'Black Death pit' unearthed by Crossrail project

While excavating areas for London's Crossrail project, which aim it is to establish a 118km long high speed rail link with 37 stations all over London, bodies were found deeper in the ground.

It was known that there is supposed to be a burial ground somewhere outside of the city of London, but the exact location was never found. Now, 13 bodies have been found in an 5.5 m shaft. Pottery, probably from the mid 14th century was found very close to the bodies. Researchers believe, the bodys belong to the time of the "Black Death", which was a pandemic in the 14th century. Further analysis will help discover the plague. The skeletons DNA may help investigate the development and spread of the bacterium, which killed thousands and thousands of people. The dead bodies were laid in 2 neat rows which leads us to believe that these skeletons are from the earliest era of the Black death, before the bacterium had developed completely.

Archaeologists from the Museum of London will continue digging in order to discover even more. These findings are on of UK'S largest archaeological ventures and they weren't even discovered on purpose. "We've found archaeology from pretty much all periods - from the very ancient prehistoric right up to a 20th-Century industrial site, but this site is probably the most important medieval site we've got," said Jay Carver, project archaeologist for Crossrail.

He also believes, that this is on of "the most significant discoveries" made in a long time. It is very significant because of the data which it provides, not only the location of the burial ground but also the bacterium's DNA. They can then study the plague which killed thousands and thousand of people in London.

I personally can't believe that we still keep finding evidence of epidemic  plagues from the 14th century. Those bodies have been laying in the ground for over 500 years now and yet we still haven't found all the evidence. This article makes me think about how much more there is undiscovered in the world we live in. We keep thinking we have found out everything and created everything, but archaeologists and chemists and scientists keep finding new evidence, which is just unbelievable.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21784141

Will “Call of Duty” Be Assigned for 10th Grade (Gaming) Homework?

Title of the Article: Will “Call of Duty” Be Assigned for 10th Grade (Gaming) Homework?

Source: Scientific American.
Website URL: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/talking-back/2013/03/06/will-call-of-duty-be-assigned-for-10th-grade-gaming-homework/

Where to begin? It is beyond obvious as to why I chose this article, however here is a clarification: just from the title having “gaming homework” already sounds appealing to a 16 year old boy. Having a ‘gaming’ class is the perfect class for many boys of my age and interests, and it would be something that many teens such as myself would enforce. That would not be a class, but more of a break. Before reading this article I was aware of the fact that ‘gaming’ improves your hand-eye coordination, thinking process, and on top of that it contributes to your decision making (by coming up with a decision in a shorter period of time compared to not playing video games, as well as having the ability to weight the two situations and choose the one that is of a greater significance/benefit to you).
The article focused a lot on the studies done by Professor Wilingham of the University of Wisconsin. He has said that playing ‘call of duty’ (a game full of shooting, quick decisions, etc) increases memory, reflexes, alertness and so on forth. All of these qualities are essential to every human being and that is why I support his research. By improving these qualities we become more aware of our surrounding which benefit us in many ways, improved reflexes are essential for staying safe in your environment, while coming up with a good decision (problem solving) in a short period of time saves you a lot of time and energy. Not to mention memory…
“What we really want to do is target a cognitive process [say, attention or memory] and then design a game that packages practice of that process into a gaming experience. That effort has been ongoing for 20 years or so in the education world and game designers have found it much more difficult than anyone thought it would be.” As told by Dr. Wilingham. It is understandable that coming up with a perfect game (which develops all the qualities mentioned before) is difficult but it is definitely worth it. Just because these qualities are found in games, many kids will spend a large quantity of their time playing them which would lead up to extra points in the performance of the qualities. In conclusion, adding video games (which work on the qualities such as reflexes, memory, etc) to the school curriculum will definitely benefit those qualities since a surplus of time will be invested into them.

Females Butterflies Can Smell If a Male Butterfly Is Inbred

Title of the Article: Females Butterflies Can Smell If a Male Butterfly Is Inbred

Source: Science Daily.
Website URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130305200457.htm

