Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew, consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors maggiejean, wader, Man Oh Man, side pocket, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir, Bentliberal, Oke, jlms qkw, Interceptor7, and ScottyUrb, guest editors annetteboardman and Doctor RJ, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, health, energy, and the environment.
Between now and the general election, Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday will highlight the research stories from the public universities in states with competitive contests for the U.S. Senate and Governor. Competitive states will be determined based on the percentage chance to win at Daily Kos Election Outlook. Those that show the two major party candidates having probabilities to win between 20% and 80% inclusive will count as competitive states. According to the latest diary entry using this tag, the states with competitive races for the U.S. Senate are Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, and New Hampshire, and the states with competitive races for Governor include Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.
Tonight's edition features the research and outreach stories from Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
This week's featured story comes from Reuters and The Guardian, hat/tip to annetteboardman.
Traveler from Liberia is first Ebola patient diagnosed in U.S. By Julie Steenhuysen and Sharon Begley on Tue Sep 30, 2014 11:11pm EDT.
A man who flew from Liberia to Texas has become the first patient infected with the deadly Ebola virus to be diagnosed in the United States, health officials said on Tuesday, a sign the outbreak ravaging West Africa may spread globally.
The patient sought treatment six days after arriving in Texas on Sept. 20, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told reporters. He was admitted two days later to an isolation room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.
U.S. health officials and lawmakers have been bracing for the eventuality that a patient would arrive on U.S. shores undetected, testing the preparedness of the nation's healthcare system. On Tuesday, Frieden and other health authorities said they were taking every step possible to ensure the virus did not spread widely.
"It is certainly possible someone who had contact with this individual could develop Ebola in the coming weeks," Frieden told a news conference. "I have no doubt we will stop this in its tracks in the United States."
Ebola isn’t the big one. So what is? And are we ready for it?
Humanity is locked in a millennia-old battle to the death with diseases. The current outbreak of Ebola reminds us that as our cities get bigger and international travel easier, the risks in an outbreak grow even higher
Nicky Woolf in New York
Friday 3 October 2014
The Black Death swept into Europe on boats from the East in the 14th century, killing as much as half the population of the continent, somewhere between 75 and 200 million people worldwide.
The Spanish flu of 1918, carried around the world by soldiers bound for or returning from the butchery of Europe’s battlegrounds, killed between 50 and 100 million people – many more than died in the First World War itself, and maybe more than have died in any war.
More stories after the jump.
Recent Science Diaries and Stories
Spotlight on green news & views: A real climate 'movement,' marching for rhinos and elephants today
by Meteor Blades
Psychiatry: First, Do no Harm
by StargazerNC
The Money Behind GMO Science, Part 1
by edg
I include all science diaries, even the bad ones.
Rhino
by palantir
This week in science: Mysteries in the Mist
by DarkSyde
Slideshows/Videos
The Guardian: A spacewalk selfie, the Giant Squid Nebula and an origami solar array – in pictures
This month’s roundup of the best space-related imagery in the known universe includes a dramatic solar flare, a cosmonaut’s selfie and an improbable marriage between technology and the ancient Japanese art of paper-folding
LiveScience: Mummified Fetus Discovered in Italy (Photos)
By Agata Blaszczak-Boxe, Live Science Contributor
The mummified body of a 29-week-old fetus from more than 100 years ago has been discovered in Italy. The remains, which were found along with other human bodies from the 19th century or earlier, were revealed after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake occurred in the area. The mummy shows signs of an ancient surgical procedure that doctors carried out while the fetus was in the womb, the researchers said. Their study is detailed in the Aug. 12, 2014, issue of the International Journal of Osteoarcheology. Here's a look at the mummy and site where the remains were found.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Colorado State University: CSU goes to bat for threatened species
by Jeff Dodge
3 Oct, 2014
From vampire movies to rabies, bats have gotten a bad rap over the years. But they play a critical role in the ecosystem — and a fungus spreading west from the East Coast is threatening them.
White Nose Syndrome has decimated more than 5 million “little brown bats” in the eastern United States since it was identified in New York in 2006, and it has now progressed as far west as Missouri. Losing bats doesn’t just mean having to swat more annoying mosquitos, it represents a threat to agricultural industries, since bats are crucial for controlling pests that target crops.
In preparation for the anticipated arrival of the fungus in our state, the Colorado Natural Heritage Program at Colorado State University, in partnership with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, is conducting surveys of the state’s little brown bats so that scientists can detect any declines in that population caused by White Nose Syndrome.
Georgia Tech: Researchers create software for Google Glass that provides captions for hard-of-hearing users
October 2, 2014
A team of Georgia Institute of Technology researchers has created speech-to-text software for Google Glass that helps hard-of-hearing users with everyday conversations. A hard-of-hearing person wears Glass while a second person speaks directly into a smartphone. The speech is converted to text, sent to Glass and displayed on its heads-up display.
Georgia Tech: Lift weights, improve your memory
Study finds that one short bout of resistance exercise can enhance episodic memory
Posted September 30, 2014 | Atlanta, GA
Here’s another reason why it’s a good idea to hit the gym: it can improve memory. A new Georgia Institute of Technology study shows that an intense workout of as little as 20 minutes can enhance episodic memory, also known as long-term memory for previous events, by about 10 percent in healthy young adults.
Discovery News: Climate Change Is Affecting Earth’s Gravity!
Climate change is changing the Earth in more ways than we could’ve imagined! Join Amy as she discusses how the ice sheets melting is changing gravity on Earth!
Discovery News: Why Are Peanut Allergies Becoming So Common?
Peanut allergies are becoming more and more common, and researchers are trying to find the cause. Trace is here to discuss this unique allergy, and how we might have finally found a cure.
