Takakia survived the upheaval of early Earth, but it may soon go extinct

Ashley Strickland, CNN
Wed, August 9, 2023 

The world’s oldest moss, called Takakia, has persisted in some of Earth’s most extreme environments for millions of years. And despite the fact that this ancient plant is one of the fastest-evolving species of moss known to science, it may not survive the climate crisis.

A team of researchers spent a decade studying the 390 million-year-old moss that grows on the icy, isolated cliffs of the Tibetan Plateau.

Called the “roof of the world,” this remote area surrounded by the Himalayas is the world’s highest and largest plateau. The tiny, slow-growing moss can also be found in parts of Japan and the United States.

The researchers went on 18 expeditions between 2010 and 2021 to understand how Takakia has adapted to survive for millions of years in its home, located 13,123 feet (4,000 meters) above the ground. A study detailing the findings was published Wednesday in the journal Cell.

“We set out to describe and analyze a living fossil,” said study coauthor Dr. Ralf Reski in a statement. He is a plant biotechnologist and professor in the faculty of biology at the University of Freiburg in Germany.

The crucial role of early plants

As animal life began in Earth’s oceans around 500 million years ago, plant life that evolved from freshwater algae began to cover the planet’s rocky land masses and adapted to live in harsher terrestrial environments, according to the study authors. The tiny plants caused a huge shift in Earth’s atmosphere as they eroded the rocks they grew on and converted light energy into chemical energy through photosynthesis. As the plants broke down stone, this biological weathering released minerals, and the photosynthetic process resulted in organic compounds and oxygen.

The plants made Earth’s landmasses more hospitable to animal life, which began to evolve and become more complex over time.

The researchers embarked on multiple expeditions in the Himalayas to study Takakia moss. - Dr. Ruoyang Hu

When the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates collided 65 million years ago, the cataclysmic event created the Himalayas. Takakia, already about 100 million years old at the time, rose right along with the Himalayas and was forced to quickly adapt to the much harsher environment.

“In the Himalayas, you can experience four seasons within a day,” said lead study author Ruoyang Hu, plant biologist and co-expedition leader at Capital Normal University in China, in a statement. “At the foot of the mountain, it is sunny and clear. When you get to the halfway point, there is always a light rain — it feels like you’re walking in a cloud. And when you get to the top, it snows and it’s very cold.”
The secrets of plant DNA

The research team collected samples to sequence Takakia’s DNA for the first time and determine how the climate crisis is affecting the plant. Given how ancient the plant is, the team also wanted to determine whether Takakia was really a moss or another type of ancient plant, such as liverwort or algae. The study research showed that Takakia is indeed a moss.

“The idea was to go as deep as possible into the history of the first land plants to see what they can tell us about evolution,” Reski said. “We found that Takakia is currently the genome with the highest number of fast-evolving genes. It’s very active on the genetic level.”

Takakia’s genome has evolved over time, adapting to recover from ultraviolet damage and make alterations and fixes to broken DNA, the researchers said. But the plant’s actual form has changed very little, despite the fact that its genetics are always changing. The moss has also adapted to grow in different locations by branching.

“Takakia plants are covered with heavy snow for eight months each year, and then are subjected to high-intensity ultraviolet radiation during the 4-month light period,” said study coauthor Yikun He, plant biologist at Capital Normal University, in a statement. “As a result, this continuous branching forms a network structure and a very sturdy population structure, which can effectively resist the invasion of heavy snowstorms.”

The research team also studied the plants using time-lapse cameras and satellite weather data to track larger changes in the moss’ environment. As the local temperature average increased each year, the population of Takakia moss decreased by 1.6% annually, the study authors noted.

As the planet warms, the plateau’s glaciers are rapidly melting. The moss is also experiencing higher levels of UV radiation that is capable of killing plants adapted to harsh environments.

Takakia’s uncertain future

During the decade-long study, the moss became harder to find.

“Our prediction shows that suitable conditions (and) regions for Takakia will shrink to only around 1,000 -1,500 square kilometers all over the world at the end of the 21st century,” Hu said.

The study authors don’t think the moss is likely to survive another 100 years and could face extinction, despite its millions of years of evolution and resilience.

“As a sensitive environmental indicator species, its observed decline over the past decade is an early warning signal of the grave danger of global warming,” the authors wrote in the study.

The research team wants to protect the moss by cultivating it in labs and transplanting it to new areas.

“Plant scientists cannot sit idly by. We are attempting to multiply some plants in the laboratory and then transplant them to our experimental sites in Tibet,” Yikun He said. “After five years of continuous observation, it has been found that some transplanted plants can survive and thrive, which may be the dawn of the recovery — or at least a postponement of extinction — of Takakia populations.”

The study authors hope that the study of rare, tiny species like Takakia can serve as a larger wake-up call about the climate crisis. “But the dinosaurs came and went, and so might humans, if we are not careful with our planet. Takakia may die because of climate change, but the other mosses will survive, even if we humans cannot.

