Discovering New Berardius In 2016

This whale washed up dead on Alaska’s St. George Island in June 2014.  Scientists say it is a newly discovered species of beaked whale.
Photograph by Karin Holser

Like many good mysteries, this one started with a corpse, but the body in question was 24 feet (7.3 meters) long.

The remains floated ashore in June of 2014, in the Pribilof Islands community of St. George, a tiny oasis of rock and grass in the middle of Alaska’s Bering Sea. A young biology teacher spotted the carcass half-buried in sand on a desolate windswept beach. He alerted a former fur seal researcher who presumed, at first, that she knew what they’d found: a Baird’s beaked whale, a large, gray, deep-diving creature that occasionally washes in dead with the tide.

But a closer examination later showed that the flesh was too dark, the dorsal fin too big and floppy. The animal was too short to be an adult, but its teeth were worn and yellowed with age.

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It’s just so exciting to think that in 2016 we’re still discovering things in our world—even mammals that are more than 20 feet long.

Phil Morin | NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center

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It turns out, according to new research published Tuesday, that this was not a Baird’s beaked whale at all, but an entirely new species—a smaller, odd-shaped black cetacean that Japanese fishermen have long called karasu, or raven.

“We don’t know how many there are, where they’re typically found, anything,” says Phillip Morin, a molecular geneticist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center. “But we’re going to start looking.”

It’s rare to uncover a new species of whale. Advances in DNA research have helped scientists identify five new cetaceans in the past 15 years but two were dolphins and most were simple category splits between fairly similar species. This animal, in the genus Berardius, looks far different than its nearest relative and inhabits an area of the North Pacific where marine mammal research has been conducted for decades … read more –> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/07/new-whale-species/…

 

Mysterious Purple Orb?

Researchers Find Mysterious Purple Orb in the Channel Islands

Channel Islands National Park is a popular day trip from Los Angeles; hundreds of thousands of people make the venture every year. But the eight-island chain, dubbed the Galapagos of the North, still holds plenty of mysteries. In fact, during a recent trip to map the surrounding waters, the team aborad the Nautilus exploration vessel found a strange bright purple ball that looks like an unhatched Pokémon.

When the team stumbled on the blob, which is only a few inches across, they weren’t sure what to make of it. In a video recording of the find, one researcher speculates that it is a new type of tunicate, also known as a sea squirt. Other options include some type of sea slug or cnidarian, the group which includes jellyfish and coral …

… The team used a vacuum system to slurp up the creature. Once aboard the ship, it began to unfold into two distinct lobes and looked like it could be a new species of nudibranch, according to the team’s website. Known for their brilliant hues, nudibranchs are a type of sea slug that inhabit a range of environments.

The orb wasn’t the only awesome find from the trip. While surveying deep reefs in the Sanctuary to identify “essential fish habitats,” the Nautilus crew also found whelks building their unusual egg towers, groups of Pacific octopuses protecting their eggs, as well as interesting corals, sea stars and sea fans.

There are likely many more creatures to discover in this region. Less than half of the sea floor has been mapped within the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, which encompass 1,470 square miles of water around the islands. The Nautilus Exploration Program plans to peer into more of these nooks and crannies, mapping the area and collecting biological samples along their route. The goal is to pay particular attention to the deep sea habitat and deep coral beds in the area. The purple blob was found on their latest venture, which took place July 3 to July 21.

It may be a while before scientists figure out what the odd spiky orb truly is. But in the meantime, there’s so much more to find lurking in the ocean depths.

see video –>  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-find-mysterious-purple-orb-channel-islands-180959933/#OcwU5fl0q5X7xYCx.99

 

Oldest Non-Human Stone Tools Outside Africa

A capuchin monkey in Brazil’s Serra da Capivara National Park cracks open nuts with a stone tool. Only a handful of non-human primates use stone tools.

An archaeological site in the Brazilian savanna has revealed the oldest record of non-human stone tool use found outside of Africa: centuries-old stone hammers and anvils wielded by hungry capuchin monkeys.

The rocks show that for at least 700 years, bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus
) in Brazil’s Serra da Capivara National Park have smashed fresh cashews to peel off their caustic, unappetizing husks. The find confirms the behavior’s longtime importance to the area’s capuchins—which seem to have used the technique for a hundred generations—and adds vital nuance to the history of tool use in non-human primates …

What Does It Take to Become a Stone Tool User?

The trove of tools, described on Monday in Current Biology, also stands to help scientists understand the bafflingly scattershot distribution of tool use among primates. Only a handful of non-human primate genera use hand tools—including chimpanzees, bearded capuchins, and long-tailed macaques—and scientists have yet to identify exactly why those species, and not others, took up tools … read more –> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/07/capuchins-monkeys-stone-tools-archaeology/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fb20160711news-monkeyarchaeology&utm_campaign=Content&sf30714755=1

 

A Fish Recognizes Human Faces?

