#Royal Society Open Science

[chimpleague]

,,

Biologists have long known that birds, which descend from one branch of extinct dinosaurs, have an unusual, sophisticated respiratory system that enables powered flight. But paleontologists have long debated whether those superlungs arose only in birds or earlier in dinosaurs.

Unlike humans and other mammals, whose lungs expand and deflate, bird lungs are rigid. Special air sacs alongside the lungs do the heavy lifting instead, pumping air through the lungs, where the oxygen diffuses into the bloodstream. The lungs are attached to the vertebrae and ribs, which form the "ceiling" of the rib cage—all of which helps keep the lungs stationary. A connector called the costovertebral joint, where the ribs and vertebrae meet, provides further support. That setup allows for a continuous stream of oxygen and requires less energy than inflating and deflating the lungs. It also allows paleontologists studying fossils to learn a lot about the lungs by examining the bones around them.

Many dinosaurs, including therapods like Velociraptor and Spinosaurus, a large carnivorous dinosaur, had similar lung architecture to birds, as reported in Royal Society Open Science.

All of this suggests dinos had the same kind of efficient respiratory organs as birds. These superlungs may help explain why dinosaurs were able to dominate and spread despite the rarified air of the Mesozoic, paleobiologist Robert Brocklehurst of The University of Manchester in the United Kingdom says. Back then, the air was only 10% to 15% oxygen, compared with 20% today.

But Jingmai O'Connor, a paleontologist with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, adds that just because a fossil has the bone structure for birdlike lungs doesn't necessarily mean it actually had such lungs.

,,

⠀

Paraphrased from this 2018 article from science.org.

y'all ever think about how insane the sauropods were

[kriswager]

Computer models advancing science

Computer modeling has become a more and more important tool for science. We have seen it in Climatology for decades, as well as in a number of other fields. People who have a poor understanding of science, or who are trying to deny science, such as creationists and climate change deniers, will often claim that it isn’t really real science, but that is of course pure nonsense, as empirical…

[reasonsforhope]

A reef that has been degraded—whether by coral bleaching or disease—can’t support the same diversity of species and has a much quieter, less rich soundscape.

But new research from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution shows that sound could potentially be a vital tool in the effort to restore coral reefs.

A healthy coral reef is noisy, full of the croaks, purrs, and grunts of various fishes and the crackling of snapping shrimp. Scientists believe that coral larvae use this symphony of sounds to help them determine where they should live and grow.

So, replaying healthy reef sounds can encourage new life in damaged or degraded reefs.

In a paper published last week in Royal Society Open Science, the Woods Hole researchers showed that broadcasting the soundscape of a healthy reef caused coral larvae to settle at significantly higher rates—up to seven times more often.

“What we’re showing is that you can actively induce coral settlement by playing sounds,” said Nadège Aoki, a doctoral candidate at WHOI and first author on the paper.

“You can go to a reef that is degraded in some way and add in the sounds of biological activity from a healthy reef, potentially helping this really important step in the coral life cycle.”

Corals are immobile as adults, so the larval stage is their only opportunity to select a good habitat. They swim or drift with the currents, seeking the right conditions to settle out of the water column and affix themselves to the seabed. Previous research has shown that chemical and light cues can influence that decision, but Aoki and her colleagues demonstrate that the soundscape also plays a major role in where corals settle.

The researchers ran the same experiment twice in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2022. They collected larvae from Porites astreoides, a hardy species commonly known as mustard hill coral thanks to its lumpy shape and yellow color and distributed them in cups at three reefs along the southern coast of St. John. One of those reefs, Tektite, is relatively healthy. The other two, Cocoloba and Salt Pond, are more degraded with sparse coral cover and fewer fish.

At Salt Pond, Aoki and her colleagues installed an underwater speaker system and placed cups of larvae at distances of one, five, 10, and 30 meters from the speakers. They broadcast healthy reef sounds – recorded at Tektite in 2013 – for three nights. They set up similar installations at the other two reefs but didn’t play any sounds.

When they collected the cups, the researchers found that significantly more coral larvae had settled in the cups at Salt Pond than the other two reefs. On average, coral larvae settled at rates 1.7 times (and up to 7x) higher with the enriched sound environment.

The highest settlement rates were at five meters from the speakers, but even the cups placed 30 meters away had more larvae settling to the bottom than at Cocoloba and Tektite.

“The fact that settlement is consistently decreasing with distance from the speaker, when all else is kept constant, is particularly important because it shows that these changes are due to the added sound and not other factors,” said Aran Mooney, a marine biologist at WHOI and lead author on the paper.

“This gives us a new tool in the toolbox for potentially rebuilding a reef.”

Adding the audio is a process that would be relatively simple to implement, too.

“Replicating an acoustic environment is actually quite easy compared to replicating the reef chemical and microbial cues which also play a role in where corals choose to settle,” said Amy Apprill, a microbial ecologist at WHOI and a co-author on the paper.

“It appears to be one of the most scalable tools that can be applied to rebuild reefs, so we’re really excited about that potential.”"