“We humans like to think that we are on top of evolution,” Reski said. “But the dinosaurs came and went, and so might humans, if we are not careful with our planet. Takakia may die because of climate change, but the other mosses will survive, even if we humans cannot. You can learn a lot from the simplest plants about the history of this planet, and maybe the future.”

300,000-year-old skull found in China unlike any early human seen before

Hafsa Khalil and Jack Guy, CNN
Thu, August 10, 2023

Xiujie Wu/National Research Center on Human Evolution

An ancient skull dating back 300,000 years is unlike any other premodern human fossil ever found, potentially pointing to a new branch in the human family tree, according to new research.

An international team of researchers from China, Spain and the United Kingdom unearthed the skull — specifically the mandible, or lower jaw — in the Hualongdong region of eastern China in 2015, along with 15 other specimens, all thought to originate from the late Middle Pleistocene period.

Scientists believe the late Middle Pleistocene, which started around 300,000 years ago, was a pivotal period for the evolution of hominins — species that are regarded as human or closely related — including modern humans.

Published in the Journal of Human Evolution on July 31, a study by the research team found that the mandible, known as HLD 6, is “unexpected” and does not fit into any existing taxonomic groups.

Many Pleistocene hominin fossils discovered in China have been similarly difficult to classify, and were previously perceived to be anomalies, according to the study. However, this discovery, along with other recent research, is slowly changing what people know of the evolutionary pattern in the late Middle Pleistocene.
HLD 6 and a mosaic of features

By comparing the HLD 6 mandible to those of Pleistocene hominins and modern humans, the researchers found it has features of both.

It is similarly shaped to the mandible of Homo sapiens, our modern human species that evolved from Homo erectus. But it also shares a characteristic of a different branch that evolved from Homo erectus, the Denisovans. Like the Denisovans, HLD 6 does not appear to have a chin.

“HLD6 does not present a true chin but has some weakly expressed traits that seem to anticipate this typically H. sapiens feature,” said study author María Martinón-Torres, director of the National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH) in Spain.

“Hualongdong are thus the earliest fossil population known in Asia to present this mosaic of primitive and H. sapiens-like features,” she added.

The researchers theorize that HLD 6 must belong to a classification that hasn’t yet been given a name, and that modern human characteristics could have been present as early as 300,000 years ago — before the emergence of modern humans in east Asia.

The researchers also considered the age of the individual that the jawbone belonged to, as skull shapes can differ between children and adults.

HLD 6 is thought to have belonged to a 12- to 13-year-old. While the researchers didn’t have an adult skull of the same species to compare with, they looked at Middle and Late Pleistocene hominin skulls of similar and adult age and found their shape patterns remained consistent regardless of age, further supporting the scientists’ theory.

According to Martinón-Torres, more work is needed to properly place HLD 6.

“More fossils and studies are necessary to understand their precise position in the human family tree,” she said.

 

SEE 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/08/remains-found-in-china-may-belong-to.html

UK

River Wye waste to be used in Aston University biochar study

Nicola Goodwin - BBC Hereford & Worcester
Wed, August 9, 2023

The status of the River Wye was downgraded by Natural England in May due to pollution


Centuries-old science could help to remove pollution from the River Wye and bring millions of pounds to the West Midlands economy, researchers say.

Biochar, a charcoal-like substance made from wood, leftover crops and agricultural waste, is being studied by a team at Aston University, Birmingham.

It could be used to treat chicken muck to turn it into items such as compost and building materials, they claim.

Sixteen biochar hubs are set to be built in the Wye Valley by a company.

The firm, Onnu, have purchased a site for their first hub in Madley, Herefordshire and said they plan to buy waste from poultry farmers to turn into biochar.

Biochar has been produced for centuries like charcoal, where material is heated without oxygen up to temperatures of 300C or higher.

The process, called pyrolysis, breaks down materials by heating them and turning them into a gas, before it is then condensed and cooled to produce solid or liquid substances.

Herefordshire Council said they hoped to find out more about the process soon.

In May, Natural England downgraded the status of the River Wye due to pollution.

In the catchment area, 24 million chickens are farmed and their waste is spread as fertiliser but some of it washes into the river when it rains.

The phosphorus from it causes prolonged algal blooms which suffocate plants and wildlife by sucking up all the oxygen and turning the water an opaque green.

A research team at Aston University's Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI) believe the muck could be valuable if it is used in the right way.
Develop new products

They have been given a government grant of almost £2m to see how biochar can be used commercially.

"We are pulling together a lot of science to make it work for communities and the economy," said Tim Miller, director of engagement at EBRI.

"We are taking the material, such as chicken muck, processing it and then producing a range of new materials which then can be developed into new products."

The biochar has already been used as compost for the plants used in Birmingham's gold medal winning Chelsea Flower Show entry.

