of the month. Meanwhile, a 53-page Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review published Tuesday (Dec. 8) confirmed that Pfizer's vaccine is safe and effective, according to The Washington Post.
Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine starts to work just 10 days after 1st dose Pfizer's new COVID-19 vaccine starts to protect people from the novel coronavirus just 10 days after the first dose, according to new documents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The documents were released on Tuesday (Dec. 8), two days before a meeting of the FDA's vaccine advisory panel, which will vote on whether to recommend authorization of the vaccine in the U.S, Live Science reported . The FDA analyzed data from Pfizer's phase 3 clinical trial, which included some 44,000 people in the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Turkey, about half of whom received the vaccine while the other half received a placebo. Both groups received two shots, 21 days apart. About 10 days after the first dose, there was a noticeable drop-off in new COVID-19 cases in the vaccine group compared with the placebo group, indicating that even one dose provides some protection, the report said. However, scientists don't know how long the protection from a single dose will last, so it will still be important for people to receive two shots, according to The New York Times . Overall, the vaccine was 52% effective after the first dose and 95% effective after the second dose, the report said.
People with significant allergies should avoid Pfizer vaccine, UK warns The U.K.'s Regulatory Agency is advising people with a history of "significant" allergic reactions to avoid Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine, after two National Health Service members developed severe allergic reactions to it on Tuesday (Dec. 8), Live Science reported. "As is common with new vaccines the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) have advised on a precautionary basis that people with a significant history of allergic reactions do not receive this vaccination after two people with a history of significant allergic reactions responded adversely yesterday," Stephen Powis, the national medical director for England's National Health Service said in a statement on Wednesday (Dec. 9). Both workers have a history of severe allergies and carry adrenaline auto injectors (such as EpiPens) around with them, according to The Guardian. Shortly after receiving the vaccine, both NHS workers developed anaphylaxis-like symptoms, or severe allergic reactions, but have recovered after receiving treatment. The MHRA will investigate further and Pfizer and BioNTech will support their investigation, according to Reuters. "Allergic reaction occurs with quite a number of vaccines, and perhaps even more frequently with drugs. So it is not unexpected," Stephen Evans, a professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said in remarks to journalists published by Britain's Science Media Center. “What would be wise, as the MHRA have already advised, would be for anyone who has known severe allergic reaction such that they need to carry an EpiPen, to delay having a vaccination until the reason for the allergic reaction has been clarified," he said. For the general population this does not mean that they would need to be anxious about receiving the vaccination, he added. "One has to remember that even things like marmite [a quintessential British food spread] can cause unexpected severe allergic reactions.”
Canada approves Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine Canada has authorized Pfizer's new COVID-19 vaccine, with the first doses expected to be administered there as early as next week. Health Canada, the country's health regulatory agency, said in a statement on Wednesday (Dec. 9) that it had determined that the vaccine "meets the Department's stringent safety, efficacy and quality requirements for use in Canada," according to CTV News . "We expect vaccines to arrive maybe as early as Monday [Dec. 14]. It takes time to prepare the vaccine," said Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the top military general leading the vaccine rollout for the Public Health Agency of Canada, according to CTV News. The first doses could be administered by the middle of next week, he said. Canada is the third country in the world to authorize the Pfizer vaccine, following the United Kingdom and Bahrain. The country should receive up to 249,000 doses of the vaccine by the end of December, and has purchased 20 million doses total, with the option to purchase more, CTV News reported.
Daily COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. reaches record-high, surpassed 9/11 On Wednesday (Dec. 9), the U.S. recorded 3,124 new COVID-19 deaths, the highest daily death toll to date, according to CNN . In comparison, 2,977 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks. The U.S. has now recorded 280,488 deaths related to the virus, according to The COVID Tracking Project . A forecast from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts that the total death toll can increase to between 332,000 and 362,000 by January 2, according to CNN. There are currently 106,671 people hospitalized with the virus in the U.S.; 20,903 of them are currently in the ICU and 7,621 are currently on a ventilator, according to the COVID Tracking Project. On Thursday (Dec. 10), the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is set to meet to discuss an emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine.
FDA panel recommends authorization of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine A panel of experts for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended that the agency authorize Pfizer's new COVID-19 vaccine in the United States. On Thursday (Dec. 10), the panel voted 17 to 4 to recommend that the vaccine receive emergency use authorization (EUA) for people ages 16 and older, according to The New York Times . The FDA typically follows the advice of its panels, and so today's vote is an important step towards the vaccine's authorization. It is anticipated that the agency will officially authorize the vaccine on Saturday (Dec. 12), the Times reported. Several countries have already authorized Pfizer's vaccine, including Canada, the United Kingdom and Bahrain.
Vaccine approval could come this weekend, as U.S. continues to record high daily death tolls On Thursday (Dec. 10), the U.S. recorded another 2,902 COVID-19 deaths, a day after the country set a record of 3,253 deaths, according to Reuters . “Probably for the next 60 to 90 days, we’re going to have more deaths per day than we had on 9/11 or we had at Pearl Harbor,” Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Council on Foreign Relations on Thursday, according to Reuters. "The reality is the vaccine approval this week is not going to really impact that, I think, to any degree for the next 60 days." On Thursday, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee discussed, voted and recommended that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should grant an emergency use authorization for Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine has already been approved in the U.K. and in Canada, and FDA approval for use in the U.S. could come this weekend.
Australia abandons local COVID-19 vaccine after it caused false-positive HIV tests An Australian COVID-19 vaccine that had shown promising results in early trials is being abandoned after researchers found that the shot caused false-positive results on HIV tests. On Friday (Dec. 11), Australian officials said they had canceled an order for some 51 million doses of the vaccine, which was being developed by The University of Queensland and CSL Ltd., a local biotech company, according to The New York Times . In an early trial with 216 participants, the vaccine appeared to be safe and to produce a robust immune response against COVID-19, according to a statement from CSL . But some volunteers falsely tested positive for HIV, which officials feared would undermine trust in the vaccine, the Times reported. The vaccine contained small fragments of an HIV protein, which helped stabilize the vaccine. Some of the participants developed antibodies against these fragments, and these antibodies triggered false positive results on some HIV tests. It's important to note that there is no way for the vaccine to cause an HIV infection, because it contains harmless fragments of the virus.
ICU nurse in New York becomes first person in the US to receive a coronavirus vaccine outside of clinical trials New York, the worst-hit state at the start of the pandemic, just became the first to administer a coronavirus vaccine outside of clinical trials, kicking off a long, massive effort to vaccinate the American people, Live Science reported. Around 9 a.m. E.T. on Monday (Dec. 14), the very first dose of Pfizer and BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine was given to Sandra Lindsay, an intensive care nurse in Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, New York, according to The New York Times. This comes as the U.S. continues to battle a massive wave of the virus that has more than 109,000 people currently hospitalized, according to The COVID Tracking Project. Since the start of the pandemic, New York has recorded more than 780,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 35,100 deaths, according to The Times. "This vaccine is exciting because I believe this is the weapon that will end the war," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a live broadcast of the first vaccination. "It's the beginning of the last chapter of the book, but now we just have to do it."
FDA analysis confirms Moderna's vaccine is safe and effective, emergency authorization is likely to come Friday A new briefing document from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released on Tuesday (Dec. 15) confirmed that Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective, according to NPR . Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine is 94% effective and has "a favorable safety profile," according to the document. A panel of experts is set to meet on Thursday (Dec. 17) to discuss the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine and vote on whether or not the FDA should grant emergency approval to the vaccine. Last week, the same panel voted that the FDA should grant emergency approval to Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine; the authorization came a day late and the first doses were given on Monday (Dec. 15). The FDA will likely approve Moderna's vaccine for emergency use on Friday (Dec. 18), according to The New York Times .
FDA authorizes first over-the-counter COVID-19 test The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the first over-the-counter COVID-19 test, which can be done at home and does not need a prescription. The test, made by the Australia-based company Ellume, provides results in as little as 20 minutes, according to a statement from the FDA . It is a "lateral flow antigen test," meaning it works in a similar way to a home pregnancy test, by running a "liquid sample along a surface with reactive molecules," the FDA said. The test works in conjunction with a smartphone app. Users take a nasal swab and place their sample in an analyzer, which communicates to the smartphone app via Bluetooth. The results are delivered through the app, and also reported to public health authorities (based on a user's zip code) through a secure cloud connection, the company said . Ellume is ramping up production of its test, and expects to produce three million tests in January 2021, and 20 million within the first half of 2021.
A wild mink tested positive for the coronavirus, it may be the first wild animal to have a confirmed case A wild mink in Utah may be the first "free-ranging, native wild animal" confirmed to be infected with SARS-CoV-2, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Live Science reported. The mink was found near a mink farm and likely picked up the infection from the farmed mink. There's no evidence that the virus spread to other minks or wild animals; but if the virus does begin circulating in wild animals, it could pick up mutations that COVID-19 vaccines may not protect well against if it spreads back to humans, according to the report. "If it does [establish a reservoir], then we've got a long-term issue here, where this virus has the potential to be with us for millennia," Sarah Olson, associate director of the health program at the Wildlife Conservation Society, told Vox. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has screened other animal species for the virus near mink farms in Utah, Michigan and Wisconsin, but all of them have tested negative so far, according to a statement.
An FDA advisory panel will meet today to vote on whether to recommend Moderna's coronavirus vaccine for emergency approval On Thursday (Dec. 17), a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee will meet to determine whether to recommend that Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency approval, according to The New York Times . This panel, composed of independent experts, will vote on whether to recommend the vaccine after hearing from the company, FDA scientists and the public, according to The Times. Last week, the same panel of experts met to discuss Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine and voted to recommend emergency authorization; the authorization came the next day. There have now been more than 16.9 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and more than 307,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins dashboard . There are currently 113,090 people hospitalized across the country with more than 21,900 of them in the ICU and 7,778 on a ventilator, according to The COVID Tracking Project .
California becomes new epicenter of COVID-19 in U.S. California, once praised for its early pandemic response, is now the new U.S. hotspot for COVID-19 infections. The state has reported an alarming surge in cases, breaking previous records for daily cases. On Thursday (Dec. 17), the state reported some 50,000 COVID-19 infections in 24 hours, and nearly 100,000 in 48 hours, according to The Washington Post . That's more than the daily cases reported in many countries, including India, Germany and Britain, the Post reported. The state also set a record for daily deaths on Thursday, with 379 fatalities reported, up from the previous high of 293. Capacity in intensive care units has also dropped dramatically, with hospitals in Southern California reporting zero percent capacity on Thursday. "I want to be very clear: Our hospitals are under siege, and our model shows no end in sight," said Christina Ghaly, director of Los Angeles County's Department of Health Services, the Post reported.
FDA expected to authorize Moderna's vaccine on Friday The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine on Friday (Dec. 18). Once authorized, it will be the second coronavirus vaccine to get the green light from the agency in just a week, with Pfizer's vaccine gaining authorization on Dec. 11. Moderna is expected to begin shipping 5.9 million doses of its vaccine on Sunday (Dec. 20), with the first deliveries arriving Monday (Dec. 21), according to The New York Times . Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, Moderna's vaccine does not require storage in extremely cold temperatures, and states are hoping to distribute the vaccine to rural hospitals and community health centers, the Times reported.
COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the U.S. There have now been more than 17 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and more than 300,000 deaths, according to The COVID Tracking Project . There are currently 114,237 people hospitalized across the country and 21,900 people in the ICU. California is facing a massive surge in cases; the state reported 41,012 new COVID-19 cases and 300 new deaths on Thursday (Dec. 17), according to the state's COVID-19 dashboard . By comparison, at the start of November, California was reporting a seven-day average of 4,183 cases, compared to an average of 38,774 on Thursday, according to CNN . "We're experiencing an explosive and very deadly surge," Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County Public Health Director said, according to CNN. Intensive care unit beds are rapidly filling up across the state; there are only 1,234 ICU beds left available in California, according to the dashboard. Current closures across California are impacting around 98% of the state's population, according to CNN.
London and southeast England are under an emergency lockdown Following concerns of a new version of the coronavirus that might be more transmissible, London and most of southeast England are now under an emergency lockdown, according to The New York Times . Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the lockdown on Saturday (Dec. 19) citing concerns that the mutated virus — which was detected a couple of weeks ago in southeast England — may be as much as 70% more transmissible than previous versions, according to the Times. The new version of the coronavirus is detected in more than 60% of new infections in London and have also been detected in several other countries, according to the Times. But it's not yet clear if this coronavirus version is any more infectious than the last and thorough analyses will need to be conducted before conclusions are made, scientists cautioned. In South Africa, a similar version of the virus has been found in up to 90% of new cases detected since mid-November, according to The Times . It's common for viruses to mutate, and this particular coronavirus has mutated many times since the start of the pandemic. But experts told The Times that it would take years for the virus to mutate enough such that it would make the current vaccines developed to fight COVID-19 ineffective.
Biden gets Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine President-elect Joe Biden received a dose of Pfizer's new COVID-19 vaccine on Monday (Dec. 21), according to The New York Times . He received the shot on camera at the Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware. "I'm doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it's available to take the vaccine. There's nothing to worry about," Biden said.
Antarctica has its 1st COVID-19 outbreak The first COVID-19 cases have been reported in Antarctica , meaning the disease has now spread to every continent in the world. On Tuesday (Dec. 22), Chilean officials reported an outbreak of 36 COVID-19 cases at the Chilean research base General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme on the Antarctic Peninsula, according to the BBC . Of these, 26 cases were military personnel and 10 were maintenance workers, the BBC reported. All of these cases have been evacuated from Antarctica to Punta Arenas, Chile, according to The Guardian . Antarctica had been COVID-19 free up until the current outbreak. The continent has no permanent residents, but about 1,000 people, including scientists and other workers, stayed there this past winter, The Guardian reported.
Live updates will continue in 2021!


