Science & Technology

Skull unearthed in China could re-write our understanding of the 'out of Africa' theory of human evolution

Andrew Griffin
The Independent
Mon, 20 Nov 2017 18:55 UTC

A skull found in China could re-write our entire understanding of human evolution.

That's according to scientists who have examined the important, ancient head and say that it proves the existing theory of how humans came to be is wrong.

Most anthropologists believe that our species came about in Africa around 200,000 years ago - and that one group left around 80,000 years later before spreading across the world. But instead of humans purely coming out of Africa, the new research suggests that important characteristics of humans actually developed in east Asia.

In fact there might have been times of intense intermingling as those early humans in Asia moved out of and back into Africa, with no single event when modern humans came into being. That means that modern humans are made up of the DNA of ancestors from both Asia and Africa, if the researchers are correct.

Comment: How China is rewriting the book on human origins

'Oumuamua' - Definitely not your average asteroid or comet

EurekAlert
Mon, 20 Nov 2017 19:09 UTC

In October astronomers were surprised by a visitor that came racing into our Solar System from interstellar space. Now, researchers using the Gemini Observatory have determined that the first known object to graze our Solar System from beyond is similar to, but definitely not, your average asteroid or comet. "This thing is an oddball," said Karen Meech of the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy who leads an international team studying this interstellar interloper.

Originally denoted A2017 U1, the body now goes by the Hawaiian name 'Oumuamua, in part because of its discovery by Meech's team using the Pan-STARRS1 survey telescope on Haleakala in Hawai'i. When discovered in mid-October 'Oumuamua was only about 85 times the Earth-Moon distance away and its discovery was announced in early November.

Since its discovery 'Oumuamua has faded from view. The object's rapidly increasing distance from the Earth and Sun now makes it too faint to be studied by even the largest telescopes.

"Needless to say, we dropped everything so we could quickly point the Gemini telescopes at this object immediately after its discovery," said Gemini Director Laura Ferrarese who coordinated the Gemini South observations for Meech's group.

'Slaughterbots' documentary commissioned by college professors shows horrors of drones (VIDEO)

Information Clearing House
Mon, 20 Nov 2017 09:19 UTC

In 'Slaughterbots,' autonomous drones use artificial intelligence to decide who to kill. The short film was commissioned by college professors and researchers to warn the public of the dangers of autonomous weapons.

The trailer:

Comment: The college professors had good reason to commission this documentary considering the mass murder committed by US administrations and the potential for their use on American soil:

Comment: More information on the documentary:

UC Berkeley professor Stuart Russell and the Future of Life Institute have created an eerie viral video titled "Slaughterbots" that depicts a future in which humans develop small, hand-sized drones that are programmed to identify and eliminate designated targets.

In the video above, the technology is initially developed with the intention of combating crime and terrorism, but the drones are taken over by an unknown forces who use the powerful weapons to murder a group of senators and college students. The video does contain some graphic content, and was originally uploaded to YouTube.

Russell, an expert on artificial intelligence, appears at the end of the video and warns against humanity's development of autonomous weapons.

"This short film is just more than speculation," Russell says. "It shows the results of integrating and militarizing technologies that we already have."

The Future of Life Institute released the video to put pressure on diplomats attending the United Nations Convention on Conventional Weapons in Geneva, Switzerland this week. The video was screened on the first day of the convention.

Fracking Earthquakes: Government sponsored scientist reveals link and cover up

John Vibes
Freethought Project
Mon, 20 Nov 2017 19:00 UTC

Hydraulic fracturing is a natural gas extraction method that has become extremely controversial for its environmental impacts. Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside. Water, sand, and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure, which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well. Wastewater produced from this process is highly toxic and filled with a variety of chemicals.

In many cases, people who live near fracking sites have been able to set fire to the water and air that comes through their pipes. It has also been found to contaminate drinking water. Unfortunately, fracking is still somewhat popular publicly because people know very little about it and it is also popular politically because all of the politicians have a hand in it.

Due to an increased prevalence of seismic activity in the vicinity of fracking areas, many activists have pointed that this process may cause earthquakes as well. While environmentalists have been hoping to raise awareness about this problem for years, new testimony from one of the country's top seismologists gives us a glimpse into why the scientific community has been largely silent about this issue.

Crater in Rajasthan proven to be caused by a meteorite

Aabshar H Quazi
Hindustan Times
Sun, 19 Nov 2017 16:08 UTC

For long the origin of the Ramgarh crater has been a subject of debate among researchers. While some believe that it was caused by 'meteorite impact', others are of the view that it evolved from 'tectonic' or 'structural' activity or 'magmatism'.

For years the crater - located near Ramgarh village, about 12 km east of Mangrol - has been considered as a 'meteorite impact' site, but the theory lacked unambiguous evidence. However, a study by geologist Satyanarayan Rana has found diagnostic evidence of 'meteorite impact' at the crater.

Rana, a research scholar at the department of geology, Mohanlal Sukhadia University (MSU), Udaipur, has found evidence in the form of shatter cones in sandstones, planar deformation features (PDFs) and planar fractures (parallel sets of multiple planar cracks) in quartz grains.

Shatter cones are rare geological features and are only known to form in the bedrock beneath meteorite impact craters or underground nuclear explosions. PDFs are also formed by extreme shock compressions on the scale of meteor impacts.

"This regional geological structure has invited the interest of various geologists throughout the world since its discovery and the past five decades have witnessed a number of theories on the origin of this structure, but the issue of origin remained debatable," the 33-year-old PhD researcher, who started his research in 2013 and he completed it in April this year.

