Climate change was killing dinosaurs before the asteroid hit - study

Study results show that the dinosaurs' biodiversity was already in steep decline some 10 million years before an asteroid hit the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico.
By TAL SPUNGIN
AUGUST 15, 2021 

A life-size dinosaur is seen at Jurassic Kingdom in London
(photo credit: TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS)

A period of global cooling caused a steep decline in the number of dinosaur species some 10 million years prior to the extinction event caused by an asteroid, according to a June study.

The study, published in Nature Communications, was the product of an international collaboration featuring paleontologists from Université de Montpellier in France, the University of Bristol in the UK, and the University of Alberta in Canada.

Approximately 66 million years ago, a 12 km. wide asteroid crashed into the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico, starting a nuclear winter that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The team of researchers focused on six dinosaur families, three carnivores and three herbivores, that survived 40 million years of evolution up until the asteroid hit Earth. They examined fossils from over 1,600 individual dinosaurs of around 250 different species in total.

Results show that the biodiversity of the six families was already in steep decline, some 10 million years before the asteroid hit. The studies' findings are significant, as the decline in biodiversity of dinosaurs can be seen worldwide, in both herbivorous and carnivorous species.

Interestingly, the one family to show only a small decline in biodiversity prior to the asteroid was the Troodontidae, a family of bird-like dinosaurs. Birds are known to have an evolutionary connection to dinosaurs.

The researchers noted that the herbivorous dinosaurs declined in number slightly before the carnivores, making it highly probable that the decline of herbivorous species directly caused the decline in carnivorous species.

This is an example of the cascade effect, where extinction is triggered by a prior extinction of a different species in an ecosystem.

One theory for why dinosaurs were declining in numbers prior to the extinction event is climate change. During the Cretaceous period, between 145.5 and 65.5 million years ago, the Earth underwent a global cooling period of 7-8⁰ C.

Dinosaurs, who were mesothermic animals - meaning they needed a warm climate to maintain body temperature and functionality of their metabolism, must have been severely impacted by this global cooling period.

New information on dinosaurs, as well as fossils, is being discovered every day. In June, scientists discovered a new species in Australia.

Agreement reached to avoid strike at world's largest copper mine in Chile

Issued on: 14/08/2021 -

Escondida copper mine workers protest outside BHP Billiton's offices in Santiago in May 2021 JAVIER TORRES AFP/File

Santiago (AFP)

The main workers' union at the world's biggest copper mine, Chile's Escondida, announced Friday it had reached an agreement with Anglo-Australian giant BHP to avoid a strike.

The union, which counts more than 2,000 members, said it had obtained "almost unanimous" approval for a new collective agreement proposed by management, cancelling a strike notice that it had filed on July 31.

BHP had already said earlier in the week that negotiations had ended, "resulting in the final content of the collective contract and closing conditions," however the agreement had yet to be accepted by the union.

Neither BHP nor the union published the financial details of the deal, although the company confirmed in a bulletin that the negotiated conditions would be in force for 36 months.

"This afternoon, after almost unanimous acceptance by our base, we formalized the signing of our new collective contract, which includes the gains obtained during collective bargaining," the union said.

Local media reported that the agreement included a bonus for each union member of $23,000, as well as nearly $4,000 for extra days worked, in addition to other provisions.

Workers at the Escondida mine had announced their intention to strike after insisting their demands for a one-off bonus to recognize their work during the coronavirus pandemic had not been met.

In 2017, Escondida workers staged a 44-day strike -- the longest ever in the Chilean mining industry -- that lost BHP $740 million and provoked a 1.3 percent fall in the country's GDP.

Chile is the world's largest copper producer, with 5.6 million tons a year that make up 28 percent of global output, much of which is sold to China, the world's biggest consumer.

Mining makes up 10-15 percent of Chile's GDP and half of its exports.

Wim Wenders receives special award at Sarajevo film festival


Issued on: 13/08/2021 - 

The Sarajevo film festival paid tribute to Wenders for his unforgettable stories 

JOEL SAGET AFP


Sarajevo (AFP)

German film-maker Wim Wenders on Friday received a special award at the Sarajevo film festival in recognition of his "extraordinary" contribution to cinema.

The veteran director received the Heart of Sarajevo award at the festival's launch ceremony, marking its reopening to the public after being organised online last year.

"We are very happy to be able to pay tribute to one of the central figures of world cinematography," said festival director Mirsad Purivatra presenting the award to Wenders.

