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Researchers find a 'fearsome dragon' that soared over Australian outback


The University of Queensland
Mon, 09 Aug 2021 20:45 UTC
Pterosaur
© The University of Queensland
An artist’s impression of the Thapunngaka shawi.
Australia's largest flying reptile has been uncovered, a pterosaur with an estimated seven-metre wingspan that soared like a dragon above the ancient, vast inland sea once covering much of outback Queensland.

University of Queensland PhD candidate Tim Richards, from the Dinosaur Lab in UQ's School of Biological Sciences, led a research team that analysed a fossil of the creature's jaw, discovered on Wanamara Country, near Richmond in North West Queensland.

"It's the closest thing we have to a real-life dragon," Mr Richards said.

"The new pterosaur, which we named Thapunngaka shawi, would have been a fearsome beast, with a spear-like mouth and a wingspan around seven metres.

"It was essentially just a skull with a long neck, bolted on a pair of long wings.

"This thing would have been quite savage.

"It would have cast a great shadow over some quivering little dinosaurs who wouldn't have heard them coming until it was too late."

Mr Richards said the skull alone would have been just over one metre long, containing around 40 teeth, perfectly suited to grasping the large predatory fishes known to inhabit Queensland's no-longer-existent Eromanga Sea.

"Even though pterosaurs could fly, they were nothing like birds, or even bats," he said.

"Pterosaurs were a successful and diverse group of reptiles - the very first back-boned animals to take a stab at powered flight."

The new species belonged to a group of pterosaurs known as anhanguerians, which inhabited every continent during the latter part of the Age of Dinosaurs.
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Light therapy helps burn injuries heal faster

Marcene Robinson
University of Buffalo
Thu, 05 Aug 2021 19:22 UTC
Prof. Praveen Arany,
© Douglas Levere
Praveen Arany, assistant professor of oral biology in the UB School of Dental Medicine, led the development of a burn healing protocol for light therapy.
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Light therapy may accelerate the healing of burns, according to a University at Buffalo-led study.

The research, published in Scientific Reports, found that photobiomodulation therapy - a form of low-dose light therapy capable of relieving pain and promoting healing and tissue regeneration - sped up recovery from burns and reduced inflammation in mice by activating endogenous TGF‐beta 1, a protein that controls cell growth and division.

The findings may impact therapeutic treatments for burn injuries, which affect more than 6 million people worldwide each year, says lead investigator Praveen Arany, DDS, PhD, assistant professor of oral biology in the UB School of Dental Medicine.

"Photobiomodulation therapy has been effectively used in supportive cancer care, age-related macular degeneration and Alzheimer's disease," says Arany. "A common feature among these ailments is the central role of inflammation. This work provides evidence for the ability of photobiomodulation-activated TGF-beta 1 in mitigating the inflammation, while promoting tissue regeneration utilizing an elegant, transgenic burn wound model."
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Dig

Boeing still struggling to get doomed starliner prototype space shuttle off the ground

Dan Robitzski
Futurism
Mon, 09 Aug 2021 19:28 UTC
Starliner
© NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
A combination of schedule conflicts on both the ISS and with the Atlas 5 could push back the CST-100 Starliner's test flight by months if it does not launch in August.
Boeing's CST-100 Starliner, a prototype spacecraft that the company has been developing for years, should have been preparing to return home from the International Space Station by now. But instead it's still stuck back here on Earth.

The Starliner was supposed to launch an uncrewed test flight to the space station on August 3, SpaceNews reports, but the mission was scrubbed three hours before launch because valves in the propulsion system were stuck in the closed position for reasons that engineers still haven't been able to sort out, though they suspect the spacecraft may have been damaged by a rainstorm during transportation.

Regardless, Boeing doesn't have very long to figure it out before the mission gets sidelined by the space station's packed schedule in the coming months.