NASA: Orion moved at Kennedy Space Center on This Week @NASA
On Sept. 28, NASA’s Orion spacecraft was moved from Kennedy Space Center’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility to its Launch Abort System Facility, for installation of its launch abort system, one of the many critical safety systems that will be evaluated during Orion’s un-crewed Exploration Flight Test -1, in December. NASA’s new deep space capsule is being developed to safely transport astronauts to and from Mars and other destinations on future missions. Also, Delta IV Heavy moved to the launch pad, U.S. spacewalks previewed, NASA and India to discuss joint exploration, Helicopter safety crash test, Combined Federal Campaign underway and Stop, Think, Connect!
JPL: What's Up for October 2014
What's Up for October? A lunar eclipse, a solar eclipse and Mars has a close encounter with a comet.
Discovery News: How Loud Are Rocket Launches?
When a rocket launches, it creates a ton of sound! How do we stop the sound from causing hearing damage and knocking down buildings? Trace is joined by Amy Shira Teitel to discuss.
Discovery News: How Fast Are You Moving Through The Universe?
Even when you are sitting completely still, you are still moving extremely fast! Trace thought it would be fun to figure out just how fast we are all moving!
Astronomy/Space
The Guardian: Rift valleys rewrite moon’s fiery history
The discovery of rift valleys for the first time on the moon challenges conventional wisdom about our neighbour’s evolution
Ian Sample, science editor
A giant plain on the nearside of the moon is bordered by ancient rift valleys that acted as a “magma plumbing system” for the region’s volcanoes billions of years ago, scientists say.
Researchers had thought that a rocky ridge around the 3,200km-wide plain, named the Ocean of Storms, was the edge of an enormous impact basin created when an asteroid crashed into the moon.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
University of Wisconsin: Physicist turns smartphones into pocket cosmic ray detectors
by Terri Devitt
October 1, 2014
Soon, the growing capability of your smartphone could be harnessed to detect cosmic rays in much the same way as high-end, multimillion-dollar observatories.
With a simple app addition, Android phones, and likely other smartphone brands in the not-too-distant future, can be turned into detectors to capture the light particles created when cosmic rays crash into Earth’s atmosphere.
“The apps basically transform the phone into a high-energy particle detector,” explains Justin Vandenbroucke, a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor of physics and a researcher at the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center (WIPAC). “It uses the same principles as these very large experiments.”
Climate/Environment
Red Orbit: Dog Waste Contaminates Our Waterways: New Test Could Reveal How Big The Problem Is
Michael Bernstein, American Chemical Society
Americans love their dogs, but they don’t always love to pick up after them. And that’s a problem. Dog feces left on the ground wash into waterways, sometimes carrying bacteria — including antibiotic-resistant strains — that can make people sick. Now scientists have developed a new genetic test to figure out how much dogs are contributing to this health concern, according to a report in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology
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LiveScience: Cargo Ship Makes 1st-Ever Solo Trip Through Northwest Passage
By Becky Oskin, Senior Writer
Another Arctic milestone was reached this week when a cargo ship fortified against ice completed a solo trip through the hazardous Northwest Passage.
The MV Nunavik, owned by shipping firm Fednav and built in Japan, left Canada's Deception Bay on Sept. 19 and rounded Alaska's Point Barrow on Tuesday (Sept. 30). The Nunavik is the first cargo ship to sail through the Northwest Passage without an escort from icebreakers, Fednav said.
The polar route to the port of Bayuquan, China, is about 40 percent shorter than the route through the Panama Canal, according to Fednav. Through fuel savings, the company expects to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions during the voyage by about 1,300 metric tons (1,430 tons).
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Colorado State University: Professor worked on controversial population model
by Kortny Rolston
3 Oct, 2014
To say Bailey Fosdick’s latest scientific paper is causing a stir would be an understatement.
The CSU statistics professor helped develop a new model for the United Nations that projects the Earth’s population will increase by 2100 – not level off as many demographers have predicted.
Fosdick worked on the statistical model as a graduate student at the University of Washington, and co-authored a paper about the project, which recently appeared in the journal Science. BaileyFosdick
Since then, the model – and its predictions – have made headlines around the world and ignited discussion among the scientific community about the team’s methods.
Biodiversity
Red Orbit: Monarch Butterfly’s Endurance During Migration Is Due To A Single Gene
April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Each year, millions of monarch butterflies set off on their 3,000-mile migration, taking them from as far north as Canada to the California coast and Mexican forests. Though there are species of Monarch butterflies throughout the world, only those in North America undertake such a miraculous migration.
Scientists have been trying to understand what drives the monarch butterfly to migrate such a long distance, especially since the butterfly that starts the migration is not the same butterfly that will finish it. In fact, the migration takes four generations of butterflies to complete the cycle; three to make it to the wintering location in Mexico, and one to fly back North.
The University of Georgia contributed to this study, as publicized in
Genetic analysis reveals surprises about the monarch butterfly.
PLoS via Science Daily: Study shows how chimpanzees share skills: Evidence of new behavior being transmitted socially
September 30, 2014
Biologists have found evidence of new behavior being adopted and transmitted socially from one individual to another within a wild chimpanzee community. This is the first instance of social learning recorded in the wild.
Evidence of new behaviour being adopted and transmitted socially from one individual to another within a wild chimpanzee community is publishing on September 30 in the open access journal PLOS Biology. This is the first instance of social learning recorded in the wild.
Scientists from University of St Andrews, University of Neuchâtel, Anglia Ruskin University, and Université du Quebec studied the spread of two novel tool-use behaviours among the Sonso chimpanzee community living in Uganda's Budongo Forest. Dr Catherine Hobaiter, Lecturer in Psychology at the University of St Andrews, said: "researchers have been fascinated for decades by the differences in behaviour between chimpanzee communities; some use tools some don't, some use different tools for the same job. These behavioural variations have been described as 'cultural', which in human terms would mean they spread when one individual learns from another; but in most cases they're long established and it's hard to know how they originally spread within a group. We were incredibly lucky to be in the right place at the right time to document the appearance and spread of two novel tool-use behaviours, something that is extraordinarily rare in the wild."
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
University of Colorado: Stunning variety of microbes in Central Park soils mirrors global microbial diversity
October 1, 2014
Soil microbes that thrive in the deserts, rainforests, prairies and forests of the world can also be found living beneath New York City’s Central Park, according to a surprising new study led by Colorado State University and the University of Colorado Boulder.
