The Chang Tang Nature Reserve, situated 12,000 feet above sea level in the northwestern part of China's Tibetan Plateau, features bitter cold, sparse vegetation, cutting winds, and little water. Scientists have now obtained preliminary evidence that people nonetheless colonized this forbidding territory near the end of the Stone Age. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.NET
The discovery of stone tools and spear points, as well as the remains of temporary camps dated to between 12,000 and 11,000 years ago, indicates that late-Stone Age groups adapted to some of the planet's harshest environments, says archaeologist P. Jeffrey Brantingham of the Santa Fe (N.M.) Institute.
"We've probably underestimated the diversity of hunter-gatherer adaptations to extreme environments during the late Stone Age," Brantingham remarks. He and his colleagues, John W. Olsen of the University of Arizona in Tucson and George B. Schaller of the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York City, describe their new findings in the June Antiquity.
Ecological field surveys, which Schaller directed in the mid-1990s in the Chang Tang Reserve, yielded nearly 400 stone artifacts. Surveyors found the implements lying on the ground at 18 widely separated locations, most in the reserve's eastern section.
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The finds include a variety of sharpened blades and spear points, ranging from about three-fourths of an inch to 3 inches long. Investigators also found round stones from which blades and other implements had been pounded off. The Chang Tang blades bear signs of extensive resharpening and were apparently recycled for different types of jobs, the researchers say.
Brantingham and Olsen conducted initial excavations at several Chang Tang sites last summer. Radiocarbon dates for human occupation come from charcoal found in hearths at these locations.
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When the two scientists return to the sites in September, they'll probe for clues about the late Stone Age's climate and environment. Some researchers, suspecting the area was covered by an ice sheet during the late Stone Age, have doubted that people could have settled there then.
Brantingham proposes, however, that hunter-gatherers lived in this region by successfully contending with severe cold and scant water supplies. The size and shapes of their stone blades and spear points suggest that they hunted available game, such as antelopes and yak, he says.
"I believe that the Tibetan Plateau had a late [Stone Age] human occupation, as the new data suggest," says archaeologist Mark Aldenderfer of the University of California, Santa Barbara. He asserts that researchers should find sites on the plateau with multiple layers showing occupations over time. Aldenderfer is currently traveling to the Tibetan Plateau in an attempt to do just that. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
reno 4.ren.0002003 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
More than 30 years ago, Russian investigators dug up the remains of several human camps situated along the Kamchatka River in eastern Siberia and dated them to as early as 14,000 years ago. These ancient settlements, dubbed the Ushki sites, have been viewed as possible launching pads for pioneering treks into North America much earlier than 11,000 years ago, the date at which archaeologists have traditionally assumed the New World was first settled. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire. http://louisjsheehanesquire.blogsavy.com
However, new work doesn't support the idea that people lived at the Ushki camps well before that time. Radiocarbon dating of ancient charcoal found at an Ushki site excavated in 2000 by a joint team from Russia and the United States indicates that residents first arrived at the site between 11,300 and 11,000 years ago, says Ted Goebel of the University of Nevada, Reno. A subsequent occupation occurred around 10,400 years ago, he adds.http://louisjsheehanesquire.blogsavy.com
If comparable dates of human occupation emerge for other Ushki camps, the standard account of Siberians initially entering Alaska about 11,000 years ago via a land bridge may get a boost. Artifacts found at the recently excavated Ushki site resemble those at Alaskan sites of about the same age, Goebel says.
The oldest Ushki material includes notched stone points and two hearths constructed of large stones. The younger artifacts include a hearth and miniature blades. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire.
However, new work doesn't support the idea that people lived at the Ushki camps well before that time. Radiocarbon dating of ancient charcoal found at an Ushki site excavated in 2000 by a joint team from Russia and the United States indicates that residents first arrived at the site between 11,300 and 11,000 years ago, says Ted Goebel of the University of Nevada, Reno. A subsequent occupation occurred around 10,400 years ago, he adds.http://louisjsheehanesquire.blogsavy.com
If comparable dates of human occupation emerge for other Ushki camps, the standard account of Siberians initially entering Alaska about 11,000 years ago via a land bridge may get a boost. Artifacts found at the recently excavated Ushki site resemble those at Alaskan sites of about the same age, Goebel says.
The oldest Ushki material includes notched stone points and two hearths constructed of large stones. The younger artifacts include a hearth and miniature blades. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire.
