Tiny, Ancient Meteorites Suggest Early Earth's Atmosphere Was Rich In Carbon Dioxide

Very occasionally, Earth gets bombarded by a large meteorite. But every day, our planet gets pelted by space dust, micrometeorites that collect on Earth's surface.

These tiny meteorites, about half a millimeter across, fell into the ocean and were collected from the deep sea.
Like the samples used in the new study, these more recent micrometeorites are made of iron
[Credit: Donald Brownlee/University of Washington]

A University of Washington team looked at very old samples of these small meteorites to show that the grains could have reacted with carbon dioxide on their journey to Earth. Previous work suggested the meteorites ran into oxygen, contradicting theories and evidence that the Earth's early atmosphere was virtually devoid of oxygen. The new study was published this week in the open-access journal Science Advances.

"Our finding that the atmosphere these micrometeorites encountered was high in carbon dioxide is consistent with what the atmosphere was thought to look like on the early Earth," said first author Owen Lehmer, a UW doctoral student in Earth and space sciences.

At 2.7 billion years old, these are the oldest known micrometeorites. They were collected in limestone in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and fell during the Archean eon, when the sun was weaker than today. A 2016 paper by the team that discovered the samples suggested they showed evidence of atmospheric oxygen at the time they fell to Earth.

That interpretation would contradict current understandings of our planet's early days, which is that oxygen rose during the "Great Oxidation Event," almost half a billion years later.

Knowing the conditions on the early Earth is important not just for understanding the history of our planet and the conditions when life emerged. It can also help inform the search for life on other planets.

"Life formed more than 3.8 billion years ago, and how life formed is a big, open question. One of the most important aspects is what the atmosphere was made up of -- what was available and what the climate was like," Lehmer said.

The new study takes a fresh look at interpreting how these micrometeorites interacted with the atmosphere, 2.7 billion years ago. The sand-sized grains hurtled toward Earth at up to 20 kilometers per second. For an atmosphere of similar thickness to today, the metal beads would melt at about 80 kilometers elevation, and the molten outer layer of iron would then oxidize when exposed to the atmosphere. A few seconds later the micrometeorites would harden again for the rest of their fall. The samples would then remain intact, especially when protected under layers of sedimentary limestone rock.

The previous paper interpreted the oxidization on the surface as a sign that the molten iron had encountered molecular oxygen. The new study uses modeling to ask whether carbon dioxide could have provided the oxygen to produce the same result. A computer simulation finds that an atmosphere made up of from 6% to more than 70% carbon dioxide could have produced the effect seen in the samples.

"The amount of oxidation in the ancient micrometeorites suggests that the early atmosphere was very rich in carbon dioxide," said co-author David Catling, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences.

For comparison, carbon dioxide concentrations today are rising and are currently at about 415 parts per million, or 0.0415% of the atmosphere's composition.

High levels of carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping greenhouse gas, would counteract the sun's weaker output during the Archean era. Knowing the exact concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could help pinpoint air temperature and and acidity of the oceans during that time.

More of the ancient micrometeorite samples could help narrow the range of possible carbon dioxide concentrations, the authors wrote. Grains that fell at other times could also help trace the history of Earth's atmosphere through time.

"Because these iron-rich micrometeorites can oxidize when they are exposed to carbon dioxide or oxygen, and given that these tiny grains presumably are preserved throughout Earth's history, they could provide a very interesting proxy for the history of atmospheric composition," Lehmer said.

