A new, light-mimicking cockroach Lucihormetica luckae is shown in daylight and under fluorescent light. Notable are two luminescent lanterns and one minor asymmetrical lantern on the right side.
By Jeanna Bryner LiveScience
A glowing cockroach, a monkey with a blue behind and a meat-eating sponge snagged spots on a list of top 10 new species named in 2012, scientists announced Thursday.
In its sixth year, the Top 10 New Species list is compiled by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and is announced on the anniversary of the birth of Carolus Linnaeus. An 18th-century botanist, Linnaeus created the modern system for naming and classifying species.
The panel plucked the top 10 new species from more than 140 nominations; to be considered, the species had to have been officially named in 2012 and described with the appropriate code of nomenclature. [See Images of the Top 10 New Species]
"We look for organisms with unexpected features or size and those found in rare or difficult to reach habitats," Antonio Valdecasas, a biologist and research zoologist with Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, Spain, said in a statement. "We also look for organisms that are especially significant to humans ? those that play a certain role in human habitat or that are considered a close relative," added Valdecasas, who is committee chair for the top 10 species list.
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
This is the recently discovered carnivorous harp sponge, Chondrocladia lyra. The photo was taken in Monterey Canyon, off the coast of California, at a depth of about 11,500 feet (3,500 meters).
Quirky species One such creature with an odd feature is the glow-in-the-dark cockroach, named Lucihormetica luckae, whose luminescence may help the creepy-crawly mimic toxic click beetles and thereby avoid predators. In addition, a carnivorous sponge shaped like a harp also made the list. The sponge (Chondrocladia lyra), which lives nearly 2 miles (more than 3 kilometers) beneath the Pacific Ocean, sports 20 barbed vanes that resemble a harp's strings. Once it captures meaty prey, the sponge envelops it in a thin membrane and slowly begins to digest the animal.
And then there's the monkey with the blue butt. Discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cercopithecus lomamiensis is more easily heard than seen. Apparently the Old World monkey performs a booming song at dawn. Even so, it does sport some striking features, including bare blue patches of skin on its buttocks, testicles and perineum, along with humanlike eyes.
Other quirky creatures that made it to the top-10 list include a nocturnal snail-eating snake (Sibon noalamina) found in a mountain range in Panama, and a teensy frog (Paedophryne amanuensis) as small as 7 millimeters (0.3 inches) long and now considered the world's smallest vertebrate (an animal with a backbone).
Filling out the list is a black-hued fungus that threatens Paleolithic cave paintings, a tiny violet from the high Andes of Peru, an endangered shrub with emerald-green leaves and magenta flowers, and a new fossil species of hanging fly that mimics the leaves of a gingko-like tree.
Identifying biodiversity The committee says identifying Earth's species is critical, especially since many are threatened.
"For decades, we have averaged 18,000 species discoveries per year, which seemed reasonable before the biodiversity crisis. Now, knowing that millions of species may not survive the 21st century, it is time to pick up the pace," Quentin Wheeler, founding director of the International Institute for Species Exploration at ASU, said in a statement.
"We are calling for a NASA-like mission to discover 10 million species in the next 50 years," Wheeler added.
Follow Jeanna Bryner on Twitter?and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook?and Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Hewlett-Packard is still scrambling to meet the growing demand for more versatile and less expensive mobile devices as a slump in its personal computer sales deepens, but the company's cost-cutting measures and focus on more profitable areas of technology appear to be easing the pain.
The conflicting signs of further deterioration and potential recovery emerged in Hewlett-Packard Co.'s latest quarterly report released Wednesday.
Even as HP's revenue declined at the fastest rate yet in a nearly two-year slump, the company delivered fiscal second-quarter earnings that topped the estimates of both its own management and the analysts who influence investor perceptions.
"The results were better than feared," said Edward Jones analyst Bill Kreher.
HP provided Wall Street with another encouraging sign by predicting its earnings for the current quarter will top analyst projections. The Palo Alto, Calif., company also raised its earnings forecast for the full year, another sign that management is confident that HP's profits won't fall as dramatically as many investors feared while the PC market crumbles.
"You can feel the turnaround taking hold at HP," CEO Meg Whitman told analysts during a Wednesday conference call.
Investors evidently saw enough progress to believe HP is finally heading in the right direction. The company's stock soared $2.84, or more than 13 percent, to $24.07 in extended trading. If the shares move similarly in Thursday's regular session, it would be the biggest one-day percentage gain in HP's stock in more than four years. Even so, HP's stock would remain nearly 50 percent below where it stood just three years ago.
Since then, consumers and corporate customers have been gravitating toward smartphones and tablet computers equipped with touch screens and voice recognition technology. As these mobile devices add more features and grow increasingly powerful, their prices are falling, too, making them even more attractive compared with the laptop and desktop computers that HP makes.
Like many other PC manufacturers, HP was slow to respond to the shift and then stumbled trying to catch up with Apple and other manufacturers, such as Samsung Electronics, that make devices running Google Inc.'s Android operating system.
Those missteps are still haunting HP, as illustrated in its latest quarter. The results included the seventh consecutive decline in HP's quarterly revenue compared with the same period the previous year. HP's 10 percent decrease in revenue during the three months ending in April was the largest drop so far during the downturn.
Most of the erosion has occurred under the leadership of Whitman, a former CEO at eBay Inc. and defeated California gubernatorial candidate, who was hired to run HP in September 2011.
As she has repeatedly warned, Whitman emphasized HP remains on a "multi-year journey" as she cuts costs, overhauls the company's product line and pushes into more profitable niches in business software, data analysis and storage and technology consulting.
Revenue shrank in all those areas too during the second quarter, but not as severely as the PC contraction.
Whitman suggested HP's revenue could start rising again in the next fiscal year ending in October 2014, though she said the company still has a lot of work to do to make that happen.
"We have to do a better job managing the transition from the technologies that power the past to the ones that will power the future," Whitman said.
To gain some financial stability during the upheaval, HP is in the process of eliminating nearly 30,000 jobs and shedding other expenses to help offset its waning revenue. Through April, HP had jettisoned about 18,800 workers during the past year.
That's the main reason that HP's earnings are holding up better than Wall Street anticipated, Edward Jones' Kreher said.
HP earned $1.1 billion, or 55 cents per share, during its most recently completed quarter. That was down 32 percent from $1.6 billion, or 80 cents per share, last year.
If not for certain items unrelated to its ongoing business, the company would have earned 87 cents per share in its fiscal second quarter. That figure topped the average estimate of 81 cents per share among analysts surveyed by FactSet.
HP's revenue totaled $27.6 billion ? about $400 million below analyst projections.
HP's biggest problems are rooted in its personal computer business. Revenue in that division plunged by 20 percent from last year.
In comparison, rival Dell Inc.'s PC sales declined by 9 percent during the same period. By Dell's own admission, the company aggressively slashed its PC prices to prod reluctant consumers and corporate customers into buying laptop and desktop machines.
HP also is lowering PC prices, but not as dramatically as Dell, according to Cathie Lesjak, the company's chief financial officer.
"We are focused on profitable growth," Lesjak said in an interview. "We will walk away from deals that really throw us into a loss and don't generate good value for HP."
Dell is in the process of trying to gain shareholder approval to sell itself to its CEO, Michael Dell, and a group of investors for $24.4 billion.
Whitman believes HP can bounce back by inventing new technologies and packing them into appealing products more quickly, recapturing the spirit the company established as a Silicon Valley pioneer nearly 75 years ago.
HP's first foray into tablet computers and smartphones designed for the Palm operating system flopped two years ago. The company is now selling tablets running on Android and a recently introduced version of Windows, but it hasn't re-entered the smartphone market yet.
The effectiveness of Whitman's strategy is likely to be tested during the next few months as HP releases another wave of PCs that have touch screens and tablets in different sizes. HP is lowering the prices on its upcoming touch-screen PCs in an effort to lure more consumers.
All the new devices are expected to be on the market in time for the back-to-school season.
Just as CEO JK Shin predicted, Samsung has announced its new Galaxy S 4 topped 10 million units sold in record time. That beats the 50 days it took the Galaxy S III to sell that many, a mark it took 5 months for the Galaxy S II to pass and 7 months for the original Galaxy S. Samsung has been able to crank up production and speed up worldwide rollouts for its increasingly popular flagship models, contributing to the rapidly increasing pace of sales. To help keep the sales channels flowing, Samsung also announced a few new colors on the way. Joining the existing White Mist and Black Forest models this summer are Blue Arctic and Red Aurora, followed later by Purple Mirage and Brown Autumn editions. Of course, the model many will covet is the one with stock Android announced at Google I/O, but that may depend on whether you want your customizations inside or outside.
