Podcasts about Eocene

(image source: https://www.thoughtco.com/uintatherium-profile-1093289) Merry Christmas! Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host and one of Santa's elves Snowdrop Jimjam Jollypie discuss Uintatherium, a big hoofed mammal kind of like a rhino but with these weird antler-things on its head like a reindeer on crack. That's the Christmas connection I'm making, anyway. From the Eocene epoch, this 14-foot dinoceratan stomped about merrily and crushed the skulls of predators much like a toddler crushing fallen Christmas tree ornaments… okay, that was a stretch. At least this once-more 100% improvised episode should go better for Matthew than the Halloween one with the demon, right? What could possibly go wrong this time?! Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.Also, credit goes to Disney for that bit of instrumental audio from The Princess and the Frog that plays near the end. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Summary: To this day, bats have been one of the most misunderstood animals. Join Kiersten as she reveals what bats are and begins a new series about these amazing creatures.   For my hearing impaired listeners, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “Bats in Question: A Smithsonian Answer Book,” by Don E. Wilson Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  My name is Kiersten and I have a Master's Degree in Animal Behavior and did my thesis on the breeding behavior of the Tri-colored bat. I was a zookeeper for many years and have worked with all sorts of animals from Aba Aba fish to tigers to ravens to domesticated dogs and so many more in between. Many of those years were spent in education programs and the most important lesson I learned was that the more information someone has about a particular animal the less they fear them. The less they fear them the more they crave information about them and before you know it you've become an advocate for that misunderstood animal. This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. This series is near and dear to my heart. We will be delving into the world of bats. To this day, this species of animal remains one of the most misunderstood in the animal kingdom. Despite all of the PR efforts of researchers, naturalists, and photographers, humans still cannot look past some of the myths about bats. But we will start off with the firstling I like about bats, what they are. As I mention in the opening of each series, I earned my Master's of Science studying the breeding behavior of the tri-colored bat. This is a small species of insectivorous bat native to eastern North America. I studied them in the state of Georgia. I was already enamored of bats before I undertook this research, but working up close with these tiny creatures solidified my love of them and expanded my respect for them as a species, so this series of Ten Things I Like About….is all about the misunderstood bat. Let's start at the beginning. What is a bat? Loyal listeners, you know where this is going. We are going to start off with some taxonomy.  Bats are classified under Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Cordata, Subphylum Vertebrata, Class Mammalia, Order Chiroptera, Suborder Megachiroptera, Family Pteropodidae, Suborder Microchiroptera, and under Microchiroptera there are many more families.  What does all this classification tell? Kingdom Animalia means bats are animals as opposed to plants or invertebrates. Phylum Chordata puts them in a group of living beings with a central flexible rod supporting their dorsal side or back. Subphylum Vertebrata means they have an internal skeleton that supports their body. Class Mammalia puts them in the same class as us. Bats are mammals which means they have hair on their bodies, they give live birth, and they nurse their young with milk. Order Chiroptera is the order specific to all bats and Chiroptera is Latin for hand-wing. There are two suborders for bats, Suborder Megachiroptera is the group of larger bats (mega kind of gives that away) and Family Pteropodidae refers to the Old World bats that are found in Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. Family Pteropodidae contains around 45 genera and approximately 200 species of fruit-eating bats. The second Suborder of bats is Microchiroptera which includes the smaller bats (hence micro) and the over 900 species of bats classified as Microchiroptera that are found all over the world.  Now we know that bats are mammals, let's take a look at Chiroptera. Why was this word used in association with bats? If you break it down, chiro means hand and pteron means wing, giving us hand-wing. Those of you that are not driving while listening to this episode, take a moment and search for bat anatomy on the internet or in book, yes books still exist. Take a good look. Does the pattern seem familiar? Take a look at your own hand. Do you see it? That's correct. Bats have the same bones in their wing that we have in our hand, leading us back to Chiroptera or ‘hand-wing'. This is actually one of my favorite classifications in Class Mammalia. It makes a great talking point and links bats directly to humans which goes a long way to dispelling some of the fear people have of bats. A future episode will be dedicated to discussing and debunking the myths and fears surrounding bats, but I will say that 99% of those fears are misconceptions. Including the one that says bats are flying rats. Bats are not rats with wings and the classification proves that. Bats and rats are included in the same Class Mammalia but they diverge, which means they separate, at Order. Rats are classified in Order Rodentia. All rodents are in a separate order from bats and as scientific processes for collecting data have advanced over the years, each test, including DNA, reenforces the fact that bats and rats are not related outside of them both being vertebrate mammals. Bats range in size from the thumb-size Bumblebee Bat to the six-foot wings span Malaysian Flying Fox, but they all have one thing in common. You all know what that is, wings. Every species of bat, that we currently know about, has wings. A thin membrane of skin called a patagium stretches between the bones of the wing creating a surface area that allows bats to fly. Bat are the only mammals with true flight. But what about flying squirrels, right? Flying squirrels also have a patagium that stretches from the wrist to the ankle, but they are only able to glide. They leap from a height, snap open the patagium, and glide down. Bats can use their wings to propel themselves, just like birds. This is true flight. Bats do have to fall from a height so they can catch air in their wings before they begin to flap, but it doesn't have to be too high. Bats such as Pallid Bats, that are gleaners focus on catching insects near the ground and occasionally find themselves on the ground while hunting. They can scramble to a rock or low shrub and get high enough to catch some air with at least one wing flap, and they are off. There is one type of bat that can takeoff from the ground and that is Vampire bats. Since they are adapted to finding food on the ground, their anatomy has developed to allow them to make a small jump and catch the air from the ground.  Bat anatomy has changed very little from the Eocene epoch which is about 60 million years ago. The oldest fossils found are some of the best persevered and most complete. Fossil have been found in Germany and North America and they show fully formed bats. It doesn't tell us much about the divergence of bats but is does tell us that the anatomy of bats has changed very little from their first appearance in the fossil record. When that happens it means that animal is so well adapted to its niche in the ecosystem that they haven't needed to change. To me it means that bats are perfect.  So now you know that bats are mammals, that they are not rats, that they are the only mammals capable of true flight, and you know the super cool meaning behind their scientific classification of Chiroptera. This is just my first favorite thing about these amazingly cool, misunderstood animals. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next we for another exciting episode of bats.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

* List of Discoveries Squeezing Evolution: Did you know that dinosaurs ate rice before rice evolved? That turtle shells existed forty million years before turtle shells began evolving? That insects evolved tongues for eating from flowers 70 million years before flowers evolved? And that birds appeared before birds evolved? The fossil record is a wonderful thing. And more recently, only a 40,000-year squeeze, Neanderthal had blood types A, B, and O, shocking evolutionists but expected to us here at Real Science Radio! Sit back and get ready to enjoy another instant classic, today's RSR "list show" on Evolution's Big Squeeze! Our other popular list shows include: - scientists doubting Darwin - evidence against whale evolution - problems with 'the river carved the canyon' - carbon 14 everywhere it shouldn't be - dinosaur still-soft biological tissue - solar system formation problems - evidence against the big bang - evidence for the global flood - genomes that just don't fit - and our list of not so old things! (See also rsr.org/sq2 and rsr.org/sq3!) * Evolution's Big Squeeze: Many discoveries squeeze the Darwinian theory's timeframe and of course without a workable timeframe there is no workable theory. Examples, with their alleged (and falsified) old-earth timeframes, include: - Complex skeletons existed 9 million years before they were thought to have evolved, before even the "Cambrian explosion".- Butterflies existed 10 million years before they were thought to have evolved. - Parrots existed "much earlier than had been thought", in fact, 25 million years before they were thought to have evolved. - Cephalopod fossils (squids, cuttlefish, etc.) appear 35 million years before they were able to propagate. - Turtle shells 40 million years before turtle shells began evolving - Trees began evolving 45 million years before they were thought to evolve - Spores appearing 50 million years before the plants that made them (not unlike footprints systematically appearing "millions of years before" the creatures that made them, as affirmed by Dr. Marcus Ross, associate professor of geology). - Sponges existed 60 million years before they were believed to have evolved. - Dinosaurs ate rice before it evolved Example - Insect proboscis (tongue) in moths and butterflies 70 million years before previously believed has them evolving before flowers. - Arthropod brains fully developed with central nervous system running to eyes and appendages just like modern arthropods 90 million years earlier than previously known (prior to 2021, now, allegedly 310mya) - 100 million years ago and already a bird - Fossil pollen pushes back plant evolution 100 million years. - Mammalian hair allegedly 100-million-years-old show that, "the morphology of hair cuticula may have remained unchanged throughout most of mammalian evolution", regarding the overlapping cells that lock the hair shaft into its follicle. - Piranha-like flesh-eating teeth (and bitten prey) found pushing back such fish 125 million years earlier than previously claimed   - Shocking organic molecules in "200 million-years-old leaves" from ginkgoes and conifers show unexpected stasis. - Plant genetic sophistication pushed back 200 million years. - Jellyfish fossils (Medusoid Problematica :) 200 million years earlier than expected; here from 500My ago. - Green seaweed 200 million years earlier than expected, pushed back now to a billion years ago!  - The acanthodii fish had color vision 300 million years ago, but then, and wait, Cheiracanthus fish allegedly 388 million years ago already had color vision. - Color vision (for which there is no Darwinian evolutionary small-step to be had, from monochromatic), existed "300 million years ago" in fish, and these allegedly "120-million-year-old" bird's rod and cone fossils stun researchers :) - 400-million-year-old Murrindalaspis placoderm fish "eye muscle attachment, the eyestalk attachment and openings for the optic nerve, and arteries and veins supplying the eyeball" The paper's author writes, "Of course, we would not expect the preservation of ancient structures made entirely of soft tissues (e.g. rods and cone cells in the retina...)." So, check this next item... :) - And... no vertebrates in the Cambrian? Well, from the journal Nature in 2014, a "Lower-Middle Cambrian... primitive fish displays unambiguous vertebrate features: a notochord, a pair of prominent camera-type eyes, paired nasal sacs, possible cranium and arcualia, W-shaped myomeres, and a post-anal tail" Primitive? - Fast-growing juvenile bone tissue, thought to appear in the Cretaceous, has been pushed back 100 million years: "This pushes the origin of fibrolamellar bone in Sauropterygia back from the Cretaceous to the early Middle Triassic..."- Trilobites "advanced" (not the predicted primitive) digestion "525 million" years ago - And there's this, a "530 million year old" fish, "50 million years before the current estimate of when fish evolved" - Mycobacterium tuberculosis 100,000 yr-old MRCA (most recent common ancestor) now 245 million- Fungus long claimed to originate 500M years ago, now found at allegedly 950 Mya (and still biological "the distant past... may have been much more 'modern' than we thought." :) - A rock contained pollen a billion years before plants evolved, according to a 2007 paper describing "remarkably preserved" fossil spores in the French Alps that had undergone high-grade metamorphism - 2.5 billion year old cyanobacteria fossils (made of organic material found in a stromatolite) appear about "200 million years before the [supposed] Great Oxidation Event". - 2.7 billion year old eukaryotes (cells with a nucleus) existed (allegedly) 1 billion years before expected - 3.5 billion year "cell division evidently identical to that of living filamentous prokaryotes." - And even older cyanobacteria! At 220 million years earlier than thought, per Nature's 3.7 billion year old dating of stromatolites! - The universe and life itself (in 2019 with the universe dated a billion, now, no, wait, two billion!, years younger than previously thought, that's not only squeezing biological but also astronomical evolution, with the overall story getting really tight) - Mantis shrimp, with its rudimentary color but advanced UV vision, is allegedly ancient. - Hadrosaur teeth, all 1400 of them, were "more complex than those of cows, horses, and other well-known modern grazers." Professor stunned by the find! (RSR predicts that, by 2030 just to put an end date on it, more fossils will be found from the geologic column that will be more "advanced" as compared to living organisms, just like this hadrosaur and like the allegedly 100M year old hagfish  fossil having more slime glands than living specimens.)  - Trace fossils "exquisitely preserved" of mobile organisms (motility) dated at 2.1 billion years ago, a full 1.5 billion earlier than previously believed - Various multicellular organisms allegedly 2.1 billion years old, show multicellularity 1.5 billion years sooner than long believed   - Pre-sauropod 26,000-pound dinosaur "shows us that even as far back as 200 million years ago, these animals had already become the largest vertebrates to ever walk the Earth." - The Evo-devo squeeze, i.e., evolutionary developmental biology, as with rsr.org/evo-devo-undermining-darwinism. - Extinct Siberian one-horned rhinos coexisted with mankind. - Whale "evolution" is being crushed in the industry-wide "big squeeze". First, geneticist claims whales evolved from hippos but paleontologists say hippos evolved tens of millions of years too late! And what's worse than that is that fossil finds continue to compress the time available for whale evolution. To not violate its own plot, the Darwinist story doesn't start animals evolving back into the sea until the cast includes land animals suitable to undertake the legendary journey. The recent excavation of whale fossils on an island of the Antarctic Peninsula further compresses the already absurdly fast 10 million years to allegedly evolve from the land back to the sea, down to as little as one million years. BioOne in 2016 reported a fossil that is "among the oldest occurrences of basilosaurids worldwide, indicating a rapid radiation and dispersal of this group since at least the early middle Eocene." By this assessment, various techniques produced various published dates. (See the evidence that falsifies the canonical whale evolution story at rsr.org/whales.) * Ancient Hierarchical Insect Society: "Thanks to some well-preserved remains, researchers now believe arthropod social structures have been around longer than anyone ever imagined. The encased specimens of ants and termites recently studied date back [allegedly] 100 million years." Also from the video about "the bubonic plague", the "disease is well known as a Middle Ages mass killer... Traces of very similar bacteria were found on [an allegedly] 20-million-year-old flea trapped in amber." And regarding "Caribbean lizards... Even though they are [allegedly] 20 million years old, the reptiles inside the golden stones were not found to differ from their contemporary counterparts in any significant way. Scientists attribute the rarity [Ha! A rarity or the rule? Check out rsr.org/stasis.] to stable ecological surroundings." * Squeezing and Rewriting Human History: Some squeezing simply makes aspects of the Darwinian story harder to maintain while other squeezing contradicts fundamental claims. So consider the following discoveries, most of which came from about a 12-month period beginning in 2017 which squeeze (and some even falsify) the Out-of-Africa model: - find two teeth and rewrite human history with allegedly 9.7 million-year-old teeth found in northern Europe (and they're like Lucy, but "three times older") - date blue eyes, when humans first sported them, to as recently as 6,000 years ago   - get mummy DNA and rewrite human history with a thousand years of ancient Egyptian mummy DNA contradicting Out-of-Africa and demonstrating Out-of-Babel - find a few footprints and rewrite human history with allegedly 5.7 million-year-old human footprints in Crete - re-date an old skull and rewrite human history with a very human skull dated at 325,000 years old and redated in the Journal of Physical Anthropology at about 260,000 years old and described in the UK's Independent, "A skull found in China [40 years ago] could re-write our entire understanding of human evolution." - date the oldest language in India, Dravidian, with 80 derivatives spoken by 214 million people, which appeared on the subcontinent only about 4,500 years ago, which means that there is no evidence for human language for nearly 99% of the time that humans were living in Asia. (Ha! See rsr.org/origin-of-language for the correct explanation.) - sequence a baby's genome and rewrite human history with a 6-week old girl buried in Alaska allegedly 11,500 years ago challenging the established history of the New World. (The family buried this baby girl just beneath their home like the practice in ancient Mesopotamia, the Hebrews who sojourned in Egypt, and in Çatalhöyük in southern Turkey, one of the world's most ancient settlements.) - or was that 130,000? years ago as the journal Nature rewrites human history with a wild date for New World site - and find a jawbone and rewrite human history with a modern looking yet allegedly 180,000-year-old jawbone from Israel which "may rewrite the early migration story of our species" by about 100,000 years, per the journal Science - re-date a primate and lose yet another "missing link" between "Lucy" and humans, as Homo naledi sheds a couple million years off its age and drops from supposedly two million years old to (still allegedly) about 250,000 years old, far too "young" to be the allegedly missing link - re-analysis of the "best candidate" for the most recent ancestor to human beings, Australopithecus sediba, turns out to be a juvenile Lucy-like ape, as Science magazine reports work presented at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists 2017 annual meeting - find skulls in Morocco and "rewrite human history" admits the journal Nature, falsifying also the "East Africa" part of the canonical story - and from the You Can't Make This Stuff Up file, NPR reports in April 2019, Ancient Bones And Teeth Found In A Philippine Cave May Rewrite Human History. :) - Meanwhile, whereas every new discovery requires the materialists to rewrite human history, no one has had to rewrite Genesis, not even once. Yet, "We're not claiming that the Bible is a science textbook. Not at all. For the textbooks have to be rewritten all the time!"  - And even this from Science: "humans mastered the art of training and controlling dogs thousands of years earlier than previously thought."- RSR's Enyart commented on the Smithsonian's 2019 article on ancient DNA possibly deconstructing old myths...  This Smithsonian article about an ancient DNA paper in Science Advances, or actually, about the misuse of such papers, was itself a misuse. The published research, Ancient DNA sheds light on the genetic origins of early Iron Age Philistines, confirmed Amos 9:7 by documenting the European origin of the biblical Philistines who came from the island of Caphtor/Crete. The mainstream media completely obscured this astounding aspect of the study but the Smithsonian actually stood the paper on its head. [See also rsr.org/archaeology.]* Also Squeezing Darwin's Theory: - Evolution happens so slowly that we can't see it, yet - it happens so fast that millions of mutations get fixed in a blink of geologic time AND: - Observing a million species annually should show us a million years of evolution, but it doesn't, yet - evolution happens so fast that the billions of "intermediary" fossils are missing AND: - Waiting for helpful random mutations to show up explains the slowness of evolution, yet - adaption to changing environments is often immediate, as with Darwin's finches Finches Adapt in 17 Years, Not 2.3 Million: Charles Darwin's finches are claimed to have taken 2,300,000 years to diversify from an initial species blown onto the Galapagos Islands. Yet individuals from a single finch species on a U.S. Bird Reservation in the Pacific were introduced to a group of small islands 300 miles away and in at most 17 years, like Darwin's finches, they had diversified their beaks, related muscles, and behavior to fill various ecological niches. So Darwin's finches could diversify in just 17 years, and after 2.3 million more years, what had they evolved into? Finches! Hear this also at rsr.org/lee-spetner and see Jean Lightner's review of the Grants' 40 Years. AND: - Fossils of modern organisms are found "earlier" and "earlier" in the geologic column, and - the "oldest" organisms are increasingly found to have anatomical, proteinaceous, prokaryotic, and eukaryotic sophistication and similarity to "modern" organisms AND: - Small populations are in danger of extinction (yet they're needed to fix mutations), whereas - large populations make it impossible for a mutation to become standard AND: - Mutations that express changes too late in an organism's development can't effect its fundamental body plan, and - mutations expressed too early in an organism's development are fatal (hence among the Enyart sayings, "Like evolving a vital organ, most major hurdles for evolutionary theory are extinction-level events.") AND: - To evolve flight, you'd get bad legs - long before you'd get good wings AND: - Most major evolutionary hurdles appear to be extinction-level events- yet somehow even *vital* organs evolve (for many species, that includes reproductive organs, skin, brain, heart, circulatory system, kidney, liver, pancreas, stomach, small intestines, large intestines, lungs -- which are only a part of the complex respiration system) AND: - Natural selection of randomly taller, swifter, etc., fish, mammals, etc. explains evolution yet - development of microscopic molecular machines, feedback mechanisms, etc., which power biology would be oblivous to what's happening in Darwin's macro environment of the entire organism AND: - Neo-Darwinism suggests genetic mutation as the engine of evolution yet - the there is not even a hypothesis for modifying the vast non-genetic information in every living cell including the sugar code, electrical code, the spatial (geometric) code, and the epigenetic code AND: - Constant appeals to "convergent" evolution (repeatedly arising vision, echolocation, warm-bloodedness, etc.) - undermine most Darwinian anatomical classification especially those based on trivialities like odd or even-toed ungulates, etc. AND: - Claims that given a single species arising by abiogenesis, then - Darwinism can explain the diversification of life, ignores the science of ecology and the (often redundant) biological services that species rely upon AND: - humans' vastly superior intelligence indicates, as bragged about for decades by Darwinists, that ape hominids should have the greatest animal intelligence, except that - many so-called "primitive" creatures and those far distant on Darwin's tee of life, exhibit extraordinary rsr.org/animal-intelligence even to processing stimuli that some groups of apes cannot AND: - Claims that the tree of life emerges from a single (or a few) common ancestors - conflict with the discoveries of multiple genetic codes and of thousands of orphan genes that have no similarity (homology) to any other known genes AND (as in the New Scientist cover story, "Darwin Was Wrong about the tree of life", etc.): - DNA sequences have contradicted anatomy-based ancestry claims - Fossil-based ancestry claims have been contradicted by RNA claims - DNA-based ancestry claims have been contradicted by anatomy claims - Protein-based ancestry claims have been contradicted by fossil claims. - And the reverse problem compared to a squeeze. Like finding the largest mall in America built to house just a kid's lemonade stand, see rsr.org/200 for the astounding lack of genetic diversity in humans, plants, and animals, so much so that it could all be accounted for in just about 200 generations! - The multiplied things that evolved multiple times - Etc. * List of Ways Darwinists Invent their Tree of Life, aka Pop Goes the Weasle – Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes: Evolutionists change their selection of what evidence they use to show 'lineage', from DNA to fossils to genes to body plans to teeth to many specific anatomical features to proteins to behavior to developmental similarities to habitat to RNA, etc. and to a combination of such. Darwinism is an entire endeavor based on selection bias, a kind of logical fallacy. By anti-science they arbitrarily select evidence that best matches whichever evolutionary story is currently preferred." -Bob E. The methodology used to create the family tree edifice to show evolutionary relationships classifies the descent of organisms based on such attributes as odd-toed and even-toed ungulates. Really? If something as wildly sophisticated as vision allegedly evolved multiple times (a dozen or more), then for cryin' out loud, why couldn't something as relatively simple as odd or even toes repeatedly evolve? How about dinosaur's evolving eggs with hard shells? Turns out that "hard-shelled eggs evolved at least three times independently in dinosaurs" (Nature, 2020). However, whether a genus has an odd or even number of toes, and similar distinctions, form the basis for the 150-year-old Darwinist methodology. Yet its leading proponents still haven't acknowledged that their tree building is arbitrary and invalid. Darwin's tree recently fell anyway, and regardless, it has been known to be even theoretically invalid all these many decades. Consider also bipedalism? In their false paradigm, couldn't that evolve twice? How about vertebrate and non-vertebrates, for that matter, evolving multiple times? Etc., etc., etc. Darwinists determine evolutionary family-tree taxonomic relationships based on numbers of toes, when desired, or on hips (distinguishing, for example, dinosaur orders, until they didn't) or limb bones, or feathers, or genes, or fossil sequence, or neck bone, or..., or..., or... Etc. So the platypus, for example, can be described as evolving from pretty much whatever story would be in vogue at the moment...   * "Ancient" Protein as Advanced as Modern Protein: A book review in the journal Science states, "the major conclusion is reached that 'analyses made of the oldest fossils thus far studied do not suggest that their [allegedly 145-million year-old] proteins were chemically any simpler than those now being produced.'" 1972, Biochemistry of Animal Fossils, p. 125 * "Ancient" Lampreys Just Modern Lampreys with Decomposed Brain and Mouth Parts: Ha! Researches spent half-a-year documenting how fish decay. RSR is so glad they did! One of the lessons learned? "[C]ertain parts of the brain and the mouth that distinguish the animals from earlier relatives begin a rapid decay within 24 hours..." :) * 140-million Year Old Spider Web: The BBC and National Geographic report on a 140-million year old spider web in amber which, as young-earth creationists expect, shows threads that resemble silk spun by modern spiders. Evolutionary scientists on the otherhand express surprise "that spider webs have stayed the same for 140 million years." And see the BBC. * Highly-Credentialed Though Non-Paleontologist on Flowers: Dr. Harry Levin who spent the last 15 years of a brilliant career researching paleontology presents much evidence that flowering plants had to originate not 150 million years ago but more than 300 million years ago. (To convert that to an actual historical timeframe, the evidence indicates flowers must have existed prior to the time that the strata, which is popularly dated to 300 mya, actually formed.) * Rampant Convergence: Ubiquitous appeals to "convergent" evolution (vision, echolocation, warm-bloodedness, icthyosaur/dolphin anatomy, etc.), all allegedly evolving multiple times, undermines anatomical classification based on trivialities like odd or even-toed ungulates, etc. * Astronomy's Big Evolution Squeeze: - Universe a billion, wait, two billion, years younger than thought   (so now it has to evolve even more impossibly rapidly) - Sun's evolution squeezes biological evolution - Galaxies evolving too quickly - Dust evolving too quickly - Black holes evolving too quickly - Clusters of galaxies evolving too quickly. * The Sun's Evolution Squeezes Life's Evolution: The earlier evolutionists claim that life began on Earth, the more trouble they have with astrophysicists. Why? They claim that a few billion years ago the Sun would have been far more unstable and cooler. The journal Nature reports that the Faint young Sun paradox remains for the "Sun was fainter when the Earth was young, but the climate was generally at least as warm as today". Further, our star would shoot out radioactive waves many of which being violent enough to blow out Earth's atmosphere into space, leaving Earth dead and dry like Mars without an atmosphere. And ignoring the fact that powerful computer simulators cannot validate the nebula theory of star formation, if the Sun had formed from a condensing gas cloud, a billion years later it still would have been emitting far less energy, even 30% less, than it does today. Forget about the claimed one-degree increase in the planet's temperature from man-made global warming, back when Darwinists imagine life arose, by this just-so story of life spontaneously generating in a warm pond somewhere (which itself is impossible), the Earth would have been an ice ball, with an average temperature of four degrees Fahrenheit below freezing! See also CMI's video download The Young Sun. * Zircons Freeze in Molten Eon Squeezing Earth's Evolution? Zircons "dated" 4 to 4.4 billion years old would have had to freeze (form) when the Earth allegedly was in its Hadean (Hades) Eon and still molten. Geophysicist Frank Stacey (Cambridge fellow, etc.) has suggested they may have formed above ocean trenches where it would be coolest. One problem is that even further squeezes the theory of plate tectonics requiring it to operate two billion years before otherwise claimed. A second problem (for these zircons and the plate tectonics theory itself) is that ancient trenches (now filled with sediments; others raised up above sea level; etc.) have never been found. A third problem is that these zircons contain low isotope ratios of carbon-13 to carbon-12 which evolutionists may try to explain as evidence for life existing even a half-billion years before they otherwise claim. For more about this (and to understand how these zircons actually did form) just click and then search (ctrl-f) for: zircon character. * Evolution Squeezes Life to Evolve with Super Radioactivity: Radioactivity today breaks chromosomes and produces neutral, harmful, and fatal birth defects. Dr. Walt Brown reports that, "A 160-pound person experiences 2,500 carbon-14 disintegrations each second", with about 10 disintergrations per second in our DNA. Worse for evolutionists is that, "Potassium-40 is the most abundant radioactive substance in... every living thing." Yet the percentage of Potassium that was radioactive in the past would have been far in excess of its percent today. (All this is somewhat akin to screws in complex machines changing into nails.) So life would have had to arise from inanimate matter (an impossibility of course) when it would have been far more radioactive than today. * Evolution of Uranium Squeezed by Contrasting Constraints: Uranium's two most abundant isotopes have a highly predictable ratio with 235U/238U equaling 0.007257 with a standard deviation of only 0.000017. Big bang advocates claim that these isotopes formed in distant stellar cataclysms. Yet that these isotopes somehow collected in innumerable small ore bodies in a fixed ratio is absurd. The impossibility of the "big bang" explanation of the uniformity of the uranium ratio (rsr.org/bb#ratio) simultaneously contrasts in the most shocking way with its opposite impossibility of the missing uniform distribution of radioactivity (see rsr.org/bb#distribution) with 90% of Earth's radioactivity in the Earth's crust, actually, the continental crust, and even at that, preferentially near granite! A stellar-cataclysmic explanation within the big bang paradigm for the origin of uranium is severely squeezed into being falsified by these contrasting constraints. * Remarkable Sponges? Yes, But For What Reason? Study co-author Dr. Kenneth S. Kosik, the Harriman Professor of Neuroscience at UC Santa Barbara said, "Remarkably, the sponge genome now reveals that, along the way toward the emergence of animals, genes for an entire network of many specialized cells evolved and laid the basis for the core gene logic of organisms that no longer functioned as single cells." And then there's this: these simplest of creatures have manufacturing capabilities that far exceed our own, as Degnan says, "Sponges produce an amazing array of chemicals of direct interest to the pharmaceutical industry. They also biofabricate silica fibers directly from seawater in an environmentally benign manner, which is of great interest in communications [i.e., fiber optics]. With the genome in hand, we can decipher the methods used by these simple animals to produce materials that far exceed our current engineering and chemistry capabilities." Kangaroo Flashback: From our RSR Darwin's Other Shoe program: The director of Australia's Kangaroo Genomics Centre, Jenny Graves, that "There [are] great chunks of the human genome… sitting right there in the kangaroo genome." And the 20,000 genes in the kangaroo (roughly the same number as in humans) are "largely the same" as in people, and Graves adds, "a lot of them are in the same order!" CMI's Creation editors add that "unlike chimps, kangaroos are not supposed to be our 'close relatives.'" And "Organisms as diverse as leeches and lawyers are 'built' using the same developmental genes." So Darwinists were wrong to use that kind of genetic similarity as evidence of a developmental pathway from apes to humans. Hibernating Turtles: Question to the evolutionist: What happened to the first turtles that fell asleep hibernating underwater? SHOW UPDATE Of Mice and Men: Whereas evolutionists used a very superficial claim of chimpanzee and human genetic similarity as evidence of a close relationship, mice and men are pretty close also. From the Human Genome Project, How closely related are mice and humans?, "Mice and humans (indeed, most or all mammals including dogs, cats, rabbits, monkeys, and apes) have roughly the same number of nucleotides in their genomes -- about 3 billion base pairs. This comparable DNA content implies that all mammals [RSR: like roundworms :)] contain more or less the same number of genes, and indeed our work and the work of many others have provided evidence to confirm that notion. I know of only a few cases in which no mouse counterpart can be found for a particular human gene, and for the most part we see essentially a one-to-one correspondence between genes in the two species." * Related RSR Reports: See our reports on the fascinating DNA sequencing results from roundworms and the chimpanzee's Y chromosome! * Genetic Bottleneck, etc: Here's an excerpt from rsr.org/why-was-canaan-cursed... A prediction about the worldwide distribution of human genetic sequencing (see below) is an outgrowth of the Bible study at that same link (aka rsr.org/canaan), in that scientists will discover a genetic pattern resulting from not three but four sons of Noah's wife. Relevant information comes also from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which is not part of any of our 46 chromosomes but resides outside of the nucleus. Consider first some genetic information about Jews and Arabs, Jewish priests, Eve, and Noah. Jews and Arabs Biblical Ancestry: Dr. Jonathan Sarfati quotes the director of the Human Genetics Program at New York University School of Medicine, Dr. Harry Ostrer, who in 2000 said: Jews and Arabs are all really children of Abraham … And all have preserved their Middle Eastern genetic roots over 4,000 years. This familiar pattern, of the latest science corroborating biblical history, continues in Dr. Sarfati's article, Genesis correctly predicts Y-Chromosome pattern: Jews and Arabs shown to be descendants of one man. Jewish Priests Share Genetic Marker: The journal Nature in its scientific correspondence published, Y Chromosomes of Jewish Priests, by scie

