IN THE NEWS: Russia war ends era of globalization that kept inflation low

  Whenever there's a war, it affects economies of various countries, and in the case of Russia's war on the Ukraine, it has had global repercussions. Here's an excerpt of an article from the Associated Press that explains why we  in the U.S. are experiencing Inflation as a result:

Russia war ends era of globalization that kept inflation low

Associated Press, March 30, 2022

Larry Fink, CEO of the investment management giant BlackRock, wrote last week in an annual letter to shareholders that Russia’s invasion “upended the world order that had been in place since the end of the Cold War” and “put an end to the globalization we have experienced over the last three decades.’’

“A large-scale reorientation of supply chains,” Fink warned, “will inherently be inflationary.”

Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, wrote in Foreign Affairs that “it now seems likely that the world economy really will split into blocs — one oriented around China and one around the United States.”

Though the rift has been years in the making, Russia’s war against Ukraine may have completed it. It likely concludes an era in which countries with clashing political systems — democracies and authoritarian states alike — could trade and mutually benefit. With Russian missiles killing Ukrainian civilians, it seems almost quaint to recall that unfriendly nations could take their disputes to the World Trade Organization and expect a peaceful resolution.

A flood of Chinese imports gave American consumers access to inexpensive toys, clothes and electronics. U.S. policymakers dared to hope that freer trade would nudge Beijing and other authoritarian regimes toward political openness, too.

But strains emerged. Europe became reliant on energy from Vladimir Putin’s Russia. In 2011, an earthquake and tsunami damaged auto parts plants in Japan. A resulting parts shortages idled factories in the United States, a reminder that supply chains that spanned the Pacific risked disruptions.

Then COVID-19 outbreaks closed Chinese factories and ports, snarling supply chains, causing shipping delays and higher prices and forcing U.S. companies to consider bringing production close to home.

The geopolitics got nastier.

American manufacturers accused China of foul play. They asserted — and many global analysts agreed — that Beijing manipulated its currency to make its exports less expensive and U.S. imports costlier, illicitly subsidized its own industries and restricted Western companies’ access to China’s market. The United States posted gaping trade deficits with China. Many U.S. factories succumbed to the competition.

Riding a backlash against globalization to the presidency, President Donald Trump launched a trade war with Beijing. Direct investment between the two sides tumbled, a consequence of Beijing’s drive to keep money from leaving China, tighter U.S. scrutiny of Chinese investments in the United States and corporate efforts to move some supply chains out of China.

Now, Russia’s war is accelerating the economic breakup between democracies and autocracies. Putin’s aggression spurred Western sanctions against the Russian economy and financial system. China, alone among major nations as a Russia ally, has sought to strike a balance. It has criticized the Western response to the war but done nothing that would clearly violate the Western sanctions.

Some companies have responded to Moscow’s status as an economic pariah by leaving Russia. BP and Shell abandoned investments. McDonald’s and Starbucks stopped serving customers. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticized Nestle, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Samsung and LG, among others, for continuing to operate in Russia.

FULL ARTICLE:    AP News Full Article

Discovery! Massive asteroid hit Greenland when it was a lush rainforest, under-ice crater shows

If you didn't know there was a massive asteroid that hit Greenland when it was lush, you're in the majority. Most people are familiar with the giant asteroid that lies below the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, in the Chicxulub crater. That is the impact site of an asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago at the end of the Mesozoic Era. SIDE NOTE: The Mesozoic Era, also called the Age of Reptiles and the Age of Conifers, is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about 252 to 66 million years ago and comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods. In today's blog, you'll read about that other asteroid, the one that hit Greenland!

(Image:  The Hiawatha impact crater is shown in northwest Greenland (left); the crater is clearly visible (right) beneath the surface of the ice. (Image credit: University of Copenhagen)

Massive asteroid hit Greenland when it was a lush rainforest, under-ice crater shows

Scientists now know the age of an enormous impact crater hidden under Greenland's ice.

LIVE SCIENCE March 16, 2022

The Hiawatha crater, which sits under 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) of ice in northwest Greenland, formed 58 million years ago, according to a study published March 9 in the journal Science Advances. Whereas some initial estimates had gauged the age of the crater at only 13,000 years, the new finding means the impact occurred much earlier, at a time when Greenland was truly green and full of life.

"Greenland was actually covered with a temperate rainforest when the asteroid hit," said study co-author Michael Storey, a researcher at the Natural History Museum of Denmark who specializes in dating geological materials.

The asteroid was around 0.9 mile (1.5 km) across when it hit the ground. Its impact likely triggered local earthquakes and wildfires, Storey told Live Science, but there's no evidence that it had an effect on the global climate.

THE AGE OF A CRATER

Scientists first discovered the crater in 2018, using ice-penetrating radar instruments mounted to airplanes. But given the massive slab of ice covering the crater, there was no direct way to date the age of the impact.

Fortunately, the crater sits at the edge of the ice sheet. Just 3 miles (5 km) from the crater rim, a stream flows out from under the ice, carrying sediments with it. After collecting and examining sand grains and larger pebbles from this area, researchers discovered that many had signs of melting and shock — indications that they had been suddenly and rapidly heated.

A close-up image shows crystals of the mineral zircon, which acts as a tiny time capsule, recording the age of many events in Earth’s history. Scientists dated zircon crystals to calculate the age of the Hiawatha impact crater.

(Image: This close-up image shows crystals of the mineral zircon, which acts as a tiny time capsule, recording the age of many events in Earth's history. Scientists dated zircon crystals to calculate the age of the Hiawatha impact crater. (Image credit: Gavin Kenny, Swedish Museum of Natural History)

USING 2 DIFFERENT METHODS TO CONCLUDE

Storey and his colleagues used a method called argon-argon dating to discern the ages of 50 grains of sand from this stream. This method relies on the natural radioactive decay of potassium 40, a radioactive variant (or isotope) of the element potassium that has a half-life of 1.251 billion years. Potassium 40 decays into argon 40, a gas that remains trapped within the rock. 

Researchers can measure the ratio between these two isotopes to determine how long the decay has been ongoing. And the extremely slow rate of decay of potassium 40 to argon 40 means that this method is useful for measuring very old ages. The heat of an impact resets this molecular clock to zero, Storey told Live Science, so he and his team could use the numbers to determine when the sand grains were hit.

Meanwhile, study co-author Gavin Kenny, a research fellow at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, used a similar method to measure the decay of the radioactive element uranium to lead in minerals called zircons found within the stream pebbles.