Though many may mock a fish’s short memory, the creatures can still learn some astounding things. Researchers at the University of Oxford and the University of Queensland recently discovered that the small tropical archerfish can be taught to accurately recognize human faces, Arielle Duhaime-Ross reports for The Verge.

In the study, published this week in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers describe training the archerfish. While it would be hard for most fish to communicate what they see, the archerfish has a nifty trick up it’s gills: the ability to spit little jets of water from its mouth.

The researchers displayed images of two faces side-by-side on a screen dangled above the fish’s tank—one familiar, one unknown. The fish was then supposed to spit water at the correct image for a treat.

81 percent of the time, the archerfish could recognize the same faces in color but were even more accurate with black and white images.

“I think it’s really fascinating that they have these supposedly simple brains,” study author Cait Newport tells Victoria Turk for Motherboard. “But they’re still able to use them for really complicated tasks, and we probably just don’t give them enough credit.”

The researchers hope that these little fish can help uncover how humans pull off this complex neurological trick.

There are currently two major ideas for how human brains recognize faces, writes Turk. Some believe the credit goes to complex, specialized circuitry that the brain evolved over time, but others think that humans simply learned the skill.

“We wanted to disentangle these two ideas and see if we could use another species to figure out if we do in fact need really specialized cells, or if maybe something else that doesn’t have these specialized cells can learn this task,” Newport tells Turk. “That’s why we turned to fish, because they have no evolutionary need to recognize human faces, and they lack this entire section of the brain—the neocortex.”

This isn’t the first time that Newport and her team have taught fish to recognize faces. Last October, she and her team published a similar study that demonstrated a coral reef fish called the Ambon damselfish can distinguish between individuals of its own species. In that case, the fish were aided by their ability to see ultraviolet light. While damselfish appear yellow to the human eye, their faces are actually speckled with unique facial patterns that appear under UV light, Mary Bates reports for National Geographic.

“Categorical perception is thought to allow animals to make quick decisions about an image or stimulus,” study author Ulrike Siebeck told Bates. “In nature, this could be the vital decision about whether an approaching animal is classed as a predator or a harmless animal.”

These studies suggest that the ability to recognize faces does not rely on complex neurological pathways. Facial recognition is either a less difficult task than believed or can be accomplished using more basic parts of the brain. These findings could also be applied to refine facial recognition computer programs, Turk reports.

“It [raises] the question as to why the human system is so complicated if a really simple system can do it,” Newport tells Turk.

courtesy of:  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/…

Bog Butter Anyone?

Recently, Jack Conway was “cutting turf,” the term for digging up blocks of moss in Emlagh peat bog in County Meath, Ireland, when he discovered a 22-pound lump of butter. The find, believed to be 2,000 years old, according to the Irish Times, isn’t an unusual occurrence in Ireland, where every year, people digging up peat moss to heat their homes encounter chunks of the dairy.

The discoveries, which are called Bog Butter, can be thousands of years old. In 2009, a 77-pound, 3,000-year-old oak barrel of the stuff was found in County Kildare. In 2013, a turf cutter in County Offaly found a 100-pound, 5,000-year-old chunk. Many examples of the butter are found in Irish museums, including the place dedicated to the golden spread, Cork’s Butter Museum.

So what is Bog Butter? It’s exactly what it sounds like—butter made from cow’s milk, buried in a bog. What makes it special is its age. After spending so much time in the cool, damp peat, it starts to take on the appearance and consistency of paraffin wax. According to a study on bog butter by researchers from the University of Bristol, some of the chunks are non-dairy. When analyzing carbon isotopes in nine samples of the butter, they found that six of them were indeed dairy products, while the other three were from animals, perhaps tallow (rendered fat) stored for later use.

In a paper published in the Journal of Irish Archaeology, Caroline Earwood explains that bog butter is usually found in earthenware pots, wooden containers, animal skins, or wrapped in bark and takes on a pungent, cheesy odor. Looking at over 274 instances of bog butter from the Iron Age to medieval times, Earwood concluded that early Celtic people probably sunk the butter in the bog simply to preserve it or protect from thieves. The cool, low-oxygen, high acid environment of the bog made a perfect natural refrigerator. Seeing as butter was a valuable commodity and was used to pay taxes, saving it for times of drought, famine, or war would have been a good idea … read more –>  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/…

Prayer For The Soul Of A Whale

A woman prays for the soul of a whale washed up on the coast of Dien Thinh-Dien Chau, Nghe, Viet Nam

Courtesy of:  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/photocontest/detail/people/…

Milan Creates World’s First Vertical Forest

In an age where harmonious innovation is becoming more celebrated, sustainable designs to preserve the Earth and contribute to wellbeing are being implemented at a rapid rate. One such innovation to recently be accepted for development is a vertical forest designed by Stefan Boeri Architects.

