Buzzcocks lead singer Pete Shelley has died at 63 of a suspected heart attack.
The punk band are best known for their hit, Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve).
Their management told the BBC that Shelley died on Thursday in Estonia where he was living.
BBC music correspondent Lizo Mzimba said Buzzcocks, who formed in Bolton in the 1970s, were regarded as more polished, but musically no less influential, than the Sex Pistols.
The band have tweeted saying Shelley was “one of the UK’s most influential and prolific songwriters and co-founder of the seminal original punk band Buzzcocks”.
His music inspired generations of musicians over a five-decade career with his band and as a solo artist, they said.
Meaning “fish lizard” in Greek, the aptly-named ichthyosaur once dominated the world’s oceans for millions of years. Learn about these prehistoric marine reptiles and see how features, such as basketball-sized eyes and a vertical tail, helped the ichthyosaur secure a place at the top of the ancient food chain.
Soft tissue shows Jurassic ichthyosaur was warm-blooded, had blubber and camouflage
December 5, 2018
An ancient, dolphin-like marine reptile resembles its distant relative in more than appearance, according to an international team of researchers that includes scientists from North Carolina State University and Sweden’s Lund University. Molecular and microstructural analysis of a Stenopterygius ichthyosaur from the Jurassic (180 million years ago) reveals that these animals were most likely warm-blooded, had insulating blubber and used their coloration as camouflage from predators.
“Ichthyosaurs are interesting because they have many traits in common with dolphins, but are not at all closely related to those sea-dwelling mammals,” says research co-author Mary Schweitzer, professor of biological sciences at NC State with a joint appointment at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and visiting professor at Lund University. “We aren’t exactly sure of their biology either. They have many features in common with living marine reptiles like sea turtles, but we know from the fossil record that they gave live birth, which is associated with warm-bloodedness. This study reveals some of those biological mysteries.”
Johan Lindgren, associate professor at Sweden’s Lund University and lead author of a paper describing the work, put together an international team to analyze an approximately 180 million-year-old Stenopterygius fossil from the Holzmaden quarry in Germany.
“Both the body outline and remnants of internal organs are clearly visible,” says Lindgren. “Remarkably, the fossil is so well-preserved that it is possible to observe individual cellular layers within its skin.”
Researchers identified cell-like microstructures that held pigment organelles within the fossil’s skin, as well as traces of an internal organ thought to be the liver. They also observed material chemically consistent with vertebrate blubber, which is only found in animals capable of maintaining body temperatures independent of ambient conditions.
Lindgren sent samples from the fossil to international colleagues, including Schweitzer. The team conducted a variety of high-resolution analytical techniques, including time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF SIMS), nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS), pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, as well as immunohistological analysis and various microscopic techniques.
Schweitzer and NC State research assistant Wenxia Zheng extracted soft tissues from the samples and performed multiple, high-resolution immunohistochemical analyses. “We developed a panel of antibodies that we applied to all of the samples, and saw differential binding, meaning the antibodies for a particular protein — like keratin or hemoglobin — only bound to particular areas,” Schweitzer says. “This demonstrates the specificity of these antibodies and is strong evidence that different proteins persist in different tissues. You wouldn’t expect to find keratin in the liver, for example, but you would expect hemoglobin. And that’s what we saw in the responses of these samples to different antibodies and other chemical tools.”
Lindgren’s lab also found chemical evidence for subcutaneous blubber. “This is the first direct, chemical evidence for warm-bloodedness in an ichthyosaur, because blubber is a feature of warm-blooded animals,” Schweitzer says.
Taken together, the researchers’ findings indicate that the Stenopterygius had skin similar to that of a whale, and coloration similar to many living marine animals — dark on top and lighter on the bottom — which would provide camouflage from predators, like pterosaurs from above, or pliosaurs from below.
“Both morphologically and chemically, we found that although Stenopterygius would be loosely considered ‘reptiles,’ they lost the scaly skin associated with these animals — just as the modern leatherback sea turtle has,” Schweitzer says. “Losing the scales reduces drag and increases maneuverability underwater.
“This animal’s preservation is unusual, especially for a marine environment — but then, the Holzmaden formation is known for its exceptional preservation. This specimen has given us more evidence that these tissues and molecules can preserve for extremely long periods, and that soft tissue analysis can shed light on evolutionary patterns, relationships, and how ancient animals functioned in their environment.