Both methods returned similar findings: The grains and pebbles had been subjected to a major impact about 58 million years ago, during the Late Paleocene.

LOCAL IMPACT 

This age means the impact had nothing to do with the Younger Dryas cooling event, a global cold shift that occurred about 13,000 years ago. One controversial theory holds that the cooling event was kicked off with an asteroid impact, but no crater of the right age has ever been found.

Deep-ocean sediment cores have provided a very detailed record of the climate dating back well past 58 million years, Storey said, and there is no indication that the Hiawatha impact caused any global climate hiccups. The impact would have been devastating for the local rainforest flora and fauna of Greenland, Storey said. It may have caused an earthquake of magnitude 8 or 9 nearby and could have sparked massive forest fires. Bolstering that theory, evidence of old charcoal deposits has been found draining from beneath the ice sheets, he added.

"I suspect that Hiawatha, on a sliding scale for asteroid impacts, is somewhere in the middle," Storey said. A space rock the size of the one that made the crater is expected to hit Earth once every 1 million to 2 million years, he said, with a 75% chance that it will land in the ocean rather than on land.

Now that the age of the crater is known, it will be possible to hunt for sediments of the same age nearby and look for evidence of the consequences, Storey said.

Originally published on Live Science.

From History.com: The Revolutionary War Hero Who Was Openly Gay

 Here's some history that I never learned in school, and I bet you never did either. This man, who was openly gay during the Revolutionary War, helped turned things around for General Washington and America's fight for independence.  Here's the story from HISTORY.COM>>

(Image: Baron Fredrich von Steuben. Credit: Battlefields.org) 

The Revolutionary War Hero Who Was Openly Gay 

Baron Friedrich von Steuben was known for his bravery and the discipline and grit he brought to the American troops. 

ERIN BLAKEMORE HISTORY.COM" UPDATED:FEB 6, 2020

Gay men have always been part of the American military. In an era before gay marriage or open pride, military men fell in love, formed passionate friendships and had same-sex encounters. Due to social and official discrimination, though, most of their stories have gone untold. But in the case of one of the military’s founding heroes, homosexuality was always part of the story.

Baron Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian military man hired by George Washington to whip the Continental Army into shape during the darkest days of the Revolutionary War, is known for his bravery and the discipline and grit he brought to the American troops. Historians also think he was homosexual—and served as an openly gay man in the military at a time when sex between men was punished as a crime.

“Though his name is little known among Americans today,” writes Erick Trickey for Smithsonian, “every U.S. soldier is indebted to von Steuben—he created America’s professional army.”

It wasn’t easy: Three years into the Revolutionary War, the army was low on discipline, morale and even food. With his strict drills, showy presence and shrewd eye for military strategy, he helped turn them into a military powerhouse.

Benjamin Franklin, who recommended von Steuben to Washington, played up his qualifications. He also downplayed rumors that the baron had been dismissed from the Prussian military for homosexuality. Von Steuben joined the military when he was 17 and had become Frederick the Great’s personal aide, but despite a seemingly promising career he was abruptly dismissed in 1763. Later in life, he wrote about an “implacable enemy” who had apparently led to his firing, but historians are unsure of the exact circumstances of the dismissal.

After being fired, von Steuben bounced from job to job. He was unimpressed by Franklin’s suggestion that he volunteer to help the American army, and tried instead to get another military job in the court at Baden. But his application was tanked when an anonymous letter accused him of having “taken familiarities” with young boys.

As historian William E. Benemann notes, there’s no historical evidence that von Steuben was a pedophile. But he was gay, and homosexuality was viewed as a criminal aberration by many of his peers. “Rather than stay and provide a defense, rather than call upon his friends…to vouch for his reputation, von Steuben chose to flee his homeland,” writes Benemann.

Franklin likely knew of the rumors and the reason that von Steuben suddenly accepted an offer he’d turned down so recently. But he didn’t see von Steuben’s private life as relevant to his military qualifications. Neither did George Washington, who knew of the accusations but welcomed von Steuben to his camp and assigned Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens—both of whom were involved in what some historians have dubbed a “romantic friendship”—as his aides.

Washington approved of von Steuben. “He appears to be much of a gentleman,” he wrote when the baron arrived at camp, “and as far as I have had an opportunity of judging, a man of military knowledge, and acquainted with the world.”

When von Steuben arrived in camp, he was appalled by the conditions the soldiers had been fighting under, and immediately set to work drilling soldiers with strict Prussian techniques. He was a strict drillmaster, but he also socialized with the troops. One of his aides, Pierre-Étienne Du Ponceau, recalls a particularly wild party given at Valley Forge. “His aides invited a number of young officers to dine at our quarters,” he wrote, “on condition that none should be admitted, that had on a whole pair of breeches.” The men dined in torn clothing and, he implied, no clothing at all.

Von Steuben didn’t just throw sexually charged parties: He also formed intense relationships with other men. He became close to William North and Benjamin Walker, aides-de-camp who seem to have been involved in their own romantic relationship, and lived with them for two years in camp. It’s likely that von Steuben became romantically and sexually involved with North, though it’s not clear how close he was to Walker.

Meanwhile, von Steuben proved himself a heroic addition to the army. As Inspector General, he taught the army more efficient fighting techniques and helped instill the discipline they so sorely needed. It worked, and the drill manual he wrote for the army is still partially in use today. The drillmaster quickly became one of Washington’s most trusted advisors, eventually serving as his chief of staff. He is now considered instrumental in helping the Americans win the Revolutionary War.

When the war ended, Baron von Steuben was granted U.S. citizenship and moved to New York with North and Walker. “We love him,” North wrote, “and he deserves it for he loves us tenderly.”

After the war, von Steuben legally adopted both men—a common practice among gay men in an age before same-sex marriage was legal. They lived together, managed his precarious finances and inherited his estate when he died in 1794. John Mulligan, who was also gay, served as von Steuben’s secretary and is thought to have had a relationship with the baron. When von Steuben died, he inherited his library and some money.

During von Steuben’s lifetime, the concept of gay marriage, gay pride or coming out was unthinkable and there was no language or open culture of homosexuality. But historical homosexual relationships were actually common.

That doesn’t mean being gay was condoned: Sodomy was a crime in colonial America. But romantic relationships between men were widely tolerated until the 19th century, and only in the early 20th century did the U.S. military begin officially discriminating against people suspected to be gay.

Von Steuben may have been one of early America’s most open LGBT figures, but he was hardly the only man whose love of other men was well known. And though he was to have helped save the American army, his contribution is largely forgotten today.

