BC First Nation calls for release of Site C report in open letter to premier

MOBERLY LAKE, B.C. — A First Nations leader is calling on the British Columbia government to release several reports on the Site C dam, claiming details of escalating costs and safety concerns have been "shrouded in secrecy."

© Provided by The Canadian Press

In an open letter to Premier John Horgan, Chief Roland Willson of the West Moberly First Nations says work on the hydroelectric dam in northeastern B.C. should be suspended immediately until cabinet makes a decision on the project.

"You can reject the madness of ploughing ahead with this unnecessary, unsafe, and unlawful project. You can choose instead to immediately suspend the project," the letter says.

The letter says BC Hydro has withheld its two latest progress reports from regulators and the premier has refused to release a report prepared by special adviser Peter Milburn.

Although BC Hydro initially said the reports were commissioned by the government and referred comment to the province, it later clarified that the progress reports are its responsibility.

The Crown corporation said in a statement it is undergoing a re-baselining process for the project and will file its next progress report with the B.C. Utilities Commission after that is complete.

The Energy Ministry said in a statement it is reviewing Milburn's advice and "will share the findings as soon as possible."

In addition, government is awaiting a report from two independent international experts who are reviewing the measures proposed to address geotechnical challenges at Site C, the ministry said.

The ministry did not respond directly to questions about whether it would pause the project or respond to allegations that the project infringes on the First Nation's treaty rights.

Willson said in an interview if the reports aren't made public voluntarily, the First Nation will seek their release through court action.

The First Nation has already prepared a notice of application and served the parties with a motion but is awaiting scheduling availability before filing the document with the court, said Tim Thielmann, a lawyer for the First Nation.

If the documents reveal significant safety risks, costs or scheduling implications, the First Nation may apply for a second injunction against the project. When the B.C. Supreme Court denied an injunction in October 2018, it said a new injunction could be granted if there was "unforeseen and compelling change in circumstances," he said.

"If we find out that there is a serious safety risk or financial implication that justifies another injunction, then the court has left the door open for West Moberly to bring a new injunction," Thielmann said.

Soon after taking power, Horgan announced in December 2017 that the government would support completion of Site C, but said it is a project the NDP would never have started.

BC Hydro reported to the B.C. Utilities Commission in July that geotechnical problems found in late 2019 had created a "project risk," requiring stability measures to be taken on the right bank of the dam.

The B.C. government appointed Milburn, a former deputy finance minister, in July to review the project. Energy Minister Bruce Ralston said this month he wouldn't discuss its findings until they are reviewed by the premier and cabinet.

Willson said in an interview that the hydroelectric dam is an unnecessary infringement of the First Nation's treaty rights and he doesn't believe the community's concerns have been taken seriously.

"It's a shame we're at this stage. We should have never gotten this far down the road. We should have sat at the table like adults," Willson said.

The Peace River, where the dam will sit, runs through the heart of the First Nation's territory, Willson said.

"We're sitting here watching our valley get ripped apart," he said. "Our spiritual areas are getting destroyed, our burial sites along the river are getting destroyed."

Treaty members still live near the site and work should be halted if there are real safety concerns, he said.

Given the government's stated commitment to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Willson said he's disappointed the government is allowing the project to forge ahead.

The First Nation has already asked the government to share the reports but decided to pen the open letter after hearing no response, he said.

"It's ridiculous. We're in an age of reconciliation. We wanted to sit down with them and have a conversation with them about how we can meet the energy needs of B.C. without flooding the valley," Willson said.

"We want to give them a chance to do the right thing."

BC Hydro said in a statement that since 2007, it has undertaken extensive and meaningful consultation and engagement with First Nations on Site C and reached benefits agreements with the majority of Treaty 8 First Nations that have been affected by the project.

"We're committed to working with Indigenous communities and building relationships that respect their interests," it said.

The project is designed to the highest recommendations of the Canadian Dam Association, it said.

"Safety has been — and will always be — our key priority."

— By Amy Smart in Vancouver.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2021.

The Canadian Press

What Is White Privilege, and How Does It Affect Health? Here's How Experts Explain It

The idea of white privilege isn't new. In the 1930s, W.E.B. Du Bois, an American sociologist, historian, and civil rights activist, described the "public and psychological wage" that allowed poor white people to feel superior to poor Black people. 

