Paleontology

Title link as always, but note the list has power consumption on it. Tianhe-2 consumes at least 17 MW of power...I'm willing to bet that does NOT include cooling.

Cambrian lobopodians: A review of recent progress in our understanding of their morphology and evolutionAuthors:1. Jianni Liu (a)2. Jason A. Dunlop (b)Affiliations:a. Early Life Institute, The Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, Chinab. Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution, and Biodiversity at the Humboldt University Berlin, D-10115 Berlin, GermanyAbstract:Lobopodians are an important group of organisms which appeared during the Cambrian Explosion. The underlying morphology is invariably a worm-like body bearing multiple pairs of legs. Yet in detail these animals preserve a range of morphologies and have attracted much palaeontological attention; particularly since this assemblage probably includes the ancestors of living velvet worms (Onychophora), water bear (Tardigrada) and arthropods (Arthropoda). In recent years, knowledge of Cambrian lobopodians has increased dramatically based on numerous new records. However, there have been few comprehensive reviews of these animals since Ramsköld & Chen's study in 1998. In the present paper, new insights into Cambrian lobopodians are presented. The legs of Aysheaia pedunculata have a strong attachment with the body, like those of lobopodians in the Chengjiang Fauna. Hallucigenia fortis has a pair of eyes, two pairs of tentacles are observed in the 'neck' region while a bivalved head shield is unequivocally lacking. Some new characters for, and the orientation of, Hallucigenia sparsa are discussed. Longitudinal wrinkles on the body of Xenusion auerswalde are regarded here as putative muscles. Cardiodictyon sinicum bears doublure structures at the anterior margin of head and a pair of eye spots; the shape of dorsal plates is also reinterpreted. Onychodictyon has a pair of anterior appendages, but no sclerotized head shield. The affinities of Miraluolishania haikouensis are clarified and the proposal that M. haikouensis is a junior synonym of Luolishania longicruris is refuted. The large lobopodians, Kerygmachela, Jianshanopodia and Megadictyon – all with frontal appendages, gill-like limbs and tree-like or lamellate-like branches – may be swimming predators.

Hemichordata (Pterobranchia, Enteropneusta) and the fossil recordAuthor:1. Jörg Maletz (a)Affiliation:a. FU Berlin, Institut für Geologische Wissenschaften, Malteser Str. 74–100, Haus B 322, D- 12247 Berlin, GermanyAbstract:The Hemichordata are generally interpreted as early deuterostomes, closely related to the chordates, a notion important for modern analyses of the origin of the deuterostomes. Because their fossil record is quite scanty, modern phylogenetic interpretations largely rely on analysis of DNA of the available extant taxa. The tripartite body plan of the group of worm-like hemichordates, the Enteropneusta, may be traced back in deep time to a few poorly known Middle Cambrian (Series 3, Stage 5) taxa from the Burgess Shale biota. The derived small, colonial or pseudocolonial Pterobranchia (Cephalodiscida and Graptolithina) have a more complete fossil record due to their preservable housing construction, the tubarium. The relationships of fossil taxa, putatively identified as early deuterostomes and possible hemichordates or even as pterobranchs of Lower to Middle Cambrian age (e.g. Galeaplumosus, Herpetogaster), cannot be substantiated. The Pterobranchia and their housing construction is first seen in the Middle Cambrian Series 3, Stage 5 but a clonal, colonial organization of the tubaria can only be recognized in the basal Drumian. The fossil enteropneust Mazoglossus ramsdelli Bardack, 1997 from the Carboniferous Mazon Creek Biota is re-described, its lectotype designated and illustrated for the first time.

I know I’ve written about this before, but Richard Poynder’s new post reminds me that we Brits really do need to be up in arms over the abject behaviour of our supposed representatives, the research councils (RCUK). As a direct result of this policy, the publisher Emerald has now introduced 24-month embargoes on RCUK-funded papers, where before it had none. The scandal here is that when RCUK first published their draft open-access policy in March 2012, it was exemplary. Its front page summarised its key points as follows: Specifically stating that Open Access includes unrestricted use of manual and automated text and data mining tools; and unrestricted reuse of content with proper attribution. Requiring publication in journals that meet Research Council ‘standards’ for Open Access. No support for publisher embargoes of longer than six months from the date of publication (12 months for research funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)). Subsequent revisions of this policy have systematically removed all three of these policies: Green-OA papers may now be encumbered by commercial clauses, RCUK has said it will not enforce its journal standards, and the maximum six-month embargo for STM publication has quadrupled to 24 months. As a matter of fact, it looks uncannily as though they read my comments and deliberately did the exact opposite. (No, I am not seriously suggesting that’s what happened. I’m not paranoid. What actually happened is less conspiracy-flavoured: I want what’s good for the world; publishers want what’s good for publishers, which is the opposite. They got what they wanted.) How the hell did this happen? The irony here is that the House of Lords select committee criticised RCUK for “lack of consultation” when in fact it had circulated its initial policy for comments. It was after this that RCUK threw out all its progressive promises without consultation — except, evidently, with the publishers to whom it so cravenly capitulated. Where was the consultation on the 24-month embargoes now being exploited by “publishers” like Emerald? There was none: suddenly, from out of the blue, the Publishers Association’s “decision tree” appeared bearing the shameful legend “endorsed by BIS and RCUK”. On whose mandate? BIS and RCUK both exist to spend taxpayers’ money: when did taxpayers give their consent to quadrupling embargoes? The whole thing makes me want to weep. By this stage in the proceedings, we expect barrier-based publishers to act against the interests of every other party. What we don’t expect it for our elected representatives to collude. Could we at least have the courtesy of some kind of explanation for RCUK?