Author: Hannah Hickey | Source: University of Washington [January 24, 2020]

800-Year-Old Rock Drawings At Mesa Verde Linked To Astronomical Observations

Archaeologists from the Jagiellonian University have found out that some of the rock drawings made by Native Americans about 800 years ago in the canyons located in the border region between the US states of Colorado and Utah were linked to astronomic observations, such as determining the dates of summer and winter solstices. The pioneering archaeological research in this field has been led by Dr Radoslaw Palonka from the JU Department of American Archaeology.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

Since 2011 the JU Institute of Archaeology has been running an archaeological project in Mesa Verde region located on the border of Colorado and Utah. The area is famous to both archaeologists and tourists for the Pre-Columbian Pueblo culture settlements built in rock niches or carved into canyon walls and for numerous ancient works of rock art. The research is the first Polish independent archaeological project in the United States and one of the few such European projects in the region.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

The sites studied by the JU researchers contain remains of several dozen small settlements centred around Castle Rock Pueblo, built in the 13th century AD by Pueblo people. So far, Dr Palonka’s team have discovered previously unknown cave galleries containing murals and petroglyphs from various historical periods.

Credit: Jagiellonian University



During their studies, the archaeologists started to speculate, based on the analogies to several other sites in the South-West USA, whether some of these stone carvings hidden in rock recesses could be used by the ancient Pueblo people to determine the dates some important days of the year, namely summer and winter solstice as well as spring and autumn equinoxes.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

Two such sites have been studied so far. At the first one, centred around a rock niche with remains of several buildings from circa 800 years ago, petroglyphs were carved on a flat rock wall facing south, shaded by an overhanging rock. The panel consists of three different spirals and several smaller elements, such as rectangular motifs and numerous hollows.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

“Our observations revealed a unique phenomenon, particularly visible during the sunset of the winter solstice on December 22, when the sun rays and shadows move across the middle part of the panel with petroglyphs, going through the subsequent spirals, longitudinal grooves, and other elements. To a much lesser extent, the phenomenon is also visible during the spring and autumn equinox. The interaction between light and shadow as well as the moving of sun rays across the entire panel is already visible some time before the winter solstice, as well as several weeks afterwards. We have not seen this phenomenon during the remaining part of the year”, explains Dr Palonka.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

Similar illumination of petroglyphs by sun rays in specific periods of the year has been observed at another site in Sand Canyon. What was different was that the petroglyph was regularly lit by sun rays only in the morning and early afternoon during the summer solstice. The researchers are planning to continue to study the rock art’s relations with astronomy.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

The JU archaeologists’ conversations with members of Hopi tribe, who are the descendents of Pueblo people, have confirmed that the spirals were most probably used as a sort of calendar. As pointed out by Dr Palonka, similar ethnographic studies from the 19th century also suggested the existence of solar calendars: both the horizontal ones, based on watching sunsets and sunrises over certain mountains, passes and valleys, and those related to observing sun rays shining on petroglyphs during solstices or equinoxes.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

It is also worth noting that summer and winter solstices are still of great religious importance to contemporary Pueblo groups from Arizona and New Mexico, providing framework for rituals and celebrations related to key farming activities, such as sowing and harvesting, as well as the preparations to these crucial tasks.

Source: Jagiellonian University [January 28, 2020]

Communal Tombs For High Priests Uncovered Upper Egypt


Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled El-Enany has announced the discovery of communal tombs for high priests at the Al-Ghoreifa area in Tuna El-Gabal archaeological site in Minya, which marks the first archaeological discovery by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in the year 2020.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities
The communal tombs were dedicated to high priests of the god Djehuty and senior officials in the fifteenth nome of Upper Egypt and its capital, Ashmunin.



Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

Minister El-Enany said that since 2018, several discoveries have been made in Minya governorate, including a cachette of mummies, as well as several tombs full of sarcophagi and funerary collections including jewelleries, ushabti figurines and funerary masks.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities
“Minya is set to be put on Egypt’s tourists map for its distinguished archaeological sites,” El-Enany said.



Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities
The discovery was made by an archaeological mission headed by Mustafa Waziri, the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.



Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

Waziri explained that the ongoing work by the archaeological mission has uncovered 16 tombs with about 20 sarcophagi and coffins of various shapes and sizes, including five anthropoid sarcophagi made of limestone and engraved with hieroglyphic texts, and five well-preserved wooden coffins.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

Some of the coffins are decorated with the names and titles of their owners, and were discovered alongside more than 10,000 ushabti figurines made of blue and green faience, most of which are engraved with the titles of the deceased.


Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

The mission also found more than 700 amulets of various shapes, sizes and materials, including heart scarabs, amulets of the gods, and amulets made of pure gold, such as the “Ba” and an amulet in the shape of a winged cobra.


Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

Many pottery vessels of different shapes and sizes, which were used for funerary and religious purposes, were also unearthed along with tools for cutting stones and moving coffins, such as wooden hammers and baskets made of palm fronds.


Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

The discovery also includes eight groups of painted canopic jars made of limestone with inscriptions showing the titles of their owner, who bore the title of the singer of the God Thoth. Two collections of four canopic jars made of alabaster for a woman and a man were also unearthed, as well as stone dough without any inscriptions representing the four sons of Horus.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

Waziri said that one of the stone sarcophagi belongs to the son of Psamtik, who took the title of the head of the royal treasury. He bore many titles, the most important of which were the priest of Osiris and Nut.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

The second sarcophagus belongs to Horus and has a scene depicting the goddess Nut spreading her wings above the chest, and below it are inscriptions revealing the deceased's titles, including the title of royal treasurer. Also discovered was a sarcophagus of Epy with three vertical lines of hieroglyphic inscriptions showing the names and titles of the deceased.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

The sarcophagus of the Djed of Djehuty Iuf ankh, which is made of well-polished limestone, is considered one of the most important coffins discovered during this season due to the titles inscribed on the sarcophagus lid – that of royal treasurer and bearer of seals of Lower Egypt and the sole companion of the king.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

The fifth sarcophagus has hieroglyphic inscriptions showing the surnames of the deceased, the most important of which is the title of “the assistant.”

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities
It is worth mentioning that during its previous works, the mission discovered 19 tombs containing 70 stone coffins of various sizes and shapes.

Author: Nevine El-Aref | Source: Ahram Online [January 30, 2020]

Human Skull Caps Were Produced Systematically From End Of Paleolithic To Bronze Age In Europe


The ritual use of human skulls has been documented in several archaeological sites of different chronologies and geographical areas. This practice could be related to decapitations for obtaining war trophies, to the production of masks, as decorative elements (even with engravings) or to what is known as skull cups. In fact, some ancient societies considered that human skulls possessed powers or life force, justifying sometimes its collection as evidences of superiority and authority during violent confrontations.

Skull cups from El Mirador Cave in Atapuerca
[Credit: IPHES/Psaladie]

Different signals preserved on the bones help us to recognize possible ceremonial practices. The most common modifications related to the ritual treatment of skulls are those produced by stone tools or metal knives, that is, cut marks, during scalp removal. This practice is archeologically well documented among American Paleo-Indians, for example, who show circular arrangements around the head as signs of this type of practices.

In Europe, skull cup have been identified in assemblages ranging from Upper Paleolithic, about 20,000 years old to the Bronze age, about 4,000 years ago. The meticulous fracturing of these skulls suggests that they are not only related to the need to extract the brain for nutritional purposes, but that they were specifically and intentionally fractured for obtaining containers or vessels.

This is evidenced in a study carried out by a team of researchers from IPHES (Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution), the URV (Rovira and Virgili University of Tarragona) and the Natural History Museum in London (NHML), which have developed a statistical analysis to assess whether the cut marks on skull fragments of the TD6.2 level of Gran Dolina in Atapuerca, Gough’s Cave (Great Britain), Fontbregoua (France), Herxheim (Germany), and la Cueva de El Mirador also in Atapuerca respond to a systematic processing.

Representation of the cut marks (blue) found in the skulls from
El Mirador Cave (Atapuerca) [Credit: IPHES]

The results conclude that these striate certainly respond to a specific pattern in the most recent chronological sites, showing treating skulls practices that were perpetrated during almost 15,000 years.

The study considered the bone as a map on which surface modifications are distributed and where it can be assessed whether if it is possible to identify specific patterns on the elaboration of cup skulls, by comparing evidences among the different sites mentioned above.