If You've Seen a Green Flash in the Sky at Sunset, Here's Why

 The atmosphere acts as a prism, and it's all about light. We see blue sky because of Raleigh scattering ( scattering light from the sun into much smaller wavelengths. We see red skies as sunlight filters through pollution. Now, here's the explanation for why sometimes we see green flashes at sunset.

 

(Photo; A Green Flash. Credit; Santa Ynez Valley News)

WHY DO SOME SEE A GREEN FLASH FROM THE SUN?    The green flash is a phenomenon that occurs at sunset and sunrise when conditions are favorable, and results when two optical phenomena combine: a mirage and the dispersion of sunlight. As the sun dips below the horizon the light is being dispersed through the earth's atmosphere like a prism. The effect is caused by layers of the Earth's atmosphere acting like a prism.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/25FfQ9MEQE8

Video of a Green Flash
Video Credit & Copyright: Paolo Lazzarotti

 

Idiot of the Week: GOP Senator Mike Braun says" Legalizing Interracial Marriage Was a Mistake"

Wow. Conservatives are really embracing white supremacists more every day. This week, Republican Senator Mike Braun thinks that interracial marriages should be illegal and only allowed on a state-by-state basis. He said that gay marriage and the right to abortions should also be left to states only. This guy is a bigot and white supremacist and I hope people of Indiana are smart enough to vote him out.  Here's the story>

 Senator Says Legalizing Interracial Marriage Was a Mistake

BY JORDAN WEISSMANN, Slate.com MARCH 22, 2022

Republican Sen. Mike Braun is attempting a rather unconvincing cleanup job after telling reporters on Tuesday that the Supreme Court was wrong to strike down state laws banning interracial marriage in its landmark 1967 decision, Loving v. Virginia.

Braun, the junior senator from Indiana, made his comments during a media call in which he argued that policy issues should generally be left in the hands of state governments whenever possible, especially in the case of abortion.

“So you would be OK with the Supreme Court leaving the question of interracial marriage to the states?” a reporter asked.

“Yes,” Braun answered. “I think that that’s something that if you’re not wanting the Supreme Court to weigh in on issues like that, you’re not going to be able to have your cake and eat it too. I think that’s hypocritical.“

HERE ARE HIS COMMENTS ON VIDEO: https://twitter.com/HeartlandSignal/status/1506375171455819777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1506375171455819777%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fslate.com%2Fnews-and-politics%2F2022%2F03%2Frepublican-sen-mike-braun-says-supreme-court-should-not-have-struck-down-state-laws-banning-interracial-marriage-then-backtracks-unconvincingly.html ************************************

HERE IS THE EXCHANGE WITH THE REPORTER (Note: He also noted that Interracial and gay marriages and abortion should be left up to "states.")

For context, keep in mind that this exchange occurred after a long question-and-answer session, in which Braun repeatedly suggested that states should handle major policy issues when it was practical, even including ones like marijuana legalization that conservatives often prefer to address federally.

Reporter: Hi, Senator. You spoke about judicial activism. If the Supreme Court later this year strikes down the right to abortion, would you consider that judicial activism, legislating from the bench?

Braun: I consider it to have been judicial activism when it occurred back almost 50 years ago. So I think this would be bringing it back to a neutral point to where that issue should have never been federalized, way out of sync I think with the contour of America then. This puts it back to a point where, like most of these issues, where one side of the aisle wants to homogenize it federally, it’s not the right way to do it.

This should be something where the expression of individual states are able to weigh in on these issues through their own legislation, through their own court systems, quit trying to put the federal government in charge of not only things like we did navigating through COVID recently, where I think that was misguided, but in general. So no, I think this takes it back to a point where it should have never gotten beyond in the first place.

Reporter: Would that same basis [apply] to something like Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court case that legalized interracial marriage?

Braun: When it comes to issues, you can’t have it both ways. When you want that diversity to shine within our federal system, there are going to be rules, and proceedings, that are going to be out of sync with maybe what other states would do. That’s the beauty of the system. And that’s where the differences among points of view in our 50 states ought to express themselves. And I’m not saying that rule would apply in general, depending on the topic, but it should mostly be in general, because it’s hard to have it on issues that you are just are interested in when you deny it for others with a different point of view.

Reporter: So you would be OK with the Supreme Court leaving the question of interracial marriage to the states?

Braun: Yes. I think that that’s something that if you’re not wanting the Supreme Court to weigh in on issues like that, you’re not going to be able to have your cake and eat it too. I think that’s hypocritical.

Reporter: What about Griswold v. Connecticut?

Braun: You can list a whole bunch of issues, when it comes down to whatever they are. I’m going to say that they’re not all going to make you happy within a given state, but we’re better off states manifest their points of view rather than homogenizing it across the country as Roe v. Wade did.

Hero/Good Person of the Week: Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at Russian state-run Channel One television

 This week's hero is a journalist who wasn't afraid of facing jail time to tell the people of Russia the truth about what was happening.   Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at Russian state-run Channel One television, stormed an evening news broadcast with a sign reading, "Stop the war. Don't believe the propaganda. They are lying to you." 

Marina Ovsyannikova: Russian journalist in court after TV protest

FROM BBC NEWS> March 15, 2022 

 A Russian journalist who burst on to a live TV news programme to protest against the war in Ukraine has appeared in a Moscow court.

Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at state-controlled Channel 1, was detained after she ran on to the set on Monday holding an anti-war sign.

She was earlier reported missing by lawyers who said they had been searching for her all night.

She has been charged with organising an unauthorised public event.

The administrative charge could be punished with a fine, community service or up to 10 days in jail.

There were fears she would be prosecuted under a more serious, new criminal law that bans calling Russia's military action in Ukraine an "invasion" or spreading "fake news" about the conflict.

An image circulated widely on Russian media appeared to show Ms Ovsyannikova in court with lawyer Anton Gashinsky.

'They are lying to you' Images of Ms Ovsyannikova's protest were quickly shared across the world after she ran on to the set of one of Russia's most-watched news programmes, Vremya, holding a sign reading "No war, stop the war, don't believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here."

She could also be heard repeating the words "no war, stop the war".

The placard was clearly visible for a few seconds before the programme cut away from the live broadcast to a pre-recorded report.

Before the incident she recorded a video in which she called events in Ukraine a "crime" and said she was ashamed to work for what she called Kremlin propaganda.

"I'm ashamed that I allowed myself to tell lies from the television screen. Ashamed that I allowed Russians to be turned into zombies," she explained. "We just silently watched this inhumane regime."

