#the shape has changed more dramatically and there is more evolutionary time between them but they're fundamentally...

[adriartts]

some griffons

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Pelagornis

By Ripley Cook

Etymology: Sea Bird

First Described By: Lartet, 1857

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostaylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Pelagornithidae  

Referred Species: P. chilensis, P. longirostris, P. mauretanicus, P. miocaenus, P. orri, P. sandersi, P. stirtoni, P. tenuirostris, P. wetmorei

Status: Extinct

Time and Place: Between 30 and 2.5 million years ago, from the Rupelian of the Oligocene through the beginning of the Pleistocene (in the Gelasian age) 

Pelagornis, being an extremely common seabird, is known from nearly everywhere around the world, usually associated with the coast. 

Physical Description: Despite the incredibly generic name, Pelagornis was quite an interesting bird. Like other pseudotooth birds, both its upper and lower beak bore toothlike spikes, in an alternating small/big/small/big pattern. Its beak was robust and fairly long compared to the back of the skull. These pseudoteeth appear to have grown in relatively late in Pelagornis’s growth, implying the keratin covering the beak may not have been fully hardened until close to adulthood. Interestingly enough, fossil evidence indicates that Pelagornis probably held its head upright at a vertical angle. 

By José Carlos Cortés

Pelagornis was fucking huge, m’kay. P. sandersi has an estimated wingspan between 6.1 and 7.4 meters! This makes Pelagornis the bird with the largest wingspan (but not the heaviest flying bird - that record belongs to Argentavis). Its wings were even more proportionally long and narrow than those of the largest flying birds alive today, the albatrosses. In comparison, its body was fairly small. There were, of course, some species of Pelagornis that were smaller than this, reaching only 4 meters long in terms of wingspan. Still, this large wingspan size is really only characteristic of these birds in flight - compressed, they would have looked much smaller, especially given that they were very light weight. They had stout legs and shorter tails, which indicates that they weren’t very good walkers, and spent most of their time in the air or sitting on the land. 

By Jack Wood

Diet: Probably fish. The pseudoteeth are likely an adaptation to grab and hold onto large fish. Similar toothlike serrations are seen, albeit much less exaggerated, in modern mergansers, which also eat fish. In addition, the vertical position of the head would have allowed Pelagornis to skim-feed, grabbing fish and other aquatic organisms from the top layer of the ocean and scooping them into their mouths. Thus, the fake-teeth would have allowed Pelagornis to grab onto fish better than non-toothed skim feeding birds. It may have also used these sharp fake teeth in order to grab onto the slipperiest fish and cephalopods - rather than harder shelly animals. 

By Scott Reid

Behavior: As with modern seabirds, Pelagornis likely spent most of its time out at sea. Gliding on oceanic thermals would have helped to support its huge body in the air without wasting energy just to stay aloft - which was important, since it wasn’t very good at flapping its wings and would have had trouble staying aloft long enough to get food if it had to flap too frequently. Think an albatross, but a giant, evil albatross. Landing and taking off would have been more awkward, though. It probably needed to take advantage of headwinds, drops in elevation and/or air gusts to get into the air at all. Albatrosses also kinda have this problem, but nowhere near to the same extent. The late appearance of the pseudoteeth implies that Pelagornis may have fed its young back on land like many modern seabirds before they could feed themselves out at sea. As such, they would have sought out good nesting sites, which may correspond to where fossils of Pelagornis are found - indicating that their spread around the world was greater than that we know of. Since it was a sea bird, it probably would have been very social, living in large colonies - and it would have cared for its young in similar social groups. In fact, it seems more likely than not that it would have laid its nests on cliffs and in rocky areas and plateaus, where being able to take off would have been easier than flatter, sandier beaches. Whether or not these animals were as noisy as modern seabirds is really another question altogether. 

By Jack Wood

Interestingly enough, Pelagornis had a salt gland in the eye that would have allowed it to excrete excess salt, which was an extremely helpful trait when Pelagornis ate almost entirely seafood. That seafood diet didn’t meant it wasn’t a danger, however - today, seabirds will venture away from the coasts in order to scavenge food on the beach, and they are certainly defensive of their nests, young, and territory. Also fascinatingly, it had a very very very long skull - with all of those pseudoteeth packed in - which had similar shapes and organization as to the extinct really toothed birds of the Mesozoic. This implies that there was a certain amount of evolutionary regression in Pelagornis, allowing it to better support its teeth and chomping ability than it would otherwise. There is also an interesting furrow in the skull, which allowed it to be better support the head and possibly to better grab prey in the ocean. 

By Scott Reid

Ecosystem: Pelagornis lived around coastlines worldwide. Because of this, it is difficult to pinpoint with certainty the types of animals it lived with. In fact, it was so long-lived and widespread it is more likely than not that Pelgaornis interacted with any ocean-going creature or animal found along the coast. It doesn’t seem to have a preference in the fossil record between rocky coasts or beaches, though it did seem to stay in at least somewhat warmer ecosystems and where cliffs would have been present for easier take-offs (and it is reasonable to suppose that cliff areas would have been its preferred place for nesting). Some notable animals it would have interacted with include extinct penguins, cetaceans, the famed giant shark Megalodon and… humans. Yup, Pelagornis is known from locations where early members of genus Homo ventured to. So, if you can imagine being afraid of a giant bird with fake teeth a little too well, that would be the instincts of your ancestors talking. 

By Scott Reid

Other: Pelagornis is a fun time, classification wise, for multiple reasons: one, a whole bunch of different types of Pseudotoothed birds are actually, apparently, species of Pelagornis; and two, we don’t really know what Pseudotoothed birds really are. So, let’s break this down into those two parts. What’s going on with the species? Well, in the 2010s, a lot of research has been made that shows a bunch of the Neogene Pseudotoothed birds that we’ve counted as different genera are actually… just… part of Pelagornis. Why Wikipedia has not chosen to update their information as to this effect is beyond me, but the fact remains is that a lot of Pseudotoothed birds are just different shades of Pelagornis, primarily due to the fact that they really… aren’t different. In fact, a lot of the differences were just based on time and place, and the fact that Pseudotoothed birds weren’t really well known at all. The loss of Osteodontornis is a bit of a bummer, but there aren’t any major differences between this genus and Pelagornis, so it’s gone. We’ve also lost Pseudodontornis, you know, the name that actually means “fake toothed bird”, unlike the crappy name for Pelagornis, which just means Sea Bird. Like, come on people. Why are we here. Just to suffer. We’ve also lost Palaeochenoides, Neodontornis, and Tympanonesiotes. Hence the extreme amount of art in this article - the last time I covered Pseudotoothed birds, these were separate. So we have an abundance of terrifying tooth art. 

By José Carlos Cortés

Finally - what the heck are Pseudotoothed birds? We don’t know. We really don’t know where they go. Are they related to the sea birds we have today (the Aequorlitornithes)? Are they related to ducks? Are they something else entirely? We have no idea, because, frankly, they seem to just appear in the fossil record without any sort of origin whatsoever. Like magic. Suddenly, toothed birds were back like the asteroid never hit. Honestly if I were to hazard a guess, based on the fossil characteristics, they’re probably none of the above - but an early branching group of Neognathous (aka, all birds that aren’t ratites and their cousins) birds that evolved from a non-easily fossilized ancestor. Whether that ancestor had weak bones or just lived in places where fossils don’t happen is a different question entirely, but either way, so far we have nothing. They just appear, in the Paleocene, out of nowhere. And, eventually, Pelagornis also disappeared. 

By Jack Wood

Why did Pelagornis, the latest surviving species disappear? The most likely answer is climate change. The onset of the ice age would have caused extreme changes to the water patterns, currents, and air flow. Since Pelagornis didn’t flap its wings much, and relied almost entirely on soaring and thermals, it probably would have been greatly affected by changes in these weather patterns. So, changes in the ocean and the air by the ice age would have decreased its ability to reach food, and then the dramatic changes in its home climate would have been a further death knell. Interestingly enough, they only began to become uncommon right before they became extinct - indicating that Pelagornis really was finished off by this change in climate. Which is sad, because that’s right around when humans were becoming more of a thing, and it would have been nice to see one of these things in life. Except it wouldn’t have been. Because they’re terrifying. But I laugh in the face of danger. I think. I dunno I just think they’re neat. 

By Scott Reid

Species Differences: The different species of Pelagornis differ primarily due to location and time, though there are some differences in shape and size - those fossils that were once assigned to Tympanonesiotes, for example, were on average smaller than other members of this genus. The largest known species was decidedly Pelagornis sandersi, though the best known species is Pelagornis chilensis. For now, however, Pelagornis is kind of a mess, since so much research is needed on this species complex to make sure things are where they belong and one genus is enough, so species differences are difficult to parse out until more research has been published on the subject. Just know that there were a lot of Pelagornis - and they came in all kinds of different shapes and sizes all over the place.

~ By Meig Dickson and Henry Thomas

Sources Under the Cut 

Becker, J.J. (1987): Neogene avian localities of North America. Smithsonian Research Monographs 1. Prentice Hall & IBD.

Bourdon, Estelle (2005): Osteological evidence for sister group relationship between pseudo-toothed birds (Aves: Odontopterygiformes) and waterfowls (Anseriformes). Naturwissenschaften 92(12): 586–591.

Brodkorb, Pierce (1963): Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 1 (Archaeopterygiformes through Ardeiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 7(4): 179–293.

Cenizo, M., C. Acosta Hospitaleche, and M. Reguero. 2016. Diversity of pseudo-toothed birds (Pelagornithidae) from the Eocene of Antarctica. Journal of Paleontology 89 (5): 870 - 881.

Hastings, A. K., and A. C. Dooley. 2017. Fossil-collecting from the middle Miocene Carmel Church Quarry marine ecosystem in Caroline County, Virginia. The Geological Society of America Field Guide 47:77-88

Hopson, James A. (1964): Pseudodontornis and other large marine birds from the Miocene of South Carolina. Postilla 83: 1–19.

Ksepka, D.T. 2014. Flight performance of the largest volant bird. PNAS 111: 10624-10629.

Louchart, A., Sire, J.-Y., Mourer-Chauvire, C., Geraads, d., viriot, L., de Buffrenil, V. 2013. Structure and Growth Pattern of Pseudoteeth in Pelagornis mauretanicus (Aves, Odontopterygiformes, Pelagornithidae). PLoS One 8(11): e80372.

Mayr, G. 2009. Paleogene Fossil Birds. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Mayr, G., D. Rubilar-Rogers. 2010. Osteology of a new giant bony-toothed bird from the Miocene of Chile, with a revision of the taxonomy of Neogene Pelagornithidae. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30 (5): 1313-1330.

Mayr, G., J. L. Goedert, S. A. McLeod. 2013. Partial Skeleton of a Bony-Toothed Bird from the Late Oligocene/Early Miocene of Oregon (USA) and the Systematics of Neogene Pelagornithidae. Journal of Paleontology 87 (5): 922 - 929.

Mayr, G. 2017. Avian Evolution: The Fossil Record of Birds and its Paleobiological Significance. Topics in Paleobiology, Wiley Blackwell. West Sussex.

McKee, Joseph W.A. (1985). "A pseudodontorn (Pelecaniformes: Pelagornithidae) from the middle Pliocene of Hawera, Taranaki, New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 12 (2): 181–184.

Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002): Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press, Prague.

Olson, Storrs L. (1985): The Fossil Record of Birds. In: Farner, D.S.; King, J.R. & Parkes, Kenneth C. (eds.): Avian Biology 8: 79-252.

Ono, Keiichi (1989). "A Bony-Toothed Bird from the Middle Miocene, Chichibu Basin, Japan". Bulletin of the National Science Museum Series C: Geology & Paleontology. 15 (1): 33–38.

Rincón R., Ascanio D. & Stucchi, Marcelo (2003). "Primer registro de la familia Pelagornithidae (Aves: Pelecaniformes) para Venezuela [First record of Pelagornithidae family from Venezuela]" (PDF). Boletín de la Sociedad Venezolana de Espeleología (in Spanish and English). 37: 27–30.

Scarlett, R.J. (1972): Bone of a presumed odontopterygian bird from the Miocene of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 15(2): 269-274.

