May 17, 2006, 11:51 PM CT

Ancient Tomb Sheds New Light On Egyptian Colonialism

In approximately 1550 B.C., Egypt conquered its southern neighbor, ancient Nubia, and secured control of valuable trade routes. But rather than excluding the colonized people from management of the region, new evidence from an archaeological site on the Nile reveals that Egyptian immigrants shared administrative responsibilities for ruling this large province with native Nubians.

"The study of culture contact in the past has conventionally used ideas of unidirectional change and modification of a subordinate population by a socially dominant group. The idea that authoritarian European powers forced changes in submissive native cultures dominated this work," explains Michele R. Buzon (University of Alberta). "However, more recent research has reevaluated these traditional notions and suggests that this model might not be appropriate for all situations of culture contact."

Through an examination of the archaeological site of Tombos, a strategic point of control in Egyptian-controlled Nubia, Buzon sought to determine whether the people buried in a colonial cemetery were immigrants from Egypt or Nubians who had adopted Egyptian practices. Comparing skull measurements with other revealing features such as tomb architecture, grave objects, and burial position, Buzon founds that the imperial officials who were buried in symbolically-marked tombs were of both Egyptian and Nubian descent. Egyptians were generally laid to rest on their backs in small tombs or pyramids, while Nubians were buried in fetal position on a bed or cow's skin.........

Posted by: William      Permalink         Source

May 17, 2006, 11:46 PM CT

Photosynthetic Trends In Northern Circumpolar High Latitudes

Using time series analyses of a 22-year record of satellite observations across the northern circumpolar high latitudes, researchers at the Woods Hole Research Center are assessing trends in vegetation photosynthetic activity. The results indicate that tundra areas consistently and predominantly show greening trends while forested areas show browning, indicating that the boreal forest biome might be responding to climate change in previously unexpected ways. This research is highlighted in the current issue of Earth Interactions.

As per Andrew Bunn, lead author of the paper and a post-doctoral fellow at the Center, "This research suggests that the high latitudes might not be responding to climate change as previously thought. If the ability of boreal forests to capture and store carbon in a warmer world is not as great as we've previously supposed, then we will have to think differently about how the planet will respond to continuing emissions of carbon dioxide."

All land surfaces above 50 degree N, excluding the glaciers of Greenland, were included in this study. Growing seasons were defined as May to August though early and late growing season periods were also considered. Three primary data sets derived from polar-orbiting satellites were used.

Overall, tundra areas show marked greening over the entire growing season. These patterns were consistent with relatively simple climate response seen in related work in North America, where areas responded to summer maximum temperatures while the response of forest vegetation was more complex. Boreal forests patterns indicate significant greening in May and June, with gains offset by substantive browning in July and August.........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink

May 17, 2006, 10:24 PM CT

Moose In Massachusetts

A number of people are surprised to learn there are moose(Alces alces)living in Massachusetts. Moose have been absent from the state from the early 1700's. As recently as the 1970's a moose sighting was considered a rare sight. Why are moose here now? As early settlers cleared the extensive forests in the state for pastures and farming, moose habitat disappeared and so did the moose. This was a trend through much of New England. Habitat for moose recovered due in part to farmers moving out to the more fertile Midwest or to factories during the Industrial Revolution.

Moose are now reclaiming their former range and moving into areas where they haven't been seen for hundreds of years. Moose populations got a boost in northern New England states from a combination of forest cutting practices and protection from hunting which created ideal moose habitat and allowed for high reproduction and survival rates. Gradually, as the population increased, moose moved southward into their historic range and by the early 1980's this largest member of North America's deer family moved into northern Worcester and Middlesex Counties and began to breed and disperse through central Massachusetts.

Currently, MassWildlife biologists estimate 500-700 moose live in Massachusetts, with the majority of them found in northern Worcester County. During the year, moose home ranges vary from 5-50 square miles depending on the season. MassWildlife has been monitoring moose populations through sighting reports, roadkills and urban/suburban situations. A recent study has begun to catch and collar moose to follow their movements and gain an understanding of this animal's movements, reproduction and survival rates.........

Posted by: Ashley      Permalink         Source

May 17, 2006, 10:19 PM CT

Young Wildlife Belongs In The Wild!

