[Jawlist] Weekly Science Report 1-22-10

Sun Jan 24 10:46:35 PST 2010

Weekly Science Report 
January 22, 2010 

“War does not determine who is right - only who is left.” 
Bertrand Russell 

News Articles 

Paleontology, Evolution and Prehistoric Studies 

Feet hold the key to human hand evolution 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8459572.stm 

Genetic Analysis Gives Hope That Extinct Tortoise Species May Live Again 
http://www.physorg.com/news183038977.html 

Lost city of Atlantis 'could be buried in southern Spain' 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/7019522/Lost-city-of-Atlantis-could-be-buried-in-southern-Spain.html 

Dinosaur "Death Pits" Created by Giant's Footprints? 
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/100119-dinosaur-fossil-death-pits-footprints/ 

New theory on the origin of primates 
http://www.physorg.com/news183133249.html 

Giant cattle to be bred back from extinction 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/7011035/Giant-cattle-to-be-bred-back-from-extinction.html 

Darwin's difficult 'Creation' 
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/01/22/2182300.aspx 

Humans were once an endangered species 
http://www.physorg.com/news183278038.html 

Australian giants survived man for a time: study 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100121/sc_nm/us_australia_creatures 

The Naked Truth: Why Humans Have No Fur 
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-naked-truth-why-humans-have-no-fur 

Darwin descendant finds scientist's papers 
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/22/MVNE1BKEBA.DTL&type=science 

Dino extinction brought birds back to earth 
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/3249/dino-extinction-brought-birds-back-earth 

January 19, 2010 
Genome Study Provides a Census of Early Humans 
By NICHOLAS WADE 

From the composition of just two human genomes, geneticists have computed the size of the human population 1.2 million years ago from which everyone in the world is descended. 
They put the number at 18,500 people, but this refers only to breeding individuals, the “effective” population. The actual population would have been about three times as large, or 55,500. 
Comparable estimates for other primates then are 21,000 for chimpanzees and 25,000 for gorillas. In biological terms, it seems, humans were not a very successful species, and the strategy of investing in larger brains than those of their fellow apes had not yet produced any big payoff. Human population numbers did not reach high levels until after the advent of agriculture. 
Geneticists have long known that the ancestors of modern humans numbered as few as 10,000 at some time in the last 100,000 years. The critically low number suggested that some catastrophe, like disease or climate change induced by a volcano, had brought humans close to the brink of extinction. 

If the new estimate is correct, however, human population size has been small and fairly constant throughout most of the last million years, ruling out the need to look for a catastrophe. 
The estimate, reported in the issue on Tuesday of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was made by a team of population geneticists at the University of Utah led by Chad D. Huff and Lynn B. Jorde. 

The human population a million years ago was represented by archaic species like Homo ergaster in Africa and Homo erectus in East Asia. The Utah team says its estimate of 18,500 implies “an unusually small population for a species spread across the entire Old World.” 
But that estimate would apply to the worldwide population only if there were inbreeding between the humans on the different continents. If not, and if modern humans are descended from just one of these populations, like Homo ergaster in Africa, then the estimate would apply only to that. 
Richard G. Klein, a paleoanthropologist at Stanford, said it was hard to believe the population from which modern humans are descended was as small as 18,500 “unless they were geographically restricted to Africa or a small part of it.” 

There is no independent way of assessing a genetics-based estimate of population size at this period, Dr. Klein said, although archaeologists have developed ways of assessing ancient populations of more recent times. 

The Utah team based its estimate on the genetic variation present in two complete human genomes, one prepared by the government’s human genome project and the other by J. Craig Venter, the genome sequencing pioneer. The government decoded a single copy of a mosaic genome derived from a medley of people, apparently of European and Asian origin. Dr. Venter decoded both copies of his own genome, the one inherited from his father and the one from his mother. 

The Utah team thus had three genomes to work with and looked at ancient elements known as Alu insertions, the youngest class of which appeared in the human genome around a million years ago. The amount of variation seen in the DNA immediately surrounding the Alu insertions gave a measure of the size of human population at that time. 

Their estimate agrees almost exactly with an earlier one, also based on Alu insertions but with sparser data. The insertions tag ancient regions of the genome that are unaffected by the recent growth in population, Dr. Huff said. 