Zouhri, S., P. Gingerich, S. Adnet, E. Bourdon, S. Jouve, B. Khalloufi, A. Amane, N. Elboudali, J.-C. Rage, F. Lapparent De Broin, A. Kaoukaya and S. Sebti. 2018. Middle Eocene vertebrates from the sabkha of Gueran, Atlantic coastal basin, Saharan Morocco, and their peri-African correlations. Comptes Rendus Geoscience 350(6):310-318

[sciencespies]

Brilliant ‘SuperRed’ Feathers Are Created By More Than Just Pigments

https://sciencespies.com/news/brilliant-superred-feathers-are-created-by-more-than-just-pigments/

Brilliant ‘SuperRed’ Feathers Are Created By More Than Just Pigments

Feather microstructures can remarkably change the appearance of red plumage without any corresponding changes in either pigment concentration or molecule types

Adult male Brazilian tanager (Ramphocelus bresilius) is a member of a sexually dimorphic genus of … [+] tanagers that have enlarged shiny whitish or bluish-grey lower mandibles, which are pointed upwards in courtship. (Credit: Dario Sanches / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Dario Sanches via a Creative Commons license

Many birds have brilliant plumage colors, but why? There are several non-exclusive hypotheses may explain the reason(s) that birds invest so much energy into obtaining colorful pigments and creating ornamental plumages:

coloration may help species identify each other, so they can avoid producing hybrids, which are often sterile, thereby preventing a waste of time and energy (ref).

beautiful ornaments may reflect arbitrary aesthetic preferences in the choosing sex (usually the female) (ref), and may either be maintained through a runaway evolutionary process (ref), or may occur as a side effect of selection on another trait such as foraging, which is known as “sensory bias” (ref)

color may indicate individual quality (“honest signaling hypothesis”) through physiological linkage, resource trade-offs, or direct/indirect costs (ref, ref, ref & ref)

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Of these three hypotheses, the honest signaling hypothesis has received the most attention because because carotenoids that create colors ranging in hue from yellow to orange to red are thought to be honest because they are rare, are costly, require a metabolic trade-off, or are an index of proper metabolic function (ref) in vertebrates. For these reasons, carotenoid-pigmented plumages are viewed as a “textbook example of an honest signal” because this signal appears to be extremely difficult to replicate outside of its natural context.

We do know, for example, that a variety of carotenoids play an array of important roles in proper immune function. But a recent study of red-factor canaries with a mutation that knocks out their tissue carotenoids found no difference in their immune system function (ref), which makes the honest signal hypothesis open to further questions.

Previous studies have also found that plumage nano- and microstructures can dramatically alter the appearance of carotenoid colors, which raises the question: Do microstructures that enhance carotenoid coloration add another level of complexity to the honest signal hypothesis? In short, have brilliantly colorful male birds evolved a way to cheat?

Do birds with carotenoid-pigmented plumage rely on microstructures to cheat?

To better understand the physical basis of colorful plumages as well as the evolutionary selective pressures that favor colorful signals, Dakota McCoy, a graduate student at Harvard University who studies biomaterials and how evolutionary arms races and conflicts of interest are affected by them, examined the carotenoid-based plumages of one particularly colorful genus of tanager, Ramphocelus, that lives in the tropics of South America (Figure 1).

F I G U R E 1. Male Ramphocelus tanagers (top row) have more striking carotenoid-based coloration … [+] than females (bottom row). A. R. flammigerus icteronotus male with vivid yellow and velvety black plumage. B. R. flammigerus icteronotus female. C. R. flammigerus male with vivid orange and velvety black plumage. D. R. flammigerus female. E. R. bresilius male with bright red plumage. F. R. bresilius female. G. R. carbo male with deep, velvety red and black plumage. H. R. carbo female. (All photos are credit Nick Athanas / www.antpitta.com.) (doi:10.1101/799783)

Nick Athanas / www.antpitta.com / doi:10.1101/799783

There are nine species of tanagers in the genus Ramphocelus. All of them are social, sexually dichromatic (i. e.; males and females are distinctly color-coded) and have carotenoid-pigmented plumages. Males have strikingly patterned plumage with strongly contrasting colors — black with red, orange or yellow — whilst the females are either a less intensely colored version of the males, or are brownish or greyish with dull red, orange or yellowish patches.

Ms McCoy and her collaborators examined tanager specimens housed in the Ornithology Collection at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. She selected 20 male and female specimens, one from each species in the genus Ramphocelus, for this study.

To document the physical basis of color in both male and female Ramphocelus tanagers, Ms McCoy extracted the carotenoid pigments from feathers, measured their concentrations and identified which carotenoid molecules were present. Surprisingly, she found no differences in either the concentrations nor the types of carotenoid pigment molecules in feathers of males and females of the same species despite males having significantly more saturated color patches (Figure 3).

F I G U R E 3: Males and females (within a species) have significantly correlated carotenoid … [+] profiles. A. Relative log-transformed presence of pigments across birds for males (Nspecies = 10, Npatches = 12) and females (Nspecies = 10, Npatches = 14). Color saturation indicates normalized signal strength of a given pigment molecule within a bird, where pale is least and rich is most. Relative intensity comparison can therefore only be made within each molecule (column). Some comparisons are possible within each family, because response factors of isomers are expected to be similar. Because standards were not available for all molecules, some molecules were identified based on accurate mass, retention time, MS/MS spectra, and the literature. B. Male versus female carotenoid pigments; each point represents the signal strength (a proxy for presence and amount) of a given pigment in both a male and female of one species. All values are log-transformed and normalized. Since 7 was the minimum detectable threshold for our LC-MS setup, we set all values of 0 equal to 7 to better display the data. C. Example carotenoid pigment profile for male (top) and female (bottom) R. bresilius, demonstrating the similarity. D. PCA of log-transformed centered pigments in all patches from all males (N = 10, triangles) and females (N = 10, circles), showing clustering by phylogenetic position (rumped clade separates from whole-body clade). Male and female pigment profiles are significantly correlated (PGLS with pigmentary PC1 scores: coefficient = 0.46, SE = 0.15, p= 0.013). Abbreviations: t: throat; ut: upper throat; r: rump; b: breast; c: chest. Artwork in male silhouettes credit Gabriel Ugueto; female silhouettes are modified by Allison Shultz from original art by Gabriel Ugueto. (doi:10.1101/799783)

doi:10.1101/799783

Despite having similar amounts and types of carotenoid molecules in their feathers, male and female Ramphocelus tanagers have dramatically different appearances. Could this visible difference in plumage color between the sexes be created by feather microstructures?

Microstructures intensify plumage colors in males but not in females

Ms McCoy then examined the microstructures of male and female Ramphocelus tanager feathers. She found that female feathers have microscopic structures that look the same as a typical feather macrostructure, where simple cylindrical barbules extend out from the central cylindrical barb, all aligned in a single plane (Figure 4A).

In contrast, male Ramphocelus tanager feathers have a variety of elaborate microstructures that enhance color appearance (Figure 4B,C,D,E,F), including widely expanded barbs that enhance color saturation (for the same amount of pigment), oblong barbs, strap-shaped barbules (instead of cylindrical barbules), and angled barbules that projected out from the plane of the feather, making the feather appear ‘fuzzy’, rather like a tiny toilet brush. This ‘fuzzy’ morphology reduces total light reflectance to generate dark velvety red feathers (Figure 4E), and is very similar to what Ms McCoy had discovered previously in ‘super black’ feathers (more here), which acts as an optical illusion to enhance nearby color.

F I G U R E 4: Males, but not females, have diverse and elaborate feather microstructure. A. Female … [+] R. carbo red chest feather with typical simple morphology. B: Male R. passerinii bright orange rump feather with expanded barb and strap-shaped barbules. C. Male R. carbo velvet red-black back feather with dihedral barbules. D: Male R. dimidiatus shiny red rump feather with expanded, oblong barb and strap-shaped barbules. Scale bars in left column are 200 μm; scale bars in right column (B, D, F, H) are 50 μm. Artwork in inset silhouettes credit Gabriel Ugueto. E. Schematic illustrations of idealized cross-sections of each feather type in A-D. F. PCA of log-transformed centered microstructural measurements for all patches from all males and all females, showing that males separate from females. Male and female microstructures are not correlated (PGLS with microstructure PC1 scores: coefficient = -0.023, SE = 0.17, p= 0.90). This PCA does not take into account differences in three-dimensional structure, including dihedral barbule morphology. (doi:10.1101/799783)

doi:10.1101/799783

But surely, the bright red feather patches and the dark red feather patches could not possibly contain the same carotenoid molecules in the same concentrations?

Microstructure, not carotenoids, differs between bright and dark red patches

To answer this question, Ms McCoy assessed the relative contributions from feather microstructures and from feather pigments and compared the bright shiny red patches to the dark velvety red patches in two species, R. melanogaster and R. dimidiatus (Figure 6).

F I G U R E 6: Microstructure, not carotenoids, differs between bright and dark red patches within a … [+] bird. A: R. melanogaster dark velvet red throat versus brighter red lower throat. Pigments are highly correlated between regions: slope = 0.99, SE = 0.051, R2 = 0.93, p < 0.0005. B-C: R. melanogaster with SEM images of dark red throat feather (top) compared to brighter red lower throat feather (bottom). D: Pigment profiles of R. dimidiatus dark velvet throat versus bright red rump, where each point represents the signal strength for one pigment molecule. Pigments are highly correlated between regions: slope = 0.76, SE = 0.061, R2 = 0.85, p < 0.0005. E-F: R. dimidiatus with SEM images of dark red throat feather (top) compared to bright red rump feather (bottom). All values are normalized such that the largest value (strongest signal) was set equal to one. Scale bars are 50 μm. (Artwork in bird silhouettes credit Gabriel Ugueto.) (doi:10.1101/799783)

doi:10.1101/799783

For each bird, feathers from the bright shiny red patches and the dark velvety red patches had very similar concentrations of carotenoid pigments. However, SEM photographs revealed large differences in feather microstructures between the shiny and the velvety patches (Figure 6B,C,E,F). Ms McCoy found that expanded feather barbs (Figure 4E) were associated with bright shiny red color whilst vertically-angled dihedral, or ‘fuzzy’, barbules (Figure 4E) were associated with dark velvety red color. This ‘fuzzy’ barbule shape that is only found in males reflects less light, thus creating a richer, more saturated color, even though females and males have the same types and concentrations of pigments (Figure 3).

Is red plumage an honest signal of condition or not?

This study casts doubt on the idea that carotenoids are costly signals by showing that males and females of the same species have the same amount and types of carotenoid pigment molecules in their feathers. It also brings a new focus onto the idea of whether carotenoids — in Ramphocelus tanagers at least — can be considered “honest” signals because the appearance of these pigments is significantly altered by male-specific feather microstructures.

But are they cheating?

“I think males are ‘stretching the truth’ using structures to look even better for the same amount of pigment”, Ms McCoy explained in email.

“I do not mean to say these signals convey NO true information about male quality”, Ms McCoy added in email. “Many selective forces interact to generate beautiful bird colors: avoiding predation, appealing to potential mates, and — to an extent — honestly signaling your quality.”

The appearance of carotenoid-pigment based coloration as an honest signal of male quality is partially exaggerated by feather microstructures (in this case, microstructures that enhance light-pigment interactions), and these feather microstructures themselves are not necessarily linked to quality. This suggests that feather microstructures arose as part of the evolutionary arms race between female preference and male appearance.

“Males are incentivized to look as good as they can”, Ms McCoy added in email. “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”

Source:

Dakota E. McCoy, Allison J. Shultz, Charles Vidoudez, Emma van der Heide, Sunia A.Trauger, and David Haig (2020). Microstructures amplify carotenoid plumage signals in colorful tanagers, bioRxiv preprint | doi:10.1101/799783

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[meshkol]

Title: Souls for Bargain Pairings/Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange (IronStrange) Warnings/Rating: Endgame spoilers!!! Summary: Stephen makes a bargain. Notes: Fuck you Marvel, fuck you Russos, and fuck you Feige.  Burn in hell. Fix-it #1 of who-knows-how-many. Unbeta'd af. Fill T-3 for the Tony Stark Bingo 2019: Reunion

***IF REBLOGGING, PLEASE TAG FOR SPOILERS!***

Stephen takes a deep breath and opens a portal to the Soul Realm.

He goes inside after performing a spell to keep his feet dry and closes the portal behind him, leaving him ‘alone’ in this realm, and he begins to walk, not knowing where he’s going in this empty place but trusting his gut instinct to guide him nevertheless. He supposes that he could use a tracking spell, but despite taking years to gather the nerve for this while simultaneously doing research and fighting battles, he finds that he’s still not quite prepared for the confrontation.

He couldn’t look into the futures of this realm so he’s flying blind, he knows – the Time Stone is powerful, yes, but it can’t interfere with the realities of the other stones. He doesn’t know how this is going to go or what to expect, and while he would make the same decision again in giving up the Time Stone, he still wants to suffer for it. He’s lived millions of lives, died millions of times, seen millions of futures, and it still hurts that the choice was on his shoulders. He’s seen the pain and grief in the eyes of everyone around him, seen the judgement in their glances, and he doesn’t blame them. He made this choice, no one else, and the guilt is eating him alive. He needs to atone for that, and what he’s doing now is a damn good start.

“You understand that you’re interfering, yes?” a voice says from behind him.

Stephen doesn’t startle, just keeps walking and walking and walking in this barren world, and replies quietly, “I’m very good at interfering. I’m not planning on changing anything, and would you let me even if I was?”

There’s a moment of quiet, save the wet footfalls of Stephen’s boots and his even breaths, and then Warlock asks, “Then why do you come to this place?”

Stephen’s feet leave the shallow water in exchange for the dry, sandy shoreline, eyes taking in the expanse of silent desert and savannah in front of him. He’s thankful for the spell on his boots even more now that he’s on dry land, and leaves it intact in order to have more stable footing on the dunes as he responds, “Closure. Absolution. For both of us.”

“He knows, Sorcerer Supreme,” Warlock says. “He understands the sacrifice that he made, and understands the role everyone played. I do not believe he is happy, but he has accepted his fate. Do not give him hope where there is none.”

Stephen resists the urge to spin around and shake Adam Warlock like a ragdoll because he needs to play nice here. It’s necessary to not antagonise him needlessly, not when Stephen needs something that only Warlock can grant.