Welcome back Herders to Sam and Tyler talking about Squirrels! Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (/sɪˈjuːrɪdeɪ, -diː/), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa, and were introduced by humans to Australia. The earliest known fossilized squirrels date from the Eocene epoch, and among other living rodent families, the squirrels are most closely related to the mountain beaver and dormice.

Join Dr. Sarah Allen and me as we journey back in time to the Eocene. Earth was a very different planet some 49 million years ago. Though we may recognize some Eocene flora, the combination of various plant lineages would be enough to make your head spin. Earth was experiencing a warming period and the plants had responded accordingly. Tropical species like palms were thriving in places like Wyoming and giant relatives of the redwoods covered much of North America and Asia. What Dr. Allen and her colleagues are learning about Eocene plant communities is not only interesting in its own right, it is helping scientists understand how ecosystems may respond to climate change into the future. This episode was produced in part by David, Robert, Thomas, Valerie, Joan, Mohsin Kazmi Photography, Cathy, Simon, Nick, Paul, Charis, EJ, Laura, Sung, NOK, Stephen, Heidi, Kristin, Luke, Sea, Shannon, Thomas, Will, Jamie, Waverly, Brent, Tanner, Rick, Kazys, Dorothy, Katherine, Emily, Theo, Nichole, Paul, Karen, Randi, Caelan, Tom, Don, Susan, Corbin, Keena, Robin, Peter, Whitney, Kenned, Margaret, Daniel, Karen, David, Earl, Jocelyn, Gary, Krysta, Elizabeth, Southern California Carnivorous Plant Enthusiasts, Pattypollinators, Peter, Judson, Ella, Alex, Dan, Pamela, Peter, Andrea, Nathan, Karyn, Michelle, Jillian, Chellie, Linda, Laura, Miz Holly, Christie, Carlos, Paleo Fern, Levi, Sylvia, Lanny, Ben, Lily, Craig, Sarah, Lor, Monika, Brandon, Jeremy, Suzanne, Kristina, Christine, Silas, Michael, Aristia, Felicidad, Lauren, Danielle, Allie, Jeffrey, Amanda, Tommy, Marcel, C Leigh, Karma, Shelby, Christopher, Alvin, Arek, Chellie, Dani, Paul, Dani, Tara, Elly, Colleen, Natalie, Nathan, Ario, Laura, Cari, Margaret, Mary, Connor, Nathan, Jan, Jerome, Brian, Azomonas, Ellie, University Greens, Joseph, Melody, Patricia, Matthew, Garrett, John, Ashley, Cathrine, Melvin, OrangeJulian, Porter, Jules, Griff, Joan, Megan, Marabeth, Les, Ali, Southside Plants, Keiko, Robert, Bryce, Wilma, Amanda, Helen, Mikey, Michelle, German, Joerg, Cathy, Tate, Steve, Kae, Carole, Mr. Keith Santner, Lynn, Aaron, Sara, Kenned, Brett, Jocelyn, Ethan, Sheryl, Runaway Goldfish, Ryan, Chris, Alana, Rachel, Joanna, Lori, Paul, Griff, Matthew, Bobby, Vaibhav, Steven, Joseph, Brandon, Liam, Hall, Jared, Brandon, Christina, Carly, Kazys, Stephen, Katherine, Manny, doeg, Daniel, Tim, Philip, Tim, Lisa, Brodie, Bendix, Irene, holly, Sara, and Margie.

Extremely Large Extinct Snake Discovered and TDIH - Alligator Falling From the Sky As Long as a Whale, New Extinct Snake Found in India May Be Largest to Have Ever Slithered the Earth (worldatlarge.news) Largest known madtsoiid snake from warm Eocene period of India suggests intercontinental Gondwana dispersal | Scientific Reports (nature.com) alligator The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) July 11, 1843 - Newspapers.com™ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Die Themen in den Wissensnachrichten: +++ Tauender Permafrost ist kein Kippelement im Klimasystem +++ Mr. Spocks Planet existiert nicht +++ Mehrheit der Deutschen hat keine Warnapp +++**********Weiterführende Quellen zu dieser Folge:No respite from permafrost-thaw impacts in the absence of a global tipping point, Nature Climate Change, 3.6. 2024The Death of Vulcan: NEID Reveals That the Planet Candidate Orbiting HD 26965 Is Stellar Activity, The Astronomical Journal, 26.4. 2024Haben Sie auf Ihrem Mobiltelefon eine Warnapp, wie NINA oder KATWARN, aktiviert, die Menschen vor Gefahrensituationen, beispielsweise Hochwasser oder Extremwetter, warnt?, YouGov, 3.6. 2024Onset of the Earth's hydrological cycle four billion years ago or earlier, Nature Geoscience, 3.6. 2024Iridescent harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones: Sclerosomatidae) from the Eocene of Messel, Germany, Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 27.5. 2024Alle Quellen findet ihr hier.**********Ihr könnt uns auch auf diesen Kanälen folgen: Tiktok und Instagram.

Thanks to Max for suggesting Titanoboa! Further reading: Largest known madtsoiid snake from warm Eocene period of India suggests intercontinental Gondwana dispersal This Nearly 50-Foot Snake Was One of the Largest to Slither on Earth Meet Vasuki indicus, the 'crocodile' that was a 50ft snake Titanoboa had really big bones compared to its modern relatives: Vasuki had big bones too: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I'm your host, Kate Shaw. Almost exactly two years ago now, Max emailed to suggest we talk about titanoboa. The problem was that we had covered titanoboa in episode 197, and even though there's always something new to learn about an animal, in this case since titanoboa is extinct there wasn't much more I could share until new studies were published about it. But as the years passed I felt worse and worse that Max was waiting so long. A lot of listeners have to wait a long time for their suggested episode, and I always feel bad. But still there were no new studies about titanoboa! Why am I telling you all this? Because we're finally going to talk about titanoboa today, even though by now Max is probably old and gray with great-grandkids. But we're only going to talk about titanoboa to compare it to another extinct snake. That's right. Paleontologists have discovered fossils of a snake that was even longer than titanoboa! Let's start with Titanoboa, because it's now been a really long time since episode 197 and all I remember about it is that it's extinct and was way bigger than any snake alive today. Its discovery is such a good story that I'm going to include it too. In 1994, a geologist named Henry Garcia found an unusual-looking fossil in Colombia in South America, in an area that had been strip-mined for coal. Fifty-eight million years ago the region was a hot, swampy, tropical forest along the edge of a shallow sea. Garcia thought he'd found a piece of fossilized tree. The coal company in charge of the mine displayed it in their office along with other fossils. There it sat until 2003, when palaeontologists arranged an expedition to the mine to look for fossil plants. A researcher named Scott Wing was invited to join the team, and while he was there he poked around among the fossils displayed by the mining company. The second he saw the so-called petrified branch he knew it wasn't a plant. He sent photos to a colleague who said it looked like the jawbone of a land animal, probably something new to science. In 2007, the fossil was sent for study, labeled as a crocodile bone. But the palaeontologists who examined the fossil in person immediately realized it wasn't from a crocodile. It was a snake vertebra—but so enormous that they couldn't believe their eyes. They immediately arranged an expedition to look for more of them, and they found them! Palaeontologists have found fossilized remains from around 30 individual snakes, including young ones. The adult size is estimated to be 42 feet, or 13 meters. The largest living snakes are anacondas and reticulated pythons, with no verified measurements longer than about 23 feet long, or 7 meters. Titanoboa was probably twice that length. Because titanoboa was so bulky and heavy, it would be more comfortable in the water where it could stay cool and have its weight supported. It lived in an area where the land was swampy with lots of huge rivers. Those rivers were full of gigantic fish and other animals, including a type of lungfish that grew nearly ten feet long, or 3 meters. Studies of titanoboa's skull and teeth indicate that it probably mostly ate fish. So if titanoboa was so huge that until literally a few days ago as this episode goes live, we thought it was the biggest snake that had ever existed, how big was this newly discovered snake? It's called Vasuki indicus and while it wasn't that much bigger than titanoboa, estimates so far suggest it could grow almost 50 feet long,

Die Themen in den Wissensnachrichten +++ Besonders robuste Zähne müssen nicht immer blütenweiß sein +++ Ernährungsumstellung statt Reizdarm-Medikamenten +++ Auf der Autobahn A9 sind jetzt selbstfahrende Laster unterwegs +++**********Weiterführende Quellen zu dieser Folge:Update ErdeIngenious Architecture and Coloration Generation in Enamel of Rodent Teeth, ACS Nano, 17.04.2024A low FODMAP diet plus traditional dietary advice versus a low-carbohydrate diet versus pharmacological treatment in irritable bowel syndrome (CARBIS): a single-centre, single-blind, randomised controlled trial, The Lancet, 18.04.2024The influence of micro-scale thermal habitat on the movements of juvenile white sharks in their Southern California aggregation sites, Frontiers in Marine Science, 19.04.2024Largest known madtsoiid snake from warm Eocene period of India suggests intercontinental Gondwana dispersal, Scientific Reports, 18.04.2024**********Ihr könnt uns auch auf diesen Kanälen folgen: Tiktok und Instagram.

In this episode of Dubunk the Debunkers ( originally published as a video at: https://youtu.be/7TVoyh_JJak ) Uncle Gomer takes issue with Rosh Salgado D'Arcy's Debunking of Dr. William Happer's theory of CO2 saturation. The specific video that Uncle Gomer debunks in this episode is entitled, "The Science of CO2: Debunking the Saturation Myth," from Rosh's channel, All About Climate. For anyone who is genuinely curious about the notion of CO2 saturation and how it impacts the Earth's climate, I highly recommend that you watch this video. It can be found at the following URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVBDMeuHq_U&t=294s CONTENTS OF THIS PODCAST: 00:00 - Introduction 00:25 - CO2 Saturation of the Atmosphere 01:24 - CO2 Saturation for Plant Life 03:26 - CO2 Concentration in the Earth's Atmosphere has been Much Higher in the Past 04:38 - Uncle Gomer Debunk's Rosh Salgado D'Arcy's Debunk of Dr. William Happer 06:43 - Thanks for Watching! SOURCES: The Science of CO2: Debunking the Saturation Myth (All About Climate, August 17, 2021): https://youtu.be/TVBDMeuHq_U?si=g2J1JF1E0sUHvJLE Ask the Experts: Does Rising CO2 Benefit Plants? (Scientific American, January 23, 2018): https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ask-the-experts-does-rising-co2-benefit-plants1/ How much CO2 can trees take up? (Grantham Institute, SEPTEMBER 2, 2015) https://granthaminstitute.com/2015/09/02/how-much-co2-can-trees-take-up/ Eocene paleontology and geology of western North America (Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, April 29, 2016) https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/cjes-2016-0043 Is the current level of atmospheric CO2 concentration unprecedented in Earth's history? (The Royal Society, Last updated March 2020): https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/climate-change-evidence-causes/question-7 High CO2 levels cause plants to thicken their leaves, which could worsen climate change effects, researchers say (University of Washington News, October 1, 2018) https://www.washington.edu/news/2018/10/01/thick-leaves-high-co2/ Leaf Trait Acclimation Amplifies Simulated Climate Warming in Response to Elevated Carbon Dioxide (Global Biogeochemical Cycles, October 1, 2018): https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2018GB005883 x Don't plants do better in environments with very high CO2? (MIT Climate Portal, Updated January 8, 2024): https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/dont-plants-do-better-environments-very-high-co2 Forests Are Losing Their Ability to Hold Carbon (Scientific American, July 26, 2023): https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/forests-are-losing-their-ability-to-hold-carbon/ SOCIAL MEDIA: • Web: www.green-neighbour.com • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GreenNeighbour • Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArtLightstone • Twitter: https://twitter.com/GreenNeighbour • TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@GreenNeighbour • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greenneighbour • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artlightstone

Gavin takes us through the next slice of Earth's history on our list: the Eocene Epoch! Fia also teaches us about Batman. Palaeocast Gaming Network video Gavin made about the new Pokemon Games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIgFW91jPXc ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Topic form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Guest Form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Gavin's Blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Leave us an audio message⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube Channel --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dead-podcast/message

Seymour Island, Antarctica has fossils from the late Cretaceous through the Eocene which gives a unique perspective of what the southernmost continent may have been like.