livescience--2020-10-10--What's the first species humans drove to extinction?

Sometime in the late 1600s , in the lush forests of Mauritius , the very last dodo took its last breath .
After centuries of untroubled ferreting in the tropical undergrowth , this species met its untimely end at the hands of humans , who had arrived on the island less than 100 years before .
With their penchant for hunting , habitat destruction and the release of invasive species , humans undid millions of years of evolution , and swiftly removed this bird from the face of the Earth .
Since then , the dodo has nestled itself in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of human-driven extinction .
We 've also used the dodo to assuage our own guilt : the creature was fat , lazy and unintelligent — and as popular story goes , those traits sealed its inevitable fate .
But in fact , we could n't be more wrong , said Julian Hume , a paleontologist and research associate with the National History Museum in the United Kingdom .
He studies the fossils of extinct species , and has devoted a portion of his career to correcting the dodo 's dismal reputation .
By @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s skeleton , he 's produced a that draws an altogether different picture of a bird that was faster , more athletic and than popular culture has led us to believe .
`` It was nothing like this big , fat , bulgy thing that was just waddling around .
This bird was super adapted to the environment of Mauritius , '' Hume told Live Science .
Instead , humans ' unrelenting exploitation was the real culprit behind the dodo 's untimely death .
Related : What could drive humans to extinction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 've gotten wrong .
Despite the commonly held belief , the dodo actually was n't the first creature that humans drove to extinction — not by a long shot .
In fact , humanity was wiping out the world 's fauna thousands of years before we set eyes on the dodo .
`` There was certainly a lot more going on before and after that event , '' said Hume .
So , if the iconic dodo was n't the first species we drove to the brink , then which animal gets this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grown accustomed to thinking about human-driven species extinction as a relatively recent trend in our history .
Yet , researchers have found convincing palaeontological evidence that dismantles that idea .
`` The real problem started when we , as humans , started migrating , '' Hume said .
That starting point is still debated , but most recent estimates suggest that migrations that led to lasting populations of humans spread across the globe began with the movement of hominids — and other ancient human relatives , as well Homo sapiens — out of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is where the evidence gets interesting .
As humans left their ancestral homes , and over the following tens of thousands of years went on to colonize Eurasia , Oceania , North and South America , the fossil record shows a parallel uptick in the extinction in large-bodied animals — also known as megafauna — across those continents .
`` As [ hominids ] migrated out of Africa , you see this incredibly regular pattern of extinction , '' said Felisa Smith , a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University @ @ @ @ @ @ @ animals ' body sizes have changed over the course of history .
As she and her colleagues explained in a 2018 study published in the journal Science , each time our ancestors set foot in new places , fossil records show that large-bodied species — the humongous prehistoric relatives of , , antelope and other creatures — started going extinct within a few hundred to 1,000 years , at most .
Such rapid extinction timescales do n't occur at any other point in the last several million years ( not since the non-avian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 65 million years ago . )
`` The only time you see it is when humans are involved , which is really striking , '' Smith said .
Some of those early lost species would seem like fantastical beasts if they roamed Earth today .
For example , `` There was an armadillo-like thing called the glyptodon , which was the size of a Volkswagen bus , '' Smith told Live Science .
Glyptodons , many equipped with vicious-looking spiked tails , disappeared from the Americas at the end of the last ice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which is probably connected to the earlier arrival of humans there .
The number of gigantic Eurasian cave bears , several hundred pounds heavier than grizzly bears today , went into a steep decline about 40,000 years ago , around the same time that humans began to spread across their habitat .
South America was once home to lumbering giant ground sloths — and humans were also the most likely candidate in their demise , about 11,000 years ago .
Related : How often do ice ages happen ?
What made large animals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ humanity 's spread ?
Megafauna likely represented food , or a threat , to incoming humans .
What 's more , animals that had never encountered humans before were probably unwary of these strange newcomers migrating into their unspoiled lands , which might have increased their vulnerability to attack .
Unlike other smaller animals that breed more rapidly , megafauna also reproduce more slowly and so have smaller populations compared with other species , Hume explained : `` So if you take out a big section of [ a population ] they can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ numbers again . ''
It was n't just hunting that posed a threat — but also the spread of human-caused fires that would have destroyed swathes of habitat , and increasing competition from humans for food .
For instance , it 's thought that by preying heavily on the same herbivores , growing numbers of hungry humans helped drive the extinction of the short-faced bear , a gigantic South American species that once stood at over 10 feet ( 3 meters ) tall , and died out roughly 11,000 years ago .
Climate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hunting , also proved to be a lethal combination for some megafauna — most famously , mammoths , which went extinct about 10,500 years ago ( except for the dwarf woolly mammoth , which survived until about 4,000 years ago on an island off northern Russia ) .
`` If you combine climate change with a negative human impact , it 's a disaster , '' said Hume .
All of this is to say that humans have systematically wiped out the species around us from almost the beginning of our history .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world , '' said Hume .
`` We were n't very pleasant . ''
Unfortunately , we 've continued our ancestors ' legacy , with , among thousands of other species , the eradication of Madagascan hippos 1,000 years ago , the loss of moa birds in New Zealand , and the decimation of .
We are also responsible for ongoing extinctions today .
But this still has n't answered the question of what species went extinct first .
And here 's the catch : the data on human-driven extinction across the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as about 125,000 years— but that does n't mean we were n't driving animals to extinction before that in Africa , too .
In fact , there 's compelling evidence to suggest that before humans migrated out , they unleashed their hunting instincts on species there as well .
Related : When did humans discover how to use fire ?
Smith 's research has revealed that the average body size of African animals 125,000 years ago was only half that of species that were present on other continents around the world .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , so it should have had a mean body size similar to that of the Americas and Eurasia where it was roughly about 100 kilograms [ 220 lbs . ]
, '' Smith said .
`` The fact that it did n't suggests that there had already been an effect of hominids on megafauna in Africa , prior to 125,000 years ago . ''
In essence , because the rest of history tells us that humans are good at dispatching the largest creatures in an ecosystem , we can make a fairly safe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time could have been responsible for extinctions going even further back in time .
Still , there 's no way to know for sure what that 'first ' species would have been — though Smith takes a wild guess : `` It was probably some species in the elephant family .
But whether that 's palaeomastodon , or stegodon '' — the latter being a behemoth with tusks that measured 10 feet ( 3 meters ) long - `` I could n't tell you . ''
We may not have a clear answer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the more important one to ask is what humanity 's legacy of extinction can teach us about conservation , going into the future .
Past extinctions have revealed that when animals — especially megafauna — disappear , there are profound ecological consequences .
Whole landscapes are transformed in the absence of their shaping effects , with changes to vegetation and species diversity .
Smith has even showing that the decline of global megafauna in past millennia led to dips in the amount of methane they burped out — with potentially transformative consequences for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when animals disappear , whole rafts of dependent species go down with them .
The iconic dodo presents one such cautionary tale : when the birds died out , so did a that relied on dodo feces to survive .
Understanding human-driven extinctions of the past can help us figure out what the environmental consequences have been , explained Smith , and how we can limit those in the future by protecting the species that remain .
Even the dodo 's extinction provides clues that are helping us preserve ecosystems today .
Hume @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pollen spores present in the sediments around dodo , to build up a detailed picture of the lush , palm-fringed forests they once roamed .
That 's helping conservationists to rewild the island with vegetation that was once there .
`` We 're actually reconstructing the exact species of plants and trees from the environment the dodo was living in , before humans arrived , '' Hume said .
A bit of paradise was lost when we drove the dodo to extinction — not to mention the thousands of species whose demise came @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and the willingness to learn from our mistakes , some of that can be reclaimed .

A replica painting from the Cave of Altamira (Cueva de Altamir) in Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain, which has cave paintings created between 18,500 and 14,000 years ago during the Upper Palaeolithic by paleo human settlers. The earliest paintings in the cave were drawn around 35,600 years ago.