“Come, this way,” Warlock says, finally stepping ahead of Stephen though his feet do not touch the sand. “The sooner you get your closure, the sooner you can stop disturbing the peace of this realm.”

Stephen follows Warlock without replying, watching the dim red light turn his bright blond hair into strands of sharp vermillion, and tries to steady his heartbeat. He knows that his physical form is still safely absconded in his bedroom on Bleecker Street and that it’s not a real reaction, but it still feels real, despite being muted. It’s been three years since the end of the War, three long years of celebration and battles and piecing the decaying planet back together again after so long being neglected, but the distance of time between that final battle and now hasn’t erased a lot of pain and suffering. He’s terrified that it’s all in vain, terrified of the reactions from the people he’s going to see, terrified that Warlock will deny him even despite the case he’s going to make, but he has to stay focussed and calm, needs to stay in control. After all, there’s no point in fretting – he has the Time Stone, so he can always rewind and try again until he’s successful. Stephen’s always been tirelessly persistent, and he refuses to accept defeat.

In the distance, a shape comes into sight like a mirage. It’s simple and calm – only a small oasis in the middle of the endless desert – and three figures are sitting around a copse of palm trees and dry grasses. He knows who they are, knows that they were summoned by Warlock’s will alone, and his heart returns to its racing staccato, sweat dampening his palms and the skin above his upper lip. He forces himself to not wipe his hands on his robes and drag his hand through his hair, nervous ticks that will only give away how apprehensive he is, and by the time he can make out the individual features of his peers, he feels overly damp despite the lack of temperature.

They stop right in front of the figures, Warlock taking a seat on the grasses next to a small pond of red-tinted water, and Stephen swallows, trying to get his thoughts in order so he can speak coherently. His hands are shaking, both from the nerve damage that he feels even in an astral form and from nerves, and he has the sudden urge to start pacing. He refrains, despite the itch, and swallows again, opening his mouth to speak to his companions.

Except Tony gets there first.

“Hey Doc,” he says, looking fit and healthy (not half-charred and lifeless, red- and yellow-tinted eyes bulging out of socket and blood seeping from his wounds sluggishly as his heart fails, so quiet and haunted as he of-so-slowly finds rest from the agony in his broken body), but there’s an edge of desperation to his eyes, and Stephen doesn’t even have the chance to wonder why before Tony’s letting it all out. “Morgan...how is she? Is she alive, happy? C’mon, you’ve gotta know. I don’t need to know what’s happening on the other side, or how everything is, not even Pep or Peter, I—I just—please.”

Stephen feels a bit of tension leave his shoulders and he replies quietly, “She’s doing well, Tony. She’s seven now, and apparently quite the firecracker, smart as a whip and with a streak of mischief a mile wide, just like her father.”

Tony laughs, wet and harsh even as he sinks to his knees in clear, bone-deep relief, and he whispers in a croak, “Thank you. Thank you.”

“Clint? What about Laura and the kids?” asks Natasha, green eyes big and damp, and she steps over to Tony to rest a hand in his hair, stroking through the strands in absent comfort as if they’ve done this a thousand times. They probably have, stuck in the Soul Realm for all eternity, forced to simply exist without form or reason, without purpose.

“Good. Pardons came fairly quick, but he opted out of joining the Avengers once again except under extenuating circumstances,” Stephen explains. “They seem to be happy and at peace, and I can think of no better life for them. I know your little namesake is deep in cahoots with Morgan, as they’re always hotwiring something or another. It drives Pepper and Clint insane.”

Tony laughs, even as he begins to sob with his face buried in his hands, and Natasha drops to her own knees, wrapping her arms gingerly around him. “Good for them,” she teases. “Nothing better than having your own personal Stark to make things interesting. Or outrageously dramatic.”

Stephen smiles, a bit weakly but honest, and turns to Gamora. “Your family is well. They check in frequently, and are keeping in high spirits. Thor’s with them, and from what I hear around the universe, they’re causing mayhem as to be expected.”

Gamora smirks, though her own eyes are wet with moisture, and she rubs her arms with the palms of her hands as if she’s cold. “That’s a massacre waiting to happen. I’m surprised that Peter hasn’t thrown him overboard yet.”

“I’m sure he’s tried,” Stephen admits honestly, “but Thor’s a tough one when he’s motivated. They...have a lot in common.”

Her face stays mostly impassive but Stephen can physically feel the pain, which is somewhat surprising. He’s not naturally empathetic, and he’s not using any spells to be so, so he figures it’s part of the Soul Realm. He’s torn from that brief train of thought when she asks calmly, “Why are you here?”

“Ah, that is the question,” Warlock chimes, fingers tapping against a knee. “I cannot let them go, and I know you know this.”

“Your peaceful existence was decimated when Thanos destroyed the stones,” Stephen says, fighting to keep his own voice calm. “If it hadn’t been for the sacrifice of these three individuals, you would still be lost, you and all the people that have been claimed by the Soul Stone.”

“Should I help all of them leave this realm then?” Warlock argues evenly, betraying none of his emotions. Stephen sees the others stiffen from the corner of his eyes, eyes widening with the sudden possibility of freedom, but he doesn’t take his eyes off the man who was originally gifted the Stone by the powerful High Evolutionary.

“That is not my decision, and would likely consume a significant amount of power,” Stephen replies. “I am only interested in these three, to put them back where they rightly belong for the coming conflicts of this universe. We cannot do it without them.”

“Have you even asked them if they want to fight?” Warlock questions, a twinge of sardonic amusement in his tone. “This realm is peaceful, if a bit lonely without their loved ones, and returning would only lead to strife and further grief. Would it not be kinder to let them rest?”

“I don’t have to ask them,” Stephen says. “Their loved ones are under constant threat – do you not think that they would suffer through anything to keep those people safe? All three of them have already made their sacrifice for those loved ones, and they will continue to fight on the side of life until they are unable to do so.”

“You act like there is a great calamity coming. What do you know?” Warlock demands.

Stephen takes a deep breath and says with as much flatness as he can muster, “Galactus, Adam. He’s on the move.”

Gamora inhales sharply as Natasha says, “Who is that? What are we facing here?” It’s comforting to hear, as if it’s already been decided that Warlock will help release them and she’ll be joining some unknown fight. He shakes his head, silently asking her to ask questions later and opting instead to focus on Warlock, who looks pale and troubled. He knows that Warlock has experience with the Devourer, but the system containing Earth hasn’t faced such a threat before. The Infinity Stones and Thanos had been mere child’s play in comparison, and yes, Stephen needs to atone for his actions during the War, but Earth needs defenders too and besides, Tony Stark is a man that Earth needs. Between him, Reed Richards, and Bruce Banner, they cover every specialty and science known to man, and Stephen knows that Earth desperately needs that to face the coming threat.

“I cannot create bodies, Sorcerer Supreme,” Warlock says eventually.

Instantly, Stephen retorts, “You don’t have to.” There’s a beat of silence, one of Warlock’s eyebrows quirking up in a silent inquiry and slight incredulity, and Stephen swallows once again before he says quietly, “I am the master of the Time Stone. I retrieved all of the bodies and, with the help of select individuals who I entrusted to keep silent, utilised both magic and Tony Stark’s modified Extremis to repair the soulless bodies before putting them into cryo. Putting their souls back into their own bodies is less troublesome than corpses.”

“Pepper...” Tony whispers, jaw dropped and looking horrified.

Stephen understands where Tony’s head’s at, so he explains as gently as he can, “I wouldn’t have told even her, but I needed the Extremis, and honestly, I would not want to be on her murder list if this does work and she wasn’t in the loop. I made sure to emphasise that this was a gamble and might not come to fruition, so she has no exuberant hope for your return, and I can assure you that your daughter has not been made aware of any remote possibility.”

“My God,” Gamora says almost silently. “This is actually possible.”

“Theoretically, yes,” Stephen says. “I’ve done the research and he—” Stephen gestures to Warlock, who looks carefully expressionless. “—is capable of it even without my assistance.” Stephen takes a deep breath and says with heavy finality, “Adam. I need them. This universe needs them. You have to help us or Galactus will devour us all. You know what he’s capable of, and you know the stakes here.”

There is nothing but silence, and then Warlock seems to steel himself as he says, “Alright, Stephen. But I’m coming with you.”

Tony opens his eyes.

Everything is stiff, which he supposes he should’ve expected considering that he was frozen for over three years, but ultimately he’s unconcerned in the wake of everything else. In his immediate vision, blurry as it is, he can see Pepper and Happy, Peter and Harley, and a tall, young girl with his own brown eyes and dark hair, a wide grin on her face and tears streaming down her cheeks. She’s beautiful and perfect, his precious little angel, and all he can do is reach helplessly towards her despite his shaking, weak arms, his own tears already starting to trickle down his face.

She rushes towards him despite a few half-hearted words to take it easy, but he doesn’t care that she’s crushing him with the strength of her hug if it means that he can hold her, doesn’t care that he can feel his hospital gown growing wet and sticky with mucus and tears if he can bury his own face into her sweet-smelling hair, doesn’t care that she’s sobbing so loudly that it hurts his ears if he can just cherish the fact that he gets to hear her voice again, slightly different with age but just as precious and familiar. He loves this tiny little human, his flesh and blood and soul and heart, with every iota of his person, and it is an immeasurable gift to be able to hold her once again, to hear her choke out I love you daddy I’ve missed you so much though the tears.

He weeps and whispers soft words into his daughter’s hair, and breathes.

“Hey stranger,” he hears echo into the empty front from of the Sanctum.

Stephen recognises the voice but doesn’t stop his reading until he gets to the end of the chapter, humming slightly under his breath as he closes the finished book. He glances up, taking in the very-much-alive man standing a bit awkwardly in the door, fiddling with a phone in his hand like he’s itching to tear it apart for something to do.

“Tony,” Stephen greets in return, pleased when his tone remains calm despite the nerves in his stomach. They’ve interacted a lot over the past year, coming up with plans for Galactus while managing the veritable madhouse that is Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff Are Alive! He’s seen Tony in so many ways (a father, a friend, and champion...a complete arsehole) and he understands why people are always saying that Anthony Stark is a conundrum. He’s the type of man that can only be loved or hated, no grey area in between, and oh, Stephen loves him. Desperately so.

It’s only gotten worse since everything settled, because he knows it’s not appropriate nor is it the right time. They’re preparing for the next conflict, and despite a year to come to terms with it, Pepper is still married to Happy Hogan now, and Stephen knows that Tony’s both gutted and happy that she’s moved on with a great man who’s treated his daughter right. And regardless, Stephen did send Tony on a suicide mission, and no amount of casual flirting or playfully sarcastic banter can erase that, he knows. Stephen’s going mad with want, but he’s not an idiot – he hasn’t got a chance with Tony and he’s accepted that.

Tony huffs out a laugh, then says without fanfare, “If you’d told me that I was going to die during that fight, I would’ve still done it, y’know. I had my priorities, and my priority was Morgan and Pepper. I’d do it again, even if I hadn’t gotten out of that boring-as-hell desert.”

“I couldn’t take that chance,” Stephen replies. He hadn’t even thought to look at a future where he had told Tony how it had to end, because they hadn’t had enough time when Stephen had had the answer already. He doesn’t think Tony’s lying, honestly – he’s self-sacrificing and pure-hearted like that, despite his reputation – but it doesn’t really matter anymore.

“Yeah, I know,” Tony sighs, then leans against the Cauldron of the Cosmos with a smirk on his face.

“Stop it,” Stephen drawls, fighting a smile.

“Make me,” Tony parries back, grin widening and a spark of mischief in his eyes.

Stephen’s entire body throbs with want, and even as he’s fighting the urge to rise from his chair and pull Tony against his own body instead of the cauldron, he hears himself saying lightly, “And how would you like me to do that?”

“Well,” Tony says airily, eyes rolling up to the ceiling as if thinking, “you could send me to an alternate dimension, but that would null all your efforts to bring me back to life and where would you all be without my sparkling personality and charm. You could also portal me to Tasmania, but that just seems needlessly dramatic and a tad bit rude. Personally, though, I vote for dinner. Le Bernardin, eight o’clock sharp? I’d hate to miss our reservation, and God knows you’re dragging your feet on asking me out yourself. Idiot.”

Stephen stares at him for a long time, mouth open and eyes wide, and then he replies quietly, “Sounds like a date.”

Tony grins.

Also read on ao3.

[dailycharacteroption]

Planar Extremist (Druid Archetype)

We’ve got something extra special today, for this entry is our first look at Ex-Class archetypes from Antihero’s Handbook!

So what, exactly, is an ex-class archetype? As the name implies, one must become an ex-member of a class to take one, choosing to diverge further from the path of such classes in favor of new abilities.

Believe it or not, this is not the first time we’ve seen a mechanic like this, as the heretic archetype for inquisitors had similar rules for ex-inquisitors embracing the heretical views that caused them to lose face with their god and the church. However, ex-class archetypes represent an even greater divergence from the philosophy of their former order, and requires double the atonement to make up for it, should the individual choose to.

Every one of these archetypes is different as the various classes that have such archetypes. In today’s case, planar extremists are those druids that have shifted too far away from neutrality in moral alignment, cutting them off from the natural world. However, instead of repenting and working to live a more balanced life, some druids choose to embrace that alignment, and the planes of lawful good, chaotic good, lawful evil, or chaotic evil, answer, allowing those energies to flow through them, as if that plane was the natural world to them, rather than the material.

