CORONAVIRUS has mutated into at least eight different strains according to researchers.

This strain is three strains away from the original

On average, the virus is mutating every 15 days. However, researchers have concluded the strains are not getting more deadly.
NextStrain, an open database in which virus sequences were uploaded, co-founder Trevor Bedford told National Geographic: “These mutations are completely benign and useful as a puzzle piece to uncover how the virus is spreading.

Identifying different strains could help ascertain whether measures against it have been effective.

Mr Bedford explained: “We’ll be able to tell how much less transmission we’re seeing and answer the question, ‘Can we take our foot off the gas?”

Charles Chiu of the University of California told USA Today scientists have the facilities to do genetic sequencing and work out transmission almost in real time.

Cases on the west coast of the US have been linked to a strain first identified in Washington state

On the east coast, the virus has gone from China to Europe then to New York.

Kristian Andersen, a Scripps Research professor said the data was not the full picture.

Speaking to USA Today she said: “Remember, we’re seeing a very small glimpse into the much larger pandemic.

“We have half a million described cases right now but maybe 1,000 genomes sequenced.

“So there are a lot of lineages we’re missing.”

Scientists from other specialisations have also made contributions to understanding and fighting the virus.

Physicists furloughed at CERN, the Swiss lab have released a design for a ventilator to help ease coronavirus shortages.

Coronavirus mutation rate is good for vaccine development

At least 8 strains of the coronavirus have been identified ...
https://thehill.com › changing-america › well-being › medical-advances
2 days ago - Researchers say the small mutations are useful in showing how the virus is ... Researchers have identified at least eight strains of the novel coronavirus that has ... the virus is mutating on average every 15 days, according to National ... Bedford said the different strains make it possible for researchers to see ...

Coronavirus: How scientists are tracking 8 strains of SARS ...
https://www.usatoday.com › story › news › nation › 2020/03/27 › scientist...
Mar 27, 2020 - Scientists sequenced the genomes of eight coronavirus strains ... SAN FRANCISCO – At least eight strains of the coronavirusare ... While much is unknown, hidden in the virus's unique microscopic ... Huddled in once bustling and now almost empty labs, researchers who ... Different symptoms, same strains.

At least 8 strains of the coronavirus are spreading across the ...
https://nypost.com › 2020/03/29 › at-least-8-strains-of-the-coronavirus-are...
Mar 29, 2020 - Scientists have identified at least eight strains of coronavirus as the bug wreaks ... NextStrain, which shows it mutating on maps in real-time, according to the site. ... He said the various strains allow researchers to see whether ...

Coronavirus mutation rate is good for vaccine development ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com › health › 2020/03/24
Mar 24, 2020 - The coronavirus is not mutating significantly as it circulates through the human population, according to scientists who are closely studying the novel pathogen's ... and represents encouraging news for researchers hoping to create a ... genetic differences between the strains that have infected people in the ...

Researchers Look At How The Coronavirus Is Mutating — And ...

https://www.npr.org › sections › goatsandsoda › 2020/03/25 › the-coronavir...
Mar 25, 2020 - As the virus makes copies of itself, errors may creep in, changing its genetic makeup. ... of disease or the transmissibility or other things that we as humans care about." ... Like flu and measles, the coronavirus is an RNA virus. ... and vaccines that are effective against a narrow group of coronavirus strains.

Our ancestors swapped pieces of ostrich eggshell jewelry 30,000 years ago in the same way that we trade Facebook and Twitter likes, or friendship bracelets, experts claim

Modern hunter-gatherers in the Kalahari Desert trade ostrich eggshell beads

But archaeologists found similar items in Lesotho, a region with no ostriches

Chemical analysis of the beads showed they come from up to 621 miles away

Experts believe the beads acted as visible signs of ancient social networks

By IAN RANDALL FOR MAILONLINE PUBLISHED: 9 March 2020

Our ancestors swapped pieces of ostrich eggshell jewellery 30,000 years ago in the same way we trade social media likes, or friendship bracelets, archaeologists claim.

The items — shell fragments with holes bored in — would have acted as signs of the interpersonal connections that made up ancient social networks.

Experts studying beads found in the African country of Lesotho have shown that the tradition seen in modern hunter-gatherers had a longer history than thought.

Analysis of elements within the beads has revealed that they were passed from person to person, travelling as far as 621 miles from where they were made.


Our ancestors swapped pieces of ostrich eggshell jewellery (pictured) 30,000 years ago in the same way we trade social media likes, or friendship bracelets, archaeologists claim

'Ostrich eggshell beads and the jewellery made from them basically acted like Stone Age versions of Facebook or Twitter "likes",' said archaeologist Brian Stewart of the University of Michigan.

These tokens, he added, would have 'simultaneously affirmed connections to exchange partners while alerting others to the status of those relationships.'

'Humans are just outlandishly social animals, and that goes back to these deep forces that selected for maximising information, information that would have been useful for living in a hunter-gatherer society 30,000 years ago and earlier.'

Anthropologists have long-known that modern hunter-gatherers trade ostrich eggshell beads to cement their interpersonal relationships — with such being practised among living Bushman groups in the Kalahari Desert.