Specific modifications related to this human behaviour have been identified and the relevance of the cut marks location in specific areas of the skulls has been statistically described. Signals made by using stone tools, when meticulously and repeatedly extracting the scalp and meat., Actions that indicate an intense cleaning of skulls in the specific cases of Gough’s Cave, Fontbregoua, Herxheim and El Mirador. However, this model has not been observed on the remains of Homo antecessor from level TD6.2.



Map of the sites examined in the study
[Credit: IPHES]

Systematic fabrication of the skulls began with the removal of the scalp and continued with the removal of muscle tissue. The elaboration of the skulls ended fracturing them to preserve the thickest part of the cranial vault. The use of these container-shaped bones is still unknown. The repetition of this observed pattern provides new evidences of skulls preparation for ritual practices, and are associated in most cases to human cannibalism during recent Prehistory.

The results of this research have been published in the prestigious Journal of Archaeological Science. The study has been led by Francesc Marginedas, who is currently pursuing the Erasmus Mundus Master in Quaternary Archaeology and Human Evolution (taught at the URV) and doing his research work in IPHES under the supervision of Dr. Palmira Saladie. Marginedas studied the degree in “Cultural Anthropology and Human Evolution”, jointly taught by the URV and the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). It was while he was receiving these courses that he began his research career, specializing in this subject.

Source: IPHES [January 23, 2020]

The Blue Acceleration: Recent Colossal Rise In Human Pressure On Ocean Quantified

Human pressure on the world's ocean accelerated sharply at the start of the 21st century and shows no sign of slowing, according to a comprehensive new analysis on the state of the ocean.

Claiming ocean resources and space is not new to humanity, but the extent, intensity, and diversity of today’saspirations are unprecedented, according to new research [Credit: PxFuel]

Scientists have dubbed the dramatic rise the "Blue Acceleration". The researchers from the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, synthesized 50-years of data from shipping, drilling, deep-sea mining, aquaculture, bioprospecting and much more. The results are published in the journal One Earth.

The scientists say the largest ocean industry is the oil and gas sector, responsible for about one third of the value of the ocean economy. Sand and gravel are the ocean's most mined minerals to meet demand from the construction industry. As freshwater become an increasingly scarce commodity, around 16,000 desalination plants have sprung up around the world in the last 50 years with a steep rise since 2000, according to the analysis.

Lead author Jean-Baptiste Jouffray from the Stockholm Resilience Centre said, "Claiming ocean resources and space is not new to humanity, but the extent, intensity, and diversity of today's aspirations are unprecedented"

The industrialization of the ocean took off at the end of the last century, driven by a combination of technological progress and declining land-based resources.

Global trends in use of the marine environment. Usage reached an inflection point
around the turn of the new millennium [Credit: One Earth]

"This Blue Acceleration is really a race for ocean resources and space, posing risks and opportunities for global sustainability"

The study highlights some positive human impacts. For example, the area protected from some exploitation has increased exponentially with a surge since 2000 that shows no signs of slowing. And offshore wind farm technology has reached commercial viability in this period allowing the world to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

The authors conclude by calling for increased attention to who is driving the Blue Acceleration, what is financing it and who is benefiting from it? The United Nations is embarking on a "decade of the ocean" in 2021. The scientists say this is is an opportunity to assess the social-ecological impacts and manage ocean resources for long-term sustainability.

They highlight there is a high degree of consolidation relating the seafood industry, oil and gas exploitation and bioprospecting with just a small handful of multinational companies dominating each sector. The team suggests that banks and other investors could adopt more stringent sustainability criteria for ocean investments.

Source: Stockholm Resilience Centre [January 24, 2020]

Archaeologists Analyze The Composition Of A Roman-Era 'Makeup Case'


A study carried out by researchers from the Merida Consortium, the University of Granada (UGR) and the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain has analysed the contents of a scallop shell discovered in a 1st century AD grave and found traces of makeup.

