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We are becoming a new species, we are becoming Homo Evolutis

Ken Fisher
ars technica
Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:08 UTC
Image

Juan Enriquez talked about the new human species emerging before our eyes. Thanks to an array of biological advances and our growing aptitude in robotics, we now find ourselves in the early days of the deliberate creation of what he called a new species.

At TED 2009, now halfway through the near-weeklong binge of activities and presentations, Juan Enriquez energized and perhaps terrorized attendees with his brief look into the future of human affairs, and indeed, of the human species. What made Enriquez' presentation so engaging was that his vision wasn't that far off, this sci-fi future that he spoke of; it's the future that is unveiling itself right before us, a future that we will all likely watch arrive, and our children will come to know as reality.

Chairman and CEO of Biotechonomy, Enriquez says that humanity is on the verge of becoming a new and utterly unique species, which he dubs Homo Evolutis. What makes this species so unique is that it "takes direct and deliberate control over the evolution of the species." Calling it the "ultimate reboot," he points to the conflux of DNA manipulation and therapy, tissue generation, and robotics as making this great leap possible.
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Telescope

Number of alien worlds quantified


Associated Press
Thu, 05 Feb 2009 05:13 UTC
Intelligent civilisations are out there and there could be thousands of them, according to an Edinburgh scientist.

The discovery of more than 330 planets outside our solar system in recent years has helped refine the number of life forms that are likely to exist.

The current research estimates that there are at least 361 intelligent civilisations in our Galaxy and possibly as many as 38,000.
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Bizarro Earth

Animal Ancestors May Have Survived 'Snowball Earth'

Rachel Ehrenberg
Science News
Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:39 UTC
Chemical fossils push back the date for animal life to at least 635 million years ago.

A new analysis of ancient chemical fossils has rocked the cradle of early animal evolution, bumping back compelling evidence of animal life to at least 635 million years ago.

The findings, published in the Feb. 5 Nature, suggest that the ancient ancestor of fully formed animals survived a massive glaciation that enshrouded the Earth in ice at the end of the aptly named Cryogenian period. Debate continues over how much of the planet was frozen during two ice ages, each possibly a "snowball Earth" event that flanked this period, which extended from about 790 million to 630 million years ago.

The new results suggest that even if glaciers reached the equator during the second ice age, it is likely that warm pockets, perhaps created by volcanic activity or hydrothermal vents, may have persisted and harbored life.
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Saturn

Should Mars Be Treated Like a Wildlife Preserve?

Rachel Courtland
New Scientist
Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:05 UTC
Mars
© NASA/JPL-CaltechIf life is found on Mars, we may have to remove or destroy past spacecraft like the Mars Phoenix lander to prevent contamination, a researcher says.
Life has not yet been found on Mars, and no one is sure whether it will be. But some researchers say it is not too early to consider the possibility that humans could do irreversible damage to indigenous Martian life.

A group of international experts will meet as early as this September to discuss whether it is time to revise policies that protect Mars from contamination.

At issue is the ethics of exploring the Red Planet - in particular whether hitchhiking Earth microbes could harm Martian habitats.

Past missions, including NASA's twin rovers, have already ferried hundreds of thousands of bacterial cells to the Red Planet. Most of the microbes on the exterior of these craft were quickly destroyed by intense ultraviolet radiation, which passes easily through Mars's thin atmosphere.
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Sherlock

Bones Reveal Harsh Life of Colonial America

Randolph E. Schmid
Discovery News
Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:20 UTC
It's a tale of toil, starvation and death, set forth in messages from the grave.

Skeleton
© AP Photo/Smithsonian, Chip ClarkForensic anthropologist Karin Bruwelheide examining a 17th century skeleton from the Leavy Neck site, Anne Arundel County, Md., part of an exhibit, The saga of life in 17th century America.
The saga of life in 17th century America -- "Written in Bone" -- goes on display Saturday at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

Some 340 objects, including artifacts and human bones, are on display for two years, with discussions of how cold cases from colonial times shed light on what life was like for some of the earliest English and Africans to settle in America.