The research team analyzed 596 soil samples collected from across Central Park’s 843 acres and discovered a stunning diversity of below-ground life, most of which had never been documented before.
Only 8.5 percent to 16.2 percent of the organisms discovered in the park soils, depending on their type, had been previously entered into existing databases that describe microbial life, according to the study results published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Colorado State University also contributed to this research, as documented in
Microbes in Central Park soil: If they can make it there, they can make it anywhere.
Biotechnology/Health
The Guardian: HIV pandemic originated in Kinshasa in the 1920s, say scientists
Thriving city with multiple transport links and influx of male labourers made it perfect incubator for pandemic strain of HIV
Ian Sample, science editor
A “perfect storm” of urban change that began in 1920s Kinshasa led to the catastrophic spread of HIV across Africa and into the wider world, according to scientists who used genetic sequencing and historical records to trace the origins of the pandemic.
Though the virus probably crossed from chimpanzees to humans in southern Cameroon years earlier, HIV remained a regional infection until it entered the capital of what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
From the 1920s until 1960, the pandemic HIV strain – there were others that fizzled out – spread from Kinshasa, crossed borders to other nations, and ultimately landed on distant continents. It has infected nearly 75 million people worldwide to date.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
University of Colorado: Novel technology used to make restorative dental material developed at CU-Boulder
October 1, 2014
A novel dental restorative material that should make life easier for dental care experts and their patients, which is based on technology developed by a team of University of Colorado Boulder engineers, was unveiled today by the 3M Company.
Based on work by a team led by Professor Christopher Bowman of CU-Boulder’s chemical and biological engineering department, a team from 3M ESPE developed the new polymer, which makes it possible for dentists to fill cavities with a single application that is then cured with light to achieve the desired strength and shape. Currently it can take up to four applications of polymer material, with each layer requiring an individual light-curing procedure, to fill a single, deep-tooth cavity, said Bowman.
The new restorative material also eliminates expensive dispensing devices, according to 3M ESPE, part of 3M Health, a business group of 3M based in St. Paul, Minn. And unlike some composite cavity-filling materials used today that can shrink or even leak at the surface of a tooth over time, the new material has been shown to have lower stress and to be more wear resistant over time.
Colorado State University: Researcher conceives new cow pregnancy test
by Jeff Dodge
2 Oct, 2014
As a young man working on his family ranch, Colorado State University reproductive scientist Thomas “Tod” Hansen checked cattle for pregnancy using conventional rectal palpation – a routine and inexpensive method that can be stressful for cows and physically demanding for technicians.
There’s got to be a better way, he thought.
Hansen, now director of the highly regarded CSU Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology Laboratory, has become a leading scientist working to understand the dynamics of livestock pregnancies at the molecular level. He also is leading new discoveries in the economically devastating bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), in part because of links between cattle pregnancy and viral infection.
University of Florida: UF/IFAS researcher continues quest for peanut that won't cause allergic reaction
September 29, 2014
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- A University of Florida scientist has moved one step closer to his goal of eliminating 99.9 percent of peanut allergens by removing 80 percent of them in whole peanuts.
Scientists must eliminate peanut allergens below a certain threshold for patients to be safe, said Wade Yang, an assistant professor in food science and human nutrition and member of UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
If Yang can cut the allergens from 150 milligrams of protein per peanut to below 1.5 milligrams, 95 percent of those with peanut allergies would be safe. It’s challenging to eliminate all peanut allergens, he said, because doing so may risk destroying peanuts’ texture, color, flavor and nutrition. But he said he’s using novel methods like pulsed light to reach an allergen level that will protect most people.
University of Georgia: UGA researchers experiment with new uses for nutritious peanut skins
September 29, 2014
Athens, Ga. - The United States grows about 3 million metric tons of peanuts per year and uses 60 percent of that amount to make nearly 1.2 billion pounds of peanut butter. Before the legumes are ground to a spreadable consistency, machines first shake off each peanut's thin, papery skin. The skins are then thrown away.
A new study from the University of Georgia published in the journal LWT - Food Science and Technology has found a way to incorporate peanut skins—which are high in antioxidants and dietary fiber—back into peanut butter.
Ruthann Swanson, an associate professor in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences department of foods and nutrition, is leading the team of UGA researchers who found that peanut skins can be incorporated into traditional peanut butter with potentially surprising results.
University of Iowa: UI study finds visiting clinics make cancer care more accessible to rural Iowans
By: Tom Snee
2014.10.03 | 12:06 PM
A decade-old change in Medicare reimbursement policy for chemotherapy drugs has actually increased rural Iowan’s access to cancer care, according to a new study from the University of Iowa.
However, the study found that increase was due to the number of days that oncologists spend in rural outreach clinics, not by an increase in the number of clinics themselves.
The study tracked changes in the number of visiting consultant clinics (VCCs) for oncology services in Iowa, and how many days oncologists staffed those clinics. VCCs are clinics in small towns or rural areas that aren’t large enough to maintain a full-time oncologist, and so they host a visiting oncologist from a cancer clinic in a larger city on a regular basis of at least monthly.
Psychology/Behavior
The Guardian: The greatest brain myth there ever was?
Brain myths make people vulnerable to woolly ideas and useless products, get in the way of real understanding and are passed down to children as fact
Nathalia Gjersoe
Luc Besson’s latest sci-fi romp, Lucy, is based on the premise that the average person only uses 10% of their brain. This brain-myth has been fodder for books and movies for decades and is a tantalizing plot-device. Alarmingly, however, it seems to be widely accepted as fact. Of those asked, 48% of teachers in the UK, 65% of Americans and 30% of American Psychology students endorsed the myth.
In the movie, Lucy absorbs vast quantities of a nootropic that triggers rampant production of new connections between her neurons. As her brain becomes more and more densely connected, Lucy experiences omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence. Telepathy, telekinesis and time-travel all become possible.