The first ever vertical forest will soon be the greenest building in Milan. Because the average household in a city produces approximately 25-30 tons of CO2 per year, implementing greener architecture in highly populated areas cannot come soon enough.

“This stunning development is part of a vision presented by BioMilano which promises to incorporate 60 abandoned farms into a greenbelt surrounding the city. Part of the mission is to create a vertical forest building which boasts a stunning green façade planted with dense forest systems to provide microclimate and to filter out polluting dust particles. According to Inhabit, there are two buildings currently under construction.”

The greener architecture will help absorb CO2, oxygenate the air, moderate extreme temperatures, and lower noise pollution. The bio-canopy is not only aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but it helps lower living costs.

In the vertical forest building, each apartment balcony will feature trees that will provide shade during the summer months and drop their leaves in winter and allow more sunlight. An estimated 900 trees are planned for planting between the two new buildings being constructed.

“A grey-water filtration system (which is used water which has gone down the sink or shower) will ensure the trees are adequately watered. Additionally, photovoltaic power generation will help provide sustainable energy to the building.”

Merging the hottest sustainable technologies with revolutionary design will not only help the environment, but help bring human beings and nature back into harmony.

courtesy of:  http://www.offgridquest.com/homes-dwellings/

San Diego’s Best Restaurants 2016

Specific Cuisines:

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Best Middle Eastern

Readers’ Pick: Meze
Runner-up: The Kebab Shop
Critic’s Pick: Khyber Pass

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Best Italian

Readers’ Pick: Solare Ristorante
Runner-up: Cucina Urbana and Cucina Enoteca
Critic’s Pick: Solare Ristorante

……………………………………………………………………………………

Best Greek

Readers’ Pick: Meze
Runner-up: Cafe Athena
Critic’s Pick: Cafe Athena

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Best Mexican

Readers’ Pick: Talavera Azul
Runner-up: Puesto
Critic’s Pick: Bracero Cocina

……………………………………………………………………………………

Best French

Readers’ Pick: Bleu Bohème
Runner-up: Cafe Chloe
Critic’s Pick: The Marine Room

……………………………………………………………………………………

Best Indian

Readers’ Pick: Bombay
Runner-up: Royal India
Critic’s Pick: Taste of the Himalayas

……………………………………………………………………………………

Best Chinese

Readers’ Pick: Szechuan Mandarin
Runner-up: Dumpling Inn
Critic’s Pick: Dumpling Inn

……………………………………………………………………………………

Best Japanese

Readers’ Pick: Sushi Ota
Runner-up: Blue Smoke
Critic’s Pick: Wa Dining Okan

……………………………………………………………………………………

Best Thai

Readers’ Pick: Supannee
Runner-up: Amarin
Critic’s Pick: Supannee

……………………………………………………………………………………

Best Vietnamese

Readers’ Pick: Le Bambou
Runner-up: Saigon on Fifth
Critic’s Pick: Saigon on Fifth

……………………………………………………………………………………

Best Korean

Readers’ Pick: Manna Korean BBQ
Runner-up: Tofu House
Critic’s Pick: Do Re Mi

……………………………………………………………………………………

Best Filipino

Readers’ Pick: Tita’s Kitchenette
Runner-up: Manila Sunset
Critic’s Pick: Tita’s Kitchenette

……………………………………………………………………………………

Best Russian

Readers’ Pick: Pomegranate
Runner-up: Pushkin
Critic’s Pick: Pomegranate

……………………………………………………………………………………

Best Ethiopian

Readers’ Pick: Muzita
Runner-up: Red Sea
Critic’s Pick: Muzita

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Best Vegetarian/Vegan

Readers’ Pick: Café Gratitude
Runner-up: Civico 1845
Critic’s Pick: Café Gratitude

……………………………………………………………………………………

Best Barbecue

Readers’ Pick: Phil’s BBQ
Runner-up: Coops West Texas BBQ
Critic’s Pick: Coops West Texas BBQ

……………………………………………………………………………………

Best Steakhouse

Readers’ Pick: Cowboy Star
Runner-up: Donovan’s
Critic’s Pick: Cowboy Star

……………………………………………………………………………………

Best Seafood

Readers’ Pick: Ironside FIsh & Oyster
Runner-up: Truluck’s
Critic’s Pick: Mitch’s