The exhibit is "a fascinating window into the lives of our nation's earliest colonists," observed museum director Cristian Samper.

Since 1992 researchers have unearthed the remains of hundreds of early settlers around Chesapeake Bay.

"Now we can get to know these individuals, learn about how they lived and sometimes how they died," said forensic anthropologist Douglas Owsley, curator of the exhibit.
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Sherlock

'Green Magic' Protected Egyptian Child Mummies

Jennifer Viegas
Discovery News
Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:06 UTC
Mummy Stone
© Raffaella BianucciA bright green stone found inside a fossilized leather bag buried with an Egyptian toddler.
A rare mummified child from the early period of Egyptian history was discovered buried with a bright green amulet stone once believed to hold magical powers, according to a new study.

The finds help to explain why hieroglyphics and historical texts record that Egyptian children wore green eye makeup. It also adds to the growing body of evidence that ancient Egyptians thought color itself held sacred energy that could help or hurt individuals.
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Saturn

HiRISE Captures Bolide Break-up and Impact on Mars

Nancy Atkinson
Universe Today
Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:45 UTC
Impact 1
© NASA
Incoming! Hundreds of small objects, mostly asteroid fragments, impact Mars every year. Sometimes, like on Earth, objects break up in the Martian atmosphere. But Mars' atmosphere is much thinner than Earth's, meaning more stuff hits the ground on the Red Planet. If a bolide breaks apart and but doesn't disintegrate, the result can be a cluster of craters. The image here is an example of that, with this group of recently made small impact craters. Although small Martian crater clusters are common, this example is unusual because there is a dark line between the two largest craters. The HiRISE scientists hypothesize that atmospheric breakup created two nearly equal-size objects that impacted close together in space and time so the air blasts interacted with each other to disturb the dust along this line. Wow!
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Cow Skull

Mammoth Remains Found at California Construction Site


The Associated Press
Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:05 UTC
Workers digging at a downtown San Diego construction site have uncovered the prehistoric remains of an 8-foot-long mammoth.

A backhoe operator working at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law site unearthed a 20-foot-long tusk Wednesday.

School spokesman Chris Saunders says experts called in from the San Diego Natural History Museum uncovered the animal's skull and other bones.
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Sherlock

Census of Modern Organisms Reveals Echo of Ancient Mass Extinction


PhysOrg
Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:08 UTC
Marine Organisms
© Susan KidwellBivalves predominate in this sample of marine organisms. Marine bivalves have been originating new species faster since the extinction of the dinosaurs than before.
Paleontologists can still hear the echo of the death knell that drove the dinosaurs and many other organisms to extinction following an asteroid collision at the end of the Cretaceous Period 65 million years ago.

"The evolutionary legacy of the end-Cretaceous extinction is very much with us. In fact, it can be seen in virtually every marine community, every lagoon, every continental shelf in the world," said University of Chicago paleontologist David Jablonski. It is, he said, "sort of an echo of the big bang for evolutionary biology."

This conclusion followed a detailed global analysis of marine bivalves, one of the few groups plentiful enough in the fossil record to allow such a study, which was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Andrew Krug of the University of Chicago, Jablonski and James Valentine of the University of California, Berkeley, examined the geologic ages of every major lineage of living bivalves the world over, from oysters and scallops to quahogs and cockles. Their report appears in the Feb. 6 issue of the journal Science.
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Sherlock

Genetic Roots of Synaesthesia Unearthed

David Robson
New Scientist
Thu, 05 Feb 2009 11:23 UTC
The regions of our DNA that wire some people to "see" sounds have been discovered. So far, only the general regions within chromosomes have been identified, rather than specific genes, but the work could eventually lead to a genetic test to diagnose the condition before it interferes with a child's education.

It has long been known that synaesthesia - which can take many other forms, but generally involves a cross-wiring between the senses - seems to run in families, although it also appears to be affected by environmental factors.

To investigate the nature of the genetic component of the condition, Julian Asher, now at Imperial College London, and colleagues from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford took genetic samples from 196 individuals of 43 families. Of these, 121 individuals exhibited the synaesthetic trait of seeing a colour in response to a sound.
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