-via Good News Network, March 17, 2024

[mindblowingscience]

Much like monkeys swinging from branch to branch, some parrots can swing through the trees with the greatest of ease, scientists have learned. But these colorful birds grip the branches with an unusual appendage: their beaks. Rosy-faced lovebirds can use their adaptable beaks as a third limb that supports them even as they swing like gibbons and spider monkeys. In research published Tuesday in Royal Society Open Science, scientists describe how the parrots hung underneath a 3D-printed “branch” and moved along by using their beaks and hind legs in tandem to alternately grasp, swing like a pendulum, let go and reattach themselves a few inches farther along.

Continue Reading.

[herpsandbirds]

Hundreds of snake species get a new origin story

Elapoid snakes, including cobras, mambas and sea snakes, may have evolved in Asia, not Africa

The ancestors of cobras and related snakes first emerged in Asia roughly 35 million years ago. Many researchers thought the Elapoidea superfamily of snakes evolved in Africa before slithering their way across the globe. But new genetic evidence points to the continent next door to Africa, researchers report August 7 in Royal Society Open Science. The over 700 species of elapoid snakes are extremely diverse, including both highly venomous reptiles like mambas and sea snakes and many nonvenomous species. They’re found in subtropical and tropical regions around the world, in rainforests, deserts and oceans. But the elapoids have long had a murky origin story, says Jeff Weinell, an evolutionary biologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City...

Read more: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/snake-species-origin-asia-not-africa

[typhlonectes]

Raccoons show surprising problem-solving abilities in urban backyards

Find could lead to new ways to manage “trash pandas”

Great Basin was burning the midnight oil on a chilly fall evening in 2016 when he made his move. Slinking out of the shadows in Laramie, Wyoming, the raccoon approached what looked like a metal filing cabinet lying on its side. He could smell a mix of dog kibble and sardines within, but 12 latched narrow doors blocked his entry. Making matters worse, a fellow raccoon had beaten him there. So Great Basin jumped on top of the cabinet and began to fiddle with the latches upside down. He quickly opened one of the doors, securing the treats and filling his belly. Humans have long regarded raccoons—renowned for their ability to jimmy their way into locked garbage cans and enter seemingly impassable attics—with a mixture of awe and scorn. But outside of the lab, researchers have little scientific sense of how clever these “trash pandas” really are.  A study published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences may change that...

Read more: https://www.science.org/content/article/raccoons-show-surprising-problem-solving-abilities-urban-backyards

[aimeedaisies]

The Princess Royal’s Official Engagements in October 2024

01/10 As Court Member of the Fishmongers’ Company, visited a Food Technology Class at Bingley Grammar School. 🐟🏫

As President of the UK Fashion and Textile Association, visited SIL Group’s Fibre Processing Mill at Ladywell Mills in Bradford. 🧵🧣

Visited Viking Arms Limited in Harrogate. ⚔���🏹🗡️

02/10 Visited Blackburn Meadows Bio-Mass Power Plant in Tinsley, Sheffield. 🍃🔋

Visited Sheffield Forgemasters. 🔥⚒️

Visited Loadhog at the Hog Works. 🚛🚚

Opened the University of Sheffield’s Gene Therapy Innovation and Manufacturing Centre. 🧬

03/10 As President of Carers Trust, attended the Short Breaks Wales Conference at Sophia Gardens Cricket Ground in Cardiff. 🦽🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

As Colonel of The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons), attended the Annual Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park Hotel in Knightsbridge, London. 💂🍽️

04/10 As Vice Patron of the British Horse Society attended the Changing Lives Through Horses Forum at Saddlers' Hall in London. 🐎

08/10 As President of the Royal Yachting Association, opened Warsash Sailing Club’s renovated Clubhouse. ⛵️🍾

As Patron of Catch22, visited the Orion Centre in Havant, Hampshire. 🫂

Sir Tim represented Princess Anne at the Memorial Service for Mrs Julia Rausing (Philanthropist) which was held in St James’s Church in London. ⛪️

09/10 Attended the Annual National Service for Seafarers in St. Paul's Cathedral. ⛪️⚓️

10/10 As Patron of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, attended the Annual Scientific Conference at the Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead. 💊

As Patron of the Butler Trust, visited North Tyneside Youth Justice System in North Shields. 🔗

Opened a renovated manufacturing facility in North Shields. 🏢

11/10 As Admiral of the Sea Cadet Corps, Marine Society and Sea Cadets, opened Midlands Boat Station in Birmingham. 🫡⛵️

As Chancellor of Harper Adams University, opened the Digital Learning Hub at the Quad in Telford. 🖥️💻🎮

As Patron of YSS Limited, visited the Criminal Justice Service at the Shropshire Golf Centre in Telford. 👩‍⚖️

14/10 As Guardian of Give Them A Sporting Chance and the Chaffinch Trust, held Management Board and Team Meetings at Gatcombe Park. 💼

15/10 With Sir Tim as Royal Patron of the Motor Neurone Disease Association, attended the “Countdown to Cure” Reception at the Royal College of Nursing in London. 💊

With Sir Tim As Patron of the Remembrance Trust, attended a Dinner at the Beefsteak Club in London. 🌹

