The controversial discovery of 68-million-year-old soft tissue from the bones of a Tyrannosaurus rex finally has a physical explanation. According to new research, iron in the dinosaur’s body preserved the tissue before it could decay.
The research, headed by Mary Schweitzer, a molecular paleontologist at North Carolina State University, explains how proteins — and possibly even DNA — can survive millennia. Schweitzer and her colleagues first raised this question in 2005, when they found the seemingly impossible: soft tissue preserved inside the leg of an adolescent T. rex unearthed in Montana.
Roundup
Giant, Multi-topic News Dump
Critter News
- Innovations Inspired by Animals – MAR 25, 2013 09:44 AM ET // BY JENNIFER VIEGAS
- Two-Headed Shark Fetus Netted by Fisherman – MAR 25, 2013 03:00 PM ET // BY DOUGLAS MAIN, OURAMAZINGPLANET
- Creature With Seven Sexes Plays DNA Roulette – MAR 26, 2013 05:00 PM ET // BY JENNIFER VIEGAS
- Top 10 Animal Mysteries and Myths Explained – MAR 28, 2013 02:30 PM ET // BY JENNIFER VIEGAS
General News
- Science Supports Gay Parents – MAR 28, 2013 07:00 AM // DISCOVERY NEWS
- April Fools 2013: Top 3 Hoaxes in Science – APR 1, 2013 07:00 AM // DISCOVERY NEWS
- Why Did Old-Time Announcers Talk That Way? – APR 5, 2013 06:00 AM ET // BY GLENN MCDONALD
Internet Bigfooting
- Dr. Anna Nekaris on Ketchum Sasquatch DNA Study – MAR 1, 2013 // CRAIG WOOLHEATER
- Melba Ketchum’s Future Research Plans – MAR 4, 2013 // CRAIG WOOLHEATER
- Animal Legal Defense Fund Sues to Stop Texas Bigfoot Hunt – APR 1, 2013 // CRAIG WOOLHEATER
The Heroic Beavers of Salt Lake City
(IMAGE: The North American beaver, Castor canadensis (Stevehdc, Wikimedia Commons)
A Pair of North American Beavers are responsible for preventing an 8000-gallon diesel fuel spill from reaching the reservoir in Willard Bay State Park, which supplies Salt Lake City with water on the 19th of March, 2013. Both animals were soaked with the toxic fuel but recovered in the local Wildlife Rehabilitation Center according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
As of the 27th of March the pair were making good progress. They have been joined by a third beaver who was found sludge covered but is recovering well alongside the original pair, who are suspected to be siblings. They are all suspected to be orphans, as they are yearlings and beavers of this age group frequently live with their parents, but no adult beavers have been sighted at the spill site.
Sources
- Heroic Beavers Save Salt Lake City – MAR 21, 2013 10:09 AM ET // BY TIM WALL
- Salt Lake City’s Beaver Heroes Now Orphans – MAR 27, 2013 01:05 PM ET // BY TIM WALL
Undoing Extinction. Is it Possible?
Recently, it came to my attention that National Geographic decided to host a Tedx on De-extinction. This is pretty cool. I’ll start getting into the videos, so this is going to turn into series, I’m sure, as I watch and discuss the various videos as they come down.
Sure, the science isn’t yet pointed at Jurassic Park (we need more recently dead animals for revival to be an option. To this day no amount of verifiable dino DNA has been located). Species of more recent times have specimens available on the shelves of museums as we speak, making DNA retrieval possible! DNA from a tasmanian tiger pup has been recovered and tested (using mice) as viable.
This fascinating bit of potential science has a few problems. It starts with the broad “playing god” complaint and goes down to the more practical “these animals went extinct in the wild. Where will we put them and how will we keep them safe?”. Hopefully the Tedx will discuss and explore this in more detail than the article I read from Discovery News.