If you're looking for pure storage for the dollar, SSDs have nothing on good old hard disks. And WD subsidiary HGST has packed more gigabytes into a smaller space than ever before with the new Travelstar 5K1500. It's a 2.5-inch, 9.5mm thin model packing 1.5TB, giving your notebook a huge shot of extra storage space while taking up very little physical space. The two platter drive boasts 694Gb per square inch and draws a mere 1.8W, though it must spin at a miserly 5,400 RPM. Still, it can absorb 400Gs of shock for 2ms and keep on ticking -- so it should have no trouble surviving reentry. HGST's targeting notebooks, external drives, gaming consoles and AIO PC markets with the model, and will also offer an enhanced availability (EA) version for power sensitive servers and other 24/7 systems. There's no price yet, but it'll be available in June -- so you might be able to take that film editing project on the road after all.
Clear, the beautiful, gesture-ridden list-keeper for iPhone, has been updated with the ability to share lists via email. Instead of just a text based email, Clear also includes an attachment that allows recipients to open the list with the Clear app. To share a list, simply shake your iPhone to bring up the email option.
Realmac Software also teases of a couple new secret themes and the promise of an iPad version of Clear in the future.
What do you think of the new update? The ability to share a list that can be opened with Clear is very cool. I'm also very excited about the idea of an iPad version. Are there any other features you'd love to see added to Clear?
President Barack Obama straightens his tie before he receives an honorary doctorate of law at the Morehouse College??For a talented, creative few, there?s David Letterman. For most, there?s a labyrinth of paperwork, hard decisions and painful sacrifices that could have dramatic repercussions on their financial health decades from now.
Paying for college in America is hard. And a fight may be brewing in Washington that could leave college grads paying more?maybe a lot more.
Where does Letterman come in? The late-night comic endowed a scholarship at his alma mater, Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. The Letterman Telecommunications Scholarship?grades don?t count, but proven creativity does?has helped 84 students since the 1985-86 school year, for a total of $448,048.
But when scholarships and grants?outright gifts either from the government or private institutions and individuals?fall short of covering escalating costs, American students turn to student loans. What?s going to happen? What?s President Obama doing about all of this? How did the federal government get involved in financing higher education in the first place? And is college worth it?
First, the history.
"The federal government really didn't get involved in financial aid until the New Deal,? according to Christopher Loss, a Vanderbilt University professor and the author of ?Between Citizens and the State: The Politics of American Higher Education in the 20th Century." That's when it launched a work-study program that helped about 700,000 students pay for school by taking jobs like reshelving books and working in the dining halls or the labs.
Congress launched the program in 1933 and discontinued it in 1943 amid evidence the economy was growing enough that cash-strapped students could find part-time jobs, Loss told Yahoo News. It's largely forgotten today in part because it was succeeded, in 1944, by the GI Bill.
"The surprising thing was really the extent and the munificence of the GI Bill. It covered education, unemployment insurance, home and business mortgages," Loss explained. The program helped almost half of the country's 16 million veterans go to school, 2.2 million of whom did so at a college or university. "It frankly has never been equaled," the professor said.
The next major step was the National Defense Education Act of 1958?partly a product of Cold War concerns, notably due to the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite.
The law "got the federal government involved in the student loan business, providing qualified colleges and universities with funds for that purpose," Loss said.
The Higher Education Act of 1965, part of then-President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, "really married together these three kinds of instruments that had been tried and tested: grants, loans, and works-study," Loss said. "It's still the cornerstone of federal financial aid policy."
Government-provided student loans are hugely popular with the public, with the business sector that craves an educated workforce, and with many policymakers who regard them as an investment. Still, in the Republican primaries leading up to the 2012 presidential campaign, candidates like Rep. Michele Bachmann and Texas Gov. Rick Perry wanted to abolish the Education Department, which has had sole oversight over federal student loans since 2010.
Has the federal role in financial aid ever come under serious attack? Not in the way that it has in the last few years, Loss said.
"For years, loans have been the main source of aid for many students, and now that the economy has been bad?and the payoff of a degree less immediate?new questions are being asked," he said.
In an economic downturn, Loss said, "The debate changes, and you hear more about affordability?and pretty justified concerns about the ticket price and what students are getting from some of these institutions."
Now, the current fight: On July 1, the interest rates on federally subsidized Stafford student loans will jump from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. For the estimated 9 million borrowers, that?s about $1,000 more to pay over the life of the loan. It doesn?t sound like much, but experts say that could force some families and individuals to put off college or give up on the idea entirely. And it would squeeze recent graduates who are struggling to pay back what they borrowed but are caught in a tepid job market.
The good news is that it probably won?t happen?a similar fight last year ended when Congress passed a one-year extension of the lower rate. The bad news is that both Obama and Republican lawmakers have proposed fixes that will raise rates.
Obama has repeatedly sounded the alarm over rising college costs. In his State of the Union speech this year, he urged Congress to confront institutions of higher education by making eligibility for federal student aid contingent on providing a quality, affordable education.
?Taxpayers can?t keep on subsidizing higher and higher and higher costs for higher education,? he told lawmakers. ?Colleges must do their part to keep costs down, and it?s our job to make sure that they do.?
He hit the same theme in a May 9 speech, saying, ?Going forward, colleges that don't do enough to keep costs down, I think, should get less taxpayer support.?
Obama?s proposal would set a new rate each year, but then keep the rate fixed for the life of the loan. Rates would be tied to the 10-year Treasury rate, plus 0.93 percentage points on subsidized Stafford loans, 2.93 percentage points on unsubsidized Stafford Loans, and 3.93 percentage points on PLUS loans for parents.
There would be no cap on the rates, but borrowers could tie their repayments to their income and see their debt forgiven after 20 years of timely payments.
Republican Rep. John Kline of Minnesota, the chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, has a rival proposal that would see the rate on loans change annually.
Kline's plan would combine the subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans into one, setting the rate at the 10-year Treasury Note plus 2.5 percentage points. The proposal would set the rate on PLUS loans at the 10-year Treasury plus 4.5 percentage points.
Under Kline's proposal, the unsubsidized and subsidized programs would be combined at a rate of the 10-year Treasury plus 2.5 percentage points; PLUS loans would tack on 4.5 percentage points to the Treasury. There would be caps: 8.5 percent for the Stafford loan and 10.5 percent for the PLUS.
The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS), an independent group that looks at college affordability, has concerns about the Obama proposal and the Kline plan, since both would make borrowing to pay for college more expensive than it is today.
The two blueprints are "the kind of fix that doesn?t actually serve the needs of students and families who need the assurance that loans will be affordable over time,? TICAS President Lauren Asher told Yahoo News.
Asher pointed favorably to legislation from Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., that would freeze current rates for two years. It would be paid for by closing "unnecessary" tax loopholes, she said. "That buys time to come up with a smart, comprehensive fix at no cost to taxpayers."
It's a big deal. Two-thirds of the class of 2011 graduated with student loan debt, according to the College Board. The average burden was $26,600, and total student loan debt totaled around $1 trillion.
And ... is it worth it?
Here, the Obama White House has provided a pretty useful tool for aspiring college students and their families. The College Scorecard provides an at-a-glance description of individual institutions of higher education, including important nuggets like annual cost, graduation rates and student loan default rates. (If you went to college and want to feel old, put in your alma mater.)
The Department of Labor rounds out the picture by helping students figure out what they can expect from different professional fields in terms of salary?obviously a factor given the weight of graduate debt. (The department's Bureau of Labor Statistics also has an online tool.)
A student eager to become a reporter might think twice after consulting the My Next Move calculator. The field's median pay is $35,870 (that's not median entry pay, either). The site reports the glum news that "new job opportunities are less likely in the future" but notes, "This work is part of the green economy." Huzzah?
Podiatrists have a median salary of $118,030, according to the BLS.
In China, Premium Sells: From Toothpaste to Cars to Banking
www.nielsen.com
They are spending more on goods and services they perceive as higher quality or higher status, on everything from toothpaste to cars to banking, Nielsen research shows. Consumers are using their growing buying power to trade up to premium products ? and this trend is a key driver of sales growth in?
We know that much of the world was intrigued when Google announced the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 running stock Android.
We know that interest was still piqued even after the price was announced too, $649 (and yes, the auditorium did get very quiet when the price was announced). Hardware aside, that may prove to be a tougher sell when a 16GB Nexus 4 costs roughly half that.
Still, we expect this ?Google Experience? or ?Nexus user experience? Galaxy S4 will sell rapidly when it launches on June 26th in the United States only. For those outside the US, fret not, Google will most certainly expand market availability, but we do not know if it will be as far reaching as where the current Nexus line-up is available.
If we had to gander a guess, there are two forces at work in that regard. First is LTE radios, it may not be practical to devote niche manufacturing to accommodate all markets. Next is Samsung, who has just launched its flagship device with all the trimmings of TouchWhiz and S-applications and so-forth, the culmination of significant development and investment in Samsung?s own image. So even if this pure-Android SGS4 expands availability outside the US, we doubt it will have the reach of the Nexus line of devices.