16/10 As Royal Patron of the Security Institute, attended the Annual Conference at the Royal Society of Medicine. 🚨🔒

As Master of the Corporation of Trinity House, attended a Civic Luncheon at Trinity House. 🍽️

As Royal Patron of WISE, attended the Annual Conference at IET London: Savoy Place. 🧩

17/10 As Patron of the Cathedral Church of Saint German Peel Development Appeal attended a Thanksgiving Service in St German’s Cathedral, Peel, Isle of Man. 🇮🇲⛪️

Visited the Manx National Heritage “All at Sea” Exhibition at the House of Manannan in Peel, Isle of Man. 🇮🇲 🌊

As Grand Master of the Royal Victorian Order, attended Evensong and a Reception at The King’s Chapel of the Savoy in London. ⛪️🍾

As President of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, attended a Reception to mark the 250th Anniversary of RSA House. 🎂

Unofficial Sir Tim, as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Science Museum Group, attended the launch of the Manchester Science Festival at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester. 🧪🧬🔭

18/10 On behalf of The King, held an Investiture at Buckingham Palace. 🎖️

Attended a performance by the Spanish Riding School of Vienna at OVO Arena in Wembley. 🇦🇹🇪🇸🐎

19/10 With Sir Tim Attended British Champions Day at Ascot Racecourse. 🏆🐎

22/10 As Master of the Corporation of Trinity House, chaired the Quarterly Meeting of the Court and attended a Luncheon at Trinity House. 💼

As Patron of UK Coaching, held a Reception at Buckingham Palace to celebrate Olympic and Paralympic Coaching. 🇬🇧🏅

23/10 Attended a Bicentenary Commemorative Service to recognise the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh. 🚒🧯👨‍🚒

As Royal Patron of Leuchie Forever Fund, held a Benefactors’ Dinner at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. 🍽️

24/10 Re-opened the Rowan Glen Factory at Palnure, near Newton Stewart. 🍶

As Patron of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, opened the new wing at West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven. 🏥

With Sir Tim As Patron of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity, attended the Trafalgar Night Dinner at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich. ⚓️🫡🍽️

25/10 Opened the British Standards Institution International Electrotechnical Commission Annual Meeting at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🔋

28/10 Attended the Prison Advice and Care Trust’s 125th Anniversary National Volunteer Awards at St John’s Church in London. 🏆

29/10 On behalf of The King, held morning and afternoon investitures at Windsor Castle.🎖️

31/10 Visited the Robotic Surgery Unit at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton. 🤖🏥

Attended a Reception for the Pride of Somerset Youth Awards winners at Bridgwater and Taunton College. 🏆

Was installed as Chancellor of Health Sciences University before launching the University in Bournemouth. 🎓

As Patron of Save the Children UK, attended the Autumn in the City Dinner at the Savoy in London. 🍽️

Total official engagements for Anne in September: 58

2024 total so far: 371

Total official engagements accompanied/represented by Tim in September: 5

2024 total so far: 91

FYl - due to certain royal family members being off ill/in recovery I won't be posting everyone's engagement counts out of respect, I am continuing to count them and release the totals at the end of the year.

[noosphe-re]

Leg muscles of the tardigrade H. exemplaris. Colour-coding according to hypothesized serial homologues. Three-dimensional reconstruction based on CLSM data of F-actin labelling. Lateral view; anterior is left, dorsal is up. Scale bar, 20 µm. (Gross, Vladimir & Mayer, Georg. (2019). Cellular morphology of leg musculature in the water bear Hypsibius exemplaris (Tardigrada) unravels serial homologies. Royal Society Open Science. 6. 191159. 10.1098/rsos.191159.)

[cadaverre]

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈ the swords are drawn, they really are

JUNO ☆ they/them (i dont mind she/her) ☆ minor (xv) ☆ bisexual ☆ cancer sun, libra moon, sag rising ☆ intp-t ☆ aus ☆ either a celestial god or a pebble ☆ anxious mess ☆ i change my theme way too much ☆ sparkling water > regular water ☆ in love with piercings and wants all of them ☆ professional procrastinator ☆ a humanities/arts/music girl in a science/maths world ☆ dont know much abt society but i know i hate capitalism ☆ wouldnt survive a day without spotify ☆ free palestine!! ☆

LOVES ⭑.ᐟ - literature, the arts, queer culture, astronomy + astrology, witchcraft, feminism (no terfs allowed!!!!), cold drinks, miniskirts, doc martens, dark red, nail polish, mascara, lipgloss, brie (always dreaming of cheese), pinterest, spotify, my headphones, the ocean, my grandparents house, spring+winter, fiddling around on the guitar, fantasising about being a famous musician, finding new music, snow, going to concerts, psychology, web weaving, learning languages (currently learning spanish and i want to learn latin!)

