Most comprehensive tree of life shows placental mammal diversity exploded after age of dinosaurs

Feb. 7, 2013 ? An international team of scientists including University of Florida researchers has generated the most comprehensive tree of life to date on placental mammals, which are those bearing live young, including bats, rodents, whales and humans.

Appearing ?February 7 in the journal Science, the study details how researchers used both genetic and physical traits to reconstruct the common ancestor of placental mammals, the creature that gave rise to many mammals alive today. The data show that contrary to a commonly held theory, the group diversified after the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The research may help scientists better understand how mammals survived past climate change and how they may be impacted by future environmental conditions.

UF researchers led the team that analyzed the anatomy of living and fossil primates, including lemurs, monkeys and humans, as well as their closest living relatives, flying lemurs and tree shrews. The multi-year collaborative project was funded by the National Science Foundation Assembling the Tree of Life Program.

"With regards to evolution, it's critical to understand the relationships of living and fossil mammals before asking questions about 'how' and 'why,' " said co-author Jonathan Bloch, associate curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus. "This gives us a new perspective of how major change can influence the history of life, like the extinction of the dinosaurs -- this was a major event in Earth's history that potentially then results in setting the framework for the entire ordinal diversification of mammals, including our own very distant ancestors."

Visual reconstruction of the placental ancestor -- a small, insect-eating animal -- was made possible with the help of a powerful cloud-based and publicly accessible database called MorphoBank. Unlike other reconstructions, the new study creates a clearer picture of the tree of life by combining two data types: Phenomic data includes observational traits such as anatomy and behavior, while genomic data is encoded by DNA.

"Discovering the tree of life is like piecing together a crime scene -- it is a story that happened in the past that you can't repeat," said lead author Maureen O'Leary, an associate professor in the department of anatomical sciences in the School of Medicine at Stony Brook University and research associate at the American Museum of Natural History. "Just like with a crime scene, the new tools of DNA add important information, but so do other physical clues like a body or, in the scientific realm, fossils and anatomy. Combining all the evidence produces the most informed reconstruction of a past event."

Researchers recorded observational traits for 86 placental mammal species, including 40 fossil species. The resulting database contains more than 12,000 images that correspond to more than 4,500 traits detailing characteristics like the presence or absence of wings, teeth and certain bones, type of hair cover and brain structures. The dataset is about 10 times larger than information used in previous studies of mammal relationships.

"It was a great way to learn anatomy, in a nutshell," said co-author Zachary Randall, a UF biology graduate student and research associate at the Florida Museum. "While coding for humans, I could clearly see which anatomical features are unique, shared or not shared with other groups of mammals. This study is a great backbone for future work."

Bloch and Randall collaborated with study co-authors Mary Silcox of the University of Toronto Scarborough and Eric Sargis of Yale University to characterize humans, plus seven other living and one fossil species from the clade Euarchonta, which includes primates, tree shrews and flying lemurs.

"I think this database is amazing because it's being presented in such a way that it will be reproducible for the future generations," Bloch said. "It illustrates exactly what we did and leaves nothing to the imagination -- you can actually go to the pictures and see it."

The evolutionary history of placental mammals has been interpreted in very different ways depending on the data analyzed. One leading analysis based on genomic data alone predicted that a number of placental mammal lineages existed in the Late Cretaceous and survived the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction.

"It has been suggested that primates diverged from other mammals well before the extinction of the dinosaurs, but our work using direct evidence from the fossil record tells a different story," Bloch said.

The team reconstructed the anatomy of the placental common ancestor by mapping traits most strongly supported by the data to determine it had a two-horned uterus, a brain with a convoluted cerebral cortex, and a placenta in which maternal blood came in close contact with membranes surrounding the fetus, as in humans.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Florida.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. M. A. O'Leary, J. I. Bloch, J. J. Flynn, T. J. Gaudin, A. Giallombardo, N. P. Giannini, S. L. Goldberg, B. P. Kraatz, Z.-X. Luo, J. Meng, X. Ni, M. J. Novacek, F. A. Perini, Z. S. Randall, G. W. Rougier, E. J. Sargis, M. T. Silcox, N. B. Simmons, M. Spaulding, P. M. Velazco, M. Weksler, J. R. Wible, A. L. Cirranello. The Placental Mammal Ancestor and the Post-K-Pg Radiation of Placentals. Science, 2013; 339 (6120): 662 DOI: 10.1126/science.1229237

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/22iYGgfEQR0/130207141458.htm

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Hey Monopoly! What's with this dumb cat?