Sometime in the late 1600s, in the lush forests of Mauritius, the very last dodo took its last breath. After centuries of untroubled ferreting in the tropical undergrowth, this species met its untimely end at the hands of humans, who had arrived on the island less than 100 years before. With their penchant for hunting, habitat destruction and the release of invasive species, humans undid millions of years of evolution, and swiftly removed this bird from the face of the Earth.
Since then, the dodo has nestled itself in our conscience as the first prominent example of human-driven extinction. We've also used the dodo to assuage our own guilt: the creature was fat, lazy and unintelligent — and as popular story goes, those traits sealed its inevitable fate.
But in fact, we couldn't be more wrong, said Julian Hume, a paleontologist and research associate with the National History Museum in the United Kingdom. He studies the fossils of extinct species, and has devoted a portion of his career to correcting the dodo's dismal reputation. By digitally modelling the remains of a dodo’s skeleton, he's produced a 3D digital reconstruction that draws an altogether different picture of a bird that was faster, more athletic and far brainier than popular culture has led us to believe. "It was nothing like this big, fat, bulgy thing that was just waddling around. This bird was super adapted to the environment of Mauritius," Hume told Live Science. Instead, humans' unrelenting exploitation was the real culprit behind the dodo's untimely death.
Related: What could drive humans to extinction?
But that's not all we've gotten wrong. Despite the commonly held belief, the dodo actually wasn't the first creature that humans drove to extinction — not by a long shot. In fact, humanity was wiping out the world's fauna thousands of years before we set eyes on the dodo. "There was certainly a lot more going on before and after that event," said Hume.
So, if the iconic dodo wasn't the first species we drove to the brink, then which animal gets this disheartening title, instead?
Humans on the move
We've grown accustomed to thinking about human-driven species extinction as a relatively recent trend in our history. Yet, researchers have found convincing palaeontological evidence that dismantles that idea.
"The real problem started when we, as humans, started migrating," Hume said. That starting point is still debated, but most recent estimates suggest that migrations that led to lasting populations of humans spread across the globe began with the movement of hominids — Neanderthals and other ancient human relatives, as well Homo sapiens — out of Africa and southeast Asia, roughly 125,000 years ago . This is where the evidence gets interesting. As humans left their ancestral homes, and over the following tens of thousands of years went on to colonize Eurasia, Oceania, North and South America, the fossil record shows a parallel uptick in the extinction in large-bodied animals — also known as megafauna — across those continents.
"As [hominids] migrated out of Africa, you see this incredibly regular pattern of extinction," said Felisa Smith, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of New Mexico, who studies how animals' body sizes have changed over the course of history. As she and her colleagues explained in a 2018 study published in the journal Science, each time our ancestors set foot in new places, fossil records show that large-bodied species — the humongous prehistoric relatives of elephants , bears , antelope and other creatures — started going extinct within a few hundred to 1,000 years, at most. Such rapid extinction timescales don't occur at any other point in the last several million years (not since the non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid about 65 million years ago.) "The only time you see it is when humans are involved, which is really striking," Smith said.
A giant ground sloth (Megatherium americanum) on display at La Plata Museum (Museo de La Plata) in La Plata, Argentina. This beast went extinct at the end of the last ice age. (Image credit: Laura Geggel)
Some of those early lost species would seem like fantastical beasts if they roamed Earth today. For example, "There was an armadillo-like thing called the glyptodon, which was the size of a Volkswagen bus," Smith told Live Science. Glyptodons, many equipped with vicious-looking spiked tails, disappeared from the Americas at the end of the last ice age, roughly 12,000 years ago — which is probably connected to the earlier arrival of humans there. The number of gigantic Eurasian cave bears, several hundred pounds heavier than grizzly bears today, went into a steep decline about 40,000 years ago, around the same time that humans began to spread across their habitat. South America was once home to lumbering giant ground sloths — and humans were also the most likely candidate in their demise, about 11,000 years ago.
Related: How often do ice ages happen?
Glyptodon fossils at La Plata Museum in Argentina. (Image credit: Laura Geggel)
What made large animals, in particular, so susceptible to humanity's spread? Megafauna likely represented food, or a threat, to incoming humans. What's more, animals that had never encountered humans before were probably unwary of these strange newcomers migrating into their unspoiled lands, which might have increased their vulnerability to attack. Unlike other smaller animals that breed more rapidly, megafauna also reproduce more slowly and so have smaller populations compared with other species, Hume explained: "So if you take out a big section of [a population] they cannot reproduce quickly enough to build up numbers again."
It wasn't just hunting that posed a threat — but also the spread of human-caused fires that would have destroyed swathes of habitat, and increasing competition from humans for food. For instance, it's thought that by preying heavily on the same herbivores, growing numbers of hungry humans helped drive the extinction of the short-faced bear, a gigantic South American species that once stood at over 10 feet (3 meters) tall, and died out roughly 11,000 years ago. Climate change, paired with human impacts like hunting, also proved to be a lethal combination for some megafauna — most famously, mammoths, which went extinct about 10,500 years ago (except for the dwarf woolly mammoth, which survived until about 4,000 years ago on an island off northern Russia). "If you combine climate change with a negative human impact, it's a disaster," said Hume.
An illustration of a short-faced bear defending its territory from a saber-tooth cat during the last ice age. (Image credit: Shutterstock)
An answer?
All of this is to say that humans have systematically wiped out the species around us from almost the beginning of our history. Our migration prompted "a disaster across the world," said Hume. "We weren't very pleasant." Unfortunately, we've continued our ancestors' legacy, with, among thousands of other species, the eradication of Madagascan hippos 1,000 years ago, the loss of moa birds in New Zealand 600 years ago , and the decimation of passenger pigeons 106 years ago . We are also responsible for ongoing extinctions today.
But this still hasn't answered the question of what species went extinct first. And here's the catch: the data on human-driven extinction across the planet is only reliable as far back as about 125,000 years— but that doesn't mean we weren't driving animals to extinction before that in Africa, too. In fact, there's compelling evidence to suggest that before humans migrated out, they unleashed their hunting instincts on species there as well.
Related: When did humans discover how to use fire?
Smith's research has revealed that the average body size of African animals 125,000 years ago was only half that of species that were present on other continents around the world. "Africa is one of the largest continents, so it should have had a mean body size similar to that of the Americas and Eurasia where it was roughly about 100 kilograms [220 lbs.]," Smith said. "The fact that it didn't suggests that there had already been an effect of hominids on megafauna in Africa, prior to 125,000 years ago."
In essence, because the rest of history tells us that humans are good at dispatching the largest creatures in an ecosystem, we can make a fairly safe assumption that hominids in Africa at the time could have been responsible for extinctions going even further back in time.
Still, there's no way to know for sure what that 'first' species would have been — though Smith takes a wild guess: "It was probably some species in the elephant family. But whether that's palaeomastodon, or stegodon" — the latter being a behemoth with tusks that measured 10 feet (3 meters) long - "I couldn't tell you."
Clues for the future
We may not have a clear answer to that original question - but perhaps the more important one to ask is what humanity's legacy of extinction can teach us about conservation, going into the future.
Past extinctions have revealed that when animals — especially megafauna — disappear, there are profound ecological consequences. Whole landscapes are transformed in the absence of their shaping effects, with changes to vegetation and species diversity. Smith has even published research showing that the decline of global megafauna in past millennia led to dips in the amount of methane they burped out — with potentially transformative consequences for global climate. What's more, when animals disappear, whole rafts of dependent species go down with them. The iconic dodo presents one such cautionary tale: when the birds died out, so did a Mauritian dung beetle that relied on dodo feces to survive.
Understanding human-driven extinctions of the past can help us figure out what the environmental consequences have been, explained Smith, and how we can limit those in the future by protecting the species that remain. Even the dodo's extinction provides clues that are helping us preserve ecosystems today. Hume is working on a project to catalog pollen spores present in the sediments around dodo fossils , to build up a detailed picture of the lush, palm-fringed forests they once roamed. That's helping conservationists to rewild the island with vegetation that was once there. "We're actually reconstructing the exact species of plants and trees from the environment the dodo was living in, before humans arrived," Hume said.
A bit of paradise was lost when we drove the dodo to extinction — not to mention the thousands of species whose demise came before that. But perhaps with hindsight, and the willingness to learn from our mistakes, some of that can be reclaimed.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-10-10--More humans are growing an extra blood vessel in our arm that 'feeds' our hands, study shows