“Our results were repeatable and consistent across labs. This work really shows what we’re capable of discovering when we perform a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional study of an exceptional specimen.”
Newly discovered video of public unrest on Austurvelli following the decision of the Icelandic government to join NATO in 1949, one of the most unpopular decisions in Iceland’s otherwise peaceful political history (1944-2007).
After 2007 came more protests.
This video says about itself:
Public protest in Reykjavik, Iceland following the financial crisis. Public demands answers, unsettled regarding the state of the economy and prospects of the job market. Captured by BBC. Oct 26, 2008.
And now, in December 2018, there are again protests in Iceland against basically the same right-wing politicians. This time not only because of Panama and other financial scandals, but also because of misogyny, homophobia, etc.
This photo shows the 1 December 2018 protest in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Furore has ensued as sound recordings of MP’s of the Centre Party making comments about fellow women MP’s were made public by newspaper Stundin. The male MP’s made crude remarks such as one woman MP not likely to make it up the primary elections because she wasn’t as “hot” as last year.
The MP’s include Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, who is the former Prime Minister of Iceland and hit headlines two years [ago] for involvement in the Panama Papers. He is now leader of the [right-wing] Centre Party.
Other MP’s are Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, Bergþór Ólason, Karl Gauti Hjaltason, and MP’s for the [also right-wing] People’s Party, Ólafur Ísleifsson and Anna Kolbrún Árnadóttir. Sveinsson is Iceland’s former Foreign Minister and fronted the UN’s “He for She ” campaign, and wrote an article in the Guardian on the gender equality initiative. …
The recording was made at Klaustur bar on November 20th and the conversation, according to witnesses, was very loud, reports Stundin.
The comments, some of them very crude and using swearwords aimed at women discussed the looks and intelligence of female MP’s.
Also in the recording, Sveinsson tells the others about how he appointed former PM Geir Haarde [of the right-wing Independence Party], found guilty of neglect after the economic collapse in 2008, as Ambassador in Washington DC.
Iceland scandal over MPs’ crude and sexist bar talk
By Laurence Peter BBC News
3 December 2018
There are calls for several Icelandic MPs to resign after they were recorded using crude language to describe female colleagues and a disabled activist.
Icelanders were especially shocked that the MPs’ targets included ex-MP Freyja Haraldsdottir, a disabled woman and well-known disability rights activist.
On Facebook Ms Haraldsdottir – who has osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease) – said former Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson had apologised to her personally.
But she said the apology did not go far enough. “To apologise, while trying to explain, explain, and just lie about what happened, is not an apology.”
“There are a thousand and one ways to express differences of opinion other than mocking a woman’s body and appearance,” she wrote on Facebook (in Icelandic).
Society in shock
The four Centre Party MPs and two MPs from the People’s Party – all opposition politicians – were secretly recorded by a member of the public in a Reykjavik bar, Klaustur.
They are heard repeatedly using the word “bitch” and sexually charged language. A woman MP was in the group, but did not make similarly offensive comments.
The anonymous eavesdropper sent the recording to Icelandic media, and it then went viral on social media. He said he recorded them on his mobile phone because he was shocked by the language they used, the Iceland Monitor reported.
The MPs’ conversation was more than three hours long. …
In the recording one of the group allegedly mocks Ms Haraldsdottir’s disability by imitating a seal. According to Mr Gunnlaugsson, the sound came from a chair being moved, not from one of the MPs.
Centre party leader Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson said yesterday evening that the seal noise made at the Klaustur bar was not one of the MP’s but probably a bike skidding to a halt outside the bar. His chair sound theory was proved wrong by journalists.
Disabled former MP Freyja Haraldsdóttir has responded on Twitter that it must have been the sound of the wheels on her wheelchair skidding outside the bar window.
The scandal of the recorded bar conversation by six MP’s is being hashtagged as #klausturgate.
Þetta var ekki stóll. Þetta var ekki hjól. Þetta var örugglega hjólastóllinn minn að skransa fyrir utan Klaustur. #Klausturgate
President of Parliament in Iceland, Steingrímur J.Sigfússon read a statement at Parliament today where he apologized on behalf of Parliament for the derogatory remarks made by six MP’s about women, disabled people and the queer community. The matter is now under investigation by the parliamentary ethics regulations committee.