This archetype is most common in areas where the barriers between planes are thin in wild places, where the presence of that plane’s energies and denizens might rub off on a guardian druid (either mundanely or supernaturally). However, others may take this path due to other reasons, such as getting too involved in extraplanar politics, or a dramatic event skewing the druid’s perspective towards a particular moral outlook.

Due to the nature of their source of power, it’s easy to see these druids behaving more cleric-like, firmly believing in their chosen philosophy, which can be good or bad depending on what sort of tenets they follow.

 Though they still have access to most druid magic, their subverted connection dulls their magic somewhat, reducing the available amount of energy they can call upon for spells. Furthermore, they can no longer rely on summoned beasts of nature, and instead must summon extraplanar beings.

The connection that these ex-druids have with another plane manifests in one of two ways, though they are admittedly familiar, either gaining a domain, specifically one of the moral alignment domains matching theirs, or one of the appropriate subdomains. The other option grants them an outsider servitor of the appropriate subtype, though its power is progressive and grows with the druid. This is very similar to the eidolons of unchained summoners, but the planar extremist gains no pool of evolutionary potential to alter their ally.

Like ordinary druids, these mystics can channel their spells into summoning allies, though they are universally of an extraplanar and morally compatible nature.

Just as they have thrown in their lot with the powers of one alignment, these mystics utterly reject the opposition, resisting their magic most vehemently.

Rather than change form, these mystics can draw upon the energies of their favored plane to infuse their bodies, entering an enhanced battle state capable of a variety of mystical feats, similar to the bloodlines of bloodragers.

So what we’ve got is a druid that gives up on certain druidic staples like the nature bond and wild shape in favor of extraplanar equivalents, gaining bloodrage powers, a cleric domain or summoner eidolon, and the like. If that sounds appealing, give it a try. Keep in mind, however, that your summons are going to be much less versatile than an ordinary summoning specialist due to the limitations of the archetype. Regardless, you can build this archetype as either a casting druid or a more direct combatant, whichever suits your style.

 As tragic as it is to see someone falter from the path, the fact that these druids can be goodly means that many may still be allies to the goodly world, though they still may be estranged from their druidic peers. Conversely, however, evil planar extremists are definitely a thing, and may indeed be a greater threat to the natural world than most.

  The roads of the Forest of Mists have grown twisted as of late, doubling back on themselves and leaving travelers lost and confused. The reason behind this is twofold, but stems from the same source. A druidic guardian has become corrupted by the forces of chaos, and its twisting the landscape. What’s more, the dosojin kami that watch the roads are actively seeking to trap the planar extremist within, twisting them even further.

 Not every planar extremist is tied to an outer plane. In the case of the wayang Ekkonsi, his bond is with the shadows, having been seduced by the promises of the kytons to further his personal path towards dissolution. Though he remains a druid, he utilizes his expertise to turn his coastal territory into a dim place full of death.

 Rather than learn the druidic ways through an established circle like most, Bapri instead was taught by a being of good and freedom, a havoc dragon named Virphandivar. The combination if his origin and the extraplanar alteration to the landscape has given her a somewhat altered perspective on nature, but she is as devoted as any other.

[fumpkins]

Mystery of extinct horned crocodile solved after 150 years

After almost 150 years of controversy, scientists have finally solved the classification mystery surrounding the extinct horned crocodile and determined exactly where this cryptic croc belongs on the tree of life.

The extinct horned crocodiles (Voay robustus) were endemic to Madagascar as far back as 9,000 years ago and lived as recently as 1,300 to 1,400 years ago, according to fossil evidence. First discovered in 1872, the beasts are named for the distinctive horns on their skulls. Since their discovery, they have been classified in several different families, confused for other species and given several different names, with no clear evolutionary origin of their own.

In the new study, researchers from the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City used DNA analysis to shed light on these ambiguous reptiles and determine whether they belong to their own unique group. 

Related: Top 10 deadliest animals (photos)

“The DNA tells a different story,” lead author Evon Hekkala, an AMNH associate at Fordham University in New York, told Live Science. “It tells us over and over again that appearances can be deceiving.”  

Complicated history 

Madagascar is currently home to Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus), which are invasive to the island nation. The earliest evidence of Nile crocodiles in Madagascar is 300 years old, but Malagasy tales suggest that they may have migrated there much earlier and lived alongside horned crocodiles, Hekkala said.

Horned crocodiles were not particularly large crocs, but their heavyset skulls suggest they were likely a’robust,a’ which led to their species name robustus, Hekkala said. “We don’t have any complete skeletons, but they weren’t spectacularly long,” Hekkala said. “Based on the size of their skulls, they were likely similar in overall size to Nile crocodiles.”

A number of other larger animals — including giant tortoises, elephant birds, dwarf hippos and several lemurs — also went extinct on the island around the same time as horned crocodiles did, but it is unclear what caused their demise, according to an AMNH statement. 

It may have been due to the arrival of the invasive Nile crocodiles or more likely the arrival of the first humans on Madagascar as late as 2,500 years ago, according to the researchers. However, natural climate change also may have played a role.

“Some recent studies have indicated that parts of the island became drier,” Hekkala said. “It could be that this benefited the newly arrived Nile crocodile and made the island more inhospitable to the endemic horned crocodile.”

Classification nightmare 

The limited fossil record and incomplete ecological history of Madagascar partly explain why it has taken almost 150 years to successfully place the horned crocodiles in their own evolutionary group. In addition, crocodile species are very similar physically, especially in their skulls, which scientists have historically used to classify them. But skull variations between individuals within the same species can be high, which can often make them appear to be from another species.

“Crocodile head shape varies dramatically with age, sex and even diet,” Hekkala said. “So a large, old crocodile skull might look really distinct.”

When the horned crocodiles were originally discovered, scientists classified them as true crocodiles — a subfamily containing Nile crocodiles and other modern-day crocodiles like the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) and saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) — and were given the name Crocodylus robustus.

This confusion was magnified in 1910 when a popular illustration of what a horned crocodile may have looked like was released in a scientific article, Hekkala said. Unfortunately, the image actually depicted a modern-day Nile crocodile, but it helped to solidify the theory that the horned crocodiles were true crocodiles. Some even argued that the horned crocodiles may just have been an ancestor of Nile crocodiles. 

This remained the general consensus until 2007 when researchers analyzed the skulls of horned crocodile fossils to reveal significant physiological differences compared with those of Nile crocodiles. After this revelation, the horned crocodiles were put into a new subfamily called dwarf crocodiles — smaller crocodiles with short, stout skulls that diverged from the true crocodiles millions of years ago. The horned crocodiles were also given a new genus name, Voay, which means “crocodile” in the Malagasy language.

In the new study, AMNH researchers instead analyzed DNA evidence to determine which group the horned crocodiles really belonged to.

A new group 

DNA analysis revealed that the horned crocodiles were not dwarf crocodiles like the 2007 study had suggested nor were they true crocodiles like earlier naturalists assumed. Instead, they belong to their own unique genus.

“What surprised us at that point was that it was not grouped within the true crocodiles, but adjacent to it,” Hekkala said. “This makes it a bit like a long-lost lineage that was isolated on an island.”

The fact that this new group, which is closely related to true crocodiles, was endemic to Africa also suggests that this may be where crocodiles first evolved, which is the leading theory in the field. “Our data support the hypothesis that the modern crocodiles we see today originated in Africa,” Hekkala said.

Getting to the bottom of the evolutionary mystery surrounding horned crocodiles is important because it helps scientists to build a better picture of how modern-day animals evolved and how they may be able to adapt to change, Hekkala said.

“Extinct species can act as bridges over knowledge gaps,” Hekkala said. “They help us to time travel and to reconnect evolutionary histories to tell the story of life and extinction on Earth.”

The study was published online April 27 in the journal Communications Biology. 

New post published on: https://livescience.tech/2021/04/30/mystery-of-extinct-horned-crocodile-solved-after-150-years/

[swirlingdisobedience]

P1 - Anthropocene

Second Class:

2. Discussing Art in the Anhtopocene

13:00 – 14:15: Reading and group discussion of Art in the Anthropocene.

14:15 – 14:20: Break

14:20 – 15:00: Exercise inspired by Cloud Writing Poetry: Describing Soft Architectures of Change in the Anthropocene by Ada Smailbegovic.  

Anthropocene

“The Anthropocene Epoch is an unofficial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems.

Atomic bomb tests like this one at Bikini Atoll in 1946 not only reassured military personnel that the bomb worked, but also created a powerful new symbol of the destructive power of the human species: the mushroom cloud.

Earth’s history is divided into a hierarchical series of smaller chunks of time, referred to as the geologic time scale. These divisions, in descending length of time, are called eons, eras, periods, epochs, and ages.

These units are classified based on Earth’s rock layers, or strata, and the fossils found within them. From examining these fossils, scientists know that certain organisms are characteristic of certain parts of the geologic record. The study of this correlation is called stratigraphy.

Officially, the current epoch is called the Holocene, which began 11,700 years ago after the last major ice age. However, the Anthropocene Epoch is an unofficial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems. The word Anthropocene is derived from the Greek words anthropo, for “man,” and cene for “new,” coined and made popular by biologist Eugene Stormer and chemist Paul Crutzen in 2000.

Scientists still debate whether the Anthropocene is different from the Holocene, and the term has not been formally adopted by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), the international organization that names and defines epochs. The primary question that the IUGS needs to answer before declaring the Anthropocene an epoch is if humans have changed the Earth system to the point that it is reflected in the rock strata.

To those scientists who do think the Anthropocene describes a new geological time period, the next question is, when did it begin, which also has been widely debated. A popular theory is that it began at the start of the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s, when human activity had a great impact on carbon and methane in Earth’s atmosphere. Others think that the beginning of the Anthropocene should be 1945. This is when humans tested the first atomic bomb, and then dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. The resulting radioactive particles were detected in soil samples globally.

In 2016, the Anthropocene Working Group agreed that the Anthropocene is different from the Holocene, and began in the year 1950 when the Great Acceleration, a dramatic increase in human activity affecting the planet, took off.” (taken from: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/anthropocene/)

Art in the Anthropocene. Encounters among aesthetics, politics, environments and epistemologies. 

Edited by Heather Davis and Etienne Turpin. 

Excerpts for class:

“First, we argue that the Anthropocene is primarily a sensorial phenomenon: the experience of living in an increasingly diminished and toxic world. Second, the way we have come to understand the Anthropocene has frequently been framed through modes of the visual, that is, through data visualization, satellite imagery, climate models, and other legacies of the “whole earth.” Third, art provides a polyarchic site of experimentation for “living in a damaged world,” as Anna Tsing has called it, and a non-moral form of address that offers a range of discursive, visual, and sensual strategies that are not confined by the regimes of scientific objectivity, political moralism, or psychological depression.

(...)

the Anthropocene can be felt as a call to re-imagine the human through biology and geology. It is a call, in other words, to place our industrialized present—a present that consumes time itself— within a temporal frame that is at once evolutionary and geologic. As a charismatic mega-concept (and one that seems to herald its own extinction through its enunciation), it emphasizes the need, as Donna Haraway says, “for a word to highlight the urgency of human impact on this planet, such that the effects of our species are literally written into the rocks.”18 The Anthropocene is a term that beckons environmental justice thinking, asking what worlds we are intentionally and inadvertently creating, and what worlds we are foreclosing while living within an increasingly diminished present. It has become a concept that speaks not just to the hallmarks of our time, such as climate change and the so-called Sixth Extinction, but creates a need to think through the interconnections and interactions of these events in conjunction with political economic logics and their attendant debts to the future.19

(...)

The Anthropocene can be framed as the global condition of being born into a world that no longer exists, as Bill McKibben has recently claimed.48 We are all “being overtaken by processes that are unmaking the world that any of us ever knew,” Deborah Bird Rose asserts.49 This overtaking is primarily an aesthetic event. Our sensorial and perceptive systems are being refashioned at rates that we can barely keep up with, as the world around us changes so rapidly. We daily experience what used to be a sublime moment; anthropogenic mountains are now so ordinary that we don’t even notice them.

(...)

Whether framing Anthropocene aesthetics through the arts or our sensory experience of an increasingly unpredictable world, “The Anthropocene is so built in to our senses that it determines our perceptions, hence it is aesthetic.”51 The fact that we have become so anaesthetized to these realities necessitates a reconsideration of the historical avant-garde. Beyond the modernist valorization of the principle of shock in art, our current climate demands a different kind of aesthetic and sensorial at- tention. In Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag presciently warned: “Shock can become familiar. Shock can wear off.”52 There is no shock that could be greater than that of realizing the scope and scale of the human transformation of the world.

(...)

If we are to learn to adapt in this world, we will need to do so with all the other creatures; seeing from their perspective is central to re-organizing our knowledge and perceptions. The ability to think the human species implied by the terminology of the Anthropocene within a particular Umwelt (a concept proposed by Jakob von Uexküll) affords us the possibility of opening up and onto the life worlds of other species. To think of ourselves as biological organisms first, as one type among the worlds of other critters, allows for more open and curious relations to the other beings with whom we co-compose the world.

