recent+news

Here you will find some recent news that is about us or something like that, and some interesting danger thingy news. All people may put some news on,

recent news

=Zapping the Brain Improves Math Skills=

By applying electrical current to the brain, researchers can enhance a person's mathematical ability for up to six months.
//It's barely enough to light a light bulb, but passing a very mild current of electricity through the brain can turn on a metaphorical light bulb in a person's brain.// //Scientists from the University of Oxford have shown that they can improve a person's math abilities for up to six months. The research could help treat the nearly 20 percent of the population with moderate to severe dyscalculia (math disability), and could probably aid students in other subjects as well.// //"I am certainly not advising people to go around giving themselves electric shocks," said Roi Cohen Kadosh, a scientist at the University of Oxford and a co-author of a new paper. "But we are extremely excited by the potential of our findings."// //The UK scientists used a method known as transcranial direct current stimulation, or TDCS. This non-invasive technique involves passing electricity through the skull to increase or decrease the activity of neurons, usually for less than 15 minutes.// //The amount of electricity is tiny, so small that most patients don't even know it is happening. In fact, many scientists were initially skeptical it would have any effect at all, said Jim Stinear, Director of the Neuralplasticity Laboratory at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.// //For this experiment the scientists directed the current into the brain's parietal lobe, which is involved in number processing. Instead of learning familiar Arabic numerals, however, the scientists had the participants learn a new series of symbols that represented numbers. Then, while their brains were being stimulated, they tested the participants ability to organize those numbers.// //Patients who were on TDCS showed an improved ability to order the numbers.// //The electric current makes it subtly easier or more difficult to stimulate a particular group of nerves, depending on the needs of the researchers and the patient. For example, if researchers want to make it easier for a patient to learn, then the nerves will fire more readily.// //Other studies have shown that TDCS can improve a variety of brain functions, from pain management to rehabilitation after traumatic events, said Jim Stinear, Director of the Neuralplasticity Laboratory at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. But what is "really remarkable," about this new research is how long the effects lasted: six months.// //If TDCS can improve number processing in normal people, it should be able to improve number processing in people who have lower than normal number processing skills, and that's who the Oxford scientists will be testing next. TDCS should be able to improve other types of learning, such as language, as long as they are near the surface of the brain.// //Structures like the hippocampus, which are buried under entire lobes of the brain, are likely beyond the reach of TDCS, said Cohen Kadosh.// //While the Oxford scientists don't advocate plugging yourself into a wall socket, they do eventually hope to create a device that will provide an appropriate amount of electrical current to the brain, and have filed a patent on such a device.// //Such a device won't instantly make you better at math, help you recover from a stroke faster, or manage pain better, said Stinear. Anybody using a device will still have to put in a significant amount of effort.// //Drawing a parallel between a popular stimulant, Stinear said that coffee can help you wake up,but if you just sit on the couch you still aren't being productive. The same goes for TDCS.// //"Electrical stimulation will most likely not turn you into Albert Einstein," said Kadosh, "but if we're successful it might be able to help some people to cope better with math."// //=//

=

=Are Video Games Art?=

//Video games have come a long way since the days of "Space Invaders" and "Pong." Today, gamers plug into fully realized artificial worlds full of aesthetically pleasing and challenging imagery. But is it really art?//

//Roger Ebert ignited a great deal of public debate on the issue in 2006, by insisting that video games could never be considered art. Since that time, the famous film critic has calmed his stance and now openly admits that video games can be considered art, even if they constitute an art form that he doesn't always "get."//

//"Video games obviously can be art," says game designer Jonathan Blow. "There's not any real debate on the matter anymore, and there never really has been."//

//Blow, who created the independent art game "Braid," argues that any perceived debate on the matter actually boils down to differing individual opinion and an overall shift in popular perception.// //"By no means will all video games ever be works of art," Harvey says. "This is not necessary. We have a perfectly fine category for most of them: games. Maybe our society should re-evaluate games. Games shouldn't have to be considered art to be culturally respected."// //**Related Links:**//


 * [|**Virtual Reality Helps Smokers Kick the Habit**]
 * [|**Athletes Use 3D Imaging to Improve Their Game**]
 * [|**How Video Games Work**]
 * [|**How Becoming a Video Game Designer Works**]
 * [|**How Art Works**]

Yet Samyn and Harvey insist that video games increasingly are developing into a true medium of artistic expression.