While I was browsing through “science related” websites, hunting for a topic for my current event, I came upon this article. The reason why it caught my eye is simple: in the past month in our ESS class, we have discussed evolution, adaptation, speciation, pretty much the transformations animals/humans go through in order to survive and “become better are surviving”. We have also discussed the genes, and how offspring are determined. The final reason why I chose this article is because it focused on “Inbred” offspring, and this was interesting since we discussed how ‘weak’ the offspring of two related parents are as well as how their productivity level is low. By choosing this article, I have informed myself more on this topic since it covered the weakness and sterility offspring are prone to if the parents are related.
To give you a quick overview of the article: Scientists at the University of Cambridge came upon the discovery that most female butterflies have the ability to ‘smell’ or identify inbred male butterflies. The color patterns of the inbred butterflies are ‘less conspicuous’ and they release small quantities of pheromones (pheromones are describe as chemical substances released by mammals and insects – attractant for the opposite sex). The reason why the female butterflies can ‘smell’ the inbred counterparts is because the inbred males have a 50% chance of being sterile. The eggs of the female butterfly will still be fertilized however, the offspring won’t develop and live. I thought of evolution when I read this article. The female butterflies have wasted time and energy carrying ‘unfertilized’ eggs which were ‘fertilized’ by inbred males. They were blocked from reproducing since the inbred males did not ‘carry out their part of the job’. After centuries the female butterflies have developed a sense which foretold them if a male is inbred in order to avoid mating with that specific butterfly – which ultimately reduced the female’s nurture of ‘dead egg’s’. This has contributed to the population of the butterflies since female ones focus more on finding the ‘right’ mates, thus their specie manages to reproduce. I find this to be fascinating since a lot of time and effort has been saved for the butterfly population just because of that one adaptation. Even thought ‘inbred’ humans are much easier to identify, I hope that in the future of mankind the opposite gender will ‘develop’ some sense which would warn them about the inbred counterpart – which would lead to less deformed offspring.

By Mihajlo

Camels Ancestors Lived in the Arctic

Title of the Article: Camels Ancestors Lived in the Arctic.

Source: Science News Website.

Website URL: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/348716/description/Camel_ancestors_lived_in_the_Arctic

From my past current event I briefly talked about the engraved valleys within the Antarctic - however in this article we will be looking at the other pole. As mentioned before, in our ESS we discussed Tectonic Movements, Evolution, as well as speciation. I have chosen to write about this article since it deals with Camels millions of years ago, and it can be seen that they varied a lot from the camels we know of today - also the fact that speciation occurred way back then due to the tectonic movements and climate change is beyond obvious.

The title of the article hooked me immediately: "Camels in the Arctic"?! An animal that is iconic for the desert might have been adept to extreme cold once? No - however I was deeply disappointed once I've started reading it. The beginning of the article contradicts the 'mystery' and 'fascination' (in my opinion at least)  found in the title. The authors of the article have said that 3 million years ago, WHEN THE ARCTIC WAS A LOT WARMER THAN TODAY, the ancestors of camels have roamed the Arctic. I lived in disbelief that camels started off as animals which had to adapt to extremely cold weather in order to survive - after they have been physically isolated from the 'original camel specie'. With that sentence my interest for the article was crushed. However I still managed to find some interest in the physique of the camel. The bones found in the Canadian Arctic region, when compared to camels nowadays, are 29% larger. The team of scientists have concluded that the ancestor of the camels in that area was roughly 900kg in weight, and 2.7 meters in height. 

By Mihajlo

The Making of Antarctica's Hidden Frojds

Title of the Article: The Making of Antarctica's Hidden Frojds

Source: Science Daily.

Website URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130305160321.htm

As the 3rd quarter began we started to talk about the Grand Continent named Pangaea. The super continent had all of the today's continents in one 'larger' continent - and this was estimated to be about 300 million years ago. We also discussed how the movement of the tectonic plates can affect speciation as well as evolution. The 11th grade class was taught that many species got separated when the tectonic plates moved, thus speciation occurred where one specie began to 'evolve' and adapt to the new area it was headed to, while the original specie did not go through the same change. The constant change and movement of the plates is responsible for the great diversity of animals we have today.  I chose to write about this article since it related to the unit we were studying. Even though it does not mention anything related to speciation, it elaborates on the fact that between 20-30 million years ago erosion occurred in the Antarctic, however it is not visible (without digging) since the evidence can be found beneath the massive Lambert Glacier (which covers a large segment of the isolated continent).  

"Glaciers can carve deep valleys quickly -- and did so on Antarctica before it got so cold that the most of it got covered by one or two miles of thick, stationary ice." I find it fascinating how our planet will never remain the same - but with the momentum of the tectonic plates it will alter.  The research done by this team has been a challange for them. As mentioned in the article: scientists mostly hike the area before coming up with its topography - while collecting some rock samples and sending them back to the lab. It is difficult in Antarctica's case since 97% of its composition is ice.