THE PROBLEM:

The arrival of spring and summer means the arrival of newborn and just-hatched wildlife. These youngsters soon venture into the world on shaky legs or fragile wings and are discovered by people living and working nearby. Every year, the lives of a number of young wild creatures are upset by people who mean only to help. These people take baby wildlife from the wild in a mistaken attempt to save them. In fact, these would-be rescuers are harming the young animals' chances of becoming normal adults. Hopefully, a little understanding will prevent this problem.

WHY IT OCCURS:

The arrival of spring and summer also means the arrival of newborn and just-hatched wildlife. These youngsters soon venture into the world on shaky legs or fragile wings. Most are learning survival from one or both parents. For them, the perils of survival are a natural part of ecology. Some will not survive. However, young wildlife that learn well and are the most fit commonly live the longest. Those early unsteady steps and flights are part of normal development, helping young animals learn to take care of themselves. Some develop that ability quickly, almost from birth. Varying hare, for example, are ready to venture into their world within hours. Other animals need more parental care. Cottontail rabbits are born with no fur and eyes closed, unable to leave their nest for several days.........

Posted by: Ashley      Permalink         Source

May 16, 2006, 11:56 PM CT

Looking At Hurricane Cloud Tops For Windy Clues

Researchers at NASA are finding that with hurricanes, they can look at the cloud tops for clues about the behavior of winds below the hurricane on the Earth's surface.

By looking at how high up the rain is forming within clouds, researchers can estimate whether the hurricane's surface winds will strengthen or weaken. They have found that if rain is falling from clouds that extend up to 9 miles high, and that rain continues for at least one out of three hours, a hurricane's surface winds are likely going to get stronger.

To see into the cloud tops, NASA researchers developed a precise mathematical method or a technique with the very precise rain measurements from the radar onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Once this technique was developed it was applied to data collected by National Weather Service radars on the ground.

"Thanks to the precise measurements from TRMM, we've found a new way to use data that's collected all the time by weather radars on the ground," said Owen Kelley, scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Kelley and researchers John Stout of NASA Goddard and Jeff Halverson of the University of Maryland Baltimore County calculated statistics that suggest forecasters could use TRMM's rain-height observations to improve existing observations and computer model forecasts of hurricane winds. "The trick is to keep an eye on the height of rain that radars see when a hurricane approaches within 200 miles of the coast," Kelley said.........

Posted by: Tyler      Permalink         Source

May 16, 2006, 11:00 PM CT

Small Molecule Interactions Were Central To The Origin Of Life

In an important new paper forthcoming in the recent issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology, Robert Shapiro (New York University) argues against the widely held theory that the origin of life began with the spontaneous appearance of a large, replicating molecule such as RNA. Instead, Shapiro raises an alternative that does not depend on a "stupendously improbable accident," presenting the more plausible idea that life began within a mixture of simple organic molecules, multiplied through catalyzed reaction cycles and an external source of available energy.

"The diversity of organic chemistry, with its harvest of competing, interconnected reactions, becomes an asset rather than a liability in the case of the energy-driven system," explains Shapiro. "The existence of side reaction paths can provide the network with the capacity of reacting to circumstances."

Shapiro outlines how replicator theories, though they have been supported by "prebiotic" syntheses carried out by chemists using modern apparatus and purified reagents, are highly unlikely. The creation of a molecule that can self-replicate requires the combination of diverse chemicals in a long sequence of reactions in a specific order, interspersed by complicated separations, purifications, and changes in locale.........

Posted by: Ashley      Permalink         Source

May 16, 2006, 10:50 PM CT

How Plant Gets Protection From Cold?

In response to cold, plants trigger a cascade of genetic reactions that allow them to survive. University of California, Riverside Professor of Plant Cell Biology Jian-Kang Zhu has described how a little-known biochemical reaction regulates that genetic cascade.

Zhu's findings were reported in the May 15 online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in a paper titled The Negative Regulator of Plant Cold Responses, HOS1 is a RING E3 Ligase That Mediates the Ubiquitation and Degredation of ICE1. Zhu co-authored the paper with UCR colleagues Chun Hai Dong and Manu Agarwal; and Yiyue Zhang and Qi Xie, from the Institute of Genetics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

This negative regulator, known as high expression of osmotically responsive gene 1 (HOS1), acts essentially as a biochemical gate that cuts off the plant's cold protection, Zhu said. The HOS1 gene product interacts with another gene product known as ICE1 that kicks off the genetic cascade that provides the plant's cold protection proteins, as per the paper. The interaction worked both in the test tube and in the live plant.

"The better we understand this molecular mechanism, the better we can control the process of increasing the plant's freezing tolerance without causing negative impacts," Zhu said. "This process should apply to all plants and can help us better use crops of subtropical origin such as corn, rice, avocadoes and strawberries".........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink         Source

May 16, 2006, 10:38 PM CT

Scientists Study How Heart Mountain Shifted

"Moving mountains" has come to mean doing the impossible. Yet at least once in the past, one mountain relocated a fair distance away. This feat took place around 50 million years ago, in the area of the present-day border between Montana and Wyoming. Heart Mountain was part of a larger mountain range when the 100 km (62 mile) long ridge somehow became detached from its position and shifted about 100 km to the southwest. This "migrating mountain" has garnered interest from geologists and geophysicists around the world who have tried to solve the mystery behind the largest known instance of land movement on the face of any continent. Dr. Einat Aharonov of the Weizmann Institute's Environmental Sciences and Energy Research Department, working in collaboration with Dr. Mark Anders of Columbia University in New York, recently published a paper in the scientific journal Geology that offers an explanation for the phenomenon.

Aharonov and Ander's explanation is based on dikes - vertical cracks in the rock that fill with hot lava boiling up from deep in the earth. In Heart Mountain, these dikes formed a passage for the lava, three kilometers deep, through the limestone aquifer (a porous, water-soaked layer). There, the sizzling lava would have heated the water to extreme temperatures, causing tremendous fluid pressures. The researchers developed a mathematical model (based on the number of dikes in the mountain and their structure) that allowed them to calculate the temperatures and pressures that would have been created deep within the base of the mountain. The results showed that the infiltrating hot lava would have turned the water in the aquifer layer into a sort of giant pressure cooker, releasing enough force to move Heart Mountain from its original spot to its present site.........

Posted by: Tyler      Permalink         Source

May 16, 2006, 0:07 AM CT

Global Warming May Have Damaged Coral Reefs Forever

Global warming has had a more devastating effect on some of the world's finest coral reefs than previously assumed, suggests the first report to show the long-term impact of sea temperature rise on reef coral and fish communities.

Large sections of coral reefs and much of the marine life they support may be wiped out for good, say the international team of researchers, who surveyed 21 sites and over 50,000 square metres of coral reefs in the inner islands of the Seychelles in 1994 and 2005.

Their report is the first to show the long-term impact of the 1998 event where global warming caused Indian Ocean surface temperatures to increase to unprecedented and sustained levels, killing off (or 'bleaching') more than 90 per cent of the inner Seychelles coral.

The team, led by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and which comprises scientists from the UK, Australia and the Seychelles, publishes its findings today, Monday May 15, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The research showed that, while the 1998 event was devastating in the short term, the main long-term impacts are down to the damaged reefs being largely unable to reseed and recover. A number of simply collapsed into rubble which became covered by unsightly algae.........

Posted by: Tyler      Permalink         Source

May 15, 2006, 11:57 PM CT

A Ruler to Measure the Universe

A team of astronomers led by Nikhil Padmanabhan and David Schlegel has published the largest three-dimensional map of the universe ever constructed, a wedge-shaped slice of the cosmos that spans a tenth of the northern sky, encompasses 600,000 uniquely luminous red galaxies, and extends 5.6 billion light-years deep into space, equivalent to 40 percent of the way back in time to the Big Bang.

Schlegel is a Divisional Fellow in the Physics Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Padmanabhan will join the Lab's Physics Division as a Chamberlain Fellow and Hubble Fellow in September; presently he is at Princeton University. They and their coauthors are members of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and have previously produced smaller 3-D maps by using the SDSS telescope in New Mexico to painstakingly collect the spectra of individual galaxies and calculate their distances by measuring their redshifts.

"What's new about this map is that it's the largest ever," says Padmanabhan, "and it doesn't depend on individual spectra."

The principal motive for creating large-scale 3-D maps is to understand how matter is distributed in the universe, says Padmanabhan. "The brightest galaxies are like lighthouses - where the light is, is where the matter is."........

Posted by: Brooke      Permalink         Source

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