It’s true that increased connectivity between neurons is associated with greater expertise. Musicians who train for years have greater connectivity and activation of those regions of the brain that control their finger movements and those that bind sensory and motor information. This is the first principle of neural connectivity: cells that fire together wire together.
Mother Jones: Scientists Dissected the Brains of 79 NFL Players. What They Found Is Disturbing.
-By Sam Brodey
Yesterday, the country's leading investigators of sports-related brain injuries released what could be their most shocking finding yet: Of the 79 deceased NFL players examined, 76 showed evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. The researchers at the Boston University CTE Center have examined, in total, the brains of 128 people who played football at all levels—from high school to the pros—and 101 showed evidence of CTE. The numbers buttress a growing body of evidence that suggests that playing football at any level can lead to grave health consequences.
The latest data from Boston University researchers is more bad news for the reeling league.
Red Orbit: Does Growing Older Cause Your Sense Of Humor To Change?
Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
If you’re watching a TV sitcom and find that you’re the only one in the room laughing at the jokes, it may be because you’re the only one young enough (or old enough) to appreciate the humor, according to research appearing in the September edition of the journal Psychology and Aging.
Jennifer Tehan Stanley, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Akron, and colleagues from Brandeis University and Northeastern University set out to determine whether or not young, middle-aged and older adults found video clips depicting inappropriate social behavior to be funny. They did this by showing footage of the shows The Office, Golden Girls, Mr. Bean and Curb Your Enthusiasm to adults of various ages.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Colorado State University: CSU prof: Re-examine how kids are affected by natural disasters
by Jeff Dodge
October 1, 2014
After spending nearly a decade studying children in the aftermath of disaster, Colorado State University Associate Professor Lori Peek has plenty of evidence that suggests our preconceived notions about how youth are affected by such events are out of line with reality.
Peek, the third speaker in the President’s Community Lecture Series, talked at length Tuesday night at the Lory Student Center Theater about her research following disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf Coast region.
Among the myths she dismissed:
- Like rubber balls, children always bounce back. We tend to view children as being blissfully unaware of, and mostly unaffected by, disasters.
- Children are helpless victims. We cast children as powerless and fragile, always rendered completely incapable of acting in the face of disaster.
- Disasters as equal-opportunity events. We tend think of disasters affecting all children equally instead of focusing on economic, geographic, racial and other factors.
She said getting beyond those preconceived notions is crucial to understanding how kids process — and respond to — the disasters they have faced.
Iowa State University: Iowa State University research explores new possibilities for the treatment of epilepsy
September 30, 2014
AMES, Iowa – Ongoing research at Iowa State University is investigating the connection between initial seizures and the onset of epilepsy later in life.
Nearly one in 10 Americans will experience an initial seizure, but only 3 percent of those who experience a seizure will go on to develop epilepsy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thimmasettappa Thippeswamy, a professor of biomedical sciences in the ISU College of Veterinary Medicine, is studying why some who suffer a seizure develop the disease and others don’t.
A related question Thippeswamy is investigating is why a small fraction that develops the disorder doesn’t respond to the most common drug treatments for epilepsy.
University of Michigan: Preschoolers with low empathy at risk for continued problems
October 3, 2014
ANN ARBOR—A toddler who doesn't feel guilty after misbehaving or who is less affectionate or less responsive to affection from others might not raise a red flag to parents, but these behaviors may result in later behavior problems in 1st grade.
The findings come from a new University of Michigan study that identifies different types of early child problems.
Early preschool behavior problems often improve over time. When that doesn't happen through grade school, children are more likely to become aggressive and violent as teens and adults. Previous research on these different types of behavior problems has focused on older children and teens.
Archeology/Anthropology
Nature: The first South Americans: Extreme living
After humans arrived in South America, they quickly spread into some of its most remote corners.
Barbara Fraser
From the mouth of a cave high in the Andes, Kurt Rademaker surveys the plateau below. At an altitude of 4,500 metres, there are no trees in sight, just beige soil dotted with tufts of dry grass, green cushion plants and a few clusters of vicuñas and other camel relatives grazing near a stream.
The landscape looks bleak, but Rademaker views it through the eyes of the people who built a fire in the rock shelter, named Cuncaicha, about 12,400 years ago. These hunter-gatherers were some of the earliest known residents of South America and they chose to live at this extreme altitude — higher than any Ice Age encampment found thus far in the New World. Despite the thin air and sub-freezing night-time temperatures, this plain would have seemed a hospitable neighbourhood to those people, says Rademaker, an archaeologist at the University of Maine in Orono.
Polish Press Agency: Unique archaeological discovery in Supras'l
A place where people performed rituals more than four thousand years ago has been discovered by archaeologists in Supras'l (Podlaskie). The closest analogies to discovered fragments of ceramic vessels originate from the Iberian Peninsula, told PAP Dariusz Manasterski, one of the leaders of the excavation.
The discovery was made on a sands and gravels elevation covered with oaks, formed as a result of a moving glacier. Dr. W?odzimierz Kwiatkowski of the Knyszyn' Forest Landscape Park suggested that in terms of the environment and vegetation, the area looked similar at the time of the creation of the ritual place.
Agence France Presse via PhysOrg: And now the Acropolis is crumbling...
October 1, 2014
Engineers have discovered that part of the huge flat-topped rock on which the ancient Parthenon sits in the centre of Athens is starting to give way, the Greek news agency ANA said.
Teams from the Central Archaeological Council found "instability over quite a wide area" after investigating a rockfall in January in which a boulder of "considerable size" tumbled from the most visited site in the Greek capital.
ScienceNordic (Denmark and Norway): Ancient male warriors showed signs of vanity
Scandinavian men who lived 3,000 years ago were buried with bronze straight-edged razors, tweezers and tools that could have been used for manicures.
By: Ida Kvittingen
Decoration, hair removal and sexy men were in vogue during one historical period — weapons and prowess in battle dominated in another. Then came a time when men had more choice in the matter.