Monday, December 15, 2008
lesbian 2.les.00100 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire. The microscopic aquatic creatures known as bdelloid rotifers are used to enduring dry spells—in more senses than one. In their common habitats of moss, soil, and seasonal pools, these minuscule, transparent animals routinely survive periods of complete dessication that can last from days to years. They also hold the record for celibacy among animals: All 460 known species of bdelloids consist exclusively of egg-laying females that have essentially been cloning themselves for 100 million years. http://louis7j7sheehan7esquire.wordpress.com Their endurance has long posed a kind of scientific mystery, as the majority of asexually reproducing species tend to fade away over time. But a genetic study published in May in Science [subscription required] hints that bdelloids emerging from a drought might have a kind of bizarre sex after all. http://louis7j7sheehan7esquire.wordpress.com
For most life-forms, going for long periods without water spells certain doom. But dehydrated bdelloids somehow reconstitute themselves when moisture returns, even though their metabolic activity stops, their cell membranes rupture, and their DNA probably gets fragmented too. http://louis7j7sheehan7esquire.wordpress.com “You add water, they fix themselves up, and they swim away,” says lead investigator Matthew Meselson of Harvard University.
Meselson’s study suggests that upon patching up their own DNA, the bdelloids simultaneously incorporate random scraps of DNA from other organisms. This so-called horizontal gene transfer is extremely rare among animals, and in the bdelloids’ case can include DNA from almost anything that was in their soupy habitat at the time things dried up, including whatever they just ate. In only 1 percent of the bdelloid genome, Meselson found dozens of foreign genes from bacteria, plants, and fungi inserted among the native nucleotides. It’s likely, he says, that during recovery from dessication, bdelloids pick up genes from members of their own species, too—dead members, that is, whose genes spill out of ruptured cell membranes. That process would provide the kind of genetic reshuffling that other animals achieve through sexual reproduction.
“It may be their form of sex,” Meselson says. “But their partner is essentially dead. So you’d have to call it necrophilia. Actually, since they’re all females, lesbian necrophilia.” Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
For most life-forms, going for long periods without water spells certain doom. But dehydrated bdelloids somehow reconstitute themselves when moisture returns, even though their metabolic activity stops, their cell membranes rupture, and their DNA probably gets fragmented too. http://louis7j7sheehan7esquire.wordpress.com “You add water, they fix themselves up, and they swim away,” says lead investigator Matthew Meselson of Harvard University.
Meselson’s study suggests that upon patching up their own DNA, the bdelloids simultaneously incorporate random scraps of DNA from other organisms. This so-called horizontal gene transfer is extremely rare among animals, and in the bdelloids’ case can include DNA from almost anything that was in their soupy habitat at the time things dried up, including whatever they just ate. In only 1 percent of the bdelloid genome, Meselson found dozens of foreign genes from bacteria, plants, and fungi inserted among the native nucleotides. It’s likely, he says, that during recovery from dessication, bdelloids pick up genes from members of their own species, too—dead members, that is, whose genes spill out of ruptured cell membranes. That process would provide the kind of genetic reshuffling that other animals achieve through sexual reproduction.
“It may be their form of sex,” Meselson says. “But their partner is essentially dead. So you’d have to call it necrophilia. Actually, since they’re all females, lesbian necrophilia.” Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
study 00.stu.110020 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Harvests of corn and other crops are likely to be drawn into a tug of war between people's need for food and their need for fuel, agricultural economists say.
Corn is the most cost-efficient and popular raw material used in the United States to make ethanol. That's important because the fuel has gotten increasingly competitive with gasoline as oil prices have risen.
"The lines between the food economy and the energy economy [are] becoming blurred," says agricultural economist Lester R. Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Last week, his organization issued an economic analysis on the subject.
The analysis found an emerging "competition between the 800 million people who own automobiles and the 2 billion low-income people, many of whom already spend over half their income on food," Brown says. Furthermore, he says, "taxpayers may be subsidizing a rise in their own food prices."
To encourage the use of alternative fuels, U.S. law subsidizes ethanol production at 51 cents per gallon and production of other so-called biofuels at up to $1 per gallon. Those incentives tempt farmers to sell crops to biofuel distilleries or, if they instead sell to food manufacturers, to demand higher prices than they otherwise would.
One-fifth of corn and almost one sixth of the U.S. grain harvest overall goes toward ethanol production, according to the institute's report. And while the world's production of grain will grow by about 20 million tons this year, 70 percent of the increase could be used to generate ethanol for U.S. automobiles, Brown says.
Combustion vs. consumption
"Ethanol plants [are] being built, and they're starting to pull more corn their way," comments agricultural economist Chad E. Hart of Iowa State University in Ames. "We're seeing already higher projected prices than normal for the 2007 crop."
Predicting that the growth of the ethanol industry could drive up food prices as early as next year, Hart notes that corn futures are trading at about $3 per bushel, or about 50 cents higher than usual.
With demand for corn rising, production is also likely to increase, Hart says. Higher corn prices will lure farmers to devote more acres to cultivating corn and fewer to other crops. That, he says, will encourage "an across-the-board increase in crop prices"—as well as in the price of animal feed derived from such crops.
"If corn price goes up, you'll probably feel it more in the cost of your steak than the cost of your cornflakes," Hart says.