BOOKS ⭑.ᐟ - osemanverse, the hunger games, books by rhiannon wilde, tim te maro's subterranean heartsick blues, all the best liars, books by octavia butler (specifically parable of the sower and parable of the talents), the last true poets of the sea, acotar, the weight of the stars, the seven husbands of evelyn hugo, the picture of dorian grey, house of hollow, howls moving castle, harry potter (mainly marauders, FUCK JKR), i kissed shara wheeler, red white and royal blue, song of achilles, wings of fire, the secret history, crime and punishment

MOVIES + SHOWS ⭑.ᐟ - juno, dont look up, little women (2019), scream (i like most of them but 1996 is my fav by far), ladybird, barbie (2023), some of the mcu (thor and guardians of the galaxy <33), spiderverse (itsv is my love), gilmore girls, stranger things, loki, heartstopper, arcane, scott pilgrim takes off + scott pilgrim vs the world, mean girls (i love both hehe), dr who, percy jackson (the show, i um havent read the books), gossip girls, do revenge, my little pony, the bear, hannibal, we are lady parts, bottoms

MUSIC ⭑.ᐟ - boygenius + solos, taylor swift, glaive, brakence, paramore, ricky jamaraz, melanie martinez, lana del rey, ashnikko, girl in red, billie eilish, doja cat, big thief, adrianne lenker, ethel cain, mitski, remi wolf, cigarettes after sex, ericdoa, tv girl, clairo, the neighbourhood, bon iver, deftones, maneskin, courtney barnett, poppy, the smiths, american football, susannah joffe, renee rapp, mcr, the front bottoms, pierce the veil, gracie abrams, feeble little horse, esha tewari, radiohead, chappell roan, charli xcx

ALBUMS ⭑.ᐟ - the record, 1989 tv, around the fur, riot, three cheers for sweet revenge, all we know is falling, hypochondriac, girl with fish, doa, things with wings, punk2, songs, masterpiece, guts, lust for life, dykttatuob, punisher, stranger in the alps, i care so much that i dont care at all, collide with the sky, manic, badlands, folklore, trafoamp, k-12, crybaby, portals, this is why, ttpd + the anthology, hit me hard and soft, the bends, brat, the secret of us, home video

TALK TO ME ⭑.ᐟ - asks and dms are open for chatting/venting/whatever, i might take a while to respond ☆ i rarely follow people without an intro post/descriptive bio (with name, age group and pronouns especially) ☆ discord is astraeasparrow ☆ i dont currently have any trigger warnings tagged but just send me an ask/dm if you want me to tag something specific!! ☆dni: people who are: rude, racist, homophobic, transphobic, zionist, terfs, sexist, ableist, antisemitic

TAGS ⭑.ᐟ

#juno.txt -> ramblings, original posts

#asks -> asks ive answered

#ask bait -> send me asks!

#tag games -> tag games ive participated in

#beautiful mutuals -> interactions with my beautiful mutuals !

#spotify -> my music obsession

#junocore -> posts that are so incredibly mecore

#🩻 -> posts abt/for my fav

(im working on a better taglist with my moots tags)

SOCIALS ⭑.ᐟ pinterest ☆spotify ☆ carrd ☆ pronoun page ☆ letterboxd ☆ stats.fm

SIDEBLOGS ⭑.ᐟ @likeasugarcubeinateacup (notes app poetry) -- @sirenliight (short poetry + aesthetics) -- a close friends blog (you can ask for the url, i might say no) (im not that active on them though)

NOTES/UPDATES ⭑.ᐟ

☆ prev urls — astraeasparrow -> gu1lty-as-sin -> glcive

☆ last updated: july 10th 2024

☆ dividers by @plutism

thats all!! stay hydrated and have a wonderful day/night everyone <3

[bebepac]

Traditions

This is a special holiday edition of School Dayz. To catch up on the series in general please click School Dayz

I am participating in @choicesdecember2023 for Christmas

I am also participating in @choicesprompts holiday rewrite challenge in which I used the candy cane gram scene from Mean Girls.

I am also participating in @choicesflashfics christmas prompt # 59: "Ice-skating? Do you seriously trust me with knives on my feet?" will appear in bold. I also used a previous prompt as well Are you seeing this too or am I having a stroke?

Series: School Dayz

The Book: TRR (no royals)

The Pairings: Liam x Riley

Word Count: 1464

Warnings and Ratings: None. This is for anyone who has eyes. A total fluff piece.

Original post: 12/31/23 at 7:15PM EST.

Science class was different for me now that I no longer sat next to Liam, and shared a table with my sister, since Mrs. Barbour decided to make the class sit in alphabetical order, which I think the only reason for the change was to make taking roll easier. I glanced across the room to Liam whose partner was now Rashad.

My adorkable boyfriend who caught me watching him, smiled and held up his hot cocoa cup to toast me from across the room. Liam was the sweetest boyfriend and stopped by the local coffee shop Brew Bros and always got hot chocolate every morning the way that I liked it.

So I smiled while holding up my cup.

“Oh my God, can you two be any more nerdy?” Taylor asked.

“He’s nice, and you reap the benefits of it too. My boyfriend brings us both hot chocolate, or in your case a coffee drink you like every day without us asking.”

Taylor cocked her head to the side and air toasted Liam, taking a sip from her drink when the door opened.

“Ho , Ho, Ho!!!!! Candy Cane Grams, sponsored by the National Honor Society.”