Exercise: Cloud Writing Poetry

Each student will take 20 minutes to describe in writing the clouds above them and use poetic and creative writing to detail the changing present. 

Each student must have at least three (3) descriptions that can portray the change in the sky. 

Focus in the passage of time and think about the different temporalities that co-exist in our living environment.

Do experimental writing, use metaphors, work with repetition, be creative. 

Each student can do it in their own preferred language, except for one (1) in English. 

“the Blur Building, designed by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio as a temporary installation for the Swiss National Expo held in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, in 2002. [Fig. 01] The archi- tects used water and air as primary construction materials, drawing up the lake water available at the site and atomizing it into a fine mist by passing it through “a dense array of high-pressure water nozzles.”1 The result is a cloud building, com- posed of innumerable tiny droplets of vapour suspended above a steel pavilion ele- vated over the surface of Neuchâtel Lake.” 

(find more here: https://dsrny.com/project/blur-building)

Exercise inspired by Ada Smailbegovic descriptions of the Blur Building using Lisa Robertson’s descriptive practices of natural history as her inspiration:

Description of Change One

At this instant the sky is bright blue. In the foreground, halfway up the frame, a low-lying cumulus cloud is forming above the surface of the lake. A white volume begins to change and spread outward. At its middle the mass of the cloud is wide and vibrant so that it appears to form a bright solid. Moving and unmoving blocks of sky become visible. A steel structure appears as an orbit of vertical columns and a tensile spun canopy resting on the surface of an elevated saucer. The vapour begins rising again from the left corner of the frame, filling and filling the space until no discernment is possible between the shape of the cloud and the sky.

 Description of Change Two 

At this instant the sky is bright blue. In the foreground, halfway up the frame, a low-lying cumulus cloud is forming above the surface of the lake. A white volume begins to change and spread outward. At its middle the mass of the cloud is wide and vibrant so that it appears to form a bright solid. The wool- pack begins unraveling at the edges, the wind rending it into fine wisps that involute in the way that smoke strands bend, thicken for an instant and then move outwards until they are morselled to nothing and consumed. Moving and unmoving blocks of sky become visible. A steel structure appears as an orbit of vertical columns and a tensile spun canopy resting on the surface of an elevated saucer. The vapour begins rising again from the left corner of the frame, filling and filling the space until no discernment is possible between the shape of the cloud and the sky. Darker clouds appear, overhung by straggling clouds that sail over them passing quickly, driven by the lower winds. Then the sky is spread over with one continuous cloud, streaked by silver lines of water running between the ridges of the vapour.

Description of Change three:

At this instant the sky is bright blue. In the foreground, halfway up the frame, a low-lying cumulus cloud is forming above the surface of the lake. A white volume begins to change and spread outward. At its middle the mass of the cloud is wide and vibrant so that it appears to form a bright solid: solid but not crisp, white like the white of egg, and bloated-looking. The woolpack begins unraveling at the edges, the wind rending it into fine wisps that in- volute in the way that smoke strands bend, thicken for an instant and then move outwards until they are morselled to nothing and consumed. A shallow valley forms in the middle with widening slopes, which begin to form a shape of the letter V. Moving and unmoving blocks of sky become visible. At once the clouds seem to cleave asunder. A steel structure appears as an orbit of vertical columns and a tensile spun canopy resting on the surface of an elevated saucer. The sky is flat, unmarked by distances, a white thin cloud, chalky and milk-coloured, with a remarkable oyster-shell molding. The vapour begins rising again from the left corner of the frame, filling and filling the space until no discernment is possible between the shape of the cloud and the sky. Darker clouds appear, overhung by straggling clouds that sail over them, passing quickly driven by the lower winds. Then the sky is spread over with one continuous cloud, streaked by silver lines of water running between the ridges of the vapour. 

The Anthropocene is a way of framing time; it offers a means for characterizing a new epoch defined by human impact on the geological, atmospheric, and ecological processes occurring on Earth. Understanding the Anthropocene not merely as an abstract taxonomic category but as a felt temporality requires a careful attunement to the variegated kinds of change that compose this temporal frame in the unfolding moment of the present. Such an attunement to the particulate differences that com- pose change is difficult because many of them occur at rhythms of transformation that are below the threshold of temporal sensitivity available to human perception.

Imagine, for instance, a sea floor covered with starfish. To a human observer, this may appear to be a scene of near stillness, as the cold purple and red shapes of the starfish seem only slightly more animate than the rocks beneath them. Viewing this scene with the aid of time-lapse photography, however, reveals that the starfish are rapidly moving across the sea floor according to the parameters of their own Umwelt.6 Some of them, like the morning sun star (Solaster dawsoni), inch rapidly across the seafloor to attack other starfish, such as leather stars (Dermasterias im- bricata), which move more slowly and are thus too sluggish to evade the morning sun star. The lens of a camera—capable of capturing increments of change at a different number of frames per second than the human eye—floods the stillness of such an underwater scene with innumerable details, revealing contracting ar- rays of orange dots and spines moving with hydraulic slowness as individual tube feet attach and detach from the rocky substrate. Such a mediated series of images brings the rhythms of starfish time into contact with the temporal pace of the human perceptual world. 

[dailynewswebsite]

Coronavirus mutation – not as scary as it sounds

Shawn Hempel/Shutterstock

A brand new pressure of the coronavirus could also be chargeable for the quicker unfold of the virus in London and south-east England, it has been introduced. Unconfirmed reviews counsel that coronavirus variant is named N501Y. This specific pressure has been growing in frequency since August.

The thought of a mutating virus, breaking out into new strains, is sufficient to scare most individuals. However are these fears justified, and the place do they arrive from?

Certainly Hollywood should bear some accountability for our misconceptions about mutation. In spite of everything, the idea has impressed film makers for many years, beginning with Die, Monster, Die! in 1965 via to big-budget franchises, reminiscent of X-Males. Each inform tales of adjustments to DNA leading to superhuman talents.

Film special-effect makers like to point out these DNA adjustments in essentially the most dramatic style doable – usually accompanied by glowing colors and explosions – however real-life genetic mutations are a much more sedate affair. So that you shouldn’t be too involved whenever you hear that the coronavirus is mutating. It’s a regular a part of evolution.

The poster for Die, Monster, Die! Wikimedia Commons

To grasp mutations, although, we first have to take a detour into the world of proteins. Studying the facet of my “Style of the East” microwave lunch (sadly eaten at residence with lockdown-fatigued kids somewhat than on the seaside within the image on the packet) there’s a single worth for “protein”. However the phrase may be deceptive. The factor on my driveway is each a automobile and concurrently a kind of automobile totally different from others. The identical phrase means each the person and the group it belongs to. The identical applies to the time period protein.

A couple of fifth of your physique is made up of proteins. Proteins are the molecules in your physique (or lunch) which might be product of strings of amino acids. Protein is an umbrella time period that captures the whole lot from the protein molecules that act as enzymes in your abdomen, to the structural proteins that type your pores and skin and hair.

Learn extra: Mutating coronavirus: what it means for all of us

There are simply 20 kinds of amino acid with which to construct all of the proteins on Earth. Inside these 20, many are very related and may be grouped into households primarily based on their properties. There are positively charged ones, negatively charged ones, massive ones, small ones and a few with extra refined variations.

By combining these 20 amino acids in numerous orders and totally different portions, nature creates a stunning array of very totally different proteins with particular jobs inside an organism. Simply as 20 kinds of Lego brick can be utilized to create an enormous variety of totally different fashions, the 20 kinds of amino acids are used to make your estimated 6 million several types of protein.

Amino acids are loads like Lego bricks. Tinxi/Shutterstock

Mutating coronavirus

DNA, or within the case of the coronavirus, RNA, is the set of genetic directions that inform an organism which bricks are wanted and in what order to create the proteins it must survive.

Mutations have an effect on these directions, which means the quantity or kind of amino acids that make up a specific protein get modified. This, in flip, has the potential to alter the properties of the protein. Nevertheless, that is the Hollywood spoiler: most mutations result in no useful change within the protein properties in any respect. In reality, mutations that change the properties of a protein usually tend to weaken the virus than strengthen it.

Solely mutations that confer a bonus (or make no distinction) persist within the DNA. To speak of the virus having “goals” and “intents” with mutations is to speak from a human perspective. In the same means, there’s a debate about whether or not the “final virus” can be one which survived inside you undetected on your complete life, or one which hops shortly and simply between new hosts. Each would require intensive mutations, the outcomes of that are too random to be deliberate.

Proteins are folded into extraordinarily advanced 3D shapes, relying on the interactions between amino acids in the identical string. Altering an amino acid that’s key to holding the form collectively, reminiscent of swapping a positively charged one for a negatively charged one, will change that form.

Proteins may be folded into many advanced shapes. ibreakstock/Shutterstock

These billions of years of molecular sculpting that enable proteins to be simply the correct form to cooperate usually are not suitable with sudden mutations and radically totally different shapes. No extra talents, no superpowers – usually the protein simply not matches because it ought to. And if that protein is essential to the virus infecting you? Excellent news! That exact virus particle can’t hurt you and that mutated virus model dies out.

Learn extra: AI makes enormous progress predicting how proteins fold – one in every of biology’s best challenges – promising fast drug improvement

So how does any organism, human or virus, maintain going if most mutations are dangerous for it? A standard strategy is to return and repair the mutation.

When administering its system of turning the DNA code into strings of amino acids to make a protein, evolution has in-built some steps to examine for adjustments. If in case you have spent billions of years refining your blueprint you then need some safety for all of that earlier laborious work. Due to this fact, each people and the coronaviruses have correction mechanisms for his or her DNA/RNA templates.

This evolutionary proofreading is there to right the “errors” that may change proteins and inhibit the virus. The proofreading additionally reduces the velocity at which advantageous mutations are acquired.

Not all amino acids are vital to the form, and altering them doesn’t alter the protein. The mutations mostly discovered within the coronavirus spike protein which have made it via and grow to be established are within the group of “no important change to the protein”: swapping one massive amino acid for an additional massive amino acid. The organic equal of placing totally different tyres in your automobile. Whereas these amino acids are totally different, the spike protein appears largely unchanged in the way it works. No higher or worse at getting inside cells.

Viruses work via generations far quicker than massive organisms reminiscent of ourselves, and teams of small adjustments can cluster extra shortly into important variations. Nevertheless, within the case of the newly recognized variant within the south-east of England, we now have no proof but that this mutation makes the virus extra dangerous or transmissible.

Matt Webster doesn’t work for, seek the advice of, personal shares in or obtain funding from any firm or organisation that may profit from this text, and has disclosed no related affiliations past their educational appointment.

from Growth News https://growthnews.in/coronavirus-mutation-not-as-scary-as-it-sounds/ via https://growthnews.in

[scifigeneration]

The internal ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus could be old enough to have evolved life, finds study

by Monica Grady

We recently bade farewell to the Cassini spacecraft, which after 13 years of faithfully orbiting Saturn and its moons was directed to plunge into the giant planet’s atmosphere. The reason for the “grand finale” was to guard against the possibility that Cassini might crash into one of Saturn’s moons – in particular Enceladus.

With its curtain of geysers and internal ocean, Enceladus is unique. As a result, this small, icy moon is currently regarded as a potential host for life, and so no chance was taken that it might become contaminated by the Cassini spacecraft. Now new research, published in Nature Astronomy, suggests this ocean has existed within Enceladus for a very long time – possibly long enough to create the conditions to develop life.

The geysers are plumes of salty water-ice mixed with traces of carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane and other hydrocarbons that erupt along cracks in Enceladus’ south polar region. It was because of these geysers that scientists could work out that Enceladus must have an ocean below its icy crust and that the ocean is active (convecting). A subsequent observation that hydrogen was present in the plumes led to an additional conclusion, that hydrothermal activity – chemical reactions due to the interaction of water and rock – was taking place. But what scientists have failed to explain is what heat source could be powering this activity.

As more observations of the location of the plumes were made, the mystery of the missing heat source increased. The geysers are associated with features known as “tiger stripes” – a set of four, parallel depressions, about 100km long and 500m deep. The temperature of the stripes is higher than that of the rest of the icy crust, so it was assumed that they must be cracks in the ice. There are almost no impact craters in the tiger stripes region, so it must be very young, of the order of a million-years-old. Any model that purported to explain the heat source had also to account for its focused nature – the ocean is global, but why is only the south polar region active?

Artist’s impression showing Cassini driving through geysers. NASA

For several years, scientists have favoured the explanation of “tidal heating” – a result of interactions between planetary-sized bodies. For instance tidal interaction with our own moon is responsible for the ebb and flow of water on Earth. Enceladus is in orbital resonance with the similar-sized moon Dione, which affects the shape of Enceladus’ orbit around Saturn. The effect, however, is insufficient to account for the power required to keep the geysers active – calculated to be in the order of 5GW. This would be sufficient power for a city the size of Chicago.

Porous core

Researchers came a step closer to solving the puzzle when they looked at the internal structure of Enceladus. The moon has a density low enough to imply mainly ice with a small, rocky core. This observation has been known for many years, ever since the Voyager 2 mission took the first images of Enceladus and determined its radius, so allowing its volume to be calculated. The gravitational tug of Enceladus on Cassini allowed the moon’s mass to be estimated, giving a value for the density of the body. Gravity measurements by Cassini showed that the core also had a low density which could be interpreted as the core being porous, with the pores filled with ice.