"With his work in the field of visual art, as an extraordinary cinematic auteur... Wim Wenders has always offered the public unforgettable stories and emotions," he added.

Wenders returned to Sarajevo a decade after he presented a documentary about German dancer Pina Bausch.

He walked the red carpet wearing the same outfit that he wore back then -- a grey shirt with a heart stamped on the front -- a symbol of the festival.

"Ten years ago, I came in 2011 and I'm wearing this T-shirt proudly ever since. Now, I'm walking away with a real heart. I (will) come back in 2031," joked Wenders, who turns 76 on Saturday.

The Sarajevo festival, created as an "act of resistance" during the siege of Sarajevo (1992-95), has often attracted world cinema stars, including Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, or recently Isabelle Huppert, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Gael Garcia Bernal.

Its organisers are especially committed to promoting films from southeastern Europe.

Ten feature films from the region are competing this year at the festival.

Forgotten son of east Belfast who rose to top in Hollywood

Filmmaker: Brian Desmond Hurst

Festival to screen movie by prolific director Hurst, a man who was shunned by own city

Maureen Coleman

August 14 2021

He was mentored by Hollywood’s legendary moviemaker John Ford, worked with stars from Richard Attenborough to Roger Moore, and directed the 1951 festive film Scrooge starring Alastair Sim.

Despite being Ulster’s most prolific director, east Belfast man Brian Desmond Hurst remains relatively unknown.

Now, 35 years after his death, Hurst is to be honoured with one of his movies shown on the big screen this weekend.

On The Night Of The Fire (1939) will be screened tomorrow at the Strand Arts Centre as part of the EastSide Arts Festival.

The Strand has secured the rare 35mm reels of the film, regarded as an early example of British film noir and starring Ralph Richardson.

The screening coincides with the launch on Kindle of a comprehensive, 1,000-image book on the director’s life, Hurst On Film.

It has been curated by Caitlin Smith, whose father Allan Esler Smith was Hurst’s great- great-nephew, and Stephen Wyatt, who helped Hurst write his memoirs in the 1970s.

The notes were believed to have been lost but were later recovered and form part of Hurst’s vast estate, managed by Mr Smith. Both he and his daughter will join filmmaker and broadcaster Brian Henry Martin at Sunday’s event via Zoom to discuss the book and Hurst’s legacy.

“Brian Desmond Hurst was a flamboyant, gay man from east Belfast who died intestate, and his estate passed onto an older brother as he had no children,” said Mr Smith.

“His estate was a shambles; scattered to the wind, and he had given many of his possessions away, including a Picasso. Different family members had different things and I was able to consolidate it all.

“The archives hold thousands of movie stills, posters and scripts, but the gem is his memoirs.

“I discovered Stephen Wyatt by fluke really, who had written the memoirs straight out of Cambridge University, when Brian gave him a job.

“Stephen and Caitlin got together and wrote the book, Hurst on Film. It’s a fascinating book about a fascinating man.”

Hurst was born in 1895 in Ribble Street. He fought at Gallipoli in 1915, where his battalion was virtually wiped out in a day.

After the war he studied art in Canada, Paris and New York before hitchhiking to LA.

It was in Hollywood where he got his break when his art caught the eye of Ford. They became friends and Hurst made his screen debut in 1928 alongside John Wayne in a silent flick.

He turned his attention to working behind the camera, directing over 30 films including Scrooge, Theirs Is The Glory, Dangerous Moonlight and the controversial Ourselves Alone, a film about the Irish War of Independence that was banned here for many years.

Back home in Belfast his glittering career didn’t receive the recognition it deserved, and he wasn’t celebrated as one of the city’s favourite sons.

“Brian Desmond Hurst was an Ulster Covenant-signing, gay Protestant from east Belfast who converted to Catholicism under John Ford,” added Smith.

“That probably wouldn’t have sat too comfortably with some people, although his family were all fine with it. But it wouldn’t have been a great story to tell in the 1970s and might explain why he wasn’t accepted or recognised at home. Things have changed now and it’s only right that he is remembered.”

“After all, he’s a man of whom John Ford once said: ‘Brian was one of the most delightful men I ever knew. I once told Frank Capra, ‘It’s a good thing Brian went back to Britain. He could have given us out here a run for the money.’”

On The Night Of The Fire will be screened along with a discussion at Strand Arts Centre tomorrow at 11.15am.

Indigenous Filipino Group Has Highest Known Denisovan Ancestry

Researchers found the relatively high proportion of DNA from a hominin cousin—nearly 5 percent—when they scanned more than 1,000 genomes from 118 distinct ethnic groups.