Ostriches don't typically live in the mountainous, high-elevation environment of Lesotho, however — and archaeologists found no evidence, like bead fragments or samples of unworked eggshell, to suggest the beads were being made there either.

This led Professor Stewart and colleagues to wonder exactly where the beads found in the archaeological record there had come from.

To trace the origin of the beads, the team looked at a radioactive isotope called strontium, which is formed for the breakdown of another element, rubidium-87.

Older rocks — such as granites and gneisses — contain more strontium than younger rocks like basalts.

Strontium atoms are taken up from the ground by plants like grass, which are in turn eaten by animals like ostriches — and in this way can end up within materials like eggshells, creating a signal of the geology where they were formed.

Using plant and soil samples, as well as tooth enamel taken from modern rodent specimens from museum collections, the researchers created a map of the strontium signals from across Lesotho and the surrounding areas.

The basalt-rich volcanic mountains that make up the core of Lesotho contain less strontium, for example, than the surrounding and older sedimentary rocks.

The items — shell fragments with holes bored in — would have acted as signs of the interpersonal connections that made up ancient social networks

Analysis of elements within the beads has revealed that they were passed from person to person, travelling as far as 621 miles from where they were made. Pictured, one of the ancient rock shelter sites from which the ostrich eggshell beads were excavated

The team's analysis revealed that nearly 80 per cent of the beads found in Lesotho could not have originated from nearby highland areas.

'These ornaments were consistently coming from very long distances,' said Dr Stewart.

'The oldest bead in our sample had the third highest strontium isotope value, so it is also one of the most exotic.'

Some of the beads, the team found, must have come from eggshells from at least 202 miles (325 kilometres) from Lesotho — and perhaps even as far away as 621 miles (1,000 kilometres).

'Ostrich eggshell beads and the jewellery made from them basically acted like Stone Age versions of Facebook or Twitter "likes",' said archaeologist Brian Stewart of the University of Michigan. Pictured, one of the ancient rock shelter sites from which the beads were excavated

Anthropologists have long-known that modern hunter-gatherers trade ostrich eggshell beads to cement their interpersonal relationships — with such being practised among living Bushman groups in the Kalahari Desert. Pictured, one of the ancient rock shelter sites from which the ostrich eggshell beads were excavated

The team also found that the beads were being exchanged during a period of climactic upheaval which spanned from around 59–29 thousand years ago.

According to Dr Stewart, the use of the beads to build relationships between different hunter-gatherer groups may have ensured one group's access to others' resources when their region's weather took a turn for the worse.

'What happened 50,000 years ago was that the climate was going through enormous swings, so it might be no coincidence that that's exactly when you get this technology coming in,' he said.

'These exchange networks could be used for information on resources, the condition of landscapes, of animals, plant foods, other people and perhaps marriage partners.'

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

'What happened 50,000 years ago was that the climate was going through enormous swings, so it might be no coincidence that that's exactly when you get this technology coming in,' said Dr Stewart. Pictured, one of the ancient rock shelter sites from which the ostrich eggshell beads were excavated

Experts studying beads found in the African country of Lesotho — specifically at two archaeological sites known as Melikane and Sehonghong — have shown that the tradition seen in modern hunter-gatherers had a longer history than thought Extinct human relative made jewelry over 40-thousand years ago


SEE 
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/archaeologists-on-5000-year-old-egg.html

Archaeology shock: 2,000-year-old Mount Ebal discovery ‘proves Bible story’
ARCHAEOLOGISTS uncovered a site on Mount Ebal, dating back to the Biblical period, leading some to claim it proves a story in the Old Testament.

By CALLUM HOARE PUBLISHED: Fri, Mar 20, 2020

The Book of Joshua, found in the Bible, tells of how one of Moses’ assistants who built an altar of stones where the Israelites made peace offerings. Much later in the book, when Joshua was old and dying, he gathered the people together at Shechem, and gave a farewell speech. 

In the Eighties, archaeologists Adam Zertal conducted a land survey in Manasseh, including Mount Ebal, where the team identified an anomaly 150 metres below the peak.
Bible Discovery TV revealed why they thought this find was relevant to religious teaching.

The series said last month: “The book of Deuteronomy records a command to Joshua to hold a ceremony on Mount Ebal, build an altar there and set up standing stones that had the covenant written on them.

“Mount Ebal was probably chosen as a place of covenant renewal for a few reasons.

“First, it flanks the city of Shechem, which was a major centre of politics and religion in Canaan, control of this area demonstrated God’s power.

The finds match the Bible according to claims (Image: GETTY)

Mount Ebal features in the Bible (Image: GETTY)
The location, timing and archaeology all line-up
Bible Discovery TV

“Secondly, Mount Ebal is the tallest mountain in northern Samaria, demonstrating the importance and commanding a view of nearly all of what would become Israel.

“Also, most Israelite Iron Age archaeological findings come from this territory of Manasseh where Mount Ebal is.”

The series went on to reveal why biblical scholars think there is a link with Joshua’s story and the altar.

It adds: “This gives some evidence to believe that here is where most of Israel resided in the early settlement and into the time of the judges, so a religious centre on Mount Ebal would give access to most of these Israelites.