Meanwhile, if you are stewing in envy over the prospect remember, there will most definitely be enterprising individuals looking to fleece the desperate of their hard-earned Pounds and Euros on eBay. Or, you can still pick up a thoroughly capable Nexus 4 for a fraction of the price.
Australian startup, Airtasker, is keen to expand out of its home country into Southeast Asia, which it says hasn’t been touched by large competitors yet. The year-old startup provides job matching for freelancers and employers, similar to what oDesk and Elance do. For its first steps outside of Australia, its first port of call will be Singapore, where it wants to hire two country managers. Airtasker joins a scene that already has a few huge competitors. oDesk, for example, has been around since 2005. Last year, the company raised $15 million, bringing its total funding $45 million to date. The site processes $300 million in jobs on an annual basis. Some early oDesk employees also founded Rev.com, which in March announced $4.5 million in Series A funding. Another big competitor, Elance, raised $16 million in funding early last year as well, as its business has continued to grow in the past two years. 650,000 new job postings were listed on the site in 2011, it said. But big as these sites are, they don’t seem to have made a huge impact on freelancers in Southeast Asia. A quick search for freelancers in Singapore on oDesk showed 248 listings out of 742,113. Hong Kong showed a dismal 84, Kuala Lumpur 7 and Bangkok 31. While it appears indeed untouched by the large sites, it could just mean that the freelancing scene is a lot less vibrant in Asia, with the majority of workers preferring full-time jobs. It could also be that fewer freelancers rely on online matching sites to get their jobs, as well. Airtasker’s founder and CEO, Tim Fung, said temp jobs in the region are less organized into verticals. He said some common jobs in Asia include handing out flyers at a train station, or a one-day PA. These can’t really be categorized by industry, and Airtasker has organized its job ads and job seeker profiles in a broader fashion, so that more matches can be made by both sides. The bulk of Airtasker’s workers, for now, are based in Australia, and its upward trajectory does indicate some sort of pent-up demand on the freelancing scene. Airtasker now processes about $120,000 worth of jobs per month. Fung hinted that Airtasker will announce a partnership with a global jobs network soon. “I think that’s an indication that the larger ‘mainstream’ job scene is taking part-time job listings more seriously,” he
MIAMI (AP) ? An 18-year-old Florida cheerleader is facing felony charges that she had sexual contact with her underage, 14-year-old girlfriend, leading gay rights advocates to say the teen is being unfairly targeted for a common high school romance because she's gay.
The criminal case against Kaitlyn Hunt is unusual because it involves two females, not an older male and a younger female. But advocates say older high schoolers dating their younger counterparts is an innocuous, everyday occurrence that is not prosecuted ? regardless of sexual orientation ? and not a crime on par with predatory sex offenses.
Hunt played on the basketball team with her younger girlfriend and shared the same circle of friends, said Hunt's mother, Kelley Hunt Smith. The two had a consenting relationship that began soon after Kaitlyn Hunt turned 18, and Hunt Smith said she assumed the younger girl's parents knew that.
But Hunt was kicked off the basketball team near the end of last year after the coach learned of the relationship because players were not allowed to date each other, her parents said. Then, in February, she was charged with lewd and lascivious battery on a child 12 to 16. The day before she was arrested, police and the younger girl's parents secretly recorded a phone conversation in which the two girls discussed kissing in the school bathroom, said Hunt's father, Steve Hunt.
"It's horrible. For my daughter's sexual preferences, she's getting two felony charges. It could possibly ruin her future," Steve Hunt told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday.
The alleged victim is identified only by her initials in court documents, and her parents have not been publicly identified. The AP does not identify alleged victims of sex crimes.
Kaitlyn Hunt, who hopes to become a nurse, declined to be interviewed and is scared, her father said. However, the family has received support from all over the world, with messages coming from as far away as New Zealand, the Netherlands and Canada, Steve Hunt said. He said he reads them to her to keep her spirits up, but she feels like she has let everyone down, he said through tears.
Prosecutors have offered a plea deal to Kaitlyn Hunt that would allow her to avoid registering as a sex offender if she pleads guilty to lesser charges of child abuse. State Attorney Bruce Colton said he would recommend two years of house arrest followed by one year probation if she takes the deal.
If she is found guilty, it's also possible that Hunt could apply to not have to register as a sex offender under a "Romeo and Juliet" law because the girls were no more than four years apart in age, Colton said.
Colton said the victim's family is not pushing for prison but wants Kaitlyn Hunt to be held responsible in some way. However, the Hunt family said they would accept a plea deal only if the charges are dropped to a misdemeanor.
"One of the reasons this case has gotten people's attention is because it's being publicized as a person being persecuted because she's gay, and that has nothing to do with the case, nothing to do with the law, nothing to do with the sheriff's office filing the charges," Colton said. He said the law is designed to protect younger children from older children who might be more aggressive in starting a relationship.
"The law doesn't make any differentiation. It doesn't matter if it's two girls or two boys, or an older boy and a younger girl or an older girl and a younger boy. Whatever the combination, it doesn't matter."
However, gay rights advocates aren't buying that. The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida said Kaitlyn Hunt is being criminalized for behavior that "occurs every day in tens of thousands of high schools across the country, yet those other students are not facing felony convictions ... and potential lifelong branding as sex offenders."
Her support extends beyond the ACLU. A "Free Kate" Facebook page has generated more than 30,000 followers so far, and an online petition urging that the charges be dropped crashed at one point because it got so much traffic. It now has more than 100,000 signatures. And during a press conference Monday, dozens of supporters showed up outside of the Indian River Sheriff's Department, many wearing T-Shirts that read "Stop the Hate, Free Kate" with rainbow hearts.
"It's very difficult under these circumstances when the defendant and the victim do not see what they're doing as a crime, but understandably the law is very clear that when someone is more than four years older than the victim and the victim is under the age of 16, then they cannot give legal consent," said New Jersey defense attorney Gregory Gianforcaro, who has represented victims and defendants on both sides of this issue.
Gianforcaro said that Hunt's case is clearly not a predatory situation and that prosecutors should consider that when they look at sentencing and plea bargains.
"This is a very uncommon situation because of the fact there are two women. However, if it were a man and a woman and there was more than four years of an age difference, it's very possible that that kind of situation would be pursued criminally as well," Gianforcaro said.
The family said Kaitlyn Hunt had been demonized by some, and they disabled her personal Facebook account to protect her from negative comments. At school in February, her 17-year-old sister spent a half-hour cleaning a mirror where someone had written a slur against women and other words including "rapist" and "disgusting," Steve Hunt said.
In the meantime, Kaitlyn Hunt has been attending an alternative school since her expulsion and will be allowed to walk with her class at graduation in June. Her mother said she was expelled by the school board even though a judge ruled she could stay.
Sebastian River High School's principal and assistant principal did not immediately respond to emails sent Tuesday.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) ? Do your kids love chocolate milk? It may have more calories on average than you thought.
Same goes for soda.
Until now, the only way to find out what people in the United States eat and how many calories they consume has been government data, which can lag behind the rapidly expanding and changing food marketplace.
Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are trying to change that by creating a gargantuan map of what foods Americans are buying and eating.
Part of the uniqueness of the database is its ability to sort one product into what it really is ? thousands of brands and variations.
Take the chocolate milk.
The government long has long classified chocolate milk with 2 percent fat as one item. But the UNC researchers, using scanner data from grocery stores and other commercial data, found thousands of different brands and variations of 2 percent chocolate milk and averaged them out. The results show that chocolate milk has about 11 calories per cup more than the government thought.
The researchers led by professor Barry Popkin at the UNC School of Public Health, are figuring out that chocolate milk equation over and over, with every single item in the grocery store. It's a massive project that could be the first evidence of how rapidly the marketplace is changing, and the best data yet on what exact ingredients and nutrients people are consuming.
That kind of information could be used to better target nutritional guidelines, push companies to cut down on certain ingredients and even help with disease research.
Just call it "mapping the food genome."
"The country needs something like this, given all of the questions about our food supply," says Popkin, the head of the UNC Food Research Program. "We're interested in improving the public's health and it really takes this kind of knowledge."
The project first came together in 2010 after a group of 16 major food companies pledged, as part of first lady Michelle Obama's campaign to combat obesity, to reduce the calories they sell to the public by 1.5 trillion. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation agreed to fund a study to hold the companies accountable, eventually turning to UNC with grants totaling $6.7 million.
Aided by supercomputers on campus, Popkin and his team have taken existing commercial databases of food items in stores and people's homes, including the store-based scanner data of 600,000 different foods, and matched that information with the nutrition facts panels on the back of packages and government data on individuals' dietary intake.
The result is an enormous database that has taken almost three years so far to construct and includes more detail than researchers have ever had on grocery store items ? their individual nutritional content, who is buying them and their part in consumers' diets.
The study will fill gaps in current data about the choices available to consumers and whether they are healthy, says Susan Krebs-Smith, who researches diet and other risk factors related to cancer at the National Cancer Institute.