Image of the scallop with pigment residues
[Credit:University of Granada]

First discovered in 2000 during excavations of a funerary complex in the former capital of the Lusitania, Augusta Emerita (present-day Merida) the 'make-up case' was uncovered in a deposit of cremated remains alongside ceramic cups, bone spindles, nails, glassware and the remains of a detachable bone box.

The make-up case is made from a bivalve malacological mollusk specimen of pecten maximus (viera). Once the shell was opened, it was possible to document the cosmetic remains, specifically, a small ball of a “pinkish” powdery conglomerate via a combination of X-ray diffraction (XRD), electron microscopy and chromatographic analysis.

The study revealed that the pinkish deposit was composed of a granite lacquer, mixed with a rose madder  to obtain the colouration and then an astringent compound was used as a fixative agent [Credit: University of Granada]

The use of the mollusk as a cosmetic container is a practice that dates back thousands of years across various civilisations. One of the earliest examples is tiny shells in the Sumerian city of Ur from 2500 BC that contained pigments used for cosmetics.

The study revealed that the pinkish deposit was composed of a granite lacquer, mixed with a rose madder to obtain the coloration and then an astringent compound was used as a fixative agent.

The results of the study have been published in the latest issue of Saguntum.

Source: University of Granada [January 24, 2020]

The Zanclean Megaflood Of The Mediterranean – Searching For Independent Evidence


Beneath the waters of the Alboran Sea, and in the shadow of an underwater volcanic structure, is a body of sediment that seems to have accumulated during a major flood 5.3 million years ago that filled the basin of a partially drained Mediterranean Sea. These sediments are candidates to be added to the list of new evidence found in the last years of the so-called Zancliense mega-flood, according to an article published in the Earth-Sciences Reviews.

Satellite image of the Gibraltar Arc
[Credit: NASA]

The paper reviews the recent findings published so far that support the hypothesis of a mega-flood that put an end to the Messinian Salinity Crisis, an event that occurred some 6 million years ago during which the Mediterranean Sea was isolated from the Atlantic Ocean and became a gigantic salt pan.

"The sedimentary deposits we have identified are compatible with a large flood through the Strait of Gibraltar. It is an elongated sedimentary body that accumulated on the leeward side of the flood thanks to the protection that the volcanic building provided against the force of the water flow that came from the Atlantic Ocean and entered the Mediterranean basin", explains Daniel Garcia-Castellanos, researcher at the Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera of the CSIC (ICTJA-CSIC) and first author of the article.

According to the researchers, this accumulation of sediments has a maximum thickness of 163 metres, extends over about 35 km and is about 7 km wide. The identification of this group of materials has been possible thanks to the images obtained by means of the reflection of seismic waves on the bottom of the Alboran Sea. In these images, the authors of the study detected a series of chaotic and discontinuous stratified reflection profiles located between the Miocene and Pliocene sedimentary layers. In addition, these sediments are arranged parallel to an erosive channel identified in 2009 at the bottom of the Alboran Sea.

This channel, about 390 km long, extended from the Gulf of Cadiz through the Strait of Gibraltar to the Algerian Basin. The canal would have been excavated by the massive influx of water from the Atlantic Ocean once the connection with the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar was re-established some 5 million years ago.

Isobath map of the eastern Alboran basin with the volcanic edifice location. Orange lines
show the main flood paths [Credit: Garcia-Castellanos et al, 2020]
Once the massive inflow of water entered in the Alboran basin, the channel split into two branches to overcome the topographic obstacles in its path. The volcanic edifice may have been one of these topographic obstacles during the flood leading to the deposition of the recently identified sediments along the seamount lee side.

These sediments identified in the Alboran Sea can be added to the rest of evidence found and published in recent years that support the hypothesis of a massive flood and are summarized in the present article.