“Make it quick, Santa.” There was a hint of sarcasm in Mrs. Barbour’s voice as she went to sit at her desk for a moment.

“And his lovely assistant Max Noel!”

“Wait… a sec… Are you seeing this too or am I having a stroke?”

Taylor doubled over in laughter “It is!!!! It’s Drake Walker-Claus.”

Taylor’s laugh seemed to antagonize Drake for a second, but good thing he had his assistant Maxwell. His brooding mood was offset by Max Noel making the class laugh with his dance versions of Christmas music as he followed around the room behind him.

“Hana Lee one for you.”

“Chris Powell four for you, you go Chris Powell!”

“Do we have a Riley Brooks here?”

“That’s her Max Noel. She’s Riley Brooks and looks nothing like the girl sitting next to her. Those two can’t possibly be related.”

“Riley Brooks here you go, one for you.”

“Thank you Santa.”

“Um….”

“And nothing at all for Taylor Brooks, not even coal or black licorice, bye.”

Drake and Max ran out of the room.

Taylor looked at me with curious eyes at the candy cane gram in my hand.

“Who’s that from?”

It wasn’t any of her business. I opened the envelope and read silently to myself.

Liam’s sweet words made me smile, and I didn’t have to answer her, and I looked at him from across the room.

“Oh my god. You guys are too much.”

Taylor looked upset, even though she shrugged it off. Later I found out why at her locker.

“I told you to get me a candy cane gram Nico!!!!”

“Well you telling me to do it, takes the surprise out of it. Me not doing it, guess what you were surprised weren’t you?”

My sister who was always loud looked at him and said nothing.

Before I knew it the words flew out of my mouth.

“Wow, you’re a really bad boyfriend Nico, my sister deserves better than you.”

I slammed my locker walking away from the two of them. I found out later that day, my sister broke up with him, in front of everyone in true dramatic Taylor fashion. I was proud of her.

Christmas Eve

Everyone had come over and was enjoying mom’s Christmas cookies and snacks. My dad brought in a big box sitting it down on the floor.

“I want to thank everyone for coming over tonight to spend time with our family. Our children picked people they care about to spend this time together with you. Ren and I are happy to have you in our home. We both grew up in the foster care system, and learned early in life, sometimes the people that care about you most, are not your blood relatives. So we try to celebrate that.”

“And when we had the opportunity to open our home up to two adorable identical twin girls, we couldn’t say no.” My mother chimed in.

“It’s the best decision they ever made. I went to sleep one night wishing I had a little sister. The next morning I woke up with two.” Jaiden spoke up.

“And we know what it’s like to be alone on Christmas, or missing someone special on Christmas that you were once close to. So we wanted to do something special. Liam would you mind sharing the Christmas Eve tradition you had that you told me about?”

“Christmas was my Mom’s favorite holiday. Every Christmas Eve that I can remember she’d dress us up in these ugly Christmas sweaters

and we would go ice skating on Lake Pine. She loved to ice skate. Then she’d make us take these dorky pictures in our Christmas sweaters that matched. I miss her a lot.”

“I miss her too. I’m not adopted, but Liam’s Mom always made me feel like I was her son too. So I really get what you’re saying about family not always being blood related. She was my mom too.”

Liam hugged his brother.

My dad opened the box.

“With a little help from Riley I found some what I would think are hideously awesome ugly Christmas sweaters, and am secretly happy for your love of Star Trek too. I’m sorry Liam, you can’t be the Captain, this is mine. But this one is yours.”

“Well if I can’t be Captain, being the science officer is the next best and most logical choice.” Liam took his blue sweater graciously.

“That’s what I said! Dad please say you got me a blue sweater too.”

“I did.”

After all the sweaters were handed out, there was still one left in the box.

“Guess you guys bought this before I broke up with Nico. No big deal.”

Once everyone was dressed, they headed out to the vehicles, and Liam stuffed the extra shirt into Leo’s trunk.

“I really don’t know how this is going to go Liam.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ice skating? Do you seriously trust me with knives on my feet?”

“Well good thing you’re not just Riley Brooks today, you’re the science officer for the USS Enterprise. Live long and prosper.”

Liam expected Riley to be as horrible on ice skates as she had been on roller skates, but Riley amazingly was incredibly balanced.

“Have you ice skated before?”

“No! I don’t know how I'm good at this! I usually have no natural balance.”

“You’re a natural at skating…”

“Ice skating. Let's clarify that.”

Taylor was still sitting on the bench watching the couples skate by. “She still hasn’t gotten out on the ice yet. I think she’s feeling lonely and the extra shirt probably made her think of Nico.”

Liam’s phone beeped. “Why don’t you go sit with her for a little bit, and I’ll be back in a few with some hot cocoas for us all.”

“Is cocoa your favorite drink?”

“Yes, and my mom used to always say your heart won’t feel cold if you always have a nice warm cup of cocoa. It always makes me feel better.”

I went to sit with Taylor and Liam continued walking toward the concessions stand.

“You okay?” I asked Taylor.

“I just don’t feel like skating, and look over there.”

Nico was there, with another girl on his arm.

“To be honest I never liked him Taylor. He called you T, like you were a drink or a shirt or something. He wasn’t even really that nice. Good riddance, I say.”