ABOVE: Self-identified Negritos from various islands of the Philippines.
OPHELIA PERSSON

Annie Melchor
Aug 13, 2021

Until recently, scientists thought the modern humans with the highest proportion of Denisovan ancestry lived in Papua New Guinea and Australia. According to a new study published yesterday (August 12) in Current Biology, however, an Indigenous group in the Philippines called the Ayta Magbukon have 30 to 40 percent more Denisovan DNA than these other frontrunners, for a total of nearly 5 percent of their genomes.

Denisovans were a group of archaic humans first identified from a single pinkie bone in a Siberian cave. They coexisted with modern humans and other archaic human species, such as Neanderthals, for hundreds of thousands of years, until they went extinct an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 years ago. According to Gizmodo, only Pacific Islanders and Southeast Asians have substantial Denisovan ancestry. By comparison, most people in other parts of mainland Asia have less than 0.05 percent Denisovan ancestry, and people of African and European descent don’t have any.


“[The Ayta Magbukon] possess more Denisovan ancestry than anybody else on the planet today,” Uppsala University biologist and study coauthor Mattias Jakobsson tells Inverse. “So that was a surprise to us.”

See “Humans Made Tools Atop the Tibetan Plateau More than 30,000 Years Ago”

According to Gizmodo, the researchers were originally interested in studying the human history of the Philippines as part of a massive collaborative effort with Indigenous communities, local governments, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Philippines, and researchers at Uppsala University.

As a follow-up study to an earlier one studying human migrations to the Philippines, “we intended to look at the distant past by assessing the levels of archaic ancestry among the populations, especially that some populations in these regions were previously shown to have elevated levels of Denisovan ancestry and that Island Southeast Asia is known to be inhabited by various archaic species of Homo,” population geneticist and study coauthor Maximilian Larena tells Gizmodo.

See “Climate Change Helped Drive Homo sapiens’ Cousins Extinct: Study”

To do this, the researchers analyzed the genomes of 1,107 individuals belonging to 118 distinct ethnic groups in the Philippines—including 25 groups self-identifying as “Negritos,” who are regarded as the earliest modern human inhabitants of the Philippines, according to the study’s authors. By comparing these genomes to Denisovan and Neanderthal genomes, they found that while the degree of Neanderthal ancestry was fairly uniform in their study population (and comparable to modern humans in other parts of the world), the degree of Denisovan ancestry was highly variable, and substantially higher among Negritos than in other groups.

These findings “are consistent with a model of an independent interbreeding event between Negritos and Denisovans within the Philippines, suggesting that Denisovans may have been in the islands long before the presence of any modern human ethnic group,” Larena tells Gizmodo.

University of Tübingen paleogeneticist Cosimo Posth, who was not involved in the study, tells Science News the new report suggests that “still today there are populations that have not been fully genetically described and that Denisovans were geographically widespread.”

Currently, the Denisovan fossil record is sparse, and according to Science News, Denisovan fossils can’t be identified by morphology alone. They have to be genetically sequenced, which can be difficult when extracting fossils from tropical climates where the ancient DNA degrades more quickly.

See “Denisovan Fossil Identified in Tibetan Cave”

The findings “further increase my suspicions that Denisovan fossils are hiding in plain sight,” among previously excavated discoveries on Southeast Asian islands, University of Adelaide population geneticist João Teixeira tells Science News. Teixeira was not involved with the current study.

“When it comes to Southeast Asia and the Southeast Asian Islands, we have more questions than answers as we don’t have a good archaeological record,” University of Colorado Boulder population geneticist Fernando Villanea tells Inverse. Villanea, who was not involved with the study, adds, “Now we have these incredible genetic findings and we’re having a hard time putting together a cohesive story.”

“By sequencing more genomes in the future, we will have better resolution in addressing multiple questions, including how the inherited archaic tracts influenced our biology and how it contributed to our adaptation as a species,” Larena says in the press release.

See “Neanderthal DNA in Modern Human Genomes Is Not Silent”

The doomed far-right prophecies of Trump's so-called 'reinstatement' are collapsing before our eyes

Alex Henderson, AlterNet
August 13, 2021

Donald Trump speaks to a large crowd at "An Address to Young America" an event hosted by Students for Trump and Turning Point Action. (Nuno21 / Shutterstock.com)

Friday, August 13, 2021, according to far-right conspiracy theorist and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, was supposed to be "Reinstatement Day" — the day in which Donald Trump would be reinstated as president when evidence demonstrated that widespread voter fraud occurred in the 2020 election. But that evidence doesn't exist, Lindell's wacky conspiracy theories have been debunked by cybersecurity experts — and as of Friday morning, August 13, Joe Biden is still the democratically elected president of the United States and Kamala Harris is still vice president. Even if the non-existent evidence of election fraud appeared, there would still be no mechanism for returning Trump to power.