Ms Ovsyannikova, who said her father was Ukrainian, called on the Russian people to protest against the war, saying that only they could "stop the madness".

"Don't be afraid of anything, they can't imprison all of us," she said.

Ms Ovsyannikova's colleagues at Channel 1 were reportedly surprised by her actions.

One told the Faridaily blog - run by former BBC Russian Service journalist Farida Rustamova - that Ms Ovsyannikova, who has two children, had never discussed politics, but spoke "mostly about children, dogs and the house".

From the moment her identity became known, Ms Ovsyannikova received dozens of comments on her Facebook page in Ukrainian, Russian and English, thanking her for her actions.

Ukraine's President Zelensky also praised her for "telling the truth".

French President Emmanuel Macron said France would launch an effort to offer her protection, either at the embassy or through asylum, and said he would discuss it in his next conversation with President Putin.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called her actions an act of "hooliganism".

Russian television news has long been controlled by the Kremlin and independent viewpoints are rare on all the major channels.

State-controlled Russian media refer to the war as a "special military operation" and paint Ukraine as the aggressor, describing Ukraine's elected government as neo-Nazis.

Found! Endurance: Shackleton's lost ship is found in Antarctic

Since Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackelton's ship sank there from sea-ice, people have been searching for it. Now, 107 years later, it has been found and it's in pretty good shape! Here's the amazing story from BBC NEWS:

(Image: The Endurance. Credit: Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust/National Geographic)

Endurance: Shackleton's lost ship is found in Antarctic

BBC NEWS March 9, 2022

Scientists have found and filmed one of the greatest ever undiscovered shipwrecks 107 years after it sank.

The Endurance, the lost vessel of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, was found at the weekend at the bottom of the Weddell Sea.

The ship was crushed by sea-ice and sank in 1915, forcing Shackleton and his men to make an astonishing escape on foot and in small boats.

Even though it has been sitting in 3km (10,000ft) of water for over a century, it looks just like it did on the November day it went down.

Its timbers, although disrupted, are still very much together, and the name - Endurance - is clearly visible on the stern.

"Without any exaggeration this is the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen - by far," said marine archaeologist Mensun Bound, who is on the discovery expedition and has now fulfilled a dream ambition in his near 50-year career."It is upright, well proud of the seabed, intact, and in a brilliant state of preservation," he told BBC News.

The project to find the lost ship was mounted by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust (FMHT), using a South African icebreaker, Agulhas II, and equipped with remotely operated submersibles.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/BRPkL7xk55A

Where was the ship found? 

Endurance was spotted in the Weddell Sea at a depth of 3,008m.

For over two weeks, the subs had combed a predefined search area, investigating various interesting targets, before finally uncovering the wreck site on Saturday - the 100th anniversary of Shackleton's funeral. The days since the discovery have been spent making a detailed photographic record of the timbers and surrounding debris field.

The wreck itself is a designated monument under the international Antarctic Treaty and must not be disturbed in any way. No physical artefacts have therefore been brought to the surface. 

 FULL STORY: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60662541

Discovery! New stegosaur dinosaur could be the oldest ever !

Dinosaur enthusiasts like me will find a new discovery fascinating - especially because the Stegosaurus is one of the most well known dinosaurs of the Jurassic Period.

(Image: A Stegosaur drawing - by Posted by u/AramRex on REDDIT)

New stegosaur dinosaur could be the oldest ever discovered

By James Ashworth UK Natural History Museum 4 March 2022

One of the earliest stegosaurs has been uncovered in China.

The new species, Bashanosaurus primitivus, dates to the Middle Jurassic and could be a close relative of the ancestor of all stegosaurs that followed.

The origin of all stegosaurs could lie in Asia after what could be the oldest member of the group has been unearthed in China.

The description of a new species of early stegosaur, Bashanosaurus primitivus, suggests that the dinosaurs may have emerged in what was then the supercontinent of Laurasia over 165 million years ago.

The group then rapidly spread across large areas of the world, giving rise to many species including Stegosaurus, which gives the group of dinosaurs their name, before vanishing in the Late Cretaceous.

Bashanosaurus primitivus supplants the previous oldest known definitive stegosaur, Adratiklit boulahfa, which was discovered in Morocco in 2019.

Dr Susannah Maidment, a Principal Researcher at the Museum, was involved in the description of both these species. She says, 'The discovery of this stegosaur adds to an increasing body of evidence that the group evolved in the early Middle Jurassic, or perhaps even in the Early Jurassic, and as such represent some of the earliest known bird-hipped dinosaurs.

'China seems to have been a hotspot for stegosaur diversity, with numerous species now known from the Middle Jurassic right the way through until the end of the Early Cretaceous Period.'

The description of the species, led by Chinese researchers, was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology.

What are stegosaurs? The stegosaurs were an iconic group of armoured dinosaurs with distinctive bony plates which ran along their back.

The first stegosaur ever discovered, Dacentrurus, was unearthed in Swindon, UK, in 1874 and was described by Richard Owen, the scientist who coined the term dinosaur.

Three years later, in 1877, Othniel Charles Marsh unearthed Stegosaurus armatus, which gives the group their name, in the Rocky Mountains, USA. At first, it was believed that the plates lay flat along the back as armour, until additional specimens with the plates preserved upright were found.

But this group of dinosaurs has caused a lot of confusion. Many fossils initially named as different Stegosaurus species are now considered to be the same species or from a completely different genus. Even Stegosaurus armatus has been replaced as the representative of its genus by Stegosaurus stenops due to concerns about it being difficult to identify.

All this reflects the difficulty palaeontologists have had in deciphering the group's family tree. Fossils of these dinosaurs are 'surprisingly rare', according to Susannah, and can often consist of only a few bones which make attempts to compare species difficult.

For instance, Isaberrysaura mollensis, was originally classed as an entirely different type of dinosaur before new analysis suggested it as a candidate for one of the earliest stegosaurs. More recently, early stegosaurs from Africa and China have also helped to clarify the origins of the group somewhat. Bashanosaurus primitivus may be older still than these dinosaurs, and is currently the earliest stegosaur to be described. 

 MORE: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/march/new-stegosaur-dinosaur-species-could-be-oldest-ever-discovered.html?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email

New Research: Brain shrinkage linked to COVID-19 (Also affecting memory, smell, taste)

Sadly, some uneducated people in the U.S. think COVID-19 is "like the flu." COVID-19 is NOT like the flu. Aside from causing permanent lung and heart damage, brain fog, body pains, constant weakness and fatigue (among other things) it has now been found to cause brain damage, by shrinking the brain. Here's the latest research..