“There were more ways of being a man than we thought,” says Lisbeth Skogstrand, an archaeologist who has contributed with something as novel as a gender perspective on men’s burial mounds.
Her doctoral dissertation at the University of Oslo tries to show how masculinity in Scandinavia has changed during periods that lack a local written history.
Her study spans 1,500 years, from the Early Nordic Bronze Age from 1100-500 years BC until 400 AD, during the late Roman Period, which was part of the Early Iron Age in Northern Europe.
LiveScience: Egyptian Mummy's Brain Imprint Preserved in 'Peculiar' Case
By Bahar Gholipour
An ancient Egyptian mummy is sparking new questions among archaeologists, because it has one very rare feature: The blood vessels surrounding the mummy's brain left imprints on the inside of the skull.
The researchers are trying to find what process could have led to the preservation of these extremely fragile structures.
The mummified body is that of a man who probably lived more than 2,000 years ago, sometime between the Late Period and the Ptolemaic Period (550 – 150 B.C.) of Egyptian history, the researchers said.
Western Digs: Twin 1,300-Year-Old Villages Discovered in Arizona Sand Dunes
Posted by Blake de Pastino
Archaeologists exploring the high desert of northern Arizona have found a pair of “matching” villages that date back some 1,300 years, revealing evidence of a crucial phase in Southwestern prehistory.
Researchers found the two large settlements — about a kilometer apart from each other — while surveying ranch land recently acquired by Petrified Forest National Park.
Asahi Shimbun (Japan): Wreck thought to be from Mongol invasion attempt found near Nagasaki
By TASUKU UEDA/ Staff Writer
MATSUURA, Nagasaki Prefecture--A wreck found off Takashima island here is likely part of a Mongol invasion fleet that came to grief in a typhoon more than 700 years ago.
The discovery was announced Oct. 2 by archeologists with the University of the Ryukyus and the Matsuura city board of education who are researching the Takashima Kozaki underwater historic site.
St. Louis University: Archeology Students Discover Prehistoric Sweat Lodge
Jeanette Grider
Saint Louis University students participating in the 2014 Archaeological Field School at the Fingerhut Tract of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, a World Heritage UNESCO site, made a significant contribution to the understanding of American Indian prehistory with the discovery of three additional partial house basins and the entire basin of a burned sweat lodge.
Generally, a sweat lodge is a domed hut made of natural materials. They were -- and continue to be -- used by American Indians as steam baths for physical cleansing as well as for ritual purification.
Science Magazine: Unusual climate gave Polynesian explorers a boost
By Dennis Normile
Polynesian seafarers colonized Pacific islands stretching from Samoa and New Zealand to Easter Island and Hawaii centuries before Europeans discovered that ocean. But the details of when and how the Polynesians managed to traverse such vast stretches of open water are little understood. Now, a new archaeological find illuminates the construction of Polynesian canoes, while a study of ancient climate patterns bears on a long-standing debate about when Polynesians acquired the capability to sail into the wind.
CBC: Franklin expedition ship found in Arctic ID'd as HMS Erebus
HMS Erebus believed to be the ship on which Sir John Franklin died
CBC News
The wrecked Franklin expedition ship found last month in the Arctic has been identified as HMS Erebus.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed the news Wednesday in the House of Commons.
"I am delighted to confirm that we have identified which ship from the Franklin expedition has been found. It is in fact the HMS Erebus," Harper said in response to a question from Conservative Yukon MP Ryan Leef.
The Baltimore Sun: Proposed Annapolis development could have Civil War past
By Pamela Wood, The Baltimore Sun
To many, Annapolis is a Colonial town, with its 1700s architecture and its links to four signers of the Declaration of Independence.
But the state's capital also played an important role in the Civil War — a history that may coincide with a controversial present-day development proposal.
Local historians and history buffs believe they've found evidence that thousands of Union soldiers who had been captured and then paroled by the Confederates were once housed at a site off Forest Drive. Being placed on parole meant that the soldiers agreed to remain in a camp as noncombatants until they were formally exchanged for Confederate soldiers captured by the Union.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Paleontology/Evolution
Garvan Institute of Medical Research via Science Daily: Ancient human genome from southern Africa throws light on our origins
September 29, 2014
The skeleton of a man who lived 2,330 years ago in the southernmost tip of Africa tells us about ourselves as humans, and throws some light on our earliest common genetic ancestry.
What can DNA from the skeleton of a man who lived 2,330 years ago in the southernmost tip of Africa tell us about ourselves as humans? A great deal when his DNA profile is one of the 'earliest diverged' -- oldest in genetic terms -- found to-date in a region where modern humans are believed to have originated roughly 200,000 years ago.
The man's maternal DNA, or 'mitochondrial DNA', was sequenced to provide clues to early modern human prehistory and evolution. Mitochondrial DNA provided the first evidence that we all come from Africa, and helps us map a figurative genetic tree, all branches deriving from a common 'Mitochondrial Eve'.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Geology
Discovery News: Skeletons Shed Light on Ancient Earthquake in Israel
by Rossella Lorenzi
Sep 30, 2014 03:11 PM ET
Archaeologists have uncovered startling evidence of a severe earthquake that rumbled more than 1,700 years ago in the region of the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus performed most of the miracles described in the New Testament.
Skeletons crushed under a collapsed roof depicted a scenario of death and destruction caused by the earthquake that hit Israel and the region in 363 A.D.
Energy
Arizona State University: Building the framework for the future of biofuels
September 29, 2014
Biofuels – fuels made from plants – are seen by many as one of the better options for brightening the national energy outlook.
They offer a promising renewable resource as a replacement for nonrenewable fossil fuels, and a way to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions being pumped into the atmosphere as a result of our use of conventional petroleum-derived fuels.
They could help the United States take major steps to reduce the country’s dependence on oil from other parts of the world.
Colorado State University: CSU researchers put home-brewed diesel biofuel to the test
by Kortny Rolston
1 Oct, 2014
A homemade biofuel used by Colorado farmers to power their trucks and tractors performs similarly to conventional biodiesel and petroleum diesel, according to new studies by Colorado State University researchers.