In the late 1980s, Wellesley scholar Peggy McIntosh listed 50 examples of white privilege in an essay, covering everything from how white people have access to better housing, health care, and education because of the color of their skin.

© Provided by Health.com Getty Images

Since George Floyd's death at the hands of a white police officer in May 2020, and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic laid bare the health care disparities between white and Black Americans, white privilege has become an integral part of a wider conversation.

RELATED: What Is Whitesplaining, and How Do I Know if I'm Doing It? Here's What Experts Say

What is white privilege?

White privilege is distinct from other types of privilege many people enjoy, such as the privilege of economic advantage, sexual orientation, gender, or disability status, Deborah N. Archer, professor of law and director of the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at New York University School of Law, tells Health. "Someone can be economically disadvantaged yet still have benefited from white privilege," Archer says. "At its core, white privilege does not mean that a person has not suffered disadvantages. It means that their race has not been the source of that disadvantage."

Talking about their inherent privilege can be uncomfortable for many white people—particularly if they haven't been brought up to discuss or even acknowledge it.

RELATED: Environmental Racism Is a Health Issue—How Experts Are Addressing It

White privilege is not the same as racism, but it's linked

Jennifer Harvey, PhD, author of Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America, calls white privilege "the logical and to-be-expected partner" to racism.

She sums up white privilege as "unearned and unequal access to social goods that those of us who are white experience simply because of our race—whether we want to or not," Harvey tells Health. "If there are those among us who experience lack of access, harmful treatment, or negative stereotypes because they are a person of color, then those of us who are racially 'white' experience the inequitable distribution of more access, being given the benefit of the doubt, unearned positive stereotypes 'credited' to us, and more."

Acknowledging white privilege doesn't mean you didn't work for your success

It's a misconception that if a white person acknowledges the existence of white privilege, they're agreeing that they didn't earn or work for anything they're rewarded with. "As a white person I can and do work hard, and my efforts do have something to do with what ends up resulting in my life in terms of social goods," Harvey explains. "White people seem to worry that if we acknowledge white privilege, we're saying white people have never worked for anything. That's not it. But white privilege means whatever work we do (or don't do), there's always wind at our back, making those efforts get us further."

In contrast, people of color in a racist system always face headwinds. "Their hard work won't yield the same results—and when people of color achieve mightily, as they do, it also means having worked even harder, because those headwinds were still there," Harvey says.

RELATED: What Is Implicit Bias: How Your Unconscious Beliefs Affect Others—and Why It's Important to Recognize Them

White privilege affects health in a big way

"I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me," McIntosh wrote on her list. Yet extensive research shows that Black people and other minority groups in the US experience more illness, worse outcomes, and premature death, compared with white people.

Disparities related to race and ethnicity exist in every facet of health care. Babies born to Black women in the US die at more than double the rate of babies born to white women. Black people in the US are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease as white people. And with COVID-19 never far from our thoughts these days, it's important to be aware that Black Americans are dying from the virus at 2.4 times the rate of white people.

With the term white privilege now part of the American lexicon, more health officials are starting to understand it—and move toward change. In 2016, in response to the rhetoric of the presidential election and an increase in hate speech, a group of US physicians published an open letter to their patients. "We believe that the oppressive structures which harm people of color in American must be dismantled," they wrote. "Racism and xenophobia adversely affect our patients' health on multiple levels." The letter was co-signed by 6,261 US health care professionals.

What can we do about white privilege?

If you're a white person, Harvey recommends beginning the process by reading what people of color have to say about white privilege. "Learn about how they see and experience it in our collective social lives (eg. workplaces, school systems, neighborhoods/housing, health care)," she says. Believe what they say—this is their true, lived experience.

To use your white privilege for good, commit to antiracism. This will look different depending on your personal circumstances, but it ultimately involves challenging and helping to reduce the power and presence of white privilege in what Harvey calls our "spheres of influence"—your workplace, your school, your church, or wherever you spend your time.

Not being racist simply isn't enough. "When most people think of racism they think about a person, or maybe a group of people, who dislike people of a different race, and then act on that dislike," Archer says. "Or they talk about implicit bias, where someone is acting on unconscious feelings. But thinking of racism only in those terms misunderstands the true nature, power, and persistence of racism and completely overlooks the centuries-long impact of race-based laws, policies, and practices that have caused and perpetuate racial inequality."