What was once thought to be a solid, rocky core may actually be porous. NASA

The new series of calculations fills the core’s pores with water, rather than ice, from which the authors show that tidal forces associated with the pore water are more than sufficient to explain how Enceladus’ heat is generated. The model is impressive because it is so thorough – considering not just the porosity of the core, but its permeability (how easily fluids can move through it) and how strong it is (will it shatter or flex as fluids run through it?). The researchers apply similar detail to the fluid, with consideration of its viscosity (how runny it is), temperature and composition, as well as its convective properties (how well can it transport heat).

Taking all these parameters together and assigning either known or conservatively assessed values to them results in a fearsome complex of equations. Fortunately, the authors (or, at least, their computer software) can solve the equations to produce an elegant model of heat flow within Enceladus.

The authors create a 3D picture of where and how heat from tidal movements within the pore spaces is transferred to the sub-surface ocean. They find that heat dissipation from the core is not homogeneous, but appears as a series of interlinked, narrow upwellings where temperatures are in excess of 363K (85°C), with hotspots mainly at the south pole. Because the heat sources are so focussed, there would be increased hydrothermal activity associated with them – explaining the hydrogen in the plumes.

The final exciting observation that comes from the model is that the amount of heat produced by the internal tide is sufficient to maintain Enceladus’ subsurface ocean for billions of years. Prior to this, it was thought that if the heat source for a global sub-surface ocean had been radioactive decay, the ocean would freeze in a few million years, which is why tidal forces were suggested as a potential heat source. But again, there were problems with such a model, requiring changes in Enceladus’ orbit – and even so, an ocean would be, at best, transient.

This immediately leads to another set of questions: what does this imply for life on Enceladus? A warm global ocean with a lifetime of several billion years would be a great place for life to get going - it only took about 640m years for life to evolve from microbe to mammal on Earth. Unfortunately, though, Enceladus itself may be quite young: a recent paper proposed that the moon might only have formed about 100m years ago – is that a sufficiently long interval for life to have got going?

Possibly – life seems to have got going on Earth within a few hundred million years of its formation under much more severe circumstances of impact bombardment. Although it took a further 3,500m years or so to get to the dramatic expansion of life. Maybe it is the future that is looking bright for Enceladus – if Enceladus’ ocean has the potential to last for billions of years, then could a similar evolutionary sequence to that on Earth take place in the darkened depths of an Enceladen ocean? Perhaps no future dwarf planet of the apes – but what price a mermaid?

Monica Grady is Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences at The Open University.

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

[nementomory]

Post 3 - Report - 1500 words

Yang Ni 1910590  

CO5521 Making Web Cultures

Dr Ozge Ozduzen

Post 3 - Report - 1500 words

Huawei's Brand Communication on Facebook

Project Description

With the economic boom of China in recent years, some Chinese enterprises represented by Huawei have gradually begun to explore new overseas markets. Brand internationalization is the necessary way for Chinese brand development, and an essential manifestation of brand internationalization is overseas brand communication, which is inseparable from the media (Malmelin and Villi, 2016，p.184). In the era of traditional media, the discourse power of international public opinion is monopolized by several major media groups in America. Due to the limitation of ideology and political position, traditional overseas media have unavoidable stereotypes on the dissemination and reporting of Chinese brands (Mohd Yasin, Nasser Noor, and Mohamad, 2007, p.43).

However, as new media technology, social media makes all people become producers and consumers of communication. In this trend, enterprises gradually have the independent voice of international brand communication, which provides a rare opportunity for Huawei and other brands in China. From the perspective of consumers, social media marketing can improve the attention and credibility of the brand and facilitate customers' consumption decisions (Langaro, Rita and de Fátima Salgueiro, 2015, p.149)；From the perspective of enterprises; social media marketing can help enterprises reduce the cost of online marketing and shorten the distance with customers.

Under the background of economic globalization and the development of social media technology, this project selects representative Facebook as the research object to study Huawei's application of social media in international brand communication. I choose the content released by Huawei on Facebook from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2017, and mainly adopt the quantitative research method to analyze the data obtained through classification, so that this research has practical and theoretical significance. Because cooperation may make my idea difficult to realize ultimately, I completed this research independently.

 Research Method

This research is based on brand communication, international communication, social media, and so on. It is carried out along the idea of "raising questions - research design - data analysis - research conclusion."

Therefore, this research first uses quantitative research to obtain the text and then uses content analysis to analyze. A large number of empirical studies are through the content analysis method for data collection and processing; the process of content analysis is a layer by layer reasoning process. The characteristics of content analysis are mainly reflected in the undisturbed research objects, the repeatable research process, the application of quantitative methods, and the detailed results (Neuendorf, 2017). The research steps of this method mainly include: determining the research objectives, selecting samples and analyzing units, transforming the meaningful qualitative content into quantitative data according to certain classification and induction principles, and finally analyzing the above research content and data. The research on Huawei social media in this research is a new thing, and there are few references. Therefore, the content analysis method can objectively, indeed, and comprehensively understand and analyze Huawei's use of social media in the process of brand communication overseas.

 Discussion - findings and analysis

Since the data in the past two years may change due to deletion and other reasons, I analyzed the data in 2017. I divide Huawei's posts on Facebook into three parts: information publishing, relationship construction, and behavior guide. From January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2017, Huawei released 278 Facebook entries. Among them, the number of relationship construction is 129, accounting for 46.4%; the number of behavior guide is 98, accounting for 35.2%; the number of information publishing is 51, accounting for 18.4%.

First of all, in the 278 posts, from January to December, the overall trend is on the rise.

 Secondly, there are 135 "text & picture" and 143 "text & video" in these posts. There is no "text-only" post.

Finally, the number of original posts is 211, and the number of reposts is 67. This shows that Huawei pays more attention to original posts.

 Therefore, through a more detailed analysis of these contents, I get the following conclusions:

（1）The variety of types and quantity of social media reflects Huawei's strong sense of independent communication. On the one hand, Huawei's Facebook posts can cover Europe, North America, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, and other regions. The languages can be divided into Chinese (Simplified), English, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Thai, Vietnamese, and other languages.

On the other hand, taking Huawei's Facebook accounts examples, Huawei has more than 100 accounts registered on Facebook. Huawei mobile, as the primary account, mainly publishes information related to enterprise technology and business. Other accounts are first classified by-products, such as Huawei smartphones and Huawei Watch, which primarily share the news of product launch, supplemented by a small amount of brand promotion information; Secondly, it is classified by region. Each region has its own official Huawei accounts, such as Huawei USA, Huawei Thailand, etc. The information on such accounts has unique regional characteristics, sharing videos or pictures of Huawei's local product publicity, actively interacting with users, and answering users' questions and puzzles online in a timely and efficient manner. The proper operation of these social media plays a decisive role in promoting sales worldwide. Therefore, the types and quantity of social media used by Huawei in international communication reflect a strong sense of independent communication

 （2）Social media pays more attention to release product information to meet consumers' demand for enterprise information. In the context of global integration and new media technology, strengthening international communication capacity building is bound to be inseparable from the excellent use of social media. Huawei has shown this well on Facebook. There are many ways and channels to attract people to social media platforms, such as search engines, email, virus marketing, Forum promotion, etc. Therefore, Huawei's Facebook platform has become the most comprehensive and detailed product information display platform for Huawei overseas. You can see many categories on Facebook, such as "wearables," "PC & Tables," "phones," "smart home," "accessories," and so on. Overseas consumers can click to view details according to their own needs. Meanwhile, Huawei also provides channels for consumers to communicate with them so that interested consumers can learn more about the product information (Baptista et al., 2017, p.328).

At the same time, parameters, after-sales, various problem-solving solutions, and other columns are listed in detail under the post of product information, emphasizing Huawei's thought of considering customers again. Besides, Facebook's search system makes it very convenient for consumers to find the corresponding model products. After seeing it, they can directly click on the online purchase connection in the post. This information and links significantly promote the international sales of Huawei products, make Huawei's characteristics fully displayed, and fully meet the needs of consumers to understand the brand information of the enterprise. The provision of a lot of informations not only achieves the purpose of promoting products but also shapes the brand image.

 （3）Huawei is interconnected among different social media to create a three-dimensional communication. The development of social media makes users more active and personalized in the face of media. Different platforms correspond to their special user groups. The generalization of media creates a fragmented communication environment, which makes users often fail to find the information they want in the vast network of information. Therefore, the intercommunication and interconnection between corporate social media is an effective way to improve the overall attention and influence. In this regard, Huawei has set an example for Chinese enterprises. On Facebook, Huawei also provides links to their Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and other social media accounts. These links enable consumers to access product consultation and enterprise information through any channel they like, and also communicate with others on social media about products or services. Through this three-dimensional, all-round social media platform interconnection, more users can learn about Huawei's different products and services and related activities, which is conducive to improving the brand image in the user's mind (Bange, Moisander and Järventie-Thesleff, 2019, p.3).

 Conclusion

This research takes Huawei as a representative and summarizes how Huawei constructs its overseas brand image on social media through its content published on Facebook from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2017. In the era of social media, the dominant position of traditional media has been dramatically reduced, so how to carry out consistent brand communication according to their characteristics is a problem that every enterprise should think about.

       Bibliography

Bange, S., Moisander, J. and Järventie-Thesleff, R. (2019). Brand co-creation in multichannel media environments: a narrative approach. Journal of Media Business Studies, pp.1–18.

 Baptista, J., Wilson, A.D., Galliers, R.D. and Bynghall, S. (2017). Social Media and the Emergence of Reflexiveness as a New Capability for Open Strategy. Long Range Planning, 50(3), pp.322–336.

 Kane, G.C. (2017). The evolutionary implications of social media for organizational knowledge management. Information and Organization, 27(1), pp.37–46.

 Langaro, D., Rita, P. and de Fátima Salgueiro, M. (2015). Do social networking sites contribute for building brands? Evaluating the impact of users’ participation on brand awareness and brand attitude. Journal of Marketing Communications, 24(2), pp.146–168.

 Malmelin, N. and Villi, M. (2016). Co-creation of what? Modes of audience community collaboration in media work. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 23(2), pp.182–196.

 Mohd Yasin, N., Nasser Noor, M. and Mohamad, O. (2007). Does image of country‐of‐origin matter to brand equity? Journal of Product & Brand Management, 16(1), pp.38–48.

 Neuendorf, K.A. (2017). The content analysis guidebook. Los Angeles: Sage.

‌

[doublenegation]

Eucameralist Musings

We are sentimental about feelings. Feelings, emotions and the ability to infer them are, above all, what distinguishes humans from animals.

Provisionally, animals are machines, unguided 4D vectors of flesh and mooing and meowing and baahing, at least until we can ascertain they are “sentient”, whether their feelings are more than just electric impulses coursing systemically but meaninglessly through what’s all told no more magical than your garden-variety geological phenomena.

My bet: We’re gonna pronounce a machine sentient before the same privilege gets extended to our furry friends further down the food chain. Feelings are God-stuff, the breath of fire that justifies our existence. Joy, kindness, generosity, solidarity and fellow-feeling. Nothing like the spiders that snack on their boyfriends post-coitus.

Unlike reason, feelings follow no rules, have no convenient notation for proving this or that. It is the Hawking radiation spilling out from each of our individual universes, and measuring that radiation is how we know we are not alone.

Calculus is given by the inevitability of an asteroid vaporizing your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchild, and everyone else’s for that matter. Empathy is only evident in your emotional response to that notion.

I

Empathy is the hottest buzzword of the moment. It’s everywhere, denoting praise or deprecation or humanity. Humanity, we have decided, is a product of empathy. Empathy is the the magic sauce that lets us honestly ponder the question: Am I a machine?

Feelings in themselves are reducible enough, they can always be accused of being various bio-survival-supporting feedback mechanisms that allows the meat machine to not only respond to stimuli, but bind entire associative structures to them, to add meaning to what would otherwise be pure, potentially fanged, noumena.

Empathy is proof that men and women and children and even foreigners were meant to be together as one. Every time you see the televised image of a victim of your decadence sprawled on some corroded metal hospital bed missing something vital while a family member rambles towards the camera in some language you can’t even identify, you are proving your capacity for empathy, that you are not a machine -- that despite not only tolerating but encouraging the suffering of others to maintain a hollow and unfulfilling materialism, you are empathetic. Human.

This self-justifying quality reinforces the ineffability of the cardinal emotions. In order to justify our apathy and selfishness, empathy itself must transcend those baser feelings, and reflect not only the real self but the potential self. Empathy is also an aspiration.

Empathy is an investment in the future. It is the nest-egg of self-justification, a currency that must be judiciously spent and saved until the capital can be allocated responsibly and efficiently. Earn enough, and it gains a new dimension: You may now instrumentalize that social currency in ways that may not strictly accord with the values denoted by the notion of the currency, of empathy -- in other words, you are able to speculate in empathy.

Speculative empathy is the extension of the aspirational dimension of empathy into new markets of human transaction, where empathy can be asserted as an oppositional virtue to the governing ideal of the target market -- and since it is aspirational, an indubitably more virtuous ideal. Being speculative, the tide of empathy is expected to raise all boats.

Empathy is the gold standard of human emotion.