(Image: Main parts of a brain. Credit: Hopkins Medicine) 

Brain shrinkage linked to COVID-19 

By Nicoletta Lanese, LIVESCIENCE 3-7-22

A huge study linked COVID-19 to brain atrophy and damage

COVID-19 may shrink the brain's gray matter, primarily in areas of the brain involved in smell and memory processing, a large study suggests.

These distinct changes in brain structure crop up in both people who required hospitalization for COVID-19 and those who had less severe infections, according to the study, published March 7 in the journal Nature. And the tissue loss and damage seen in these study participants was "above and beyond" the structural brain changes that normally occur with age, said Jessica Bernard, a neuroscientist and associate professor at Texas A&M University, who was not involved in the study.

"This definitely is statistically, reliably, above and beyond that," said Bernard, who studies how normal age-related brain changes affect people's ability to think and move.

The new research included data from 785 people, ages 51 to 81, who previously contributed brain scans to the U.K. Biobank, a repository of brain imaging data from more than 45,000 U.K. residents. Of these participants, 401 had a known COVID-19 infection sometime between March 2020 and April 2021; of these, 15, or about 4%, were hospitalized for their infections.

The remaining 384 participants had not caught COVID-19 but closely matched the infected participants in terms of age, sex and COVID-19 risk factors, such as whether they smoked or had diabetes, for instance. These participants tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and/or had no record of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 from primary care, hospital records or a diagnostic test, and they served as a control group. All the participants underwent a second brain scan for the study, so the researchers could pinpoint how and where their brains differed from their initial Biobank scans, taken around three years prior.

"The real power of the U.K. Biobank is that they do have pre- and post-infection imaging," meaning they essentially have "before" and "after" snapshots of the participants' brains, said Dr. Jennifer Frontera, a professor in the department of neurology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and neurologist at NYU Langone Health, who was not involved in the study.

To peer inside the participants' brains, the team used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a technique that uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to generate images of soft tissues in the body. In the infected group, participants caught COVID-19 about 4.5 months prior to their second scan, on average. These MRI scans revealed distinct patterns of shrinkage in the brains of people who caught COVID-19; the damage was more extensive and occurred in different regions than the normal changes that show up in people who never caught the virus.

Compared with the control group, the infected group showed greater tissue loss in specific regions of the cerebral cortex, the wrinkled outer surface of the brain. One region, called the orbitofrontal cortex, sits just above the eye sockets, receives signals from brain areas involved in sensation, emotion and memory and plays an important role in decision-making. The other, known as the parahippocampal gyrus, surrounds the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped structure in the middle of the brain that's important for encoding new memories.

Shrinkage was most pronounced in these areas, but the infected group also showed a greater reduction in overall brain size than the control group, the authors reported. The team also uncovered tissue damage in brain areas connected to the primary olfactory cortex, a bulbous structure that receives sensory information from scent-detecting neurons in the nose.

"Certainly they're showing, particularly, the areas that are involved in memory encoding being affected, and connections to the olfactory cortex and the limbic system being involved," Frontera said; the limbic system is involved in emotional behavior, learning and memory.

On average, the infected group showed 0.2% to 2% greater tissue loss and damage over the course of about three years, compared with the control group. To put that in context, estimates suggest that aging adults lose about 0.2% to 0.3% of their gray matter in regions related to memory each year, according to a 2021 report in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, so additional loss beyond that would be out of the ordinary.

BOTTOM LINE: The study authors agree that this loss of sensory information could potentially explain the observed damage. Alternatively, it's possible that the coronavirus may directly infect the brain, or that the virus may set off an inflammatory immune response that damages the brain indirectly, they suggested in their report.

NOW See it on-line! The entire Parthenon frieze !

For those of us who are fascinated by architecture and history, a frieze is a broad horizontal band of sculpted or painted decoration, especially on a wall near the ceiling. WHen we visited Greece in September 2021, we struggled to look at the images sculpted on the Parthenon's frieze. Now, thanks to the Acropolis museum, you can check it out on-line. The link is at the end of the story below. Here's the story from Greece's news source, Ekathimerini-com: 

(Image: Tom and Rob at the Parthenon Sept. 2021 -you can see how far away it is and how difficult it would be to see the frieze in detail! Credit: R.G.)

The Entire Parthenon Frieze Now On-line 

Duncan Howitt-Marshall02.03.2022 Ekathimerini-com (Greece)

The Acropolis Museum is now showing a synthesis of the entire Parthenon frieze, the 160 meter-long relief sculpture that adorned the upper part of the inner temple (cella), in an upgraded version of the web application www.parthenonfrieze.gr.

The iconic frieze, sculpted between c. 443 and 437 BC, depicts the Great Panathenaia, a religious festival that celebrated the birth of the Athena, patron goddess of ancient Athens. Made of Pentelic marble and depicting 378 figures and 245 animals, the high relief sculpture originally encircled the four sides of the cella, starting in the southwest corner.

Today, 128 meters of the original frieze survives, with the majority of the blocks (75 meters) on display at the British Museum in London. The remainder is at the Acropolis Museum in Athens (50 meters), while one block is on display in the Louvre and several fragments are in museum collections across Europe.

Available in Greek and English, the upgraded version of the app incorporates a series of new functions, enhancing user experience, and is fully accessible through mobile phones, laptops and computers. Developed in collaboration with the Acropolis Restoration Service and the National Center for Documentation and Electronic Content, it gathers together photographs and descriptions of all the blocks on display at the Acropolis Museum and abroad. Missing sections have been filled by the drawings of Jacques Carrey (1674) and James “Athenian” Stuart (1751), in order to give the fullest possible picture of the frieze.

The new app gives the general public unfettered digital access to this profoundly important collection of ancient Greek art. Well organized and user friendly, the app presents the historical context of the frieze, its general design and construction, and allows users to explore individual blocks on the four sides of the temple, or take six thematic tour of its scenes.

The app also features an in-depth guide to the Parthenon, presenting architectural drawings and diagrams, and short videos. To use the app, CLICK HERE: https://www.parthenonfrieze.gr/en/?sn=0

New Research: Stonehenge was a solar calendar

For a long time, Modern man has been trying to figure out the significance of England's Stonehenge site. New research by a prehistorian has determined it's a calendar based on the position of the sun during Earth's seasons. Here's the story from BBC News.