The Noto Canyon, in the northern Malta Escarpment, and a body of sediments of up to 860 m in thickness buried at the east of this canyon are two of the other pieces of evidence proposed in this article that may sustain the megaflood hypothesis. Both parts of evidence were analyzed in a previous study published in Scientific Reports in 2018.

However, and despite all summarized pieces of evidence, Daniel Garcia-Castellanos is cautious. "Ten years after publishing the first observations that were related with the Zanclean flood we are still finding new evidences to sustain it, but they are not conclusive. All of the evidences that have been summarized in this article may have other possible interpretations and, before convincing the scientific community it will be necessary to have other studies that consider the hypothesis from other angles."

Researchers from the University of Malta, the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research (GEOMAR), the Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM-CSIC), Istituto Nazionale di oceanografia e di geofisica Sperimentale (OGS) and the University of Sevilla also participated in the study.

Source: Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera [January 26, 2020]

Clays In Antarctica From Millions Of Years Ago Reveal Past Climate Changes

Members of the TASMANDRAKE research group of the Andalusian Earth Sciences Institute (IACT), which pertains to the University of Granada and CSIC, have published a research paper in the prestigious international journal Scientific Reports describing their analysis of clays from Antarctica dating back 35.5 million years, to reconstruct past climate changes.

Glaucony grains observed under an electron microscope
[Credit: University of Granada]

Their study was conducted in the area known as Drake Passage—the body of water that separates South America from Antarctica, between Cape Horn (Chile) and the South Shetland Islands (Antarctica). The results help to better understand the climatic conditions prior to the formation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, thus evaluating possible links between the development of the ice sheet in Antarctica and the changes in the tectonic and paleoceanographic configuration. Such questions constitute key facets of past climate functioning that provide boundary conditions for today's climate models, which predict a general rise in sea levels over the coming centuries.

The article analyses the relevance as a climatic indicator of the mineral commonly known as 'glauconite', which is more properly termed 'the glauconia facies' or 'glauconia'. This is a type of green clay, formed mainly in shallow marine environments (<500 15="" below="" br="" c="" conditions.="" m="" oxygenation="" specific="" temperatures="" under="" very="" with="">
The existence of this clay formation in the Antarctic region has received little scholarly attention to date compared to other geological records on the planet. The characteristic green-coloured mineral has been observed around Antarctica and the Antarctic Ocean in sedimentary sequences of the Terminal Eocene Event—that is, before one of the main climatic transitions in Earth's history. The Eocene–Oligocene climate transition took place approximately 34–33.6 million years ago.

Northwest region of the Antarctic Peninsula (South Shetland Islands)
[Credit: University of Granada]

This scientific contribution describes, for the first time in the Antarctic Ocean, a glauconitisation event (in which glauconia was formed) approximately 35.5 million years ago in the Weddell Sea, northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula between South America and Antarctica.

The formation of glauconia 35.5 million years ago marks the onset of progressive sea level rise in the north Weddell Sea during the Terminal Eocene. The results of this scientific study thus provide new insights regarding changes in paleoceanographic conditions just prior to the Eocene–Oligocene climate transition and the controversial opening and deepening of Drake Passage.

Studying the weather of the past to predict the future

The separation of the Antarctic continent from South America and Oceania allowed bodies of water to transfer freely between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. This new circulation of bodies of water resulted in the Circumpolar Current and, with it, the thermal insulation of the Antarctic and the formation of the ice cap on a continental scale.



Map of Antarctica showing the location of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), which flows from west to east.

The ACC is a fundamental element in the deep global circulation connecting the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian

Oceans. It is therefore an important part of the global ocean circulation network that distributes

heat around the Earth [Credit: University of Granada]

The opening of Drake Passage between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula is therefore considered one of the most important events in the history of the Earth's oceanic and atmospheric circulation. However, in the absence of dating for the formation of the sedimentary basins of Drake Passage, it is difficult to specify the precise age when the Passage began to open up and the Circumpolar Current started to form. The glauconia analysis conducted by the TASMANDRAKE research group contributes to progress in this area of study.