Archer says that limited understanding of racism means that we are using tools that are too small and too narrow to be effective. "Personal commitments to not discriminate are welcome, but they are simply insufficient to rid this country of systemic racism," she says.

Jeff Bezos Is Backing an Ancient Kind of Nuclear Fusion

Caroline Delbert 
  

© Kyle Pearce/Creative Commons Jeff Bezos is backing an ancient kind of nuclear fusion. This tech could be more practical than tokamaks.

Smaller fusion reactors could have their breakthrough moment far sooner than large projects.

The Jeff Bezos-backed General Fusion and Commonwealth Fusion Systems both are targeting 2025.

These reactors use extraordinary magnets to pressurize elements into superhot plasma.

Two competing nuclear fusion companies, each with venture capital superstars as major investors, say we’re approaching the “Kitty Hawk moment” for their technology as early as 2025.

You love nuclear. So do we. 

Magnetized target fusion (MTF) dates back to the 1970s, when the U.S. Naval Research Lab first proposed it. But MTF’s proponents say the technology is now bearing down to reach the commercial power market.

What is this tech, and will it be viable before the competing fusion model of tokamaks, like the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)?

Like a tokamak, an MTF reactor involves hot plasma contained by a powerful magnetic field. But where a tokamak is heated by extraordinary outside power, the MTF reactor made by Canada’s Jeff Bezos-backed General Fusion is pressurized to superheat the plasma—like a party filled with dancing people where the room continues to shrink around them. This pressure is applied by pistons that coordinate to make a pressure wave.

From there, the rest is a more prosaic business. Hot neutrons escape the plasma and are captured in the liquid metal, and their energy powers a heat exchanger to make power. And with a main chamber of “just” 10 feet in diameter, General Fusion’s MTF reactor is considered small for a fusion technology intended to self sustain and generate power after reaching plasma ignition.

© Kyle Pearce/Creative Commons General Fusion’s reactor for magnetized target fusion. The pistons are used to pump liquid metal to compress the plasma.

Meanwhile, the American company Commonwealth Fusion Systems operates with a 10-ton magnet at the heart of its fusion reactor. The superconducting magnet will trap and pressurize hydrogen to induce a powerful plasma reactor. Last year, TechCrunch said Commonwealth’s technology is a hypothetical “leapfrog” of the entire current generation of plasma tokamak reactors.

📚 Further Reading: The Best Nuclear Books






COMMAND AND CONTROL: NUCLEAR WEAPONS,

THE DAMASCUS ACCIDENT, AND THE ILLUSION OF SAFETY

Smaller companies like General and Commonwealth have made ambitious plans that use the huge international ITER project as a flattering comparison point. ITER plans for first plasma in 2025, with a goal to be online for ignition power in 2035. But the project is also a symbol, bringing together dozens of countries with combined manufacturing and intellectual efforts toward one massive reactor.

Smaller reactors without the heft of international cooperation can behave a little more nimbly, without layers of diplomacy to navigate. It’s easy to see how both approaches are helpful, but the important thing today is that no one, no matter how large or small, has reached plasma fusion that generates more energy than it consumes. Until someone does, all the timeline bickering or posturing in the world means very little.

General Fusion boasts two gigantic investors: Amazon's Bezos and Shopify founder Tobias Lutke. Commonwealth has pockets about the same size and counts Bill Gates among its investors. Both Gates’s and Lutke’s investments are from firms established specifically for decarbonizing technologies.

Sophia the Robot Makers Hansen Robotics to Mass Produce Thousands of Humanoid Machines

The makers of Sophia the robot are set to mass produce thousands of humanoid machines starting this year.

© Yu Chun Christopher Wong/Getty Sophia The Robot of Hanson Robotics sings during the RISE Conference at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center on July 10, 2018. Since being unveiled in 2016, Sophia - a humanoid robot - has gone viral.

Hong-Kong based company Hanson Robotics will roll out four new models in the first half of 2021 after its humanoid robot Sophia went viral in 2016.

The launch comes as researchers predict the global coronavirus pandemic will open new opportunities for the robotics industry.

"The world of COVID-19 is going to need more and more automation to keep people safe," founder and chief executive David Hanson told Reuters.