(Image: Stonehenge is one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/OPERARIUS)

Stonehenge was a solar calendar, according to research 

By Chloe Harcombe BBC West, March 2, 2022

The sun is framed by the same stones during every solstice A new study suggests that Stonehenge once served as a solar calendar.

Research showed the stones were added about 2500BC and remained in the same formation, indicating they worked as a single unit such as a calendar.

Professor Timothy Darvill said the Wiltshire stone circle's layout served as a physical representation of the year. He said the research indicated "the site was a calendar based on a tropical solar year of 365.25 days".

Although the origins of the site remain a mystery, in a paper published in the journal Antiquity, Prof Darvill deduced that the stones are displayed to represent a solar year of 365.25 days and were once used to help people keep track of time. His analysis also includes new finds about the site's history, along with analysis of other ancient calendar systems.

The prehistorian, who works at Bournemouth University, said that "the clear solstitial alignment of Stonehenge has prompted people to suggest that the site included some kind of calendar since the antiquarian William Stukeley." Now, discoveries brought the issue into sharper focus and indicate the site was a calendar based on a tropical solar year of 365.25 days."

The significance of the layout is highlighted during the Winter and Summer solstices, when the sun is framed by the same stones every time. The solstitial alignment helps to calibrate the calendar and any errors would be easily detectable as the sun would be in the wrong place during the biannual event.

Professor Darvill said: "The proposed calendar works in a very straightforward way. Each of the 30 stones in the sarsen circle represents a day within a month, itself divided into three weeks each of 10 days."

The solar calendar was developed in eastern Mediterranean countries after 3000BC and adopted in Egypt as the Civil Calendar around 2700BC. It was widely used around 2600BC, at the start of the Old Kingdom. This information raises the possibility that the calendar that Stonehenge tracks may be influenced by other cultures.

Idiot of the Week: Man tried to break into Zoo tiger enclosure

This week's idiot seemed to have a death wish. A Massachusetts man  allegedly tried to break into a Zoo tiger enclosure was ordered to stay away from zoo. In the past, idiots like this actually broke into tiger enclosures, and the tigers attacked and were killed for being tigers (click link for other story).  No tiger should ever die because of a stupid human who doesn't respect their space. Here's the story about this idiot.

Man tried to break into Zoo tiger enclosure

By Susannah SudboroughBoston.com February 22, 2022

Matthew Abraham, 24, who is alleged to have tried to break into the Franklin Park Zoo tiger enclosure Monday morning, was arraigned Tuesday in Dorchester District Court.

The judge ordered Abraham to stay away from the zoo while the case is pending, The Boston Globe reported.

According to State Police, Abraham climbed over several fences and ignored signage saying he was in a non-public area to get near the tigers. He was confronted and detained by zoo security until police arrived, and neither he nor the tiger were harmed.

Police said he was evaluated by Boston EMS and determined to be mentally competent. He reportedly told police he was simply “very interested in tigers.”

(Image: Matthew Abraham and a tiger at Franklin Park Zoo. Credit; Daily Mail) 

Later on Monday, Abraham, who is reportedly a biology student at Worcester State University, gave a bizarre and conflicting interview to WBZ-TV. The news channel reported that he told them the zoo gates were open, that he didn’t realize he was trespassing, and that he wasn’t trying to get close to the tigers.

During the interview, he also said he was trying to get close enough to see “the eye of the tiger.”

Abraham pled not guilty to misdemeanor trespassing and breaking and entering charges and was released on personal recognizance bail, according to the Globe.

Good People of the week: Duxbury firefighters rescue dog that fell through ice

Firefighters are such incredible people. Here's another story of a brave batch of firefighters who braved icy cold waters in Massachusetts to save a dog that accidentally fell through thin ice. Here's the rescue story:

(Image: A Duxbury firefighter rescued the dog from the frigid water. Credit: DUXBURY FIRE DEPARTMENT) 

Duxbury, Mass. firefighters rescue dog that fell through ice 

By Deanna Schwartz, The Boston Globe March 6, 2022

Duxbury firefighters came to the rescue of a dog Saturday afternoon that fell through the ice in a river off of Chandler Street, according to the department.

Tukka, a labradoodle, escaped from his nearby yard around 2 p.m. and accidentally fell through the ice. A person who witnessed the incident called the fire department. A firefighter wearing a survival suit went into the frigid water and successfully rescued the dog.

Helping Heroes- As the tanks rolled into Ukraine, so did malware. Then Microsoft entered the war.

Microsoft did something pretty amazing and heroic. As Russian hackers tried to take down systems in Ukraine, Microsoft caught onto it and blocked the hacker's efforts! Here's the story:

As the tanks rolled into Ukraine, so did malware. Then Microsoft entered the war.

By David E. Sanger, Julian E. Barnes and Kate Conger, New York Times Service 

March 1, 2022 | 7:52 AM

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, Feb. 23, a few hours before Russian tanks began rolling into Ukraine, alarms went off inside Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Center, warning of a never-before-seen piece of “wiper” malware that appeared aimed at the country’s government ministries and financial institutions.

Within three hours, Microsoft threw itself into the middle of a ground war in Europe — from 5,500 miles away. The threat center, north of Seattle, had been on high alert, and it quickly picked apart the malware, named it “FoxBlade” and notified Ukraine’s top cyberdefense authority. Within three hours, Microsoft’s virus detection systems had been updated to block the code, which erases — “wipes” — data on computers in a network.

Then Tom Burt, the senior Microsoft executive who oversees the company’s effort to counter major cyberattacks, contacted Anne Neuberger, the White House’s deputy national security adviser for cyber- and emerging technologies. Neuberger asked if Microsoft would consider sharing details of the code with the Baltics, Poland and other European nations, out of fear that the malware would spread beyond Ukraine’s borders, crippling the military alliance or hitting West European banks.

Before midnight in Washington, Neuberger had made introductions — and Microsoft had begun playing the role that Ford Motor Co. did in World War II, when the company converted automobile production lines to make Sherman tanks.

President Joe Biden’s aides often note that it was a private firm — Mandiant — that found the “SolarWinds” attack 15 months ago, in which one of Russia’s most cybersavvy intelligence agencies, the SVR, infiltrated network management software used by thousands of U.S. government agencies and private businesses. That gave the Russian government unfettered access.

Such attacks have given Russia a reputation as one of the most aggressive, and skilled, cyberpowers. But the surprise of recent days is that Russia’s activity in that realm has been more muted than expected, researchers said.