“After these mentions in Deuteronomy and Joshua, Mount Ebal is never mentioned in the Bible again.

Adam Zerta found Iron Age pottery (Image: GETTY)

“But, in modern times, Mount Ebal has been the centre of controversy with the findings of the late archaeologist Adam Zertal.

“A pile of stones on Mount Ebal received several seasons of excavations due to Iron Age pottery scattered on its surface.

“Zertal interpreted what he found beneath the pile as a massive altar of burnt offerings dating to the biblical period of the judges.”

But, there is more evidence than just the coinciding story, the series claimed.

It continued: “At first, his findings sparked a scholarly firestorm of disagreement, but today it’s generally recognised he did find a cultic site that corresponds to biblical sacrificial restrictions.

A smaller circle could be the original altar (Image: BIBLE DISCOVERY TV)

Some argue the rubble had other uses (Image: BIBLE DISCOVERY TV)
“The apparent altar is made of natural uncut stones and filled with alternating layers of Earth, ash, bone and stone.

“Not only is this a known construction style of ancient altars, but the bones are also ritually clean edible animals, pointing to the use as an Israelite cult centre.

“Unlike pagan altars with stairs, this one was ascended via a ramp, as commanded in Exodus 20.

“While the altar dates to a time after Joshua, Zertal found at the centre of it, an older circular altar dug into the bedrock.

“Could this be Joshua’s construction? The location, timing and archaeological all line up.”

Though some archaeologists agree with the consideration that the site was an altar compound, and some that it was a cultic location, others believe that it was simply a farmhouse, a guard tower.

They argue that the paved areas are simply rooms, the sloping wall simply an eroded partition wall, and the infilled enclosure a room that was later changed into a tower.

---30---

Locust plague set to descend on Middle East in ‘extremely alarming situation’

LOCUSTS have already caused havoc in the Horn of Africa, but now, a new swarm is set to descend upon the Middle East in an "extremely alarming situation," according to an expert.

By CALLUM HOARE PUBLISHED: Fri, Mar 20, 2020
Billions of locusts have blitzed through parts of East Africa and South Asia in the worst infestation for a quarter-of-a-century, ravaging crops and threatening food supplies. In January, the UN appealed for $76million (£59million) to tackle the crisis, but the figure has since risen to $138million (£115million). The insects, which eat their own body weight in food every day, are breeding so fast numbers could grow four hundredfold by June.

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Until now, the main threats have been in East Africa and Yemen, as well as the Gulf states, Iran, Pakistan and India, but the coronavirus pandemic means travel of international experts and in-country gatherings for training is affected.

Keith Cressman, a senior Locust Forecasting at the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation, says there are new “extremely alarming” swarms forming in the Horn of Africa.

His department, Locust Watch, works in collaboration with affected countries to assess field data, information and reports in real-time where they are heading.

Mr Cressman told the Times of Israel this week: “The information is combined with analysis of remote sensing (satellite) imagery, weather data and forecasts, and historical data in our geographic information system and database that go back to the Thirties.

A swarm of locust is heading to the Middle East (Image: GETTY)

Locusts have been causing havoc for months (Image: GETTY)
It's an extremely alarming situation Keith Cressman

“It is always very difficult to find and treat all infestations, and this is the nature and challenge of managing desert locust.

“It appears that the hardest-hit countries will include Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Iran, Pakistan, and Sudan, the last of which will likely be affected later this summer.”

According to the Locust Watch website, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen could also be hit by the new swarm.

Aerial and ground spraying combined with constant tracking of the swarms are viewed as the most effective strategies

There are billions of locusts in Africa (Image: GETTY)

But, the aircrafts are in short supply.

Currently, Ethiopia was using five and Kenya six for spraying and four for surveying.

But the Kenyan government says it needs 20 planes for spraying and a continuous supply of the pesticide Fenitrothion.***

THE ECOLOGY OF CLIMATE CHANGE 
The present outbreaks coincided with cyclones in 2018, and warm weather at the end of 2019, combined with unusually heavy rains, creating the perfect breeding ground.

Workers are trying to battle the outbreak (Image: GETTY)

Countries say they need more aid (Image: GETTY)

Segenet Kelemu, director-general of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi, says there are other factors that have contributed, like the ongoing war in Yemen.

He said earlier this week: “Swarms also develop when control efforts break down or political or natural disasters prevent access to breeding areas, and interventions do not start early enough.

“Countries like Yemen, where there are human catastrophic situations due to conflict, are in no position to take care of invasive pests.”

***SOMETIMES THE CURE IS WORSE THAN THE DISEASE 

fenitrothion - World Health Organization
https://www.who.int › Fenitrothion_specs_eval_WHO_Jan_2010_ok
Fenitrothion is an insecticide, acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. It is used in agriculture, horticulture, forestry and public health against chewing and sucking insects on rice, cereals, fruits, vegetables, stored grains, cotton, etc., for agriculture and flies, mosquitoes and cockroaches in public health use.

[PDF]
Fenitrothion in Drinking-water - World Health Organization
www.who.int › water_sanitation_health › dwq › chemicals › fenitrothion
Fenitrothion is mainly used in agriculture for controlling chewing and sucking insects on rice, cereals, fruits, vegetables, stored grains and cotton and in forest ...