Picturing how our species might appear in the far future often invites wild speculation over stand-out features such as height , brain size , and skin complexion .
Yet subtle shifts in our anatomy today demonstrate how unpredictable evolution can be .
Take something as mundane as an extra blood vessel in our arms , which going by current trends could be common place within just a few generations .
Researchers from Flinders University and the University of Adelaide in Australia have noticed an artery that temporarily runs down the center of our forearms while we 're still in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it used to .
That means there are more adults than ever running around with what amounts to be an extra channel of vascular tissue flowing under their wrist .
`` Since the 18th century , anatomists have been studying the prevalence of this artery in adults , and our study shows it 's clearly increasing , '' says Flinders University anatomist Teghan Lucas .
`` The prevalence was around 10 percent in people born in the mid-1880s compared to 30 percent in those born in the late 20th century , so that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ short period of time , when it comes to evolution . ''
The median artery forms fairly early in development in all humans , transporting blood down the center of our arms to feed our growing hands .
At around 8 weeks , it usually regresses , leaving the task to two other vessels – the radial ( which we can feel when we take a person 's pulse ) and the ulnar arteries .
Anatomists have known for some time that this withering away of the median artery is n't a guarantee @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around for another month or so .
Sometimes we 're born with it still pumping away , feeding either just the forearm , or in some cases the hand as well .
To compare the prevalence of this persistent blood channel , Lucas and colleagues Maciej Henneberg and Jaliya Kumaratilake from the University of Adelaide examined 80 limbs from cadavers , all donated by Australians of European descent .
The donors raged from 51 to 101 on passing , which means they were nearly all born in the first half of the 20th @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found a chunky median artery capable of carrying a good supply of blood , they compared the figures with records dug out of a literature search , taking into account tallies that could over-represent the vessel 's appearance .
The fact the artery seems to be three times as common in adults today as it was more than a century ago is a startling find that suggests natural selection is favoring those who hold onto this extra bit of bloody supply .
`` This increase could have resulted from mutations of genes involved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in mothers during pregnancy , or both actually , '' says Lucas .
We might imagine having a persistent median artery could give dextrous fingers or strong forearms a dependable boost of blood long after we 're born .
Yet having one also puts us at a greater risk of carpal tunnel syndrome , an uncomfortable condition that makes us less able to use our hands .
Nailing down the kinds of factors that play a major role in the processes selecting for a persistent median artery will require a lot more sleuthing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's likely we 'll continue to see more of these vessels in coming years .
`` If this trend continues , a majority of people will have median artery of the forearm by 2100 , '' says Lucas .
This rapid rise of the median artery in adults is n't unlike the reappearance of a knee bone called the fabella , which is also three times more common today than it was a century ago .
As small as these differences are , tiny microevolutionary changes add up to large-scale variations that come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ create new pressures themselves , putting us on new paths of health and disease that right now we might find hard to imagine today .
This research was published in the Journal of Anatomy .
This article was originally published by ScienceAlert .
Read the original article here .

Picturing how our species might appear in the far future often invites wild speculation over stand-out features such as height, brain size, and skin complexion. Yet subtle shifts in our anatomy today demonstrate how unpredictable evolution can be.
Take something as mundane as an extra blood vessel in our arms, which going by current trends could be common place within just a few generations.
Researchers from Flinders University and the University of Adelaide in Australia have noticed an artery that temporarily runs down the center of our forearms while we're still in the womb isn't vanishing as often as it used to.
That means there are more adults than ever running around with what amounts to be an extra channel of vascular tissue flowing under their wrist.
"Since the 18th century, anatomists have been studying the prevalence of this artery in adults, and our study shows it's clearly increasing," says Flinders University anatomist Teghan Lucas.
"The prevalence was around 10 percent in people born in the mid-1880s compared to 30 percent in those born in the late 20th century, so that's a significant increase in a fairly short period of time, when it comes to evolution."
The median artery forms fairly early in development in all humans, transporting blood down the center of our arms to feed our growing hands.
Here, the major arteries in the forearm, including the median artery in the center. (Image credit: ilbusca via Getty Images)
At around 8 weeks, it usually regresses, leaving the task to two other vessels – the radial (which we can feel when we take a person's pulse) and the ulnar arteries.
Anatomists have known for some time that this withering away of the median artery isn't a guarantee. In some cases, it hangs around for another month or so.
Sometimes we're born with it still pumping away, feeding either just the forearm, or in some cases the hand as well.
To compare the prevalence of this persistent blood channel, Lucas and colleagues Maciej Henneberg and Jaliya Kumaratilake from the University of Adelaide examined 80 limbs from cadavers, all donated by Australians of European descent.
The donors raged from 51 to 101 on passing, which means they were nearly all born in the first half of the 20th century.
Noting down how often they found a chunky median artery capable of carrying a good supply of blood, they compared the figures with records dug out of a literature search, taking into account tallies that could over-represent the vessel's appearance.
The fact the artery seems to be three times as common in adults today as it was more than a century ago is a startling find that suggests natural selection is favoring those who hold onto this extra bit of bloody supply.
"This increase could have resulted from mutations of genes involved in median artery development or health problems in mothers during pregnancy, or both actually," says Lucas.
We might imagine having a persistent median artery could give dextrous fingers or strong forearms a dependable boost of blood long after we're born. Yet having one also puts us at a greater risk of carpal tunnel syndrome, an uncomfortable condition that makes us less able to use our hands.
Nailing down the kinds of factors that play a major role in the processes selecting for a persistent median artery will require a lot more sleuthing.
Whatever they might be, it's likely we'll continue to see more of these vessels in coming years.
"If this trend continues, a majority of people will have median artery of the forearm by 2100," says Lucas.
This rapid rise of the median artery in adults isn't unlike the reappearance of a knee bone called the fabella, which is also three times more common today than it was a century ago.
As small as these differences are, tiny microevolutionary changes add up to large-scale variations that come to define a species.
Together they create new pressures themselves, putting us on new paths of health and disease that right now we might find hard to imagine today.
This research was published in the Journal of Anatomy.
This article was originally published by ScienceAlert. Read the original article here.


livescience--2020-10-11--How many organs are in the human body?