Nonetheless, Newsweek journalist Jenni Fink reports that one in ten U.S. voters believe that Trump will be returning to the White House and Biden will be ousted sometime before 2021 ends.

"Religious leaders and Trump's supporters have thrown out a number of dates that the former president was expected to return to power," Fink observes, "and the failure for the prediction to come true prompted some to double down, throwing out new expectations."

Some far-right figures have even claimed that Trump has already retaken the office of the presidency, despite the obvious falsity of this assertion.

In early July, Lindell told far-right evangelical fundamentalist Brannon Howse, "The morning of August 13, it'll be the talk of the world, going, 'Hurry up! Let's get this election pulled down, let's right the right, let's get these communists out.'"

Fink explains, "Lindell's August 13 prediction wasn't the first to fail and Biden was still inaugurated on January 20, the day that some believed the election would be overturned. Biden also remained in office after March 4, another day that was floated for Trump's reinstatement."

One of the far-right evangelical conspiracy theorists who has claimed that Trump will be "reinstated" this year is QAnon supporter Jeff Jansen, who said on June 8, "The Trump Administration is on its way in. The pedophilia Biden Administration, the fake administration, the Biden Administration is on its way out."

The "pedophilia" part comes from QAnon's comically absurd belief that the U.S. government has been hijacked by an international cabal of pedophiles, Satanists and cannibals. QAnon adherents also believe that R&B superstar Beyoncé isn't really African-American, but rather, is an Italian-American named Ann Marie Lastrassi who is only pretending to be Black.

The day that Jansen predicted for Trump's "reinstatement" was June 23.

During a visit to Ramallah, Israeli intellectuals affirm their rejection of the continued occupation

RAMALLAH, Saturday, August 14, 2021 (WAFA) – A delegation of about twenty Israeli film directors, artists and writers affirmed today their rejection of the continuing Israeli occupation of Palestine, saying the political status quo cannot continue as it is forever.

During a meeting in Ramallah with the PLO Committee for Interaction with the Israeli Society, the delegation affirmed their belief in the existence of a Palestinian partner for peace, adding that they will work hard to publish the outcome of the meeting with the Israeli public opinion, so that the Israelis will know there is a real partner on the side.

The Israeli delegation also affirmed that true and just peace cannot be achieved without recognizing the right of the Palestinian people to their independent state on the borders of June 4, 1967.

Mohammad al-Madani, the head of the Committee who received the delegation, called for Israeli intellectuals and artists to have a role in working for a just peace based on the two-state solution, with a fair and agreed solution to the Palestinian refugee issue in accordance with UN Resolution 194.

Motti Lerner, an Israeli playwright who attended the meeting, expressed his rejection of the Israeli occupation, adding, "We listened to words we had not heard before, and we believe that a real Palestinian partner exists. We must work together for peace and an end to the occupation, and I look forward to learning Palestinian culture, literature and creativity."

Sinai Peter, an Israeli film director, pointed out that Israeli intellectuals will familiarize the Israeli public with the reality of the Israeli occupation which harms the two peoples. He said the Israeli occupation of Palestine must end, and that the Palestinians have the right to live in their independent state.

Other members of the Israeli delegation expressed their desire to learn about Palestinian culture, Palestinian intellectual production, and the reality experienced by the Palestinian people under prolonged Israeli occupation.

M.N

Twelve  Pro-Palestine US institutions urge Speaker of Congress to stop demolitions in Silwan

WASHINGTON, Sunday, August 15, 2021 (WAFA) – Twelve pro-Palestine institutions in the United States have demanded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer to immediately intervene to halt Israel’s decision to demolish 16 homes for Palestinian citizens in the neighborhood of Silwan in occupied Jerusalem.

The institutions said in a statement that Pelosi and Schumer have the power to press Israel to stop the demolitions and to stop the policy of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians.

"Since May 2021, hundreds of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem, including 16 households in the Al-Bustan neighborhood, have faced the risk of arbitrary expulsion. The US support for Israel and the policy of silence about its crimes against the Palestinians encourage it to commit more ethnic cleansing practices," said the statement.