Internet Bigfooting: March’s Evidence & TruTV’s Opinions…
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THE EVIDENCE
It’s spring. Spring means some new Squatch Photos. I have two images I specifically want to talk about, simply becuase they’re either typical of a spring bigfoot photo, or they’re incredibly unusual. I’m going to start with the typical one.
Check out how blurry that one is. And it gets even worse when you make the picture bigger. This is very typical of a spring Squatch photo. People arn’t used to seeing the area, and things change over the course of the winter. This could be a rotting stump for all we know, the image isn’t clear enough to tell anything save it’s a large, amorphous black shape. And, there is no higher resolution on this image (You can visit Cryptomundo for more on the sighting).
The second one escapes the common problem of the “Blobsquatch” effect. It’s a bit dark, and a bit blurry, but it isn’t a quantifiable blobsquatch. You can see some definition. But still, it’s blurry. And it’s impossible to tell anything definitive from it.
The only problem is that it’s so blurry I can’t even rule out photoshop, let alone the creature really being a person in a suit. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. If this image was part of a set of images with at least one or two super-clear ones, it would be much more compelling. Instead it’s a lone blurry image and means nothing to science. See the evidence yourself at Cryptomundo.
It really is sad. With all the cameras around, why is the evidence getting worse, not better?
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TruTV Says…
TruTV’s Blogger Norma Lee Jennings seems to think that Bigfoot will be found soon. She gives 5 reasons, and I’d like to talk about them in some detail.
- Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot
I do have to admit that it gets attention for the field and the research. I just wish they spent longer in a single places and actually dug in to do some real science. But the show is focused on entertainment (and I have to admit, I adore Bobo) rather than the science… Too bad it should be the other way around if they want to do anything useful with what they do… - Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization’s Expeditions
Because screaming in the woods makes wildlife comfortable? Because charging people to come out and help you with science is normal? These expeditions find tracks, and hear the occasional call. They don’t generally experience actual sightings of the animals they claim are all around them. Do better science, don’t do commercial “science”. - Sharon Lee Lomurno’s Kickstarter Campaign
Because a night here and there is good science? No. It’s not. Good science is a long term study of an area that lets the wildlife get used to you so that your mere presence stops interfering with your research. A random trip across the country will just mean it’s like the Finding Bigfoot people. Expeditions to short to do more than provide an initial survey of an area. Buckle down and do some real research on a specific spot if you’re interested in actually trying, people! - Professor Jeffrey Meldrum’s Blimp
Meldrum is at least trying to do science to find bigfoot. and if he was going to be found… This would be… a Start. Too bad Bigfoot are purported to live in thickly forested areas in which a blimp’s ability to see would be badly hampered. - Melba Ketchum’s Scientific Study
There are a few points on Ketchum’s paper (I’ve talked about a few of them here and here), so putting it on a list of reasons things might be found is a bad idea. Ketchum’s paper can’t even provide good provenance on most of the DNA samples, let alone verify a single one to be specifically anything. The fact that Katchum had to buy a journal to publish her paper means her paper didn’t pass actual scientific scrutiny. Ketchum’s paper isn’t evidence. It quotes hoaxes as facts. It’s faulty.
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Secret Yellowstone Adventures!
Since I don’t have a great deal of time today, I’m just going to urge you to visit Discovery News and check out this awesome article!
7 Super-Secret Yellowstone Back Country Adventures
Critter News Roundup Vol.3: (Bad) Conservation News…
This was almost a special edition, but then I decided that it would be much better labeled a Critter news roundup because the whole thing DOES have a critter theme. It also, however, has a depressing conservation theme.