“I never thanked you for standing up for me that day Riley. It really meant a lot.”

“You’re my sister Taylor. I will always have your back, even when you pull me into a tornado.”

“Not on purpose!” She laughed.

“Oh it never is.” I remarked pulling Taylor closer to me in a hug. After a few seconds she pulled away from me.

“What are you doing here?”

“Helping Liam deliver hot cocoa. This one is yours.

I don’t like all the extra stuff in mine.”

Drake handed Taylor her cocoa, as he sat down next to her.

“Just hot and cocoa pretty much then right?”

“Exactly. I’m not that difficult to understand.”

“Do you like to ice skate, Drake?”

“Like it? It’s okay, but I can. Would you like to skate Taylor?”

Drake took off his coat wearing the remaining ugly sweater.

“Okay.” Taylor said in a nonchalant voice.

Taylor’s mood picked up immediately as she skated around with Drake on the ice. She never once glanced in Nico’s direction.

“That was really nice of you to do Liam.”

“He really does like her, you know. Maybe now she can finally see him with Nico out the way.”

“You’re so adorkably sweet Liam.”

“I know Riley, I know.”

[dinodorks]

[ Photo by Driss Ourhache. ]

"New research on fossil footprints preserved high in the Atlas Mountains suggests that dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes lived together during the Middle to Late Jurassic around 168 to 160 million years ago. However, skeletal fossils from this period are extremely rare, and are known from just four species including the unusual Spicomellus afer. The discovery of three new tracksites suggests that there could be many more dinosaurs yet to be discovered in Morocco, and North Africa more widely, opening a new window into a time when dinosaurs were at their peak. Ahmed Oussou, a PhD student and the study’s lead author, says, ‘So far, fieldwork undertaken in this region has not yet yielded any bones, making it difficult to link the tracks to any given species of dinosaur.’ ‘While the quantity of tracks in the area does not necessarily mean that the region is rich in body fossils, I hope that further excavations will allow me and my colleagues to find some bones in the coming years.’ The findings of the study, which was co-authored by Natural History Museum researcher Dr Susannah Maidment, were published in the journal Royal Society Open Science."

Read more: "Discovery of Moroccan fossil footprints points to unknown dinosaur diversity" by James Ashworth.

[fatehbaz]

Scientific knowledge and technology played a significant role in the expansion of colonial rule in India and the consequent incorporation of the Indian sub-continent into the [commercialized, imperial] world-system [...]. The colonization of nature, territory and people in British India led to a mutually constitutive interplay [...].

By the time the East India Company managed to establish a foothold in Bengal in 1757, [...] [a]fter the acquisition of the formal rights to collect revenues in the states of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, the issue of obtaining accurate information about the extent of the produce, the population and other social statistics assumed significance. The detailed scientific surveys [...] were possible due to the large number of amateur scientists employed by the Company. Over time, these surveys played a major role in the transformation of a trading company into a colonial state [...] and the incorporation of India into the modern world-system. [...]

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Considered the founder of British geography, James Rennell arrived in India in 1760 barely three years after the decisive battle of Plassey. Rennell’s cartographic skills caught the attention of the governor of Bengal presidency, who was ‘anxious to inaugurate some system for correcting and revising the geography of Bengal’ [...]. Rennell’s mapping out in great detail the area under the Company was indispensable for the rationalization of the extraction of surplus, administrative strategies and techniques of control. [...] In 1777 he left for England, and two years later he published the Bengal Atlas that led to his election to the Royal Society. [...] With reference to the ‘science wars’, [...] Rennell’s work was also incorporated in the key text[s] of the time, C. Lyell’s Principles of Geology (1830) [...] [and] the work of [...] Humboldt and Carl Ritter. Rennell’s surveys contributed to the organized [...] surveys [across wider regions of India] that followed after the defeat of Tipu Sultan of Mysore in 1799. [...] [Mysore's] sustained resistance to British power had a major impact on the general consciousness in Britain. [...]

Thomas de Quincey extolled the virtues of the ‘British bulldog’ against [...] the tyrannical ‘Bengal tiger’ [...]. The scientific knowledge that emerged as a consequence of the surveys of Mysore contributed [...] to the consolidation of administrative power [...]. The key figures associated with the surveys [included] Colin Mackenzie [...]. Mackenzie’s ethnographic notes contributed to imperial perceptions of the [...] [people of South Asia] and the grid of anthropological knowledge through which administrative power was deployed. [...]

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Nature, culture and colonial power were inextricably implicated in the production of scientific knowledge and of colonial society. [...] The establishment the Public Works Department in 1854 provided fresh impetus for the deployment of science and technology in grappling with problems precipitated by colonial rule. Declining revenues for the Company focused attention on gigantic irrigation and other public works projects. [...]

The irrigation projects were expanded to include the railways (1849), the telegraph (1852), and the postal system (1850). Together, they represented the largest state-sponsored enterprise undertaken anywhere at that time. Lord Dalhousie, under whose tenure these projects were inaugurated, declared the railways, the telegraph and the postal system as the ‘three great engines of social improvement’.