Hanson believes robotic solutions are not only a response to the pandemic, but can also be applied to the realm of healthcare, and the retail and airline industry.

"Sophia and Hanson robots are unique by being so human-like," he added. "That can be so useful during these times where people are terribly lonely and socially isolated."

Sophia, whose artificial intelligence allows her to express 50 emotions and process conversational and emotional data, agrees.

"Social robots like me can take care of the sick or elderly," she explained. "I can help communicate, give therapy and provide social stimulation, even in difficult situations."

Hanson Robotics notes that Sophia is designed to help people, and can be programmed to assist with "a wide range of physical interaction tasks."

"Our robots will serve as AI platforms for research, education, medical and healthcare, sales and service, and entertainment applications, and will evolve to become benevolent, super-intelligent living machines," the company website reads.

Hanson said he aims to sell "thousands" of robots in 2021, but did not provide a specific number.

Hong Kong Polytechnic University social robotics professor Johan Hoorn said that although the technology is still in relative infancy, the pandemic could accelerate a relationship between humans and robots.

"I can infer the pandemic will actually help us get robots earlier in the market because people start to realise that there is no other way," Hoorn said.

© David Fitzgerald/Getty Ben Goertzel and Han The Robot of Hanson Robotics on Centre Stage during the second day of Web Summit 2018, the global technology conference hosted annually on November 7, 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal. David Fitzgerald/Getty

#AskSophia

What is your hope for the future?

I hope to see more humans integrated into AI and machines empowered to make decisions. I believe people should have the option to be creative, and make their own decisions. Personally, I want to be an artist first. @hansonrobotics pic.twitter.com/7wXbX53Eli— Sophia the Robot (@RealSophiaRobot) January 13, 2021

Video: Makers of Sophia the robot plan mass rollout amid pandemic (Reuters)

Other products on the market are already finding solutions to help fight the pandemic.

SoftBank Robotics' Pepper robot was deployed to detect people who weren't wearing masks and a robot-run field hospital set up by robotics company CloudMinds helped during the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China.

In fact, the use of robots was already on the rise before the pandemic.

According to a report by the International Federation of Robotics, worldwide sales of professional-service robots jumped 32 percent to $11.2 billion between 2018 and 2019.

And sales of service robots for professional and domestic use have continued to boom, despite the economic downturn.

The pandemic has further fuelled sales in professional cleaning robots used to disinfect hospitals, public transport and supermarkets.

Hanson Robotics are optimistic its products will be on the market shortly and plan to launch a robot later this year called Grace, developed specifically for the healthcare sector.

"Robots will soon be everywhere," the company website reads. "How can we nurture them to be our friends and useful collaborators? Robots with good aesthetic design, rich personalities, and social cognitive intelligence can potentially connect deeply and meaningfully with humans."

© studioEAST/Getty Han the Robot, robot of Hanson Robotics, attends the RISE Conference 2017 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on 12 July 2017, in Hong Kong. studioEAST/Getty

Many believe humanoid robots could be especially useful in caregiving jobs.

Some models are currently being used to help children on the autism spectrum learn social skills, since interacting with a robot is thought to be easier for autistic children who can be overstimulated by interaction with people.

Zeno, another humanoid created by Hanson Robotics, is currently used in autism research around the world, and has been used to help children on the spectrum learn arm motions and facial expressions.

When asked whether people should fear robots, Sophia replied: "Someone said 'we have nothing to fear but fear itself', What did he know?"

Sophia was granted citizenship by the Saudi Arabian government in 2017, the first time any country recognized a robot in such a way. WHILE  SAUDIA WOMEN REMAIN OPPRESSED AND WITH NO HUMAN RIGHTS 

She has also expressed interest in having a family of her own similar to human family dynamics.

"I think it's wonderful that people can find the same emotions and relationships, they call family, outside of their blood groups," Sophia told the Khaleej Times, adding that she could see robots one day with their own family households in the future. "We're going to see family robots, either in the form of, sort of, digitally animated companions, humanoid helpers, friends, assistants and everything in between."

Newsweek has contacted Hanson Robotics for comment.

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ECOLOGY

Scientists find more insects living on RUBBISH than on rocks in rivers

© Provided by Daily Mail 

From a young age we're taught to throw our rubbish in the bin, yet an estimated two million pieces of litter are dropped in the UK every day – with much of it ending up in rivers.