“The words used are inexcusable and indefensible. It is particularly indefensible how they spoke about women, women in politics, disabled people and gay people. It is important for a modern democracy to eliminate this kind of discourse, this uncultured talk from politics and we all have to help.”
Iceland’s Minister of Culture [Progressive Party member] Lilja Alfreðsdóttir appeared on the Kastljós news programme tonight, speaking for the first time about her reaction to the comments made about her in bar conversation two weeks ago, recorded by a witness.
“I experience this as violence. They are perpetrators of violence”, said Alfreðsdóttir about the comments made by former PM Sigmyndur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, Bergþór Ólason and former Minister for Foreign affairs and MP for the Centre Party Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson.
The hagfish is a slime-emitting ocean-dweller that’s remained unchanged for 300 million years–and it shows. It has a skull (but no spine), velvet smooth skin, and a terrifying pit of a mouth that’s lined with rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Evolution of the inner ear: Insights from jawless fish
December 5, 2018
Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics (BDR) and collaborators have described for the first time the development of the hagfish inner ear. Published in the journal Nature, the study provides a new story for inner ear evolution that began with the last common ancestor of modern vertebrates.
Comparing organs among related animals can be helpful when trying to understand the evolutionary process, and will ultimately help us better understand organogenesis — the process through which organs develop. This underlying philosophy helped guide the collaborative effort to study the inner ear led by Shigeru Kuratani at RIKEN BDR.
The story begins with a difference between jawed and jawless vertebrates. Jawed vertebrates like humans have inner ears with three semicircular canals, which are what allow us to sense our position and stay balanced in the world, and especially to sense 3-D acceleration. The fossil record shows that a group of jawless fish from the Paleozoic era only had two semicircular canals. In order to understand the evolutionary changes that led [to] three canals, the team looked at the only two types of jawless vertebrates that still exist on earth: lampreys and hagfish.
Lampreys are thought to have two semicircular canals, while hagfish only have one. However, hagfish are no longer thought to be more primitive than lampreys. A series of molecular biological experiments was able to clarify the issue. Analyzing the regulatory genes that control the development of the semicircular canals showed that the basic pattern of inner ear development is similar for all vertebrates, including lampreys and hagfish. Key genes, such as Tbx1 and Patched were expressed at the same places with the same timing across all three types of vertebrate.
The anterior and posterior canals in jawed vertebrates appear to be genetically homologous to the anterior and posterior parts of the lamprey canal, while the pattern for the single hagfish canal is likely an evolved trait, not a primitive condition. The difference between the jawed and jawless fish is the presence of the common crus, a structure that connects the anterior and posterior canals in jawed vertebrates. The current study could not determine whether the common crus is something that jawed vertebrates gained or something that was lost in jawless vertebrates.
Further analysis focused on the Otx1 gene. This gene is required for proper development of the lateral canal, the third canal that is unique to jawed vertebrates. The researchers found that despite the lack of a lateral canal, lampreys and hagfish both expressed Otx1 in the proper location during development. This was somewhat surprising as its expression was thought to be an advent that led to the evolution of the lateral canal. Instead, it appears that Otx1 expression in the otic vesicle is an ancient feature for all vertebrates.
A more complete understanding will be possible by performing studies with an animal that represents the lineages before jawed and jawless vertebrates diverged.
The raids took place in, eg, Emmen, in the headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In addition, two community buildings – so-called kingdom halls – and four dwellings of the religious community were searched.
Police were looking for documents of internal ‘lawsuits’.
Internal trials
Jehovah’s Witnesses has an internal system for treating cases like abuse. A complaint arrives at a special committee, after which a procedure is started that is not public.
Possible perpetrators are tried by the society and not reported to the police. Reports of cases are not shared with law enforcement.
A report published by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in December invokes explicitly, for the first time, the shift to “great power” conflicts in making a case for the growth of military funding. Explaining the ever-escalating military budget, it states, “the most recent Nuclear Posture Review, released in 2018, concludes that the geopolitical environment has deteriorated markedly since the last Nuclear Posture Review in 2010 and that the world has returned to a state of ‘Great Power’ competition.” While the document provides suggestions for massive cuts in social programs to address the $778 billion US debt, “Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2019 to 2028” makes the case that any reduction to military funding would potentially undermine the American ability to conduct war: here.