Government data, long the only source of information about American eating habits, can have a lag of several years and neglect entire categories of new types of products ? Greek yogurt or energy drinks, for example.
With those significant gaps, the government information fails to account for the rapid change now seen in the marketplace. Now more than ever, companies are reformulating products on the fly as they try to make them healthier or better tasting.
While consumers may not notice changes in the ingredient panel on the back of the package, the UNC study will pick up small variations in individual items and also begin to be able to tell how much the marketplace as a whole is evolving.
"When we are done we will probably see 20 percent change in the food supply in a year," Popkin says. "The food supply is changing and no one really knows how."
For example, the researchers have found that there has been an increase in using fruit concentrate as a sweetener in foods and beverages because of a propensity toward natural foods, even though it isn't necessarily healthier than other sugars. While the soda and chocolate milk have more calories on average than the government thought, the federal numbers were more accurate on the calories in milk and cereals.
Popkin and his researchers are hoping their project will only be the beginning of a map that consumers, companies, researchers and even the government can use, breaking the data down to find out who is eating what and where they shop. Is there a racial divide in the brand of potato chips purchased, for example, and what could that mean for health? Does diet depend on where you buy your food ? the grocery store or the convenience store? How has the recession affected dietary intake?
"It's only since I've really started digging into this that I have realized how little we know about what we are eating," says Meghan Slining, a UNC nutrition professor and researcher on the project.
Steven Gortmaker, director of the Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center, says the data could help researchers figure out how people are eating in certain communities and then how to address problems in those diets that could lead to obesity or disease.
"The more information we have, the more scientists can be brainstorming about what kinds of interventions or policy changes we could engage in," Gortmaker said.
But the information doesn't include restaurant meals and some prepared foods, about one-third of what Americans eat. If the project receives continued funding, those foods eventually could be added to the study, a prospect that would be made easier by pending menu labeling regulations that will force chain restaurants to post calories for every item.
Popkin and his researchers say that packaged foods have long been the hardest to monitor because of the sheer volume and rapid change in the marketplace.
The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, an industry group representing the 16 companies that made the pledge to reduce 1.5 trillion calories, says it will report this summer on how successful they've been, according to Lisa Gable, the group's president. The first results from Popkin's study aren't expected until later this year.
Marion Nestle, a New York University professor of nutrition, food studies and public health, says the data could be useful in pressuring companies to make more changes for the better. Companies often use "the research isn't there" as a defense against making changes recommended by public health groups, she notes, and it can be hard to prove them wrong.
"What people eat is the great mystery of nutrition," Nestle says. "It would be wonderful to have a handle on it."
___
Find Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Shares of Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. surged Monday after the company said it would move ahead with a late-stage trial of its lead product, the experimental lung cancer treatment bavituximab.
THE SPARK: Peregrine said in a release it reached an agreement with the Food and Drug Administration on a phase III study of its drug involving 600 patients. The trial will enroll patients with non-small cell lung cancer whose disease has progressed after treatment with standard therapy. The study will evaluate bavituximab based on patients' overall survival.
The Tustin, Calif.-based drugmaker said it would present final data from its mid-stage studies of the drug at a meeting for cancer specialists on June 1.
THE BIG PICTURE: Peregrine does not have any approved products and bavituximab is its most advanced experimental drug. In early September Peregrine said patients who were treated with bavituximab lived twice as long as patients who received only chemotherapy in a clinical trial.
A few weeks later the company said it had found problems with the reported trial data and its initial analysis couldn't be relied on. Peregrine said the problem appeared to be tied to another company that was contracted to code and distribute the product. In January Peregrine reported that the discrepancies are limited to a single dose of the drug.
SHARE ACTION: Peregrine shares rose 34 cents, or 22 percent, to $1.88 in trading Monday.
Starting to get bored of the ThinkPad's classic look but not keen on the Edge series? Then we have good news for you! Earlier today we received a couple of photos that show off two upcoming Lenovo Ultrabooks: the 13-inch ThinkPad S3 (codename "Labatt") and the 15-inch ThinkPad S5 ("Guinness"). As you can see above and after the break, both aluminum laptops feature a new "floating design" that might have taken a page out of Samsung and Vizio's book: shaving off the front outer edges of the bottom side to create that slim and floating illusion. Also, these will apparently come with either a black or silver lid.
Some folks on Sina Weibo have received other teaser photos of the ThinkPad S5, with one confirming the presence of JBL stereo speakers. The funny thing is Chinese website Yesky reported on a charity auction that actually sold limited editions of the S3 and S5 earlier this month, but those unannounced Ultrabooks went under everyone else's radar. If you're curious, Yesky speculates that a launch is due in China at the end of this month, but you'll have to stay tuned for the prices and specs.
Web marketing can be a great way for someone to advertise their product through the World Wide Web. Finding out about the the best ways to use Affiliate marketing to your advantage is a matter of learning some basic techniques. This article will demonstrate several ways that you can develop your prowess for Online marketing.
It?s important to remind customers to link your business site from theirs by offering a small ad that will allow them to link back to you easily. People who share your interests will be happy to link to you, and you will enjoy additional traffic.
TIP! If you?re looking to persuade others to link to your site, make it easy and attractive for them by having an attractive ?Link to Us? button created and available. Like-minded individuals will be glad to click on that button, embedding your site on theirs forever, and ensuring that anytime someone visits their site, they?ll see, and possibly click on, a link to yours as well.
Consider the ways you want to promote your site. You could for instance write articles for blogs or online magazines, list your business in online directories or share your content on social networks. There are lots of different ways to get many people to visit your site. Just get creative!
Before a site can be ranked, it must be built. Before you even think about where your website stands in the rankings, you should be thinking about its quality. This needs to be the beginning step for anyone who is creating an online business. The more attractive your site appears, the less work it will be in the future.
Be prepared to answer their questions. Visitors come to your site because they want to know more, and if you are not willing to provide the answers to their questions, they will not stay with you. Clear, concise information delivered in a friendly but professional way will show that you take your customers and your products seriously.
TIP! It is vital to have a client mailing list. Ask your customers if they would like to join your email list when they make a purchase, and add a form on your website to let them sign up.
Try adding a blog to sites that don?t change regularly. New content gets the attention of the search engines which will increase your ranking in their listings and lead to more traffic for your site. A blog allows you to create fresh content consistently.
Ask your cell phone company if you can have two phone numbers on your account which ring differently when a call comes in. Make getting a number a priority.
Always pay attention to your competitors to be successful in an internet business. Check out the websites of your competition to see what ideas can be used to help improve your business. When you notice lacking services on other websites, you should make sure these services are emphasized on your site in order to stand out from the crowd.
As discussed here, affiliate marketing is an effective method to advertise products and services. Make sure that you have done your research and you are well versed in Affiliate marketing. These tips will help you learn the secrets and put them to good use!
MOORE, Okla. (AP) ? The parents and guardians stood in the muddy grass outside a suburban Oklahoma City church, listening as someone with a bullhorn called out the names of children who were being dropped off ? survivors of a deadly tornado that barreled through their community.
For many families, the ordeal ended in bear hugs and tears of joy as loved ones reunited. Others were left to wait in the darkness, hoping for good news while fearing the worst.
At least 20 children are among the more than 50 reported dead so far in Moore, the Oklahoma City suburb ravaged by Monday's tornado that packed winds of up to 200 mph. The twister reduced one elementary school to a heaping mound of rubble and heavily damaged another while also flattening block after block of homes. Officials said early Tuesday the death toll could rise by as many as 40.
At St. Andrews United Methodist Church, parents stared into the distance as they waited, some holding the hands of young children who were missing siblings.
Tonya Sharp and Deanna Wallace sat at a table in the church's gymnasium waiting for their teenage daughters. As Sharp and Wallace spoke, a line of students walked in.
Wallace spotted her 16-year-old daughter, who came quickly her way and jumped into her mother's arms, pushing her several steps backward in the process. But Sharp didn't see her daughter, a 17-year-old who has epilepsy. She worried her daughter hadn't taken her medicine.
"I don't know where she's at," Sharp said. Later, she went to speak to officials who helped her register so she could be notified as soon as her daughter was found.
Shelli Smith had to walk miles to find her children. She was reunited with her 14-year-old daughter, Tiauna, around 5 p.m. Monday, but hadn't yet seen her 16-year-old son, TJ, since he left for school that morning.
TJ's phone had died, but he borrowed a classmate's phone to tell his mother where he was. However, Smith couldn't get to him due to the roadblocks. So she parked her car and started walking.
It took her three hours, but a little after sunset, she found him. She grabbed her son and squeezed him in a tight hug that lasted for several seconds before letting go. TJ hugged his sister, and then hugged his mom again.
The family had a long walk back to their car and then home, but she said she didn't mind.
"I was trying to get him and they wouldn't let me," she said, adding later: "I was like, 'You know what? I'm going to get my son.'"