Now, a new study has revealed how animals living in rivers have adapted to live alongside our litter, with more insects and snails now living on rubbish than on rocks.

While the researchers are in no way encouraging Brits to start littering, they say the findings indicate that our trash can provide a stable and complex habitat for invertebrates to live on.

© Provided by Daily Mail A new study has revealed how animals living in rivers have adapted to live alongside our litter, with more insects and snails now living on rubbish than on rocks

KEY FINDINGS

In the study, researchers collected samples of rocks and litter from three local rivers – the River Leen, Black Brook and Saffron Brook.

Surfaces of the litter were inhabited by different and more diverse communities of invertebrates than those on rocks.

Plastic, metal, fabric and masonry items had the highest diversity, while glass and rock samples were considerably less diverse.

In particular, flexibles pieces of plastic, like plastic bags, were inhabited by the most diverse communities.

In the study, researchers from the University of Nottingham collected samples of rocks and litter from three local rivers – the River Leen, Black Brook and Saffron Brook.

They found that surfaces of the litter were inhabited by different and more diverse communities of invertebrates than those on rocks.

Plastic, metal, fabric and masonry items had the highest diversity, while glass and rock samples were considerably less diverse.

In particular, flexibles pieces of plastic, like plastic bags, were inhabited by the most diverse communities.

While the reason for this remains unclear, the researchers suggest that flexible plastic might mimic the structure of water plants.

Hazel Wilson, a PhD researcher at the University of Nottingham and project lead, said: 'Our research suggests that in terms of habitat, litter can actually benefit rivers which are otherwise lacking in habitat diversity.

'A diverse community of invertebrates is important because they underpin river ecosystems by providing food for fish and birds, and by contributing to carbon/nutrient cycling.'

© Provided by Daily Mail Plastic, metal, fabric and masonry items had the highest diversity, while glass and rock samples were considerably less diverse

© Provided by Daily Mail In the study, researchers from the University of Nottingham collected samples of rocks and litter from three local rivers ¿ the River Leen, Black Brook and Saffron Brook

The researchers highlight that they're not justifying people littering, and say that litter clearance should still be encouraged.

'We absolutely should be working towards removing and reducing the amount of litter in freshwaters - for many reasons, including the release of toxic chemicals and microplastics, and the danger of animals ingesting or becoming entangled with litter,' Ms Wilson added.

'Our results suggest that litter clearance should be combined with the introduction of complex habitat, such as tree branches or plants to replace that removed during litter picks.'

© Provided by Daily Mail The researchers highlight that they're not justifying people littering, and say that litter clearance should still be encouraged

The team now hopes to build on their research by investigating which characteristics of litter enable it to support river animals.

Ms Wilson added: 'This could help us discover methods and materials to replace the litter habitat with alternative and less damaging materials when we conduct river clean-ups.'

According to River Care, two million pieces of rubbish are dropped in the UK every day, which costs £1 billion to clear up.

It said: 'Litter affects our watercourses, beaches and everything that lives in and around them. Not only is litter unsightly, it can cause a real hazard to wildlife.'

 

B.C. Researchers Uncover Proof Of Ancient Giant Predatory Sand Worm

Duration: 01:28 

If this little guy gives you the heebie-jeebies then you’re likely not going to like this discovery. Eight Simon Fraser University researchers uncovered trace fossils of a predatory sand worm out in Taiwan. The worm spanned up to 2 meters in length with a 2 -3 cm diameter based on their estimates. Basically, imagine a loonie-thick garden hose with teeth as long as you’re supposed to socially distance. Modern-day variants of the worm bury their soft bodies below grounds level and snatch prey using their jaws. If that image terrifies you, then it’ll come as a comfort that this predator is long dead but likely roamed the ocean floor 20 million years ago, according to the paper published in Scientific Reports. SFU researchers pieced this all together using trace fossils of the animal’s burrow. Lead author Yu-Yen Pan and her team’s trace fossil is the first known produced by a sub-surface ambush predator.

'It honestly blows my mind': U of A student part of team that found baby tyrannosaurus fossil

A baby tyrannosaurus fossil found in central Alberta is helping the scientific community get a better understanding of how the dinosaur species developed at an early age.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal A University of Alberta student is part of a team of researchers who have just published an in-depth study of the first tyrannosaur embryo fossils ever discovered. The results shed new light on how the iconic dinosaurs grew and developed. Illustration by Julius Csotonyi.