//"We believe video games will become the artistic medium of the new century," says Samyn. "Not due to their origins as games, but thanks to their enormous capacity for new forms of representation, engagement of the audience and even storytelling. Forms that, in our opinion, fit much better with our multifaceted contemporary society than linear media such as print, television or cinema -- or even fine art painting, sculpture or installations."//

//**Authors and Designers**// //Samyn and Harvey stress that video games are a medium in need of more artistic authors (as opposed to mere designers). Jonathan Blow, on the other hand, urges balance.//

//"What I want is for a game to be interesting," Blow says. "Most mainstream games made following 'good game design practices' are not interesting to someone who has played a lot of games, so I don't play those. Lots of games that try too hard to be art, and follow poor game design practices, also are not interesting, so I don't play those either. But some games are actually good."//

//In closing, perhaps it's best to consider another melding of art and gaming. In 1964, Marcel Duchamp commissioned a chess set from surrealist Salvador Dali for the American Chess Federation. Perhaps game pieces modeled after fingers, teeth and saltshakers aren’t really your thing, but you'll currently find the set displayed in Atlanta's High Museum of Art.//

//If security were to remove the protective glass, you could also play chess with it.// //**Looking to Modern Art**// //As Tale of Tales game designers Michael Samyn and Auriea Harvey like to point out, the situation is very similar to that of modern art.//

//"Modernist artists have made works with cars, chairs, shoes, books, toys and even air," says Samyn. "So we shouldn't doubt that an artist can make a work of art with video games. The crucial thing to keep in mind, however, is that a baker is not an artist. A bread only becomes a work of art when an artist has used it for this purpose."//

//So while 2005's "Shadow of the Colossus" is often touted as an example of a mainstream art game, no one is arguing that "Madden NFL 2005" was anything but a video game.//

//Not that there's anything wrong with that.//

=Early Feathers Too Weak for Flight= ==Poor flight ability suggests that early birds lived in trees and would launch themselves off branches in order to glide.== THE GIST


 * Animals once thought to be the first fliers may only have been able to glide.
 * Analysis of recent fossil discoveries shows that their feathers were likely too weak for flapping flight.
 * It is unclear whether early birds had hollow feathers like their modern counterparts.

//This illustration is a reconstruction of the earliest known bird, Archaeopteryx.//
 * [[image:http://news.discovery.com/animals/2010/05/13/feathers-flying-278x225.jpg caption="Archaeopteryx"]] ||
 * Archaeopteryx ||

Todd Marshall //The early bird -- didn't fly very well.// //Recent fossil discoveries that showed feathers on some of the early flying animals, like the well-known// Archaeopteryx//, created a bit of a flap in the archaeological world.// //And now comes a report that those feathers may have been too weak for use in flapping flight -- helpful only for gliding.// //Robert L. Nudds and Gareth J. Dyke report in Friday's edition of the journal// Science //that the central shaft of feathers on// Archaeopteryx //and// Confuciusornis //were much more slender than on feathers of similar-sized birds today.// Archaeopteryx //flourished about 145 million years ago and// Confuciusornis //came along later, about 120 million years ago.// //[|**WATCH VIDEO: From a tiny, tough guy T. rex to a mummified duck-billed dino, take a look at these stories and more in these dinosaur videos.**]// //**Related Links:**//
 * [[image:http://news.discovery.com/videos/2010/dinosaurs.jpg width="278" height="155" caption="dinosaurs" link="http://news.discovery.com/videos/discovery-news-dinosaurs/"]] ||
 * dinosaurs ||


 * [|**New Tyrannosaur Had More Teeth Than T. Rex**]
 * [|**Mohawk Dino's Colors Revealed**]
 * [|**HowStuffWorks.com: Dinosaur Discoveries in the U.S. and Canada**]
 * [|**T. Rex-like Fossil Forces Dino Evolution Re-Think**]