……………………………………………………………………………………

Best Breakfast/Brunch

Readers’ Pick: Talavera Azul
Runner-up: Snooze
Critic’s Pick: Café 21

……………………………………………………………………………………

for other additional individual categories of:   (1) Overall, (2) Atmosphere, (3) Specific Dishes, (4) Drinks, go to –> http://www.sandiegomagazine.com/San-Diego-Magazine/June-2016/…

Amazon Tribe Creates 500-page Traditional Medicine Encyclopedia

In one of the great tragedies of our age, indigenous traditions, stories, cultures and knowledge are winking out across the world. Whole languages and mythologies are vanishing, and in some cases even entire indigenous groups are falling into extinction. This is what makes the news that a tribe in the Amazon—the Matsés peoples of Brazil and Peru—have created a 500-page encyclopedia of their traditional medicine all the more remarkable. The encyclopedia, compiled by five shamans with assistance from conservation group Acaté, details every plant used by Matsés medicine to cure a massive variety of ailments.

“The [Matsés Traditional Medicine Encyclopedia] marks the first time shamans of an Amazonian tribe have created a full and complete transcription of their medicinal knowledge written in their own language and words,” Christopher Herndon, president and co-founder of Acaté, told Mongabay in an interview (in full below).

The Matsés have only printed their encyclopedia in their native language to ensure that the medicinal knowledge is not stolen by corporations or researchers as has happened in the past. Instead, the encyclopedia is meant as a guide for training new, young shamans in the tradition and recording the living shamans’ knowledge before they pass.

“One of the most renowned elder Matsés healers died before his knowledge could be passed on so the time was now. Acaté and the Matsés leadership decided to prioritize the Encyclopedia before more of the elders were lost and their ancestral knowledge taken with them,” said Herndon.

Acaté has also started a program connecting the remaining Matsés shamans with young students. Through this mentorship program, the indigenous people hope to preserve their way of life as they have for centuries past.

“With the medicinal plant knowledge disappearing fast among most indigenous groups and no one to write it down, the true losers in the end are tragically the indigenous stakeholders themselves,” said Herndon. “The methodology developed by the Matsés and Acaté can be a template for other indigenous cultures to safeguard their ancestral knowledge.” … read more –>  http://www.spiritofchange.org/alternative-health/…

Cats Are Adorable Physicists

String theory—feline edition. (Tommy Hemmert Olesen (Flickr/Creative Commons))

Beneath that fluffy exterior lies a shrewd understanding of how the world works. 

They may be fluffy and cute, but behind the eyes of your favorite feline friend lies something that’s far more than catnip and cuddles—a sharp brain for physics.  As the BBC reports, the latest in cat research reveals that the adorable animals seem to have a basic grasp on both the laws of physics and the ins and outs of cause and effect.

According to a new study published in the journal Animal Cognition, cats seem to be able to predict the location of hiding prey using both their ears and an innate understanding of how the physical world works.

In what could be the most chaotically cute experiment, Japanese researchers taped 30 domestic cats reacting to a container that a team member shook. Some containers rattled; others did not. When the container was tipped over, sometimes an object fell out and sometimes it didn’t.

It turns out that the cats were remarkably savvy about what would happen when a container was tipped over. When an object did not drop out of the bottom of a rattling container, they looked at it for a longer period of time than they did when the container behaved as expected.

“Cats use a causal-logical understanding of noise or sounds to predict the appearance of invisible objects,” lead researcher Saho Takagi says in a press release. The researchers conclude that cats’ hunting style may have developed based on their common-sense abilities to infer where prey is using their hearing.

Scientists have delved into this idea with other endearing creatures: babies. Like cats, babies appear to engage in what’s called “preferential looking“—looking longer at things that are interesting or askew than things they perceive as normal.

When babies’ expectations are violated in experiments like the ones performed with the cats, they react much like their fuzzy friends. Psychologists have shown that babies apparently expect their world to comply with the laws of physics and cause and effect as early as two months of age.

Does the study mean that soon, cats will grasp the ins and outs of quantum mechanics and string theory? Maybe—if the string is a ball of yarn. Okay, so cats may not be the next physics faculty members at America’s most important research universities. But by demonstrating their common sense, they’ve shown that the divide between cats and humans may not be that great after all.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/…

Coins In A Fountain

Throwing spare change into a fountain is a time-honored ritual: throw a penny into the water, and your wish might come true. But all that money has to go somewhere. Otherwise, the growing piles of pennies, nickels, quarters and Euros could clog up the fountain’s works.

Depending on where a fountain is and who owns it, the coins collected can go to all sorts of different places—from fountain upkeep to charity or public service.

In New York City, for example, change collected from fountains in public parks often go towards the fountain’s upkeep itself, though entrepreneurs who don’t mind getting their hands wet often get to it first, writes Adam Chandler for The Atlantic.