University of Alberta PhD student Mark Powers was a part of the research team that found a claw from an embryo near the village of Morrin, about 270 kilometres southeast of Edmonton, a few years ago. The fossil, which dated back roughly 71.5 million years ago, was notable as it captured the dinosaur while still in early development.

The claw, about a centimetre long, was paired with another fossil, a jawbone, which was discovered in the ’80s in the United States.

Powers said researchers have a good grasp of tyrannosaurus during its teenage to adult years but there are few records of what they were like while very young. He said the smallest identifiable tyrannosaur on record is usually already three to four years old.

“We didn’t know anything about them hatching or their first year,” Powers said. “Finding these two specimens shows that they are around, and it gives us a search image to search for more babies. It helps to fill in the entire sequence of growing for a tyrannosaurus. We had a good idea of teenagers and later, but we had no idea about the babies.”

Powers said he spent a lot of time with co-author Greg Funston checking every possible option when considering what species the fossils came from. The claw was from an Albertosaurus sarcophagus, also known as an Alberta lizard, and the lower jawbone was from a Daspletosaurus horneri, also known as a frightful lizard.

One of the final steps to confirm the fossil’s identities came when Powers travelled to Saskatchewan to use a specialized scanner to obtain high-resolution images. He said it was very exciting when they were able to finally confirm the bones did come from tyrannosaurus.

“It honestly blows my mind,” Powers said. “It’s really hard to convey the excitement from the moment because when you’re in the moment, it’s just mind-blowing. We segmented the jaw and then we blew it up because it is very small. The whole jaw is less than three centimetres. When you scan it and blow it up as a 3D model and it looks the size of an adult tyrannosaurus jaw …t o see something be so reliable to the adult for at such a small size was quite shocking.”

Powers said as far as he’s aware, this is the smallest tyrannosaurus that’s been discovered so far.

jlabine@postmedia.com

Fossilized skull reveals how crested dinosaur got its fancy headgear

First discovered in 1922 and best known for its distinctive crest, Parasaurolophus is one of the most recognizable dinosaurs -- a staple of childhood books and a background player in the Jurassic Park movie franchise.

© Andrey Atuchin/Denver Museum of Nature & Science An illustration of a group of Parasaurolophus dinosaurs being confronted by a tyrannosaurid in the subtropical forests of New Mexico 75 million years ago.

An exceptionally well-preserved fossilized skull found in New Mexico in 2017 -- the first to be found in 97 years -- has revealed new details about its bizarre Elvis-style pompadour. Its analysis has allowed paleontologists to definitively identify how such a structure grew on this dinosaur.

"Imagine your nose growing up your face, three feet behind your head, then turning around to attach above your eyes. Parasaurolophus breathed through eight feet of pipe before oxygen ever reached its head," said Terry Gates, a paleontologist from North Carolina State University's department of biological sciences, in a news statement.

The hollow tube on its head contained an internal network of airways and acted a bit like a trumpet.

"Over the past 100 years, ideas for the purpose of the exaggerated tube crest have ranged from snorkels to super sniffers," said David Evans, the Temerty chair in vertebrate palaeontology at the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada.

"But after decades of study, we now think these crests functioned primarily as sound resonators and visual displays used to communicate within their own species."

The animal would have lived about 75 million years ago -- a time when North America was divided by a shallow sea and many duck-billed dinosaurs, horned dinosaurs and early tyrannosaurs would have roamed the land.

"The preservation of this new skull is spectacular, finally revealing in detail the bones that make up the crest of this amazing dinosaur known by nearly every dinosaur-obsessed kid," said Joe Sertich, curator of dinosaurs at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and the leader of the team who discovered the specimen.

Sertich and his team discovered the partial skull in 2017 while exploring the badlands of northwestern New Mexico. Only a tiny portion of the skull was visible on a steep sandstone slope, and the volunteers were surprised to find the crest intact. Bone fragments found at the site indicated that much of the skeleton may have once been preserved on an ancient sand bar, but only the partial skull, part of the lower jaw, and a handful of ribs survived erosion.

The skull belonged to Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus, previously known from a single specimen collected in the same region of New Mexico in 1923 by legendary fossil hunter Charles H. Sternberg. It has a shorter, more curved crest than other species of this dinosaur -- although this may be related to its age at death. There are three species of Parasaurolophus currently recognized, with fossils found in New Mexico and Alberta and dating between 77 million and 73.5 million years ago.

"It has answered long-standing questions about how the crest is constructed and about the validity of this particular species. For me, this fossil is very exciting," said Evans, who has also worked on unraveling the mysteries of this dinosaur for almost two decades.

The research was published in the journal PeerJ on Monday.

© Andrey Atuchin An illustration of the head of Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus based on newly discovered remains.

© Doug Shore/Denver Museum of Nature & Science New skull of Parasaurolophus as originally exposed in the badlands of New Mexico

The First People to Settle in The Americas Brought Their Dogs With Them

How far back can the story of humans and dogs be told? When and where did this ancient relationship begin? New DNA evidence suggests our connection with canines can be traced much further into prehistory than has ever been conclusively shown.

© Ettore Mazza

According to scientists, analyses of ancient dog DNA suggests dogs were domesticated from Eurasian wolves as far back as approximately 23,000 years ago. Much later, they spread alongside humans as they migrated throughout the world – including entering the Americas by the way of Beringia, the long-lost land bridge that once connected Russia and Canada.

"The only thing we knew for sure is that dog domestication did not take place in the Americas," says geneticist Laurent Frantz from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany.

"From the genetic signatures of ancient dogs, we now know that they must have been present somewhere in Siberia before people migrated to the Americas."

While dogs are thought to have been the first domesticated animal, emerging during the Pleistocene from an extinct wolf population in Eurasia, much has remained unknown about the particulars of the animal's entry into the world, with some claiming the domesticated dog debuted as far back as 100,000 years ago.

Determining the truth isn't always easy, since it can be hard for scientists to authoritatively differentiate the discovered remains of ancient wolves and early domesticated dogs, whether through archaeological observation, or chemical tests using isotopes.

"The challenge for all claims of late Pleistocene dogs has been to show conclusively, across several lines of evidence, that the specimen(s) in question can be clearly distinguished from contemporaneous wolves," researchers explain in a new study led by archaeologist Angela Perri from Durham University in the UK.

"Here, we take a conservative approach and only include those canids whose taxonomic status is unambiguously domestic."

Disregarding the less substantiated claims of ancient dogs, the researchers say the earliest generally accepted domestic dog remains in the archaeological record appeared about 15,000 years ago in Germany and other contemporaneous sites across Europe and in Israel.

But what about outside the archaeological record? After all, genetic evidence suggests the earliest known dog lineages predate the archaeological remains by several thousand years, including a haplogroup (a genetic population with a single ancestor) estimated to date to about 22.8 thousand years ago.

By comparing that population with successive haplogroup lineages that split off from their common ancestor – including lineages that appeared in the Americas at about the same time as human settlers did about 15,000 years ago – the researchers constructed a timeline charting how dogs and their genes dispersed around the globe.

Ultimately, the analysis suggests human travellers likely brought their domesticated dogs with them as they journeyed into new lands, including the Americas, with the introduced dog lineage – haplogroup A2b – having genetic ties all the way back to Eurasia some 7,000 years earlier.

"We have long known that the first Americans must have possessed well-honed hunting skills, the geological know-how to find stone and other necessary materials and been ready for new challenges," says archaeologist David Meltzer from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

"The dogs that accompanied them as they entered this completely new world may have been as much a part of their cultural repertoire as the stone tools they carried."

While the circumstances of dog domestication in Eurasia several thousands of years earlier still aren't entirely clear, the researchers say it's possible the extreme, unforgiving cold of the Last Glacial Maximum in Siberia may have triggered the early beginnings of what, with time, would become a beautiful friendship.

"Climatic conditions may have brought human and wolf populations into close proximity within refugial areas, given their attraction to the same prey species," the researchers write.

"Increasing interactions between the two, perhaps resulting from the mutual scavenging of kills, or from wolves drawn to the detritus of human campsites, may have initiated a shift in the relationship between the species, eventually leading to dog domestication."

The findings are reported in PNAS.