To put these changes into perspective, Adrian Lopez Quiros, the principal author of the research, notes that "it is necessary to study the past to understand the present and help predict the future," by better understanding the tectonic, climatic, and paleoceanographic conditions that led to the onset and subsequent evolution of this important ocean current.

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a major reference source for climate forecasts, established several possible future climate scenarios in 2014. However, the new data, when comparing simulations with real-world data, predict even greater impacts than those previously foreseen in the IPCC climate scenarios. Therefore, climate change is developing faster than previously thought. With its research, the TASMANDRAKE group aims to provide new variables for these models—focusing on sediments and geophysics—to ensure that its results reflect real-life events even more accurately, especially in terms of the transoceanic currents, global warming, and rising sea levels.

Source: University of Granada [January 23, 2020]

'Doomsday Clock' Closer To Midnight Than Ever

"We are now expressing how close the world is to catastrophe in seconds – not hours, or even minutes,"

The Doomsday Clock on Thursday ticked down to 100 seconds to midnight, symbolizing the greatest level of peril to humanity since its creation in 1947 as the threat posed by climate change and a growing nuclear race loomed large.
1/23/2020

"We are now expressing how close the world is to catastrophe in seconds – not hours, or even minutes," said Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in announcing the change
[Credit: Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press]

The danger level was compounded by information warfare and disruptive technologies ranging from deepfake video and audio to the militarization of space and the development of hypersonic weapons.

"We are now expressing how close the world is to catastrophe in seconds—not hours, or even minutes," said Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, in announcing the change.

The decision on the clock is taken by panels of experts, including 13 Nobel laureates. It was originally set at seven minutes to midnight, and the previous worst—two minutes to midnight—held from 2018 to 2019 as well as 1953. The furthest it has ever been is 17 minutes, following the end of the Cold War in 1991.

On the nuclear front, the arms control boundaries that helped prevent catastrophe over the last half century are being dismantled and may be gone by next year, said subject expert Sharon Squassoni.

This includes the demise in 2019 of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, with the US and Russia entering a new competition to deploy once banned weapons. The US has suggested it won't extend New START, an arms reduction treaty signed in 2010.

"This year could see not just the complete collapse of the Iran nuclear deal," added Squassoni, with Tehran boosting its enrichment efforts.

And despite initial hopes US President Donald Trump's unorthodox approach to North Korea may produce results, no real progress ensued, said Squassoni, with Pyongyang instead vowing to press ahead with a new strategic weapon.



The Doomsday Clock on Thursday ticked down to 100 seconds to midnight
[Credit: Iris Royer De Vericourt/AFP]

On climate, two major UN summits fell dismally short of the action required to limit long-term warming to the goals laid out by the Paris Agreement that scientists say is necessary to prevent catastrophe.

The effects were already apparent in the record-breaking heat waves and floods India faced in 2019, and the wildfires that raged from the Arctic to Australia.

"If humankind pushes the climate into the opposite of an ice age," said Sivan Kartha, a scientist at the Stockholm Environmental Institute, "we have no reason to be confident that such a world will remain hospitable to human civilization."

Yet the experts took heart in mounting climate activism spearheaded by a youth movement that is spurring some governments to action.

Misinformation campaigns and fake news catalyzed by deepfake videos are potent threats to social cohesion, while the rise of AI weapons like drones that attack targets without human supervision create new uncertainty.

Russia meanwhile has announced a new hypersonic glide missile and the US is testing its own weapons that severely limit response times of targeted nations.

Space, long an arena for international cooperation, is also becoming increasingly militarized with multiple countries testing projectile and laser anti-satellite weapons and the US creating a new military branch, the Space Force.

"We ask world leaders to join us in 2020 as we work to pull humanity back from the brink," said Mary Robinson, chair of The Elders leadership group and former president of Ireland.

"Now is the time to come together—to unite and to act."

Source: AFP [January 23, 2020]
Scientists move 'Doomsday Clock' to latest time in history

By Don Jacobson

Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Executive Chair Jerry Brown 

announces Thursday the "Doomsday Clock" was moved

 forward 20 seconds to its latest time in history.

 Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 23 (UPI) -- The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists on Thursday moved up its "Doomsday Clock" to 100 seconds before midnight -- the closest it's ever come to symbolic world destruction in the gauge's 73-year history.

The group set the clock -- which symbolically reflects how close the world is to "midnight," or its destruction -- ahead by 20 seconds during the event Thursday, to 11:58 p.m., and 20 seconds. It had been at two minutes to midnight since 2018.


The group's moving the clock reflects all relative events that occurred in 2019.

Before Thursday, two minutes to midnight had been the closest the clock has been to midnight -- having reached that point just twice since the clock was established. The first was 1953 during the Cold War and followed the first U.S. test of a thermonuclear weapon.

Former California Gov. Jerry Brown, the group's executive chairman, former Irish President Mary Robinson and former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unveiled the new position at Thursday's event.

Bulletin of Atomic Scientists President and CEO Rachel Bronson said the move reflected the opinion of the scientists that the world had entered "a two-minute warning" for its survival.

"When the board kept the clock at two minutes to midnight in 2019, we argued then that the global situation was abnormal, and that this 'new abnormal' was simply too volatile and too dangerous to accept as a continuing state of world affairs," she said. "Today we feel no more optimistic."

The decision was made by the group's science and security board following a year in which man-made threats to humanity, such as nuclear proliferation and climate change, were hastened by moves away from international cooperation, she said. The science board found that both nuclear and climate change situations worsened last year.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists first began the tradition in 1947 as a way to gauge the world's proximity to nuclear holocaust. In 2007 the group added climate change as a factor in the clock's setting.

"We have seen influential leaders denigrate and discard the most effective methods for addressing complex threats -- international agreements with strong verification regimes -- in favor of their own narrow interests and domestic political gain," Bronson said.

The furthest the clock has ever been from midnight was set in 1991, at 11:43, or 17 minutes from "doomsday," after the United States signed the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and the Soviet Union dissolved.

Ancient Statue Found In Cambodia's Siem Reap

Siem Reap Provincial Environment Department officials and archaeologists are conducting research on a large Makara animal statue carved on a rock at the Phnom Kulen National Park in Siem Reap province’s Svay Loeu district.1/23/2020

Credit: Khmer Times

Provincial Department of Environment director Sun Kong said yesterday the head portion of the broken statue was found by a resident on Saturday and the officials went to inspect the site on Sunday.

He added that the statue was made of sandstone during the sixth century and the body was broken into pieces, noting that officials found 13 pieces of the body nearby the site

Credit: Khmer Times

Mr Kong said: “According to the experts, this Makara animal statue is one that we have never seen before. It is approximately 2.14 metres in length and about 0.97 metres high. We have not yet moved the body parts or excavated the head from the site and have told park rangers in the area to guard it in order for officials from relevant ministries and institutions to come and study in detail about the site’s history and reconstruct the pieces.”

He noted that experts have not found a foundation of any temple at the site and believe it was just carved out on the rock.

Credit: Khmer Times

Chhim Samrithy, 38, a craftsman from the province who discovered the statue, said yesterday he spotted it on Saturday while searching for bamboo. “I usually walk in the forest to look for some unique and sacred objects and suddenly spotted this rare statue,” he said. “After seeing it, I took environmental officials and archaeologists to the site and also helped to find some of the missing pieces of the statue.”

Long Kosal, Apsara Authority spokesman, said that the authorities’ archaeologists visited the site yesterday and will conduct additional studies to add it to the records.

Credit: Khmer Times

He said: “The Kulen National Park area is rich in ancient artefects, both above and below the ground. Therefore, I urge people, especially those living in the area, to avoid excavating or clearing archaeological sites. If they find ancient objects, please report to the authorities for research to be done to preserve them for future generations.”

Author: Pech Sotheary | Source: Khmer Times [January 23, 2020]