Travel across the equator with me as we visit the Eocene fossil site Laguna del Hunco. This fossil site is very important to me as I work on fossils from here, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Also, fair warning that my pronunciation is terrible, I’m working on it.

The gang discusses two papers that look at fossils of the early whale group Basilosauridae. Specially, these papers describe the largest whale recovered from this group, as well as the smallest whale from the group. Meanwhile, Amanda has a lovely home, James has some whale facts, and Curt has some art critiques.   Up-Goer Five (Curt Edition): The friends talk about two papers that look at one group of big animals that breathe air but move in the water that are no longer around today. These papers are looking at different animals within the same group. The cool thing about both of these papers is that they talk about the same thing, but from different ways of looking at it. This is because one of these papers is about the biggest animal that people have found in this group and the other paper is about the smallest animal found in this group. This is a big thing because this is a group that today has gotten really big and the reasons why these groups get big has been something people are really interested in. These papers show that these animals were getting both big and small very early on in the group.   References: Bianucci, Giovanni, et al. "A heavyweight early whale pushes the boundaries of vertebrate morphology." Nature (2023): 1-6. Antar, Mohammed S., et al. "A  diminutive new basilosaurid whale reveals the trajectory of the cetacean  life histories during the Eocene." Communications Biology 6.1 (2023): 707.

Deb Rogers' novel Florida Woman was published in July 2022 by Hanover Square Press, an imprint of HarperCollins. Called "a bewitching debut" by Publisher's Weekly, Florida Woman was featured as an Indie Next Pick by the American Booksellers Association. Deb has lived and traveled throughout Florida working as an educator, policymaker and victim advocate, and she now lives on the Atlantic side of the state in the very haunted and very beautiful town of St. Augustine. While she'd love to stumble upon hidden pirate treasure along the coast someday, her daily obsessions tend to be thriller and heist movies, word puzzles, licorice, Florida manatees, and, of course, monkeys. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @debontherocks, or learn more on her website debrogersauthor.com. Interviewer Kay Huggins is a creative, the owner of Aphelion Editing and Consulting, and the host of the Raindrop Corner Podcast. As a longtime resident of Jacksonville, Florida, they have sought to support local artistry, foster thought-provoking content, and aid in human rights advocacy. Kay is an English major with a concentration in psychology. For over a decade, their life has been dazzled with project management, technology industries, logistics, editing, writing, and production. Through the intersectionality of Kay's craft, they aim to champion the community by providing a platform to marginalized groups. Currently, Kay is writing their debut novel and enjoying leisure moments with their fur babies. READ Jamie is a Florida Woman. She grew up on the beach, thrives in humidity, has weathered more hurricanes than she can count, and now, after going viral for an outrageous crime she never meant to commit in the first place, she has the requisite headline to her name. But when the chance comes for her to escape viral infamy and imminent jail time by taking a community service placement at Atlas, a shelter for rescued monkeys, it seems like just the fresh start Jamie needs to finally get her life back on track — until it's not. Something sinister stirs in the palmetto woods surrounding her cabin, and secrets lurk among the three beguiling women who run the shelter and affectionately take Jamie under their wing for the summer. Check out Deb's work from the library! -- https://jkpl.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/default/search/results?qu=deb+rogers&te=  "Florida Woman ushers in a new talent who knows the quirkiness of the Sunshine State." – Sun Sentinel DEB RECOMMENDS Learn about the origins of Central Florida's monkey problem by reading The Bitter Southerner's well-researched article: “Who Knew Monkeys Could Swim” by Jordan Blumetti. Visit the Florida Museum of Natural History and take a walk through our state's past, beginning in the Eocene epoch (when Florida was underwater).  Read some of Deb's favorite books that are set in Florida including The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, Lightwood by Steph Post and Swamplandia!( by Karen Russell. --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at https://bit.ly/JaxLibraryUpdates  Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: https://jaxpubliclibrary.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaxlibrary Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaxLibrary/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaxlibrary/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jaxpubliclibraryfl Contact Us: jplpromotions@coj.net 

The Alps are the most intensively studied of all mountain chains, being readily accessed from the geological research centers of Europe. But despite this, there remains considerable uncertainty as to how they formed, especially in the Eocene (about 40 million years ago) when the events that led directly to Alpine mountain-building started. In the podcast, Rob Butler explains how much of this uncertainty stems from our fragmentary knowledge of the locations and structures of sedimentary basins and small continental blocks that lay between Europe and Africa at that time. In his research, he combines detailed studies of the sedimentary rocks flanking the Alps with the large body of structural and petrological knowledge amassed over the past two centuries to try to unravel the sequence of events leading up to the formation of the Alps. Rob Butler is Professor of Tectonics at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.

Die Themen in den Wissensnachrichten: El Niño bleibt über den Winter +++ Russland startet Mondmission +++ 41 Millionen Jahre alter Ur-Wal entdeckt**********Weiterführende Quellen zu dieser Folge:A diminutive new basilosaurid whale reveals the trajectory of the cetacean life histories during the Eocene, Nature, 10.08.2023Muon g-2 doubles down with latest measurement, explores uncharted territory in search of new physics, Fermilab, 10.08.2023Hydroformylation of pyrolysis oils to aldehydes and alcohols from polyolefin waste, Science, 10.08.2023Update Erde**********Ihr könnt uns auch auf diesen Kanälen folgen: Tiktok und Instagram.**********Weitere Wissensnachrichten zum Nachlesen: https://www.deutschlandfunknova.de/nachrichten

As orcas (Orcinus orca) são os maiores golfinhos e um dos predadores mais poderosos do mundo. Separe meia horinha do seu dia e descubra com a Dra. Mila Massuda curiosidades sobre a biologia e ecologia das orcas. Apresentação: Mila Massuda (@milamassuda) Roteiro: Mila Massuda (@milamassuda) e Emilio Garcia (@emilioblablalogia) Edição: @Matheus_Herédia (@mewmediaLAB) Produção: Prof. Vítor Soares (@profvitorsoares) e BláBláLogia (@blablalogia) REFERÊNCIAS: DENKINGER, Judith et al. Social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in a variable low‐latitude environment, the Galápagos Archipelago. Marine Mammal Science, v. 36, n. 3, p. 774-785, 2020. FORD, John KB. Killer whale: Orcinus orca. In: Encyclopedia of marine mammals. Academic Press, 2009. p. 650-657. HEIMLICH-BORAN, James R. Behavioral ecology of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the Pacific Northwest. Canadian Journal of zoology, v. 66, n. 3, p. 565-578, 1988. HEYNING, John E.; DAHLHEIM, Marilyn E. Orcinus orca. Mammalian Species, n. 304, p. 1-9, 1988. RODRIGUES, Ana SL et al. Forgotten Mediterranean calving grounds of grey and North Atlantic right whales: evidence from Roman archaeological records. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, v. 285, n. 1882, p. 20180961, 2018. THEWISSEN, Johannes GM et al. Whales originated from aquatic artiodactyls in the Eocene epoch of India. Nature, v. 450, n. 7173, p. 1190-1194, 2007.

Thanks to Richard from NC for suggesting Titanomyrma! Further reading: 'Giant' ant fossil raises questions about ancient Arctic migrations A fossilized queen Titanomyrma ant with a rufous hummingbird (stuffed) for scale: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I'm your host, Kate Shaw. This week we have a suggestion from Richard from North Carolina, who sent me an article about an extinct giant ant called Titanomyrma. This episode is short, but I think you'll find it interesting. We've talked about ants in previous episodes, most recently episode 185. Most ant colonies consist of a single queen ant who lays all the eggs for her colony, seasonally hatched males with wings who fly off as soon as they're grown, and worker ants. The worker ants are all female but don't lay eggs. Army ants have another caste, the soldier ant, which are much larger than the worker ants and have big heads and strong, sharp mandibles. In many species of ant, the worker ants are further divided into castes that are specialized for specific tasks. The biggest species of ant alive today is probably the giant Amazonian ant. The workers can grow over 1.2 inches long, or more than 3 cm, which is huge for an ant. It lives in South America in small colonies, usually containing less than 100 workers, and unlike most ants it doesn't have a queen. Instead, one of the workers mates with a male and lays eggs for the colony. The giant Amazonian ant can sting and its sting contains venom that causes intense pain for up to two days. Fortunately, you will probably never encounter these giant ants, and even if you do they're not very aggressive. Another contender for the biggest species of ant alive today is the Dorylus genus of army ants, also called driver ants, which we talked about in episode 185. It lives in Africa in colonies that have millions of members, and the queen is the largest ant known. A queen army ant can measure 2.4 inches long, or 63 millimeters, but worker ants are much smaller. Around 50 million years ago, giant ants related to modern driver ants lived in both Europe and North America. The genus is Titanomyrma and three species are known so far, found in Germany, England, Canada, and the American states of Tennessee and Wyoming. The Wyoming ant fossil was discovered years ago and donated to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, where it was stored in a drawer and forgotten about. In 2011 a curator found it and showed it to a paleoentomologist named Bruce Archibald. Dr. Archibald recognized it immediately as a fossilized queen ant even though it was the size of a hummingbird. He also realized it was very similar to a type of giant ant that once lived in Germany. The German discovery was the first Titanomyrma species discovered, and it's also the biggest known so far. The queen Titanomyrma gigantea grew up to 2.8 inches long, or 7 centimeters. Males grew up to 1.2 inches long, or 3 cm. The fossilized queen ants found have wings, with a wingspan of over 6 inches, or 16 cm. The other two known species are generally smaller, although still pretty darn big for ants.While they're not that much bigger than the living Dorylus queens, most of the size of a queen Dorylus ant comes from her enlarged abdomen. Titanomyrma ants were just plain big all over. Titanomyrma didn't have a stinger, so it's possible it used its mandibles to inflict bites, the way modern army ants do. It might also have sprayed formic acid at potential predators, as some ants do today. The biggest ants alive today all live in tropical areas, so researchers thought Titanomyrma probably did too. During the Eocene, the world was overall quite warm and parts of Europe were tropical. The northern hemisphere supercontinent Laurasia was in the process of breaking up, but Europe and North America were still connected by the Arctic. Even though the Arctic was a lot warmer 50 million years ago than it is now,

Die Themen der Wissensmeldungen: +++ Menschen glauben schnell an an Seelenverwandschaft mit dem Gegenüber+++ Fledermäuse haben sich seit 52 Millionen Jahre kaum verändert+++ europäische Raumsonde Juice unterwegs zum Jupiter+++**********Weiterführende Quellen zu dieser Folge:La deportista Beatriz Flamini sale de la cueva donde ha permanecido aislada 500 días y bate un récord mundialLIFTOFF of @ariane5 #VA260 with @ESA_JUICE on 14 April 2023: #DestinationJupiter!The oldest known bat skeletons and their implications for Eocene chiropteran diversificationSelf-Essentialist Reasoning Underlies the Similarity-Attraction EffectFate of a biodegradable plastic in forest soil: Dominant tree species and forest types drive changes in microbial community assembly, influence the composition of plastisphere, and affect poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) degradationThe association between cognitive ability and body mass index: A sibling-comparison analysis in four longitudinal studies**********Ihr könnt uns auch auf diesen Kanälen folgen: Tiktok und Instagram.**********Weitere Wissensnachrichten zum Nachlesen: https://www.deutschlandfunknova.de/nachrichten

This week we have a new paper that changes what we thought Dunkleosteus looked like, as well as ancient and medieval literature knowing more about whales than we do. Then meet one of the oddest of mammals from the Eocene, Andrewsarchus. Plus your questions and more. The cupboard is open, come on in!

Nick looks for themes from the Crazy Eocene A to Z series.

(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Pezosiren)Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Pezosiren, a hippo-like ancestor of manatees when they weren't quite sea cows but sea-ish cows. Semiaquatic cows. Except not cows. From the Eocene epoch, this 7-foot sirenian mammal lived quite the peaceful life in its lagoon habitat, floating and grazing the fronds of seagrass… at least when it wasn't being violently torn apart by crocodiles, sharks, and early whales. Mmm… sea beef…Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can purchase Matthew Donald's dinosaur book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here, as well as his non-dinosaur-related book "Teslanauts" by clicking here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

en esta edición: RUSSIAN CIRCLE - GNOSIS ‘Tupilak’ ‘Conduit’ ‘Gnosis’ ‘Bloom’ THE OCEAN COLLECTIVE – PHANEROZOIC II - ‘Jurassic | Cretaceous’ ‘Eocene’ ‘Oligocene’ ‘Holocene’ ALCEST – SPIRITUAL INSTINCT ‘Les Jardins de minuit’ ‘Protection’ ‘Spiritual Instinct’ ‘Sapphire’ DEAFHEAVEN – INFINITE GRANITE ‘Great Mass of Color’ ‘In Blur’ ‘The Gnashing’ ‘Mombasa’

Steven and Meg make plans to go fishing.  They discuss what the world really looks like from higher consciousness.  Steven tells us,   “The person who has no faith in principle will always be a small person.  One that's prone to sorrow, doubt and fear. Whether you have this kinetic belief, trust in beyond what can be seen, or not, depends upon each persons perspective, their point of view. So we develop in and learn to see the world and human beings as being produced by an evolution of insights — as something that is evolving and becoming and not as a finished work. Millions of years ago, the Creator worked with very low and crude forms of life.  Lowly and crude, yet each perfect after its kind. Higher and more complex organisms, animal and vegetable, appeared down through the ages; the earth and its life forms passed through stage after stage in its unfolding, each stage perfect in itself and to be followed by a higher one. And the higher conscious perspective, which is fundamentally correct, is that, “lower organisms” are as perfect after their kind as the higher ones; and that the world in the Eocene period was perfect in the Eocene period.  A person, steeped in ego, in their lower self, is perfect after its lower self.  Likewise, a person who's transcended the lower self is perfect after it's kind. They're not better than someone who struggles in their unawakened self.  Both, are perfect after their kind.” Connect with Steven Canyon: Text “KINETIC" to 844-844-0049 Website - https://stevencanyon.com Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/stevencanyon/ Clubhouse - @stevencanyon and @megancanyon Facebook - https://facebook.com/stevencanyonco Update Description

David Blittersdorf is the President and CEO of AllEarth Renewables, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Post Carbon Institute as well as Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. He and Eric talk about the percentage of fossil energy we can reasonably expect to replace with renewable energy, the limitations of renewable energy, energy return on energy invested, and what drew David to the renewable energy industry, among other things.Outline00:00 - 03:14 — Episode introduction03:14 - 06:48 — What percentage of fossil energy we can replace with renewables06:48 - 17:05 — Mineral limitations in large scale conversion to renewables17:05 - 20:46 — The resource peaking process, and peaking of global oil supply20:46 - 33:41 — Energy return on energy invested, and energy blindness33:41 - 42:31 — What attracted David to the renewable energy industry42:31 - 48:04 — Resistance to wind and solar generation capacity48:04 - 52:07 — Navigating today's changing world52:07 - 54:22 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesListen on YouTubeAllEarth RenewablesQuillwood AcademyReality Blind Reading GroupPeak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines, by Richard HeinbergThe Energy Return on Invested of Biodiesel in Vermont, by Eric GarzaJimmy Carter's 1977 energy policy speech (YouTube)Pliocene and Eocene provide best analogs for near-future climates (K.D. Burke et al, in Proceedings for the National Academies of Sciences)Support the show

Unigold Inc. is a Canada-based mineral exploration company, which is focused primarily on exploring and developing its gold assets in the Dominican Republic. The Company operates through its subsidiary, Unigold Resources Inc., and Unigold Dominicana, S.R.L. Its Neita Concession encompasses 21,031 hectares of the Tireo Formation, a thick sequence of intermediate volcanic and volcanoclastic rocks produced by island arc volcanism that are prospective for porphyry copper (Cu) and Cu-gold (Au) deposits; high to low sulphidation Au and Au- silver (Ag) epithermal deposits; and volcanogenic hosted massive sulfide (VHMS) Au-Ag-Cu- lead (Pb)-zinc (Zn) deposits. The Neita Concession comprises of intermediate volcanic and volcanoclastic rocks of the Upper Cretaceous aged Tireo Formation, intruded by Upper Cretaceous to Eocene aged felsic to ultramafic intrusive rocks.

What can fish scales teach us about the next generation of smart materials. Why is 'scale armor' often found in video games and on fish so strong? What is special about fish scales that can help us make a new generation of smart materials for clothing and structures? What do 35 million year old fish trapped in mud have to do with wind turbines and batteries? Renewable tech relies on Rare earth metals, so where do we find them? Studying fossilized fish can help us find more sources of rare earth metals to build more renewable tech. Haocheng Quan, Wen Yang, Marine Lapeyriere, Eric Schaible, Robert O. Ritchie, Marc A. Meyers. Structure and Mechanical Adaptability of a Modern Elasmoid Fish Scale from the Common Carp. Matter, 2020; DOI: 10.1016/j.matt.2020.05.011 Junichiro Ohta, Kazutaka Yasukawa, Tatsuo Nozaki, Yutaro Takaya, Kazuhide Mimura, Koichiro Fujinaga, Kentaro Nakamura, Yoichi Usui, Jun-Ichi Kimura, Qing Chang, Yasuhiro Kato. Fish proliferation and rare-earth deposition by topographically induced upwelling at the late Eocene cooling event. Scientific Reports, 2020; 10 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-66835-8

Nick shares his latest format - with excitement.

Ted Bobik joins us on the Flannelcast to talk about his work on the Eocene-Oligiocene Transition.

Today in botanical history, we celebrate a Spanish botanist, a Swiss poet and diarist, and an American industrialist. We'll hear an excerpt from a best-selling book where the main character is a 12-year-old girl named September. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that offers a year of fantastic wild flower paintings and notes. And then we'll wrap things up with a lab girl - a scientist whose incredible book was released just five years ago.   Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to “Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast.” And she will. It's just that easy.   The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring: A personal update from me Garden-related items for your calendar The Grow That Garden Library™ featured books for the week Gardener gift ideas Garden-inspired recipes Exclusive updates regarding the show Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.   Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org   Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there's no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you'd search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.   Curated News New books: how designers see the world | Wallpaper.com | Jonathan Bell   Important Events September 27, 1777 Birth of Simón de Rojas Clemente, Spanish botanist, intellectual, politician, and spy. He is regarded as the father of European ampelography (the identification and classification of grapevines). Today a statue of Simón overlooks the Royal Botanical Garden in Madrid. In the early 1800s, Simón taught Arabic. One of his students, Domingo Badía Leblich, invited Simón on an extensive trip through Africa from the Atlas Mountains to the Nile. Anticipating resistance from locals, Domingo and Simón disguised themselves as Muslims and even changed their names. Simón became Mohamad Ben-Alí. And at some point after joining the expedition, Simón learned the true reason for the trip: spying on North Africa for Manuel Godoy, the First Secretary of State of Spain. Simón went on to explore Andalusia before returning to Madrid, where he served as the director of the Royal Botanical Garden library. In 1820, Simón planted a collection of grapevines at the Madrid Royal Botanic Garden. To this day, Simón's grapes are among the wine and table grapes grown in the garden since the 18th century. Simón's herbarium contained 186 specimens of grapes, which remain in excellent condition. They are especially prized because they are the oldest collection of grapevines and because Simón collected them before phylloxera arrived in Spain. Today Simón's grapevine specimens have been genetically analyzed thanks to modern DNA testing.   September 27, 1821 Birth of Henri Frederic Amiel, Swiss philosopher & poet. He is remembered for his Journal Intime, which he kept from 1847 until twenty-two days before he died in 1881. On August 26, 1868, he wrote, Say to yourself that you are entering upon the autumn of your life; that the graces of spring and the splendors of summer are irrevocably gone, but that autumn, too, has its beauties. The autumn weather is often darkened by rain, cloud, and mist, but the air is still soft, and the sun still delights the eyes, and touches the yellowing leaves caressingly: it is the time for fruit, for harvest, for the vintage, the moment for making provision for the winter. My life has reached its month of September. May I recognize it in time, and suit thought and action to the fact! He also wrote, A modest garden contains, for those who know how to look and to wait, more instruction than a library.   September 27, 1877 Birth of James Drummond Dole, American industrialist. Known as the “Pineapple King,” he founded the pineapple industry in Hawaii. His Hawaiian Pineapple Company (HAPCO) later became the Dole Food Company. In 1899, James made his way to Hawaii after graduating from Harvard. After realizing that the native Kona pineapple could not be grown commercially, he started growing a Florida variety known as Smooth Cayenne on sixty acres. The local newspapers scoffed at his idea. James persisted and hired help to create a machine that could process one hundred pineapples every minute. He also aggressively marketed pineapple in mainland America. Within twenty years, Hawaiian pineapples dominated the market. In the first half of the 20th century, the popularity of the pineapple upside-down cake further helped the pineapple become mainstream. In terms of their makeup, pineapples contain an enzymatic protein called bromelain - a chemical that prevents gelatin from setting. Once a pineapple is heated for canning, the bromelain is destroyed, which is why canned pineapple can be used successfully with jello. Today, Hawaii produces only .13 of the world's pineapple.   Unearthed Words She liked anything orange: leaves; some moons; marigolds; chrysanthemums; cheese; pumpkin, both in pie and out; orange juice; marmalade. Orange is bright and demanding. You can't ignore orange things. She once saw an orange parrot in the pet store and had never wanted anything so much in her life. She would have named it Halloween and fed it butterscotch. Her mother said butterscotch would make a bird sick and, besides, the dog would certainly eat it up. September never spoke to the dog again — on principle. ― Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making   Grow That Garden Library Wild Flowers of Britain by Margaret Erskine Wilson This book came out in 2016, and the subtitle is Month by Month. Here's what the publisher wrote about this book: Margaret Erskine Wilson, late President of Kendal Natural History Society, was a keen amateur botanist and watercolorist. In 1999, she donated to the Society 150 sheets of water-colour paintings representing a thousand British and Irish plants in flower and fruit, painted in situ over many years and in various places. At the time she donated the paintings to Kendal Natural History Society, she wrote: Begun in 1943/4 for a friend who said, 'I might learn the names of flowers if you drew them for me, in the months they're in flower'! The result is this beautiful, previously unpublished book of all her accurate and informative illustrations, painted over a period of 45 years. Over a thousand British and Irish flowers are represented in this book, and it still today serves Margaret Erskine Wilson's original purpose - it is an easy way to learn the names of our delicate and beautiful wild flowers. This book is 176 pages of a year's worth of Margaret Erskine Wilson's extraordinary paintings, notes, the English common names, and the scientific names. You can get a copy of Wild Flowers of Britain by Margaret Erskine Wilson and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $12   Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart September 27, 1969 Birth of Hope Jahren, American geochemist and geobiologist. In her work at the University of Oslo in Norway, she analyzes fossil forests dating to the Eocene. Her popular book Lab Girl (2016) is part memoir and part ode to nature. In Lab Girl, she wrote, There are botany textbooks that contain pages and pages of growth curves, but it is always the lazy-S-shaped ones that confuse my students the most. Why would a plant decrease in mass just when it is nearing its plateau of maximum productivity? I remind them that this shrinking has proved to be a signal of reproduction. As the green plants reach maturity, some of their nutrients are pulled back and repurposed toward flowers and seeds. Production of the new generation comes at a significant cost to the parent, and you can see it in a cornfield, even from a great distance.   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: “For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.”