Impact of Exposure to Fenitrothion on Vital Organs in Rats
https://www.hindawi.com › journals
by R Abdel-Ghany - ‎2016 - ‎Cited by 7 - ‎Related articles

This study was designed to investigate the impact of oral administration of fenitrothion (10 mg/kg) on liver, kidney, brain, and lung function in rats. The effect was ...

Fenitrothion - EPA Web Archive
https://archive.epa.gov › pesticides › reregistration › web › pdf
reregistration eligibility review and decisions on the pesticide chemical case fenitrothion. The enclosed Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) contains the ...

FENITROTHION - HerbiGuide
www.herbiguide.com.au › Descriptions › hg_FENITROTHION
ACTIVE INGREDIENTS: FENITROTHION 1000g/L ... for processing into food for human consumption or for stock food until the Fenitrothion level has dropped to ...
SUMITHION 1000EC INSECTICIDE‎: ‎SUMITO...

(PDF) The Toxicity of Fenitrothion and Permethrin
https://www.researchgate.net › publication › 221924675_The_Toxicity_of_...
PDF | On Feb 15, 2012, Dong Wang and others published The Toxicity of Fenitrothion and Permethrin | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ...

India bans agricultural uses of fenitrothion: :: Agrow
https://agrow.agribusinessintelligence.informa.com › India-bans-agricultur...
India has banned all agricultural uses of the organophosphate insecticide, fenitrothion, with the exception of locust control in scheduled desert areas and public 

[PDF] FENITROTHION - FAO
www.fao.org › documents › Pests_Pesticides › JMPR › Evaluation07 › Fen...
Fenitrothion was evaluated for residues by the 2003 JMPR in the Periodic Review Programme of the. CCPR. The 2003 Meeting recommended an MRL of 10 ...

Susceptibility survey of Ommatissus lybicus (de Bergevin ...
https://www.nature.com › scientific reports › articles
by RR Khan - ‎2019 - ‎Related articlesAug 12, 2019 - In case of fenitrothion, fourteen field strains exhibited minor to low level of resistance and only two showed susceptibility. Intermediate resistance ( ...

EU Pesticides database - European Commission
https://ec.europa.eu › plant › pesticides › eu-pesticides-database › public
Fenitrothion Not Approved. Status under Reg. (E
C) No 1107/2009 (repealing Directive 91/414/EEC ). Legislation, 2007/379. RMS, UK, Risk Assessment, EFSA.                                                      

Time spent in public spaces significantly raises risk of contracting respiratory illnesses

by Rowan Walker, University College London

Credit: Shopping/corona by Alexas Photos  Source: Pixabay CC 2.0

Spending time in supermarkets, eating out, socialising and using public transport, as well as being in contact with someone who has a cold, significantly increases the risk of contracting a respiratory illness, according to new UCL research.

The Wellcome-funded study, which is under review in Wellcome Open, is the first to investigate the impact of a range of public activities on the risk of acquiring respiratory tract infection in a population-based cohort using data from the Flu Watch study.

Professor Andrew Hayward (UCL Collaborative Centre for Inclusive Health and Director, UCL Epidemiology & Health Care), said: "Common seasonal respiratory viruses and COVID-19 appear to be transmitted in similar ways via droplets containing the virus and direct and indirect contact with infected secretions.

"This research clearly shows that respiratory infections can spread easily in a wide range of public spaces including public transport, shops, restaurants, and places of worship and at parties. Contact with symptomatic people outside the home is also a clear risk."

The Flu Watch cohort is a community study of respiratory infection occurrence and risk factors which followed households across England and Wales through the winter seasons of 2006/7-2010/11.

At recruitment, participants were asked what activities they had engaged in the week before, such as using public transport, shopping, eating out or going to the cinema or a party or being with someone with a cold outside their house). This data was then was used as a baseline assessment.

Each year participants then provided self-reported data on respiratory infections throughout autumn until spring. For this analysis, 626 participants who developed a respiratory infection were involved and in total 1005 respiratory illnesses were reported.

Illness diaries included the same series of questions about activities in the week before illness allowing the team to see which activities were more common in the week before illness compared to the baseline.

A greater number of people had spent time shopping, traveling on a bus, eating out, going to a party or place of worship or been in a room with someone with a cold before they got ill.

For example, 51% people had been in contact with someone who had a cold in the week before they got ill, compared to 40% people in the week before baseline. 90% had been to the supermarket the week before they got ill compared to 86% a week before baseline and 21% of people had been to a party the week before they got ill compared to 17% a week before baseline.

Professor Hayward added: "These findings support intensive physical distancing and isolation measures in all countries with community transmission of COVID-19 to slow the spread of the virus, save lives and reduce the intense pressure that health services will face."

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Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

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More information: Public activities preceding the onset of acute respiratory infection syndromes in adults in England - implications for the use of social distancing to control pandemic respiratory infections. osf.io/857u9/

Provided by University College London 

'Tunguska event' site scoured for traces of 'cosmic matter' as Russian scientists attempt to prove that a METEOR caused the massive explosion in 1908 

Lake Zapovednoye in the Tunguska area is the centre of the explosive event 

When the explosion happened reports said it was like the sky being torn in two 

Shockwaves from the event could be felt in the UK and light was seen in the USA
By WILL STEWART FOR MAIL ONLINE PUBLISHED: 28 February 2020

Russian scientists have been scouring a remote Siberian lake for traces of 'cosmic matter' to prove that a meteor caused the 'Tunguska event' explosion in 1908.