Comment: The is just the latest in a litany of problems and failures - some of which were deadly - involving the US government and its partners, and one is beginning to get the impression that it may be that there are serious problems within the organizations themselves: Also check out SOTT radio's: MindMatters: How Psychopaths Infect and Destroy Hierarchies of Competence

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Butterfly

Bacteria that thrive inside concrete discovered

David Nield
Science Alert
Fri, 06 Aug 2021 12:00 UTC
Concrete
© University of Delaware
Concrete samples used in the study.
Some types of bacteria are hardy enough to survive in the most inhospitable of conditions - and that includes concrete, as a new study proves. Not only can microbes survive in this dry, inhospitable building material, they can actually thrive there too.

The research shows that bacteria could provide early warnings of moisture-induced alkali-silica reactions (or 'concrete cancer') that can lead to structural deficiencies. Further down the line, we might even be able to harness bacteria to repair damage to bridges and roads.

While previous studies had already established that bacteria are able to make their homes inside concrete, here the scientists wanted to take a closer look at which microbes were present and how their communities might change over time.

Comment: It's increasingly looking like there are few niches where life in some form is not thriving: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Microscope 1

Researchers discover microbes with properties that may help fix DNA mutations


Source
Tue, 03 Aug 2021 17:27 UTC
Papus ankaliazontas dna repair mutations
© Press service of Tyumen State University
Papus ankaliazontas may have helpful DNA repair properties
Scientists from the University of Tyumen (UTMN) jointly with colleagues from the Papanin Institute for Biology of Inland Waters of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as part of an international research team, have discovered two new microbial species in the lakes of Asia.

According to the authors of the discovery, the study of these microorganisms will lead to a better understanding of DNA and RNA changes that cause serious hereditary disorders, as well as the creation of new drugs to treat parasitic diseases, the university's press service said.

New microbial species (Papus ankaliazontas and Apiculatamorpha spiralis) discovered in freshwater and saltwater lakes of Indonesia, Vietnam, and Turkey were found to be closely related to certain human and animal parasites, such as trypanosomes and leishmaniasis.
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Beaker

CDC/FDA confess: they had no virus when they concocted the test for the virus

Jon Rappoport
NoMoreFakeNews.com
Thu, 29 Jul 2021 13:54 UTC
Test PCR Covid-19
© Inconnu
The CDC has issued a document that bulges with interesting and devastating admissions.

The release is titled, "07/21/2021: Lab Alert: Changes to CDC RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 Testing." [1] It begins explosively:
"After December 31, 2021, CDC will withdraw the request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of the CDC 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel, the assay first introduced in February 2020 for detection of SARS-CoV-2 only. CDC is providing this advance notice for clinical laboratories to have adequate time to select and implement one of the many FDA-authorized alternatives."
Many people believe this means the CDC is giving up on the PCR test as a means of "detecting the virus." I don't think the CDC is saying that at all.

They're saying the PCR technology will continue to be used, but they're replacing what the test is looking FOR with a better "reference sample." A better marker. A better target. A better piece of RNA supposedly derived from SARS-CoV-2.

Comment: The whole Covid pandemic, fascistic measures, and lockdowns were and still are based on PCR tests that are not a reliable method for diagnostics. Now we find out that even these PCR tests used contrived, manufactured samples of the virus.

So many people lost their lives because of the lockdowns and so much damage was done to the world economics and basic human freedom. All this is based on lies, propaganda, and manipulation so they could enslave humanity and make them accept the experimental vaccines that are far more dangerous than the virus itself.

Will humanity finally wake up and take their own destiny into their own hands?

See also:

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Arrow Down

Global population plummeted after Younger Dryas comet impact


The Cosmic Tusk
Sat, 07 Aug 2021 19:24 UTC
Comet impact
© Shutterstock
An artist's conception shows an impact event on Earth.
It is commonly thought that human genetic diversity in non-African populations was shaped primarily by an out-of-Africa dispersal 50-100 thousand yr ago (kya). Here, we present a study of 456 geographically diverse high-coverage Y chromosome sequences, including 299 newly reported samples. Applying ancient DNA calibration, we date the Y-chromosomal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) in Africa at 254 (95% CI 192-307) kya and detect a cluster of major non-African founder haplogroups in a narrow time interval at 47-52 kya, consistent with a rapid initial colonization model of Eurasia and Oceania after the out-of-Africa bottleneck. In contrast to demographic reconstructions based on mtDNA, we infer a second strong bottleneck in Y-chromosome lineages dating to the last 10 ky. We hypothesize that this bottleneck is caused by cultural changes affecting variance of reproductive success among males.