Tim Miller, from Aston University, said the waste could be processed and produced into "a range of new materials"

The team are also working on matting for chicken sheds to soak up smells and ammonia and to help prevent spillages from the farms.

They said it was a multi-million pound scheme which could create hundreds of jobs.

Michael Douglas, from Onnu, said their hubs could each potentially handle 10,000 tonnes of agricultural waste annually.

"None of these plants are massive. To minimize transport and by serving a relatively small catchment we'll be looking at ultra-local solutions," he added.

Chicken producer Avara processes two million chickens at its factory in Hereford every week and it is the county's largest employer.

The company said they have met with Onnu but there was a lot of research to be done.

CLIMATE CRISIS

Scientists are fighting to save the ‘blue heart’ of Europe

Nell Lewis, CNN
Thu, August 10, 2023 

The Neretva River carves its way through Bosnia and Herzegovina’s impenetrable forest. A mesmerizing blue-green, it runs 140 miles (225 kilometers) from deep within the Dinaric Alps to the Adriatic Sea – at some points disappearing into subterranean channels before re-emerging in bubbling springs.

One of the coldest rivers in the world, it is home to unique ecosystems and myriad rare species, from marble trout and yellow-bellied toads to the elusive olm – blind salamanders that live in the river’s network of caves.

But this could change. The river, like many worldwide, is threatened by dams. According to the Center for Environment, a Bosnian conservation organization, more than 50 hydropower projects are proposed along its length and its tributaries, with almost half of these planned for the upper reaches, which have so far remained wild and unobstructed.

These dams could harm not only the river and its inhabitants but the wider environment that depends on this unique waterway.

At Ulog, a village on the Neretva, you can see the potential destruction firsthand. A 35 megawatt hydropower plant with a 53-meter high dam is in the advanced stages of construction: felled trees line the river bank, making way for what will become a reservoir, and access roads for logging trucks and construction vehicles cut like scars through the forested landscape.

It’s here, just upstream of the construction site, that more than 60 scientists from 17 countries converged in June for “Neretva Science Week.” Most had traveled there as self-funded volunteers, united in a common purpose: to save the Neretva.

“They want to help us save this remarkable river,” says Ulrich Eichelmann, CEO of Riverwatch and coordinator of the Save the Blue Heart of Europe campaign to protect Balkan rivers. “It’s probably one of the most biodiverse and valuable rivers in Europe, and at the same time, it’s the most threatened.”
Dammed up

Europe has the most obstructed river landscape in the world, with more than one million barriers, from dams and weirs to ramps, fords and culverts, according to an EU research project. This has taken its toll on wildlife, with one in three freshwater fish species threatened with extinction.

A dam near the village of Ulog is currently under construction. It is due to commence commercial operations next year. - Nell Lewis/CNN

But the Neretva has managed to remain relatively unscathed, fostering a healthy ecosystem including what scientists believe could be one of the last spawning areas of the endangered soft-mouthed trout.

It is this brown, unremarkable-looking fish that brought Kurt Pinter, a freshwater ecologist, all the way from Vienna, Austria in his retro orange campervan to study the river. Using techniques such as electro-fishing – a process that creates an electric field in the water to attract fish towards a net – and environmental DNA samples, he hopes to find evidence of the species living and breeding in the upper Neretva and its tributaries, providing ammunition against the proposed hydropower projects.

Dams, weirs, and all shapes and sizes of hydropower projects can endanger fish species because they block or hamper migration, he explains. In a natural river system, fish usually spawn in upstream areas and feed and mate downstream.

“This open system is really important for the fish to migrate into areas where they have very high reproductive success,” he says. The proposed dams along the course of the Neretva would disrupt the soft-mouthed trout’s breeding cycle and, he fears, push the already-endangered species to extinction.

While the loss of a single species is devastating, the impact does not stop there. “If you take the fish out of this river, then the surrounding environment, the surrounding terrestrial species will be affected,” says Pinter.

At Neretva Science Week, it’s not just fish experts who are concerned. There are specialists studying bats, fungi, butterflies and bears, among others. All believe that hydropower projects could have dire consequences for their chosen species group.

“It’s all connected,” says Eichelmann, explaining that silt from construction builds up on the riverbed, killing small creatures such as mussels that filter and clean the water. As the water becomes dirtier, plants and animals in the river and along its banks are affected. And the nature of the river means that the pollution cannot be contained: “What you do to a little river, you do to the bigger one, and in the end to the ocean.”
Hydropower hotspot

There is, however, a delicate balancing act between these environmental challenges and the growing demand for renewable energy. In Bosnia, hydropower is a key source of electricity – responsible for 37% of the country’s total electricity production in 2021. As the country, and the world, transitions from fossil fuels, hydropower could offer a cleaner source of energy.

The Balkans is seen as an untapped resource, full of rivers that – unlike the rest of Europe – have not yet been developed. Initiatives, some funded by the EU, which aims to be climate-neutral by 2050, are driving hydropower development across the region. As of 2022, more than 3,300 plants were either planned or under construction in the Balkans, in addition to the 1,700 plants already operational.