How many organs are in the human body?

Since ancient times , humankind has sought to understand the guts inside us .
handled human organs as they removed them for embalming .
Medical manuscripts found in an ancient Chinese tomb may be the about the human body .
Thousands of years later , do we know how many organs are in the human body ?
Organs are collections of tissues that work together for a common goal , explained Lisa M.J. Lee , an associate professor in the Department of Cell & Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine .
`` Every organ provides a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' she told Live Science .
But not every organ is necessary for survival .
Only five organs — the , heart , , at least one kidney , and at least one are absolutely essential for living .
Losing total function of any one of these vital organs spells death .
Remarkably , the human body can survive without a lot of other organs , or by replacing a non-functioning organ with a medical device .
Related : Why do we have an appendix ?
As for counting organs in the human @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ask and how you count , Lee said .
Although no one knows where the number originates , the general count is 78 organs , she said .
This list includes the vital organs : the tongue , , thyroid , , , plus many other single or pairs of organs .
Bones and are each counted only once .
Among anatomists , viewpoints differ on what counts as an organ .
A histologist like Lee , who studies tissue at the microscopic level , may have a longer list of organs than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's visible to the unaided eye .
For example , scientists made headlines in 2017 for labeling the , which attaches the intestines to the abdominal wall , as an organ .
Even though the scientists provided new evidence to call it an organ , it was not controversial , as many histologists and anatomists agreed , Lee explained .
But there 's no group charged with keeping an official count of the organs or deciding what qualifies as an organ .
Thinking microscopically , when multiple types of tissues join together and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organ , she said .
Lee could call a nail , or structures that support the nail , an organ , and count each tooth as an individual organ .
`` I would consider each bone an organ , and all 206 bones collectively together , is considered an organ system . ''
Because bones are already listed once on the list of 78 , to get a tally of the total number of organs using this definition , just add 205 , for a total of 284 organs .
Counting each tooth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Many other organs are listed only once , even though there are many of them throughout the body .
For instance , ligaments and tendons could dramatically increase the total number of organs when counted individually .
This game is endless .
The list of 78 counts the nerves just once , but there are trillions of them .
Exhausted ?
Lee often tells her medical and graduate school students to be OK with this type of ambiguity .
However you count them , you should take care of the organs you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ More and more , I 'm finding out how important it is that you put the right stuff in your body to feed your cells , your tissues and your organs , '' Lee said .
After all , the body only has so many performers at its organ recital .

Since ancient times, humankind has sought to understand the guts inside us. Ancient Egyptians handled human organs as they removed them for embalming. Medical manuscripts found in an ancient Chinese tomb may be the earliest-known anatomical writing about the human body. Thousands of years later, do we know how many organs are in the human body?
Organs are collections of tissues that work together for a common goal, explained Lisa M.J. Lee, an associate professor in the Department of Cell & Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "Every organ provides a function for human performance or survival," she told Live Science.
But not every organ is necessary for survival. Only five organs — the brain , heart, liver , at least one kidney, and at least one lung are absolutely essential for living. Losing total function of any one of these vital organs spells death. Remarkably, the human body can survive without a lot of other organs, or by replacing a non-functioning organ with a medical device.
Related: Why do we have an appendix?
As for counting organs in the human body, it depends on whom you ask and how you count, Lee said. Although no one knows where the number originates, the general count is 78 organs, she said. This list includes the vital organs: the tongue, stomach , thyroid, urethra , pancreas , plus many other single or pairs of organs. Bones and teeth are each counted only once.
Among anatomists, viewpoints differ on what counts as an organ. A histologist like Lee, who studies tissue at the microscopic level, may have a longer list of organs than a gross anatomist, who studies what's visible to the unaided eye. For example, scientists made headlines in 2017 for labeling the mesentery , which attaches the intestines to the abdominal wall, as an organ. Even though the scientists provided new evidence to call it an organ, it was not controversial, as many histologists and anatomists agreed, Lee explained. But there's no group charged with keeping an official count of the organs or deciding what qualifies as an organ.
Thinking microscopically, when multiple types of tissues join together and function together, the unit is an organ, she said. Lee could call a nail, or structures that support the nail, an organ, and count each tooth as an individual organ. "I would consider each bone an organ, and all 206 bones collectively together, is considered an organ system." Because bones are already listed once on the list of 78, to get a tally of the total number of organs using this definition, just add 205, for a total of 284 organs.
Counting each tooth separately brings the list to 315 organs. Many other organs are listed only once, even though there are many of them throughout the body. For instance, ligaments and tendons could dramatically increase the total number of organs when counted individually. This game is endless. The list of 78 counts the nerves just once, but there are trillions of them.
Exhausted? Lee often tells her medical and graduate school students to be OK with this type of ambiguity. However you count them, you should take care of the organs you do have, she added. "More and more, I'm finding out how important it is that you put the right stuff in your body to feed your cells, your tissues and your organs," Lee said. After all, the body only has so many performers at its organ recital.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-10-12--Pipsqueak animals show off Marvel-like superpowers in 'Tiny World' docuseries

Nature documentaries showcase the most exciting moments of daily life in the natural world , and a new series reveals that survival for some of the tiniest creatures can be as harrowing , suspenseful and dramatic as it is for big animals .
Apple TV+ 's `` `` introduces a fresh look at how the world looks when glimpsed from the point of view of its smallest wildlife inhabitants , such as minuscule scampering lizards ; wee flyers like , dragonflies and hummingbirds ; and rainforest primates that are so small they 're dwarfed by a katydid .
The series @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who embraced the power of the very small when he played the title character in the movie `` Ant-Man '' ( Marvel Studios , 2015 ) , acquiring superpowers that stemmed from the capabilities — and size — of an ant .
Related : Photos of the world 's smallest ( and cutest ) owl Appreciating the abilities and lifestyles of small , often-overlooked animals is a matter of perspective .
For the filmmakers , that meant they needed to record scenes of nature as they appear to creatures that we typically tower @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pipsqueaks is as `` extraordinary , epic and magical '' as it is for charismatic big animals , said `` Tiny World '' executive producer Tom Hugh-Jones .
`` I want people to watch the show and come away with a new kind of respect and awe for animals they do n't know so much about .
And , hopefully , realize how important it is to protect these animals , '' Hugh-Jones told Live Science .
The show 's animal superstars represent a diverse collection of life at a smaller scale , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fish called gobies that `` climb '' waterfalls , power-punching and web-slinging , multi-legged invertebrates known as velvet worms .
`` What was really key was to get down onto their level and experience the world from their point of view , '' Hugh-Jones said .
To do that , camera crews brought a range of lightweight but highly specialized gear to more than a dozen locations around the world , from remote forest sites in Madagascar to Appalachian woodlands in the U.S. ; from the Pacific Ocean 's coral reefs to ponds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the Australian Outback .
They used lenses from scientific instruments and mounted equipment on motion-controlled robotic arms that provided extra stabilization for shooting at the macro level .
Drone pilots assisted with navigating flying cameras through forests to capture footage of animals as they zipped around tremendous obstacles — tremendous to them , at least — such as twigs and leaves .
Seen in this way , the everyday abilities of tiny animals — many of which are small enough to sit comfortably on your fingertip — rival those of superheroes from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` They have to go up against incredible forces to survive against giant animal predators , and in order to do that , they 've evolved all these amazing superpowers — whether it 's geckos that shoot goo from their tails or mantis shrimps that can punch with the power of a .22 caliber bullet , '' he said .
`` They really are like a cast of Marvel characters . ''
The first six episodes of `` Tiny World '' are available to stream on .

