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please read thisinteresting article posted by  Mark A. Loewen, Randall B. Irmis, Joseph J. W. Sertich, Philip J. Currie, Scott D. Sampson on Plosone

Tyrant Dinosaur Evolution Tracks the Rise and Fall of Late Cretaceous Oceans

The Late Cretaceous (~95–66 million years ago) western North American landmass of Laramidia displayed heightened non-marine vertebrate diversity and intracontinental regionalism relative to other latest Cretaceous Laurasian ecosystems. Processes generating these patterns during this interval remain poorly understood despite their presumed role in the diversification of many clades. Tyrannosauridae, a clade of large-bodied theropod dinosaurs restricted to the Late Cretaceous of Laramidia and Asia, represents an ideal group for investigating Laramidian patterns of evolution. We use new tyrannosaurid discoveries from Utah—including a new taxon which represents the geologically oldest member of the clade—to investigate the evolution and biogeography of Tyrannosauridae. These data suggest a Laramidian origin for Tyrannosauridae, and implicate sea-level related controls in the isolation, diversification, and dispersal of this and many other Late Cretaceous vertebrate clades.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0079420

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please read this interesting article by Aditya Joshi, Srinivas Vaidyanathan, Samrat Mondol, Advait Edgaonkar, Uma Ramakrishnan on Plosone

Connectivity of Tiger (Panthera tigris) Populations in the Human-Influenced Forest Mosaic of Central India

Today, most wild tigers live in small, isolated Protected Areas within human dominated landscapes in the Indian subcontinent. Future survival of tigers depends on increasing local population size, as well as maintaining connectivity between populations. While significant conservation effort has been invested in increasing tiger population size, few initiatives have focused on landscape-level connectivity and on understanding the effect different landscape elements have on maintaining connectivity.
We combined individual-based genetic and landscape ecology approaches to address this issue in six protected areas with varying tiger densities and separation in the Central Indian tiger landscape. We non-invasively sampled 55 tigers from different protected areas within this landscape. Maximum-likelihood and Bayesian genetic assignment tests indicate long-range tiger dispersal (on the order of 650 km) between protected areas.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0077980

Japanese and New Zealand scientists discover more marine critters at 1200+ feet deep off NZ using the Skinkai submersible. (video)
Scientists have discovered rare marine creatures living hundreds of metres below the ocean surface.

Scientists discover rare new marine creatures

By Tony Field

Japanese and New Zealand scientists have discovered rare marine creatures living hundreds of metres below the ocean surface.

The research vessel Yokosuka has docked in Auckland, after exploring underwater mountains and volcanoes, about 1000 kilometres northeast of New Zealand.

Images recorded by the scientists show creatures they encountered 400 to 500 metres beneath the surface, some in areas containing active marine volcanoes along the Kermadec Trench.



http://www.3news.co.nz/Scientists-discover-rare-new-marine-creatures/tabid/1160/articleID/319926/Default.aspx#!

More jellyfish blooms? The jury is still out but one researcher writes that it's possible due to loss of predators, pollutants, and global warming.

Are Ocean Conditions Ripe for a Jellyfish Takeover?

By Elizabeth Howell on Livescience.com

Data on jellyfish populations is making it hard to figure out if they are on the rise, and – if that rise is indeed happening – why it is so.

In 2000, a bloom of sea tomato jellyfish in Australia was so enormous — it stretched for more than 1,000 miles from north to south — that it was even visible from space. It was certainly a bloom that Australian jellyfish researcher Lisa-ann Gershwin won't forget.

http://www.livescience.com/40951-oceans-ripe-for-jellyfish-takover.html#!

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please read this interesting article on co2science.org

Ocean Acidification Database

Our Ocean Acidification Database consists of an ever-expanding archive on the response of marine organisms to ocean acidification as reported in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.  Results are tabulated by response, including calcification, fertility, growth, metabolism and survival. To begin, click on one of the links below.

http://www.co2science.org/data/acidification/acidification.php

Scaring away sharks in AU using recorded sounds of orcas - a theory to be tested but there's concern that it could chase away other animals, upsetting the marine balance.