The Oregon Coast on the western edge of the USA is a wonderful place to collect fossils. The area has been known for its wonderful fossil fauna since the 1830s. Here we find middle Miocene (along with a wee bit of Eocene) outcrops with delicious fossil whale bone, fish teeth, turtle shell, and a magnificent assortment of molluscs — the gastropods Chlorostome pacificum, Turritella oregonensis, Crepidula, Cryptontica oregonensis, Polinices canalis, Neverita, Sinum scopulosum and the large and lovely Liracassis petrosa. Some bits of terrestrial material are sometimes washed into the mix and give us some insights into the local tree fauna at that time. We also find lovely wee foraminifera, so well worth bringing a hand lens. I had mentioned connecting with Kathryn Abbott, Spino Queen during the episode. You can find her at @kathronodon on Instagram or as co-host on the podcast @dinosaurpostcast. She is a delight and I highly recommend you connect with her!

(image source: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/who-was-ida/) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Darwinius, a tiny mammal distantly related to the evolutionary line that led to humans, which is cool, but then again, so was Dimetrodon, which is way cooler. From the Eocene epoch, this 2-foot primate was so named to commemorate the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin when it was described, or maybe to send young-earth creationists into a seething rage. A primate named for Darwin that evolved into humans?! I bet this thing supported gay marriage, too! Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can purchase Matthew Donald's dinosaur book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here. 

This week Amani and Meghan discuss sand tiger sharks from the Eocene with Dr. Sora Kim! We explore the ecology and environment of sand tiger sharks during the Eocene, and can even explore climate change during the Eocene using sand tiger teeth fossils! This discussion was guided around Dr. Sora Kim's publication, "Probing the Ecology and Climate of the Eocene Southern Ocean With Sand Tiger Sharks Striatolamia macrota". Get ready to learn about some incredible things we can learn about the climate during the Eocene using stable isotope analysis of teeth from extinct sand tiger sharks! You can connect with Dr. Sora Kim on Twitter @SoraLKim This episode was edited by Kaela Shoe Follow Sharkpedia at @SharkpediaPod on Instagram and Twitter Connect with Sharkpedia: linktr.ee/sharkpediapod Email: thesharkpediapodcast@gmail.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/sharkpediapod/support

Today, Patricia Engler of Answers in Genesis Canada goes through her critical thinking checklist and applies it to the topic of transitional fossils. Of course, this involves completely misunderstanding what transitional fossils even are.Sources:The land-based ancestor of whales: https://go.nature.com/3xJmOZxWhales originated from aquatic artiodactyls in the Eocene epoch of India: https://go.nature.com/2zgpTqEFrom Land to Water: the Origin of Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises: https://bit.ly/2U17oRXWhat has the head of a crocodile and the gills of a fish?: http://bit.ly/2uLPAxtCompsognathus: https://bit.ly/3yXstLLArchaeopteryx: https://bit.ly/2CJAlZHHow Dinosaurs Shrank and Became Birds: https://bit.ly/3ehU7eEElusive new type of supernova, long sought by scientists, actually exists: https://bit.ly/3xALHGNEverything You Wanted to Know About Dinosaur Sex: https://bit.ly/36IkF4hThe colour of fossil feathers: https://bit.ly/3xKdynZHow Do We Know What Color Dinosaurs Were?: https://bit.ly/36AzKF5The making of differences between fins and limbs: https://bit.ly/3i9iTyKOriginal Video: https://bit.ly/3kicKTmCards:The Dinosaur Monster Puppy Fish Proves Evolution!:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs0Or4GD03QCritical Thinking Check 5: Am I Propaganda?:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK0uM7qI36Y

Oilex Ltd (Oilex or the Company) is pleased to announce that GSPC has provided notification that it has approved the sale of its 55% participating interest (PI) in the Cambay PSC to Oilex for the purchase price of US$2.2 million (‘Purchase Price’) (the ‘Transaction’). The Transaction has also received the approval of the state government of Gujarat. Following completion of the Transaction, Oilex will hold a 100% participating interest in the Cambay PSC. This will provide Oilex with the ability, subject to sourcing the necessary funding, to restart fieldwork including a work program consisting of the drilling of two vertical wells to appraise the Eocene gas accumulation which is confirmed by historical flow tests and up until recently, low-rate cyclic production from two wells from the same reservoir section.The Company’s drilling plans in relation to the pilot program are well advanced and are aimed at establishing flow rates after hydraulic stimulation of the Eocene siltstone reservoir. The pilot program will implement the recommendations from a 2017/18 Baker Hughes-GE study focussed on drilling and stimulation best practice. Any hydrocarbon production from these wells will utilise the existing Cambay processing and storage facilities and the connection to a local low-pressure gas pipeline. https://www.share-talk.com/joe-salomon-managing-director-of-oilex-ltd-oex-asx-l-interview/

A temperature rise of three or four degrees doesn’t seem like a big deal… Until you go back a few million years and start exploring what the world looked like the last time the Earth was that hot and CO2 levels were even higher than they are now. Peter Brannen is an award-winning science journalist. His work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED and The Guardian, among many other national publications. He is also the author of The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth’s Past Mass Extinctions. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Peter joins Ross to discuss his most recent article in The Atlantic, ‘The Terrifying Warning Lurking in the Earth’s Ancient Rock Record.’ Peter explains what the planet was like during the Pliocene (the last time CO2 reached 400 PPM), the Miocene (500 PPM) and the Eocene (600-plus PPM), describing how rising levels of carbon dioxide might transform the Earth as we know it. Listen in for Peter’s insight on what an understanding of deep time can teach us about the impact climate change has on the planet and help us appreciate the difference three degrees can make. Connect with Nori Purchase Nori Carbon Removals Join Nori's Patreon book club Nori's website Nori on Twitter Resources Peter’s Website ‘The Terrifying Warning Lurking in the Earth’s Ancient Rock Record’ in The Atlantic The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth’s Past Mass Extinctions by Peter Brannen Peter on Reversing Climate Change EP087 David Grinspoon David Grinspoon on Reversing Climate Change: Geology Cage Match! The Sapiezoic vs. the Anthropocene—w/ Dr. David Grinspoon, astrobiologist David Grinspoon on Reversing Climate Change S1E47: 47: David Grinspoon, Astrobiologist The Long Thaw: How Humans Are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth’s Climate by David Archer Jessica Tierney on Twitter Ted Scripps Fellowship Program ‘Atmospheric CO2: Principal Control Knob Governing Earth’s Temperature’ in Science Wallace Broecker --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/reversingclimatechange/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/reversingclimatechange/support

The Central Indo-Pacific (or CIP if you're stuck for time) is a highly diverse region of the ocean. But how did it get to be this way? It's this question which is the topic for today's episode. Sources for this episode: 1) Ivany, L. C., Patterson, W. P. and Lohmann, K. C. (2000), Cooler winters as a possible cause of mass extinctions at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary. Nature 407: 887- 890. 2) Jones, K. R., Klein, C. J., Halpern, B. S., Venter, O., Grantham, H., Kuempel, C. D., Shumway, N., Friedlander, A. M., Possingham, H. P. and Watson, J. E. M. (2018), The Location and Protection Status of Earth's Diminishing Marine Wilderness. Current Biology 28: 2506- 2512. 3) Miller, E.C., Hayashi, K. T., Song, D., Wiens, J. J., (2018) Explaining the ocean's richest biodiversity hotspot and global patterns of fish diversity. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 285: 20181314. 4) Renema, W., Bellwood, D. R., Braga, J. C., Bromfield, K., Hall, R., Johnson, K. G., Lunt, P., Meyer, C. P., McMonagle, L. B., Morley, R. J., O'Dea, A., Todd, J. A., Wesselingh, F. P., Wilson, M. E. J. and Pandolfi, J. M. (2008), Hopping Hotspots: Global Shifts in Marine Biodiversity. Science (321): 654- 657. 5) Siqueira, A. C., Bellwood, D. R. and Cowman, P. F. (2019), Historical biogeography of herbivorous coral reef fishes: The formation of an Atlantic fauna. Journal of Biogeography. 6) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Coral (online) [Accessed 17/01/2021]. 7) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Eocene (online) [Accessed 17/01/2021].

The upper Oligocene Sooke Formation that outcrops on southwestern Vancouver Island, British Columbia is a wonderful place to collect and especially good for families. As well as amazing west coast scenery, the beach site outcrop has a lovely soft matrix with well-preserved fossil molluscs, often with the shell material preserved (Clark and Arnold, 1923). While the site has been known since the 1890s, my first trip here was in the early 1990s as part of a Vancouver Paleontological Society (VanPS) fossil field trip. By the Oligocene ocean temperatures had cooled to near modern levels and the taxa preserved here as fossils bear a strong resemblance to those found living beneath the Strait of Juan de Fuca today. Gastropods, bivalves, echinoids, coral, chitin and limpets are common-ish — and on rare occasions, fossil marine mammals, cetacean and bird bones are discovered. Back in 2015, a family found the fossilized bones from a 25-million-year-old wing-propelled flightless diving bird while out strolling the shoreline near Sooke. Not knowing what they'd found but recognizing it as significant, the bones were brought to the Royal British Columbia Museum to identify. The bones found their way into the hands of Gary Kaiser. Kaiser worked as a biologist for Environment Canada and the Nature Conservatory of Canada. After retirement, he turned his eye from our extant avian friends to their fossil lineage. The thing about passion is it never retires. Gary is now a research associate with the Royal British Columbia Museum, published author and continues his research on birds and their paleontological past. Kaiser identified the well-preserved coracoid bones as the first example from Canada of a Plotopteridae, an extinct family that lived in the North Pacific from the late Eocene to the early Miocene. In honour of our First Nations communities who settled the Sooke area, Kaiser named the new genus and species Stemec suntokum. Avian fossils from the Sooke Formation are rare. We are especially lucky that the bird bone was fossilized at all. These are delicate bones and tasty. Scavengers often get to them well before they have a chance and the right conditions to fossilize. Doubly lucky is that the find was of a coracoid, a bone from the shoulder that provides information on how this bird moved and dove through the water similar to a penguin. It's the wee bit that flexes as the bird moves his wing up and down. Picture a penguin doing a little waddle and flapping their flipper-like wings getting ready to hop near and dive into the water. Now imagine them expertly porpoising — gracefully jumping out of the sea and zigzagging through the ocean to avoid predators. It is likely that the Sooke find did some if not all of these activities.

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesohippus) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss Mesohippus, an early form of horse that's just a pink recolor and tramp-stamp away from being on a little girls' merchandise-based cartoon show. From the Eocene epoch, this 2-foot-tall horse wasn't quite Eohippus the early horse, nor like modern late horses, but just in the middle. A middle horse, if you will. Hey, I get it now! Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content here. Also, you can purchase Matthew Donald's dinosaur book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here. 

The PETM has been called the largest natural climate change event of the Cenozoic Era. It marks the transition from the ecosystems of the Paleocene to the more familiar world of the Eocene and is thus an important step in making the world the way we know it today. But maybe most importantly, it is a dramatic case study in what happens when a huge amount of Carbon injected into the atmosphere triggers rapid warming of global climate … you know, in case anyone needs to know about that. In the news: pterosaur cousins, oldest pythons, burrowed dinosaurs, and hibernating hominins. Time markers: Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00 News: 00:04:30 Main discussion, Part 1: 00:32:30 Main discussion, Part 2: 01:03:00 Patron question: 01:36:30 Check out our blog for bonus info and pictures: http://commondescentpodcast.wordpress.com/ Find merch at the Common Descent Store! http://zazzle.com/common_descent Follow and Support us on: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/CommonDescentPC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/commondescentpodcast Instagram: @commondescentpodcast PodBean: https://commondescentpodcast.podbean.com/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast/id1207586509?mt=2 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCePRXHEnZmTGum2r1l2mduw The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org. Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The Green River Formation is a series of Eocene outcrops with outstanding preservation. Here we see the species that lived and died then fossilized within the sediments at the bottom of intermountain lakes in three basins along the present-day Green River in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah.

An Eocene Cryptodiran Fossil Turtle, Baena arenosa, from fine-grained lime mud outcrops in the Green River Formation, Wyoming, USA. This fellow, with the extra-long tail, marks the last of his lineage. The now extinct family Baenidae appeared first in the Jurassic and died out at the end of the Eocene. We've found specimens of Baena, along with 14 other species of turtles in seven genera and five families in the Lower Eocene San Jose Formation, San Juan Basin of New Mexico. This specimen is from the Green River Formation of Wyoming which was once the bottom of one of an extensive series of Eocene lakes. The Green River Formation is particularly abundant in beautifully preserved fossil fish, eleven species of reptiles including a 13.5ft crocodile, an armadillo-like mammal, Brachianodon westorum, bats, birds and other fresh-water aquatic goodies. This specimen of a beautiful Baena was found and prepped by the Green River Stone Company. They purchased their private 12-acre quarry about 20 years ago. It's at the Eocene lake's centre, shared with Fossil Butte National Monument about 24 kilometres (15 miles) west of Kemmerer, Lincoln County, Wyoming.

John Leahy & Dave Langevin worked up at the McAbee Fossil Beds for more than two decades. Together they opened up the site and our understanding of British Columbia during the Eocene. Both have passed away now but their collection of more than 18,000 specimens were donated to the Royal British Columbia Museum. Their contribution to science and generosity of spirit do them credit. John was a bit of a character. He has a jeep with the license plate, "Palaeo" and used to leave it at the site for me to use to roam the hills. It required hotwiring as it did not have a key but that only added to the fun.

The McAbee Fossil Beds are known for their incredible abundance, diversity and quality of fossils including lovely plant, insect and fish species that lived in an old lake bed setting 52-53 million years ago. The fossils are preserved here as impressions and carbonaceous films. We see gymnosperm (16 species); a variety of conifers (14 species to my knowledge); two species of ginkgo, a large variety of angiosperm (67 species); a variety of insects and fish remains, the rare feather and a boatload of mashed deciduous material. Nuts and cupules are also found from the dicotyledonous Fagus and Ulmus and members of the Betulaceae, including Betula and Alnus. We see many species that look very similar to those growing in the Pacific Northwest today. Specifically, cypress, dawn redwood, fir, spruce, pine, larch, hemlock, alder, birch, dogwood, beech, sassafras, cottonwood, maple, elm and grape. If we look at the pollen data, we see over a hundred highly probable species from the site. Though rare, McAbee has also produced spiders, birds (and lovely individual feathers) along with multiple specimens of the freshwater crayfish, Aenigmastacus crandalli. For insects, we see dragonflies, damselflies, cockroaches, termites, earwigs, aphids, leafhoppers, spittlebugs, lacewings, a variety of beetles, gnats, ants, hornets, stick insects, water striders, weevils, wasps and March flies. The insects are particularly well-preserved. Missing are the tropical Sabal (palm), seen at Princeton and the impressive Ensete (banana) and Zamiaceae (cycad) found at Eocene sites in Republic and Chuckanut, Washington.

If you’re a fan of the podcast please follow me on twitter @winemovienerd or send me an email at milkshakesandmimosas@gmail.com. Sources included bibliography will be available in the shownotes. Sources: Kaiju For Hipster by Kevin Derendorf John Lemay’s The Big Book of Japanese Monster Movies Volume 1: 1954-1982 Monsters are Attacking Tokyo! By Stuart Galbraith IV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai_people#:~:text=The%20Maasai%20 (%2F%CB%88m%C9%91%CB%90,their%20distinctive%20customs%20and%20dress. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0653857/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_Earth%27s_Core_(film) https://www.kamikochi.org/basicinfo/nationalpark https://www.cloudfuneralhome.com/notices/Luther-RackleyJr https://wikizilla.org/wiki/The_Last_Dinosaur https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uintatherium#cite_note-5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eocene

When we think about the Ice Age or the Pleistocene, we generally think of large animals: wooly mammoths trudging through snow, sabre-tooth tigers taking down their next meal, and big bison out on the steppes. These are really interesting things to think about, but what else can we learn from the Pleistocene other big animals and their extinction? We can also use the Pleistocene (which is relatively similar to the modern world in terms of continental layout, landscapes, and ecological niche availability) to explore questions of palaeoecology, biotic interactions and how changes in the environment can affect the local fauna. The relatively young age of the Pleistocene means that the available data is very different to palaeoecological studies of the Cretaceous or Eocene. This means that it is more appropriate for drawing comparisons to what's happening today or what might happen in the future with climate change. Joining us in this interview is Dr Jacquelyn Gill, an Associate Professor at the University of Maine, who works in palaeoecology. We talk about the different data available, the importance of understanding palaeoecology, including a recent paper from her group on seabird ecology in the Falklands, and what this might mean for the future.

A cool morning breeze keeps the mosquitoes down as we pack our kayaks and gear for today's paddling journey. It is day four of our holiday, with two days driving up from Vancouver to Cache Creek, past the Eocene insect and plant site at McAbee, the well-bedded Permian limestone near Marble Canyon and onto Bowron Provincial Park, a geologic gem near the gold rush town of Barkerville. The initial draw for me, given that collecting in a provincial park is forbidden and all collecting close at hand outside the park appears to amount to a handful of crushed crinoid bits and a few conodonts, was the gorgeous natural scenery and a broad range of species extant. It was also the proposition of padding the Bowron Canoe Circuit, a 149,207 hectare geologic wonderland, where a fortuitous combination of plate tectonics and glacial erosion have carved an unusual 116 kilometre near-continuous rectangular circuit of lakes, streams and rivers bound on all sides by snowcapped mountains. We're making our trek in low profile, Kevlar style. One single & one double kayak would be our faithful companions and mode of transport. They will be briefly conscripted into service as a bear shield later in the trip. Yes, a grizzly bear encounter! Versatile those kayaks. The Bowrons — from all descriptions, something like heaven.

Bulunduğumuz haftanın bilim dünyasından önemli gelişmeleri sizler için derledik. NASA's SOFIA discovers water on sunlit surface of moon. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-sofia-discovers-water-on-sunlit-surface-of-moon Increased circulation time of Plasmodium falciparum underlies persistent asymptomatic infection in the dry season. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-1084-0 Earliest fossils of giant sized bony toothed birds from the Eocene of Seymour Island, Antarctica. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-75248-6 Inka llama offerings from Tambo Viejo, Acari Valley, Peru. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2020.183 NASA and European Space Agency formalize Artemis gateway partnership. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-european-space-agency-formalize-artemis-gateway-partnership Bize 101.podcast.info@gmail.com adresinden ulaşabilirsiniz.

In a programme first broadcast in 2017, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the high temperatures that marked the end of the Paleocene and start of the Eocene periods, about 50m years ago. Over c1000 years, global temperatures rose more than 5 C on average and stayed that way for c100,000 years more, with the surface of seas in the Arctic being as warm as those in the subtropics. There were widespread extinctions, changes in ocean currents, and there was much less oxygen in the sea depths. The rise has been attributed to an increase of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere, though it is not yet known conclusively what the source of those gases was. One theory is that a rise in carbon dioxide, perhaps from volcanoes, warmed up the globe enough for warm water to reach the bottom of the oceans and so release methane from frozen crystals in the sea bed. The higher the temperature rose and the longer the water was warm, the more methane was released. Scientists have been studying a range of sources from this long period, from ice samples to fossils, to try to understand more about possible causes. With Dame Jane Francis Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the British Antarctic Survey Mark Maslin Professor of Palaeoclimatology at University College London And Tracy Aze Lecturer in Marine Micropaleontology at the University of Leeds Producer: Simon Tillotson.