The pygmy marmoset (Cebuella pygmaea) lives in the rainforests of the Western Amazon Basin. It measures about 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters) long and weighs about 4 ounces (99 grams), and is one of the smallest primates in the world. (Image credit: Courtesy of Apple TV+)
Nature documentaries showcase the most exciting moments of daily life in the natural world, and a new series reveals that survival for some of the tiniest creatures can be as harrowing, suspenseful and dramatic as it is for big animals.
Apple TV+'s " Tiny World " explores how the world looks when glimpsed from the point of view of its smallest wildlife inhabitants, such as minuscule scampering lizards; wee flyers like bees , dragonflies and hummingbirds; and rainforest primates that are so small they're dwarfed by a katydid.
The series is narrated by actor Paul Rudd, who embraced the power of the very small when he played the title character in the movie "Ant-Man" (Marvel Studios, 2015), acquiring superpowers that stemmed from the capabilities — and size — of an ant.
Related: Photos of the world's smallest (and cutest) owl
Appreciating the abilities and lifestyles of small, often-overlooked animals is a matter of perspective. For the filmmakers, that meant they needed to record scenes of nature as they appear to creatures that we typically tower above, demonstrating that life for these pipsqueaks is as "extraordinary, epic and magical" as it is for charismatic big animals, said "Tiny World" executive producer Tom Hugh-Jones.
"I want people to watch the show and come away with a new kind of respect and awe for animals they don't know so much about. And, hopefully, realize how important it is to protect these animals," Hugh-Jones told Live Science.
The show's animal superstars represent a diverse collection of life at a smaller scale, including brilliantly colored dancing peacock spiders , wee bony fish called gobies that "climb" waterfalls, power-punching mantis shrimp and web-slinging, multi-legged invertebrates known as velvet worms.
"What was really key was to get down onto their level and experience the world from their point of view," Hugh-Jones said.
To do that, camera crews brought a range of lightweight but highly specialized gear to more than a dozen locations around the world, from remote forest sites in Madagascar to Appalachian woodlands in the U.S.; from the Pacific Ocean's coral reefs to ponds in Canada; and from Namibian deserts to the Australian Outback.
Brightly-colored strawberry poison-dart frogs (Oophaga pumilio) are found in Central America. They measure about 0.6 to 0.9 inches (17 to 24 millimeters) in length and weigh less than an ounce. (Image credit: Courtesy of Apple TV+)
They used lenses from scientific instruments and mounted equipment on motion-controlled robotic arms that provided extra stabilization for shooting at the macro level. Drone pilots assisted with navigating flying cameras through forests to capture footage of animals as they zipped around tremendous obstacles — tremendous to them, at least — such as twigs and leaves.
Seen in this way, the everyday abilities of tiny animals — many of which are small enough to sit comfortably on your fingertip — rival those of superheroes from films and comics, Hugh-Jones said.
"They have to go up against incredible forces to survive against giant animal predators, and in order to do that, they've evolved all these amazing superpowers — whether it's geckos that shoot goo from their tails or mantis shrimps that can punch with the power of a .22 caliber bullet," he said. "They really are like a cast of Marvel characters."
The first six episodes of "Tiny World" are available to stream on Apple TV+ .
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-10-12--Female moles grow testicles to fight through their brutal underground existence

If any animal understands the horrors of trench warfare , it has to be the mole .
Faced with an enemy , there 's no time for pleasantries .
No place to hide .
Aggression is all that matters .
To help them fight in this brutal world , evolution has granted the female mole a generous dose of 'roid rage ' by tacking some testicles onto her ovaries – resulting in a unique bit of anatomy called an ovotestis .
Now , researchers have a better understanding of how this fascinating biological change came about .
`` The sexual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we have a reasonably good idea on how this process takes place , '' says geneticist Darío Lupiáñez from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics .
`` At a certain point , sexual development usually progresses in one direction or another , male or female .
We wanted to know how evolution modulates this sequence of developmental events , enabling the intersexual features that we see in moles . ''
Just like a more typical mammalian ovary , ovotestes nurture and release eggs for fertilization .
They also happen to have a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ side .
While it 's not capable of making sperm cells , it does have what are known as Leydig cells for churning out a masculine-sized serving of androgens , or male sex hormones .
Usually the development of testicular tissue in mammals relies on the presence of a gene on the Y chromosome to ramp up testosterone production early in development .
Lacking a Y chromosome makes it a lot harder for an embryo to kick off the chain of events that produce testes .
So just how it happens in female @ @ @ @ @ @ @ instead of an X and Y , has long been a mystery .
An in-depth analysis of their genomes now reveals just how this quirk of nature came about in the first place .
`` We hypothesized that in moles , there are not only changes in the genes themselves , but particularly in the regulatory regions belonging to these genes , '' says geneticist Stefan Mundlos from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics .
To test this , Mundlos and his colleagues pulled out all of the stops to map out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Talpa occidentalis ) underwent to modify their ovaries into testosterone factories .
We 're talking not just mapping the gene activity in different regions of their sex organs , but a recording of the epigenetic edits to their DNA and an examination of datasets describing how entire mole chromosomes have changed structurally .
They compared their results with genomes in other animals , as well as specific genetic changes found in the American star-nosed mole ( Condylura cristata ) ; another critter with ovotestes .
The result is a better understanding of how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around over time in order to deliver a perfectly timed dose of regulatory growth factors .
Specifically they found a region involved with testicular development is flipped , adding extra code to a region that activates the pro-testicular growth factor gene FGF9 .
They also found two extra copies of a gene that controls for androgen synthesis '' The triplication appends additional regulatory sequences to the gene – which ultimately leads to an increased production of male sex hormones in the ovotestes of female moles , especially more testosterone , '' says lead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Institute for Medical Genetics and Human Genetics in Germany .
Testing out these changes in transgenic mice resulted in females with similar amounts of androgens as the males , supporting the researchers ' hypothesis of large scale genomic changes being responsible for the testosterone surge .
`` Our findings are a good example of how important the three-dimensional organization of the genome is for evolution , '' says Lupiáñez .
`` Nature makes use of the existing toolbox of developmental genes and merely rearranges them to create a characteristic such as intersexuality .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and development are not affected . ''
To the female mole , the evolution of intersex has been a winning formula for survival .
Far from being aberrations , the blurring of lines throughout the animal kingdom is a constant reminder that Mother Nature simply does n't give a hoot about clear boundaries between male and female .
This research was published in Science .
This article was originally published by ScienceAlert .
Read the original article here .

Shown here, a mole called Talpa europaea, which is in the same genus as the Iberian mole (Talpa occidentalis).
If any animal understands the horrors of trench warfare, it has to be the mole. Faced with an enemy, there's no time for pleasantries. No place to hide. Aggression is all that matters.
To help them fight in this brutal world, evolution has granted the female mole a generous dose of 'roid rage' by tacking some testicles onto her ovaries – resulting in a unique bit of anatomy called an ovotestis.
Now, researchers have a better understanding of how this fascinating biological change came about.
"The sexual development of mammals is complex, although we have a reasonably good idea on how this process takes place," says geneticist Darío Lupiáñez from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics.
"At a certain point, sexual development usually progresses in one direction or another, male or female. We wanted to know how evolution modulates this sequence of developmental events, enabling the intersexual features that we see in moles."
Just like a more typical mammalian ovary, ovotestes nurture and release eggs for fertilization. They also happen to have a lump of testicular tissue stuck to one side.
While it's not capable of making sperm cells, it does have what are known as Leydig cells for churning out a masculine-sized serving of androgens, or male sex hormones.
Usually the development of testicular tissue in mammals relies on the presence of a gene on the Y chromosome to ramp up testosterone production early in development.
Lacking a Y chromosome makes it a lot harder for an embryo to kick off the chain of events that produce testes. So just how it happens in female moles, which have two X chromosomes instead of an X and Y, has long been a mystery.
An in-depth analysis of their genomes now reveals just how this quirk of nature came about in the first place.
"We hypothesized that in moles, there are not only changes in the genes themselves, but particularly in the regulatory regions belonging to these genes," says geneticist Stefan Mundlos from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics.
To test this, Mundlos and his colleagues pulled out all of the stops to map out the chromosomal remodeling the Iberian mole (Talpa occidentalis) underwent to modify their ovaries into testosterone factories.
We're talking not just mapping the gene activity in different regions of their sex organs, but a recording of the epigenetic edits to their DNA and an examination of datasets describing how entire mole chromosomes have changed structurally.
They compared their results with genomes in other animals, as well as specific genetic changes found in the American star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata); another critter with ovotestes.
The result is a better understanding of how the mole's genome has been shuffled around over time in order to deliver a perfectly timed dose of regulatory growth factors.
Specifically they found a region involved with testicular development is flipped, adding extra code to a region that activates the pro-testicular growth factor gene FGF9.
They also found two extra copies of a gene that controls for androgen synthesis
"The triplication appends additional regulatory sequences to the gene – which ultimately leads to an increased production of male sex hormones in the ovotestes of female moles, especially more testosterone," says lead author, Francisca Martinez Real from the Institute for Medical Genetics and Human Genetics in Germany.
Testing out these changes in transgenic mice resulted in females with similar amounts of androgens as the males, supporting the researchers' hypothesis of large scale genomic changes being responsible for the testosterone surge.
"Our findings are a good example of how important the three-dimensional organization of the genome is for evolution," says Lupiáñez.
"Nature makes use of the existing toolbox of developmental genes and merely rearranges them to create a characteristic such as intersexuality. In the process, other organ systems and development are not affected."
To the female mole, the evolution of intersex has been a winning formula for survival.
Far from being aberrations, the blurring of lines throughout the animal kingdom is a constant reminder that Mother Nature simply doesn't give a hoot about clear boundaries between male and female.
This research was published in Science.
This article was originally published by ScienceAlert. Read the original article here.