His predecessor William Bentinck had already termed the railways ‘the great engine of moral improvement’ in a country ‘cursed from one end to the other by the vice, the ignorance, [...] the barbarous and cruel customs that have been the growth of ages under every description of Asian misrule’ [...]. Later observers were to wax ever more eloquent on the role of the railways in the modernization of India. For W. A. Rogers of the Indian Civil Service, railways ‘are opening the eyes of the people … they teach them that speed attained is time, and therefore money, saved or made’ (Adas1989: 226). The importance of a network of railways, connecting the cotton plantations of the Deccan region to the ports became significant especially during the 'cotton famine' of 1846 [...].

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Almost immediately after Dalhousie left India, secure in the belief that the double engines of moral improvement and legitimacy were at work, the rebellion of 1857 put an end to such expectations. The rebellion was partly triggered in response to the wide-ranging transformations [...] triggered off by the introduction of [these] new [colonial infrastructures] [...].

In the end, the rebellion was violently suppressed by the very technologies that had precipitated it in the first place. [...]

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All text above by: Zaheer Baber. "Colonizing nature: scientific knowledge, colonial power and the incorporation of India into the modern world-system". British Journal of Sociology 52(1), pages 37-58. April 2001. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism purposes.]

[scotianostra]

Scottish physician Patrick Manson was born in Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire on October 3rd 1844, he is regarded as founder of the field of Tropical Medicine.

Patrick Manson was a son of Alexander Manson and Elizabeth Livingstone Blaikie, his dad was the manager of the local Linen Bank, and Laird of Fingask. His mother was distant relative of the famed Christian missionary-explorer David Livingstone.

He developed a childhood passion in natural history, fishing, shooting, carpentry, mechanics and cricket. Among his Presbyterian-Christian family, he showed excellent memory for memorising church sermons at the age of 5 years. In 1857 his family moved to Aberdeen, where he started his formal education at Aberdeen’s Gymnasium School and continued at West End Academy.

Aged 13 1859 he was apprenticed to Blaikie Brothers “Iron masters” however struck down by a form of tuberculosis he had to leave this job, the ironworks loss would be medicines gain, a year later he entered Aberdeen University where he completed medicine course in 1865 however aged only nineteen and was underage for graduation, so he visited hospitals, museums and medical schools in London. Finally of age he formally graduated in October 1865, and was appointed Medical Officer at Durham Lunatic Asylum.

The following year he gained his Master of Surgery and his Medical Doctorate.

Immediately after qualifying Manson travelled to Formosa (now Taiwan) to take up a post as a medical officer to the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs. In 1871 he transferred to Amoy, on the Chinese coast, and 13 years later he moved to Hong Kong, where he practiced from 1883 to 1889. Manson developed an early interest in tropical diseases, and in particular in the role of parasites in their transmission. His initial studies were on filaria, a small parasitic worm that causes elephantiasis: and he was able to show that mosquitoes had a key role in transmitting the worms and spreading the disease.

Manson’s discovery helped inform the work of Sir Ronald Ross, who was studying the transmission of malaria in India at the time. While in Hong Kong, Manson helped found the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, which later formed the nucleus of the University of Hong Kong. He was also the first person to import dairy cattle from Scotland to Hong Kong, starting a dairy industry there supplying hygienic milk affordable by pregnant women, children and patients.

Manson moved to London in 1889 and in 1897 was appointed to the post of Chief Medical Officer to the Colonial Office. Amongst his early initiatives was the foundation of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, which opened in 1899. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1900, knighted in 1903 and in the following year awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science by the University of Oxford. In 1907 he became the first president of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine, and retired from the colonial office in 191

Retiring in 1912 to fish in Ireland Manson returned to London at the beginning of the First World War. Despite crippling attacks of gout he continued to take a lively interest in medical education.

He died in London in 1922 at the age of 78 and is buried at Allenvale Cemetery in Aberdeen.

[mindblowingscience]

More than 150 years ago, a San Francisco whaler noticed something about killer whales that scientists may be about to formally recognize—at least in name. Charles Melville Scammon submitted a manuscript to the Smithsonian in 1869 describing two species of killer whales inhabiting West Coast waters. Now a new paper published in Royal Society Open Science uses genetic, behavioral, morphological and acoustic data to argue that the orcas in the North Pacific known as residents and transients are different enough to be distinct species. They propose using the same scientific names Scammon is believed to have coined in the 19th century.

Continue Reading.

[bestiarium]

The Stronsay Beast [modern cryptid; globster]

In September of 1808, a strange marine creature washed ashore on a beach of Stronsay in the Scottish Orkney Islands (at the time, the island was called Stronsa). It resembled no known animal, having six arms, paws or wings, which were about 4.5 feet (1.4m) long and resembled plucked goose wings. When the news reached universities and scientific institutions, anatomists were called upon to visit the carcass and find out what kind of animal it was. Unfortunately, by the time these scientific men reached the ‘Stronsay Beast’ – as people had taken to calling it – the corpse was decomposed and weathered beyond repair. Few biological traits remained recognizable, so eyewitnesses were called upon to describe what the creature had looked like.