Ancient and General History 

Holocaust hangs over pope's visit to Rome synagogue 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100117/wl_afp/vaticanpopejewsrome_20100117183215 

"Is an Eclipse Described in Homer’s Odyssey?" 
http://www.princeton.edu/WebMedia/flash/lectures/20091130_publect_magnasco.shtml 

Now the French Must Prove They're French 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100118/wl_time/08599195338200 

Portrait shows morbid Poe in more flattering terms 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100118/ap_en_ot/us_poe_portrait 

Filipino WWII veterans still waiting for payments 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100118/ap_on_re_us/us_forgotten_veterans 

New light shed on old dispute between Einstein and Bohr 
http://www.physorg.com/news183054425.html 

Manuscript account of Newton's apple made public 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100118/sc_afp/britainsciencehistory_20100118194711 

Pashtun clue to lost tribes of Israel 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/17/israel-lost-tribes-pashtun 

Jan. 15, 1929: Birth of a Moral Compass, Even for Science 
http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/01/0115martin-luther-king-warns 

Lazy, arrogant cowards: how English saw French in 12th century 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7004448/Lazy-arrogant-cowards-how-English-saw-French-in-12th-century.html 

Long-Dead Inventor Nikola Tesla Is Electrifying Hip Techies 
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704362004575000841720318942.html 

Most British men are descended from ancient farmers 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jan/19/british-men-ancient-farmers 

Can Auschwitz Be Saved? 
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Can-Auschwitz-Be-Saved.html 

The Changing Definition of African-American 
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/The-Changing-Definition-of-African-American.html 

Mystery visitor to Poe's grave is a no-show 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_poe_mystery_visitor 

Archaeology 

Ancient Roam 
http://www.croatiantimes.com/news/Around_the_World/2010-01-14/8318/Ancient_Roam 

As state slumbers, volunteers step in to rescue neglected Sanhedrin Tombs 
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1142502.html 

1000-Year-Old Monument with Image of Mayan Ruler Found 
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=35667 

Ancient arrowhead a 'chance find' at Sutherland school 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8461919.stm 

Radiocarbon Daters Tune Up Their Time Machine 
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2010/115/3?rss=1 

Earliest Chinese civilization found in Jiangsu 
http://english.cctv.com/program/newshour/20100116/102226.shtml 

TREASURE FOUND OFF LA MANGA 
http://www.theleader.info/article/21305/spain/costa-calida/treasure-found-off-la-manga/ 

Torrential rains in Cusco damage Inca wall at Sacsayhuamán 
http://enperublog.com/2010/01/14/torrential-rains-in-cusco-damage-inca-wall-at-sacsayhuaman/ 

Swiss Archaeologists: Pictures of Humans Unearthed in Palmyra 
http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/201001184410/Culture/syrian-swiss-archaeologists-pictures-of-humans-unearthed-in-palmyra.html 

Planks may be lost boat's cargo 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8461266.stm 

Tools point to early Cretan arrivals
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article6991643.ece 

Dutch return plundered 4,000-year-old clay tablet to Iraq 
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=4&Article_id=110802 

Century-Old Antarctic Station Shows Warming 
http://news.discovery.com/earth/antarctic-weather-station-warming-ozone.html 

Calakmul: Into the Kingdom of the Serpent's Head 
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/travel/story/1422373.html 

Temple to cat god found in Egypt 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8468803.stm 

Lost Spanish colony may be found 
http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2010-01-19/lost-spanish-colony-may-be-found 

JSU professor: American Indian site is gone 
http://www.annistonstar.com/view/full_story/5616844/article-JSU-professor--American-Indian-site-is-gone?instance=home_lead_story 

Early queen's skeleton 'found in German cathedral' 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8467870.stm 

Chemical analyses uncover secrets of an ancient amphora 
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-01/f-sf-cau012010.php 

Sections of Anahita Temple at Kangavar Destroyed By New Construction 
http://www.cais-soas.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109:sections-of-anahita-temple-at-kangavar-destroyed-by-new-construction-&catid=38 

Evidence suggests some Mexican Indians dug up graves, dismembered bodies and reburied them 
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hgM5YIVqIR6s1WIP_CTrqqq8P-5Q 

Joan of Arc 'Relics' Confirmed to Be Fake 
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/religious-relics-joan-of-arc-forgery.html 