Developers say that these projects can provide income and employment. In an email to CNN, a spokesperson from EFT Group, the energy trading and investment firm leading the Ulog hydropower development, noted that local companies and workers have been and will be used in both the construction and operation of the plant. They added that an environmental impact assessment “was prepared, reviewed and approved in accordance with applicable regulations.”

Radomir Sladoje, mayor of Kalinovik (the local municipality), echoed this when speaking on the first day of Neretva Science Week. Addressing scientists, he acknowledged that many of them might be angry that the local authority had approved the Ulog dam, but he pleaded: “We are a small community which needed a financial boost.”

Related: Environmental hero’s mission to save the most over-fished sea in the world

The Save the Blue Heart of Europe campaign says its goal is not to ban hydropower altogether, but to ensure it follows a strict planning approach that prioritises nature conservation. It would also like no-go zones implemented in areas of key biodiversity.

“There is a purpose for hydropower,” says Eichelmann. “But like in medicine, while small doses might be correct and healthy, if you take too much of it, it’s deadly.”

Ulrich Eichelmann of Riverwatch hopes that the scientists' findings will help to protect the Neretva from further hydropower projects. - Vladimir Tadic

Wild rivers

Preserving a free-flowing river can also bring economic wins through the development of tourism activities such as rafting, angling and trekking.

Earlier this year, in southern Albania, this argument was successfully won in the case of the Vjosa River, which was declared the world’s first wild river national park. The move granted protection of more than 248 miles (400 kilometers) of rivers and streams, covering the full length of the river and all its major tributaries. Through responsible tourism, Albania’s government says that it will benefit local communities and help address depopulation in the area.

The Vjosa has brought hope for campaigners. “(It) proved that you can win these cases against the government, and this created a little flush of waves across the Balkans,” says Eichelmann.

Related: Underwater photos showcase one of the world’s most-threatened ecosystems

Already dammed in parts, the Neretva would not qualify as a wild river national park, but preserving intact stretches is still valuable. Although it may be too late to stop the Ulog dam, which is due to commence commercial operations in 2024, there are signs that the campaign could prevent hydropower projects planned for the pristine waters upstream.

The Vjosa River in Albania is one of the last remaining wild rivers in Europe. Its protection could provide a blueprint for other Balkan rivers. 

- GENT SHKULLAKU/AFP via Getty Images

Recently, contracts for 15 small hydroelectric power plants planned for the Neretvica, a tributary to the Neretva, were terminated, and in 2022, the campaign gained the support of the Bern Convention, an international agreement to protect European fauna and flora.

For now, the current is running with them, but Eichelmann hopes this force can be sustained across the entire Balkans.

“We call it the ‘blue heart’ because it is the last area where we have this jewel. It’s like a gift to Europe, to the Earth, that these rivers survived the decades of destruction,” he says. “We have one chance to keep this blue heart beating.”

Wetland lagoon in southern Spain dries out amid severe drought

Reuters
Thu, August 10, 2023

An aerial view shows the Santa Olalla lagoon in the Donana wetlands of southern Spain

MADRID (Reuters) - The largest permanent lagoon in southern Spain's Donana national park has completely dried out for the second summer in a row due to a prolonged drought and the overexploitation of aquifers, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) said on Thursday.

The drying out of the lagoon comes as Spain grapples with the third heatwave of the summer, while emptying reservoirs have forced water restrictions in parts of the country.

"Since we began collecting data on the area half a century ago, this has never happened in two consecutive years, which shows the seriousness of the situation facing the Donana lagoon system and, with it, all the biodiversity that depends on it," the CSIC said in a statement.

The Donana wetlands harbour many endemic and threatened species, such as freshwater eels and turtles.

Most lagoons in Donana are temporary, meaning their basins fill when flooded by rainwater from aquifers in the winter and then dry out in the hotter months. But a few also contain water during the summer, providing an important refuge for migratory birds heading southward after breeding in northern Europe.

According to the researchers, Donana has seen in the past two years the lowest precipitation levels in a decade and the highest average annual temperature ever recorded, at 18.53 Celsius (65.35 Fahrenheit).

Donana's lagoons are not only threatened by the drought and heat. They are also surrounded by a sea of greenhouses and a complex system of pipes that take water from illegally drilled wells for use by farmers growing red berries.

Andalusia's conservative regional government plans an amnesty that would legalise additional irrigation around Donana, prompting an outcry from environmentalists.

(Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Andrei Khalip, Alexandra Hudson)

UK
Climate change: Flintshire cement work's carbon capture plan

Brendon Williams - BBC News
Thu, August 10, 2023 

The carbon will be captured at a new facility built on fields next to the Padeswood plant


A cement works has plans to pipe 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year out to sea to fight climate change.