The event saw an explosion above the lake flatten 770 square miles of Siberia, and scientists believe it was caused by a meteor exploding miles above the surface.

The leading theory is that a space rock entered the atmosphere at 33,500 miles per hour and burst before hitting the ground due to increasing speed and pressure.

However, no evidence of space rock has been discovered in the area, which has led to speculation a meteor may not be the actual cause of the explosion.

Other theories include a volcanic eruption, a comet made mainly of ice, a black hole colliding with Earth and help from aliens shooting a meteor.

Local Evanki people believed it was a visitation by an angry god called Ogdy.

The expedition say finding 'cosmic matter' in sediment samples from Lake Zapovednoye will go a long way to proving the meteor theory is true.



The team of scientists worked to take sediment samples Zapovednoe Lake, the site of the Tunguska event in 1908 in the hope of finding evidence a meteor caused the explosion

The event saw an explosion above the lake flatten 770 square miles of Siberia but a mystery has long surrounded its cause due to a lack of physical evidence - they know it happened due to eyewitness reports and millions of trees being destroyed

An Italian team of researchers captured images of fallen trees caused by the massive explosion in 1908 when they surveyed the site in the 1990s


Eye witnesses described it looking like 'the sky was split in two' and some 80 million trees were wiped out, but no significant space rock hit the ground.

Despite no deposits being found, researchers have located sediments relating to the immediate aftermath of the explosion in Lake Zapovednoye, some 25 miles from the epicentre of the explosion at the point it hit the ground.

'The mystery of the Tunguska catastrophe worries both scientists and the public', said biologist Dr Arthur Meidus, deputy director of a nearby nature reserve.

'We discovered a distinguishing light-coloured layer in sediments of Lake Zapovednoye,' she told the Siberian Times.

The content of the sediment layer - potassium, titanium, rubidium, yttrium, and zirconium - allowed them to tie it to the consequences of the Tunguska explosion.

'This way we know which layer of sediments might contain particles of extraterrestrial origin,' Meidus said.

The next stage involves a 'search for micro-particles' from space in the lake's sediment layers dating from 1908 to 1910.

'The meteorite is not here as a physical body but the traces of the extremely powerful explosion are, which is what is currently studied by researchers.\\

'Many of us still hope to unravel the scenario of 1908 disaster.'

Scientists from Novosibirsk Institute of Nuclear Physics, Novosibirsk Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Tunguska Nature Reserve and Krasnoyarsk Biophysics Institute are all involved in the research.

'There was a bang in the sky and a mighty crash. The crash was followed by a noise like stones falling from the sky, or of guns firing. The earth trembled,' said a native Siberian some 40 miles from the epicentre.

It appeared to be Armageddon. 'I became so hot I couldn't bear it, as if my shirt was on fire,' said another account.


This confocal X-ray microscope is being used by the research team to get a better understanding of what makes up the sediment - they say if they find certain types of chemicals it will hint at a cosmic origin



Early studies of the core the team have taken from the sediment do seem to show some evidence of cosmic matter - that is matter not common on Earth

'I wanted to tear off my shirt and throw it down, and then the sky slammed shut. A strong thump sounded and I was thrown a few yards.'

It caused shockwaves as far away as Britain and dust from the explosion lit up the night sky in its wake in Europe and even America.

From the first Soviet expeditions to this remote region of Siberia, the puzzling aspect was a lack of debris or craters on the surface.

Italian scientist Luca Gasperini, from the University of Bologna, says the crater-shaped Lake Cheko, five miles from the epicentre, is the missing link.

Yet this theory was strongly disputed by leading Russian scientists.

Researchers predict that by studying the sediment they will be able to establish unequivocally that it was a meteor explosion in the atmosphere.

They say lessons can then be drawn for future incursions by space rocks.

Animation shows the two phases of a new asteroid collision model

TUNGUSKA THEORIES: WHAT COULD HAVE 'SPLIT THE SKY IN TWO' IN 1908

More than 110 years ago, a massive explosion ripped through the sky over the Tunguska region of Siberia, flattening trees nearly 31 miles around.

The blast is thought to have been produced by a comet or asteroid hurtling through Earth's atmosphere at over 33,500 miles per hour, resulting in an explosion equal to 185 Hiroshima bombs as pressure and heat rapidly increased.

But, with no definitive impact crater and little evidence of such an object ever found, scientists remain perplexed as to what truly caused the event in which 'the sky was split in two'.

Numerous studies have attempted to make sense of what happened on June 30, 1908 at Tunguska.



The biggest-ever documented explosion was the size of 185 Hiroshima nuclear bombs - yet there was no evidence of human fatalities. Pictures show trees flattened by the blast

From UFO theories to speculation about the supernatural, the mysterious event has spurred explanations of all kinds, many of them lacking scientific basis.

Some scientists even suggested a black hole had collided with Earth – but other experts quickly shot down the idea.