“We have over 50 beautiful, decorative display fountains in NYC parks,” New York City Parks and Recreation spokesperson Maeri Ferguson tells Chandler. “They are cleaned regularly by Parks staff (every few weeks), but we consistently find that most of the coins have already been removed by entrepreneurial New Yorkers and there is not a significant amount left to be collected.”

Other cities, though, can pull in a much more serious haul. Take for example, Rome’s iconic Trevi fountain: for hundreds of years, visitors have thrown coins over their shoulder into the fountain to ensure that they return someday. So many tourists toss in coins that Roman officials have the fountain cleaned every night, reportedly netting as much as $4,000 in loose change from around the world each day, the BBC reported in 2006.

Most of the money collected each night goes towards running a supermarket for the needy. And collecting that cash is serious business. Roman officials have been known to be tough on anyone caught skimming coins from the fountain, the BBC reported.

In one case in 2005, police arrested four fountain cleaners after they were spotted slipping coins into their own pockets after collecting them. Authorities finally caught one notorious skimmer nicknamed “d’Artagnan,” banning him from the fountain after he fished out thousands of dollars in change over 34 years using a magnetized wand.

For the most part, money collected from privately-owned fountains in the United States also goes to charity. The fountain in New York City’s Bryant Park is owned and operated by a non-profit corporation, which puts the cash collected by cleaners towards the fountain’s own upkeep.

Chandler reports that private fountains can also rake in tens of thousands of dollars a year, leading private companies to create official policies towards disbursing the change. Minnesota’s Mall of America collects about $24,000 in change each year from its fountains and ponds, and nonprofits can submit applications for a cut of the change.

Tens of thousands of dollars in coins scooped out of wishing wells, fountains, and ponds in Florida’s Walt Disney World are donated each year to support foster children living in the state, Attractions Magazine reports.

Whether or not your wish comes true after tossing a coin into a fountain, you can rest assured knowing that the change is likely going to someone who needs it

Courtesy of:  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/…

What Happens in the Brain When Music Causes Chills?

The brains of people who get chills when the right song comes on are wired differently than others

For some people it’s David Bowie. For others it’s Franz Liszt. But regardless of the genre, when the right chords combine, many people will get goose bumps or a chill up the spine.

Somewhere between a half to two-thirds of the population have this reaction, yet scientists have long debated why. Past research has shown that when experiencing “the chills,” the neurotransmitter dopamine floods through the body. But a new study published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience details what happens in the brain when the soprano hits the high note, reports Ian Sample for The Guardian.

These reactions are known as frissons—an aesthetic chill also sometimes called a “skin orgasm,” Mitchell Colver, doctoral student at Utah State University, writes for The Conversation. Though they are usually associated with listening to music, some can even get the willies while looking at art or watching a movie.

To investigate what happens in the brain during the chills, a group of researchers from Harvard and Wesleyan University selected ten people who claimed that they regularly experience a frisson while listening to music. He also selected ten subjects who never experienced the phenomenon.

The researchers then looked at the brains of the test subjects while they listened to chill-inducing music using a method called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), which shows how well regions of the brain are interconnected, reports Sample. The choices ranged from Coldplay and Wagner to marching band music from the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps.

The researchers found that the brains of individuals who occasionally feel a chill while listening to music were wired differently than the control subjects. They had more nerve fibers connecting auditory cortex, the part of the brain that processes sound, to their anterior insular cortex, a region involved in processing feelings. The auditory cortex also had strong links to parts of the brain that may monitor emotions.

So why do so many get the chills when the music is just right? “The chills is a sensation we get when we’re cold. It doesn’t really make sense that your hair would stand on end, or that you’d get these goosebumps in response to music,” Matthew Sachs, an author of the paper, tells Sample. “We think that the connectivity between the auditory cortex and these other regions is allowing music to have that profound emotional response in these people. It’s very hard to know whether or not this is learned over time, or whether these people naturally had more fibers. All we can say is there are differences that might explain the behavior we see.”

Colver, who has also studied the phenomenon, says that previous research shows that the ability to experience a frisson is related to a personality trait called Openness to Experience. But his research suggests that those who experience the chills while listening to music weren’t always those having a deep emotional connection. Instead, his study showed that people engaged in the music more intellectually, like trying to predict the melody or putting mental imagery to the music, were more likely to get a shiver when the music deviated from their expectations in a positive way.