Cement giant Hanson claims capturing carbon could play a vital role in the UK reaching its net-zero targets.

The company is planning a £400m facility at its Padeswood plant in Flintshire, making it the first carbon capture-enabled cement works in the UK.

While Greenpeace objects to some uses of carbon capture, it accepted it may be necessary for cement production.

Hanson is one of several companies chosen by the UK government to progress plans for carbon-reducing solutions as part of the HyNet project.


What is carbon capture and can it fight climate change?

FRACKING BY ANY OTHER NAME

It would see CO2 pumped from companies in the north-west of England and north Wales and locked into depleted gas fields under the sea bed in Liverpool Bay using a huge network of pipes.

A large proportion of Hanson's emissions come from the chemical processes involved in making cement.

The company said the UK "simply cannot achieve its net-zero goals without the building materials we use being carbon neutral".

Carbon capture gfx

Marian Garfield, Hanson's director of sustainability, said Padeswood would become the first cement works in the UK to become "true net zero".

Last month, the UK government announced that the Acorn Project in Aberdeenshire was the latest of four carbon capture projects which will share up to £20bn of funding.

Ms Garfield said: "The announcement by the government is confidence that they're really behind the net zero and carbon capture technology, so for us it was a good, positive sign."

Hanson has said it wants the carbon capture facility to be operational by 2027, but it will need planning permission, environmental permits, and a public consultation before it can go ahead.

If approved, it said the project would be equivalent to taking 320,000 cars off the road.



Cement is used to create concrete, which Hanson says is the second most consumed material on the planet, after water

Hanson said there was no viable alternative to cement, which is carbon intensive to produce.

Currently, carbon from Padeswood is released through a 110m (360ft) stack which dominates the skyline around the site.

Under the plans it would instead be captured in a new facility built on fields next to the plant, covering an area roughly the size of seven football pitches.

From there, it would be pumped several kilometres before joining HyNet's pipe network out to sea.

Marian Garfield said the plans still face "a lot of hurdles" but that the company was "confident"

Hanson claims the project would protect 222 existing jobs and create 54 full-time jobs.

Its parent company, Heidelberg Materials, would fund the £400m project and is negotiating with the UK government on how it would be paid for the carbon it captures.

Doug Parr, policy director for Greenpeace UK, said: "What we know about carbon capture and storage where it's been used globally is that it's expensive and it's difficult to make work.

"We really shouldn't be relying on it to make lots and lots of our reduction in emissions that we need to tackle climate change.

"Worse than that, the fossil fuel industry have used it as a cover to carry on with business as usual.

"However, it's also true that in certain instances, like cement, it's very difficult to deal with it in any other way. In those circumstances, it probably is going to be necessary."
How does carbon capture and storage work?

Burning fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal to generate electricity emits CO2, which is the main driver of climate change.

The carbon capture process stops most of the CO2 produced from being released, and either re-uses it or stores it underground.

The British government says the North Sea is an ideal place to store CO2. It has plenty of old empty oil and gas reservoirs, and also permeable rocks known as saline aquifers.

Big freeze drove early humans out of Europe

Pallab Ghosh - Science correspondent
Thu, August 10, 2023 

A big freeze previously unknown to science drove early humans from Europe for 200,000 years, but they adapted and returned, new research shows.

Ocean sediments from 1.1 million years ago show temperatures suddenly dropped more than 5C, scientists say.

They say our early ancestors couldn't have survived as they didn't have heating or warm clothes.

Until now, the consensus had been that humans had existed in Europe continuously for 1.5 million years.

Ancient humans' stone tools found in Kenya


Ancient human remains found in County Armagh


Ancient humans survived longer than we thought

Evidence for the big freeze is found in sediments in the seabed off the coast of Lisbon, Portugal. Layers are deposited each year which are a record of sea conditions of that period. They also contain pollen grains which are a record of vegetation on the land.


Researchers at the IBS Centre for Climate Physics in Busan, in South Korea, ran computer model simulations using data from the sediments. They found that average winter temperatures plummeted in many areas in Europe well below freezing, even in the otherwise milder Mediterranean.

A drop of this magnitude may not seem too severe by today's standards, where most have access to some heating, warm clothing and food, but that was not the case back then, according to Prof Axel Timmermann, who is director of the group.

"Early humans were not yet well adapted to cope with such extreme conditions," he said. "There is no direct evidence that they could even control fire at this time. Therefore, the extremely cold and dry conditions over Europe and the corresponding lack of food, must have greatly challenged human survival."


Graphic of human evolution in Europe

The oldest known human remains in Europe date back to about 1.4 million years ago and were recovered from what is now Spain. They suggest that a species of early humans known as Homo erectus, which originated in Africa, had arrived in Europe via southwest Asia at that time.

Prof Chronis Tzedakis of University College London, who led the research, turned to experts in early human settlements to see if the theory that the freeze had pushed them out of Europe was borne out by the fossil and archaeological evidence.

Following a thorough review, they found that there were human remains dating back to as recently as 1.1 million years ago in Spain, then a gap until about 900,000 years ago, from which period stone tools and footprints in ancient clays have been found in Happisburgh in Norfolk, England.

Because of the missing fossil evidence, it is unclear what species of humans were in Happisburgh, but later remains in other parts of Europe suggest they may have been a more advanced species called Homo antecessor.

The big freeze was over by the time early humans walked in Happisburgh were but it was still cold - cooler than it is in that part of Europe today. According to Prof Nick Ashton of the British Museum, it's thought that those early humans had adapted enough to cope with the colder conditions to be able to come and stay in Europe.

"It may have triggered evolutionary changes in humans, such as increased body fat as insulation, or increased hair," he told BBC News.

"It may also have led to technological developments such as improved hunting or scavenging skills, and abilities to create more effective clothing and shelters."

It may have been these advances that enabled humans to cope with succeeding periods of extreme cold and occupy parts of Europe continuously ever since, according to Prof Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum.

"Europe was a laboratory for human adaptation," he said.

"A more resilient species came back into Europe either because they learned how to survive better, or it was a different species that had more sophisticated behaviours that enabled them to adapt."

The Happisburgh species of humans might have evolved into the Neanderthals, who were well established by 400,000 years ago.

Our own species, Homo sapiens, is believed to have evolved in Africa by about 400,000 years ago. We were established in Europe by 42,000 years ago, co-existing briefly with Neanderthals before they went extinct about 40,000 years ago.

Follow Pallab on Twitter

UK
Theresa Villiers: Ex-environment secretary failed to declare Shell shares

BBC
Fri, August 11, 2023 

Theresa Villiers

A former environment secretary has revealed she failed to declare tens of thousands of pounds of shares she held in oil giant Shell while in the role.

Tory MP Theresa Villiers said she had held a stake in the firm worth over £70,000 since February 2018.

But she only declared it last month along with similar holdings in drinks giant Diageo and finance firm Experian.

She "deeply" regretted "her failure to monitor the value of shareholdings", a spokesman told the Daily Mirror.

MPs are meant to declare all shareholdings worth over £70,000.

• Shell reports highest profits in 115 years

• No 10 rejects call to publish PM's interests now

Her spokesman added that it had not occurred to her that any of the stakes would pass the threshold but they did after she received a legacy in 2018.

Ms Villiers, MP for the London seat of Chipping Barnet, alerted the Commons authorities "as soon as she realised this", the spokesman said.

Her latest declaration reveals she has held a stake worth more than £70,000 in Shell since February 2018.

This was more than a year before she was appointed to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) under Boris Johnson in July 2019, a role she held until February 2020.

She registered the stake on 17 July this year, along with stakes over the same amount in Diageo, also from February 2018, and Experian, from July 2019.

On the same day, she also registered a shareholding over the threshold in RIT Capital Partners, an investment trust.

On 2 August, she registered a fifth stake over the amount in Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, with records showing she held it between 6 and 20 July this year.

'Not influenced'

The spokesman for Ms Villiers said her shares were part of a professionally managed portfolio, for which she had "never taken day-to-day investment decisions".

When Ms Villiers joined Defra, she told the department about her shares and offered to put them in a "blind" trust, where she would not have known how the money was invested, the spokesman said.

However the prime minister's ethics adviser at the time, Sir Alex Allan, advised her this was unnecessary because "the portfolio was managed for her and she did not take investment decisions", he added.

"Nothing she did as [environment] secretary was influenced by any of these shareholdings," the spokesman said.

The shareholdings she held during her time as environment secretary did not appear on the separate ministerial register of interests published during her time in the job.

"Nothing she has ever said or done as MP has been influenced by these shareholdings," he added, but she was "taking steps to ensure that this never happens again".

"She takes full responsibility for the mistake. She accepts that it should never have happened, and that she should have kept track of the additions to her investment portfolio," the spokesman added.

Asked about the omission on Sky News, Chief Secretary to the Treasury John Glen described it as an "oversight on her part" and insisted the former minister has been "very clear" in apologising.

Ms Villiers entered Parliament in 2005 and was a rail minister for just over two years under David Cameron.

She was promoted to Northern Ireland secretary in 2012, a role she held until Mr Cameron's resignation after the Brexit referendum in 2016.

She returned to the cabinet in the environment role under Mr Johnson, but was reshuffled out of his cabinet nine months later.

DOZBODANIA TOVARISH
Cosmonaut Alexander Viktorenko, who flew to Mir space station four times, dies at 76

Robert Z. Pearlman

SPACE.COM
Fri, August 11, 2023 

Russian cosmonaut in spacesuit smiling outside on spacewalk


Russian cosmonaut Alexander Viktorenko, whose four flights into Earth orbit included the first test of a "space motorcycle" and first launch after the fall of the Soviet Union, has died at the age of 76.

The Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City confirmed Viktorenko's death in a statement released on Thursday (Aug. 10).

"The whole life of Alexander Stepanovich was devoted to astronautics. He made an invaluable contribution to the history of space exploration," the statement read.

Selected in 1978 to join the Soviet corps, Viktorenko's cosmonaut career spanned 19 years, including commanding four missions to the Mir space station.

Viktorenko's first launch on July 22, 1987, began a week-long mission to deliver fellow Soviet cosmonaut Alexander Aleksandrov for a long-duration stay on Mir and accompany Muhammed Faris, a Syrian cosmonaut, to and from the space station. The Soyuz TM-3 flight marked the first time a Mir crew launched on board one spacecraft and landed on another, with Viktorenko, Faris and Alexander Laveykin (who launched 174 days earlier) returning to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-2.

man in white and blue spacesuit with Russian flag in background

Viktorenko lifted off on his first long-duration mission on Sept. 5, 1989. This time paired with cosmonaut Alexander Serebrov, Viktorenko commanded Soyuz TM-8 and the fifth expedition to Mir. Over the course of their 166 days in space, the two cosmonauts oversaw the arrival and installation of Kvant-2, the third module and second major addition to the Mir space station, and conducted five spacewalks.

On his fifth extravehicular activity (EVA), Viktorenko followed Serebrov in testing Ikar ("Ikarus"), the so-called "space motorcycle" designed to enable cosmonauts to fly around the space station, similar to NASA's manned maneuvering unit, or MMU. Despite its motorbike moniker, the SPK or "Cosmonaut Movement System" (as it was formally referred) was closer in appearance to a floating armchair than its two-wheeled nickname.

Viktorenko's third visit to Mir was the first to launch to represent the Russian Federation in space, following the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991. Lifting off on March 17, 1992, Viktorenko led the Soyuz TM-14 crew of Alexander Kaleri and Klaus-Dietrich Flade of Germany.

The mission included Viktorenko's sixth and last spacewalk. For two hours and three minutes, he and Kaleri worked on repairing Mir's stabilizing gyroscope so the space station could maintain its attitude. They also tested binoculars intended for inspecting areas on Mir's exterior that could not be easily reached.

On his fourth and final spaceflight, which began on Oct. 3, 1994, Viktorenko flew with Soyuz TM-20 crewmates Yelena Kondakova, the first woman to launch on a long-duration spaceflight, and Ulf Merbold, who on a prior spaceflight became the first West German citizen to fly into space and the first non-American to fly on a NASA spacecraft (the space shuttle).

Nearing the end of his last 169 days on Mir, Viktorenko saw the arrival of the first U.S. space shuttle to rendezvous with the Russian space station. On Feb. 6, 1995, when Discovery and its STS-63 crew were just 36 feet (11 meters) from Mir, Viktorenko replied to their greetings by radioing, "We are one. We are human."

Viktorenko completed his time in space by handing off to the first Soyuz/Mir crew to include an American astronaut, Soyuz TM-21 crew member Norm Thagard. Viktorenko then returned to Earth with Kondakova and Valery Polyakov, the latter ending the single longest spaceflight by anyone in the world at 437 days, 17 hours and 58 minutes.

In total, Viktorenko logged 489 days, one hour and 33 minutes in space, including 19 hours and 39 minutes on six spacewalks.

four-paned image of cosmonauts crews on different missions

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Alexander Stepanovich Viktorenko was born on March 29, 1947 in the Kazakh village of Olginka. After graduating from the Advanced School of Military Aviation in Orenburg in 1969, he served as a colonel and test pilot in Russia's Air Force reserve.

Prior to his first flight into space while he was undergoing basic training in 1979, Viktorenko suffered burns, a fall and a brain concussion, knocking him unconscious for 17 hours, as a result of a errors by the person operating an altitude chamber. As a result, Viktorenko needed an additional two years to become eligible for mission assignments.

In addition to his own flights, Viktorenko served as backup commander to Soyuz T-14, Soyuz T-15, Soyuz TM-7, Soyuz TM-13 and Soyuz TM-19.

After returning from space for his fourth time, Viktorenko became an instructor at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

"His life is an example of selfless service to the motherland, courage, fortitude, high civic duty and devotion to the chosen cause!" the cosmonaut center's staff wrote. "The bright memory of Alexander Stepanovich Viktorenko will forever remain in our hearts!"

Viktorenko was married to Raisa Ivanovna (nee Lysenko) with whom he had two children, Oksana and Aleksei. A memorial service and funeral will be held on Aug. 12 at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery of Russia's Ministry of Defense in the urban district of Mytishchi.

MAD SCIENCE

After reported suicide of participant, human research studies suspended at psychiatric institute affiliated with Columbia University

Maria Sole Campinoti, CNN
Fri, August 11, 2023 

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

The US Department of Health and Human Services has suspended research studies involving human subjects at a psychiatric institute affiliated with Columbia University after the suicide of a research participant, according to research documents.