According to these eyewitness reports, the creature was about 55 feet (16.8m) long when it washed ashore and had a long and thin neck. At the end of the tail was something resembling an ear.

Scientists were puzzled, and some were of the opinion that this creature must have been a sea serpent, whose existence was considered plausible by many at the time. Spearheading them was John Barclay, a respected professor in anatomy at Edinburgh University who adamantly claimed that the carcass was the first solid evidence of the existence of giant sea serpents. His opinion was opposed by Everard Home, sergeant-surgeon and lecturer in surgery and anatomy at London’s Royal College of Surgeons. He did not believe in great sea snakes and claimed that the ‘beast’ was simply the torn and shredded carcass of a basking shark. He dismissed the eyewitnesses as unscientific and relied only on the shape of the bones that were found within the corpse.

During the discussions on the nature of the beast, reverend Donald Maclean entered the stage and claimed to have seen the creature alive in June, several months before it washed ashore, near the coast of the island Coll. The reverend claimed that the creature had a small neck with a broad, somewhat oval-shaped head that looked at his ship. Alarmed by the approaching animal, the boat was steered towards the shore. Eventually, the water became too shallow for the large creature and it returned to the open waters. The reverend also estimated that the creature was about 70 to 80 feet long (21 to 24m), which is much larger than the corpse on the beach. Additionally, he claimed to have questioned the crews of several fishing vessels that supposedly also encountered the creature. According to these reports, the monster had a head as big as a small boat with big eyes as large as plates. Although it looked terrifying, the creature did not attack.

Eventually, belief in the existence of giant sea snakes died out (at least within the scientific community) and Barclay’s conclusion was no longer taken seriously. Today, biologists agree with Home that the creature must have been a dead basking shark, or rather the damaged remains of one.

Source: Jenkins, B., 2022, The ‘Stronsay Beast’: testimony, evidence and authority in early nineteenth-century natural history, The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science, 0, published online. (image source 1: MechaDaveO on Deviantart) (image 2: Home’s drawing of a basking shark compared to a reconstruction of the Stronsay Beast based on eyewitness reports, on the same scale. Image source: Phil. Trans. R. Society of London, 99, 206-220 (1809).)

[thepastisalreadywritten]

By Simmone Shah

29 February 2024

While Catherine Middleton has been absent from royal duties for two months due to a “planned abdominal surgery,” the British public has been full of speculation about what's going on with their future Queen Consort.

But the royal family has always held a fine line between balancing private health matters with disclosure to the public they serve.

“You could argue that details about a head of state are in the public interest,” says Richard Fitzwilliams, an expert on the royal family.

“But on the other hand, to what extent does a public figure have a right to privacy?”

Catherine's absence fits into a long and evolving history of how royals have chosen to handle health issues.

Past generations often shrouded them in secrecy. Perhaps most famously, in the 1950s, the British public was not told when King George VI had lung cancer.

In 1951, he had his left lung removed because of what was vaguely described as “structural abnormalities," and cancer was not mentioned in his death announcement.

Occasionally, past generations would be more open about less significant problems.

Once in 1982, when Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, had to visit the hospital after nearly choking to death on a fishbone, she issued a statement to the press, joking, “It was only the salmon getting its own back."

“The fishbone is quite revealing because they tended to be more open about minor instances,” says Gareth Russell, a historian and author who focuses on the British royal family.

“Britain was a much more reserved society in the 20th century, and in families across the land and across the social spectrum, cancer or fatal illnesses often weren't discussed.”

Catherine and William’s approach has proved to be starkly different, as they’ve addressed private matters with far more candor.

“Catherine and William are members of a different generation, so they feel no shame in being open about challenges,” says Clare McHugh, a royal historian and author.

Neither Catherine or William have shied away in the past from speaking out about health matters.

Prince William has spoken extensively about the importance of mental health, and Catherine spoke about the difficult morning sickness she faced during her pregnancies.

She also revealed her postpartum baby bump in photos hours after giving birth to her son, Prince George.

In part, it’s a necessary tactic for the internet age in which secrets are much harder to keep.

“I think they do recognize that in order to survive and flourish in a modern era they need to be honest about what is going on with them,” says McHugh.

“It’s better for them to be candid up front rather than let internet rumors fly.”

That they have previously been somewhat transparent only makes their current silence stand out, experts say.

“That’s why William and Catherine’s reticence about what's going on with them is odd,” says McHugh.

As Kathryn Lamontagne, a lecturer in Social Science at Boston University says, sometimes saying nothing causes more of a stir than addressing the problem head on, a lesson the Royal Family learned when Queen Elizabeth II missed parts of a major event in the months before her death.

“For Royal followers, her absence from the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022 was a glaring sign of how unwell she was and a clear indicator of a serious issue on the horizon,” Lamontagne said in an email.

Still, despite her candor in the past, in many ways the Duchess of Cambridge’s silence is simply following tradition.

“This dance between private and public information nudges the line of medical privacy and a public clamoring for details, but it still follows the pattern of giving very few medical details of a certain kind to the public,” says Lamontagne.

“‘Never complain, never explain,’ in the words of the late Queen.”