Renee Lee summed up the struggle for many parents with multiple children ? find the ones who they hadn't yet seen, while calming the younger ones they had with them.
Lee is the mother of two daughters Sydney Walker, 16, and Hannah Lee, 8. When the storm came, she tried to pick Sydney up from school. Sydney told her on the phone that they wouldn't let her come in. While Lee and her younger daughter waited in their home, which wasn't hit, Sydney was safe in the room at a local high school.
Lee said she believed Sydney wasn't hurt and seemed resigned to the severe weather outbreaks.
"There's been so many of them, it doesn't even faze me," she said. "You just do what you gotta do. It's part of living here."
____
Associated Press reporters Jeannie Nuss and Chuck Bartels in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.
In April NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission took a huge panorama. From 438 miles above the Earth, the satellite shot a 6,000-mile-long, 120-mile-wide strip of planet from Russia to South Africa. It is aptly named ?The Long Swath.? Oh and it's 19.06 gigapixels.
New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and MorePublic release date: 20-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Christa Stratton cstratton@geosociety.org Geological Society of America
Boulder, Colo., USA New Geology articles posted online ahead of print 9 and 16 May 2013 cover a wide swath of geoscience subdisciplines, including minerals exploration, archaeology, planetary geology, tectonics, oceanography, geophysics, and paleobotany. Locations studied include Siberia; the Sumatran subduction margin; the Monte Arsiccio mine at Alpi Apuane, Italy; Ukraine; Mars; and the Southeastern U.S. Atlantic Margin. Brief highlights follow:
1. Rubies, jadeite, and plate tectonics;
2. The clear fingerprint of ice ages left on coral reefs around the world;
3. The history of human activities related to hemp;
4. Glaciers on Mars;
5. The "mush model" and a deepening in geoscientists' understanding of silicic magma systems;
6. A call for a cautious use of ocean sediments in developing past histories of major earthquakes.
7. Analysis of orebodies of the Monte Arsiccio mine, Italy;
8. Major targets for mineral exploration;
9. High-frequency, climatically controlled sea-level changes;
10. The pollen record in lake sediments from the Boltysh meteorite impact crater in Ukraine;
11. Ediacaran glaciation in Siberia and snowball Earth;
12. The first evidence for widespread seabed methane venting along the southeastern U.S.; and
13. Nano- to micro-scale frictional processes.
Highlights are provided below. GEOLOGY articles published ahead of print can be accessed online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/recent. All abstracts are open-access at http://geology.gsapubs.org/; representatives of the media may obtain complimentary GEOLOGY articles by contacting Kea Giles at the address above.
Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to GEOLOGY in articles published. Contact Kea Giles for additional information or assistance.
Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.
Plate tectonic gemstones
Robert J. Stern, Geosciences Dept., The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75083-0688, USA. Posted online ahead of print 9 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34204.1.
Humans have used, sought, and traded gemstones for thousands of years, uniquely linking art, economics, and geology, from the dawn of civilization until now. In contrast, the theory of plate tectonics, which explains how Earth's crust and upper mantle is divided into independent plates, has only existed for about 50 years. Gemstones mostly form where special conditions of pressure, temperature, and chemical composition occur, and sometimes these conditions can be linked to plate tectonic processes. Plate boundaries are dynamic geologic environments where conditions for gemstone formation occur, especially at convergent plate boundaries, where plates are subducted, sinking back into Earth's interior. In this paper, a team of U.S., Japanese, and Canadian geoscientists identify two gemstones -- ruby and a type of jade (jadeite) -- that form at two types of convergent plate boundaries, in subduction zones and where continents collide. Jadeite forms where seafloor (oceanic crust) is subducted -- for example, around the Pacific Ocean, in Central America, New Zealand, and SE Asia. In contrast, ruby forms where two continents collide, for example now beneath the Himalayas, where India and Asia are colliding, and in east Africa, where east and west Gondwana collided 550 million years ago. This new understanding of "plate tectonic gemstones" provides a new perspective on how plate tectonics functions and also suggests fresh ways to look for new deposits of these gemstones.
Profiles of ocean island coral reefs controlled by sea-level history and carbonate accumulation rates
Michael Toomey et al., Geology and Geophysics Dept., Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 360 Woods Hole Road, MS#22, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA; and Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. Posted online ahead of print 9 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34109.1.
Coral reefs around islands develop a wide variety of forms, including narrow platforms fringing the coast, barrier reefs encircling deep lagoons, and flights of terraces that have been raised above or drowned deep below the sea surface. Charles Darwin, who was also a geologist, suggested that reefs take on a fixed sequence of forms as a volcanic island gradually sinks below sea level. Reefs on some island chains, such as the Society Islands, appear to follow this sequence, but Darwin's idea cannot explain much of the diversity of reef forms found around the world, such as the reefs of the Hawaiian Islands. In addition to island sinking, reefs are shaped by the interaction of coral growth, wave erosion, and sea level changes. In this study, Michael Toomey and colleagues use a computer simulation of reef development to understand these interactions, and compare their results with a global compilation of rates of coral growth and island sinking or uplift. They find that large sea-level cycles driven by ice ages have left a clear fingerprint on coral reefs around the world, and that Darwin's proposed sequence of reef forms only develops in a small subset of environments.
Sedimentary cannabinol tracks the history of hemp retting
Marlne Lavrieux et al., Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orlans, Universit d'Orlans, ISTO, UMR 7327, 45071 Orlans, France; CNRS/INSU, ISTO, UMR 7327, 45071 Orlans, France; and BRGM, ISTO, UMR 7327, BP 36009, 45060 Orlans, France. Posted online ahead of print 9 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34073.1.
Hemp (Cannabis sp.) has been a fundamental plant for the development of human societies. Its fibers have long been used for textiles and rope making, which requires prior stem retting. This process is essential for extracting fibers from the stem of the plant but can adversely affect the quality of surface waters. The history of human activities related to hemp (its domestication, spread, and processing) is frequently reconstructed from seeds and pollen detected in archaeological sites or in sedimentary archives, but this method does not always make it possible to ascertain whether retting took place. Hemp is also known to contain phytocannabinoids, a type of chemicals that is specific to the plant. One of these chemicals, cannabinol (CBN), was discovered in a sediment record from a lake in the French Massif Central and was shown to be related to retting. This molecule tracks the hemp retting history in the area during the last 800 years and brings information about its induced water pollution. These findings, supported by pollen analyses and historical data, show that this novel sedimentary tracer can help to better constrain past impacts of human activities on the environment.
Evidence for Hesperian glaciation along the Martian dichotomy boundary
Alfonso F. Davila et al., SETI Institute, Mountain View, California 94043, USA. Posted online ahead of print 9 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34201.1.
Alfonso F. Davila and colleagues analyzed images and topographic data from the Aeolis Mensae region of Mars. Their analyses indicate that these terrains were eroded by glaciers emanating from the Martian dichotomy boundary. Collectively, our observations suggest that glacial activity could have been an important mechanism of modification of equatorial regions on Mars for three billion years.
The longevity of large upper crustal silicic magma reservoirs
Sarah E. Gelman et al., Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA. Posted online ahead of print 9 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34241.1.
Using numerical heat transfer models, Sarah E. Gelman and colleagues simulated the incremental assembly of upper crustal silicic magma reservoirs, the source of Earth's largest volcanic eruptions. Incorporating reasonable magma emplacement rates, complexity in thermal properties, and appropriate igneous phase diagrams, they demonstrate that these large reservoirs can remain continuously active for more than a million years in highly productive magmatic environments, while remaining more transient in lower flux regions. These results are consistent with volcanological, geochronological, and geophysical data obtained from various provinces (e.g., Taupo Volcanic Zone and the Southern Rocky Mountain Volcanic Field as long-lived, productive regions, while the Cascades arc hosts lower flux stratovolcanoes). This work supports recent models emphasizing the role of in situ upper crustal magma storage and differentiation in a crystal-rich environment ("mush zones"). This is a particularly provocative deepening in geoscientists' understanding of silicic magma systems because previous thermal modeling studies, which have incorporated fewer complexities than those addressed in this study, have been used as primary evidence against the "mush model." The results presented here are consistent with natural observations from multiple techniques and represent an important contribution toward predicting how and where large reservoirs can grow.
Can turbidites be used to reconstruct a paleoearthquake record for the central Sumatran margin?
Esther J. Sumner et al., Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton, Southampton, Hampshire SO14 3ZH, UK. Posted online ahead of print 9 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34298.1.