livescience--2020-10-12--Pandemic will cause 400,000 extra deaths in the US this year, study suggests

A staggering 400,000-plus excess deaths may occur in the U.S. by the end of the year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic , a new study suggests .
That estimate includes people who died from COVID-19 , as well as those who died because of disruptions caused by the pandemic .
In the study , published Monday ( Oct. 12 ) in the journal , researchers analyzed data on overall U.S. deaths over a 5-month period in 2020 .
The authors used this data to estimate excess deaths , that is , the number of deaths beyond what would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The researchers found that from March 1 through Aug. 1 , there was a 20 % increase in U.S. deaths beyond what was expected , representing 225,530 excess deaths .
Of these , two-thirds were directly attributed to COVID-19 , while the rest were due to other conditions .
Some of these non-COVID-19 deaths may have in fact been due to COVID-19 infections that went unrecognized , while others may have been related to disruptions from the pandemic , according to the study , led by Dr. Steven Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some deaths may have occurred among those who postponed going to the doctor due to fear of being infected with COVID-19 .
Interestingly , the authors found a significant increase in deaths due to during the spring surge of COVID-19 cases .
Based on this study , showing more than 225,000 excess deaths over a 5-month period , the total number of excess deaths for 2020 — compared with previous years — is likely to be greater than 400,000 , Dr. Howard Bauchner , editor-in-chief of JAMA , and Dr. Phil Fontanarosa , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an editorial accompanying the study .
( This estimate assumes that a similar number of excess deaths will occur over the period from August through December as occurred from March through August . )
`` These deaths reflect a true measure of the human cost of the Great Pandemic of 2020 , '' the editorial said .
They `` far exceed the number of U.S. deaths from some armed conflicts , such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War … and approach the number of deaths from World War II . ''
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to have died in WWII , according to the editorial . )
The findings from Woolf and colleagues further confirm that official tallies of U.S. COVID-19 deaths are underestimates .
Indeed , according to data from Johns Hopkins University , the U.S. , but the new study found that excess deaths surpassed this level more than a month earlier .
The COVID-19 tragedy has far-reaching ramifications , particularly for mental health .
`` The effect of COVID-19 deaths on mental health will be profound , '' Dr. Naomi Simon , director of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ NYU Grossman School of Medicine , and colleagues wrote in a `` `` article accompanying the study .
The viewpoint notes that `` each COVID-19 death leaves an estimated 9 family members bereaved , '' translating to millions of bereaved individuals in the country .
In addition , `` the stress and social disruption caused by the pandemic has heightened globally , and is adversely affecting many individuals with preexisting psychiatric disorders and substance use disorders , '' they wrote .
The viewpoint authors say the first wave of COVID-19 deaths and disruptions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of mental health effects .
The authors call for increased screening to identify people at high risk of developing mental health conditions , as well as increased training to health professionals to treat people with prolonged grief , , traumatic stress and substance abuse .
A second article , by Dr. Lisa Cooper , of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine , and David Williams , of the Harvard T.H .
Chan School of Public Health , underscores the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on communities of color .
In mid-August , the hospitalization @ @ @ @ @ @ @ higher among Black Americans , and the death rate two times higher , than those for white populations , according to the .
Cooper and Williams call for a `` restorative justice '' plan that `` recognizes the sacrifices and contributions these communities have made for and to the US . ''
The multifaceted plan would include societal investments in affordable housing and healthy neighborhood environments , universal access to health care , and much more , the viewpoint said .
`` The COVID-19 pandemic has further compounded health , social and economic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cooper and Williams wrote .
`` The effects of 2020 will be felt for years to come ; however , critical steps can be taken to interrupt the course and reduce further harm . ''

A staggering 400,000-plus excess deaths may occur in the U.S. by the end of the year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study suggests. That estimate includes people who died from COVID-19, as well as those who died because of disruptions caused by the pandemic.
In the study, published Monday (Oct. 12) in the journal JAMA , researchers analyzed data on overall U.S. deaths over a 5-month period in 2020. The authors used this data to estimate excess deaths, that is, the number of deaths beyond what would be expected based on historical trends.
The researchers found that from March 1 through Aug. 1, there was a 20% increase in U.S. deaths beyond what was expected, representing 225,530 excess deaths. Of these, two-thirds were directly attributed to COVID-19, while the rest were due to other conditions. Some of these non-COVID-19 deaths may have in fact been due to COVID-19 infections that went unrecognized, while others may have been related to disruptions from the pandemic, according to the study, led by Dr. Steven Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.
For example, some deaths may have occurred among those who postponed going to the doctor due to fear of being infected with COVID-19. Interestingly, the authors found a significant increase in deaths due to heart disease during the spring surge of COVID-19 cases.
Based on this study, showing more than 225,000 excess deaths over a 5-month period, the total number of excess deaths for 2020 — compared with previous years — is likely to be greater than 400,000, Dr. Howard Bauchner, editor-in-chief of JAMA, and Dr. Phil Fontanarosa, executive editor of JAMA, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study. (This estimate assumes that a similar number of excess deaths will occur over the period from August through December as occurred from March through August.)
"These deaths reflect a true measure of the human cost of the Great Pandemic of 2020," the editorial said. They "far exceed the number of U.S. deaths from some armed conflicts, such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War … and approach the number of deaths from World War II." (More than 405,000 Americans are estimated to have died in WWII, according to the editorial.)
The findings from Woolf and colleagues further confirm that official tallies of U.S. COVID-19 deaths are underestimates. Indeed, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. surpassed 200,000 COVID-19 deaths on Sept. 22 , but the new study found that excess deaths surpassed this level more than a month earlier.
Far-reaching effects
The COVID-19 tragedy has far-reaching ramifications, particularly for mental health. "The effect of COVID-19 deaths on mental health will be profound," Dr. Naomi Simon, director of the Anxiety and Complicated Grief Disorders program at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote in a " viewpoint " article accompanying the study. The viewpoint notes that "each COVID-19 death leaves an estimated 9 family members bereaved," translating to millions of bereaved individuals in the country. In addition, "the stress and social disruption caused by the pandemic has heightened depression and anxiety globally, and is adversely affecting many individuals with preexisting psychiatric disorders and substance use disorders," they wrote.
The viewpoint authors say the first wave of COVID-19 deaths and disruptions will bring a "second wave" of mental health effects. The authors call for increased screening to identify people at high risk of developing mental health conditions, as well as increased training to health professionals to treat people with prolonged grief, depression , traumatic stress and substance abuse.
A second viewpoint article, by Dr. Lisa Cooper, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and David Williams, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, underscores the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on communities of color. In mid-August, the hospitalization rate for COVID-19 was nearly five times higher among Black Americans, and the death rate two times higher, than those for white populations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Cooper and Williams call for a "restorative justice" plan that "recognizes the sacrifices and contributions these communities have made for and to the US." The multifaceted plan would include societal investments in affordable housing and healthy neighborhood environments, universal access to health care, and much more, the viewpoint said.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has further compounded health, social and economic disparities in communities of color," Cooper and Williams wrote. "The effects of 2020 will be felt for years to come; however, critical steps can be taken to interrupt the course and reduce further harm."
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-10-12--Drone warns surfer of very close encounter with 5-foot shark in Australia