Full paper: Karmin et al. 2020 A recent bottleneck of Y chromosome diversity coincides with a global change in culture
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Light pollution is making it harder for animals to navigate at night

Scott Alan Johnston
Universe Today
Sat, 07 Aug 2021 19:01 UTC
Dung Beetle
© Chris Collingridge
A nocturnal dung beetle climbing atop its dung ball to survey the stars before starting to roll.
Ah, the majestic dung beetle. The pinnacle of evolution. In all seriousness, these little critters are incredibly sophisticated navigators who have, for millennia, used the night sky to guide them about their business. But light pollution is making their lives more difficult by limiting their ability to navigate by the stars. Other nocturnal creatures, including some birds and moths, may be facing similar challenges.

Dung beetles are known for their penchant for rolling dung into balls, then pushing their prize away from competing beetles as quickly as possible. To swiftly escape the competition, they need to be able to travel in straight lines away from a dung pile, putting as much distance as they can between them and their rivals. The stars provide these rushing beetles with a compass, acting as directional cues in the sky with which the beetles are able to orient themselves. When they reach a safe distance, the beetles then bury the dung and proceed to consume it in relative safety.

Researchers at the University of Würzburg in Germany, Lund University in Sweden, and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa set out to examine how light pollution affects the beetles' ability to travel by starlight.

Their results, published in the journal Current Biology, show that the beetles become disoriented in different lighting conditions. For example, in the presence of bright city lights, the beetles have a tendency to travel directly towards the nearest, brightest light source. Instead of dispersing away from a dung pile, the beetles are all drawn in one direction. This makes conflict and competition more likely as individuals encounter each other more frequently.
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MindMatters: Cliodynamics and the Secular Cycles of History

Harrison Koehli, Elan Martin, Adam Daniels
Sott.net
Sat, 07 Aug 2021 00:00 UTC
cliodynamics
Does history really repeat? If so, how, and why? We discussed the "fourth turning" on a previous episode of MindMatters. According to Strauss and Howe, the United States has entered a time of crisis which could see societal collapse, revolution, or war. However, their theory has its problems. While suggestive on the descriptive level, it has not been scientifically supported. Enter Peter Turchin.

Today we continue our discussion of historical cycles by looking at cliodynamics, a field of study pioneered by Turchin. Turchin's work gives scientific support to the idea that cycles are an essential feature of civilization. Empires rise and fall. Periods of stagnation and crisis end in war, revolution, and collapse. These trends, and the factors that determine them, can be measured and modeled. And all the indicators show that the U.S. has indeed entered a time of crisis, along with Europe - on par with the conditions that led to the American Civil War.

Today on MindMatters we discuss the outlines of Turchin's work, how it applies to American history, and what it might mean for the future.


Running Time: 01:20:48

Download: MP3 — 64.2 MB


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Chalkboard

Physicists discover simple propulsion mechanism for bodies in dense fluids


PhysOrg
Sat, 07 Aug 2021 18:10 UTC
scallops seashells graphic
© redit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain
A team of researchers from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), the University of Liège and the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy have developed a micro-swimmer that appears to defy the laws of fluid dynamics: Their model, consisting of two beads connected by a linear spring, is propelled by completely symmetrical oscillations. The scallop theorem states that this cannot be achieved in fluid microsystems. The findings have now been published in the academic journal Physical Review Letters.

Scallops can swim in water by quickly clapping their shells together. They are large enough to still be able to move forwards through the moment of inertia while the scallop is opening its shell for the next stroke. However, the Scallop theorem applies more or less depending on the density and viscosity of the fluid: A swimmer that makes symmetrical or reciprocal forward or backward motions similar to the opening and closing of the scallop shell will not move an inch. "Swimming through water is as tough for microscopic organisms as swimming through tar would be for humans," says Dr. Maxime Hubert. "This is why single-cell organisms have comparatively complex means of propulsion such as vibrating hairs or rotating flagella."
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