'Screams' could chase away other marine life
by: Mitchell Nadin
From: The Australian
November 05, 2013 12:00AM

RECORDINGS of killer whale "screams" intended to scare sharks from popular West Australian beaches could end up chasing away other marine life, including dolphins.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/screams-could-chase-away-other-marine-life/story-e6frg8y6-1226753085502#!

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please read this interesting article by Asma Mostafa, Laila Anjuman Banu, Fashiur Rahman and Sudip Paul on Journal of Anthropology

Craniofacial Anthropometric Profile of Adult Bangladeshi Buddhist Chakma Females

The present descriptive, observational, and cross-sectional study was designed to establish the baseline measurements of the craniofacial anthropometrical parameters and indices of 100 adult Bangladeshi Buddhist Chakma females aged between 25 and 45 years, residing at different locations of Chittagong and Rangamati cities. A total of ten craniofacial variables were measured using physical and photographic procedures. Craniofacial indices were calculated from those craniofacial variables. The craniofacial indices showed that Chakma females are mostly hyperbrachycephalic, hypereuryprosopic, and mesorrhine, with intermediate eyes and long narrow ears.

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/janthro/2013/676924/

Inaugurato oggi a Catania presso i laboratori Imm-Cnr, ospitati nel sito di StMicroelectronics, un innovativo strumento elettronico, unico in Italia. Sarà in grado di variare le proprietà dei materiali, offrendo la possibilità  di realizzare una vastissima gamma di dispositivi applicativi dalla nanoelettronica  alla sensoristica

Il microscopio elettronico analitico 'sub-angstrom' più potente d’Europa è stato acquisito dall’Istituto per la microelettronica e i microsistemi del Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche (Imm-Cnr) e inaugurato questa mattina a Catania, presso i laboratori dell’Istituto ospitati nel sito di STMicroelectronics (ST).

Che le donne siano per natura più ansiose non è solo un preconcetto culturale: la dimostrazione scientifica arriva dall’Isn-Cnr di Catanzaro, in collaborazione con l’Irccs Fondazione Santa Lucia di Roma. Alla base di questa predisposizione sembrerebbe esserci una variante del gene 5-Httlpr implicato nella regolazione della serotonina. La ricerca è stata pubblicata su Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

L’ansia è una normale emozione, che tutti gli esseri umani provano, e ha la funzione fondamentale di segnalare situazioni pericolose o spiacevoli, mediante le modificazioni fisiologiche prodotte dall’adrenalina che entra in circolo nel sangue. Entro certi livelli, dunque, l’ansia è necessaria in quanto ci consente di affrontare situazioni temute e stressanti. Se però supera certi limiti, può diventare anche la base per lo sviluppo di disturbi quali attacchi di panico e fobie. Negli ultimi anni le moderne neuroscienze hanno dimostrato che esiste una certa predisposizione nell’essere ansiosi: in particolare, una variante del gene 5-Httlpr, che regola l’espressione della serotonina, causa al soggetto portatore un aumento della quantità di questo neurotrasmettitore, capace di modulare i comportamenti emotivi.

Ageing: Participation and Health for the Old) has developed an ICT tool in prototype phase that will help seniors to monitor their health and the security of their home and avoid social exclusion by means of digital technologies. The final aim of the project is to improve seniors’ quality of life and boost their autonomy. Starting this week, the prototype will be tested by more than 40 people at the Ageing Institute in Barcelona (Spain) and at the Union of Senior Organisations in Slovenia.

The platform developed as part of the project consists of a tablet to access services and simplified tools for seniors that are adapted to their needs. For example, to help people in the third age to prevent health problems, the platform allows users to follow critical indicators such as artery pressure, monitor physical activity and check patients’ historical health data, among other services.

Furthermore, the platform boosts seniors’ home security because it is connected to their house with sensors that control factors like gas, fire, CO2, temperature, movement detection, etc. Thus, via the tablet, users can receive warnings and assistance in case of emergency.

Finally, the platform has social participation tools to promote more senior interaction with friends and family members through social networks and simplified email systems with more user-friendly design that will allow them to share photos, messages and emails, among other things, intuitively and simply.

Thus, the project adheres to the three main points of the World Health Organisation’s Active Ageing policy: health, security and participation.