A drone camera caught a close encounter between a surfer and a white shark off the coast of New South Wales , Australia , last week .
The surfer and the seemed mutually spooked by their brush with each other — though in the surfer 's case , the shock came after he swam ashore and saw the drone footage .
He would have otherwise never known that a 4.9-foot ( 1.5 meters ) shark came within inches of his legs .
`` I was surfing out the back at Sharpes Beach and just cruising on my own and I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ looked around and could n't see anything , '' Matt Wilkinson , a pro surfer , .
`` Then the drone came down and told me that there was a dangerous shark in the area , return to the beach . ''
The drone is operated by Surf Life Saving NSW , an organization that monitors 34 popular beaches in New South Wales by unmanned aerial vehicle ( UAV ) to alert surfers and swimmers to the presence of large sharks .
The program is part of the $ 8 million NSW Government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to prevent shark attacks by getting people out of the water when large sharks are present .
When a shark is spotted , the drones broadcast a pre-recorded message warning beachgoers to head to shore .
In the drone video , the shark swims toward Wilkinson , seemingly curious .
As he paddles on the board , the shark approaches from behind , then seems to nose the tow rope on the surfboard .
Suddenly , it darts away and out of sight .
`` I 've been surfing with sharks my whole @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there and know enough about them to know they have not too much interest in humans .
I 'm just glad today the shark reconsidered at the last second , '' Wilkinson said .
Nevertheless , Wilkinson said he felt `` a bit weird '' after the encounter .
`` I realized how close it came without knowing it was there , '' he said .
In 2015 , Wilkinson was competing at a surfing event in J-Bay , South Africa , in which fellow surfer Mick Fanning had a close encounter with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did not bite Fanning , but swam close by him , knocked him off his surfboard and severed the leash attaching his ankle to his board .
The encounter was .
Shark attacks , especially fatal shark attacks , are rare .
According to the Florida Museum 's , there were 64 unprovoked shark attacks worldwide in 2019 and 41 attacks after a swimmer or diver harassed a shark .
Only five of the attacks were fatal , four of them unprovoked .
On average , there are four fatal shark attacks a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Australia , however , has a relatively high number of shark-human encounters , because sharks , surfers and swimmers tend to ply the same waters .
In 2019 , the country was behind only the United States in number of unprovoked shark attacks , with 11 total .
After two years with only one shark attack death in Australia , 2020 has been a dangerous year , with six deadly shark attacks so far .
The most recent was on Sept. 8 , when a 46-year-old man died after a shark bit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , .
A 57-year-old diver was , and a 23-year-old wildlife ranger after a shark attack at the Great Barrier Reef .
A 36-year-old man was in July while spearfishing off the coast of Queensland .
And there have been two deaths in New South Wales : a 60-year-old surfer who after a shark bite to the leg , and a 15-year-old surfer .
Beside the drone surveillance , the New South Wales risk-reduction program also uses underwater listening stations and nonlethal , which use baited lines to capture sharks near busy beaches @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the drumlines send a signal to a nearby fishing boat .
If the captured shark is a great white — the species responsible for all fatal shark attacks in Australia since 2000 — it is tagged before its release farther from shore .
Data from the tags is intended to determine whether this catch-and-release program reduces interactions between sharks and swimmers .
Wilkinson said the drone program made him feel better about sharing space with large great white sharks .
`` It 's nice to know the drones go up and down the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ n't and it makes you feel more comfortable , '' he said .
`` It makes other people aware that there are sharks out there but usually with no intention .
It 's nice to know if there 's a big one around you can just come in and let them go by . ''

A drone camera caught a close encounter between a surfer and a white shark off the coast of New South Wales, Australia, last week.
The surfer and the great white shark seemed mutually spooked by their brush with each other — though in the surfer's case, the shock came after he swam ashore and saw the drone footage. He would have otherwise never known that a 4.9-foot (1.5 meters) shark came within inches of his legs.
"I was surfing out the back at Sharpes Beach and just cruising on my own and I heard a splash and a noise and looked around and couldn't see anything," Matt Wilkinson, a pro surfer, said in a statement . "Then the drone came down and told me that there was a dangerous shark in the area, return to the beach."
Related: Surfer's Monster, 80-Foot Wave Came from a Hidden, Underwater Canyon
Swimming with sharks
The drone is operated by Surf Life Saving NSW, an organization that monitors 34 popular beaches in New South Wales by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to alert surfers and swimmers to the presence of large sharks. The program is part of the $8 million NSW Government Shark Management Strategy. The goal is to prevent shark attacks by getting people out of the water when large sharks are present. When a shark is spotted, the drones broadcast a pre-recorded message warning beachgoers to head to shore.
In the drone video, the shark swims toward Wilkinson, seemingly curious. As he paddles on the board, the shark approaches from behind, then seems to nose the tow rope on the surfboard. Suddenly, it darts away and out of sight.
"I've been surfing with sharks my whole life, and I understand they're there and know enough about them to know they have not too much interest in humans. I'm just glad today the shark reconsidered at the last second," Wilkinson said.
Nevertheless, Wilkinson said he felt "a bit weird" after the encounter. "I realized how close it came without knowing it was there," he said.
Related: Photos: Tiny waves frozen in their tracks
In 2015, Wilkinson was competing at a surfing event in J-Bay, South Africa, in which fellow surfer Mick Fanning had a close encounter with a great white shark. The shark did not bite Fanning, but swam close by him, knocked him off his surfboard and severed the leash attaching his ankle to his board. The encounter was captured on video .
Risk management
Shark attacks, especially fatal shark attacks, are rare. According to the Florida Museum's International Shark Attack File , there were 64 unprovoked shark attacks worldwide in 2019 and 41 attacks after a swimmer or diver harassed a shark. Only five of the attacks were fatal, four of them unprovoked. On average, there are four fatal shark attacks a year worldwide, according to the museum.
Australia, however, has a relatively high number of shark-human encounters, because sharks, surfers and swimmers tend to ply the same waters. In 2019, the country was behind only the United States in number of unprovoked shark attacks, with 11 total.
After two years with only one shark attack death in Australia, 2020 has been a dangerous year, with six deadly shark attacks so far. The most recent was on Sept. 8, when a 46-year-old man died after a shark bit his leg near Greenmount Beach in Queensland, according to CNN . A 57-year-old diver was killed in Western Australia in January , and a 23-year-old wildlife ranger died in April after a shark attack at the Great Barrier Reef. A 36-year-old man was attacked and killed in July while spearfishing off the coast of Queensland. And there have been two deaths in New South Wales: a 60-year-old surfer who died in June after a shark bite to the leg, and a 15-year-old surfer attacked in July .
Beside the drone surveillance, the New South Wales risk-reduction program also uses underwater listening stations and nonlethal SMART drumlines , which use baited lines to capture sharks near busy beaches. When a shark is snagged, the drumlines send a signal to a nearby fishing boat. If the captured shark is a great white — the species responsible for all fatal shark attacks in Australia since 2000 — it is tagged before its release farther from shore. Data from the tags is intended to determine whether this catch-and-release program reduces interactions between sharks and swimmers.
Wilkinson said the drone program made him feel better about sharing space with large great white sharks.
"It's nice to know the drones go up and down the beach and can see what we can't and it makes you feel more comfortable," he said. "It makes other people aware that there are sharks out there but usually with no intention. It's nice to know if there's a big one around you can just come in and let them go by."
Originally published in Live Science.


livescience--2020-10-13--The best DNA testing service is just $99 this Amazon Prime Day

Your genes can tell a lot about you .
By going beyond your family tree , you can uncover ancestry markers in your DNA that give you insight into your ancestry and your health .
23andMe is ranked as the best DNA testing kit by many reviewers , and it 's now discounted to just $ 99.00 for health and ancestry , making it a great buy whether you want it for yourself or as an early holiday gift for a loved one .
It works with a simple saliva test you perform at home and send to 23andMe .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the extracted genetic data reveals your ancestral composition and even the percentage of DNA that you share with Neanderthals , which interbred with early humans .
This offer also includes health insights , providing you with information about how your genetics can influence your chances of developing certain health conditions or if you are a carrier for some inherited conditions .
This DNA kit can identify health-related genetic markers for diseases such as celiac disease , late-onset Alzheimer 's disease and Parkinson 's disease .
It can also look for genetic markers for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your genetics , ethnicity and age to calculate a percentage likelihood of developing the disease .
The test also looks at a gene associated with muscle composition to reveal whether your composition is common or not in elite athletes .
The test will also indicate whether the subject is a carrier of genetic traits such as cystic fibrosis , sickle cell anemia and hereditary hearing loss .
There 's even a “ cilantro taste aversion ” test that will let you know whether you are genetically predisposed to dislike cilantro .
Perhaps , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) in April 2017 for their kits to report whether customers have hereditary traits that put them at risk for developing genetic diseases , according to the Los Angeles Times .
However , the presence of a genetic marker for a health disorder does not necessarily mean that the person will develop that disease , the LA Times reported .
• How Do DNA Ancestry Tests Really Work ?
• I Took 9 Different Commercial DNA Tests and Got 6 Different Results

We could be 16 years into a methane-fueled 'termination' event significant enough to end an ice age
Methane emissions from tropical wetlands have been soaring since 2006 and accelerating at the same breakneck speed as when Earth's climate has flipped from a glacial to an interglacial period.