This year's annual Leonid meteor shower

RT
Fri, 17 Nov 2017 20:13 UTC

© NASA / AFP
This November 2000 NASA file image obtained 06 November, 2001 shows a meteor streaking across the sky during the Leonid meteor shower.

The annual Leonid meteor shower is expected to peak Friday night, with a second display cosmic pyrotechnics expected Saturday night.

The Leonid will peak in the early hours of the morning, between 2am and 4am when the sky is at its darkest, for star-gazers willing to sacrifice some shuteye. The moon is entering its new phase so there won't be any lunar glare in the sky to disrupt the view. We can expect to see between 10 and 15 shooting stars per hour, reports Quartz.

© Pornchai KITTIWONGSAKUL / AFP
The Queen Sri Suriyothai statue in Thailand's ancient capital Ayutthaya is silhouetted against the night sky as thousands of people turned out to watch the Leonid meteor shower in the early hours 18 November.

The Leonid meteor shower is named after the constellation Leo (the Lion), and takes place every year when the Earth passes through the debris field left in the wake of the Temple-Tuttle Comet creating shooting stars, streaks of light in the night sky lasting less than a second as the cosmic debris burns up in our atmosphere.

Hypersonic missile race: China is testing weapons that can reach the US in 14 minutes

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Sun, 19 Nov 2017 08:25 UTC

Hypersonic vehicle

A secretive hypersonic wind tunnel, nicknamed 'Hyper Dragon', is helping the experts 'reveal many facts that Americans have not found out', one Chinese researcher said in a propaganda documentary...

South China Morning Post's Stephen Chen reports that China is building the world's fastest wind tunnel to simulate hypersonic flight at speeds of up to 12 kilometres per second.

A hypersonic vehicle flying at this speed from China could reach the west coast of the United States in less than 14 minutes.

A Boeing 757 was hacked and now DHS is worried more planes could be at risk

Mark Matousek
Business Insider
Fri, 17 Nov 2017 11:06 UTC

A Department of Homeland Security official admitted that the agency was able to remotely hack into a Boeing 757 during a test in 2016.
The DHS official indicated that he and his team were able to do so without having any direct contact with the aircraft or using any materials that would be flagged by security.
While the exact details of the hack are confidential, Boeing insists that the hackers were not able to take control of the aircraft's flight systems.

The increasing use of electronics and internet connectivity in transportation vehicles is a double-edged sword. While new technology gives drivers and pilots more information and makes communication easier, it also leaves vehicles more vulnerable to cyber attacks.

The Department of Homeland Security illustrated that fact when it remotely hacked into a Boeing 757 through its radio communication system at an airport in Atlantic City, NJ, according to CSO . While the hack occurred in September 2016, it wasn't revealed until DHS official Robert Hickey gave his keynote address at an aerospace security summit on Nov. 8.

Gene therapy gives boy new skin

ScienceDaily
Wed, 08 Nov 2017 19:00 UTC

A medical team at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum's burn unit and the Center for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Modena (Italy) were the first ever to successfully treat a child suffering from extensive skin damage using transplants derived from genetically modified stem cells. The boy is a so-called butterfly child: he suffers from epidermolysis bullosa, a genetic skin disease that had destroyed approximately 80 percent of his epidermis. After all established therapies had failed, the medical team from Bochum decided to try an experimental approach: they transplanted skin derived from genetically modified stem cells onto the wound surfaces. Thanks to the successful therapy, the boy is now -- two years after the treatment -- able to participate in his family's life and social life. The scientists published their report in Nature.

Life-threatening condition

Epidermolysis bullosa is the scientific name of a congenital skin disease that is currently considered to be incurable. Its underlying mechanism is a defect in protein-forming genes that are essential for skin regeneration. Even minor stress can result in blisters, wounds, and skin loss with scar formation. Depending on disease severity, internal organs may likewise be affected, leading to critical dysfunctions.

Star dust: Discovery of winds blowing off a dying star

Scienmag
Fri, 17 Nov 2017 00:00 UTC

Stars like our Sun eject large amounts of gas and dust into space, containing various elements and compounds. Asymptotic giant branch - AGB - phase stars, near their end of life, are particularly significant sources of such substances in our galaxy.

Formation of dust around AGB stars has been considered to play an important role in triggering acceleration of stellar wind, but the detailed mechanism of this acceleration has not been well explained.

And there is yet another conundrum. In space, silicon is ten times more abundant than aluminum. However, many oxygen-rich AGB stars are rich in aluminum oxide dust - the major carrier of aluminum - but poor in silicate dust - the carrier of silicon, which has puzzled researchers: why is aluminum oxide dust so abundant around oxygen-rich AGB stars?

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Science & Technology

Skull unearthed in China could re-write our understanding of the 'out of Africa' theory of human evolution

'Oumuamua' - Definitely not your average asteroid or comet

'Slaughterbots' documentary commissioned by college professors shows horrors of drones (VIDEO)

Fracking Earthquakes: Government sponsored scientist reveals link and cover up

Crater in Rajasthan proven to be caused by a meteorite

This year's annual Leonid meteor shower

Hypersonic missile race: China is testing weapons that can reach the US in 14 minutes

A Boeing 757 was hacked and now DHS is worried more planes could be at risk

Gene therapy gives boy new skin

Star dust: Discovery of winds blowing off a dying star

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