Devin Coldewey , NBC News ? ? ? 3 hrs.

We all knew the iron had it coming. Who was going to vote out the Scottie dog, or the sweet race car, or the thing I always thought was some kind of chariot but was in fact a wheelbarrow? The iron was always the least fun, and the last to be picked ? or else assigned to the problem child.

Yet, when I woke up Wednesday morning, still feeling my cognac, hit with the news that this smooth, anonymous feline will be replacing the trusty old iron, it was devastating.

Hundreds of thousands of Monopoly fans flooded the game's Facebook page to vote for the new token, which was revealed earlier on TODAY.

Some people will say that the cat is a symbol of the feline-obsessed Internet era, and its usurpation of the iron's slot in the ubiquitous Parker Brothers box is representative of the world's transition from Industrialism to a glorious new Information Age.

But the truth is, people just like cats.

Even a tacky cat charm, as smooth as soft serve and as catlike as a baboon, with a big medallion around its neck, suggesting it is either a retro hip hop cat or that they couldn't get the neck to look right in the 3-D model some intern cobbled together for this contest. And why is it looking to the left? Does that have some kind of sinister significance? Shouldn't a Cat-ptain of Industry look straight forward, towards riches?

True, it's better than the robot (symbolizing humanity's end at their hands), the helicopter (symbolizing government conspiracies), or the ring (symbolizing nothing), but I still don't like it. Luckily, I still have an old iron in our set from the '60s. My grandchildren may not recognize it (because in the future, like the present, no one in my family will iron their clothes), but it's better than them playing with that dumb cat.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/hey-monopoly-whats-dumb-cat-1B8271011

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Green Blog: On Our Radar: Mapping the Nation's Emissions

Drawing on data from 8,000 power plants, refineries and factories, the Environmental Protection Agency releases an interactive map of greenhouse gas emissions in 2011 from the nation?s biggest industrial polluters. Emissions dipped from the previous year, largely because of a shift away from reliance on coal-fired power plants. [Environmental Protection Agency]

The Fish and Wildlife Service rejects a land swap that would have allowed a controversial road to cut through a remote wildlife refuge in Alaska. State officials protest the decision, which they say will prevent residents from traveling to seek medical care in bad weather. [Reuters]

One hundred electric vehicles will join United Postal Service?s trademark brown vans in what the company describes as the biggest corporate roll-out of zero-emissions vehicles ever in California. [The Miami Herald]

Nearly two years after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, a boat washes ashore in central Oregon that appears to be debris from the event. Biologists say the boat does not seem to pose a risk of introducing invasive species. [Associated Press]

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/on-our-radar-mapping-the-nations-emissions/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Video: Boy Scouts: Need more time for deliberate review on gay ban

>> hour to why the enjoy r boy skous of america may have decided to wait until may to vote on whether to lift the ban on gay members and scout leaders. the decision was expected to come down in a statement. after careful considerationy ing in the family along with comments on the outside of the organization , the boy scouts on the board concluded that due to the complexity of the issue, the organization needs time for deliberate review on the policy. all of this happening as a poll shows the majority of americans, 55% think the boy scouts should drop their policy on gay numbers and 33% believe it should remain. the boy scoutmaster who took the issue to the supreme court and he declared he was gay and told he was no longer welcome. they said they had the right to exclude gays. let me get your reaction to the news. we were expecting this to come down and reports indicated the scouts would vote in favor of this decision and here we are. what do you make of the decision?

>> it's upsetting that the boy scouts delay the inevitable of removing this toxic policy of discriminating against gay kids. if they end the ban once and for all, that's 8 great thing.

>> the delay according to the organization was a result of the comments of those outside the organization . do you believe the comments that are weighing heavily on the scouts is one, for example, your point of view or do you believe people like rick santorum . wednesday's vote say challenge to the scouts's very nature and another attempt of the left to remove god in the mind of the intolerant liberal mind that must be forced to conform. do you believe your voice is being considered or rick santorum and other who is agree with him.

>> i think it's the voice of the 21% of the boy scouts that exited the organization over the past 13 years. that's the voice. the voice of the president of the united states of america on sunday. i think the boy scouts are going to do what's right and come down and decide this policy does not work for gay youth.

>> they want more deliberate review of the membership policy. what do you believe that means?

>> this sounds like the don't ask don't tell policy in the military in the 90s. it took them 15, 16 years to overturn that policy. there is a tremendous amount of damage done during that time. the don't ask don't tell policy was dropped and it's a nonissue. once they stop being so fearful, they will realize this policy is only hurting them.