“If Russia pursues cyberattacks against our companies, our critical infrastructure, we are prepared to respond,” Biden said.. FULL STORY: https://www.boston.com/news/technology/2022/03/01/as-the-tanks-rolled-into-ukraine-so-did-malware-then-microsoft-entered-the-war/?p1=recirc_mostpopular

Miami Herald: Republicans have a white-supremacy problem.

For those who don't watch the news, or see what their congresspeople are doing outside of Capitol Hill, a couple of them decided to appear at, speak at, and support a White Supremacy Conference in Florida in February. The Miami Herald noted that the Republican party now seems to embrace white nationalists, because the party isn't doing anything to stop this "support." Not only white nationalists- these republicans also seem to support Putin (as Trump does). Remember this in November when you vote; The Republican Party supports White Nationalists and Putin. Doesn't sound good,does it? Here's the Miami Herald editorial...

EDITORIALS

Republicans have a white-supremacy problem. But they don’t seem to think they do

A white nationalist conference in Orlando last weekend featured two Republican members of the U.S. Congress. That should shock us. And the GOP should rush to condemn it. But did it? Well, sort of.

The guy running the event, America First leader Nick Fuentes, is a white supremacist, according to the Anti-Defamation League, and a Putin enthusiast. Yet Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, smiling and enthusiastic, took the stage as the star attraction after he introduced her. Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, who attended the same conference last year, appeared by video. Fuentes, in a speech to the crowd, noted that Vladimir Putin had been compared to Hitler, and then laughed and added: “They say it’s not a good thing.“ Then he asked for a round of applause for Russia.

This happened just down the road from a different grievance-filled, right-wing conference also held in Orlando last weekend: the Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC. The leaders of the Republican Party were there, including Donald Trump. Where was the clear and unequivocal rejection of the America First Political Action Conference and all it stands for? A handful of Republicans spoke out. Rep. Liz Cheney, of Wyoming, tweeted that the “silence by Republican Party leaders is deafening and enabling. All Americans should renounce this garbage and reject the Putin wing of the GOP now.”

‘BIZARRO WORLD’

Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger — who, like Cheney, has been marginalized by Republicans for criticizing Trump — tweeted that, “If this was not bizarro world” Greene should be the one “censured and excommunicated from the GOP.” Utah Sen. Mitt Romney agreed with Cheney in a TV appearance Sunday on CNN, saying “There’s no place in either political party for this white nationalism or racism. It’s simply wrong.” 

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Greene of “playing footsie” with Fuentes’ “splinter group,” saying that, ”Associating with anti-Semitic neo-Nazis is not consistent with the conservative values I’ve defended for decades.” Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, addressed the issue, though not exactly head-on or by name: “White supremacy, neo-Nazism, hate speech and bigotry are disgusting and do not have a home in the Republican Party,” she told the Washington Post.

Greene, who also attended CPAC, claimed later that she didn’t know what Fuentes’ group stood for when she spoke at the event. She defended her attendance by saying she wanted to reach a young audience. She even threw in a Putin-is-bad comment.

The Republican Party has a white-supremacy problem. Every time a Gosar or a disingenuous Greene attends an event like the America First conference, it gains a little more of a foothold. That “deafening” silence from those of whom we expect better says that the party is OK with extremists’ bigotry. And all the tweets in the world don’t do a thing to fix it.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article258881053.html#storylink=cpy

Book Review - Haunted Florida- More Strange than Haunted

 Some friends of ours were vacationing in Florida back in 2013 and sent us a book called "Haunted Florida: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Sunshine State." It has been in my book basket since then (yes, 9 years) and I finally decided to give it a read. I have to admit, that because there was nothing personal in it, and I was expecting more hauntings than weird stories. 

   Having written several of my own paranormal books and all were based on my experiences, I was expecting that the authors may have had some of their own experiences and included them in the book. That wasn't the case. There were no personal experiences. All of these stories were researched and summarized from other sources (the Bibliography section was two full pages). That was disappointing to me. In fact, I don't know why they wrote the book - because there's nothing in it that indicates any fascination with the paranormal. That was missing in the introduction. 

One author had previously written about Florida history, which explains the historic detail in the book (which was very good, but at times very, very detailed), and the other had written a self-help book. The historian author obviously did her research and was good at it nad has written other books, strictly about Florida history.

  The book seemed to me to be more about weird phenomena and possible ghost sightings. Although there were a couple of stories that really stood out as bizarre- like a 50-something man who married the "angel" he's been looking for, and when she died he removed her body from the mausoleum he built for her and brought her corpse in his house. That was bizarre - not a ghost story, just a story of a mentally ill man obsessed with someone. 

 The book is organized by area of the state, which makes it easier to find stories in each region, but if you're planning to use it to go "ghost hunting" or look for haunted places, you may not find it the best resource. 

Science: Why aren't there polar bears in Antarctica?

 There are no penguins in the Arctic (north pole) but there are polar bears. Conversely, there are no polar bears in the Antarctic (south pole) where the penguins live. Here's a story that explains why there are no polar bears in the Antarctic!

(Image: A male polar bear prowls the snowy Alaska coast at Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photo By/Credit: Eric Regehr/USFWS)

Why aren't there polar bears in Antarctica? 

By JoAnna Wendel LIVE SCIENCE March 22, 2022

Most bears live in the Northern Hemisphere; polar bears are no exception.

The Arctic and Antarctica, while similar habitats in some ways, are home to very different creatures. Both poles host a variety of seal and whale species, but only the Arctic is home to Earth's largest bear, the polar bear.

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and their tumbly cubs can be found around the Arctic Circle in Alaska, Canada, Greenland (part of Denmark), Norway, Russia and, occasionally, Iceland. A polar bear's fur is specially suited for temperatures that can dip below minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 30 degrees Celsius). They live on ice for most of their lives, feeding on fat-rich seals that keep them energized for long periods between meals.

Antarctica also has sea ice, cold temperatures and seals. So why aren't there any polar bears on the southernmost continent? The answer has to do with evolution and the geologic history of Earth.

"Bears are largely a Northern Hemisphere phenomenon," said Andrew Derocher, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Alberta in Canada who has studied polar bears for nearly 40 years. Aside from the Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus) of South America, bears appear only in the Northern Hemisphere. There's no specific reason for this, just that some species evolve in some places and some don't. "Biogeography is full of oddities," Derocher said. "Some species made it to new places and some didn't."