May 2020 Radio announcer: Time to talk Geopark once again. Joined by Geo educator Sasha Morriss. Sasha, still working from home at the moment. Geoeducator: That's right, yes, I'm still working remotely. Radio announcer: But you've been really active and busy, I guess. Geoeducator: Oh, yeah. Look, it's been a really good opportunity for us just to develop a lot more online resources. So we've got a kids page up and running, lots of activities in kid friendly language. And we've also set up a resources page specifically for teachers to use. Now, teachers, you know, not just in schools, teachers are parents, teachers are family members. So if you've got children that you care for or in your life, jump online and have a look. And there might be some resources there that the people in your family find interesting. Radio announcer: Now, one of the things you have been working on, I understand, is about timelines. Geoeducator: That's right. Yes. So geological timescales and timelines is what we've been working on lately. And that's available online now. So we've got some text around that explaining what is the geological time scale and also the time scale itself. And it has been drawn up in a column form. So just to run over it briefly, the geological time scale is massive. It's very difficult for us to get our minds around, you know, millions of years. So what we've done is we've re created one specifically for the Waitaki District that tells the story of Zealandia. So everything on this geological timescale to date relates back to things that we discuss in Kids Corner. So there's nothing in there that's going to throw you and think, oh, what's that? It's all things that you can cross reference to Kids corner. And it covers right from when New Zealand was part of Gondwana - basement rocks were being formed through to the separation of Zealandia. And then what we see recorded here in the Waitaki District with the marine transgression, the volcanism, we've got glaciation etc. So it's not a thing to really get hung up on the actual numbers, but it's the order of things. What happened first? What happened next etc. And it just put things into context for people. And I think makes things a little bit more accessible and clearer for people. So we'd just really appreciate people's feedback as to what they think. And I guess one thing to keep in mind when you're looking at the geological time scale is one of the assumptions that's made is that things happen at a constant rate over time. Now, we know in reality that this is not true, that you have catastrophic events that do create things that would be recorded in the geological time scale. However, over time, we kind of assume that these things even out. And so there's lots of factors that come into play when you read the geological time scale. So if you read the text, you'll see there is a margin of error that is built in there. But when you start talking about millions of years, you know, you can have significant margins of era. They can be, you know, a million years here or there. So that's why geologists tend to talk about epochs or periods of time. So when you hear Oligocene, Eocene, Miocene - they're periods of time that span millions and millions of years. And that's what geologists tend to talk about rather than specific dates. Radio announcer: And all of that is available on the Web site. Geoeducator: It's all available on the Web site. So jump on there and have a look. And we would just love to hear your feedback. Radio announcer: And that Web site address, again is... Geoeducator: The website address is www.whitestonegeopark.nz Radio announcer: Thanks for your time, Sasha. We'll catch up again next time.

The gang discusses two papers that look at modifications of the vertebrate hand. The first looks at how the lobe fin evolved into the vertebrate hand, and the second paper looks at the early limb transformations of early whales as hands became fins. Meanwhile, James’s computer is a time traveler, Amanda is upset that everyone is upset about Bunny Day, and Curt wonders about numbers higher than 10.   Up-Goer Five (Curt Edition): Our friends talk about how hands got started, and also how hands can become things that let animals move through the water. When this happens, we don't have a lot of remains because lots of the hard parts for these animals that are moving into or out of the water aren't there for us to look at. These two papers talk about new remains that have been found which give us more hard parts to look at so we can better understand how this happens. The first paper looks at new remains of old animals that let us know what the first animals which would have arms and legs and a back and lived on land looked like. This also lets us learn more about how hands first started. Big hard parts that used to be used to go through the water had some of those hard parts change to make fingers. While these first fingers started to form, the rest of the animal looked like it lived in the water. The second paper looks at another type of animal that later on moved off the land and back into the water. When that happened, the hands become more like things that are used to move through the water. This animal is just starting to move into the water, but its great great great great children would be large animals with warm blood who move through the water. This animal that is just starting to move into the water shows changes in the hand that we usually see with things in water, but also has some hard parts that we see on land.   References: Cloutier, Richard, et al. "Elpistostege and the origin of the vertebrate hand." Nature 579.7800 (2020): 549-554.   Vautrin, Quentin, et al. "From limb to fin: an Eocene protocetid forelimb from Senegal sheds new light on the early locomotor evolution of cetaceans." Palaeontology 63.1 (2020): 51-66. 

The evolution of horses is a classic story, first because it is a beautiful example of evolution in the fossil record, and second because of how our scientific perspective of this story has shifted over the years. From the tiny forest-dwellers of the Eocene, barely recognizable as horse-relatives, to the mighty domesticated animals we know today, we’ll unpack what we know – and what we thought we knew – about horse evolution. In the news: dinosaur teeth, alligator tools, ancient embryos, and dinosaur heads. Time markers: Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00 News: 00:05:00 Main discussion, Part 1: 00:37:00 Main discussion, Part 2: 01:15:00 Patron question: 01:47:30 Check out our blog for bonus info and pictures: http://commondescentpodcast.wordpress.com/ We made an appearance on The Science of Pokémon to talk about - what else? - fossil Pokémon! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-of-galar/id1287752766?i=1000459595554 The Common Descent Store is open! Get merch! http://zazzle.com/common_descent Follow and Support us on: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/CommonDescentPC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/commondescentpodcast/ PodBean: https://commondescentpodcast.podbean.com/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast/id1207586509?mt=2 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCePRXHEnZmTGum2r1l2mduw The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org. Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Looking back through time, the fossil record shows a remarkable diversity of forms, creatures unfamiliar to today’s Earth, suggesting ecosystems alien enough to challenge any sense of continuity. But reconstructed trophic networks — maps of who’s eating whom — reveal a hidden order that has been conserved since the first complex animals of half a billion years ago. These network models offer scientists an armature on which to hang new unifying theories of ecology, a way to answer questions about how energy moves through living systems, how evolution keeps producing creatures to refill specific niches, how mass extinctions happen, what minimal viable ecosystems are and why.  Untangling this deep structure of food webs may also shed light on technology and economics, and guide interventions to ensure sustainability in agriculture, conservation efforts, even venture capital investment.This week’s guest is Jennifer Dunne, SFI’s Vice President for Science and Fellow at the Ecological Society of America. Dunne got her PhD in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley, joined SFI’s faculty in 2007, and sits on the advisory board for Nautilus Magazine.  In this second half of a two-part conversation, we discuss her work on reconstructing ancient food webs, and the implications of this research for our understanding of ecologies, extinctions, sustainability, and technological innovation.Visit our website for more information or to support our science and communication efforts.Join our Facebook discussion group to meet like minds and talk about each episode.Jennifer Dunne’s Website.Related Reading:Modern Lessons from Ancient Food WebsParasites Affect Food Web Structure Primarily through Increased Diversity and ComplexityHighly resolved early Eocene food webs show development of modern trophic structure after the end-Cretaceous extinctionThe roles and impacts of human hunter-gatherers in North Pacific marine food websA primer on the history of food web ecology: Fundamental contributions of fourteen researchersQuanta Magazine features Dunne on humans in food webs.Jennifer on This Week in Science at InterPlanetary Festival 2019.Learn more about The ArchaeoEcology Project.Follow us on social media:Twitter • YouTube • Facebook • Instagram • LinkedIn

The gang talks about two papers that look at potential examples of parasitism in the fossil record. One paper finds possible parasites attaching to ancient ostracods, and another paper details potential parasitic isopods on electric ray fossils. Meanwhile, James practices his spidey sense, Curt is suspicious that things are going too well, and Amanda’s internet has amazing timing.   Up-Goer Five (Amanda and James Edition):  Today our friends talk about animals that eat other animals without killing them. First our friends talk about a paper that talks about an animal that has big teeth but no hard inside parts even though it is in a group that has hard inside parts and lives in the water. This animal has a number of smaller animals that have sort of hard outer parts, that may have been living on its skin by sticking its head inside its skin and living there. It is very hard to tell if this thing had its head in the animal with big teeth and no inside hard parts when it lived, or if it was just maybe eating the animal after it was dead. It is very hard to tell if things ate other things while they were still living or if they were there after it died. Our friends also talk little animals that have five arms that today live in animals without legs that breath water. The animals with five arms first became animals with five arms that ate other animals without killing before the animals without legs that breath water came to be, so we did not know what the animals with five arms used to eat. Now we know that they would eat animals with lots of legs and a hard head, and that they would eat the animals with lots of legs and a hard head from lots of places, not just inside like they eat the animals with no legs that breath water.   References:  Siveter, David J., et al. "A 425-million-year-old Silurian pentastomid parasitic on ostracods." Current Biology 25.12 (2015): 1632-1637.   Robin, Ninon, et al. "Eocene isopods on electric rays: tracking ancient biological interactions from a complex fossil record." Palaeontology 62.2 (2019): 287-303. 

Facing a global sand crisis and securing strategic resources, pouring a century of concrete in 3 years, illegal dredging, the difference between sands, the Eocene period, Aeolina dunes, the Birth of Modern Geology and more!Join me for the final International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) interview, where I speak with Bruce Maluish, Managing Director of Ventnor Resources (ASX:VRX) as we talk all things sand, including the need for Solar Panel glass to avoid light diffraction and withstanding hail, the ASX journey from copper and gold to sand, tenement acquisition, co-location with logistic infrastructure, access to ports, resource volumes, ROI horizons, capital investment, the approval process and the Australian future of embracing cutting edge tech vs bulk resource extraction with a touch on glass manufacturing in Australia.Thanks to Frances Pratt who I believe gave me 'The map that changed the world - the Birth of Modern Geology' back in 2005 - book link: https://www.amazon.com/Map-That-Chang...In closing, thank you to the Australia China Business Council and Virginia Birrell, ShineWing Australia and Matthew Schofield, Platform Communications Pty Ltd & IMARC for the opportunity to bring you the latest business and technology news.If you enjoyed this content, please give it a like, leave a comment, subscribe for more and share the video - it really means a lot to see your support coming in :)Smarter Impact is hosted by http://linkedin.com/in/philipbateman and produced by http://bravocharlie.globalBravo Charlie specialise in targeted video communication for impact investors and their portfolios, using marketing, business development, investing and production skills to engage stakeholders and amplify returns.At the apex of social change, we exist as the possibility of world leaders in business, politics and society being engaging, powerful communicators, and work to accelerate the transition of our world into a more environmentally aware, sustainable and loving place.Our best work is done with companies at a tipping point, with strong offerings, ready to launch into the next stage of their greatness.  The outcomes of our effort are a more harmonious society, empowering people with the resources and capabilities to lead good lives.We specialise in:- Documenting your Impact Measurement and Management- Making complex businesses and technologies simple to understand- Coaching senior executives to deliver at their best on camera- Creating compelling pitches and content, to support Seed/series funding and IPOs- Crafting digital marketing systems, engagement and growthSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/SmarterImpact)

Welcome to the second episode of the Paleo Podcast where me and my friend, Gabe, discuss the ecosystem of South Dakota and Nebraska during the Priobonian age of the late Eocene! Here, we discuss how this tune era was crucial to the evolution of many animals we see in the wild today!

The story of life concludes with the Cenozoic Era, from the Paleocene to the Pliocene epoch (66 to 2.58 Million Years Ago). We follow the survivors of the great Cretaceous Extinction Event as they adapt to a rapidly changing world, including the mammals. Special topics include the the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, the Rise of the Himalayas, the Spread of the Grasslands, the Crisis of the Mediterranean, and the Great American Interchange. Transcript: https://riverofhistory.tumblr.com/post/183188061451/episode-6-the-age-of-mammalsLinks and References Mentioned:Placentals Didn't Displace North American Marsupials: https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/71489/10/ZORA_NL_71489.pdfHow Neornithine Birds Survived: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.062Geology of the Pacific Islands: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2607379/ Evolution of Baleen Whales: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)31414-3

The story of life concludes with the Cenozoic Era, from the Paleocene to the Pliocene epoch (66 to 2.58 Million Years Ago). We follow the survivors of the great Cretaceous Extinction Event as they adapt to a rapidly changing world, including the mammals. Special topics include the the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, the Rise of the Himalayas, the Spread of the Grasslands, the Crisis of the Mediterranean, and the Great American Interchange. Transcript: https://riverofhistory.tumblr.com/post/183188061451/episode-6-the-age-of-mammalsLinks and References Mentioned:Placentals Didn't Displace North American Marsupials: https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/71489/10/ZORA_NL_71489.pdfHow Neornithine Birds Survived: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.062Geology of the Pacific Islands: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2607379/ Evolution of Baleen Whales: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)31414-3

The story of life concludes with the Cenozoic Era, from the Paleocene to the Pliocene epoch (66 to 2.58 Million Years Ago). We follow the survivors of the great Cretaceous Extinction Event as they adapt to a rapidly changing world, including the mammals. Special topics include the the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, the Rise of the Himalayas, the Spread of the Grasslands, the Crisis of the Mediterranean, and the Great American Interchange. Transcript: https://riverofhistory.tumblr.com/post/183188061451/episode-6-the-age-of-mammalsLinks and References Mentioned:Placentals Didn't Displace North American Marsupials: https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/71489/10/ZORA_NL_71489.pdfHow Neornithine Birds Survived: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.062Geology of the Pacific Islands: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2607379/ Evolution of Baleen Whales: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)31414-3

The story of life concludes with the Cenozoic Era, from the Paleocene to the Pliocene epoch (66 to 2.58 Million Years Ago). We follow the survivors of the great Cretaceous Extinction Event as they adapt to a rapidly changing world, including the mammals. Special topics include the the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, the Rise of the Himalayas, the Spread of the Grasslands, the Crisis of the Mediterranean, and the Great American Interchange. Transcript: https://riverofhistory.tumblr.com/post/183188061451/episode-6-the-age-of-mammalsLinks and References Mentioned:Placentals Didn't Displace North American Marsupials: https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/71489/10/ZORA_NL_71489.pdfHow Neornithine Birds Survived: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.062Geology of the Pacific Islands: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2607379/ Evolution of Baleen Whales: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)31414-3

To honor our recent collaboration with TheSciCommunity, we sat down with the founders Dan and Gabe and discussed the importance of science communication.  Dan and Gabe share their values and mission to spread science in a transparent and direct way.  Also in this episode, we discuss our pathways into science, how to improve the dialogue between scientists and the public, and fake news.  We also talk about the Skype A Scientist program that connects scientists with classrooms around the world.  Finally, we answer the question: Is scicomm enough?   About Dan Dan is a science writer and founder of Instagram's theSciCommunity, a science-centered networking page that strives to bring scientists and science enthusiasts from all over the world together to share their love of the STEAM fields.  Dan strives to prove to as many people willing to listen that science is for everyone. Connect with Dan on Instagram.   About Gabe Gabe Santos is a paleontologist from Los Angeles, California where he is the Collections Manager and Outreach Coordinator for the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology.  As Collections Manager, Gabe is responsible for the care, cataloging, and organization of the Alf Museum’s research fossils.  Also as Outreach Coordinator, he organizes the museum’s outreach and education programs, such as Skype in the Classroom and Discovery Days.  Gabe also assists in teaching the Museum After School program.  He received his B.Sc. in biology at University of California-Irvine, and his M.Sc. in geology at California State University-Fullerton.  His research interests focus on the Eocene vertebrate fauna of Southern California and the paleobiology of marine mammals, particularly in the extinct hippo-like desmostylians.  Gabe is also an active science communicator and co-founder of the Cosplay for Science Initiative, which connects pop culture with science education to make science more relatable and scientists more approachable.  Connect with Gabe on Instagram. Also check out Cosplay for Science.   More Information Follow even more awesome science communicators on Instagram @silli_scientist @beyond.the.ivory.tower @susannalharris @chem.with.kellen @becky.outside @animedia_science @science.bae @caimarison @patrickkelly_ @thescalex.of.science @mark_thescienceguy @ph_d_epression Want to learn more about science communication?  Listen to Episode 20: Biomedical Engineering and Science Education with Stephanie Teeter to hear a discussion about difficulties in science education recorded at ComSciCon Triangle.     Any other questions?  Let us know!  We appreciate your feedback. You can now support the podcast at https://www.patreon.com/sfspodcast.  Many thanks to our past and present supporters!  Thanks to Plant Warrior for their support.  Use discount code SFS10 at checkout for 10% off your purchase of plant-based protein.  

Join Dr. Sarah Allen and me as we journey back in time to the Eocene. Earth was a very different planet some 49 million years ago. Though we may recognize some Eocene flora, the combination of various plant lineages would be enough to make your head spin. Earth was experiencing a warming period and the plants had responded accordingly. Tropical species like palms were thriving in places like Wyoming and giant relatives of the redwoods covered much of North America and Asia. What Dr. Allen and her colleagues are learning about Eocene plant communities is not only interesting in its own right, it is helping scientists understand how ecosystems may respond to climate change into the future. This episode was produced in part by Brandon, Gwen, Carly, Stephen, Botanical Tours, Moonwort Studios, Lisa, Liba, Lucas, Mohsin Kazmi Takes Pictures, doeg, Daniel, Clifton, Stephanie, Rachelle, Benjamin, Eli, Rachael, Anthony, Plant By Design, Philip, Brent, Ron, Tim, Homestead Brooklyn, Brodie, Kevin, Sophia, Brian, Mark, Rens, Bendix, Irene, Holly, Mountain Misery Farms, Caitlin, Manuel, Jennifer, Sara, and Margie.