But not everyone is so enthusiastic about the idea of discerning beauty from brain scans. Philip Ball writes for Nature News: “Although it is worth knowing that musical ‘chills’ are neurologically akin to the responses invoked by sex or drugs, an approach that cannot distinguish Bach from barbiturates is surely limited.”

courtesy of:  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/…

San Diego County Home Prices Up 6.2%

San Diego County median home price was up 6.2 percent in the last 12 months

Southern California home prices continued to outpace the national average, and many major cities, said the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index released Tuesday.  Prices nationally, adjusted for seasonal variation, rose 5.2 percent in the 12 months ended in March, with the Pacific Northwest and West seeing the biggest gains.

San Diego County’s median home price increased 6.2 percent, lower than the 6.4 percent increase in February and 6.9 percent in January … Economists said home prices continue to rise because of improved labor markets and employment rates, low mortgage rates and limited home supply.

Mark Goldman, finance and real estate lecturer at San Diego State University, said a slower rate of appreciation is a good thing. He said price increases of 3.5 percent to 5 percent are more sustainable.  “If prices go up too quickly, then there is speculation in the market and that’s dangerous,” he said.

read more –>  http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/may/31/home-prices-case-shiller/?fbshare=2049744

Refugees To Have Their Own Olympic Team

Ten refugee-athletes from Syria, Sudan, Ethiopia and the Republic of Congo will compete at the Rio Olympics

When the parade of nations enters Maracanã Stadium later this summer for the opening ceremonies of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, there will be one extra flag. Ten refugees from around the world will compete as a team for the first time under the Olympic banner.

International Olympic Committee chairman Thomas Bach announced the formation of the refugee team last Friday. “It is a signal to the international community that refugees are our fellow human beings and are an enrichment to society,” he said in a statement. “These refugee athletes will show the world that despite the unimaginable tragedies that they have faced, anyone can contribute to society through their talent, skills and strength of the human spirit.”

But the athletes aren’t just symbolic; they have the athletic chops to compete with the best of the best. Five of the athletes, all track and field competitors, come from South Sudan. Two are Syrian swimmers living in Europe, two are judo competitors from the Democratic Republic of Congo residing in Brazil and one is an Ethiopian marathoner from a refugee camp in Kenya.

According to Barbie Latza Nadeau at the Daily Beast, the team members were chosen from a short list of 43 refugee-athletes. All ten had to qualify under the standards set for all Olympic athletes. “There were no shortcuts,” an IOC spokesperson tells Nadeau. “Each Refugee Olympic Team member earned the position.”

For most of the athletes, just getting to the Olympics is a gold medal performance. As Lulu Garcia-Navarro writes at NPR, Popole Misenga and Yolande Mabika were members of the Republic of Congo’s judo team when they traveled to Brazil for the Judo World Championships in 2013. Their coach stole the team’s money and documents and left his team stranded.

The two decided to stay in Brazil instead of going back to the violence and instability of their home country, where many of their friends and family members had been killed. But with no money—not to mention no understanding of Portuguese—it has been difficult making a living and continuing on with the sport they love.

Nadeau tells the story of Syrian swimmer named Yusra Mardini, who paid a trafficker to help her and 20 other passengers reach the Greek island of Lesbos in 2015 to flee the violence in her home country. An hour into the trip, the rubber raft they were on began sinking. Yusra and her sister Sarah, another swimming champ, jumped in the water and pulled the raft for four hours until the group safely reached land.

“I thought it would be a real shame if I drowned at sea because I am a swimmer,” Mardini said at a press conference. She eventually made it to Germany where she was granted asylum.

Once in Berlin, Philip Oltermann at the Guardian reports Mardini was quickly accepted to an elite training club and trains twice a day at a special sports school. Because of her refugee status, she did not qualify for Germany’s Olympic team and Syria will likely not field a national team this year, and probably wouldn’t accept refugees even if it did. The new team gives Mardini a chance to show her stuff despite her circumstances.

“I want to make all the refugees proud of me,” she tells Oltermann. “It would show that even if we had a tough journey, we can achieve something.”

The refugee team will march into the stadium ahead of the Brazil delegation along with 15 coaches and trainers.

Read more:  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/…

The Trail of the “Hobo King”

Recently, anthropologist Susan Phillips was searching the sides of the Los Angeles River for graffiti left behind by street artists and gang members when she came across scribbles and signatures of a different sort. Most of the artwork she studies is made with spray paint, but a particular patch of markings left beneath a bridge were etched with grease pencils and knife points. She recognized the symbols and signatures as those that would have been left behind about a century ago by transient people, including one by a man who is perhaps the best-known of the 20th century’s vagabonds: Leon Ray Livingston, better known as “A-No.1.”