In a review published in 2016 in the Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Natalia Artemieva of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona explains that the event followed a clear course.

Whatever caused the event likely entered the atmosphere at 9-19 miles per second, and would have been extremely fragile, destroying itself roughly six miles above Earth.

The possibility of an asteroid explosion was first proposed in 1927 by Leonid Kulik, 20 years after the event.

Others suggested the space-object may instead have been a comet, made up of ice rather than rock, meaning it would have evaporated as it entered Earth's atmosphere.

But, some scientists warn that these findings do not definitively explain the bizarre explosion – with meteor showers being a frequent occurrence, these samples could be the remnants of a much smaller, unnoticed event.

To some degree, the Tunguska event still remains a mystery, which scientists are continually working to solve – but, whether it be from a comet or asteroid, most agree that the explosion was caused by a large cosmic body slamming into Earth's atmosphere.

LE GRAND GUIGNOL 
 Largest wholesale food market in the world is transformed into a coronavirus morgue in Paris - while still selling meat, fish and vegetables
IT'S A TRADITION 

Rungis market is the largest wholesale food market anywhere in the world

It also now houses a makeshift morgue for Paris's coronavirus victims

Bodies will begin arriving on Friday while the market remains open to public

Ministers insist the morgue has been isolated from all the other pavilions

By PETER ALLEN IN PARIS FOR MAILONLINPUBLISHED 3 April 2020

Culture - Why the Grand Guignol was so shocking - BBCwww.bbc.com › culture › story › 20190304-why-the-grand-guignol-was-s...Mar 5, 2019 - Hidden in an old chapel in Paris, the Grand Guignol was the home to on-stage horror, with grisly, lo-fi special effects – plus sex – to tantalise

The largest wholesale food market in the world has opened as a morgue for people who have died from coronavirus – while still selling meat, fish and vegetables.

France's giant Rungis International, which is based in the southern suburbs of Paris, is providing a refrigerated hall for up to 1,000 coffins.

'This is necessary because undertakers cannot cope with the massive death toll – more space is urgently needed,' said a police source in the city.

The Rungis market, in Paris, now houses a makeshift morgue for some of the city's coronavirus victims after a sudden spike in deaths mean space ran out (file image)

The first bodies will arrive on Friday while the rest of the market remains open for business, as ministers insist the morgue has been completely isolated from the other pavilions (file)

'Coffins will start arriving at Rungis on Friday, and on Monday families and friends will be allowed to visit under strict conditions to pay their respects.'

Paris police chief Didier Lallement had authorised the move, saying 'Paris is the region of France most affected by coronavirus' and adding that the crisis is 'expected to continue for weeks'.

The makeshift mortuary is located on the edge of the market and 'isolated from the other pavilions,' the police chief told French news agency AFP.

The coffins will eventually be moved from the market hall to cemeteries or crematoria around France or abroad.

The market, which normally employs up to 15,000 people and is on a 575 acre site, will meanwhile continue to sell food.

The coronavirus death death toll surged to just under 5,400 people on Thursday after the government began including nursing home fatalities in its data.

France has confirmed 59,105 cases of coronavirus and 5,387 deaths from the disease as the curve of infection peaks, leaving medical services overwhelmed (pictured, a patient is evacuated from Paris to another hospital with fewer cases)


French firefighters have been drafted on to the frontlines in Paris where they are helping to evacuate coronavirus patients to other hospitals

The pandemic had claimed the lives of 4,503 patients in hospitals, said Jerome Salomon, head of France's health authority.

More grim figures showed Covid-19 had killed a further 884 people in nursing homes and other care facilities, he added.

This makes for a total of 5,387 lives lost to coronavirus in France - an increase of 1,355 over Wednesday's cumulative total.

Mr Salomon said: 'We are in France confronting an exceptional epidemic with an unprecedented impact on public health.'

The country's broad lockdown is likely to be extended beyond April 15, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said, extending a confinement order to try and deal with the crisis that began on March 17.

The country is to introduce smart phone barcodes to help enforce its Coronavirus lockdown – making it easier to track people and fine them.

The move – which was announced by Interior Minister Christophe Castaner on Thursday night – comes as more than £50m has already been paid out by those caught without the right documentation.

Did human diseases kill the Neanderthals? Tropical illnesses carried by Homo sapiens from Africa to Europe and Asia may have wiped out our distant cousins 40,000 years ago

Homo sapiens and Neanderthals lived alongside each other in the Levant

The two species existed in an 'equilibrium' for tens of thousands of years

A 'disease barrier' kept Homo sapiens from Neanderthal territory


By RYAN MORRISON FOR MAILONLINE November 2019

Neanderthals may have been wiped out by tropical diseases carried by homo sapiens as they migrated out of Africa more than 130,000 years ago, a new study has revealed.

Archeological evidence suggests that Eurasian Neanderthals first came into contact with our human ancestors in an area known as the Levant in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The two species survived together for tens of thousands of years before the Neanderthals began disappearing and modern humans expanded beyond the Levant.

In a new report, researchers from Stanford University suggests that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals were locked in a 'disease stalemate' for tens of thousands of years.