Large earthquakes are known to sometimes trigger huge underwater slides and flows of sediment in the oceans. An increasingly widespread technique is to sample these sediments, date them, and thereby infer the recurrence times of past major earthquakes that can be used in hazard assessment for future earthquakes. In this new study, Esther J. Sumner and colleagues tested whether large earthquakes reliably generate the types of deposit needed to reconstruct a complete and accurate earthquake record. They did this by analyzing the seafloor sediment record on the Sumatran subduction margin, in a region that experienced the third largest earthquake yet recorded in 2004 and numerous other large magnitude earthquakes in historical times. The seafloor sediment record offshore Sumatra reveals surprisingly little evidence for sediment slides and flows related to known large magnitude earthquakes. Therefore, large earthquakes on the Sumatran margin do not always trigger the large slides and flows of sediment necessary for reconstructing a complete and accurate history of major earthquakes. Until a better understanding is reached about why some seafloor slopes are more prone to widespread failure in the event of an earthquake, we suggest cautious use of ocean sediments in developing past histories of major earthquakes.
Mobilization of Tl-Hg-As-Sb-(Ag, Cu)-Pb sulfosalt melts during lowgrade metamorphism in the Alpi Apuane (Tuscany, Italy)
C. Biagioni et al. (M. D'Orazio, corresponding), Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universit di Pisa, Via Santa Maria 53, 56126 Pisa, Italy. Posted online ahead of print 16 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34211.1.
C. Biagioni and colleagues have discovered an exceptional assemblage of Tl-Hg-As-Sb-(Ag,Cu)-Pb sulfosalt minerals, showing textural evidence for their mobilization as melts in the barite-pyrite-iron oxide orebodies of the Monte Arsiccio mine (Alpi Apuane, Tuscany, Italy). The relative abundance of rare thallium sulfosalts (including three new mineral species), their peculiar textural features within the orebodies (e.g., migration along matrix grain boundaries, drop-like internal textures, low interfacial angles between sulfosalts and matrix minerals), and the overall high thallium content in pyrite from the entire mining district (up to ~900 ppm), make the barite-pyrite-iron oxide deposits of the Alpi Apuane a reference locality for studying very low-temperature sulfosalt melts in low-grade metamorphic complexes (greenschist facies). This study reveals how sulfosalt melting during low-grade regional metamorphism controls the redistribution of economically valuable and environmentally critical elements such as thallium (a highly toxic element) in sulfide orebodies containing significant amounts of low-melting-point chalcophile elements. The increase in local concentration combined with the change in thallium speciation (from trace level substituting ion to essential constituent element) could significantly influence the environmental release of thallium during weathering of such complex ore deposits.
Magmatic-hydrothermal processes within an evolving Earth: Iron oxide-copper-gold and porphyry Cu Mo Au deposits
Jeremy P. Richards, Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E3, Canada; and A. Hamid Mumin, Dept. of Geology, Brandon University, 270 18th Street, Brandon, Manitoba R7A 6A9, Canada. Posted online ahead of print 16 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34275.1.
Copper and gold commonly occur together in two deposit types known as porphyry copper (plus or minus gold and molybdenum) and iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposits. Porphyry deposits are characterized by abundant iron-sulfide minerals, whereas IOCG deposits are characterized by abundant iron-oxide minerals. Both deposit types are major targets for mineral exploration. The origin of porphyry deposits is relatively well established (they are formed from hydrothermal fluids exsolved from magmas emplaced at shallow levels in the crust, in tectonic settings related to subduction of oceanic plates). The origin of IOCG deposits is more widely debated, but several aspects of their nature and mode of formation are similar to porphyry deposits, including their key metal contents, formation by hydrothermal fluids arguably exsolved from magmas, and broad tectonic association. However, IOCG deposits are more common in ancient (Precambrian, older than or about equal to 550 million years old) rocks, whereas porphyry deposits are most abundant in younger (Phanerozoic, younger than or about equal to 550 million years old) rocks. Study authors Jeremy P. Richards and colleagues propose that this temporal distribution is related to established oxygenation of the deep oceans at the end of the Precambrian, which for the first time introduced abundant seawater-derived sulfur into subduction zones, and led to the predominance of sulfide-rich porphyry deposits in the Phanerozoic.
Orbital-scale climate change and glacioeustasy during the early Late Ordovician (pre-Hirnantian) determined from ?18O values in marine apatite
M. Elrick et al., Earth & Planetary Sciences Dept., University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA. Posted online ahead of print 16 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34363.1.
Results from this study by M. Elrick and colleagues suggest that 10 million years before the well-documented Latest Ordovician glaciation and mass extinction event, there were significant continental glaciers growing and melting and causing global sea levels to rise and fall on 104-105 year time scales. These high-frequency, climatically controlled sea-level changes resulted in the development of widespread subtropical sedimentary cycles and changes in the oxygen isotope values of marine apatite occurring within the cycles. These high-frequency climate and sea-level oscillations support the interpretation of a dynamic and prolonged Ordovician greenhouse to icehouse transition.
A high-resolution nonmarine record of an early Danian hyperthermal event, Boltysh crater, Ukraine
Iain Gilmour et al., Planetary and Space Sciences, Dept. of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK. Posted online ahead of print 16 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34292.1.
Lake sediments from the Boltysh meteorite impact crater in Ukraine record geochemical and pollen evidence for a brief period of global warming a short time after the boundary that marks the extinction of the dinosaurs. The 24-km-diameter Boltysh crater, which formed a few thousand years before its much larger and more famous cousin at Chicxulub, which is thought to be responsible for the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous, quickly filled with lake sediments. These sediments provide the first record on land of a brief period of warming and major perturbation of the carbon cycle previously found only in marine sediments. This indicates a global change in the Earth's climate. Plant pollens record a change in the flora around the crater that shows an increasingly warm and dry climate over a period of up to 340 thousand years, while carbon isotopes show that this coincides with a major perturbation in Earth's carbon cycle. Together they reveal that profound environmental change continued to occur on a global scale shortly after the dramatic events surrounding the Chicxulub impact.
Testing the snowball Earth hypothesis for the Ediacaran
Alexei V. Ivanov et al., Institute of the Earth's Crust, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Lermontov Street 128, Irkutsk 664033, Russia. Posted online ahead of print 16 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34345.1.
Earth experienced ultimately cold climates several times in its history, such as glaciers reaching the tropical latitudes, and the ocean probably stayed completely frozen. This type of climate stage is known as snowball Earth. Siberia was once tropical during the Ediacaran period about 580-570 million years ago, yet it was glaciated. If Earth was at the snowball stage and thus completely covered by ice, the ice prevented accumulation of cosmic dust and micrometeorites at oceanic floor. The dust and micrometeorite particles would have accumulated rapidly on the ocean floor at the ice-melting event, providing a geochemical signal. However, unlike a previous Cryogenian glaciation at about 635 million years ago, which is a classic example of the snowball Earth conditions, Alexei Ivanov and colleagues find this signal to be at a background level, suggesting that Ediacaran glaciation recorded in Siberia did not reach the snowball Earth stage. The severe cold climate and open oceans probably were prerequisites for evolution of metazoan and a later burst of life on Earth.
Evidence for extensive methane venting on the southeastern U.S. Atlantic margin
L.L. Brothers et al., U.S. Geological Survey, 384 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA. Posted online ahead of print 16 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34217.1.
Results reported here by L.L. Brothers and colleagues show the first evidence for widespread seabed methane venting along the southeastern U.S. Atlantic Margin beyond the well-known Blake Ridge Diapir Seep. While it was suspected that such seeps existed, there was little direct evidence until now. Data collected from recent ship and autonomous underwater vehicle surveys discovered multiple water-column gas plumes (>1000 m height and made up of bubbles). Brothers and colleagues also mapped extensive new chemosynthetic seep communities (communities of biological organisms that directly use methane and/or sulfide for life processes) at the Blake Ridge and Cape Fear Diapirs. Flow along these systems is both more dynamic (more active) and more widespread than previously believed.
Dynamic weakening by nanoscale smoothing during high-velocity fault slip
Xiaofeng Chen et al. (Ze'ev Reches, corresponding), School of Geology and Geophysics, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, USA. Posted online ahead of print 16 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34169.1.
While slip during large earthquakes occurs along faults that are hundreds of kilometers long, the dynamic weakening that drives these earthquakes is controlled by nano- to micro-scale frictional processes. Xiaofeng Chen and colleagues analyzed the nano- to micro-scale friction processes along experimental faults that slipped at high slip-velocity. Their analysis showed that the experimental faults became very smooth and developed shiny, mirror surfaces. The nanoscale friction coefficient dropped on these highly smooth surfaces and demonstrated, for the first time, that slip-smoothing at high slip-velocities can be an effective mechanism of dynamic weakening.