For polar bears specifically, there was never a time in their evolutionary history when the North and South poles were connected by ice (or land, for that matter). People say polar bears are the "biggest terrestrial carnivore in the world, and yet they're not a terrestrial species at all," Derocher told Live Science. The big, white bears live on sea ice for almost their entire lives, only occasionally coming ashore to breed.

Polar bears are, evolutionarily, a relatively young species. They evolved from a common ancestor of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) sometime between 5 million and 500,000 years ago, Derocher said. But even 5 million years ago, the continents were in similar positions to where they are today, so polar bears never got the opportunity to travel from pole to pole. The closest landmass to Antarctica is the southern tip of South America, which includes Chile and Argentina. To get to Antarctica, polar bears would have to cross the treacherous Drake Passage. The area is also known for powerful storms and rough seas as cold water from the south runs into warm water from the north. 

 Originally published on Live Science.

An Italian Bear Bakery Bandit!

Roccaraso is a town in central Italy, in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region. Recently it's become known for a burglarizing bear who loves cookies! Here's the story of the Bear Bakery Bandit!

(Image; Juan Carrito walks the town of Roccaraso. Credit: UK Metro News)

Rare brown bear famed for midnight feast after bakery break-in has been captured

Kirsten Robertson Metro UK News Tuesday 8 Mar 2022  

A bear named Juan Carrito, with a history of breaking into bakeries in Italy and stealing biscuits has been captured Taken without permission Juan the bear, who enjoys walks through the town of Roccaraso, is behind bars following the bakery break in A two-year-old bear has been captured after a short-lived life of crime across an Italian town.

The animal, who locals named Juan Carrito, had become something of a local celebrity in the ski resort town of Roccaraso.

He was frequently spotted swigging out of public water fountains, playing with local dogs and even sampling delights from people’s bins. The bear would even abide by the rules of the road – in one video he can be seen waiting at a stop sign during an evening stroll. His name translates to ‘John Wheelbarrow.’

In December, Juan ransacked a bakery in the centre of town. He gobbled an entire afternoon’s worth of biscuits before fleeing to the forest – leaving a trail of crumbs and metal trays in his wake. Juan’s biscuit heist was ultimately one step too far, and sealed his fate as a menace to society in the eyes of the law.

The outlaw bear was tranquilised and banished to a remote area of the Abruzzo national park. But the bemused bear simply walked back to Roccaraso. As a result, the authorities made the difficult decision to capture the two-year-old once again. Juan has now been taken to an enclosure for ‘problem’ animals in the Palena bear reserve in the province of Chieti.

Lucio Zazzara, the president of the Maiella national park, told the Guardian: ‘The intervention was necessary to protect the bear and keep it away from potentially dangerous situations and, in general, from an environment where it has been feeding almost exclusively on waste for too long.

‘Now the priority is to work on its return to nature by implementing the procedures that will enable this to happen.’

Hundreds have signed a petition against the bear’s capture. ‘Juan Carrito never harmed anyone,’ maintains Luigi Liberatore, the Roccaraso resident who started the petition.

Juan is a marsican brown bear, of which there are only 50 left in the wild. Their numbers have reduced as a result of road accidents and deliberate

DISCOVERY! 'Frozen in place' fossils reveal dinosaur-killing asteroid struck in spring

Paleontologists have known for some time about the dinosaur extinction event cause by a large asteroid that slammed into the Gulf of Mexico, but now they've even pinpointed the time of year it happened - Springtime in the northern Hemisphere. Here's the incredible story from LIVESCIENCE.

 

(Image: JOSCHUA KNÜPPE Image caption, Artwork: Tanis was overcome by huge waves of water set in train by unimaginable earth tremors/BBC NEWS)

'Frozen in place' fossils reveal dinosaur-killing asteroid struck in spring 

By Mindy Weisberger LIVE SCIENCE, 2/23/22

Clues to the season of impact lingered in delicate fish fossils.

 Spring is a time for budding flowers, tender green leaves and baby animals. But 66 million years ago, that gentle season instead brought mass death and carnage from Earth's catastrophic impact with a massive space rock.

Earth was forever changed after an enormous asteroid smashed into our planet at the end of the Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago), triggering a global extinction that wiped out 76% of life on Earth, including all nonavian dinosaurs, pterosaurs and most marine reptiles. Scientists recently pinpointed the season of the disaster and linked it to springtime in the Northern Hemisphere, after analyzing fossilized animals that died minutes after the impact.

They found the fossils at a site called Tanis, where a river once flowed through what is now North Dakota. After the asteroid struck near Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, the shock sent powerful waves roaring upstream toward Tanis, sweeping up fish and forest creatures and burying them alive under layers of soil. When the water subsided, it left behind an astonishingly well preserved 3D snapshot of destruction, captured within 30 minutes after the asteroid struck, the researchers reported in a new study. Fossils of those filter-feeding fish also held clues about their seasonal growth cycles, hinting that spring had sprung when the fish died and the dinosaurs' reign abruptly ended.

(Image: SPL

Image caption,

Artwork: The asteroid hit  , what is now the Gulf of Mexico but its effects were global. BBC News) 

The moment of mass, instantaneous death preserved in Tanis, with broken and splintered fish fossils wrapped around tree branches and strewn in all directions, "was like the worst car crash you've ever seen, frozen in place," said lead study author Melanie During, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Organismal Biology at Uppsala University in Sweden. It was also "the most spectacular deposit I've ever seen in my life," During said at a news conference on Feb. 22.

During excavated Cretaceous fish at Tanis in August 2017, spending two weeks digging out fossils of paddlefish and sturgeons. Fish skeletons — even after fossilizing — retain records of an animal's growth, which depends on seasonal food availability. By mapping these patterns in bone cell growth and density, the scientists hoped to identify which part of the growth cycle the Tanis fish had reached when they died, which could indicate what time of year it was.

The study authors scanned the fossils using synchrotron X-ray imaging, nondestructively imaging and reconstructing the fossils in 3D. They found tiny glass balls called spherules embedded in the fishes' gills; these small spheres fused from ultrahot sediments when the asteroid struck and ejected towering plumes of dirt from the impact crater. Particles flew into Earth's atmosphere and beyond and then rained back down on the planet as glassy beads. 

 Other researchers who studied Tanis' Cretaceous death pit calculated that impact spherules would have fallen between 15 and 30 minutes after the asteroid crashed into Earth. Because spherules were in the fishes' gills but had not been swallowed, the fish were likely buried alive immediately after inhaling the glassy beads — within 30 minutes after the asteroid impact, according to the new study.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE: https://www.livescience.com/dinosaur-killing-asteroid-spring-impact