I recently attempted a new drawing and experimented with adding a bit more detail than I normally do. I find that every drawing is a learning process, and I try to challenge myself by learning new techniques and styles every time I put a pencil to paper. Until about a year ago, I had never really used anything other than a #2 pencil - which is a relatively soft lead. More recently I have started using somewhat harder pencils, including a 3H - which remains sharper for longer, and can be sharpened more finely - allowing for much more detailed work. Skull and mandible of Delphinapterus leucas from the MNHN, borrowed from Wikipedia. Occasionally I'll see a photograph that speaks to me and looks like it would be fun (or challenging) to illustrate. A few weeks ago I found a neat looking photo of a beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) skull and mandible from the MNHN in Paris (shown above). It's a rather old mount as can be gathered from the nails and wires securing the teeth. This one was of sufficiently high resolution to elaborate minute details of the bone texture, and was an excellent candidate for an experiment in substantially more detailed illustration than what I've previously attempted. The completed illustration, measuring about ~14" wide or so. This illustration took about 20 or so hours to complete - perhaps double the time I've invested in similar sized illustrations previously. I spent about 6 hours just on the temporal region of the skull. Altogether, I am really pleased with the end result. Come to think about it, I should probably post some illustrating tutorials at some point in the future. Close up of the temporal region. I went a bit crazy here.

. . . I think that life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it. ~ Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892)The Civil War broke out at a time in U.S. history when many in the society had a passionate interest in natural history. Even during the war, soldiers collected fossils, rocks, and other specimens from the land where they camped, marched, and fought. Over the past couple of years, I have been in search of accounts of these activities, but, until recently, I never quite realized the risk I ran in doing so. The risk became clear when I read Isaac Lyman Taylor’s Civil War diary.The diary was published in four issues of Minnesota History (Vol. 25) in 1944. Links to each portion of the diary can be found at the Minnesota Historical Society’s Library page (scroll down to an entry titled Campaigning with the First Minnesota: A Civil War Diary).Before enlisting at age 24, Taylor, who studied science at Burlington University (Iowa), had been a school teacher, first in Illinois and then in Belle Prairie, Minnesota, at a school for Chippewa Indians, replacing his younger brother, Patrick Henry (“Henry” or “P.H.”), who’d left that teaching position to enlist in the First Minnesota Volunteer Regiment. Isaac soon followed Henry into the First Minnesota Volunteers, enlisting on August 21, 1861, in Company E, the same company in which his brother served. (Biographical information on the Isaac is drawn from Hazel C. Wolf’s introduction to the first installment of Taylor’s diary (she edited each article that appeared in Minnesota History), and The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers by Richard Moe (1993).)The First Minnesota would fight in nearly all of the major battles in the East, including the two Bull Runs, the Peninsula Campaign around Richmond, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. It is one of those storied military units that is celebrated for its constant bravery under fire and, specifically, for its actions at Gettysburg (more on that later).Taylor’s diary, written in three separate volumes, does not begin until New Year’s 1862, several months after he first experienced combat. He typically wrote relatively short entries, describing succinctly his health, the weather, and what he did during that day. He often added commentary on the state of the war which he followed closely, the army’s leadership which he didn’t hesitate to skewer, and the doings of the political system which often brought out his disgust. The tone, the style, and the syntax of his writing are fresh and modern, exhibiting a well developed and endearing sense of irony and sarcasm. Without question, there was, for Taylor, a humorous vein to be found in life, even in the army or, perhaps, especially in the army.The opening of the diary sets the tone. Taylor knew that, if a soldier fell in battle, his diary was at risk of being taken by looters who roamed the battlefield when the shooting stopped. So, he began each volume of his diary with an appeal to whomever might find it. The first of those pleas, directed to a Rebel who might come across his body, reads as follows (the spelling, punctuation, and syntax of each entry in the published text are Taylor’s own.):To Whom It May Concern.Mr. Secesh; Please forward this diary to J.H. Taylor, Prairie City, McDonough Co., Illinois. By so doing you will exhibit your magnanimity, accommodativeness & divers other virtues, beside conferring no small favor on a defunct individual.Yours Truly, I.L. TaylorHigh Private of Co. E1st Reg. Minn. Vol.Even with this somber task, Taylor’s attitude comes through – “conferring no small favor on a defunct individual.”Isaac Taylor was a man harboring scholarly ambitions with an abiding interest in natural history. On March 24, 1861, when his unit was in Washington, D.C., he was exploring the city, presumably on some sort of authorized pass. I use “presumably” advisedly bec

Its not just the algorithms. Its the the friends we pick online too. We cannot afford to just be friends with those which totally agree with us.