Indigenous pictorial drawing found on Cuban mountain peak 
http://www.cubaheadlines.com/2010/01/19/19738/indigenous_pictorial_drawing_found_cuban_mountain_peak.html 

13,000 Native American artifacts stolen from Southern Illinois refuge 
http://www.bnd.com/breaking_news/story/1095702.html 

Egyptology 

Uncovering Secrets of the Sphinx 
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Uncovering-Secrets-of-the-Sphinx.html

General Science 

Unusual snail shell could be a model for better armor 
http://www.physorg.com/news183047906.html 

S.Korean scientists develop walking robot maid 
http://www.physorg.com/news183022967.html 

The United Nations of science: why we need it 
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527436.000-the-united-nations-of-science-why-we-need-it.html 

Cannon-fired shock wave could stun, kill people 
http://www.physorg.com/news183142646.html 

Electromagnetic Pulse Cannon Has The Attention Of The USAF (w/ Video) 
http://www.physorg.com/news183296601.html 

Researchers suggest new memory storage mineral 
http://www.physorg.com/news183316261.html 

Lockheed's HULC Super-Soldier Exoskeleton Gets More Juice 
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-01/robotic-super-soldier-suit-gets-more-juice 

DARPA's Economic Fix: Run All Industries Like the Semiconductor Industry 
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-01/darpas-economic-fix-make-manufacturing-sector-run-semiconductor-biz 

A Faster Yacht, Trading Sails For a Wing 
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-01/winged-victory 

Physics, Earth and Space Sciences 

Space pilot jobs set to take off 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8458969.stm 

Astrophysicists unwind 'Cold Dark Matter Catastrophe' conundrum 
http://www.physorg.com/news182674516.html 

China launches orbiter for navigation system: state media 
http://www.physorg.com/news182937290.html 

Down to Earth: Gadgets from outer space 
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527431.500-down-to-earth-gadgets-from-outer-space.html 

Has USA hit its final frontier in human space exploration? 
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2010-01-19-space19_CV_N.htm 

Electric Icarus: NASA Designs a One-Man Stealth Plane 
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=nasa-one-man-stealth-plane 

Solar system 'on fire' burned up Earth's carbon 
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527434.400-solar-system-on-fire-burned-up-earths-carbon.html 

NASA's Puffin Is a Stealthy, Personal Tilt-Rotor Aircraft 
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-01/nasas-puffin-aircraft-stealthy-one-man-vtol-aircraft 

Skydiver Felix Baumgartner seeks to break sound barrier 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8475288.stm 

At last, space station crew gets live Internet 
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35014494/ns/technology_and_science-space/ 

A Lawyer's View of the Risk of Black Hole Catastrophe at the LHC 
http://www.physorg.com/news183380986.html 

Microbial Life in Mars Analog Lakes 
http://www.physorg.com/news183386350.html 

Water still has a few secrets to tell 
http://www.physorg.com/news183298688.html 

European space company wants solar power plant in space 
http://www.physorg.com/news183278937.html 

A rare glimpse of the cave of crystals 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8466493.stm 

U.S. Air Force Urgently Seeks Alternatives to GPS 
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-01/us-air-force-urgently-seeks-alternatives-gps 

Private Space Stations Edge Closer to Reality 
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/private-space-stations-bigelow-100120.html 

Environment, Climate Change and Alternative Energy Sources 

World leaders make new call for clean energy commitments 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100118/sc_afp/uaeenergyenvironment_20100118174400 

From the Ancient Amazonian Indians: 'Biochar' as a Modern Weapon Against Global Warming 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100113172252.htm 

Scorpion Venom Tapped as Pesticide 
http://news.discovery.com/animals/scorpion-venom-pesticides.html 

The Wilder View: Incredible scenes inside a fusion plant 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1242869/THE-WIDER-VIEW-Incredible-scenes-inside-fusion-plant.html 

Cave Reveals Southwest's Abrupt Climate Swings During Ice Age 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100120161243.htm 

Sunflower DNA map could yield fuel 
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35010657/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/ 

Using supercomputers to explore nuclear energy (w/ Video) 
http://www.physorg.com/news183389151.html 

Why Hasn't Earth Warmed as Much as Expected? 
http://www.physorg.com/news183142998.html 