>> i want to read what the southern baptist convention had to say. what they said to us and other religious leaders is they are doing this under pressure. we are going to give people what basically amounts to local option . you can't have a local option of a core conviction. back to the question regarding this statement saying that they have decided to listen to comments from those outside the organization . do you believe folks like richard land and rick santorum are among those that the scouts are weighing what they said? they put that in there for a reason. they arelistening to people outside of the organization .

>> those are right wing fringe groups. they are listening to the moms and dads and volunteer scoutmasters and kids in scouting that think discrimination is wrong and they know the damage being done. i don't think it's about the talking head right wingers, but real americans.

>> do you have a timeline or information regarding when the scouts may make this move and have they offered to hear from someone like yourself as they say they will deliberately take a review of the membership policy?

>> i would welcome a discussion and a conversation with the boy scouts of america on highway to end the policy that is hurting children both gay and non-gay. i have not heard from them and the boy scouts of america since i was expelled at the age of 19 in 1990 .

>> you are such a significant part of the story. greatly appreciate your time.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/50720991/

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Syrian rebels fight close to heart of Damascus

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels battled President Bashar al-Assad's forces on the edge of central Damascus on Wednesday, opposition activists said, seeking to break through to the heart of the capital.

Their offensive aims to break a stalemate in the city of 2 million people, where artillery and air strikes have prevented rebels entrenched to the east from advancing despite their capture of army fortifications, the activists said.

"We have moved the battle to Jobar," said Captain Islam Alloush of the rebel Islam Brigade. The district links rebel strongholds in the suburbs with the central Abbasid Square.

"The heaviest fighting is taking place in Jobar because it is the key to the heart of Damascus," he said.

Assad, battling to crush a 22-month-old uprising in which 60,000 people have died, has lost control of large parts of the country but his forces, backed by air power, have so far kept rebels on the fringes of the capital.

Despite the setbacks, Assad has remained defiant, telling a visiting senior Iranian official on Sunday that Syria was able to confront "current threats ... and aggression".

That visit came just after Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi met Syrian opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib in Moscow. Iran is Syria's strongest backer in the region.

Salehi said on Wednesday the Syrian government may be ready to respond positively to Alkhatib's offer of direct peace talks.

"I think that the Syrian government is ready to negotiate with the opposition," he told Egyptian state news agency MENA during a visit to Cairo.

But Alkhatib gave the Syrian government until Sunday to release all women detainees, otherwise he would regard his offer of dialogue as rejected by Assad.

"If any woman stays in prison, I consider the regime not responding," BBC Arabic quoted him as saying.

Meanwhile Syrian state media denied rebel gains in Jobar and said the army had pushed back rebels from the neighborhood and other parts of the Ghouta area of eastern Damascus.

"Our noble army is continuing its operations against the terrorists in Irbeen, Zamalka and Harasta and Sbeineh, destroying the criminal lairs," Syrian television said.

But video footage taken by activists purported to show opposition fighters inside Jobar after they overran an army road block, and rebels said they had made significant gains.

"Parts of the Damascus ring road fell to us today. The road has been effectively the last remaining barrier between the Ghouta and the city," said Abu Ghazi, a rebel commander based in the eastern suburb of Irbeen.

"I don't want to give people false hopes but I think if street fighting reaches central Damascus, the regime will not be able to quell it this time."

A disorganized rebel advance on the city failed last year. Ghazi said that this time opposition fighters had established supply lines to support their offensive.

"STRATEGIC TARGETS"

The Damascus Media Office, an opposition activists' monitoring group, said 13 people had been killed in fighting in Jobar, while three people had died in army shelling on Thalatheen, a rebellious neighborhood in southern Damascus.

The Syrian National Council, an exile opposition group dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, said Syrian Free Army rebel units were attacking "strategic targets" in Damascus.

"There is a new strategy, brigades are united. What is happening in the field is huge but it is a preparation for bigger operations," said Abu Moaz al-Agha, a leader of the Gathering of Ansar al-Islam, which groups many Islamist units.

"Right now we will attack checkpoints especially in Jobar that some time ago seemed impossible to get near to. We want to shake the regime."

Abbasid Square and the Fares al-Khoury thoroughfare were closed as fighters attacked roadblocks and fortifications with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, activists said.

"The areas of Jobar, Zamalka, al-Zablatani and parts of Qaboun and the ring road have become a battleground," activist Fida Mohammad said from Qaboun.