If there is anyone who deserves to be called “the hobo king,” A-No.1 best suits the bill. Livingston spent much of his life traveling the United States by boxcar, writing several books about his journeys and working short stints as a laborer. But among historians of the era, he is known for developing and disseminating the coded symbols and markings that passed along local tips to fellow itinerant travelers, Sarah Laskow writes for Atlas Obscura. One of Livingston’s books, which chronicled his journeys with writer Jack London, eventually became the basis for the 1973 film Emperor of the North, starring Lee Marvin as A-No.1.

“Those little heart things are actually stylized arrows that are pointing up the river,” Phillips tells John Rogers for the Associated Press as she pointed out scribbled markings alongside Livingston’s signature. “Putting those arrows that way means ‘I’m going upriver. I was here on this date and I’m going upriver.’”

Although so-called hobo graffiti has mostly disappeared from America’s signposts and walls, the coded markings were once common sights across the country. The symbols often indicated safe places to gather, make camp and sleep, or might warn fellow travelers of danger or unfriendly locals, Elijah Chiland writes for Curbed Los Angeles. In this case, it appears that A-No.1 was heading upriver toward Los Angeles’ Griffith Park around August 13, 1914, which was a popular place for other nomadic people to meet.

Considering how quickly modern graffiti is washed away or painted over by other taggers, it seems like a minor miracle that the marks made by Livingston and his contemporaries somehow survived in this little corner of the L.A. River. After all, it was never intended to stick around very long, and the work by the Army Corps of Engineers in the late 1930s to lower the river to prevent or reduce its periodic floods was thought to have destroyed much of what once sat on its riverbanks. However, it appears that construction work is what may have preserved the 100-year-old graffiti for all this time as it rendered much of the area beneath the bridge inaccessible to future graffiti writers, Chiland writes.

“It’s just like a fluke down there in L.A. that that survived,” Bill Daniel, who studies historic graffiti and modern taggers, tells Rogers. “It’s hard to find the old stuff because most older infrastructure has been torn down.”

While it’s impossible to verify whether the name A-No.1 was scratched into the wall by Livingston himself or by someone else using his name, Phillips found other remarkable examples of graffiti made by the Hobo King’s contemporaries. Signatures and drawings belonging to people with names like “Oakland Red” and “the Tucson Kid” cover the space beneath the bridge alongside the famous A-No.1, Rogers reports. Now that the spot has been publicized, though, Phillips is working to chronicle the work while she still can.

“A lot of the stuff I’ve documented through time has been destroyed, either by the city or by other graffiti writers,” Phillips tells Rogers. “That is just the way of graffiti.”

courtesy of:  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/…

Hearts of Homes In Kitchens Around The World – Pakistan

Kitchens may differ drastically around the world, but their role as the center of a home is universal. Whether makeshift or filled with modern appliances, kitchens are a space for family bonding, holiday traditions and child rearing.

Family Bonding

A family makes chapati sprinkled with apricot oil in their home in Pakistan’s Hunza region. Meals are an important family get together for the Hunza people.

Photograph by Matthieu Paley, National Geographic

courtesy of:  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/…

Great Foodie Destinations 2016 – Antalya, Turkey

 

Antalya, Turkey

Photograph by Tueremis, laif/Redux

Thanks to periods of both Christian and Muslim rule until the 15th century, the cuisine of beachside Antalya blends influences from both cultures. Surrounded by the snowcapped Taurus Mountains, the city also boasts nearby olive groves, citrus orchards, and fresh seafood pulled from the turquoise Mediterranean Sea.

Tourists dine seaside on fish kebabs, octopus, and plates of colorful mezze. With a large variety of both casual lokantas and upscale restaurants, Antalya is the ideal location for hosting this year’s Expo 2016, which covers horticulture, agriculture, and other topics. More than five million visitors are expected to attend.

What to Eat: Experience Turkish flavors in European dishes at Vanilla Lounge. The restaurant serves white bean and tahini soup and lamb, mint, and pea risotto in a sophisticated setting. For more traditional fare, seek out grouper kebabs or fried red mullet from the Mediterranean—usually available between July and October—at seaside restaurant İskele. Complete the meal with a round of mezze plates like hummus, red pepper spread, or purslane salad.

What to Drink: Raki, an anise-flavored brandy that is quite similar to Greek ouzo, is Turkey’s favorite drink. It turns cloudy when mixed with water or ice, and it’s typically consumed with a meal of mezze and grilled fish. There’s no better place to try it than at one of Antalya’s oldest restaurants like 7 Mehmet, a waterfront spot specializing in seafood.

Edible Souvenir: Jams are a key component of lavish Turkish breakfasts, and Antalya and the surrounding region are particularly well known for making the sweet spreads. Visit Yenigun, one of the country’s biggest producers, for a huge selection of jams in unique flavors like eggplant, watermelon, and rose.