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New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and MorePublic release date: 20-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Christa Stratton cstratton@geosociety.org Geological Society of America
Boulder, Colo., USA New Geology articles posted online ahead of print 9 and 16 May 2013 cover a wide swath of geoscience subdisciplines, including minerals exploration, archaeology, planetary geology, tectonics, oceanography, geophysics, and paleobotany. Locations studied include Siberia; the Sumatran subduction margin; the Monte Arsiccio mine at Alpi Apuane, Italy; Ukraine; Mars; and the Southeastern U.S. Atlantic Margin. Brief highlights follow:
1. Rubies, jadeite, and plate tectonics;
2. The clear fingerprint of ice ages left on coral reefs around the world;
3. The history of human activities related to hemp;
4. Glaciers on Mars;
5. The "mush model" and a deepening in geoscientists' understanding of silicic magma systems;
6. A call for a cautious use of ocean sediments in developing past histories of major earthquakes.
7. Analysis of orebodies of the Monte Arsiccio mine, Italy;
8. Major targets for mineral exploration;
9. High-frequency, climatically controlled sea-level changes;
10. The pollen record in lake sediments from the Boltysh meteorite impact crater in Ukraine;
11. Ediacaran glaciation in Siberia and snowball Earth;
12. The first evidence for widespread seabed methane venting along the southeastern U.S.; and
13. Nano- to micro-scale frictional processes.
Highlights are provided below. GEOLOGY articles published ahead of print can be accessed online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/recent. All abstracts are open-access at http://geology.gsapubs.org/; representatives of the media may obtain complimentary GEOLOGY articles by contacting Kea Giles at the address above.
Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to GEOLOGY in articles published. Contact Kea Giles for additional information or assistance.
Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.
Plate tectonic gemstones
Robert J. Stern, Geosciences Dept., The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75083-0688, USA. Posted online ahead of print 9 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34204.1.
Humans have used, sought, and traded gemstones for thousands of years, uniquely linking art, economics, and geology, from the dawn of civilization until now. In contrast, the theory of plate tectonics, which explains how Earth's crust and upper mantle is divided into independent plates, has only existed for about 50 years. Gemstones mostly form where special conditions of pressure, temperature, and chemical composition occur, and sometimes these conditions can be linked to plate tectonic processes. Plate boundaries are dynamic geologic environments where conditions for gemstone formation occur, especially at convergent plate boundaries, where plates are subducted, sinking back into Earth's interior. In this paper, a team of U.S., Japanese, and Canadian geoscientists identify two gemstones -- ruby and a type of jade (jadeite) -- that form at two types of convergent plate boundaries, in subduction zones and where continents collide. Jadeite forms where seafloor (oceanic crust) is subducted -- for example, around the Pacific Ocean, in Central America, New Zealand, and SE Asia. In contrast, ruby forms where two continents collide, for example now beneath the Himalayas, where India and Asia are colliding, and in east Africa, where east and west Gondwana collided 550 million years ago. This new understanding of "plate tectonic gemstones" provides a new perspective on how plate tectonics functions and also suggests fresh ways to look for new deposits of these gemstones.
Profiles of ocean island coral reefs controlled by sea-level history and carbonate accumulation rates
Michael Toomey et al., Geology and Geophysics Dept., Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 360 Woods Hole Road, MS#22, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA; and Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. Posted online ahead of print 9 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34109.1.
Coral reefs around islands develop a wide variety of forms, including narrow platforms fringing the coast, barrier reefs encircling deep lagoons, and flights of terraces that have been raised above or drowned deep below the sea surface. Charles Darwin, who was also a geologist, suggested that reefs take on a fixed sequence of forms as a volcanic island gradually sinks below sea level. Reefs on some island chains, such as the Society Islands, appear to follow this sequence, but Darwin's idea cannot explain much of the diversity of reef forms found around the world, such as the reefs of the Hawaiian Islands. In addition to island sinking, reefs are shaped by the interaction of coral growth, wave erosion, and sea level changes. In this study, Michael Toomey and colleagues use a computer simulation of reef development to understand these interactions, and compare their results with a global compilation of rates of coral growth and island sinking or uplift. They find that large sea-level cycles driven by ice ages have left a clear fingerprint on coral reefs around the world, and that Darwin's proposed sequence of reef forms only develops in a small subset of environments.
Sedimentary cannabinol tracks the history of hemp retting
Marlne Lavrieux et al., Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orlans, Universit d'Orlans, ISTO, UMR 7327, 45071 Orlans, France; CNRS/INSU, ISTO, UMR 7327, 45071 Orlans, France; and BRGM, ISTO, UMR 7327, BP 36009, 45060 Orlans, France. Posted online ahead of print 9 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34073.1.
Hemp (Cannabis sp.) has been a fundamental plant for the development of human societies. Its fibers have long been used for textiles and rope making, which requires prior stem retting. This process is essential for extracting fibers from the stem of the plant but can adversely affect the quality of surface waters. The history of human activities related to hemp (its domestication, spread, and processing) is frequently reconstructed from seeds and pollen detected in archaeological sites or in sedimentary archives, but this method does not always make it possible to ascertain whether retting took place. Hemp is also known to contain phytocannabinoids, a type of chemicals that is specific to the plant. One of these chemicals, cannabinol (CBN), was discovered in a sediment record from a lake in the French Massif Central and was shown to be related to retting. This molecule tracks the hemp retting history in the area during the last 800 years and brings information about its induced water pollution. These findings, supported by pollen analyses and historical data, show that this novel sedimentary tracer can help to better constrain past impacts of human activities on the environment.
Evidence for Hesperian glaciation along the Martian dichotomy boundary
Alfonso F. Davila et al., SETI Institute, Mountain View, California 94043, USA. Posted online ahead of print 9 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34201.1.
Alfonso F. Davila and colleagues analyzed images and topographic data from the Aeolis Mensae region of Mars. Their analyses indicate that these terrains were eroded by glaciers emanating from the Martian dichotomy boundary. Collectively, our observations suggest that glacial activity could have been an important mechanism of modification of equatorial regions on Mars for three billion years.
The longevity of large upper crustal silicic magma reservoirs
Sarah E. Gelman et al., Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA. Posted online ahead of print 9 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34241.1.
Using numerical heat transfer models, Sarah E. Gelman and colleagues simulated the incremental assembly of upper crustal silicic magma reservoirs, the source of Earth's largest volcanic eruptions. Incorporating reasonable magma emplacement rates, complexity in thermal properties, and appropriate igneous phase diagrams, they demonstrate that these large reservoirs can remain continuously active for more than a million years in highly productive magmatic environments, while remaining more transient in lower flux regions. These results are consistent with volcanological, geochronological, and geophysical data obtained from various provinces (e.g., Taupo Volcanic Zone and the Southern Rocky Mountain Volcanic Field as long-lived, productive regions, while the Cascades arc hosts lower flux stratovolcanoes). This work supports recent models emphasizing the role of in situ upper crustal magma storage and differentiation in a crystal-rich environment ("mush zones"). This is a particularly provocative deepening in geoscientists' understanding of silicic magma systems because previous thermal modeling studies, which have incorporated fewer complexities than those addressed in this study, have been used as primary evidence against the "mush model." The results presented here are consistent with natural observations from multiple techniques and represent an important contribution toward predicting how and where large reservoirs can grow.
Can turbidites be used to reconstruct a paleoearthquake record for the central Sumatran margin?
Esther J. Sumner et al., Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton, Southampton, Hampshire SO14 3ZH, UK. Posted online ahead of print 9 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34298.1.
Large earthquakes are known to sometimes trigger huge underwater slides and flows of sediment in the oceans. An increasingly widespread technique is to sample these sediments, date them, and thereby infer the recurrence times of past major earthquakes that can be used in hazard assessment for future earthquakes. In this new study, Esther J. Sumner and colleagues tested whether large earthquakes reliably generate the types of deposit needed to reconstruct a complete and accurate earthquake record. They did this by analyzing the seafloor sediment record on the Sumatran subduction margin, in a region that experienced the third largest earthquake yet recorded in 2004 and numerous other large magnitude earthquakes in historical times. The seafloor sediment record offshore Sumatra reveals surprisingly little evidence for sediment slides and flows related to known large magnitude earthquakes. Therefore, large earthquakes on the Sumatran margin do not always trigger the large slides and flows of sediment necessary for reconstructing a complete and accurate history of major earthquakes. Until a better understanding is reached about why some seafloor slopes are more prone to widespread failure in the event of an earthquake, we suggest cautious use of ocean sediments in developing past histories of major earthquakes.
Mobilization of Tl-Hg-As-Sb-(Ag, Cu)-Pb sulfosalt melts during lowgrade metamorphism in the Alpi Apuane (Tuscany, Italy)
C. Biagioni et al. (M. D'Orazio, corresponding), Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universit di Pisa, Via Santa Maria 53, 56126 Pisa, Italy. Posted online ahead of print 16 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34211.1.