Neanderthals and homo sapiens co-existed for tens of thousands of years in the Levant but a breakdown in an invisible disease barrier may have led to modern humans overwhelming the Neanderthals and then spreading out

The Levant includes a number of modern countries including Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Egypt and Iraq.

Gilli Greenbaum from the Stanford team said: 'Our research suggests that diseases may have played a more important role in the extinction of the Neanderthals than previously thought.

'They may even be the main reason why modern humans are now the only human group left on the planet.'

The team used mathematical models of modern disease transmission to show how the unique diseases held by Neanderthals and modern humans could have created an 'invisible disease barrier' between the two species.

This would have discouraged homo sapiens from entering enemy territory for fear of contracting a disease they had no immunity over.


Researchers believe the mutual fear of contracting diseases held by both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens is behind their ability to co-exist for tens of thousands of years

The researchers claim this 'uneasy equilibrium' was eventually broken due to interbreeding between the two species.

The hybrid humans born of these unions may have carried immune-related genes from both species, which would have slowly spread through modern human and Neanderthal populations.

As these protective genes spread, the disease burden or consequences of infection within the two groups gradually lifted.

Eventually, a tipping point was reached when modern humans acquired enough immunity that they could venture beyond the Levant and deeper into Neanderthal territory with few health consequences.

At this point, other advantages that modern humans may have had over Neanderthals — such as deadlier weapons or more sophisticated social structures — could have taken on greater importance.

It is believed that their inefficient stone tools (recreation pictured) saw Neanderthals perish 40,000 years ago, while the homo sapien community boomed to become the origin of modern day humans

The reason modern humans replaced Neanderthals and not the other way around, is to do with the severity of the diseases that both species carries, according to the researchers.

'The hypothesis is that the disease burden of the tropics was larger than the disease burden in temperate regions,' said study co-author Noah Rosenberg.

'An asymmetry of disease burden in the contact zone might have favoured modern humans, who arrived there from the tropics.'

He said the modelling found that even small differences in disease burden between the two groups at the outset would have grown over time, eventually giving homo sapiens the edge.

Dr Greenbaum said: 'It could be that by the time modern humans were almost entirely released from the added burden of Neanderthal diseases, Neanderthals were still very much vulnerable to modern human diseases.


After the disease barrier no longer affected modern humans they would have been able to overwhelm the Neanderthals with their superior tools and weapons

'Moreover, as modern humans expanded deeper into Eurasia, they would have encountered Neanderthal populations that did not receive any protective immune genes via hybridization.'

The way the Neanderthals succumbed to homo sapiens is similar to what happened when Europeans arrived in the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries and decimated indigenous populations with their more potent diseases.

If this new theory about the Neanderthals' demise is correct, then supporting evidence might be found in the archaeological record.

'We predict, for example, that Neanderthal and modern human population densities in the Levant during the time period when they coexisted will be lower relative to what they were before and relative to other regions,' Greenbaum said.

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Nature Communications.

Recent human ancestors may have spent a lot of time climbing trees, fossilised leg bones suggest

Scientists studied the structure of leg bones from two fossilised species

The more ancient species had a structure that indicates it walked on two legs

But the more modern species was similar to gorillas and orangutans and indicates it spent more time in the trees

By JOE PINKSTONE FOR MAILONLINE PUBLISHED: 31 March 2020

Recent human ancestors may have regularly climbed trees, research suggests.

Analysis of two extinct ancient hominins found a complex picture when trying to find how primitive hominins evolved to walk on two legs.

Analysis of leg bones found an older species likely walked on two legs but a more modern species spent a lot of time in the trees.

This convoluted timeline points to a diverse evolution of locomotion culminating in the upright humans that walk Earth today.


Pictured, the internal bone structure of the head of the femur of a gorilla. A similar structure was seen in a relatively recent human ancestor indicating a complex route to the two-legged animals we see today

Pictured, CT-based digital renderings of the StW 522 (Australopithecus africanus, left) and StW 311 (Paranthropus, RIGHT) fossils. The top two images show the fossils as they are preserved. The bottom two images show a cross-sections through the fossils to reveal the trabecular bone, whose distribution reveals these individuals practiced different frequencies of climbing

An older fossil, belonging to Australopithecus africanus that lived up to 2.8million years ago, had a bone structure similar to its more modern counterparts.

But a younger fossil, belonging to an unknown species thought to be Paranthropus robustus or early Homo regularly adopted highly flexed hip joints — indicative of tree-dwelling species such as orangutans and chimpanzees.

Hominins are members of the human family tree more closely related to one another than to apes.

Today, only one species of this group remains, Homo sapiens, to which everyone on Earth belongs.

The study, led by the University of Kent, analysed and compared the internal bone structures of two fossil leg bones from South Africa, discovered more than 60 years ago and believed to have belonged to a creature which lived between one and three million years ago.

For both fossils, the external shape of the bones were very similar, showing a more human-like than ape-like hip joint, suggesting they were both walking on two legs.

The researchers also examined the internal bone structure, because it remodels during life based on how individuals use their limbs.

Pictured, an aerial photograph of the site where the fossils were found and analysed in South Africa

But when they analysed the inside of the spherical head of the thigh bone, it showed they were loading their hip joints in different ways.