Hello Listener! Thank you for listening.  If you would like to support the podcast, and keep the lights on, you can support us whenever you use Amazon through the link below: It will not cost you anything extra, and I can not see who purchased what. Or you can become a Fluffle Supporter by donating through Patreon.com at the link below: Patreon/Hare of the Rabbit What's this Patreon? Patreon is an established online platform that allows fans to provide regular financial support to creators. Patreon was created by a musician who needed a easy way for fans to support his band. What do you need? Please support Hare of the Rabbit Podcast financially by becoming a Patron. Patrons agree to a regular contribution, starting at $1 per episode. Patreon.com takes a token amount as a small processing fee, but most of your money will go directly towards supporting the Hare of the Rabbit Podcast. You can change or stop your payments at any time. You can also support by donating through PayPal.com at the link below: Hare of the Rabbit PayPal Thank you for your support, Jeff Hittinger.   Rabbit Care 101   I want to apologize for the time for this episode to come out. We lost power about two weeks ago when the March Storm came up the East Coast. We got power back after about three days, but only had half power, so we could not run anything 220 such as the heater, water, dryer and some things were also not running such as the refrigerator or freezer. We had to call the electric company out to find out if the issue was with the power coming to the house or not. That was not the issue, so we had an estimate to repair the Master Breaker in the fuse panel at almost $3000. A neighbor ended up helping me replace the Master breaker after we scheduled the power to be off, and it was a minimal cost. So after about ten days we had everything back except the heater. Today we have heat after finding a popped 5amp fuse. So I apologize for the delay, but it is tough to record without heat, or power, or running water.... Know the Basic Needs of Rabbits First off, here's what you need to know about the basics of what rabbits need. Check City Ordinances Before you buy your Hutch and rabbits, check with your city ordinances to see if your town has any restrictions. There has not been a lot of oversight of rabbits in the past, so many towns are accepting of rabbits within city limits. Before you raise rabbits in fact, you must first find out if you are allowed to raise rabbits in your locality and immediate area. The perspective commercial operator going into business on a considerable scale will naturally locate the rabbitry where they are relatively safe from zoning for many years. The small backyard breeder who is thinking in terms of ten or twenty holes has been know to purchase hutches, rabbits, and equipment only to learn shortly, to their sorrow, that rabbits may not be raised in their locality. It pays to investigate first rather than be sorry later. In some cases a limited number of rabbits may be kept provided the rabbitry can be located at an established distance from dwellings. When compared to chickens rabbitys generally have less regulations due to minimal noise from the rabbits. Now most of the info on state and city regulations was from the House Rabbit Society. They are a great source of information about rabbits. State Laws All breeders in the US are subject to the Animal Welfare Act which applies if they sell more than $500 of animals per year to a pet store or distributor. If so, then the breeder may need to be licensed and follow certain animal care and housing standards. There are many exemptions to the $500 rule though, and the law should read carefully to be sure whether they apply or not. See the USDA page on the Animal Welfare Act for more information. Many states and even counties and cities also have their own laws regarding the sale of rabbits such as the age at which they may be sold and where they may be sold. Here we attempt to list all relevant laws for every state. ⦁ North Carolina, Indiana, Virginia, Florida, and Vermont ban the sale of unweaned rabbits, or rabbits under 2 months of age. ⦁ Colorado bans the sale of rabbits under the age of 4 weeks. ⦁ New Jersey, California, Kentucky, South Carolina, Maine, Maryland, Montana, and Pennsylvania ban the dying of rabbits and other animals and the sale or giveaway of rabbits under 2 months of age. ⦁ North Dakota, DC, Illinois, Arkansas, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Washington, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Ohio prohibit the sale of dyed rabbits and other animals. ⦁ Washington, DC bans the sale of pet rabbits under the age of 16 weeks. ⦁ Pennsylvania bans the sale of rabbits and other animals in public places. ⦁ Vermont and California prohibit the sale of rabbits and other animals on the side of the road. ⦁ Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin all have laws prohibiting the give away of rabbits and other animals as prizes in carnivals or other events (although sometimes those laws only specify the giveaway of very young animals). City and County Laws ⦁ Aurora, CO has a mandatory spay/neuter ordinance that includes rabbits. They also have a pet limit law of two rabbits. Pet owners can get an exception to these laws by purchasing a breeder or kennel license. ⦁ San Francisco, CA prohibits the sale of pet rabbits in the city and county. ⦁ Los Angeles, CA prohibits the sale of pet rabbits and other animals in the city’s pet stores. ⦁ Boston, MA prohibits the sale of pet rabbits and other animals in the city’s pet stores. ⦁ Chicago, IL prohibits the sale of pet rabbits and other animals in the city’s pet stores. ⦁ The county of Bernalillo, NM prohibits the sale of rabbits as companion animals (i.e. pet stores cannot sell rabbits in the county). Sale of all rabbits is banned during the months of March and April (this eliminates impulse sales for Easter). This does not apply to the city of Albuquerque, which bans cat and dog sales but allows rabbit sales. ⦁ Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin, and Houston, TX all ban the sale of rabbits and other animals in public places. ⦁ In Louisiana, St. Tammany Parish, the Archdiocese of New Orleans, and the city of Slidell all forbid giving away rabbits and other animals as prizes. ⦁ Any Arizona county with a population of 800,000 or more prohibits the sale of rabbits or any other animals on or near any public highway, street or park. ⦁ Santa Fe, NM forbids giving away live animals as carnival prizes within city limits. ⦁ New York, NY prohibits the sale of rabbits in the city’s pet stores. ⦁ Salt Lake City, UT prohibits the sale of pet rabbits in the city’s pet stores. ⦁ The following Ontario cities now prohibit the sale of rabbits in pet stores: Toronto, Kingston, Missassauga, Kitchener, and Windsor. ⦁ Surrey, BC and Richmond, BC have banned the sale of rabbits in pet stores. ⦁ Ottawa is now considering banning the sales of rabbits, cats and dogs in their pet stores. The history of the rabbit Rabbits belong to the order of mammals called Lagomorpha, which includes 40 or so species of rabbits, hares and Pikas. Fossil records suggest that Lagomorpha evolved in Asia at least 40 million years ago, during the Eocene period. The break-up of continents during this period may be responsible for the wide distribution of differing species of rabbits and hares around the world, with the exception of Australia. There are currently more than 60 recognized breeds of domestic rabbit in Europe and America, all of them descended from the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), the only species of rabbit to have been widely domesticated. It is a separate species from other native rabbits such as the North American jackrabbits and cottontail rabbits and all species of hares. The European wild rabbit evolved around 4,000 years ago on the Iberian Peninsula, the name 'Hispania' (Spain) is translated from the name given to that area by Phoenician merchants, meaning 'land of the rabbits'. When the Romans arrived in Spain around 200BC, they began to farm the native rabbits for their meat and fur. The Romans called this practice 'cuniculture' and kept the rabbits in fenced enclosures. Inevitably, the rabbits tried to escape and it is perhaps no surprise that the Latin name 'Oryctolagus cuniculus' means 'hare-like digger of underground tunnels'. The spread of the Roman empire, along with increasing trade between countries, helped to introduce the European rabbit into many more parts of Europe and Asia. Wild rabbits are said to have been first domesticated in the 5th Century by the monks of the Champagne Region in France. Monks were almost certainly the first to keep rabbits in cages as a readily available food source, and the first to experiment with selective breeding for traits such as weight, size and fur color. Rabbits were introduced to Britain during the 12th Century, and during the Middle Ages, the breeding and farming of rabbits for meat and fur became widespread throughout Europe. The selective breeding of European rabbits meant that distinct breeds arose in different regions, and the origins of many old breeds can be traced back several centuries. Up until the 19th century, domestic rabbits had been bred purely for their meat and fur, but during the Victorian era, many new 'fancy' breeds were developed for the hobby of breeding rabbits for showing. Industrialization also meant that many people moving from the country to the expanding towns and cities, brought rabbits with them; apart from poultry, they were the only 'farm' animal to be practical to keep in town. Although many of these rabbits were bred for meat, it became increasingly common among the rising middle classes to keep rabbits as pets. Domestic rabbitry did not become popular in the United States until around the turn of the century, when many European breeds began to be imported, and breeders also developed some American breeds. During the two World Wars, governments in both Britain and the United States encouraged people to keep rabbits as a source of homegrown meat and fur, both for themselves and to help feed and clothe soldiers. After the wars, many people continued to keep rabbits in their gardens, and they become commonplace as household pets. Rabbits have become the third most popular pet after cats and dogs. Your first rabbit! First you need to decide what you will get a rabbit for. Will your rabbit be an inside pet, rabbits for a 4h project, Meat rabbits, fur rabbits, or rabbits for show. 4h Project Selecting a breed of rabbit can be a huge challenge for first-time rabbit owners. There are currently 49 breeds of rabbits recognized by the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA). As a 4-H member, you should familiarize and research several breeds to determine those meeting the criteria you have for your rabbit project. There are market fryers, breeding rabbits, or companion pet rabbits. The goals you have for your rabbit project have a large effect on the breed you choose to purchase. Pet Rabbit What’s special about a pet rabbit? Clean, affectionate, and sociable, rabbits can make excellent pets. They can be litter trained and are very playful and entertaining. With good care, rabbits kept indoors can live for 5 to 15 years. With more than 60 rabbit breeds in existence, rabbits can vary widely in size and appearance. If you are a first-time owner, acquiring a single rabbit is probably best. If you choose a male (buck) rabbit, you will want to have him neutered to prevent territorial marking with urine. Both male and female rabbits are tame and affectionate when well socialized. As its owner, you will ultimately be responsible for your rabbit’s food, shelter, exercise, physical and mental health for the rest of its life. While families should involve their children in caring for a rabbit, youngsters need the help of an adult who is willing, able, and available to supervise the animal’s daily care. Rabbits are well-known for their ability to produce large numbers of babies. Purchasing and breeding a rabbit for the purpose of allowing children to witness the birth process is not responsible rabbit ownership. If a female rabbit becomes pregnant, it is your responsibility to find good homes for the offspring. Spaying females and neutering males not only prevents reproduction but decreases behavioral problems and health risks. Rabbits for Show If you are interested in exhibiting breeding rabbits or raising rabbits, it is important to have a copy of the Standard of Perfection for your breed. This publication describes the ideal rabbit for each recognized breed, and is the standard by which judges compare rabbits of the same breed against one another. If you are raising rabbits, you need to understand the process of culling. Culling is removing a rabbit from the herd because of inferior production, inferior quality when compared to the Standard, or possessing specific disqualifications. Your criteria for culling might be different depending on whether you are focusing on breeding, pet, or market projects. Meat Rabbits Market rabbits should be of a commercial breed and fall into one of the following three categories: Fryers: 3½–5½ pounds (8–10 weeks of age) Roasters: 5½–9 pounds (not over 5 months) Stewers: over 8 pounds (over 5 months) Make sure you understand the requirements of your fair for exhibition of your market rabbit project. Some projects will require you to have one to three rabbits as part of your project. If your project includes more than one market rabbit paired with another, then you want to find two or three rabbits that are identical in type. Rabbits in the fryer and roaster categories can be expected to gain approximately 7 ounces per day if provided adequate feed and water on a daily basis. Weighing your market rabbits is important to make sure you are on track to obtain the desired weight at the end of your project. Shelter and Protection Housing can be evaluated with a few factors: ventilation, size, material, temperature, and protection. Ventilation is the process of moving air above and below the cage to decrease temperature and ammonia odor, which can be damaging to a rabbit’s respiratory system. This can be accomplished naturally or mechanically, but you must ensure that direct drafts are not imposed on the rabbits. The ideal temperature for an adult rabbit’s environment is 45–70 degrees Fahrenheit. Housing for rabbits can be maintained either inside or outside a physical structure. Outside facilities require that the rabbits be protected from the weather and predators. Inside housing provides more control of the environment, including better bio-security, but comes with more expense and more ventilation challenges. It is necessary for you to determine the housing plan that fits the current situation you have at home. There are numerous materials that can be utilized to build rabbit cages; however, remember that rabbits are gnawers, meaning they will eat building materials. The material used will depend on whether you have an inside wire cage or an outside cage. The outside cage typically includes (three) plywood or pressed board (sidewalls) and roof to provide necessary protection for the rabbits. Or you may have a hanging cage rack system that is covered. Inside cages will usually be constructed from galvanized welded wire. Inside Housing There are lots of different ways to house your bunnies indoors. Every bunny and every house is different. The most important thing is to provide a home that suits your bunnies and that keeps them safe. As long as they have lots of space, a quiet place to retreat to and plenty of toys, then you will have some very happy bunnies. There are several options to house rabbits inside. They can live free-reign in a bunny proofed room/rooms, or they can be contained within a puppy pen, bunny condo, or large rabbit cage. If contained, their space should always be large enough so they can hop around, and they should be let out of their pen for at least a few hours everyday for exercise. Make sure the primary location of your rabbit is not isolated from you and your family. A family room or living room is a good place. Bunny Proof Your House Rabbits need space to run around and explore. In order to create a safe space for your bunny and to protect your belongings, you will need to thoroughly bunny proof the area. This includes covering all wires with plastic sleeves or flex tubing, or lifting them 3-4 feet out of reach of your rabbit. If you don’t want your baseboards gnawed, you can cover them with plastic guards, 2x4s or furring strips. You’ll also have to block off certain areas since rabbits like to chew the undersides of beds, items on bookshelves, house plants, and more. Basically, your rabbit will try to chew everything in reach. Lots of people have house rabbits that have the run of the house (along with an area to call their own). This is a great option for house bunnies, but it all depends on the fact that your bunnies are well trained enough for this. Safety comes first and if you do not trust your bunnies to be left alone, or if you have other pets, then it is probably best to have them safely enclosed in an area, for when you are not there. Avoid placing rabbits in the same room with barking dogs if possible. Rabbits usually adapt quickly to barking heard from a distance. House rabbits and indoor cats can get along fine, as do rabbits and well-mannered dogs. Dogs should be trained to respond to commands before being trusted with a free-running rabbit, and supervision is needed to control a dog’s playful impulses (this is especially true for puppies). If you want to add another rabbit to your family, rabbits that are neutered adults of opposite sexes work best and they should be introduced for short periods in an area unfamiliar to both rabbits. A great set up for a house rabbit is an open top puppy pen. They can be spacious and airy so the rabbit does not feel enclosed as much as they would in a cage. The best height to get is 35in. This will stop any escapes if your bunny was thinking of jumping over the top. Just be careful to not place any items next to the edges that your bunny could climb up on and make it easy for them to jump out. Remember, although puppy pens are a decent size, it is still very important that your bunnies get their daily exercise. If you let your rabbit have free range exercise around the house, increase the free range area gradually, until they are trained. Also decide beforehand what rooms are out of bounds and take precautions for this so your rabbit understands. A good idea is to attach a puppy pen to the dog crate to allow for the extra space. Also note some dog crates can also be difficult to clean out. Pens are also great as you can move them around, change the shape of them etc to suit your space and this adds variety. They also look good and do not clutter a room. Use ordinary cat or dog cages, or cover wire flooring with sections of newspaper (can be messy if bunny digs) or plain, brown corrugated cardboard. If dog cages are used, check to be sure the spacing between the cage wires is small enough to prevent a rabbit's head or limbs from getting stuck. If you have other animals then you will need a pen that comes with a top too for added security. Indoor rabbit/guinea pig cages Indoor rabbit/guinea pig cages – the size of these are usually too small on there own, so to add a puppy pen as additional space would be a great idea. Be aware of indoor rabbit cages with a step up/over at the entrance. They are not rabbit friendly. Old & young rabbits struggle to get in and out of them and if your rabbit needs to sprint into it at speed if something panics them they could injure themselves. The plastic indoor hutches/cages are usually not big enough. Indoor location Where to place your rabbit’s indoor home. The area needs to be quiet, cool, away from drafts, and away from heaters. You should have your rabbit near a window for natural light, but watch for direct light. Near patio doors is a good idea so they can look out, but also be aware they can easily get spooked by predators in the night that walk by patio doors, so you may want to block the view at night with a curtain. Make sure they are not right next to any radiators. Outside housing The list is endless to what people are doing this day and age to provide their bunnies with the most luxurious suitable accommodation. ⦁ Outhouses converted to bunny homes with outside run attached. ⦁ Hutches placed within an aviary ⦁ Dog kennels with the runs attached (these come in all shapes and sizes). ⦁ Sheds (wooden ones only) Plastic or metal ones get too hot. If you are using a hutch only, then make sure it is a decent size for the breed, and they will need an additional area for their exercise time. If you cannot attach a run direct to the cage, you could consider a runaround tunnel to attach them from afar. Always place runs onto concrete slabs to stop your rabbit digging a way out and to stop a predator digging his way in! You can consider a metal puppy pen for exercise as they are reasonably priced and great as they fold away when they are not being used and you can set them up anywhere. You can also buy more than one and make the pen even bigger. Make sure you supervise your rabbit whilst they are exercising in these as they are in no way predator proof. Never leave them unattended. Building your own enclosure Remember the bigger the better for your bunny and for you to as it will be easier to clean out and also you will get so much more entertainment watching your rabbits skip and run at great speeds. Plywood and pine are safe woods: two types of pine wood, Whitewood and Redwood untreated. Galvanized wire no bigger than 1 inch by half inch should be size of squares. Never use wiring with large squares as rats and stoats could get in or cats/foxes could injure your bunny through these gaps. Prime welded wire mesh is best. Predator proofing It is extremely important that all enclosures are made predator proof. ⦁ You need to place your rabbits accommodation on cement slabs to avoid a fox digging in or a rabbit digging out. ⦁ Make sure doors are secure with bolts at the top and bottom for extra security. ⦁ Always provide hideouts – safe places to hide when they get spooked or feel threatened ⦁ Tunnels are good for hide outs. ⦁ Place boards at the front of your enclosure to add extra privacy & to help stop your rabbit getting easily spooked. Weather proofing It is essential especially with certain types of enclosures. You need to protect them from the wind, rain and strong sunlight. Covers can be bought for standard size hutches but can be costly. Corrugated plastic sheeting is a good way to protect from rain and is excellent for roofing. Just watch the clear plastic in the summer as this could heat your enclosure up like a green house very quickly. Place sun reflectors underneath to help stop this. Use bubble wrap or plastic sheeting like builders sheets or plastic dust sheets or tarpaulin for protection from wind and rain. Attach to a piece of wood at the top and hook this to the cage to create your own little roller blind. Or by adding some wooden panels to each side of your enclosure and making them an inch wider than the enclosure allows you to have something to attach the bubble wrap or plastic sheeting to. Metal clips keep it in place very securely when it is very windy. Always leave gaps for air flow. Cover a sheet of wood, wider than the accommodation itself, with felt roofing and place on top of enclosures for added protection. Keep weighted down with bricks or slabs. Large beach mats or windbreakers are ideal for protection Venetian blinds or cane/bamboo blinds are another option. Attach bubble wrap to the inside of them in the winter for added protection Do not use fabric that can get damp as this will draw the heat out of the hutch. If large enclosures like sheds/playhouses have gaps around the top area you can stuff them with bubble wrap to stop drafts. Just make sure its out of reach of your rabbits. Tips for the summer: Wooden sheds/play houses can get very hot in the summer. Try insulating the roof to help keep it cooler. Sun reflectors can help and also large patio umbrellas or shade sails can help. Placing rabbit housing in the shade of trees can also help top keep them cooler. Large floor tiles are good and help keep them cool in the summer also indoors & outdoors. Creating the right environment Whatever you chose to place in your rabbits enclosure, by rearranging the set up every now and then your bunny will think they have a whole new home to explore and this keeps them entertained! Rabbits love "projects" such as objects in their environments that they can move and manipulate. These provide stimulation and exercise. Nest boxes Nest boxes within an enclosure make an ideal place for your rabbit to hide in or to keep warm in. They may also enjoy jumping on top of them. Stuff them full of hay in the winter and your bunny will love it. You could also make them even cosier by putting cardboard around the inside edges in the winter for extra insulation. Cardboard boxes Cardboard boxes provided hours of entertainment and also provide somewhere for your rabbit to run into when they feel threatened. A cardboard "hidey box" placed in the cage can make a rabbit feel more secure. However, this may increase territorial behaviors - particularly in un-spayed females. Boxes are most useful in wire cages, where the rabbit has no other means of hiding himself. Stuff a large cardboard box with hay if you don’t have a small hutch or nest box. The double walled cardboard boxes are best as they are more sturdier and will last that bit longer. You can order them in bulk at quite a reasonable price off the internet. Just check they don’t have staples in. Hay racks Place next to the litter trays to allow your rabbits to eat as they poop which all rabbits love to do and it encourages hay eating. Plant pots, hanging basket racks, utensil holders or fruit bowls can all be good ideas for hay racks. Basically anything that will not harm your rabbits health and if it has holes in can be stuffed with hay and used as a hay rack. The Ikea carrier bag holders are also a big favorite. Or just make a tunnel shape out of galvanized wire and stuff that full of hay. Please watch any items that have large enough gaps in where they could catch their feet or heads. Always make sure the gaps are stuffed well with hay. A good tip is to place grass mats or flat bits of cardboard under the hay racks. This allows you to sweep the spilt hay up very easily and place into the litter tray, so nothing is wasted. Wicker baskets Make sure that it is untreated and made for pets, as treated wicker is highly poisonous. Cheap comfy beds Rabbits love comfort and a good cheap way of providing a pet bed is use a sample square of carpet. You can get these from most carpet shops very cheap, or a flat chair cushion and place them in cotton pillow cases. Pillow cases are also cheap to buy and easy to wash. In the winter you can also include a little blanket. The bunnies love to dig at blankets and push them about. Litter trays and dig trays Litter trays come in all shapes and sizes, but the bigger the tray the more hay you can put in to encourage your rabbit to eat hay whilst he poops. Seed trays and drip trays can be ideal as they do come in big sizes and all kinds of shapes and are cheaper to buy than some actual litter trays. Raised areas filled with soil or filled with grass turf are a great way of adding some natural materials if the floor is all concrete slabs, or simply use a few flower pots full of soil. Seed trays and drip trays are also great for placing soil or grass turf in. Make ramps safe Make ramps safe and rabbit friendly by covering with carpet or a mat. You can also add bits of wood to create a step effect and allow your rabbit to have more grip on the ramp. Never position a ramp too steep as this could result in an injury. You can place a sturdy item like a large garden stone/brick or the wooden hideouts you can buy to raise the ramp up at the bottom more, so its not so steep. Flooring All flooring for inside and outside accommodation should be non slip to avoid your rabbit injuring themselves. Ceramic tiles are a good way of protecting wooden flooring to outside enclosures like sheds & hutches. If you use newspaper, place them underneath the paper. Feeding The 3 most important foods for a rabbit are hay, hay, and HAY! Contrary to popular belief, rabbits do not need salt licks, vitamins, or hard wooden objects to wear their teeth down. Teeth are kept worn to a proper length by the silicate and lignin content of grass and grass. hays. Do not offer rabbits plants, vegetation, or tree branches unless you are sure they are not harmful. Rabbits are unique in the fact that they are susceptible to digestive disturbances. To lower this susceptibility, they use a process called cecotrophy to maintain balance in their digestive system. Cecotrophy is the process of ingesting feces, typically done at night. The ingestion of the soft feces, or cecotropes, increases protein digestibility and energy digestion for the rabbit. Nutrition The most important nutrient you can provide your rabbit is water. Access to fresh, clean water is necessary for rabbits to maintain proper growth rate and body condition. Fresh, clean water is a must during the summer months, because rabbits do not tolerate heat well and depend on water to cool their bodies. Fresh water needs to be changed daily. Double check to see that the steel ball in the bottle is working properly each time you hang the bottle. Bowl (changed daily) encourages more drinking. The bowl should be heavy crock to prevent tipping. Pellets: Commercially produced rabbit pellets provide a complete diet for rabbits. When you add supplements on a daily basis, you are altering the balanced diet provided by the pellets. Supplements should be used carefully or used as an occasional treat for your rabbits in order to minimize their effect on the balanced diet. Limited pellets (plain only! no seeds, nuts, colored tidbits): 1/4 cup, per 5 lbs of body weight per day. Consideration for appropriate nutrition depends upon the stage of production, added supplements, environmental temperature, quality of pellets, and access to water. Crude protein (CP) is the major nutrient we assess because the fiber is fairly consistent in most commercially produced rabbit pellets. Crude protein feed recommendations are 16–18% for growing market rabbits; 14–16% for maintaining body weight on mature rabbits (non-breeding stock); and 16–18% for stock in active breeding. Other Foods Dark Green leafy veggies daily if possible. Good veggies: all dark green leaf lettuces, dandelion greens, kale, collards, turnip greens, mustard greens, parsley, cilantro, basil, Avoid: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, spinach. Limited amounts of sweet veggies such as carrots. Occasional treats in very low quantities: slice of apple, slice of banana, a few hulled sunflower seeds, 2-inch piece of carrot. For more frequent treats, use fragrant herbs such as cilantro, parsley, arugula, and basil. Do not feed bread or-other high-carbohydrate foods, as they can lead to intestinal dysbiosis. Groom Your Rabbit Grooming list for your rabbit: A flea comb, brush, flea products safe for rabbits, toenail clippers. Rabbits are naturally clean animals and wash themselves frequently, but you still need to groom your rabbit on a regular basis. Rabbits go through shedding cycles a couple times a year. It’s important to brush your rabbit to remove all the excess fur. Otherwise, your rabbit could ingest it and have serious digestive issues. Regular nail clipping is also important because long nails can get snagged on things or they can curl into your rabbit’s paw. General Care & Socialization If possible, talk to the rabbit calmly and stroke them daily. Rabbits are highly social animals who thrive on attention and social interaction. Many rabbits are very overtly affectionate, and will nuzzle and lick their handlers. Others are shyer and more "laid back." Try not approach the rabbit from directly in front. Rabbits have laterally placed eyes and cannot see up close, directly in front of themselves. When working with an unfamiliar rabbit, pat the rabbit gently between the eyes, til he relaxes, before picking him up. Never attempt to lift a rabbit who is struggling. Rabbits can easily break their own backs attempting to get away from perceived predators. Handling Rabbits are light-boned animals. Because of this, improper handling can easily injure a rabbit. Rabbits should be handled from a young age, after weaning, and handled often. Never pick up a rabbit by its ears, by the skin on the back, or by the scruff of the neck. Doing so can injure the rabbit and damage flesh condition. Rabbits are easily frightened and may react differently in an unfamiliar situation. A very tame rabbit at home may become stressed and frightened at a show. Never place the rabbit near your face! A rabbit’s toenails can scratch deeply. Lift the rabbit by supporting his hindquarters and forequarters simultaneously. If the rabbit struggles to get down once lifted, lower yourself and the rabbit as close as possible to the floor to prevent injury. If your rabbit will be a pet, have the rabbits spayed/neutered. Besides preventing accidental litters, spaying prevents uterine cancer which can reach 50-80% as rabbits age, and neutering reduces spraying and other hormone-driven behaviors. Always remember that rabbits are a prey species. The more predictable their environment and the more securely they are handled, the more relaxed and sociable they become. Many rabbits relinquished to shelters have been severely traumatized in their former environments. They may have learned to survive by nipping or boxing. These behaviors can usually be eliminated by correct handling and social interaction. Rabbits are highly territorial, and may also attempt to nip or box when their territory is "invaded." This is especially true of un-spayed females. This behavior is entirely normal, and is usually greatly reduced by spaying/neutering. If a rabbit boxes when you offer food or clean the cage, place one hand on the rabbit's head and gently press and rub, while using the other hand to remove food bowl, or litter-box, etc. A rabbit who has suddenly stopped eating or whose eating patterns have suddenly changed needs immediate veterinary attention. Health/Vaccinations Rabbits are typically low-maintenance animals when it comes to health and vaccinations. There are no vaccinations that are mandatory recommended for rabbits, and just a few medications that are actually labeled for use on rabbits. Healthy rabbits have a normal temperature range of 101.3–104.0 degrees Fahrenheit, a resting heart rate of 180–250 beats/minute, and a constantly moving nose. Most veterinarians do not have much experience with treating rabbits. This requires you as the owner to become familiar with signs of common diseases and ailments. Your observation will be integral for maintaining health among your rabbits on a daily basis. If you think your rabbit needs medication, consult your veterinarian to determine the appropriate medication and dosage level. Rabbits have a sympathetic nervous system. This creates a real challenge in determining the correct dosage of medication needed for a sick rabbit. Providing too much medication (overdosing) is toxic. Un-derdosing, or giving too little medication, is ineffective at treating the condition. There are four administration routes that can be utilized in rabbits. They include oral, subcutaneous (nape of neck), intravenous (veins in feet), and intramuscular (hind leg or back muscle). The American Rabbit Breeder Association has a Rabbit and Cavy Health Committee that can field questions about doctoring rabbits. Health problems that are common in rabbits: Intestinal blockages Because rabbits groom themselves constantly, they can get fur-balls just as cats do. Unlike cats, however, rabbits cannot vomit, and excessive swallowed hair may cause a fatal blockage. Rabbits can also develop a serious condition known as GI stasis which has many of the same symptoms. If your rabbit shows a decrease in appetite and in the size of droppings, get advice from a rabbit veterinarian. If you keep your bunny brushed (less hair is swallowed) and give them a handful of hay daily, this should help with blockages. Bacterial issues A rabbit’s digestive tract is inhabited by healthful bacteria. If the good bacteria balance is upset by stale food or a sudden change in diet, harmful bacteria can take over the digestive track and kill the rabbit. If you keep all rabbit food in a cool dry place and make dietary changes slowly, giving a new food in small amounts, this should help. If no abdominal gurgling or loose stool results in 24 hours, the food may be offered again. If your rabbit goes outside, check for pesticides and toxic plants. Infectious bacteria Many rabbit diseases are caused by bacteria, not viruses, and can be treated with antibiotics. If your rabbit shows symptoms of a “cold,” take him to a veterinarian familiar with antibiotics that can be safely used in rabbits. Oral drugs of the Penicillin family, such as Amoxicillin, should NOT be given to a rabbit, since there is risk of destroying good intestinal bacteria. Find an experienced veterinarian before a problem develops. If your rabbit has been harassed by a predator, take him to a veterinarian even if no injuries are apparent. When it is over, keep your rabbit cool with nearby wet towels or ice. Regularly check your rabbit’s eyes, nose, ears, teeth, weight, appetite, and droppings, as you would in any cat or dog. Transportation Rabbits should travel in cages specifically designed for them. Purchase a rabbit carrier that is the correct size for the age and breed of your rabbit. Do not transport a rabbit in a box! A rabbit can become overheated easily and die quickly as a result. Hot weather conditions can be dangerous for a rabbit. It is best to place rabbits in an air-conditioned vehicle for transport. If this is not possible, keep windows rolled down and air circulating. For long-distance travel, rabbits should be in carriers and covered with large sheets of cardboard or similar items to block the sunlight. A thin sheet of foam placed under the cages will help cushion the ride, keeps cages from slipping or tipping, and protects the car’s interior. Place an absorbent, generous quantity of bedding or a canine house-training pad in the bottom of the carrier tray to help absorb any wastes or spilled water. Secure water and feed pans inside the carrier. There are specially designed pans for carrier use. To avoid spillage, provide only a small amount of water during transport. Most rabbits will not eat or drink during a ride. If stopping, be certain to keep the vehicle cool. Park in a shaded area or keep the car’s air conditioning operating. If cool outside, roll down windows. Handling rabbits during transport can heighten stress resulting in increased body temperature. Secure cage doors with zip ties. Carry your own water from home as changing water sources can upset the rabbit’s digestion. Watering the rabbit through the carrier is easily accomplished by using a houseplant watering can with a narrow spout. If taking several rabbits on a journey, invest in a wheeled cart on which the carriers fit easily. Many types of these carts are available. Rabbits are adorable, affectionate pets that you can fit into your family with a little time and effort. For the most part, rabbits should be kept inside for them to thrive and keep them safe and healthy. Rabbits are intelligent, social animals who need affection, and they can become wonderful companion animals if given a chance to interact with their human families just as any rabbit should! http://petpav.com/rabbit-care-101-tips-to-care-for-your-newly-adopted-rabbit/ https://www.spca.org/page.aspx?pid=430 http://myhouserabbit.com/rabbit-care/care-pet-rabbit/ https://www.avma.org/public/PetCare/Pages/Selecting-a-Pet-Rabbit.aspx http://www.bunnyhugga.com/a-to-z/general/history-rabbits.html http://best4bunny.com/bunny-care/housing-ideas/ https://rabbit.org/ordinances-protecting-rabbits/ http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Rabbit_sale_laws_in_the_US https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/4h-31     © Copyrighted