Residents reported explosions across the east and north of the capital. "The army seems to have been caught by surprise," one activist said. "Reports from the heart of the battle are talking about several tanks being hit and the army has been pushed to Abbasid Square."

The rebel Liwa al-Islam unit said the operation to enter eastern parts of Damascus aimed to relieve pressure on two large southwestern suburbs that have been under army siege.

Assad's core forces, mostly from his minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, are based in Qasioun Mountain, which is part of Damascus, and on hilltops dotted with artillery pieces and multiple rocket launchers.

SUPPLY LINE

Estimated at 70,000 army, security and militia personnel, the core forces have a supply line to the coast that has remained open despite rebel efforts to disrupt it.

Rebels were also attacking Adra, 17 km (10 miles) northeast of Damascus. Video footage purported to show an armored vehicle in the area being hit by a rocket. Thousands of refugees have fled to the town, which is home to Syria's largest prison.

In Palmyra, 220 km (140 miles) northeast of Damascus, on the main road to the oil-producing east, a suicide car bomb struck a military intelligence compound, causing dozens of casualties, opposition campaigners said.

A bomb destroyed part of the back wall of the compound near the Roman-era ruins in the city and then a suicide car bomber drove through, detonating the vehicle and destroying parts of the facility, activists in Palmyra said.

They said it was not immediately clear how many people had been killed in the blast and the clashes that followed. Video footage, which could not be immediately verified, showed a large cloud of thick smoke rising in the city.

"The first car bomb struck at around six in the morning. The second one, which caused the larger explosion, broke through into the compound 10 minutes later," activist Abu al-Hassan said from the city.

He said tanks in the compound had responded by shelling an adjacent neighborhood, killing several civilians.

Roadblocks across the city also came under attack.

The state news agency said two "suicide terrorists" blew up cars packed with explosives near a garage in a residential district, killing and wounding several people.

Street demonstrations against Assad's rule erupted in Palmyra at the beginning of the revolt almost two years ago. But the army has since tightened its control of the city, which is situated near a major oil pipeline junction.

(Editing by Kevin Liffey and Jon Hemming)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fighting-erupts-damascus-rebels-launch-attacks-094148468.html

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Bigger LG Optimus G Pro spotted with 5.5-inch 1080p display, headed for Korea?

Remember the LG Optimus G? Then the Optimus G Pro, headed exclusively Japan? Well how about another iteration? Apparently bound for the Korean homelands, this one's still called the Optimus G Pro, but expands to a 5.5-inch 1080p display, as well as getting a battery bump-up to 3,140mAh. According to the leaked spec sheet sent to Phone Arena, this will join a 1.7GHz Snapdragon processor, alongside a healthy 2GB of RAM and a whopping 32GB of storage -- plus microSD expansion. Is LG readying something similar for its global fans? We'll give them a few more weeks to fill us in.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG

Comments

Source: Phone Arena

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/07/lg-optimus-g-pro-korea-55-inch/

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ZACCI hails Emirates over aircraft : Metro Business Standard

Number of View: 29

THE Zambia Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ZACCI) has commended Emirates Airlines for upgrading the aircraft coming to Zambia. Recently, Emirates and British Airways have had challenges which led to their scheduled flights experiencing faults mid-air resulting in emergency landings or aborting of flights.

ZACCI vice president for south Chabuka Kawesha says the landing of the biggest carrier Boeing 777 in Lusaka by Emirates is a positive move towards raising the standards of planes coming to Zambia.

?We are expressing our happiness over the landing of this plane. It?s our hope and belief that the initiative from Emirates responds to concerns from the public over the comfort, quality, age and standard of planes sent to Zambia,? he said.

Dr Chabuka said this in a statement released in Lusaka yesterday. He, however, said ZACCI is still waiting for the position from the civil aviation authorities regarding the near mishaps to the travelling public and business community many who are travellers on both Emirates and British Airways.

He said reasons expressed by both airlines through their local offices have been very unsatisfactory and disappointing to both the business community and the general public which prompted ZACCI to question the silence from the airlines, national airports and civil aviation department.

Recently, ZACCI expressed concern on the near-fatalities of airline carriers being used by renowned international airlines between Lusaka and London and between Lusaka and Dubai.

It urged the Department of Civil Aviation to break its silence and issue a comprehensive statement on the quality of airplanes that British Airways (BA) and Emirates are sending to Zambia. (Source: Daily Mail)

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Source: http://metro.co.zm/2013/02/05/zacci-hails-emirates-over-aircraft/

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