C. Biagioni and colleagues have discovered an exceptional assemblage of Tl-Hg-As-Sb-(Ag,Cu)-Pb sulfosalt minerals, showing textural evidence for their mobilization as melts in the barite-pyrite-iron oxide orebodies of the Monte Arsiccio mine (Alpi Apuane, Tuscany, Italy). The relative abundance of rare thallium sulfosalts (including three new mineral species), their peculiar textural features within the orebodies (e.g., migration along matrix grain boundaries, drop-like internal textures, low interfacial angles between sulfosalts and matrix minerals), and the overall high thallium content in pyrite from the entire mining district (up to ~900 ppm), make the barite-pyrite-iron oxide deposits of the Alpi Apuane a reference locality for studying very low-temperature sulfosalt melts in low-grade metamorphic complexes (greenschist facies). This study reveals how sulfosalt melting during low-grade regional metamorphism controls the redistribution of economically valuable and environmentally critical elements such as thallium (a highly toxic element) in sulfide orebodies containing significant amounts of low-melting-point chalcophile elements. The increase in local concentration combined with the change in thallium speciation (from trace level substituting ion to essential constituent element) could significantly influence the environmental release of thallium during weathering of such complex ore deposits.
Magmatic-hydrothermal processes within an evolving Earth: Iron oxide-copper-gold and porphyry Cu Mo Au deposits
Jeremy P. Richards, Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E3, Canada; and A. Hamid Mumin, Dept. of Geology, Brandon University, 270 18th Street, Brandon, Manitoba R7A 6A9, Canada. Posted online ahead of print 16 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34275.1.
Copper and gold commonly occur together in two deposit types known as porphyry copper (plus or minus gold and molybdenum) and iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposits. Porphyry deposits are characterized by abundant iron-sulfide minerals, whereas IOCG deposits are characterized by abundant iron-oxide minerals. Both deposit types are major targets for mineral exploration. The origin of porphyry deposits is relatively well established (they are formed from hydrothermal fluids exsolved from magmas emplaced at shallow levels in the crust, in tectonic settings related to subduction of oceanic plates). The origin of IOCG deposits is more widely debated, but several aspects of their nature and mode of formation are similar to porphyry deposits, including their key metal contents, formation by hydrothermal fluids arguably exsolved from magmas, and broad tectonic association. However, IOCG deposits are more common in ancient (Precambrian, older than or about equal to 550 million years old) rocks, whereas porphyry deposits are most abundant in younger (Phanerozoic, younger than or about equal to 550 million years old) rocks. Study authors Jeremy P. Richards and colleagues propose that this temporal distribution is related to established oxygenation of the deep oceans at the end of the Precambrian, which for the first time introduced abundant seawater-derived sulfur into subduction zones, and led to the predominance of sulfide-rich porphyry deposits in the Phanerozoic.
Orbital-scale climate change and glacioeustasy during the early Late Ordovician (pre-Hirnantian) determined from ?18O values in marine apatite
M. Elrick et al., Earth & Planetary Sciences Dept., University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA. Posted online ahead of print 16 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34363.1.
Results from this study by M. Elrick and colleagues suggest that 10 million years before the well-documented Latest Ordovician glaciation and mass extinction event, there were significant continental glaciers growing and melting and causing global sea levels to rise and fall on 104-105 year time scales. These high-frequency, climatically controlled sea-level changes resulted in the development of widespread subtropical sedimentary cycles and changes in the oxygen isotope values of marine apatite occurring within the cycles. These high-frequency climate and sea-level oscillations support the interpretation of a dynamic and prolonged Ordovician greenhouse to icehouse transition.
A high-resolution nonmarine record of an early Danian hyperthermal event, Boltysh crater, Ukraine
Iain Gilmour et al., Planetary and Space Sciences, Dept. of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK. Posted online ahead of print 16 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34292.1.
Lake sediments from the Boltysh meteorite impact crater in Ukraine record geochemical and pollen evidence for a brief period of global warming a short time after the boundary that marks the extinction of the dinosaurs. The 24-km-diameter Boltysh crater, which formed a few thousand years before its much larger and more famous cousin at Chicxulub, which is thought to be responsible for the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous, quickly filled with lake sediments. These sediments provide the first record on land of a brief period of warming and major perturbation of the carbon cycle previously found only in marine sediments. This indicates a global change in the Earth's climate. Plant pollens record a change in the flora around the crater that shows an increasingly warm and dry climate over a period of up to 340 thousand years, while carbon isotopes show that this coincides with a major perturbation in Earth's carbon cycle. Together they reveal that profound environmental change continued to occur on a global scale shortly after the dramatic events surrounding the Chicxulub impact.
Testing the snowball Earth hypothesis for the Ediacaran
Alexei V. Ivanov et al., Institute of the Earth's Crust, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Lermontov Street 128, Irkutsk 664033, Russia. Posted online ahead of print 16 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34345.1.
Earth experienced ultimately cold climates several times in its history, such as glaciers reaching the tropical latitudes, and the ocean probably stayed completely frozen. This type of climate stage is known as snowball Earth. Siberia was once tropical during the Ediacaran period about 580-570 million years ago, yet it was glaciated. If Earth was at the snowball stage and thus completely covered by ice, the ice prevented accumulation of cosmic dust and micrometeorites at oceanic floor. The dust and micrometeorite particles would have accumulated rapidly on the ocean floor at the ice-melting event, providing a geochemical signal. However, unlike a previous Cryogenian glaciation at about 635 million years ago, which is a classic example of the snowball Earth conditions, Alexei Ivanov and colleagues find this signal to be at a background level, suggesting that Ediacaran glaciation recorded in Siberia did not reach the snowball Earth stage. The severe cold climate and open oceans probably were prerequisites for evolution of metazoan and a later burst of life on Earth.
Evidence for extensive methane venting on the southeastern U.S. Atlantic margin
L.L. Brothers et al., U.S. Geological Survey, 384 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA. Posted online ahead of print 16 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34217.1.
Results reported here by L.L. Brothers and colleagues show the first evidence for widespread seabed methane venting along the southeastern U.S. Atlantic Margin beyond the well-known Blake Ridge Diapir Seep. While it was suspected that such seeps existed, there was little direct evidence until now. Data collected from recent ship and autonomous underwater vehicle surveys discovered multiple water-column gas plumes (>1000 m height and made up of bubbles). Brothers and colleagues also mapped extensive new chemosynthetic seep communities (communities of biological organisms that directly use methane and/or sulfide for life processes) at the Blake Ridge and Cape Fear Diapirs. Flow along these systems is both more dynamic (more active) and more widespread than previously believed.
Dynamic weakening by nanoscale smoothing during high-velocity fault slip
Xiaofeng Chen et al. (Ze'ev Reches, corresponding), School of Geology and Geophysics, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, USA. Posted online ahead of print 16 May 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34169.1.
While slip during large earthquakes occurs along faults that are hundreds of kilometers long, the dynamic weakening that drives these earthquakes is controlled by nano- to micro-scale frictional processes. Xiaofeng Chen and colleagues analyzed the nano- to micro-scale friction processes along experimental faults that slipped at high slip-velocity. Their analysis showed that the experimental faults became very smooth and developed shiny, mirror surfaces. The nanoscale friction coefficient dropped on these highly smooth surfaces and demonstrated, for the first time, that slip-smoothing at high slip-velocities can be an effective mechanism of dynamic weakening.
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Australian startup, Airtasker, is keen to expand out of its home country into Southeast Asia, which it says hasn’t been touched by large competitors yet. The year-old startup provides job matching for freelancers and employers, similar to what oDesk and Elance do. For its first steps outside of Australia, its first port of call will be Singapore, where it wants to hire two country managers. Airtasker joins a scene that already has a few huge competitors. oDesk, for example, has been around since 2005. Last year, the company raised $15 million, bringing its total funding $45 million to date. The site processes $300 million in jobs on an annual basis. Some early oDesk employees also founded Rev.com, which in March announced $4.5 million in Series A funding. Another big competitor, Elance, raised $16 million in funding early last year as well, as its business has continued to grow in the past two years. 650,000 new job postings were listed on the site in 2011, it said. But big as these sites are, they don’t seem to have made a huge impact on freelancers in Southeast Asia. A quick search for freelancers in Singapore on oDesk showed 248 listings out of 742,113. Hong Kong showed a dismal 84, Kuala Lumpur 7 and Bangkok 31. While it appears indeed untouched by the large sites, it could just mean that the freelancing scene is a lot less vibrant in Asia, with the majority of workers preferring full-time jobs. It could also be that fewer freelancers rely on online matching sites to get their jobs, as well. Airtasker’s founder and CEO, Tim Fung, said temp jobs in the region are less organized into verticals. He said some common jobs in Asia include handing out flyers at a train station, or a one-day PA. These can’t really be categorized by industry, and Airtasker has organized its job ads and job seeker profiles in a broader fashion, so that more matches can be made by both sides. The bulk of Airtasker’s workers, for now, are based in Australia, and its upward trajectory does indicate some sort of pent-up demand on the freelancing scene. Airtasker now processes about $120,000 worth of jobs per month. Fung hinted that Airtasker will announce a partnership with a global jobs network soon. “I think that’s an indication that the larger ‘mainstream’ job scene is taking part-time job listings more seriously,” he
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Public release date: 20-May-2013
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