Sponsors of the campaign include: Justice for Justice, American Muslims for Palestine, Arab Resource and Organizing Center, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Eyewitness Palestine, and Jewish Voices for Peace, and the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights.

The campaign urges Pelosi and Schumer to press the Israeli government to immediately stop scheduled evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in the Al-Bustan district in Silwan.

It also urges them to stop supporting and encouraging the Israeli government's continuous violations of human rights against the Palestinians.

M.N

In two weeks, Israel demolished 57 Palestinian-owned structures in occupied territories displacing 97 people - UN

Israeli demolition of Palestinian-owned structures east of Ramallah.

JERUSALEM, Saturday, August 14, 2021 (WAFA) – In the period between 27 July and 9 August, the Israeli occupation authorities demolished, seized or forced people to demolish 57 Palestinian-owned structures across the West Bank due to lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 97 people, including 67 children, and affecting the livelihoods of 240 other people, according to the Protection of Civilians report published biweekly by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Of these structures, 17 were seized displacing 27 people, including 19 children, in the Bedouin community of Ibziq in the Jordan Valley. An additional 28 people, including 21 children, were displaced when the Israeli authorities demolished six structures in al Mu’arrajat Centre in Ramallah.

In East Jerusalem, 12 structures were demolished, including five livelihood structures in Dahiyet al Bareed neighborhood.

In addition to the army demolition of Palestinian-owned structures, Israeli settlers vandalized at least 40 Palestinian-owned trees, and five vehicles across the West Bank during the reporting period, said OCHA.

Also during the reporting period, the Israeli army shot and killed four Palestinians, including an 11-year-old boy - two from Beita in the north of the West Bank and two, including the boy, from Beit Ummar in the south of the West Bank - and a fifth Palestinian from Jenin died on August 11 of wounds sustained a week earlier from Israeli army gunfire.

A total of 50 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank this year, all by live ammunition.

The Israeli occupation forces injured 764 Palestinians across the West Bank during demonstrations where Palestinians threw stones at Israeli soldiers, who fired live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas at them. Of the total injured, 586 people were injured during protests against settlements in Beita and 10 in Beit Dajan, both in the Nablus area.

A total of 107 were wounded during the protests at the funeral of the 11-year-old boy killed in Beit Ummar.

Beyond the 764 injured directly by Israeli forces, 95 were injured in Beita either while running away from Israeli forces or in circumstances that could not be verified, said OCHA.

Israeli forces carried out 92 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including 11 children, across the West Bank with 30 of operations taking place in the Jerusalem governorate and 17 in the Hebron governorate.

M.K.

Senegal architects enraged after historic Dakar market is bulldozed

Issued on: 13/08/2021 -

Demolition work at the Sandaga market in Dakar began last week Seyllou AFP


Dakar (AFP)

Senegalese architects expressed their anger on Friday after bulldozers razed the famed Sandaga market, a sprawling hub of informal trade in the heart of Senegal's capital Dakar.

An iconic establishment lying between the old French colonial quarter and more working-class neighbourhoods, Sandaga has been one of Dakar's main trading centres for almost a century.

Frequented daily by residents of the capital, the market also drew people from the provinces and from the West African region. Many tourists came to hunt down artisanal carvings and other artefacts.

The great hall, built in the Sudanese-Sahel tradition in 1933, housed hundreds of stalls selling merchandise of all kinds, from food to craft goods. It was shut down for public safety reasons after the edifice was weakened by several fires.

The authorities had it pulled down in order to build a modernised replica. The architects voiced their anger just hours after that process was completed on Friday.

"This is deeply regrettable," said Jean Augustin Carvalho, president of the National Order of Architects.

Sandaga is "a heritage and an identity of the city of Dakar. It was necessary by all means to see how to preserve it," he said adding "this building could still be standing with some renovation".

Papa Dame Thiaw, another member of the architect's society, said that "technical solutions exist for the conservation of this heritage building."

Fellow member Annie Jouga called the demolition "a scandal".

"It is a bluff to say that we are going to rebuild identically. We cannot reconstruct a 1933 building identically with modern techniques," she added.

Shopkeepers voiced opposition over the relocation last month, telling the government that they would lose customers at the new site far from Sandaga, a curiosity for tourists which drew large crowds.

Last year the government chose a site some two kilometres from Sandaga as a temporary replacement for the traders.

The new Sandaga is expected to take two years to build.

The mayor of Dakar-Plateau region, Alioune Ndoye, who is supervising the project, said he would address the issue on Monday.

© 2021 AFP