The fuel, which is made by mixing unleaded gasoline and oil crushed from oilseed crops, showed only a slight decrease in power when tested on a 2007 John Deere tractor engine at CSU’s Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory in Fort Collins.
A group of farmers who operate The Big Squeeze oilseed processing facility near Rocky Ford mix the blend and pour it directly into their diesel trucks and tractors.
“There was an 8 to 10 percent drop in maximum power,” said Aaron Drenth, a CSU doctoral student who led the most recent testing of the homemade fuel. “That’s not very much — most drivers would never notice it. It’s also consistent with what the farmers who use it have been telling us.
University of Massachusetts: Blades of Grass Inspire Advance in Organic Solar Cells
UMass Amherst scientists use graphene in new energy conversion architecture
September 30, 2014
AMHERST, Mass. – Using a bio-mimicking analog of one of nature’s most efficient light-harvesting structures, blades of grass, an international research team led by Alejandro Briseno of the University of Massachusetts Amherst has taken a major step in developing long-sought polymer architecture to boost power-conversion efficiency of light to electricity for use in electronic devices.
Briseno, with colleagues and graduate students at UMass Amherst and others at Stanford University and Dresden University of Technology, Germany, report in the current issue of Nano Letters that by using single-crystalline organic nanopillars, or “nanograss,” they found a way to get around dead ends, or discontinuous pathways, that pose a serious drawback when using blended systems known as bulk heterojunction donor-acceptor, or positive-negative (p-n), junctions for harvesting energy in organic solar cells.
Briseno’s research group is one of very few in the world to design and grow organic single-crystal p-n junctions. He says, “This work is a major advancement in the field of organic solar cells because we have developed what the field considers the ‘Holy Grail’ of architecture for harvesting light and converting it to electricity.” The breakthrough in morphology control should have widespread use in solar cells, batteries and vertical transistors, he adds.
University of Michigan: Increased interest in hybrids among non-hybrid owners
October 2, 2014
ANN ARBOR—Current owners of hybrid vehicles are very satisfied with them and most will buy a hybrid again, say University of Michigan researchers.
And nearly a third of non-owners plan to purchase a hybrid for their next vehicle.
Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle of the U-M Transportation Research Institute surveyed about 1,000 current owners of hybrids (94 percent own non-plug-ins and 6 percent own plug-ins) and another roughly 1,000 car owners who don't drive hybrids.
They found that 83 percent of hybrid owners plan to buy another one for their next vehicle (a third of these drivers intend to purchase a plug-in car). Another 3 percent of all hybrid owners plan to buy a fully electric vehicle, instead.
Physics
University of Arizona: Ready for a Super-Fast Internet? UA Scientists Are Fast at Work on It
The College of Optical Sciences is leading an effort to develop a technology that marries electronics with optics.
By Daniel Stolte, University Relations - Communications
October 1, 2014
Removing barriers along the way to a blazingly fast Internet is the declared goal of scientists at the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences who are leading an international consortium tasked with developing new technology to make it happen.
In 2008, the National Science Foundation gave a five-year, $18.5 million grant to establish an engineering research center (ERC) that is based at the UA and united with other universities in a collaboration known as the Center for Integrated Access Networks, or CIAN.
The NSF recently approved funding for the second half of the project, totaling about $17 million, more than half of which goes to the ERC at the UA. Each year, the center also receives roughly $2 million in support from corporate sponsors and an additional $1 million from other agencies.
Iowa State University: Iowa State physicists among teams preparing for new Energy Department supercomputer
September 30, 2014
AMES, Iowa – A team of Iowa State University nuclear physicists is preparing to scale up its computer codes for Cori, the next-generation supercomputer being developed by the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center.
Iowa State’s Pieter Maris and James Vary want to use the supercomputer to study the basic physics of the burning sun and exploding stars. Those studies could one day lead to safer, more efficient forms of nuclear power.
“We’ll work with a select group of top computer scientists and applied mathematicians to co-develop new math algorithms and new schemes in order to get the best science out of this new supercomputing architecture,” said Vary, an Iowa State professor of physics and astronomy.
Chemistry
LiveScience: New Way to Make Oxygen Doesn't Need Plants
By Tanya Lewis, Staff Writer
Earth's atmosphere wasn't always full of life-giving oxygen — it was once a choking mixture of carbon dioxide and other gases, more like the atmosphere of Mars or Venus.
It's widely believed that the rise of plants turned that carbon dioxide into oxygen through the chemical reactions of photosynthesis, in a period called the Great Oxygenation Event. But a new study suggests there may be another way to make oxygen from carbon dioxide, using ultraviolet light.
The findings could explain how the Earth's atmosphere evolved, and hint at a way to make oxygen in space, the researchers said.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Georgia Tech: Novel porous silicon microfabrication technique increases sensing ability
Posted October 1, 2014 | Atlanta, GA
Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have developed a novel method for improving silicon-based sensors used to detect biochemicals and other molecules in liquids. The simplified approach produces micro-scale optical detection devices that cost less to make than other designs, and provide a six-fold increase in sensitivity to target molecules.
The new technique uses a thin film of porous silicon material to coat a layer of light-conducting dense silicon. The porous silicon thin film contains many connected pores and internal surfaces that greatly increase the effective area onto which a chemical component of interest – often referred to as an analyte – can bind. The increased surface area allows the porous silicon to capture larger numbers of analyte molecules, which increases overall detection sensitivity and thereby facilitates detection of analytes occurring in low concentrations.
Unlike earlier methods for generating porous silicon, the Georgia Tech thin-film process is more easily adapted for use with standard silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates, and also allows for highly precise control of the thickness of the porous silicon layer. The research was described in a recent paper, "Magnesiothermically Formed Porous Silicon Thin Films on Silicon-on-Insulator Optical Microresonators for High-Sensitivity Detection," published in the journal Advanced Optical Materials.