Aaron and INO are on the trail of the Eocene's top predator and answer a question from Harry. View full episode show notes at www.MyDogRocket.com

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the high temperatures that marked the end of the Paleocene and start of the Eocene periods, about 50m years ago. Over c1000 years, global temperatures rose more than 5 C on average and stayed that way for c100,000 years more, with the surface of seas in the Arctic being as warm as those in the subtropics. There were widespread extinctions, changes in ocean currents, and there was much less oxygen in the sea depths. The rise has been attributed to an increase of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere, though it is not yet known conclusively what the source of those gases was. One theory is that a rise in carbon dioxide, perhaps from volcanoes, warmed up the globe enough for warm water to reach the bottom of the oceans and so release methane from frozen crystals in the sea bed. The higher the temperature rose and the longer the water was warm, the more methane was released. Scientists have been studying a range of sources from this long period, from ice samples to fossils, to try to understand more about possible causes. With Dame Jane Francis Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the British Antarctic Survey Mark Maslin Professor of Palaeoclimatology at University College London And Tracy Aze Lecturer in Marine Micropaleontology at the University of Leeds Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the high temperatures that marked the end of the Paleocene and start of the Eocene periods, about 50m years ago. Over c1000 years, global temperatures rose more than 5 C on average and stayed that way for c100,000 years more, with the surface of seas in the Arctic being as warm as those in the subtropics. There were widespread extinctions, changes in ocean currents, and there was much less oxygen in the sea depths. The rise has been attributed to an increase of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere, though it is not yet known conclusively what the source of those gases was. One theory is that a rise in carbon dioxide, perhaps from volcanoes, warmed up the globe enough for warm water to reach the bottom of the oceans and so release methane from frozen crystals in the sea bed. The higher the temperature rose and the longer the water was warm, the more methane was released. Scientists have been studying a range of sources from this long period, from ice samples to fossils, to try to understand more about possible causes. With Dame Jane Francis Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the British Antarctic Survey Mark Maslin Professor of Palaeoclimatology at University College London And Tracy Aze Lecturer in Marine Micropaleontology at the University of Leeds Producer: Simon Tillotson.

The Bighorn Basin in Wyoming has been an important area for research into terrestrial ecosystems for decades. The basin formed as part of the uprising of the Rocky Mountains in the west of North America, and sediment from the surrounding mountain ranges was transported into it for millions of years, building up a huge thickness that has fossils from all kinds of life on land preserved within it. Rocks from many different time periods are now exposed in the basin, but a particularly important one is the Paleocene Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) which occurred around 56 million years ago. At this time a huge amount of carbon was released into the atmosphere very quickly, causing a sharp (by geological standards) increase in temperature and dramatic effects on life. Palaeontologists and geologists are particularly interested in studying the PETM as it can potentially give us lots of information about how life and earth systems might respond in the near future to the large quantities of carbon being released into our atmosphere now by humans. In this episode recorded in the field we talk to Dr Scott Wing, who is curator of fossil plants at the Smithsonian in Washington DC but has been coming to the basin every summer for decades. We chat about the geology and history of the area, what it's like to work in the Wyoming desert every summer, how to find and collect fossil plants, and what years of research by many people in the basin has told us about the PETM.

What kind of fossils can be found in the Eocene Messel Deposit and how do they relate to modern food webs? Conrad Labandeira from Paleobiology discusses how the Messel food web is the most complete food web known and discusses two noteworthy examples from the web.

Imagine that you are an insect trapped on a sticky surface and then eventually fossilized. How will you ever be identified? Dale Greenwalt of the Paleobiology Department discusses fossil insect populations of Lake Kishenehn in Glacier National Park.

The oldest basilisk lizard from North America, described by Jack Conrad from NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine, shows the 48 million year old animal was part of an ancient lush jungle ecosystem...in the middle of Wyoming. The beautifully preserved skull has important stories to tell about the evolution of the lizards most famous for their ability to scamper across the water, but it also reveals what North America was like during a greenhouse world that wasn't all that different from what our planet's future may look like. The post News Bite: Basilisks in the Old(er) West! appeared first on Past Time Paleo.

In this episode, the gang looks at a few cases of fossil pathologies in arthropods, birds, and amphibians and discusses the interesting broader evolutionary ramifications of these studies. Meanwhile, Amanda wrangles cats, and Curt confuses everyone by consistently assigning taxa to the wrong groups (for example: loriciferans are not priapulids, even though they are closely related). Oh... and  James leads a legitimate discussion on science ethics.   References: Mayr, Gerald. "Bizarre tubercles on the vertebrae of Eocene fossil birds indicate an avian disease without modern counterpart." Naturwissenschaften94.8 (2007): 681-685. García-Bellido, Diego C., and Desmond H. Collins. "Moulting arthropod caught in the act." Nature 429.6987 (2004): 40-40. Peel, John S., Martin Stein, and Reinhardt Møbjerg Kristensen. "Life Cycle and Morphology of a Cambrian Stem-Lineage Loriciferan." PloS one 8.8 (2013): e73583. Fröbisch, Nadia B., Constanze Bickelmann, and Florian Witzmann. "Early evolution of limb regeneration in tetrapods: evidence from a 300-million-year-old amphibian." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281.1794 (2014): 20141550