- Switzerland’s Only Bear Killed Amid Threat Fears – FEB 25, 2013 08:30 AM ET // BY AFP
The bear was “culled” in accordance with the management plan for bears in Switzerland (which i’m going to assume is “No bears aloud”). The bear was going to be a potential danger, but what I don’t understand is why death was the option they decided to try when relocation hadn’t even been experimented with. This was an irresponsible management of a rare animal. -
Africa ‘Hemmorhaging Elephants’ at Record Rate – MAR 4, 2013 05:00 PM ET // BY JENNIFER VIEGAS
In the past decade 62% of elephants have been killed for Ivory. The article goes over why the African Forest Elephant might be extinct within the next decade. This important umbrella species needs to be protected to protect other species! - 100 Million Sharks Killed Each Year – MAR 5, 2013 05:45 AM ET // BY MEGAN GANNON, LIVE SCIENCE
Research indicates that 1 in 15 sharks is killed each year by fisheries. As economic prosperity in eastern countries grow the demand for these shark body parts grows. As apex predators sharks are slow breeders and continued fishing at this rate could be disastrous.
News Roundup Special Edition: Controlling Things
Today’s news Roundup is another special Edition. Today’s Theme? Control.
- The Male Birth Control You’ve Never Heard Of – FEB 21, 2013 08:00 AM // DISCOVERY NEWS
Vasicgel. It gets injected into the ducty thing. It’s being tested. And no man is ever going to get behind this stuff. Women are screwed. - Is It Harder to Get Guns in Other Countries? – FEB 21, 2013 10:01 AM ET // BY TALAL AL-KHATIB
I’m just going to let the article speak for itself, because it discusses all sorts of numbers and rations and things I wish I understood better… - Would Gun Control Reduce Suicides? – FEB 27, 2013 01:40 PM ET // BY TALAL AL-KHATIB
This is another article that talks lots of numbers, and you should simply read and consider them.
News Roundup Special Edition: Underwater Awesome
Another day, another roundup of interesting news. Because I apparently have nothing better to do with my life than read the news.
- High Tech Helps Protect Whales – FEB 25, 2013 09:40 AM ET // BY AFP
In an effort to improve human understanding of whales, new tracking devices are being deployed to help us learn what they’re up to and where they go in the ocean. - James Cameron Deep-Sea Dive Reveals New Species – FEB 25, 2013 11:00 AM ET // BY DOUGLAS MAIN, OURAMAZINGPLANET
Last year Cameron and his crew acquired hours of video footage at the bottom of the Pacific ocean. A student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography UC San Diego suspects there is at least one new species: a Sea Cucumber. Other new finds are coming to light in addition to this one. - Lost Continent Discovered Beneath Indian Ocean – FEB 25, 2013 01:15 PM ET // BY TIM WALL
A sliver of lost land that was once geographically pinned between Madagascar and India (prior to the complete breakup of the continents long ago) was recently discovered by science due to a volcano’s eruption brining bits of the land mass to the surface. - Shark Relative Had Buzz Saw Mouth – FEB 26, 2013 07:00 PM ET // BY JENNIFER VIEGAS
Do I even have to say anything? How about a picture:
News Roundup Special Edition: Combustibles (and a Ghost)
Sometimes… Things catch on fire…
- Fires sparked by hand sanitizers? – February 19, 2013 // By idoubtit
Flaming children at hospitals. The only positive so far: There are worse places in which to burst into flame. Hospitals still use the alcohol based hand sanitizers, which are far more flammable than the more commonly used by pedestrians like us non-alcohol ones. It’s suspected that the hand sanitizer and static electricity are at the root of this one. - Oklahoma Sheriff surprised by fire victim, considers spontaneous human combustion (UPDATE: not spontaneous) – February 19, 2013 // By idoubtit
The case is a classic example of what’s commonly called Spontaneous Human Combustion (SCH). There are, however, no proven cases of SHC. Many cases appear to be wick-effect incinerations. As in many of the not-so-spontaneous cases, this victim was both a smoker and a heavy drinker, leaving the SHC possibility in doubt.
Yes. This is only two stories and I normally do at least three, but I wanted badly to talk about these fire stories and didn’t have a good third. Have a fake ghost instead.
- The CCTV camera “ghost” [fake] – February 26, 2013 // By snoma
That’s right. Fires and fake ghosts. I could fake a better video than this… I wonder if any of my friends would take up the challenge with me…