Food Experience: Try catching some seafood of your own with Green Canyon boat tours. The tour company provides all of the equipment for the fishing expeditions around the emerald waters, located about ten miles from Antalya.

courtesy of:  http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/where-to-travel-for-food-in-2016

 

King Tut’s Dagger

X-ray spectroscopy lays a decades-long metal mystery to rest

When archaeologists discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb, they were stunned by the riches contained within. One of the weirder artifacts of the tomb was a dagger that confused scientists, sporting a blade seemingly impervious to rust and age. Now, reports The Guardian’s Alan Yuhas, the secret of the blade’s timelessness has been uncovered:  It was made from a meteorite.

New research published in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science  confirms that the blade was made with materials from a meteorite.  Scientists performed X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, a method used to learn more about the elements the object is composed of. In this case, they found iron, nickel and cobalt—materials found inside chunks of space rocks that survive their fall to Earth.

The discovery not only brings closure to a decades-long debate about whether or not the dagger was made from a meteorite, but it also gives insight into the culture of Ancient Egyptians. Aside from the obvious cool factor of owning a dagger made from a material from space, King Tut’s craftsmen appear to have realized that meteoritic iron was a long-lasting and tough material. The researchers write that their find shows that Ancient Egyptians placed a high value on what they called “iron of the sky” and that they knew about the off-Earth origins of the material.

It turns out the king may have had a thing for meteorites; it’s thought that other blades in the tomb and King Tut’s headrest may also have been made of “iron of the sky.” If King Tut did lay claim to Ancient Egypt’s most precious metal, he would not be alone:  In 2013, researchers discovered that a group of 5,000-year-old beads were made of meteoritic iron, too.

There’s something magical about metal that falls from the sky—not only do the mysterious stones have their own hall in the American Museum of Natural History, but they’re thought to contain clues to the origins of the solar system. No wonder they were a material fit for a king.

Courtesy of:  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/

Not Just Your Average Turtle – Malaclemys Terrapin

What Are You Looking At?

This diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) comes from Bermuda.

courtesy of:  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia – Oceanside, CA

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia

The 18th of the California Missions
Founded:	June 13, 1798
Special Designation:	King of the Missions
Named For:	King Luis IX of France, who led crusades to the Holy Land in the 13th century.
Also Called:	Mission San Luis Rey

courtesy of Brian Jolliffe:  https://www.facebook.com/ &  http://www.missionscalifornia.com/keyfacts/san-luis-rey-de-francia.html

 

A Child’s Play In Hong Kong

Photograph by Wing Ka H., National Geographic Your Shot

Against the backdrop of a high-rise as colorful as the ball court, a child in Hong Kong lets off some steam after school … Colors are vibrant throughout the city:  In addition to its candy-colored high-rises, Hong Kong’s taxis are color-coded by service region, and the city’s Pearl River Delta is home to the uniquely hued Chinese white dolphin.

courtesy of:  http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/

Important Things From History Everyone Pictures Incorrectly

moco-choco

1. The pyramids of Giza were originally white and shiny.

image credit–> amazingbeautifulworld

The Perception:

Pyramids are a marvel of ancient engineering. We get so busy being amazed by the Pyramids, with their massive, meticulously layered sandy golden bricks, that we forget that what we’re seeing are the broken-down remnants. If you could see them new, you’d barely recognize them. They were much more awesome back then.

The Reality:

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Arctic Surfing, NatGeo

Photograph by Konsta Linkola, National Geographic Your Shot

Surfers wait for the perfect icy swell at this seemingly unlikely surfing spot:  Unstad Beach in Norway’s Lofoten Islands, captured in this image by Konsta Linkola. “We were hit by a blizzard as we were approaching the beach,” Linkola writes, “which made the surfing more extreme.”

courtesy of:  http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/

8 Great Safety Tech Features for Your Car

courtesy of:  https://www.usaa.com/

America’s Most Well-Read Cities According To Amazon.com

How likely are you to pick up a book on the subway, in line at the bank or before you head to bed? If you live in Seattle, Portland, or Washington, D.C., the answer may be “very likely.” Those were the top-three cities on a list of America’s Most Well-Read released this week by bookselling giant Amazon.com.

The annual list looks at cities with more than 500,000 residents and ranks them based on their per-capita purchases of books, magazines, and newspapers, both in print and in Kindle format.

These cities made the top ten:

1. Seattle
2. Portland
3. Washington, D.C.
4. San Francisco
5. Austin
6. Las Vegas
7. Tucson
8. Denver
9. Albuquerque
10. San Diego

It’s the second year in a row that Seattle has topped the list, but California reigned supreme in bookish states with three most well-read cities on the 20-city list … (read more –>  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ )