Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, wader, Man Oh Man, rfall, and JML9999. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke and jlms qkw. The guest editors are Doctor RJ and annetteboardman.
This evening's digest, which focuses on Science, is subtitled the OMG! We are all going to DIE! edition (for more on this theme, see the excellent diaries on the situation in Iceland by Rei).
From Breaking News.ie (Ireland):
Sierra Leone imposing four-day home confinement to stop Ebola spread
Sierra Leone will impose a four-day nationwide "lockdown" this month in a bid to contain the spread of the biggest ever outbreak of Ebola.
From Arab News:
Injection-induced earthquakes
By Susan Hough
Although natural earthquakes occur in many of these same areas — e.g., Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas — the rate of events has climbed precipitously since 2009. For example a recent study by the US Geological Survey and Oklahoma Geological Survey found that 145 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater occurred in Oklahoma in the first four months of 2014, compared to an average of about two per year before 2009. These earthquakes, most of which were at least locally felt, have raised concerns about possible future damaging earthquakes.
Extinctions During Human Era Worse Than Thought
By David Orenstein
The gravity of the world’s current extinction rate becomes clearer upon knowing what it was before people came along. A new estimate finds that species die off as much as 1,000 times more frequently nowadays than they used to. That’s 10 times worse than the old estimate of 100 times.
It’s hard to comprehend how bad the current rate of species extinction around the world has become without knowing what it was before people came along. The newest estimate is that the pre-human rate was 10 times lower than scientists had thought, which means that the current level is 10 times worse.
Archaeology:
From the BBC:
Stonehenge 'complete circle' evidence found
Evidence that the outer stone circle at Stonehenge was once complete has been found, because a hosepipe used to water the site was not long enough.
Parch marks in the grass, in an area that had not been watered, have revealed places where two "missing" huge sarsen stones may once have stood.
The marks were spotted by an English Heritage steward who alerted archaeologists to their existence
From The Siberian Times:
Warrior's 3,900 year old suit of bone armour unearthed in Omsk
By Kseniya Lugovskaya
Archeologists are intrigued by the discovery of the complete set of well-preserved bone armour which is seen as having belonged to an 'elite' warrior. The armour was in 'perfect condition' - and in its era was 'more precious than life', say experts.
It was buried separate from its owner and no other examples of such battle dress have been found around Omsk. Analysis is expected to determine its exact age but Siberian archeologists say it dates from 3,900 to 3,500 years ago.
From the BBC:
A 1,500-year-old papyrus charm thought to be "the first ever found to refer to the Last Supper and use magic in the Christian context" has been discovered in the vaults of a Manchester library.
The fragment was found at the University of Manchester's John Rylands Library by researcher Dr Roberta Mazza.
Ancient Last Supper charm found in John Rylands Library
Animal News:
From The Daytona Beach News-Journal:
Possible manatee status change strikes balance for supporters, worries environmentalists
By Dinah Voyles Pulver
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opened the latest chapter in a decades-long struggle over what to do about Florida's most famous marine mammal when it announced this summer that it would review the status of the manatee.
At issue this time is whether the manatee should still be considered endangered or whether its status as a protected species should be shifted to threatened.
From 7 News (Australia):
Giant ‘alien-like’ shrimp stumps scientists
It's not every day that an ordinary fishing trip turns into an encounter with a colossal alien-like sea creature, but that's what has just happened to one fisherman.
Steve Bargeron was fishing off a dock, last week when a couple fishing nearby pulled up what Bargeron jokingly described as an "alien creature."
The couple wasn't interested in keeping the strange, lobster-like animal, which
From The National Geographic:
How Much Danger Do Ship Strikes Pose to Blue Whales?
By Jane J. Lee
A new study suggests that blue whale populations are not as vulnerable to ship strikes as previously thought, but experts say, 'not so fast.
'The eastern North Pacific blue whale population has rebounded since being hammered by commercial whaling, according to a new study. And ship strikes, long feared a major obstacle to the recovery in blue whale numbers, likely aren't major threats, the authors conclude.
From stuff.co.nz (New Zealand):
Tui use sexy tweets to pull the birds
By Jess McAllen
In science news that's sure to ruffle a few feathers, experts have proven that a hot tui is a horny tui - and they've got the sexy tweets to prove it.
In the first study of its kind, Massey University PhD student Sam Hill, has shown male tui sing sexier songs in their summer mating season and use a higher-pitched trill that "turns on the females".
From ScienceDaily:
New research reveals how wild rabbits were genetically transformed into tame rabbits
The genetic changes that transformed wild animals into domesticated forms have long been a mystery. An international team of scientists has now made a breakthrough by showing that many genes controlling the development of the brain and the nervous system were particularly important for rabbit domestication. The study is published today in Science and gives answers to many genetic questions.
Botany:
From redOrbit:
Sequencing Of Coffee Genome Reveals Secrets Of Caffeine Development
By Chuck Bednar
By sequencing the genome of the coffee plant, an international team of researchers has discovered genetic secrets that could enable them to create new varieties of coffee that taste better, have varied levels or caffeine, or are better able to survive drought conditions and diseases.
In addition, Philippe Lashermes, a researcher at the French Institute of Research for Development (IRD), and his colleagues discovered that the coffee plant developed caffeine-linked genes independently and did not inherit them from a common ancestor. Their findings are detailed in Thursday’s online edition of the journal Science.
Environment:
From Stars and Stripes:
Researchers brief NATO delegates on Arctic challenges
By Dermot Cole
FAIRBANKS — About 20 elected officials from 14 NATO countries received a wide-ranging update on Arctic issues and challenges Thursday from University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers.
Global security concerns and transportation challenges are among a host of pressing issues, said Margaret “Meta” Ramsay, chairwoman of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Science and Technology Committee. Speaking to reporters at UAF, she said the delegation came to Alaska to learn more about the geopolitical importance of the changing Arctic.
From redOrbit:
Climate Change Science Aided By Citizen-science Data
From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:
Hundreds of thousands of volunteer data collectors are due for some thanks from scientists, according to a new paper that reveals the role of citizen science in studies of birds and climate change. Data collected by amateurs underpins up to 77 percent of the studies in this field, but that fact is largely invisible by the time the research appears in journals, according to a study published today in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.
“Our paper is a chance to say thank you to the many people who are citizen scientists,” said lead author Caren Cooper, a research associate at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “These people are part of the process of creating new knowledge—and whether it’s counting birds or butterflies, gazelles or galaxies, they should know that their observations really make a difference in professional science.”
An Uphill Climb For Mountain Species?
By Stephen Sautner
A new paper looks at the issues facing biodiversity throughout the world’s mountain regions, sets agenda for conservation. Do we need corridors between “habitat-islands?”
A recently published paper provides a history of scientific research on mountain ecosystems, looks at the issues threatening wildlife in these systems, and sets an agenda for biodiversity conservation throughout the world’s mountain regions.
The paper, “Mountain gloom and mountain glory revisited: A survey of conservation, connectivity, and climate change in mountain regions,” appears online in the Journal of Mountain Ecology. Authors are Charles C. Chester of Tufts University, Jodi A. Hilty of the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Lawrence S. Hamilton of World Commission on Protected Areas/IUCN.
also from redOrbit:
Underwater Grass Comeback Bodes Well For Chesapeake Bay
By Amy Pelsinsky, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
The Susquehanna Flats, a large bed of underwater grasses near the mouth of the Susquehanna River, virtually disappeared from the upper Chesapeake Bay after Tropical Storm Agnes more than 40 years ago. However, the grasses mysteriously began to come back in the early 2000s. Today, the bed is one of the biggest and healthiest in the Bay, spanning some 20 square miles. A new study by scientists at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science explores what’s behind this major comeback.
“This is a story about resilience,” said Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. “It’s a powerful example of how organisms in ecosystems once given a chance can make themselves resistant to stresses and changes.”
Physics:
(sort of)
From the BBC:
A point of view: When historical fiction is more truthful than historical fact
Fiction has the power to fill in the imaginative gaps left by history, writes Lisa Jardine.
For some time I have been researching the lives of a group of scientists who worked on the development of the atomic bomb during World War Two. Although there are several impeccably researched non-fiction works on the subject and a number of biographies, none of these really conveyed to me the emotions and convictions that drove their work - I simply could not connect with the personal principles of the scientists who collaborated with such energy to produce the period's ultimate weapon of mass destruction.
In my search for understanding the motivation of those who joined the race to produce the bomb whose use at Hiroshima and Nagasaki appalled the world, I eventually decided to turn from fact to fiction. If historians could not fill the gaps in the record that made the knowledge I was after so elusive, perhaps storytellers less shackled by documented evidence might do so.
Astronomy:
From Lake County News (California):
Space News: Rosetta Comet is darker than charcoal
By Dr. Tony Phillips
A NASA instrument aboard the European Space Agency’s (ESA's) Rosetta orbiter has successfully made its first delivery of science data from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
The instrument, named Alice, began mapping the comet’s surface last month, recording the first far-ultraviolet light spectra of the comet’s surface.
From the data, the Alice team discovered the comet is unusually dark – darker than charcoal-black – when viewed in ultraviolet wavelengths. Alice also detected both hydrogen and oxygen in the comet’s coma, or atmosphere.
Paleontology:
From redOrbit:
Nocturnal Behavior May Predate The Earliest Mammals By 100 Million Years
By Chuck Bednar
Originally believed to have occurred around the same time that mammals evolved some 200 million years ago, researchers from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago now report that the transition to nocturnal behavior actually occurred more than 100 million years earlier.
Previous theories regarding nocturnal behavior were based on the large brains of mammals, which allow them to better process information from senses such as hearing, touch and smell, and the details of light-sensitive chemicals in the eyes of mammals, the researchers explained.
From redOrbit:
Dreadnoughtus: A New Dinosaur Discovery
Drexel University professor Ken Lacovara has recently unveiled a new supermassive dinosaur species he discovered and unearthed with his team between 2005 and 2009. Weighing in at nearly 65 tons, Dreadnoughtus schrani is the largest land animal ever found of calculable mass and also by far one of the most complete skeletons ever found for a dinosaur in this mass range!
Science Crime:
From IBN (India):
Australia returns two stolen ancient, priceless idols to India
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott who is on a state visit to India is returning two looted idols seized from Australian museums during a meeting with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Friday.
Abbott is personally delivering the National Gallery of Australia's Rs 30 crore ($5 million) Dancing Shiva or Nataraja Ardand and the Art Gallery of New South Wales's Rs 2 crore ($300,000) Ardhanarishvara to Modi as a "gesture of good will" at a state reception at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in the evening.
...or not really (from Studio 360):
When Forgery Isn't a Crime
For nearly 30 years, Mark Landis has been recreating works — from lesser-known impressionists to Picasso — and passing them off as originals. Landis is one of the most prolific art forgers in history. He’s also one of the most fascinating: instead of the usual scam of duping a naïve collector, Landis donated his fakes, roughly 100 of them, to museums in 20 states. He never took a penny, and so he’s never been prosecuted.