By Mihajlo

Erratic Climate Change in the Himalayas

Nepalis Adapt to Changing Climate
by Kieran Cooke and Dailyclimate.org
Published February 22, 2013 at ScientificAmerican.com

The Himalayan ranges have dealt with many climate issues in relation to global warming, in addition to resource conservation conflicts. Recent arguments have emerged between China, Pakistan, India and Nepal regarding the mismanagement of water resources that rest on the nations boarders as well as the construction of dams. Due to the tension between these nations, river flow and management data is often classified by the governments. The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development is an intergovernmental body that gathers information about the environment of the multiple nations, as well as notes the effect of climate change. They recently conducted a surveyed 6000 households about the effects of climate change, as well as their attitudes towards the controversial issue. Early results show that around 80% of the families surveys in the Koshi River basin noticed higher temperatures, with 90% noting unusual rainfall patterns. Valdemar Holmgren, a specialists at the Centre stated that, "early indications from one area in Nepal clearly show people are fully ware of changes in climate patterns." He then goes on to explain, "in many areas farmers are changing crops in order to adapt to changing climate conditions. But for many, it is very hard." In addition to climate issues, the changing societal organizations and migration patterns have lead to many struggles for local businesses. Another organization working to monitor climate change in this ecologically unique area is the United Nations Environment Program. They have concluded that from 1982 to 2006, the temperature of the region has raised by 1.5 degrees Celsius  Also, it is recorded that on average, temperature rise approximately 0.06 degrees every year. Overall, climate change has taken a significant toll of the highly complex and unique ecosystems of the Himalayan mountain ranges, greatly effecting the lifestyles of the people.

This article is fascinating in that it discusses the societal impact of climate change, rather than the more commonly covered environmental impact. The struggles of the Nepalis farmers to deal with the changes the erratic weather patterns clearly demonstrates the current effects global warming, illustrating how this issue must be dealt with immediately before peoples' livelihoods are compromised. Also, the Himalayas are a remarkable and singular mountain range that must be preserved for future generations of explorers and scientists to study. This article also confronts another important idea: international competition for resources. The arguments between the nations of this region over the misuse of freshwater resources shows how vital conserving these natural resources and communicating internationally about them is to successful environmental management. Also  it could foreshadow a dismal future created by the over-pollution of freshwater, consequently leading to the shortages of the biologic necessity  In conclusion, this articles discussion of societal climate change effects, as well as disputes arising from resource management, two issues that are extremely important to environmental preservation and conservation. 

Where the Wild Things Go … When There's Nowhere Else

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130228155757.htm

February 28^th, 2013

Recently, ecologists have found that some endangered species, especially primates and large cats, have found shelter from human disruption in mangrove and peat swamp forests. These biomes are located in the coastal regions of tropical areas within Africa and Asia. The mangroves are characterized by thick vegetation, trees adapted to growing in salt-water and a wet, swampy forest floor scattered with layers of fallen leaves, dead branches and logs. Humans are relatively uninterested in mangroves, which provide animals facing extinction a place to seek shelter from humans.

Katarzyna Nowak, an ecologist and evolutionary biologist at Princeton University, created a list that consisted of 60 primates and 20 felids (large-cats) that were found to distribute their time between their natural habitat and swamp forests in Africa and Asia. The list included tigers, which are currently facing extinction with only 3200 tigers predicted to be alive today.

One problem that some of the animals seeking refuge in these swamps may come across is the lack of freshwater and food sources. Some animals also lack mobility in these forests since few mammals are actually adapted specially to survive in these environments. There are however few species of cat who are accustomed to fishing as well as crab eating macaques. These species may be better accustomed to surviving in the swamp forests.

Research has shown that in fact 55% of the Old World monkeys, such as baboons and macaques, either live in the mangroves all year round, seasonally, or whenever they need to seek shelter. According to the Wildlife Conservation Society, in 2008 a staggering 125,000 lowland gorillas were found to be living in the swamp forests of Lake Tele, Republic of Congo. This population of gorillas found was larger than was thought to exist in the wild. Lake Tele is extremely remote and is therefore somewhat inaccessible. As well as gorillas, the Bengal tiger also lives solely in the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world located in Bangladesh.

I personally believe that it is quite horrible that we have forced certain species to abandon their natural habitats due to increasing pressure caused by human overexploitation of these species and their respectful resources. It is however relieving to know that many of these species are able to survive in the mangroves and avoid extinction such as the lowland gorillas in Lake Tele. I chose this article because it goes hand-in-hand with the topic of loss and maintenance of  biodiversity in ecosystems.