Engineers find significant environmental impacts with algae-based biofuel 
http://www.physorg.com/news183301828.html 

Wind Turbines Leave Clouds and Energy Inefficiency in Their Wake 
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-01/wind-turbines-leave-clouds-and-energy-inefficiency-their-wake 

Biological, Genetics and Medical Sciences 

Artificial Muscles May Help Save Eyesight 
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/18/tech/main6112235.shtml?tag=cbsnewsLeadStoriesAreaMain;cbsnewsLeadStoriesSecondary 

Woman Gets Transplanted Windpipe That Was Grown in Her Arm 
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/01/15/woman-gets-transplanted-windpipe-that-was-grown-in-her-arm/ 

'Jekyll and Hyde' cell may hold key to muscular dystrophy, fibrosis treatment 
http://www.physorg.com/news183034702.html 

Studies demonstrate link among Alzheimer's disease, Down syndrome and atherosclerosis 
http://www.physorg.com/news182845260.html 

Scientists Grow Working Neurons From Stem Cells 
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122857719 

Human running speed of 35-40 mph may be biologically possible 
http://www.physorg.com/news183375827.html 

An organic transistor paves the way for new generations of neuro-inspired computers 
http://www.physorg.com/news183373216.html 

High-resolution gene technique zooms in on superbug 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100121/sc_nm/us_superbug_mrsa 

Artificial Organs Made With A Printer, Grown From Scratch- vIDEO 
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-01/video-artificial-organs-made-printer-grown-scratch 

Other 

The final chemistry frontier 
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/54213/title/The_final_chemistry_frontier 

Body With 'Very Long' Fingers Discovered On Plum Island 
http://www.wpix.com/news/local/wpix-human-body-found-plum-island,0,5592896.story 

U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes 
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-military-weapons-inscribed-secret-jesus-bible-codes/story?id=9575794 

Study: Animals populated Madagascar by rafting there 
http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2010/100119HuberMadagascar.html 

Dolphins: Second-smartest animals? 
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35013555/ns/technology_and_science-science/ 

Let Slime Mold Pick the Route
http://news.discovery.com/tech/let-slime-mold-pick-the-route.html 

Exolanguage: do you speak alien? 
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527441.300-exolanguage-do-you-speak-alien.html 

Gorillas 'ape humans' over games 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8474358.stm 

January 10, 2010 
Origin of the Species, From an Alien View 
By COREY KILGANNON 

WHERE did humankind come from? 

If you’re going to ask Zecharia Sitchin, be ready for a “Planet of the Apes” scenario: spaceships and hieroglyphics, genetic mutations and mutinous space aliens in gold mines. 

It sounds like science fiction, but Mr. Sitchin is sure this is how it all went down hundreds of thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia. Humans were genetically engineered by extraterrestrials, he said, pointing to ancient texts to prove it. 

In Mr. Sitchin’s Upper West Side kitchen, evolution and creationism collide. He is an apparently sane, sharp, University of London-educated 89-year-old who has spent his life arguing that people evolved with a little genetic intervention from ancient astronauts who came to Earth and needed laborers to mine gold to bring back to Nibiru, a planet we have yet to recognize. 
Outlandish, yes, but also somehow intriguing from this cute, distinguished old man whom you may have seen shuffling slowly down Broadway with his cane, and thought, “Is Art Carney still alive?” 

So you bring your laptop to his kitchen table, as if to take dictation, and ask what to write about him. He pads slowly to the stove and puts on the kettle. 
“Well, you could start by calling me the most controversial 89-year-old man in New York,” Mr. Sitchin says. “Or you could just say I write books. I understand you’ve got to have an opening sentence, but describing my theories in a sentence, or even something like a newspaper article, is impossible. It will make me look silly.” 

Mr. Sitchin has been called silly before — by scientists, historians and archaeologists who dismiss his theories as pseudoscience and fault their underpinnings: his translations of ancient texts and his understanding of physics. And yet, he has a devoted following of readers. 
His 13 books, with names like “Genesis Revisited” and “The Earth Chronicles,” have sold millions of copies and been translated into 25 languages. “And Albanian is coming,” he notes, spooning the Taster’s Choice into two mugs. 

Mr. Sitchin himself represents a remarkable feat of urban evolution that often goes unnoticed. He lives alone, in the sprawling prewar apartment he has inhabited for 54 years, maintaining his independence by relying on the infrastructure many Manhattanites take for granted. 

He works away on his latest book, answers fan mail, and at midday, reaches for his cane, floppy hat and overcoat, and rides the elevator down from the second floor to the lobby. The doorman hails him a cab for the $4 ride to a nearby diner, Cafe Eighty Two on Broadway, for the lunch special, the chicken gyro, where there are other elderly people doing the same. 

The Upper West Side is Mr. Sitchin’s Mesopotamia, Broadway a fertile valley. He has Lincoln Center, Zabar’s, Fairway, dry cleaners that deliver and a galaxy of take-out restaurants. For research, the New York Public Library is down on 42nd Street, and the archives of the Jewish Theological Seminary up on Broadway at 122nd Street. 

“In Florida, if you don’t have a car, you might as well lay down and die,” he said. “I’ve been all over the Western world and I know of no other place where an older person like myself can survive on his own. I raise my hand, and my chauffeured car — a yellow cab — takes me anywhere. I can call any restaurant or store and get what I need delivered in minutes.” 
He slides over a cup of coffee in a mug with a 30th anniversary logo for “The Twelfth Planet,” his seminal first book, now in its 45th printing. It stated his basic theory, based largely on his reading of texts preserved on clay tablets from the pre-Babylonian era in ancient Mesopotamia, the so-called cradle of the civilization of Sumer. 

Born in Russia and raised in Israel, Mr. Sitchin studied economics in London and worked as a journalist and editor in Israel before moving to New York in 1952. Here, he was an executive at a shipping company and, with his wife of 66 years (she died in 2007), raised two daughters. He spent his free time studying, leading archaeological tours to ancient sites and spreading his unusual gospel. 

Starting in childhood, he has studied ancient Hebrew, Akkadian and Sumerian, the language of the ancient Mesopotamians, who brought you geometry, astronomy, the chariot and the lunar calendar. And in the etchings of Sumerian pre-cuneiform script — the oldest example of writing — are stories of creation and the cosmos that most consider myth and allegory, but that Mr. Sitchin takes literally. 

In his kitchen, Mr. Sitchin pulled two Danish out of a Zabar’s bag and began to explain. It starts with the planet Nibiru, whose long, elliptical orbit brings it near Earth once every 3,600 years or so. The planet’s inhabitants were technologically advanced humanlike beings, Mr. Sitchin said, standing about nine feet tall. Some 450,000 years ago, they detected reserves of gold in southeast Africa and made a colonial expedition to Earth, splashing down in what is now the Persian Gulf. 

Mr. Sitchin said these Nibiru-ites recruited laborers from Earth’s erect primates to build eight great cities. Enki, who became the Sumerians’ god of science, bestowed some of the Nibiru-ites’ advanced genetic makeup upon these bipeds so they could work as miners. 

This is how Mr. Sitchin explains what scientists attribute to evolution. He says the aliens’ cities were washed away in a great flood 30,000 years ago, after which they began passing on their knowledge to humans. He showed a photograph of a woodcarving from 7,000 B.C. of a large man handing over a plow to a smaller man: Ah, the passing on of agricultural knowledge. Anyway, he said, the Nibiru-ites finally jetted home in their spacecraft, around 550 B.C. 
“This is in the texts; I’m not making it up,” Mr. Sitchin said, finishing his coffee. “They wanted to create primitive workers from the homo erectus and give him the genes to allow him to think and use tools.” 

He showed photographs of ancient Sumerian carvings and etchings showing what he said were alien gods dressed in space helmets and suits. He pointed to something he called Nibiru in diagrams of the solar system. 

Quite a theory — has he sold it to Hollywood? 

“Oh no, not yet,” he said solemnly. “I’m waiting for Spielberg.” 

Additional Informational 

12th English language issue of Oś — the Auschwitz Memorial Magazine 
http://en.auschwitz.org.pl/m/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=729&Itemid=7 

100 Percent Renewable? One Danish Island Experiments with Clean Power (Photo Gallery) 
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=samso-attempts-100-percent-renewable-power 

Photos: Queen's Cat Goddess Temple Found in Egypt 
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/photogalleries/100121-cat-temple-egypt-pictures/#025655_600x450.jpg 

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