//Unfortunately, researchers cannot tell from the fossils if the feather shafts were hollow, like modern birds, or were solid.// //If their feathers were hollow the thin shafts would have buckled like a drinking straw if the animals had tried vigorous flapping, according to Nudds, of England's University of Manchester, and Dyke, of University College, Dublin, Ireland.// //"If solid, the feathers would have snapped off," Nudds said.// //"Some thrust generation by these fossil birds cannot be discounted, but the vigorous flapping flight of modern birds is highly unlikely," the researchers concluded.// //Nudds said poor flight ability suggests that the early birds lived in trees and would launch in order to glide to another tree. If they landed on the ground, they could clamber back up to gain height for their next glide.// //"If// Archaeopteryx //and// Confuciusornis //were arboreal dwellers, which is suggested by my data, then it also suggests that avian flight originated in the trees and not on the ground," he said.// //"Fossil wings that superficially resemble those of existing birds don't necessarily indicate flapping flight ability," concluded Nudds, who added that the origin of avian flapping flight is likely to be more recent than previously thought.//

=Most Fat Dinosaurs Didn't Chew= //A few months ago we told you about a toothy new dinosaur that gulped down its food whole without chewing. Now new details about this ultimate dinosaur fast food lifestyle are coming in. They help to explain why some dinosaurs grew to become so tall, long and fat.// //Research in the journal// Biological Reviews //presents a common sense bit of truth: The larger an animal is, the more time it spends eating. Elephants, for example, spend 18 hours per day satisfying their voracious appetites.// //"This led us to one of the many riddles that gigantism of dinosaurs puts before us," said the University of Bonn's Martin Sander, who worked on the new dinosaur research. "(The dinosaurs) were just so large that a day would have had to have 30 hours so that they were able to meet their energy demands."// //(Sander next to sauropod fossils; Credit: Frank Luerweg, Universität Bonn)// //Since dinosaurs couldn't add hours to their daily schedule, they evolved their ability to gulp down food whole. Chewing involves a more sophisticated process, since it allows food to digest faster. When you break food down into tiny bits with your teeth, the total surface area of what's swallowed increases, permitting digestive enzymes to more easily process the food.// //The main problem with chewing is that it requires a lot of time and energy. The largest sauropod plant eaters also had relatively small heads at the end of long necks. A skull permitting heavy muscle and bone, suitable for chewing, would not have worked well given such a body design. The large necks allowed the dinosaur giants to grab food with ease, instead of having to heave what was often an 80-ton body over the Jurassic savanna while looking for greens. A huge sauropod could have just stood still while moving only its neck to feed.// //Sander and his team discovered that a plant called horsetail was good eats for many sauropods. The scientists determined horsetails would have been extremely nutritious for dinosaurs. Few animals dine on these plants today, however. One reason is that horsetails really do a number on teeth. They contain a lot of silicate, which acts like sandpaper. But if the consumer isn't chewing- no problem. Sauropods did have teeth, which helped with other functions, such as grabbing, and even these teeth fell out and were replaced monthly, according to the scientists.// //(Horsetails; Credit: Wikimedia Commons)// //The study further determined that dinosaur digestion probably took several days in the largest sauropods. The dinosaurs didn't suffer during this lengthy food processing period, however, because their enormous stomachs still provided them with enough round the clock energy.// //The scientists further say that sauropods possessed amazingly sophisticated lungs, which the researchers believe were far more effective than human lungs. The large number of air sacs that permeated the body cavity and vertebra of the dinosaurs played an important role in lung function. Combined with a complex system of valves, they ensured that a gas exchange could take place while breathing in as well as while breathing out. A handy side effect was that the sauropod neck got significantly lighter.//
 * [[image:http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef0133ed7a45cf970b-500pi caption="P5071688_LR" link="http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef0133ed7a45cf970b-pi"]] ||
 * P5071688_LR ||
 * [[image:http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef0133ed7a54c8970b-500pi caption="Equisetopsida" link="http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef0133ed7a54c8970b-pi"]] ||
 * Equisetopsida ||

//"In the history of species the lungs of today's birds and of the giant dinosaurs have the same origin," Sander said. "This effective air exchange principle was invented about 230 million years ago."// //During this prehistoric time, he explained that Earth passed through "an oxygen trough" when the concentration of oxygen was only 12 to 15 per cent, a third less than today. Being able to pick out the few oxygen molecules in the thin air rapidly and easily was an advantage, especially for fat dinosaurs that spent much of their day gulping down food.//

=Dinobird Chemistry Revealed=

//"Dinobird," a 150-million-year-old fossil for an animal that looked half dinosaur and half bird, has just yielded some important chemical clues, according to a study published today in the journal// Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences//.// //Extremely strong x-ray beams and other high tech equipment reveal that dinobird—//Archaeopteryx//—had dinosaur-like teeth but also features common to birds, such as feathers. What's more, the fossil retains the chemical components of those feathers, suggesting that fossilized feather material exists with the remains.// //The discovery could revolutionize the field of paleontology, according to the research team led by scientists at The University of Manchester and the U.S. Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. They've created maps showing the chemical elements that were part of the living animal itself.// //(// //False color Synchrotron Rapid Scanning X-ray Fluorescence detail map of// Archaeopteryx//. Color code is: Calcium-red, Zn-green, Mn-blue. Image created by W.I. Sellers from data collected at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource// //.)// //The feathers contain phosphorous and sulfur, elements that compose modern bird feathers. Trace amounts of copper and zinc were also found in the dinobird's bones. Like birds today,// Archaeopteryx //may have required those elements to stay healthy.// //University of Manchester palaeontologist Phil Manning said, "//Archaeopteryx //is to paleontology what Tutankhamen is to archaeology. It's simply one of the icons of our field. You would think after 150 years of study, we'd know everything we need to know about this animal. But guess what—we were wrong."// //(Another look at// Archaeopteryx//. This time, the Solnhofen Specimen, by some considered as belonging to the genus// Wellnhoferia; //Credit: H. Raab)// //Lead author geochemist Roy Wogelius from The University of Manchester added, "We talk about the physical link between birds and dinosaurs, and now we have found a chemical link between them. In the fields of paleontology and geology, people have studied bones for decades. But this whole idea of the preservation of trace metals and the chemical remains of soft tissue is quite exciting."// //The researchers found significantly different concentrations of elements in the fossil than in the surrounding rock, confirming they are remnants of the dinobird and not leached from the surrounding rock into the fossil.//
 * [[image:http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef0133ed7614c4970b-500pi caption="10-01569large" link="http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef0133ed7614c4970b-pi"]] ||
 * 10-01569large ||
 * [[image:http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef013480a9b6d1970c-500pi caption="Archaeopteryx_lithographica_(Solenhofener_Specimen)" link="http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef013480a9b6d1970c-pi"]] ||
 * Archaeopteryx_lithographica_(Solenhofener_Specimen) ||

//SLAC physicist Uwe Bergmann, who led the X-ray scanning experiment, said, "People have never used a technique this sensitive on// Archaeopteryx //before. Because the SSRL beam is so bright, we were able to see the teeniest chemical traces that nobody thought were there."//

//CMW Institute researcher Bob Morton said, “The discovery that certain fossils retain the detailed chemistry of the original organisms offers scientists a new avenue for learning about long-extinct creatures."//

//Manning concluded, “I wouldn't be surprised if future excavations look more like CSI investigations where people look for clues at a scene of a crime. There's info that's still there that can't be seen with the naked eye. We can only see these valuable pieces of data using the x-ray vision that the synchrotron provides.”// //=// //=//

=Transylvania Dinosaur Dwarfs: More Evidence Found=

=One of my favorite stories to cover over the years at Discovery concerns the Transylvania dwarf dinosaurs. To recap, in 1895, the sister of an eccentric palaeontologist called Franz Baron Nopcsa discovered small dinosaur bones on their family estate in Transylvania. Nopcsa interpreted these as being the remains of dwarfed animals that had once lived on an island.=

//Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesTransylvania//


 * [[image:http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef013480578eb4970c-500pi caption="Dino1" link="http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef013480578eb4970c-pi"]] ||
 * Dino1 ||


 * [[image:http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef0133ed2755ad970b-500pi caption="Dino2" link="http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef0133ed2755ad970b-pi"]] ||
 * Dino2 ||

=Texas Has a New Toothy Pterosaur=

//The Dallas-Fort Worth skies were once dominated by// Aetodactylus halli, //a new toothy genus and species of pterosaur, according to a paper in the latest issue of the// Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. //The 95 million-year-old flying reptile, also known as a pterodactyl, lived during the Cretaceous Period when most other pterosaurs were toothless. As you can see in the below,// Aetodactylus halli //was an exception to that toothless trend.// //(Illustration by Karen Carr)// //It's one of the youngest members of the pterosaur family// Ornithocheiridae//, according to paleontologist Timothy Myers, who helped to identify and name// Aetodactylus halli//. It's only the second ornithocheirid ever documented in North America, says Myers, a postdoctoral fellow in the Huffington Department of Earth Sciences at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.// //When the pterosaur was alive, most of the Lone Star state was under water, covered by an immense ancient sea.// //Although the existing jaw for this species is missing most of its original teeth, the remains suggest// Aetodactylus halli //was an impressive biter, probably swooping down on prey mid-flight or over the water. The new species is five million years younger than the only other known North American ornithocheirid.// //(Credit: Southern Methodist University)// //The pterosaur is named after Lance Hall, a member of the Dallas Paleontological Society who hunts fossils for a hobby. Hall found the specimen in 2006 in North Texas. It was embedded in a soft, powdery shale exposed by excavation of a hillside next to a highway. The site was near the city of Mansfield, southwest of Dallas. Hall donated the specimen to Southern Methodist University, where the latest study took place.// //Pterosaurs were the earliest vertebrates capable of flying. As a group, they lived from around 200 million years ago until they, and the dinosaurs, went extinct 65 million years ago.// //Hall describes how he found the pterosaur's jaw bone in a geologic unit known as the Eagle Ford Group.// //"I was scanning the exposure and noticed what at first I thought was a piece of oyster shell spanning across a small erosion valley," Hall recalls of the discovery. "Only about an inch or two was exposed. I almost passed it up thinking it was oyster, but realized it was more tan-colored like bone. I started uncovering it and realized it was the jaw to something — but I had no idea what. It was upside down and when I turned over the snout portion it was nothing but a long row of teeth sockets, which was very exciting."// //Hall and his team estimate that the Texas pterosaur had a wingspan of about 9 feet, which is fairly modest for one of these Cretaceous flying reptiles. It was therefore medium-sized in comparison to others.// //The paleontologists believe Aetodactylus was flying over the sea, fell into the water, probably while fishing, and kicked the bucket. They're not sure why, but I'm guessing the target prey, or a wave, overcame the predator. The water at this site benefited science in the long run, however.// //"The ancient sea that covered Dallas provided the right conditions to preserve marine reptiles and other denizens of the deep, as well as the delicate bones of flying reptiles that fell from their flight to the water below," said Louis Jacobs, a professor in SMU's Huffington Department of Earth Sciences who also worked on the project.// //Jacobs added, "The rocks and fossils here record a time not well represented elsewhere in North America. That's why two species of ornithocheirids have been found here but nowhere else, and that's why discoveries of other new fossils are sure to be made by Lance Hall and other fossil lovers."//
 * [[image:http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef0133ed046024970b-800wi caption="21936_web" link="http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef0133ed046024970b-pi"]] ||
 * 21936_web ||
 * [[image:http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef013480341db2970c-800wi caption="21937_web" link="http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef013480341db2970c-pi"]] ||
 * 21937_web ||

=Solar-Powered Robot Swarm Could Clean Oil=

Oil-absorbing nanomaterial on a swarm of robots could clean up spills in record time.


[|enlarge] //One robot has the capacity to operate for weeks on just 100 watts of energy and absorb several gallons of oil per hour. [|Click to enlarge this image.]//
 * MIT researchers created a prototype for an autonomous ocean robot that collects oil.
 * A giant swarm of oil-absorbing robots working together could potentially clean the ocean's surface in the Gulf in a month.
 * The self-propelled solar-powered robots could work around the clock.

//In the future, a swarm of autonomous robots might be able to handle oil spill cleanup.// //That's the idea behind a new solar-powered robot prototype equipped with nanotechnology designed by researchers at MIT. They say that a giant swarm of these robots could be able to clean a Gulf of Mexico size area in one month.// //The robots, dubbed "[|Seaswarm]," are being developed at [|MIT’s Senseable City Lab], an initiative that focuses on sensors and handheld electronics in the built environment.// //At the start of the summer, the lab’s researchers were asked to present a new design at the international [|Biennale festival in Venice] demonstrating how nanotechnology could make a positive impact 40 years in the future. They came up with a robot that incorporates oil-absorbing nanomaterial created by visiting MIT professor Francesco Stellacci.// //“We believe that the efficiency and autonomy of these vehicles will make cleaning up future spills faster, safer and ultimately more successful,” said Assaf Biderman, associate director of the Senseable City Lab and a member of the Seaswarm team.// //Currently, oil skimmers usually need to be attached to large fuel-intensive ships, and they have to go ashore for maintenance several times a month. Plus, Biderman said, oil skimmers being used today have not had a design update in decades.// //The Seaswarm robot prototype is 16 feet long by 7 feet wide and weighs 35 pounds. Two square solar panels at the head propel the robot along the water’s surface. As it moves, a thin and flexible conveyor belt covered in oil-absorbing nanofabric rotates, selectively mops up oil.// //“We say these vehicles are autonomous because they provide their own energy, propel themselves along the surface of the ocean and therefore we don’t need humans to collect the oil,” Biderman said. “The oil goes into the head.”// //According to the lab, one vehicle has the potential to run for weeks on only 100 watts. One robot has the capacity to remove several gallons per hour, the lab said, and will come with a price tag between $10,000 and $20,000. The robot is also equipped with GPS and wireless communications so that it can convey its coordinates to other robots. If needed, humans could also operate one using a remote control.// //The researchers believe that a Seaswarm of between 5,000 and 10,000 autonomous robots working nonstop could cover a Gulf-sized surface area in a month’s time.// //“This robot shows how pervasive technology can be used to supercede what people have been able to accomplish on their own,” Biderman said.// //The lab is presenting its oil-absorbing robot at the Biennale festival in Venice starting this weekend. When they return to MIT, the researchers say they plan to continue working on the prototype, refining it.// //Tad Patzek, professor and chair of the Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Austin wonders whether advanced robots are the most effective solution to oil spills.// //"Collecting oil is a pretty low-tech enterprise," he said. "If you want to deploy hundreds of expensive machines to do that, I’m not so sure that it will scale up." Instead, he suggests that an imperfect, albeit fast-working approach might make a bigger difference.// //"Robotic strategies are intriguing, and they create further opportunity to consider responses in the future," said Ron Kendall, director of the Institute of Environmental and Human Health at Texas Tech University and professor of environmental toxicology. Although robots hold promise, Kendall cautions that they could have key limitations.// //Kendall said that much of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf entered the water column, which would present a serious challenge to robots that stay on the surface. He also compares the surface oil he saw in the Gulf to extremely sticky chocolate mousse. Even nonwoven material developed at Texas Tech that can absorb 40 times its weight in crude oil couldn’t handle the substance.// //“This demonstrates the need for new innovation in oil spill cleanup and remediation,” he said.// //While the lab currently has no plans to test their robot in the Gulf, they will be entering it into the [|X Prize Foundation’s] new $1.4 million challenge seeking new technologies and methods for oil cleanup.// //Lab director Carlo Ratti said that entering was an afterthought. “Winning is not as important as developing a vehicle that works and could be useful for future spills.”//

=Return to Hell: Scientists Ponder Future Venus Landing=

In oceans around the world, there has been a surprisingly large and extensive decline in phytoplankton -- the tiny algae that keep marine food webs afloat. The drifting green flecks have been dying off for at least a century, with a staggering 40 percent decline since 1950, according to a new study. Phytoplankton make up half of all plant matter around the globe, said marine ecologist Daniel Boyce, whose study appears this week in the journal //Nature//. Its disappearance threatens the stability of climate, the well-being of fisheries and the overall health of the oceans. "It's hard to really imagine phytoplankton could be so important because most people don't see them in their daily lives. They're microscopic and they live out at sea," said Boyce, of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. "But everything that happens to them affects the entire marine food chain, including us." Some recent satellite images have shown the ocean turning from green to blue as a result of phytoplankton declines, but those data stretch back only 13 years. Other studies have offered mixed results. To get a more accurate picture and to look further into the past, Boyce and colleagues collected a half-million measurements of ocean clarity from a public data set that dated back to 1899. Over the last century-plus, analyses showed, phytoplankton levels have dropped by one percent each year in eight out of 10 large ocean regions. The greatest decline occurred in areas around the poles, near the equator and in the open oceans. The rate of disappearance picked up after 1950, totaling a 40 percent drop-off since then. "It's really big," said David Siegel, a marine scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "I'm a little leery about how big that number is." The scientists can't yet say what's causing the mass die-off of phytoplankton, but temperature data offer a clue. The declines were worst in places where the surface of the sea has warmed the most. Warmer ocean water limits the amount of nutrients that can get from the depths to the surface. Phytoplankton need those nutrients to live. With less phytoplankton around, fish have less to eat. As the decline works its way up the food chain, fishermen will have less to catch and fish-eaters less to eat. Phytoplankton even affect climate by taking up carbon dioxide and absorbing heat. "Everyone looks at blue oceans and goes: 'Isn't that beautiful?'" Siegel said. "But a blue ocean is full of nothing. You really want something, and we're only making more of the blue ocean." =

=

='Psychic' Octopus Predicts Spain to Win=

The eight-legged oracle has become a World Cup sensation after correctly predicting all six of Germany's games.
THE GIST

enlarge The tentacled tipster went straight to the Spanish box, wrenched open the lid and gobbled the tasty morsel. Click to enlarge this image.
 * Spain will win its first World Cup, according to Paul the octopus.
 * The "psychic" octopus has drawn the attention -- and ire -- of soccer fans worldwide.
 * Paul also predicted that Germany would win its third-place play-off game against Uruguay.

//AP Photo// Let the fiesta begin. Spain will win the football World Cup for the first time in their history on Sunday, according to Paul, the "psychic" octopus with a perfect prediction record. The eight-legged oracle, who has become a World Cup sensation by correctly predicting all six Germany games, very quickly plumped for Spain on Friday carried live on national German television. Earlier, the two-year-old mollusk medium also said that Germany, his country of residence, would defeat Uruguay in the third-place play-off game on Saturday. In the now familiar routine, two boxes were lowered into his tank, each containing a mussel and the flags of the two opposing teams. The tentacled tipster went straight to the Spanish box, wrenched open the lid and gobbled the tasty morsel. But the art of football predicting has become a dangerous job for the English-born clairvoyant cephalopod with some bitter German fans threatening to turn him into sushi after he predicted a semi-final defeat for the German team. Paul's home, an aquarium in western Germany, has received death-threat emails saying "we want Paul for the pan," said entertainment supervisor Daniel Fey. "Since yesterday our colleagues have kept a very close eye on Paul," Fey added. No less an authority than Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero has hinted at octopus bodyguards. "I am concerned for the octopus. ... I am thinking of sending him a protective team," joked Zapatero on Radio Cadena Ser. Spanish Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian has called for the creature to be given an "immediate" free transfer to Spain to "ensure his protection." Stung by Paul's "treachery" at picking Spain over Germany in the semi-final, some sections of the 350,000-strong crowd watching the game on giant screens in Berlin sang anti-octopus songs. The honor of Paul's mother was called into question, according to witnesses. Friday's prediction is expected to be the last for Paul, who in octopus terms is a retiree, at the grand old age of two-and-a-half. Octopuses generally live three years at the latest. =

=Extinct 'Welded Beast' Found in Tennessee Swimming Pool= Remains of a probable //Gomphotherium//, aka "Welded Beast," were recently dug up at the site of a Tennessee swimming pool, according to a WHEC report, and other media sources. //Gomphotherium//, also called //Trilophodon//, //Tetrabelodon//, or //Serridentinus//, grew to about 9.8 feet tall and resembled a modern elephant. These animals are believed to have been widespread in the Americas 12 to 1.6 million years ago. The exact age of the Tennessee remains has yet to be determined. (//Gomphotherium productum//; Credit: Ryan Somma) The owner of the Tennessee property, Jim Leyden, received a memorable call alerting him to the fossil finds. Leyden had hired contractors to install a new swimming pool at his house. While crew members attempted to install a drain pipe, they came across what sounds like enormous jawbone fossils belonging to this species. The Memphis Pink Palace Museum took over digging up the bones, which will probably go on display at that museum before long. Experts believe these are the first //Trilophodon// (//Gomphotherium)// bones found in Tennessee. Based on other fossil discoveries, later relatives of this elephant-like animal must have been good eats to early humans. For example, archaeologists have found evidence suggesting that modern humans as recently as 14,000 years ago were eating meat from such animals at a site called Monte Verde in southern Chile.=

[|**WATCH VIDEO: Sperm whale steal fish off fishing lines and this is the proof.**]


 * SLIDE SHOW: From humpback whales to sea otters, mammals have colonized the seas in an amazing array of forms. Explore them here!**

//Outside Magazine feature story// Jean-Michel Cousteau, president of the Ocean Futures Society, agrees.

In a videotaped statement, Cousteau said, "Maybe we as a species have outgrown the need to keep such wild, enormous, complex, intelligent, and free-ranging animals in captivity, where their behavior is not only unnatural; it can become pathological," he said. "Maybe we have learned all we can from keeping them captive."