Processing, packaging, and distribution costs account for more than 90 percent of the commercial price of cornflakes, bread, and other grain-based products. "Most of the cost of [products such as] bread is not in the cost of the raw materials," Hart says.
By contrast, the cost of feed for animals and other expenses incurred on livestock farms account for about half of the commercial price of meat and eggs, and nearly a third of the cost of cheese. Therefore, Hart says, higher corn prices aren't likely to translate into penny-for-penny increases in food costs.
In addition, Hart says, byproducts of ethanol production from corn, such as corn-gluten meal, can be used to feed livestock. That way, not all the corn used to make fuel is diverted from the food supply.
"So the price impact on livestock products will likely be relatively small in comparison to the change in corn prices," he says.
A technological shift away from corn-based ethanol toward ethanol made from non-crop plants could eventually reverse the anticipated rise in crop costs, Hart says.
A scientific study published last week finds that making ethanol from corn generates less new energy than does manufacturing certain other kinds of biofuel, such as biodiesel made from soybeans (see Farm-Fuel Feedback: Soybeans have advantages over corn).
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But if ethanol remains the primary alternative fuel in the United States, a possible replacement for corn could be cellulose from other plants. A weedy plant called switchgrass, for instance, is a productive source of that material, and the plant can be grown in abundance on land unsuitable for crops.
Of a mostly switchgrass-based ethanol industry, Hart says: "While it's technically feasible, it's not commercially viable at this time. For the U.S., corn is the best model going right now." Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Corn is the most cost-efficient and popular raw material used in the United States to make ethanol. That's important because the fuel has gotten increasingly competitive with gasoline as oil prices have risen.
"The lines between the food economy and the energy economy [are] becoming blurred," says agricultural economist Lester R. Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Last week, his organization issued an economic analysis on the subject.
The analysis found an emerging "competition between the 800 million people who own automobiles and the 2 billion low-income people, many of whom already spend over half their income on food," Brown says. Furthermore, he says, "taxpayers may be subsidizing a rise in their own food prices."
To encourage the use of alternative fuels, U.S. law subsidizes ethanol production at 51 cents per gallon and production of other so-called biofuels at up to $1 per gallon. Those incentives tempt farmers to sell crops to biofuel distilleries or, if they instead sell to food manufacturers, to demand higher prices than they otherwise would.
One-fifth of corn and almost one sixth of the U.S. grain harvest overall goes toward ethanol production, according to the institute's report. And while the world's production of grain will grow by about 20 million tons this year, 70 percent of the increase could be used to generate ethanol for U.S. automobiles, Brown says.
Combustion vs. consumption
"Ethanol plants [are] being built, and they're starting to pull more corn their way," comments agricultural economist Chad E. Hart of Iowa State University in Ames. "We're seeing already higher projected prices than normal for the 2007 crop."
Predicting that the growth of the ethanol industry could drive up food prices as early as next year, Hart notes that corn futures are trading at about $3 per bushel, or about 50 cents higher than usual.
With demand for corn rising, production is also likely to increase, Hart says. Higher corn prices will lure farmers to devote more acres to cultivating corn and fewer to other crops. That, he says, will encourage "an across-the-board increase in crop prices"—as well as in the price of animal feed derived from such crops.
"If corn price goes up, you'll probably feel it more in the cost of your steak than the cost of your cornflakes," Hart says.
Processing, packaging, and distribution costs account for more than 90 percent of the commercial price of cornflakes, bread, and other grain-based products. "Most of the cost of [products such as] bread is not in the cost of the raw materials," Hart says.
By contrast, the cost of feed for animals and other expenses incurred on livestock farms account for about half of the commercial price of meat and eggs, and nearly a third of the cost of cheese. Therefore, Hart says, higher corn prices aren't likely to translate into penny-for-penny increases in food costs.
In addition, Hart says, byproducts of ethanol production from corn, such as corn-gluten meal, can be used to feed livestock. That way, not all the corn used to make fuel is diverted from the food supply.
"So the price impact on livestock products will likely be relatively small in comparison to the change in corn prices," he says.
A technological shift away from corn-based ethanol toward ethanol made from non-crop plants could eventually reverse the anticipated rise in crop costs, Hart says.
A scientific study published last week finds that making ethanol from corn generates less new energy than does manufacturing certain other kinds of biofuel, such as biodiesel made from soybeans (see Farm-Fuel Feedback: Soybeans have advantages over corn).
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But if ethanol remains the primary alternative fuel in the United States, a possible replacement for corn could be cellulose from other plants. A weedy plant called switchgrass, for instance, is a productive source of that material, and the plant can be grown in abundance on land unsuitable for crops.
Of a mostly switchgrass-based ethanol industry, Hart says: "While it's technically feasible, it's not commercially viable at this time. For the U.S., corn is the best model going right now." Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
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