Science Crime Scenes
Al-Shorfa (U.S. Central Command): Iraq exposes ISIL's destruction of heritage sites
2014-10-02 By Khalid al-Taie in Baghdad
The Iraqi Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities launched recently a work plan to draw the world's attention to the actions of the "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) against Iraqi religious and heritage sites.
Officials told Mawtani the ministry is organising photography exhibitions, art shows and the screening of documentaries worldwide to reveal the scope of destruction ISIL instilled on Iraqi antiquities.
In organising these activities, the ministry aims to "expose and document one of ISIL's most hideous crimes against the human legacy of the Iraqi people", said Qassem Taher al-Sudani, director of public relations and media at the ministry.
NPR: Looting Antiquities, A Fundamental Part Of ISIS' Revenue Stream
ISIS is looting, destroying and illicitly trafficking antiquities out of Iraq and Syria. Rachel Martin talks with Michael Danti, a professor of archaeology at Boston University.
September 29, 2014
As ISIS militants have conquered territory, they have overrun important archaeological sites. Remember, this is the area along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, layered with the debris of several thousand years of civilization. The militants, who are Sunni, have made a public show of blowing up Shiite mosques and shrines. They've also done something less public - looting antiquities for profit.
Michael Danti is a professor of archaeology at Boston University and he's been working with the U.S. State Department to monitor cultural heritage sites in Syria in northern Iraq. He told us about the damage ISIS has done.
N.Y. Times: Antiquities Lost, Casualties of War
In Syria and Iraq, Trying to Protect a Heritage at Risk
By GRAHAM BOWLEY
Yasser Tabbaa, a specialist on Islamic art and architecture, remembers taking many trips to a 13th-century shrine dedicated to the Imam Awn al-Din, in Mosul in northern Iraq. The building was one of the few to survive Mongol invasion, never mind the destructive effects of weather and time. And this shrine had a stunning vaulted ceiling, like a honeycomb.
“It is a beautiful pyramidal tower at the edge of the Tigris,” said Mr. Tabbaa, who taught at New York University Abu Dhabi and lives in Ann Arbor, Mich.
New Zealand Herald: Builders disturbed early Maori site, court told
Kurt Bayer
An archaeologically significant early Maori site dating back more than 600 years was disturbed by builders excavating an earthquake-damaged site, a court heard today.
Archaeological authority was required before the quake-damaged home at Redcliffs, Christchurch, could be rebuilt on its site, which is located on a "very well-known early moa hunter period site".
Heritage New Zealand's summary of facts was heard in Christchurch District Court today as two companies admitted breaching the Historic Places Act 1993.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
University of Central Florida: Scene of the Crime
Forensic science alumnus' work helps Oregon police catch the bad guys
By Angie Lewis, '03
Editorial Services Coordinator, UCF Alumni Association
Monday, September 29, 2014
Shows like “CSI,” “Bones” and “NCIS” make the field of forensic science look exciting, and full of drama and intrigue. However, to the disappointment of crime show lovers everywhere, things don’t quite happen like they do on the small screen. Just ask Cory Winar, ’97, forensic lab manager for the Oregon State Police.
“We wear a lot more clothes, we work with the lights on, we don’t have people working in the lab 24 hours a day — and we stop to go to the bathroom,” Winar explains. “Also, there isn’t one person who stays in the basement with an 80-ounce Slurpee who knows how to do everything.”
But, there is some reality in the fictional plotlines. Forensic scientists can help to solve crimes by analyzing even the smallest pieces of evidence. And, those scenes that show a ballistic expert firing a gun into an object to see how the bullet expands actually happens in real life, too.
Science, Space, Health, Environment, and Energy Policy
LiveScience: Climate Controversy: Does the 2 Degree Goal Need to Go?
By Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor
It's time to ditch the goal of keeping Earth's warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), researchers argue in a new opinion piece — a suggestion likely to receive pushback from many in the climate science and policy community.
In 2009, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, international negotiators drew a line in the sand: Humanity must not let the planet get hotter, on average, than 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. This number has been the focal point of international agreements and negotiations ever since, but it has also been controversial.
Former NASA climate scientist James Hansen, who retired from the agency in order to pursue climate change activism, has long argued that 2 degrees of warming is too much, and will still lead to catastrophic consequences.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Science Education
Associated Press via ABC News: Auction of Ancient Egyptian Relics Averted
By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — Oct 3, 2014, 4:59 PM ET
The renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York purchased a collection of 4,000-year-old Egyptian artifacts found a century ago by a British explorer, averting a plan to auction the antiquities that had drawn criticism from historians.
The Treasure of Harageh collection consists of 37 items such as flasks, vases and jewelry inlaid with lapis lazuli, a rare mineral. Discovered by famed British archaeologist Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, the relics date to roughly 1900 B.C., excavated from a tomb near the city of Fayum. Portions of the excavated antiquities were given in 1914 to donors in St. Louis who helped underwrite the dig.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
University of Arizona: Sold on Synergy: Student Inventors, Entrepreneurs Get Launched
University Relations - Communications
September 30, 2014
Tech Launch Arizona has begun a number of student-focused initiatives to promote technology commercialization opportunities and programs, helping young inventors and entrepreneurs move their ideas to market.
Through a coordinated, centralized, student-focused initiative, Tech Launch Arizona and its partners are expanding support for students interested in turning their ideas into nonprofit organizations and businesses.
The need to accelerate economic growth for the state and provide opportunities for graduates carrying advanced degrees, especially in high-tech domains, is driving the tech commercialization arm of the University of Arizona.
"We are helping students engage with resources to help them turn their ideas into businesses; we are partnering with people and organizations across the community to provide these services; we are encouraging students to be innovators and see the business potential in their creative ideas," said David Allen, vice president of TLA.
Arizona State University: Employment high for ASU sustainability alumni
October 2, 2014
Since the inception of Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability in fall 2008, alumni have gone on to pioneer new sustainability positions and lead change at local, national and global organizations.
According to a recent School of Sustainability report, 73 percent of employed undergraduate alumni have found careers directly related to sustainability with companies like Aramark, Henkel, Intel, Waste Management, Tesla Motors and U-Haul International.