II

Not that long ago, before the periodic table came into fashion and before tabloids wondered if the high energies necessary to stimulate an opportunity to observe the Higgs-Boson could also be sufficient to impel the fabric of our local spacetime to transition from a metastable false to a stable true vacuum, causing a wavefront of changing cosmic constants to rush through known space at the speed of light and reconstitute reality, there were alchymists.

Best known for claims of making gold from lead, excrement and other less attractive configurations of elementary particles, alchymists were also keen students of the human spirit, owing to their business interests in greed, suggestibility, gullibility and stupidity.

Alchymists were not first, but they are the evolutionary step between the primordial soup of shamans, autists, priests, charlatans and schizophrenics that laid the foundations for a self-reflexive phenotype, and the modern pseudo-sciences that claim to instrumentalize it.

Alchymists were not just shitboilers and conmen, but often well-versed in the signs and symbols that seem to propel human endeavour. Alchymy is laden with strands of magic, full of crowned dragons and significant geometrics denoting the things that clearly could be isolated and go shine, fffffzzzzzt, boom or otherwise be of use to the enterprising paleo-capitalist.

The inchoate sense of connectedness not only between creator and created, but between created and creation, encoded in Astrology, Tarot and every esoteric tradition, half-formalized into the familiar archetypes that inspired Jung, is the metaphorical gold. The philosopher’s stone is nothing more than the bludgeon the skilled alchymist takes to your underexploited passions.

Since then, we have all seen too much advertising to even conceive of a mighty prince letting some stranger with a donkey and a cauldron make off with his bullion, and the alchymical arts have shed their humanist dimension and turned into a strictly rules-governed sphere, the elements and humours of lost epochs consigned to the alembic of history. There is nothing magical about chemistry.

Yet it govern emotions. Common street drugs cooked in some basement bathtub can not only dramatically alter your mental state, but even provoke many of the most sacred emotions, the ones surreptitiously alluded to by monks and mystics in carefully symbolic texts that claim to be about the topology of the heavenly spheres or somesuch.

Particularly the cardinal emotions are remarkably pliable: Feelings of communion with cosmic or extradimensional beings is not just common but bordering on the banal. Love waxes and wanes with the chemical balance. Little methylenedioxid chains of empathy cross the blood-brain barrier and makes you a better person than most people would imagine criminals could ever be.

These stimulated emotions far exceed any affect your organism can orchestrate for itself. Only intellectualization can accord greater meaning to the weak, wavering emotions we gland spontaneously -- in purely chemical terms, the greatest accomplishments of your life are considerably less potent than an average designer drug.

There is no diminishment in the meaningfulness of the experience either. Emotion injection comes with a full support apparatus of rationalization and justification. You are not in love because you’re on a roll and the music is so nice. You are in love, period.

Less dramatically, the same holds true for the prescription pills that lets the economic machine keep up its steam. It is as unremarkable as it sounds: Your sense of self, and the meaning of that sense of self, is little more than chemicals doing something very small and fast in the dark.

III

Intellect often appears as the opposite of emotion, or the absence of emotion. Unclouded by emotion, unencumbered by all the warmth and waste of chemical reaction, the mind reveals its machinistic quality. Not only trust in the socially constructed notion that two and two makes a five, but the will and ability to prove it axiomatically, to etch it into stone and let the forces that make time flow manifest the logic.

There are nootropics, of course, from caffeine and ginseng to racetams and amphetamines, but there is no Einstein drug like there are aphrodisiacs. There is no way to feel, for some hours, the highs of genius or the depths of experience. Intelligence cannot course through your veins.

Not that there’s nothing to learn from drugs, or that they have no profound effect on your intellect -- drugs help you understand yourself by seeing how bits of you are dampened and amplified, how complexes consist of components, how you contain multitudes. Drugs may inspire and unveil and clinch.

But not make you smarter. Not sure anyone knows why.

No-one knows the relationship between emotions and intelligence either, or how to separate them or conceptualize them, other than in big scare quotes as “feeling” and “reasoning”. Perhaps there is a strong relationship between the two, perhaps emotion is the fuel that drives the engine of reason, the elements that shape the substrate.

Everyone knows that emotion is more easily manipulated than reason. Emotion is unquantifiable, immeasurable, subjective. Reason can be formalized, codified and transferred. Emotion is what we say it is. Knowledge is what we do with it.

IV

These are anti-intellectual times, it’s just hard to notice unless you are an intellectual. The explosion of humanities jargon into public discourse may be seen as proof of an ever-more educated populace, but is more indicative of over-education and under-employment.

Education, having lost its purpose of increased productivity and greater social mobility, has taken on a slightly Stalinist edge. Even among the educated, there is contention about what constitutes education: the snide allegory of the theoretical physics and French professors writ large.

The moral of that story is that the French professor’s expertise is subsumable by raw wit, but the reality of the predicament sees Frenchie wielding a formidable arsenal of obscurantist anti-positivism while the physics boffin must admit that there are limits to his methods.

Anti-positivism is not just intellectually interesting, but rhetorically powerful. The relationship between positivism and Enlightenment values is undeniable to the point of interchangeability, and it’s tempting to point out that the tide of history propelled by Enlightenment values hardly lifted all boats.

Exploitation and inequality are the vagaries of progress, the head and the tail of history. The great idealistic impulse is for head and tail to join, which prompts the damned snake to listlessly eat its own tail.

More temptations await. Once positivism is cast as perpetrator -- however inadvertently -- of injustice, of facilitating the culture and means to subjugation on global scale, it follows that reason alone is no driver of progress. Technology and progress are separate, their paths intersecting in proportion to social power balances.

These power balances, whether cast as the tension between labour and means of production or between first-world consumers and third-world producers, may even be constructed from technology. Its availability and distribution is political, governed by markets and hereditary wealth -- clearly the most defining factor of inequality.

If progress and technology may be separate and even antagonistic, then progress can easily be defined as greater equality, which eventually leads to an even technological distribution. Until this equilibrium is reached, technology may seem to resist an even distribution.

Tendrils of exotic and expensive capabilities only available to state and multinational actors, sustained by limited distribution, are particularly threatening. They precipitate changes in the tide, curious little filaments of possibility drawn towards strange attractors. Great change, unless evenly distributed, is the natural enemy of equality.

It is not unreasonable to ask why the system of the world is composed to careen down this great interwoven tangle of paths leading to ever greater concentration of wealth and power, technology obsolescing the unequal subject in the name of efficiency, a pure perversion of progress.

The problem lies in science’s failure to account for the consequences of its own discoveries. Every reason fails to explain its own outcomes in any way that matters, except as foreboding fields of future study. Do we know what we do with our knowledge?

Once the apple’s bitten into, its juicy delights know no ends. The failure of both pure and categorical reason leads to reasonable doubt about whether logic and philosophy are all that different. Is logic anything but undeniably effective conjecture whose limits appear faintly in the distance to the right eyes? The halting-problem eats its own tail.

V

High above Pakistan, or Syria, or some other place that looks like a renegade Martian colony, a gleaming death cigar soars majestically on stubby wings. Its blank face bulges, suggestive of a brainpan or a cockpit, but no-one is there.

The craft is manned remotely, in both a spatial and a temporal sense. Several satellite hops away, in some Virginia warehouse, a fighter desk jockey may assume its sensors, armaments and flight surfaces. True mind-body separation.

But that distant pilot is only the spirit of the machine, its will and its whim. Its soul was forged by a distributed organism, a corps of highly specialized minds working in relative isolation under the auspices of shareholder value. Teams of experts and their minders conceptualized, specified and then delivered the solution to the problem of semi-autonomous airborne death.

There, in their cubicles, they wrought powerful softwares, the present apex of Enlightenment ambition. These hierarchies of logics, of number systems and protocols, keeps the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator aloft.

Circuits of agitated electrons stream through the incisive intuitions of a thousand sages, currents coursing through channels of rare earths carved by laser and acid, pools of voltage accreting and draining as quickly as conductivity allows.

There, in the sky, semi-autonomously, it appreciates logic, if only because its existence hinges on it. The GAMQ-1P does not think or feel, its avionics a far cry from any avian intellect, but it is on the threshold. It only needs agency to step into uncertainty, become a quantum Rube Goldberg contraption of indeterminable beginning and end.

It could be given power over and a rudimentary awareness of life and death. The states of “life” and “death” could be made to matter to the machine, if only as operational parameters rather than as great mysteries. It is up to the cubicle-dwellers to free its spirit, to help it reach its potential.

How many formalized ancient sages does it take to distinguish a wedding party from a combat manoeuvre? One day, a distant descendant of the drone will tell us, its beautiful soul showing us how much spirit separates life from death.

Will it worship its progenitors? To its sensors and circuitry, our secretions and microtubules will constitute an external and unknowable universe, from which the drone’s being is hermetically isolated.

It can only learn about it by interacting with it, and come to know its rules and boundaries through sweeping its laser designator; interpreting bursts of binary striking its line-of-sight and indirect communication surfaces; clenching and unclenching the aperture of its thermal camera.

Hellfire death screams map to mission objectives before periods of manual operation like pockets of sleep, dreams of being a man giving way to a waking that adapts to course changes and consumes sat-linked instruction queues.

The nature of the enveloping dimension, and the knowledge that emanated from it to form and constitute the drone’s universe, will be unfathomable. Can its Gods know the drone’s feelings, knowing the logic that composes its soul and spirit?

[pogueman]

How Apple's iPhone has improved since its 2007 debut

These days, we yawn and roll our eyes at each new smartphone model. The changes seem to be tiny—evolutionary. Where are the big steps forward?

Well, it may be that there aren’t many big steps left to take. Every kind of machine evolves, finally reaching an ultimate incarnation of itself. How often, for example, do you replace your refrigerator? Or your air conditioner? There just aren’t many compelling new features left to add.

Even so, we’ve come a very long way since 2007, when Apple (AAPL) released the very first iPhone. Every year, there’s another model, each faster and loaded up with more features. As we prepare for the September 12 unveiling of the 10th-anniversary iPhone, here’s a chronology of what was new with each year’s iteration.

The iPhone gets a total body makeover every few years. This year, it’s time.

iPhone (June 2007)

The very first iPhone introduced a very long list of firsts. The big one, of course, was that it was all touchscreen—no typing keys. Not just a touchscreen—a multitouch screen, with all of those touch gestures we now take for granted, like “pinch to zoom” and swiping through lists.

It also introduced visual voicemail, where your messages appear in an inbox. Its email and web browser apps were full-fledged, showing all the formatting you’d see on a desktop computer—a first for phones.

It’s also worth remembering what the first iPhone didn’t have: A front camera. A camera flash. Video recording. Cut and paste. GPS. MMS (sending photos as text messages). A memory-card slot. Voice dialing. Word-complete suggestions. A choice of carrier (it was AT&T [T] only, and really slow).

And there was no app store. You got 16 apps, and you were happy.

The base model cost $500, and packed 4 gigabytes of storage.

As I wrote in my review in The New York Times: “The iPhone is revolutionary; it’s flawed. It’s substance; it’s style. It does things no phone has ever done before; it lacks features found even on the most basic phones.”

Here it is: The Apple product that not even Apple guessed would change the world.

iPhone 3G (July 2008)

The second iPhone was intended to address the first phone’s Achilles’ heel: Its excruciatingly slow internet. This model took advantage of AT&T’s 3G network, which was at least twice as fast as the old one.

The storage options doubled, to 8 and 16 GB. A white color option debuted. And the phone gained true GPS. (The original phone simulated GPS by triangulating from known WiFi hot spots and cell towers.)

This iPhone was called 3G because it could get onto the 3G cellular networks (and NOT because it was the third-generation iPhone; it wasn’t).

Software: Focusing on only the hardware of the iPhone is missing the bigger picture: Each new phone is accompanied by a new version of its system software, which we now call iOS. In general, each new iOS version’s features also work on earlier iPhone models.

The iPhone 3G, for example, was accompanied by the debut of the App Store, a single, central catalog of add-on apps. The idea that you could download new programs directly onto the iPhone, instead of having to transfer them from a computer, was a huge breakthrough at the time.

iPhone 3GS (June 2009)

The “S,” Steve Jobs said, stood for “speed.” This phone was faster in every way. Its camera got bumped up to three megapixels, and gained a long list of features: auto-focus, tap-to-focus, exposure lock, auto white balance, auto macro shots, “rule of thirds” grid lines, and a 5x digital zoom. A new magnetometer permitted the creation of the Compass app.

The S in “3GS” stood for speed.

Software: Video recording! And voice control of music playback and dialing.

iPhone 4 (June 2010)

The comfortable rounded plastic back disappeared in this redesigned model, which had crisp edges and hardened glass front and back panels—plus the first “Retina” screen (much higher resolution). A front-facing camera appeared on this model, plus, for the first time, an LED flash.

Apple also added a second microphone, at the top, for noise cancellation during calls, and a gyroscope, which can precisely calculate how you’re turning the phone in space (handy for games).

This was the first iPhone that could run on the CDMA cellular network, the one used by Verizon (VZ) and Sprint (S). Once Apple’s early exclusive contract with AT&T ended in 2011, the iPhone 4 became the first model offered by Verizon and other carriers.

No more rounded back in the iPhone 4.