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was led by Dr Leoni Georgiou, Dr Matthew Skinner and Professor Tracy Kivell at the University of Kent's School of Anthropology and Conservation.

Dr Georgiou said: 'It is very exciting to be able to reconstruct the actual behaviour of these individuals who lived millions of years ago and every time we CT scan a new fossil it is a chance to learn something new about our evolutionary history.'

Dr Skinner said: 'It has been challenging to resolve debates regarding the degree to which climbing remained an important behaviour in our past.

'Evidence has been sparse, controversial and not widely accepted, and as we have shown in this study the external shape of bones can be misleading.'

LUCY HAD A SMALL BRAINhttps://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/our-ancient-ancestor-lucy-had-small.html

The Book of Revelation, The X-Files, and the Hermeneutics of Suspicion
https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1424&context=consensus
Harry O. Maier
Associate Professor of New Testament Studies
Vancouver School of Theology


Entertainment and the End of Politics

Scenario One
Special FBI agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder enter a large
underground room in a top-secret GS Intelligence building.
In it they discover row upon row of filing cabinets as far as the
 eye can see. Each one is filled with tens of thousands of cards. On each
I card is the name of a GS citizen and the date and place of his elementary school vaccinations, coinciding roughly with the suspected crash of an alien spaceship at Roswell Airforce Base shortly after WW 11. With each card is a slide with a sample of blood. Irrefutable proof of what Mulder has been telling Scully all along: the GS government has been engaged in a covert scheme to inject each citizen with a secret chemical agent designed, Mulder hypothesises, to make them more susceptible to social control as part of a grand scheme involving a to-thedeath-battle with extraterrestrials. Gntil now the government has been successful in its ability to dupe the American public. Mulder, however, intends to blow its cover and reveal the lies and deception of the GS government

 Scenario Two
Neo Anderson is seated before Mopheus, an undercover agent who believes that Neo is “The Chosen One”, the one destined to save human civilisation. But first Neo must choose whether he wants to learn “the truth” or not. Mopheus offers him the choice between taking a blue pill or a red pill. The former will return him to his daily life and he will forget ever meeting Mopheus. The red pill offers him the promise of revelation.

Neo chooses the latter and thereby sees the truth masked behind what he had mistaken for reality. He sees that what humankind believes is reality is in fact an illusion fabricated by a powerful computer programme called “The Matrix”. Although it appears to be 1999, in truth it is the Century and humans are farmed to feed a machine in control of theearth. Neo is the Chosen One destined to make the Matrix crash and to free humankind from its servitude to illusory “reality”. Following a crash course in learning to discern fact from fiction, Neo enters the Matrix where he battles computer simulations of FBI agents (virtual bodyguards of the“The Operating System”). An apocalyptic battle ensues and Neo Anderson proves himself the long-promised Messiah, the “New Son of Man” his name coincidentally denotes, the one to free the world from its slavery to the illusion of virtual reality.

These are the cultural stepchildren of the Book of Revelation. Apocalypse of course literally means “uncovering”. Each of our scenarios treat its audience to a privileged uncovering of a secret alleged to be hidden by everyday reality. Like John of Patmos who travels to heaven to report the contents of a revelation uncovered by the breaking of a seven-sealed
scroll (Revelation 5: 1-6:1), hit-TV show X-File characters Scully and Mulder, as well as Matrix film characters Neo Anderson and Mopheus offer their audiences revelatory journeys to break the seals of secrecy.

Recent studies have scrutinized the role of the Apocalypse in shaping cultural expectations in these last years leading up to a new millennium. For example, Mark Kingswell’s Dreams of Millennium: Report From a Culture on the Brink (Toronto: Viking, 1996) and the consciousness and expectations of western European societies.

 Eugen Weber’s Apocalypses: Prophecies, Cults and Millennial Beliefs through the Ages (Toronto: Random, 1999; the content of the Barbara Frum Lecture Series broadcast by the CBC in Spring, 1999) offer thumbnail sketches of the role of the Book of Revelation in shapinges, even in their most secular forms. 

These studies excellently show how millennial thinking borrowed from the Apocalypse has dominated western views of progress and social ideals. Not noted, however, is the degree to which it has provided millennial themes with a counterpoint of suspicion. The Marxist class-free worker’s Paradise of an inevitable historical dialectic discovers its tonality in the hymns of the vindicated saints of Revelation 19:6-8 and the final four chapters of the Apocalypse. So does the Nazi Thousand Year Reich. But it is suspicion that furnishes these political philosophies with their dissonant melodies. Marx insisted he was unveiling the true economic processes at work in the bourgeois construction of ideology.


The National Socialists claimed to uncover a Marxist-Jewish conspiracy to destroy the German race. Ronald Reagan’s depiction of America, “The City on the Hill” pitted against the intrigues of “The Evil Empire” of the Soviet Union, provided the rationale for the largest build-up of mili- tary arms in recorded history. Suspicion makes these theories powerfully captivating; paranoia is especially immune to disconfirmation since every attempt to prove it unwarranted can always be turned around as a subtle temptation from the enemy to drop one’s guard. It is to these apocalyptic modulations of suspicion that our two scenarios sketched above join in chorus.