The report also shows that as educational experience increases, so does employment. Of the students surveyed, 88 percent of master’s graduates and 100 percent of doctoral graduates are in sustainability careers. The private sector isn’t the only one hiring – graduates have found positions with Central Arizona Project, Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Geological Survey, as well as professorships at colleges including ASU, Illinois State University and Portland State University.
Arizona State University: ASU's Natural History Collections celebrate new home with grand opening
September 30, 2014
Arizona State University’s Natural History Collections are some of the best in the world, and boast nearly 1.8 million specimens among nine collections. Some of the largest include the Frank Hasbrouck Insect Collection, with close to one million specimens, and the Vascular Plant and Lichen Herbaria, with more than 400,000. Plant fossils, shells, reptiles and amphibians, fish, birds and mammals are also represented.
These research and teaching collections, previously housed in the Life Sciences buildings on the Tempe campus, have been moved to a newly remodeled 24,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility. The collections, which include specimens from as far back as the late 1800s, had outgrown their previous space. Now, researchers, students and the public have greater access to them for research and community learning.
“We actually have a bit of a niche and a special place in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area,” said Nico Franz, associate professor with ASU’s School of Life Sciences and curator of the Hasbrouck Insect Collection. “With 4.5 million people living here, this is the only place of its kind. We can develop outreach in a very direct and immersed way, starting with traditional outreach to K-12 classes, as well as to people with physical or learning disabilities and to senior citizens.”
Science Writing and Reporting
University of Georgia: UGA ecologist publishes new ‘Foundations’ textbook on macroecology
October 2, 2014
Athens, Ga. — John L. Gittleman, dean of the University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology and UGA Foundation Professor in Ecology, is the co-editor of a new textbook, "Foundations of Macroecology," published by the University of Chicago Press as part of its Foundations series.
Macroecology, a relatively new and fast-growing field within ecology, uses big data to answer big questions about the interactions among organisms and the environment, looking for repeated statistical patterns at large scales of time and space.
"Macroecology is a contemporary, very relevant field because when you think about big questions and big problems, that immediately takes you to hot topics like climate change, extinction and emerging infectious diseases," Gittleman said. "The methodology is also very relevant today-what Microsoft and Google and all these data-driven, informatics companies are doing is essentially what macroecology does."
Iowa State University: ISU design prof's e-textbook on 3-D modeling and animation lowers students' costs
October 2, 2014
AMES, Iowa -- Anson Call didn't want his Iowa State University design students paying nearly $300 for instructional materials that would be out of date in a matter of months. Nor did he want to negotiate with publishers to write the book they wanted, which could be out of date by the time it was printed.
So, when Call, an associate professor of graphic design, wrote his textbook on using industry-standard software to create 3-D modeling and animation, he did it digitally. His e-textbook, "Cinema 4D R15 Fundamentals for Teachers and Students" is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and elsewhere for $17.99. That’s about $282 less than the alternative.
And whenever the software gets an update, Call can adapt all the relevant content in his e-textbook and refresh all of the online tutorials. His students will always be learning the current iteration.
"I created this with students in mind," Call said.
University of Massachusetts: New Book Co-Authored by UMass Amherst Mathematician Examines the Mysteries and Drama of Brain Disease
October 3, 2014
AMHERST, Mass. – A new book co-authored by a distinguished Boston neurologist and a University of Massachusetts Amherst mathematician takes readers behind the scenes at Harvard Medical School’s neurology unit to show how a seasoned diagnostician faces down bizarre neurological defects and life-altering disorders including Parkinson’s disease and ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).
In Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: A Renowned Neurologist Explains the Mystery and Drama of Brain Disease (St. Martin’s Press, Sept. 30), Harvard Medical School neurologist Dr. Allan Ropper and Brian Burrell, senior lecturer of mathematics and statistics at UMass Amherst and author of six books, including 2005’s Postcards from the Brain Museum, share real-life stories of individuals afflicted with fantastic perceptual and intellectual aberrations including:
- A former figure skater whose body has inexplicably become a ticking time-bomb
- A salesman who drives around and around a traffic rotary, unable to pull off
- A college quarterback who can’t stop calling the same play
- A mother of two young girls, diagnosed with ALS, who has to decide whether her life is still worth living
Science is Cool
The Guardian: How to make tea correctly (according to science): milk first
Posted by Dean Burnett
Whether you put milk in your cup before or after the hot water is a constant argument among British people. Science may say milk first, but many would strongly disagree
Tea is better than coffee. Let’s just get that out of the way before we start. Many Most ALL British people think this. Even those who say the exact opposite agree really, they’re just trying to be provocative and confrontational due to consuming too much caffeine. Yes, it may look like pretty much every other building you come across these days is a Starbucks, but tea is still more popular. Tea doesn’t need a global empire shoving it in people’s faces. Not after the last one, anyway.
The Guardian: Finally, the flying car may have landed
Slovakian company AeroMobil to unveil prototype of ‘world’s most advanced flying car’ in at Vienna’s Pioneers Festival
Philip Oltermann in Berlin
From the Jetsons’ aerocar to the “spinner” in Blade Runner, via Doc Brown’s modified DeLorean in the Back to the Future films, the flying car has been part of visions of the future for so long that it almost feels retro.
A first patent was registered in 1903 and Waldo Waterman’s “aerobile” went on its maiden flight in 1937. Yet, 100 years later, automobiles are still frustratingly short of options when stuck in traffic.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Arizona State University: ASU exhibition advances sustainability through art
October 1, 2014
Are you familiar with the humpback chub?
Visit "Trout Fishing in America and Other stories," an exhibition opening at the ASU Art Museum this Saturday, Oct. 4, and you will be. And if you’re wondering why this chub – a fish that, as its name suggests, bears a slight resemblance to Quasimodo – is worth getting to know, co-curator Ron Broglio can explain.
“The fate of the humpback chub, a native of the Grand Canyon’s Colorado River, who is now endangered, prompts a few important questions; among them, does a sustainable future include such non-human life, and who decides?”