A spokesperson for HHS told CNN on Thursday the agency’s Office for Human Research Protections was investigating the psychiatric institute “and has restricted its ability to conduct HHS-supported human subject research.”

“The Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) is committed to protecting the rights, welfare, and well-being of people participating in research conducted by or supported by HHS. OHRP takes very seriously the protection of people who volunteer for research studies and has procedures to ensure that those protections are in place,” the HHS spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.

The New York State Psychiatric Institute, which is affiliated with Columbia University, said it voluntarily paused all research studies involving human subjects in early June.

The investigation began after reports that a participant in a study testing a Parkinson’s drug for late-life depression died by suicide while enrolled in the study, according to a research document held by the US National Library of Medicine. The patient was part of a group of participants receiving a placebo rather than the medication, according to research documents.

When asked about the patient’s reported suicide, the psychiatric institute said it is unable to “provide specific details about any individual involved in a research study.”

The study was led by Dr. Bret R. Rutherford, who was an associate professor of psychiatry at Columbia University. It was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Rutherford’s research has received about $15 million in funding from NIMH since 2010, according to the US National Institutes of Health database.

According to New York State Psychiatric Institute, Rutherford resigned from his position there effective June 1, and he is no longer a Columbia faculty member. CNN has attempted to contact Rutherford for comment.

Rutherford began testing the central nervous system drug Levodopa as a medical treatment for late-life depression in 2018, according to documents on clinicaltrials.gov.

The central hypothesis of the institute’s study is that Levodopa could help alleviate late-life depression “by enhancing dopamine functioning in the brain and improving cognitive and motor slowing,” according to the study’s Protocol Summary Form.

For the eight-week trial, Rutherford aimed to recruit 90 adults ages 60 or older who had depressive disorder, decreased processing speed or decreased gait speed, as outlined in the Protocol Summary Form. In total, 51 participants were enrolled, according to documents on the trial.

Of the 51 participants, 20 subjects were found to be ineligible or did not continue in the study after enrolling, and the remaining 31 were divided into two groups, one of which received daily doses of Levodopa while the other was administered placebo doses, as indicated in documents regarding the study.

About two weeks after the New York State Psychiatric Institute’s pause, HHS restricted funding for research involving human subjects at the institute, according to a statement. The review is expected to be completed next month, according to an institute spokesperson.

A representative from the NIH, Amanda Fine, said the agency is in close collaboration with the Office for Human Research Protections, which is currently investigating. Fine said the NIH is unable to comment on matters currently under review.

Editor’s Note: If you or a loved one have contemplated suicide, call The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, to connect with a trained counselor.

CNN’s Katherine Dillinger contributed to this report.

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1,500-year-old Teotihuacan village found in Mexico City

Issy Ronald and Jack Guy, CNN
Fri, August 11, 2023

Archaeologists have uncovered a 1,500-year-old Teotihuacan village in Mexico City, complete with large concentrations of ceramics and three human burials, Mexico’s National Institute of History and Anthropology has announced.

Excavations between March and June unearthed several remnants of buildings within the settlement, including drainage channels, holes for posts, floors, stone lines and a well.

The bodies of one child and two adults were discovered alongside a series of polished bowls with a ring-shaped base in the Teotihuacan style.

From its center of power in Teotihuacan – located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) northeast of present day Mexico City – the eponymous civilization exerted an enormous influence over Mesoamerica at its height in the 6th century, exercising an even greater influence than the later Aztec empire.

Using ceramic evidence, experts dated the village to around 450-650, around the same date as the height of Teotihuacan influence.

Archaeologist Francisco González Rul had initially reported the settlement between 1960 and 1964, but these new findings “consolidated” and “demonstrated” its existence, said excavation leaders Juan Carlos Campos Varela and Mara Abigail Becerra Amezcua in a statement.

González Rul had proposed that the village likely contained fisherman-gatherers who used the resources of Lake Texcoco – a formerly large lake that now occupies a small area after being artificially drained in the 17th century.

Excavations revealed that the settlement sustained the production of ceramics. - Juan Campos Archaeological Salvage/INAH

The excavation supported this hypothesis, but newly discovered artifacts suggest that the village also sustained artisanal production of ceramics “since several fragments of solid and articulated modeled figurines, green stone objects, shell, funerary offerings and various obsidian and flint projectile points were found,” Campos Varela and Becerra Amezcua added.

Due to the presence of such artifacts, archaeologists believe that the rural village must have had trade links with other Teotihuacan settlements on the shore of Lake Texcoco.

Excavations also revealed the settlement was later occupied by the Mexica people, plus communities in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

Archaeologists identified the Mexica occupation by the presence of two channels which both seemed to have chinampería spaces – a form of floating fields on a shallow lake widely used by them and artificially built up, in this case by a headless seated sculpture, complete and semi-complete objects, as well as a layer of small slabs and stones.