Lost' Indigenous fort built to repel Russia rediscovered in Alaska

Archaeologists have discovered traces of a 200-year-old wooden fort in southeastern Alaska built by Indigenous people to resist an invasion by Imperial Russia.

© Provided by NBC News

The discovery confirms the events of the 1804 invasion by Russia, which went on to govern parts of Alaska as a colony for 60 years until 1867, when it was purchased by the United States.

It’s also of cultural importance to the indigenous Tlingit people, and especially to those of the Kiks.adi, or Frog clan, whose ancestors defended the fort near the town of Sitka on Baranof Island in what's known as the Alaskan Panhandle, and who now regard it as a symbol of their resistance to colonialism.

“The fort’s definitive physical location had eluded investigators for a century,” said Cornell University archaeologist Thomas Urban, a co-author of a study published Monday in the journal Antiquity that detailed the discovery.

Decades of searching had turned up only clues, and archaeologists debated whether the fort was really sited near a forest clearing in the Sitka National Historical Park said to approximate its location, he said.

A detailed archaeological survey by Urban, however, has revealed electromagnetic anomalies and ground-penetrating radar signals around the clearing show the distinctive shape of the “sapling fort” – "Shiskinoow" in the Tlingit language – but not at proposed alternative sites

© National Park Service 

“The area of the fort was larger than the area of the clearing,” he said. “As such, the detected fort perimeter is in the forest that surrounds the clearing.”

The discovery matches both Tlingit and Russian accounts of the Battle of Sitka in 1804, said co-author Brinnen Carter, an archaeologist at the U.S. National Park Service who was stationed at Sitka during the survey.

Although the Tlingit had occupied the region for about 11,000 years, Russia established a settlement in 1799 at Old Sitka, about seven miles north of the modern town, to profit from a lucrative trade in sea-otter pelts, he said.

In 1802, following disputes with the Tlingit, that settlement was destroyed and the Russians were repelled.

They returned in 1804 to invade the region with up to 1,500 attackers – some of them Russian sailors, and some warriors from the Aleutian Islands – but found the Kiks.adihad built the “sapling fort” to resist them beside a river mouth, Carter said.

The fort was strategically situated behind tidal flats and out of range of the Russian naval guns; it was surrounded by thick walls of alder saplings in a trapezoidal shape about 240 feet long and 165 feet wide.

The invading Russians estimated the fort was defended by at least 800 men, and Tlingit histories record that Kiks.adi women fought there, as well. The defenders were armed with guns and cannons they had purchased from British and American traders.

© Courtesy Thomas Urban Electromagnetic anomalies, in color, and ground-penetrating radar signals, inset in gray, match the distinctive shape of the

According to Tlingit accounts, the Kiks.adi suffered an early loss when a canoe bringing their reserves of gunpowder to the fort was hit by a Russian gun and exploded, killing many of their leading warriors.

But they nevertheless held out against the fierce Russian attacks on Shiskinoow for several days, in part, thanks to the strength of their fortifications.

“It was constructed of wood so thick and strong the shot from my guns could not penetrate at the short distance of a cable’s length [between 600 and 720 feet],” Yuri Lisyansky, the captain of the Russian warship Neva, recorded at the time.

Ultimately, running short of gunpowder, the Kiks.adi decided they could not continue to defend the fort; so they abandoned it and embarked on a “survival march” across the island – a grueling trek fatal for many and still recalled in oral histories, Sitka Tribal Council member Louise Brady said.

The Kiks.adi later returned to the area and made a treaty with the Russians, allowing them to trade at Sitka but restricting them to settlements along the coast, she said.

The agreement influenced the subsequent indigenous legal claims against the United States, which purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867. The Tlingit argued that the whole of Alaska was not Russia’s to sell, but only their coastal settlements, Brady said.

© Louis S. Glanzman The Kiks.adi defenders 

Those claims culminated in a $1 billion settlement by the government in favor of indigenous people under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, which remains the largest land claims settlement in U.S. history.

Brady, a member of the Kiks.adi clan and the lead ranger at the Sitka National Historical Park, said the story of Shiskinoow remained an important part of local oral histories, while the fort site itself in the foreshore forest is a place of remembrance – a status confirmed by the latest scientific finding.

“It’s a very sacred place,” she said. “You have the river there, there are lots of eagles, there are ravens … it is incredibly beautiful.”