The Mammalian Era on Urantia (693.1) 61:0.1 THE era of mammals extends from the times of the origin of placental mammals to the end of the ice age, covering a little less than fifty million years. (693.2) 61:0.2 During this Cenozoic age the world’s landscape presented an attractive appearance — rolling hills, broad valleys, wide rivers, and great forests. Twice during this sector of time the Panama Isthmus went up and down; three times the Bering Strait land bridge did the same. The animal types were both many and varied. The trees swarmed with birds, and the whole world was an animal paradise, notwithstanding the incessant struggle of the evolving animal species for supremacy.* (693.3) 61:0.3 The accumulated deposits of the five periods of this fifty-million-year era contain the fossil records of the successive mammalian dynasties and lead right up through the times of the actual appearance of man himself. 1. The New Continental Land Stage The Age of Early Mammals (693.4) 61:1.1 50,000,000 years ago the land areas of the world were very generally above water or only slightly submerged. The formations and deposits of this period are both land and marine, but chiefly land. For a considerable time the land gradually rose but was simultaneously washed down to the lower levels and toward the seas. (693.5) 61:1.2 Early in this period and in North America the placental type of mammals suddenly appeared, and they constituted the most important evolutionary development up to this time. Previous orders of nonplacental mammals had existed, but this new type sprang directly and suddenly from the pre-existent reptilian ancestor whose descendants had persisted on down through the times of dinosaur decline. The father of the placental mammals was a small, highly active, carnivorous, springing type of dinosaur. (693.6) 61:1.3 Basic mammalian instincts began to be manifested in these primitive mammalian types. Mammals possess an immense survival advantage over all other forms of animal life in that they can: (693.7) 61:1.4 1. Bring forth relatively mature and well-developed offspring. (693.8) 61:1.5 2. Nourish, nurture, and protect their offspring with affectionate regard. (693.9) 61:1.6 3. Employ their superior brain power in self-perpetuation. (693.10) 61:1.7 4. Utilize increased agility in escaping from enemies. (693.11) 61:1.8 5. Apply superior intelligence to environmental adjustment and adaptation. (694.1) 61:1.9 45,000,000 years ago the continental backbones were elevated in association with a very general sinking of the coast lines. Mammalian life was evolving rapidly. A small reptilian, egg-laying type of mammal flourished, and the ancestors of the later kangaroos roamed Australia. Soon there were small horses, fleet-footed rhinoceroses, tapirs with proboscises, primitive pigs, squirrels, lemurs, opossums, and several tribes of monkeylike animals. They were all small, primitive, and best suited to living among the forests of the mountain regions. A large ostrichlike land bird developed to a height of ten feet and laid an egg nine by thirteen inches. These were the ancestors of the later gigantic passenger birds that were so highly intelligent, and that onetime transported human beings through the air. (694.2) 61:1.10 The mammals of the early Cenozoic lived on land, under the water, in the air, and among the treetops. They had from one to eleven pairs of mammary glands, and all were covered with considerable hair. In common with the later appearing orders, they developed two successive sets of teeth and possessed large brains in comparison to body size. But among them all no modern forms existed. (694.3) 61:1.11 40,000,000 years ago the land areas of the Northern Hemisphere began to elevate, and this was followed by new extensive land deposits and other terrestrial activities, including lava flows, warping, lake formation, and erosion. (694.4) 61:1.12 During the latter part of this epoch most of Europe was submerged. Following a slight land rise the continent was covered by lakes and bays. The Arctic Ocean, through the Ural depression, ran south to connect with the Mediterranean Sea as it was then expanded northward, the highlands of the Alps, Carpathians, Apennines, and Pyrenees being up above the water as islands of the sea. The Isthmus of Panama was up; the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans were separated. North America was connected with Asia by the Bering Strait land bridge and with Europe by way of Greenland and Iceland. The earth circuit of land in northern latitudes was broken only by the Ural Straits, which connected the arctic seas with the enlarged Mediterranean. (694.5) 61:1.13 Considerable foraminiferal limestone was deposited in European waters. Today this same stone is elevated to a height of 10,000 feet in the Alps, 16,000 feet in the Himalayas, and 20,000 feet in Tibet. The chalk deposits of this period are found along the coasts of Africa and Australia, on the west coast of South America, and about the West Indies. (694.6) 61:1.14 Throughout this so-called Eocene period the evolution of mammalian and other related forms of life continued with little or no interruption. North America was then connected by land with every continent except Australia, and the world was gradually overrun by primitive mammalian fauna of various types. 2. The Recent Flood Stage The Age of Advanced Mammals (694.7) 61:2.1 This period was characterized by the further and rapid evolution of placental mammals, the more progressive forms of mammalian life developing during these times. (694.8) 61:2.2 Although the early placental mammals sprang from carnivorous ancestors, very soon herbivorous branches developed, and, erelong, omnivorous mammalian families also sprang up. The angiosperms were the principal food of the rapidly increasing mammals, the modern land flora, including the majority of present-day plants and trees, having appeared during earlier periods. (695.1) 61:2.3 35,000,000 years ago marks the beginning of the age of placental-mammalian world domination. The southern land bridge was extensive, reconnecting the then enormous Antarctic continent with South America, South Africa, and Australia. In spite of the massing of land in high latitudes, the world climate remained relatively mild because of the enormous increase in the size of the tropic seas, nor was the land elevated sufficiently to produce glaciers. Extensive lava flows occurred in Greenland and Iceland, some coal being deposited between these layers. (695.2) 61:2.4 Marked changes were taking place in the fauna of the planet. The sea life was undergoing great modification; most of the present-day orders of marine life were in existence, and foraminifers continued to play an important role. The insect life was much like that of the previous era. The Florissant fossil beds of Colorado belong to the later years of these far-distant times. Most of the living insect families go back to this period, but many then in existence are now extinct, though their fossils remain. (695.3) 61:2.5 On land this was pre-eminently the age of mammalian renovation and expansion. Of the earlier and more primitive mammals, over one hundred species were extinct before this period ended. Even the mammals of large size and small brain soon perished. Brains and agility had replaced armor and size in the progress of animal survival. And with the dinosaur family on the decline, the mammals slowly assumed domination of the earth, speedily and completely destroying the remainder of their reptilian ancestors. (695.4) 61:2.6 Along with the disappearance of the dinosaurs, other and great changes occurred in the various branches of the saurian family. The surviving members of the early reptilian families are turtles, snakes, and crocodiles, together with the venerable frog, the only remaining group representative of man’s earlier ancestors. (695.5) 61:2.7 Various groups of mammals had their origin in a unique animal now extinct. This carnivorous creature was something of a cross between a cat and a seal; it could live on land or in water and was highly intelligent and very active. In Europe the ancestor of the canine family evolved, soon giving rise to many species of small dogs. About the same time the gnawing rodents, including beavers, squirrels, gophers, mice, and rabbits, appeared and soon became a notable form of life, very little change having since occurred in this family. The later deposits of this period contain the fossil remains of dogs, cats, coons, and weasels in ancestral form. (695.6) 61:2.8 30,000,000 years ago the modern types of mammals began to make their appearance. Formerly the mammals had lived for the greater part in the hills, being of the mountainous types; suddenly there began the evolution of the plains or hoofed type, the grazing species, as differentiated from the clawed flesh eaters. These grazers sprang from an undifferentiated ancestor having five toes and forty-four teeth, which perished before the end of the age. Toe evolution did not progress beyond the three-toed stage throughout this period. (695.7) 61:2.9 The horse, an outstanding example of evolution, lived during these times in both North America and Europe, though his development was not fully completed until the later ice age. While the rhinoceros family appeared at the close of this period, it underwent its greatest expansion subsequently. A small hoglike creature also developed which became the ancestor of the many species of swine, peccaries, and hippopotamuses. Camels and llamas had their origin in North America about the middle of this period and overran the western plains. Later, the llamas migrated to South America, the camels to Europe, and soon both were extinct in North America, though a few camels survived up to the ice age. (696.1) 61:2.10 About this time a notable thing occurred in western North America: The early ancestors of the ancient lemurs first made their appearance. While this family cannot be regarded as true lemurs, their coming marked the establishment of the line from which the true lemurs subsequently sprang. (696.2) 61:2.11 Like the land serpents of a previous age which betook themselves to the seas, now a whole tribe of placental mammals deserted the land and took up their residence in the oceans. And they have ever since remained in the sea, yielding the modern whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and sea lions. (696.3) 61:2.12 The bird life of the planet continued to develop, but with few important evolutionary changes. The majority of modern birds were existent, including gulls, herons, flamingoes, buzzards, falcons, eagles, owls, quails, and ostriches. (696.4) 61:2.13 By the close of this Oligocene period, covering ten million years, the plant life, together with the marine life and the land animals, had very largely evolved and was present on earth much as today. Considerable specialization has subsequently appeared, but the ancestral forms of most living things were then alive. 3. The Modern Mountain Stage Age of the Elephant and the Horse (696.5) 61:3.1 Land elevation and sea segregation were slowly changing the world’s weather, gradually cooling it, but the climate was still mild. Sequoias and magnolias grew in Greenland, but the subtropical plants were beginning to migrate southward. By the end of this period these warm-climate plants and trees had largely disappeared from the northern latitudes, their places being taken by more hardy plants and the deciduous trees. (696.6) 61:3.2 There was a great increase in the varieties of grasses, and the teeth of many mammalian species gradually altered to conform to the present-day grazing type. (696.7) 61:3.3 25,000,000 years ago there was a slight land submergence following the long epoch of land elevation. The Rocky Mountain region remained highly elevated so that the deposition of erosion material continued throughout the lowlands to the east. The Sierras were well re-elevated; in fact, they have been rising ever since. The great four-mile vertical fault in the California region dates from this time. (696.8) 61:3.4 20,000,000 years ago was indeed the golden age of mammals. The Bering Strait land bridge was up, and many groups of animals migrated to North America from Asia, including the four-tusked mastodons, short-legged rhinoceroses, and many varieties of the cat family.* (696.9) 61:3.5 The first deer appeared, and North America was soon overrun by ruminants — deer, oxen, camels, bison, and several species of rhinoceroses — but the giant pigs, more than six feet tall, became extinct. (697.1) 61:3.6 The huge elephants of this and subsequent periods possessed large brains as well as large bodies, and they soon overran the entire world except Australia. For once the world was dominated by a huge animal with a brain sufficiently large to enable it to carry on. Confronted by the highly intelligent life of these ages, no animal the size of an elephant could have survived unless it had possessed a brain of large size and superior quality. In intelligence and adaptation the elephant is approached only by the horse and is surpassed only by man himself. Even so, of the fifty species of elephants in existence at the opening of this period, only two have survived. (697.2) 61:3.7 15,000,000 years ago the mountain regions of Eurasia were rising, and there was some volcanic activity throughout these regions, but nothing comparable to the lava flows of the Western Hemisphere. These unsettled conditions prevailed all over the world. (697.3) 61:3.8 The Strait of Gibraltar closed, and Spain was connected with Africa by the old land bridge, but the Mediterranean flowed into the Atlantic through a narrow channel which extended across France, the mountain peaks and highlands appearing as islands above this ancient sea. Later on, these European seas began to withdraw. Still later, the Mediterranean was connected with the Indian Ocean, while at the close of this period the Suez region was elevated so that the Mediterranean became, for a time, an inland salt sea. (697.4) 61:3.9 The Iceland land bridge submerged, and the arctic waters commingled with those of the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic coast of North America rapidly cooled, but the Pacific coast remained warmer than at present. The great ocean currents were in function and affected climate much as they do today. (697.5) 61:3.10 Mammalian life continued to evolve. Enormous herds of horses joined the camels on the western plains of North America; this was truly the age of horses as well as of elephants. The horse’s brain is next in animal quality to that of the elephant, but in one respect it is decidedly inferior, for the horse never fully overcame the deep-seated propensity to flee when frightened. The horse lacks the emotional control of the elephant, while the elephant is greatly handicapped by size and lack of agility. During this period an animal evolved which was somewhat like both the elephant and the horse, but it was soon destroyed by the rapidly increasing cat family. (697.6) 61:3.11 As Urantia is entering the so-called “horseless age,” you should pause and ponder what this animal meant to your ancestors. Men first used horses for food, then for travel, and later in agriculture and war. The horse has long served mankind and has played an important part in the development of human civilization. (697.7) 61:3.12 The biologic developments of this period contributed much toward the setting of the stage for the subsequent appearance of man. In central Asia the true types of both the primitive monkey and the gorilla evolved, having a common ancestor, now extinct. But neither of these species is concerned in the line of living beings which were, later on, to become the ancestors of the human race. (697.8) 61:3.13 The dog family was represented by several groups, notably wolves and foxes; the cat tribe, by panthers and large saber-toothed tigers, the latter first evolving in North America. The modern cat and dog families increased in numbers all over the world. Weasels, martens, otters, and raccoons thrived and developed throughout the northern latitudes.* (698.1) 61:3.14 Birds continued to evolve, though few marked changes occurred. Reptiles were similar to modern types — snakes, crocodiles, and turtles. (698.2) 61:3.15 Thus drew to a close a very eventful and interesting period of the world’s history. This age of the elephant and the horse is known as the Miocene. 4. The Recent Continental-Elevation Stage The Last Great Mammalian Migration (698.3) 61:4.1 This is the period of preglacial land elevation in North America, Europe, and Asia. The land was greatly altered in topography. Mountain ranges were born, streams changed their courses, and isolated volcanoes broke out all over the world. (698.4) 61:4.2 10,000,000 years ago began an age of widespread local land deposits on the lowlands of the continents, but most of these sedimentations were later removed. Much of Europe, at this time, was still under water, including parts of England, Belgium, and France, and the Mediterranean Sea covered much of northern Africa. In North America extensive depositions were made at the mountain bases, in lakes, and in the great land basins. These deposits average only about two hundred feet, are more or less colored, and fossils are rare. Two great fresh-water lakes existed in western North America. The Sierras were elevating; Shasta, Hood, and Rainier were beginning their mountain careers. But it was not until the subsequent ice age that North America began its creep toward the Atlantic depression. (698.5) 61:4.3 For a short time all the land of the world was again joined excepting Australia, and the last great world-wide animal migration took place. North America was connected with both South America and Asia, and there was a free exchange of animal life. Asiatic sloths, armadillos, antelopes, and bears entered North America, while North American camels went to China. Rhinoceroses migrated over the whole world except Australia and South America, but they were extinct in the Western Hemisphere by the close of this period. (698.6) 61:4.4 In general, the life of the preceding period continued to evolve and spread. The cat family dominated the animal life, and marine life was almost at a standstill. Many of the horses were still three-toed, but the modern types were arriving; llamas and giraffelike camels mingled with the horses on the grazing plains. The giraffe appeared in Africa, having just as long a neck then as now. In South America sloths, armadillos, anteaters, and the South American type of primitive monkeys evolved. Before the continents were finally isolated, those massive animals, the mastodons, migrated everywhere except to Australia. (698.7) 61:4.5 5,000,000 years ago the horse evolved as it now is and from North America migrated to all the world. But the horse had become extinct on the continent of its origin long before the red man arrived. (698.8) 61:4.6 The climate was gradually getting cooler; the land plants were slowly moving southward. At first it was the increasing cold in the north that stopped animal migrations over the northern isthmuses; subsequently these North American land bridges went down. Soon afterwards the land connection between Africa and South America finally submerged, and the Western Hemisphere was isolated much as it is today. From this time forward distinct types of life began to develop in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. (699.1) 61:4.7 And thus does this period of almost ten million years’ duration draw to a close, and not yet has the ancestor of man appeared. This is the time usually designated as the Pliocene. 5. The Early Ice Age (699.2) 61:5.1 By the close of the preceding period the lands of the northeastern part of North America and of northern Europe were highly elevated on an extensive scale, in North America vast areas rising up to 30,000 feet and more. Mild climates had formerly prevailed over these northern regions, and the arctic waters were all open to evaporation, and they continued to be ice-free until almost the close of the glacial period. (699.3) 61:5.2 Simultaneously with these land elevations the ocean currents shifted, and the seasonal winds changed their direction. These conditions eventually produced an almost constant precipitation of moisture from the movement of the heavily saturated atmosphere over the northern highlands. Snow began to fall on these elevated and therefore cool regions, and it continued to fall until it had attained a depth of 20,000 feet. The areas of the greatest depth of snow, together with altitude, determined the central points of subsequent glacial pressure flows. And the ice age persisted just as long as this excessive precipitation continued to cover these northern highlands with this enormous mantle of snow, which soon metamorphosed into solid but creeping ice. (699.4) 61:5.3 The great ice sheets of this period were all located on elevated highlands, not in mountainous regions where they are found today. One half of the glacial ice was in North America, one fourth in Eurasia, and one fourth elsewhere, chiefly in Antarctica. Africa was little affected by the ice, but Australia was almost covered with the antarctic ice blanket. (699.5) 61:5.4 The northern regions of this world have experienced six separate and distinct ice invasions, although there were scores of advances and recessions associated with the activity of each individual ice sheet. The ice in North America collected in two and, later, three centers. Greenland was covered, and Iceland was completely buried beneath the ice flow. In Europe the ice at various times covered the British Isles excepting the coast of southern England, and it overspread western Europe down to France. (699.6) 61:5.5 2,000,000 years ago the first North American glacier started its southern advance. The ice age was now in the making, and this glacier consumed nearly one million years in its advance from, and retreat back toward, the northern pressure centers. The central ice sheet extended south as far as Kansas; the eastern and western ice centers were not then so extensive. (699.7) 61:5.6 1,500,000 years ago the first great glacier was retreating northward. In the meantime, enormous quantities of snow had been falling on Greenland and on the northeastern part of North America, and erelong this eastern ice mass began to flow southward. This was the second invasion of the ice. (699.8) 61:5.7 These first two ice invasions were not extensive in Eurasia. During these early epochs of the ice age North America was overrun with mastodons, woolly mammoths, horses, camels, deer, musk oxen, bison, ground sloths, giant beavers, saber-toothed tigers, sloths as large as elephants, and many groups of the cat and dog families. But from this time forward they were rapidly reduced in numbers by the increasing cold of the glacial period. Toward the close of the ice age the majority of these animal species were extinct in North America. (700.1) 61:5.8 Away from the ice the land and water life of the world was little changed. Between the ice invasions the climate was about as mild as at present, perhaps a little warmer. The glaciers were, after all, local phenomena, though they spread out to cover enormous areas. The coastwise climate varied greatly between the times of glacial inaction and those times when enormous icebergs were sliding off the coast of Maine into the Atlantic, slipping out through Puget Sound into the Pacific, and thundering down Norwegian fiords into the North Sea. 6. Primitive Man in the Ice Age (700.2) 61:6.1 The great event of this glacial period was the evolution of primitive man. Slightly to the west of India, on land now under water and among the offspring of Asiatic migrants of the older North American lemur types, the dawn mammals suddenly appeared. These small animals walked mostly on their hind legs, and they possessed large brains in proportion to their size and in comparison with the brains of other animals. In the seventieth generation of this order of life a new and higher group of animals suddenly differentiated. These new mid-mammals — almost twice the size and height of their ancestors and possessing proportionately increased brain power — had only well established themselves when the Primates, the third vital mutation, suddenly appeared. (At this same time, a retrograde development within the mid-mammal stock gave origin to the simian ancestry; and from that day to this the human branch has gone forward by progressive evolution, while the simian tribes have remained stationary or have actually retrogressed.) (700.3) 61:6.2 1,000,000 years ago Urantia was registered as an inhabited world. A mutation within the stock of the progressing Primates suddenly produced two primitive human beings, the actual ancestors of mankind. (700.4) 61:6.3 This event occurred at about the time of the beginning of the third glacial advance; thus it may be seen that your early ancestors were born and bred in a stimulating, invigorating, and difficult environment. And the sole survivors of these Urantia aborigines, the Eskimos, even now prefer to dwell in frigid northern climes. (700.5) 61:6.4 Human beings were not present in the Western Hemisphere until near the close of the ice age. But during the interglacial epochs they passed westward around the Mediterranean and soon overran the continent of Europe. In the caves of western Europe may be found human bones mingled with the remains of both tropic and arctic animals, testifying that man lived in these regions throughout the later epochs of the advancing and retreating glaciers. 7. The Continuing Ice Age (700.6) 61:7.1 Throughout the glacial period other activities were in progress, but the action of the ice overshadows all other phenomena in the northern latitudes. No other terrestrial activity leaves such characteristic evidence on the topography. The distinctive boulders and surface cleavages, such as potholes, lakes, displaced stone, and rock flour, are to be found in connection with no other phenomenon in nature. The ice is also responsible for those gentle swells, or surface undulations, known as drumlins. And a glacier, as it advances, displaces rivers and changes the whole face of the earth. Glaciers alone leave behind them those telltale drifts — the ground, lateral, and terminal moraines. These drifts, particularly the ground moraines, extend from the eastern seaboard north and westward in North America and are found in Europe and Siberia. (701.1) 61:7.2 750,000 years ago the fourth ice sheet, a union of the North American central and eastern ice fields, was well on its way south; at its height it reached to southern Illinois, displacing the Mississippi River fifty miles to the west, and in the east it extended as far south as the Ohio River and central Pennsylvania. (701.2) 61:7.3 In Asia the Siberian ice sheet made its southernmost invasion, while in Europe the advancing ice stopped just short of the mountain barrier of the Alps. (701.3) 61:7.4 500,000 years ago, during the fifth advance of the ice, a new development accelerated the course of human evolution. Suddenly and in one generation the six colored races mutated from the aboriginal human stock. This is a doubly important date since it also marks the arrival of the Planetary Prince. (701.4) 61:7.5 In North America the advancing fifth glacier consisted of a combined invasion by all three ice centers. The eastern lobe, however, extended only a short distance below the St. Lawrence valley, and the western ice sheet made little southern advance. But the central lobe reached south to cover most of the State of Iowa. In Europe this invasion of the ice was not so extensive as the preceding one. (701.5) 61:7.6 250,000 years ago the sixth and last glaciation began. And despite the fact that the northern highlands had begun to sink slightly, this was the period of greatest snow deposition on the northern ice fields. (701.6) 61:7.7 In this invasion the three great ice sheets coalesced into one vast ice mass, and all of the western mountains participated in this glacial activity. This was the largest of all ice invasions in North America; the ice moved south over fifteen hundred miles from its pressure centers, and North America experienced its lowest temperatures. (701.7) 61:7.8 200,000 years ago, during the advance of the last glacier, there occurred an episode which had much to do with the march of events on Urantia — the Lucifer rebellion. (701.8) 61:7.9 150,000 years ago the sixth and last glacier reached its farthest points of southern extension, the western ice sheet crossing just over the Canadian border; the central coming down into Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois; the eastern sheet advancing south and covering the greater portion of Pennsylvania and Ohio. (701.9) 61:7.10 This is the glacier that sent forth the many tongues, or ice lobes, which carved out the present-day lakes, great and small. During its retreat the North American system of Great Lakes was produced. And Urantian geologists have very accurately deduced the various stages of this development and have correctly surmised that these bodies of water did, at different times, empty first into the Mississippi valley, then eastward into the Hudson valley, and finally by a northern route into the St. Lawrence. It is thirty-seven thousand years since the connected Great Lakes system began to empty out over the present Niagara route. (702.1) 61:7.11 100,000 years ago, during the retreat of the last glacier, the vast polar ice sheets began to form, and the center of ice accumulation moved considerably northward. And as long as the polar regions continue to be covered with ice, it is hardly possible for another glacial age to occur, regardless of future land elevations or modification of ocean currents. (702.2) 61:7.12 This last glacier was one hundred thousand years advancing, and it required a like span of time to complete its northern retreat. The temperate regions have been free from the ice for a little over fifty thousand years. (702.3) 61:7.13 The rigorous glacial period destroyed many species and radically changed numerous others. Many were sorely sifted by the to-and-fro migration which was made necessary by the advancing and retreating ice. Those animals which followed the glaciers back and forth over the land were the bear, bison, reindeer, musk ox, mammoth, and mastodon. (702.4) 61:7.14 The mammoth sought the open prairies, but the mastodon preferred the sheltered fringes of the forest regions. The mammoth, until a late date, ranged from Mexico to Canada; the Siberian variety became wool covered. The mastodon persisted in North America until exterminated by the red man much as the white man later killed off the bison. (702.5) 61:7.15 In North America, during the last glaciation, the horse, tapir, llama, and saber-toothed tiger became extinct. In their places sloths, armadillos, and water hogs came up from South America. (702.6) 61:7.16 The enforced migration of life before the advancing ice led to an extraordinary commingling of plants and of animals, and with the retreat of the final ice invasion, many arctic species of both plants and animals were left stranded high upon certain mountain peaks, whither they had journeyed to escape destruction by the glacier. And so, today, these dislocated plants and animals may be found high up on the Alps of Europe and even on the Appalachian Mountains of North America. (702.7) 61:7.17 The ice age is the last completed geologic period, the so-called Pleistocene, over two million years in length. (702.8) 61:7.18 35,000 years ago marks the termination of the great ice age excepting in the polar regions of the planet. This date is also significant in that it approximates the arrival of a Material Son and Daughter and the beginning of the Adamic dispensation, roughly corresponding to the beginning of the Holocene or postglacial period.* (702.9) 61:7.19 This narrative, extending from the rise of mammalian life to the retreat of the ice and on down to historic times, covers a span of almost fifty million years. This is the last — the current — geologic period and is known to your researchers as the Cenozoic or recent-times era. (702.10) 61:7.20 [Sponsored by a Resident Life Carrier.]

Remote sensing has become an essential tool to improve data collection and spatial analysis in the geosciences. Identification of passive margin structures that are exposed along the Egyptian coast of the Red Sea, and their control on landforms has been hampered by limited data resolution and restricted access to this arid and inaccessible region. A major challenge lies in distinguishing features in the landscape that formed due to long-term tectonic activity and erosion from those features that modified the landscape recently. The goals of this thesis were to determine to what degree the study area is currently tectonically active, and what major hazards might affect the touristically developing coastal region. This study deals with the structural and geomorphological evolution of the rift-related structures and their impact on the sediment distribution and landforms variation in the northern Quseir area. In such a remote desert area, field and remote morphostructural analysis are needed to understand the structural and geomorphological evolution. The current study is mainly based on high-resolution QuickBird image analysis and field investigation. Field mapping was limited to one season, owing to acute safety concerns in the Eastern Desert. In the study area, the pre-rift stratigraphy includes Pan-African basement rocks overlain by pre-rift clastic and carbonate successions that range in age from Cambrian to Eocene. Syn-rift clastic and carbonate rocks range in age from Late Oligocene to recent and show depositional patterns controlled by fault systems. The field area exposes a section of a tectonically uplifted, amagmatic sedimentary sequence, which formed due to passive-margin-related rifting of the Red Sea: the Mesozoic and Tertiary sedimentary units that fill the 7-km wide coastal strip are perfectly exposed as tilted fault blocks. The results of my field mapping and structural analysis show that the fault architecture of the area is dominated by a large NW-SE-striking fault system. A series of SE-dipping normal faults are consistent in cross-section with listric fault geometry, rooting into an E-dipping detachment at depth. Our mapping also revealed that left-steps in at least one of the major NS- striking faults are accommodated by a flower structure, but not by SW-NE-oriented cross faults as previously proposed in a neighboring area. Thus seismic activity is more likely to occur on the large NW-striking normal faults, leading to potentially larger Magnitude earthquakes than previously recognized in the area. The left-step may act as a barrier to rupture propagation and should be examined in more detail. The northwestern Red Sea coast is part of the straight coastal segment that is generally characterized as seismically inactive. However, during the geological field mapping, I found evidence for Plio-/Pleistocene vertical coastal uplift, likely due to earthquake-related coastal and offshore faulting. Pliocene marine deposits emerged recently due to sea level-drop and earthquake-related uplift. Even the presence of up to five distinct Pleistocene coral terraces implies that at least some of the coastal uplift was seismogenic, because terraces of the same age can be found at different elevations along strike. Presumably, some of the seawarddipping, N-S-striking normal faults are active today, despite the lack of recent instrumental seismicity. These findings imply long recurrence intervals for active faults in the northern Quseir area. These results differ from previously published results for the adjacent Quseir-Um Gheig sub-basin area, were E-W-striking strike-slip faults were mapped to offset the N-Sstriking faults, and had been inferred as earthquake-generating faults by Abd El-Wahed et al. (2010). Based on our mapping, we postulate that the large rift-parallel normal faults are seismogenic. Drainage network evolution within the study area is often structurally controlled and the nature of these controls was examined in this study. The Wadi Siatin stream channel network is classified in a relatively simple way, based on the high-resolution satellite data, with dendritic, and rectangular considered the most fundamental channel geometries. It was possible to distinguish the different morphological elements of the network, as well as the anomalies that affect the patterns. This analysis revealed, in the northern Red Sea area basins, the existence of old structures whose successive reactivations have left their mark on the drainage network. Comparison of joint systems direction with the directions of the main trunk stream channel of Wadi Siatin shows that the channel is highly affected by tectonic jointing. First-order channels follow easily erodable faults. Investigations concerning the relationship of stream-flow orientation with geological structure in the Wadi Siatin Basin shows that, generally, the least influenced flows are those of first-order which are governed simply by the valley side slopes on which they developed. However, in certain geological and geomorphological situations, there are clear exceptions to this generalization. Certainly, locally, geological control of these small streams may be even higher than in many streams of higher order. In the peripheral parts of the Basin, expansion of drainage into the available space has obviously been easiest along lines of weakness and, as a consequence of this, streams of the first order come to exhibit a high degree of adjustment to the underlying structure. The maximum structural control is reached by the streams of the third order. Towards the higher orders, the influence of local structure becomes weaker.

Today on Access Utah, Sheri Quinn talks with writer Patrick Radden Keefe. With the drug-related violence in Mexico thriving, understanding how the drug industry operates is crucial to combatting it. Keith investigated the business side of the blooming illegal drug trade and in June 2012 his report, Cocaine Inc. was published in the New York Times Magazine.

The Antarctic Peninsula forms part of a magmatic arc at least since Jurassic times. Magmatic dykes are essential elements of such arcs and intrude along zones of instability. In contrast to other hypabyssal intrusions and the effusive products of arc activity, dykes do not only reflect the geochemical characteristics of their magma source but also the tectonic parameters at the time of their emplacement. The South Shetland Islands form an archipelago located at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and belong to this arc. Areas of up to 100,000 m2 have been mapped at several locations of these islands, mainly on King George and Livingston Island. A structural analysis of the dykes and the host rocks was carried out, and about 250 dykes were sampled for further studies. As deduced from field relationships, on Livingston Island six different intrusive events could be distinguished, on King George Island up to seven. This subdivision into different intrusive events is also well reflected by the geochemical data. Analysis of the structural data of the dykes and their host rocks shows, that the tectonic stress field was not only very similar throughout the archipelago, but that moreover only minor changes of this stress field occurred during the time of dyke emplacement. This holds for all investigated areas in the South Shetland Islands. The geochemical data (ICP-MS) reveal, that most dykes of the South Shetland Islands belong to a calc-alkaline, arc-related suite, ranging from basalts to highly differentiated rhyolites. However, especially during early stages of intrusive activity in the respective areas, also tholeiites occur. Isotopic data (Sr, Nd, Pb) prove a strong crustal component during initial stages of magmatic activity, especially on Hurd Peninsula (Livingston Island). This crustal component decreased with time, accompanied by an increase of sedimentary input into the subduction zone. The high amount of crustal contamination during the initial stages was probably due to a still unstretched continental crust. Besides the continental crust underlying the South Shetland Islands, partial melts from the subducted sediments, fluids derived from the subducting plate and a depleted, heterogeneous mantle wedge contributed to arc magma genesis. According to Ar-Ar datings on plagioclase separates and K-Ar (WR) age determinations, dyke intrusion was restricted to the Paleocene and Eocene. The dykes started to intrude around the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary at Livingston Island. Only around the Thanetian/Ypresian boundary, dyke intrusion commenced also further NE at Nelson and King George Island, culminating during the Lutetian at 47-45 Ma in all investigated areas. Dyke intrusion then ceased in the latter areas but still continued at Livingston Island until the Priabonian. Combining the information given by the tectonic and geochemical datasets, the time interval covered by the dykes obviously marks a period of geodynamic stability. This includes a stable geometry of the subduction zone and the corresponding parameters (subduction direction and velocity) during that time, as well as stable magma sources. The contribution of the respective sources (sediments, slab, mantle, crust) varied, but the sources themselves remained the same. Very primitive, olivine tholeiitic dykes sampled on Penguin Island as a by-product of this work yielded an unexpectedly high Ar-Ar age (Tortonian), thus questioning the onset of rifting in Bransfield Strait during the Pliocene, as believed so far.