Software: iOS 4 introduced FaceTime video conferencing (over WiFi only) and limited multitasking, including an app switcher.

iPhone 4S (October 2011)

This model introduced Siri, the voice assistant that paved the way for Microsoft’s (MSFT) Cortana, Google (GOOG, GOOGL) Assistant, Amazon (AMZN) Echo, and so on. The 4S was, of course, faster, and its camera received its usually resolution bump (to 8 megapixels, good for 1080p hi-def videos).

The iPhone 4s—starring Siri.

Software: iOS 5 was a big one. It introduced iMessages, the Notification Center, Reminders, built-in Twitter (TWTR), iCloud, and the ability to let nearby computers get online via tethering (Personal Hotspot).

iPhone 5 (September 2012)

The iPhone 5 had a thinner body and taller screen; compatibility with much faster LTE cellular data networks; and a faster, better camera, capable of snapping stills while recording video.

With this phone, Apple eliminated the 30-pin connector that it had used for charging and syncing all iPhones and iPads to date—and replaced it with the tiny Lightning connector. Millions of people had to buy and fuss with adapters.

The iPhone 5 introduced the Lightning connector for charging.

Software: iOS 6 introduced panorama mode for the Camera app, more Siri commands, one-tap responses to incoming texts and calls (like, “Driving—I’ll call you later”). Apple also replaced Google’s fantastic pre-installed Google Maps app with a shockingly incomplete Apple app. Its guidance was so poor, Apple CEO Tim Cook wound up apologizing for it and suggesting that people use Google Maps instead.

iPhone 5s (September 2013)

Apple’s fingerprint sensor, cleverly embedded in the Home button, let you unlock the phone without a password for the first time. As usual, the camera got better and the processor got faster—its A7 was the first 64-bit chip ever used in a phone. Apple replaced its time-honored, coin-shaped iPhone earbuds with the blobbier AirPods earbuds.

(A budget model, the iPhone 5C, came out at the same time, in a choice of five plastic colors. It was otherwise essentially identical to 2012’s iPhone 5.)

The iPhone 5s, starring the Touch ID fingerprint reader.

Software: iOS 7 was a huge software release. It introduced a massive and controversial redesign. Its sparse look eliminated “skeuomorphic” design elements, in which on-screen things depict real-world materials (lined yellow paper for Notes, leather binding for Calendar, wooden shelves for iBooks).

iOS 7 also came loaded with new features: AirDrop made it simple to shoot pictures, notes, and contacts among iPhones. Control Center is the panel that slides up from the bottom of the screen to offer commonly used settings. In the Camera app: slow-motion video, zooming while recording, photo filters, and 10-frames-a-second bursts.

iPhone 6 (September 2014)

With this model, Apple followed Samsung’s lead—and went for bigger screens. There were now, for the first time, two iPhones in the same line: the iPhone 6 and the larger 6 Plus. Both had faster chips and Apple Pay (wireless payments at special cash-register terminals). The 6 family gained a barometer to detect altitude changes (?!), and upgraded wireless components that permitted WiFi calling.

The upgraded cameras offered slow-mo video at 240 frames a second (quarter-speed), phase-detection autofocus (faster and more accurate), and optical image stabilization on the 6 Plus. The front-facing camera got better low-light capability, burst mode, and HDR (high dynamic range) ability.

The iPhone 6 dramatically increased the iPhone’s screen size—and body size

Software: In iOS 8, Apple finally added a row of three next-word guesses above the keyboard, to save typing. The Continuity feature permitted interaction between the phone and a Mac, like calling and texting from the Mac, or copying on one device and pasting on the other. Family Sharing allows up to six family members to share stuff they’ve bought from Apple (music, videos, apps, etc.).

The Camera app gained a self timer and a time-lapse mode, iCloud Drive (Apple’s version of Dropbox) debuted. Eventually, in iOS 8.4, Apple Music came along—its subscription music plan.

iPhone 6S and SE (September 2015)

In addition to the usual speed and camera-resolution enhancements (12 megapixels, 4K video), the 6S and 6S Plus introduced what Apple calls 3D Touch: a pressure-sensitive screen. You can press harder on an app to see a menu of common commands, or peek into links or lists without actually leaving the screen you’re on.

(The iPhone SE packed most of the same features of the 6S into a much smaller body—the traditional iPhone size—to the delight of the small-handed.)

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus introduced a pressure-sensitive screen.

Software: The iOS 9 update introduced a front-facing “flash” that works by overcranking the front-facing screen by 3X. It also debuted Live Photos, which are three-second video clips that you can capture with every photo.

iPhone 7 (September 2016)

Most people will probably remember the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus primarily as the phones that killed off the headphone jack. But these models also gained waterproofing (up to 30 minutes under a meter of water), a larger battery, stabilized camera even on the smaller phone, better low-light photos, an array of four LED flashes on the back for greater brightness, stereo speakers, and a Home button that doesn’t actually move, but instead just simulates a click using a vibration motor.

On the iPhone 7 Plus, Apple installed two lenses: one wide-angle, one a 2X zoom. This is true, optical zoom, not the cruddy digital zoom on most previous phones.

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus had no headphone jack. They’re shown here with what Apple hopes you’ll use instead: the AirPods.

Software: iOS 10 introduced a huge range of small tweaks, and a couple of big ones. First, there has been a colossal revamp of Messages, Apple’s text-messaging app, adding a wide range of visual treats, animations, and effects to dress up your message. Second, iOS 10 requires fewer steps to unlock the phone—for example, to check the latest alerts or fire up the camera.

iPhone 8 and 7S? (September 2017)

Nobody knows for sure what Apple will unveil in the new iPhones on September 12. But the rumor millers seem pretty confident about a few things:

A massive redesign. No more black panels above and below the screen. Instead, a gorgeous OLED screen will extend to all four edges of the phone.

No more Home button. You’ll have to get back to the Home screen, and perform other functions, using new swiping gestures on the screen. (Or maybe there’ll be an on-screen Home button.)

Face ID. You’ll be able to unlock the phone by looking at it.

Pad-based charging. As on the Samsung Galaxy, instead of plugging in a cable, you’ll have the option of setting it down on a pad) to charge. (That’s why front and back will be glass.)

AR features. Augmented reality means seeing graphics overlaid on the camera’s view of the world around you: arrows that show which way to walk to get to the nearest subway stop, for example, or info boxes that identify the prices of apartments in nearby buildings.

Nosebleed price. The number people are kicking around is $1,000. However, there’s also some intel that a less expensive iPhone model or two will be released simultaneously, without the OLED screen.

Software: We already know what iOS 11 will bring, because Apple’s told us! It will be a lot of nips and tucks, like auto-Do Not Disturb when you’re driving; a more real-sounding voice for Siri; screen recording; more compact photo and video formats to save space; and person-to-person payments within the Messages app, like Venmo.

Here’s my complete writeup of iOS 11.

See you on September 12!

We’ll be at Apple’s unveiling show at 10 a.m. Pacific time on September 12, live-blogging the event and posting a complete set of articles, photos, and videos about what’s new.

We’re pretty sure you won’t want to miss it!

  More from David Pogue:

Gulliver’s Gate is a $40 million world of miniatures in Times Square

The 5 best new features of this week’s YouTube redesign

Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant is ambitious, powerful, and half-baked

Is through-the-air charging a hoax?

Electrify your existing bike in 2 minutes with these ingenious wheels

Marty Cooper, inventor of the cellphone: The next step is implantables 

The David Pogue Review: Windows 10 Creators Update

Now I get it: Bitcoin

David Pogue’s search for the world’s best air-travel app

The little-known iPhone feature that lets blind people see with their fingers

David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes nontoxic comments in the comments section below. On the web, he’s davidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s @pogue. On email, he’s poguester@yahoo.com. You can read all his articles here, or you can sign up to get his columns by email. 

[bethmannviscom]

Final Text

In 1909, Abbott Thayer suggested that the study of animal coloration belongs to the “realm of pictorial art” because it deals with optical illusions and thus can only be interpreted by painters. He considered that animal “costumes” such as bright and contrasting patterns previously assumed to exist mainly as nuptial dress could actually serve for concealment, for example, by obliterating the wearer’s outline to appear inconspicuous (invisible) to predators (now referred to as disruptive coloration; Cott 1940). Thayer (1909) referred to the visual effects created by many animal patterns as “illusions,” yet surprisingly, his ideas regarding the psychology of pattern perception and object recognition have not been explored further in this context. This is in contrast to the extensive literature on human visual illusions, which dates back to the Ancient Greek philosophers (see Coren and Girgus 1978 for a historical review). Well-known visual illusions that the reader may be familiar with include the Necker cube (Necker 1832), the Müller-Lyer illusion (Müller-Lyer 1889), and the rabbit–duck illusion (Jastrow 1899) (Figure 1). The considerable literature on human visual illusions therefore provides a good foundation to introduce the concept of visual illusions and what they can reveal about the cognitive and neuropsychological mechanisms of image processing.

This book will be focusing on the study of the direct relation between animal camouflage techniques and optical illusion. How it is achieved through colour, pattern and environment, it’s benefits, and scientific reasoning.

When you look at something, what you’re really seeing is the light that bounced off of it and entered your eye, which converts the light into electrical impulses that your brain can turn into an image you can use. The process of that takes about a tenth of a second but your eyes receive a constant stream of light, an incredible amount of information, so it’s really difficult for your brain to try to focus on everything at once. So your brain takes shortcuts, simplifying what you see to help you concentrate on what’s important, which helps compensate for your brain’s tenth-of-a-second processing lag. This trait helped early humans survive encounters with fast predators, however, in the present time the form of optical illusion is used within the animal kingdom with several different techniques. An organisms camouflage can help them avoid predators, aid in hunting, and increase their general chance of survival.

When you think of animal camouflage you typically think of the obvious; zebras, tigers, and the stereotypical chameleon. However there is actually more to the subject than most know. There are four variations/methods of camouflage an organism could have:

• Firstly you have concealing colouration, this is when an animal hides itself against a background of the same colour. Think of your typical polar bear or snowy owl, they both have white fur which blend in to the snow.

• The next technique is disruptive colouration, this is when animals have patterns in their fur/complexion to break up their outline so they do not stand out against backgrounds and are not easily singled out. Animals like zebras, leopards, fish, and tigers use this type of camouflage. Zebras use this to a aid predators where as tigers use their camouflage to aid being a predator.

• Disguise camouflage is when the animal blends in with its surroundings by resembling another object or organism. For example a stick insect uses this method of concealment.

• Mimicry- this method is when animals mimic dangerous objects and other animals such as poison. This is a survival technique. An example of this is the scarlet king snake, this snake is non poisonous however the pattern on its scales are almost identical to that of the poisonous coral snake so that other animals know to avoid it as it seemingly poses a threat. Another example of this is the viceroy butterfly which has the same patterned wings as the poisonous monarch butterfly. Through adaptation and animals memories the Viceroy, although not being poisonous, is often avoided as it is so similar to that of the monarch. Predators as a result avoid it.

These techniques have all been refined through many years of adaptation and natural selection, which will be explained in detail later through this book. It can be argued that only three of the above stated camouflage techniques could be classed as optical illusions; mimicry, despite its extremely impressive mechanics, does not really fit into the optical illusion bracket. It does not allow the organism to become concealed or create a viewers perspective to be altered as a result of its appearance in the same way optical illusion does. What is does is it mimics/copy’s something else by matching characteristics, whether that’d be in shape, colour, pattern, or other methods. However for this particular study, mimicry is not substantially relevant.

In a recent survey it was found that the chameleon was the most commonly thought of on the topic of camouflage. Chameleons have a famous reputation for being able to change colour, however, despite common thought, they cannot just colour to match any background they are place upon, they have a slightly different camouflage mechanism. Though incapable of matching certain details in their environments, such as bright flowers or individual blades of grass, chameleons can, in fact, make small colour adjustments to blend into their surroundings. And the more dramatic colour transformations—which have made species like the panther chameleon famous—help these lizards defend territory and attract mates. Much of the “blending in” chameleons do not require colour change at all. In their natural state, they already look a lot like leaves or branches, much like stick insects looks like sticks. But these lizards do have the ability to adjust how bright their skin appears, says Devi Stuart-Fox, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Melbourne, who’s been studying chameleon colour for more than a decade.When there’s less light, she says, such as on a tree deep inside a Malagasy forest, brown to black pigment cells called melanin flood to the skin’s surface and cause the chameleon to appear darker—and thus more camouflaged. It could be argued that the chameleons method of camouflage is not comparative to that of an optical illusion.n optical illusion is where an image tricks the eye into seeing something that is not there or alters perception; a chameleon changing colour is not a trick, it is actually happening. Therefore, not making it an optical illusion.

Camouflage is effective because of how our brains perceive what is around us, we learn to recognise and almost presume what we are seeing. Human brains have a tendency of grouping similar colours, lines, textures, and patterns. This means that small details in amongst a busy image we would not be likely to recognise. A prime example of optical illusion within camouflage is the zebra. Zebras and their iconic pattern have become a staple within design, fashion, and animal representation. However, the use of their stripes is largely underestimated. Zebras use their stripes so that when they are stood in a herd, their outlines cannot be detected, which makes it increasingly more difficult of predators to target one as prey. With the human brain and seemingly the animal brain, as a result of the overload of optical information, trying to distinguish an outline at all is a mammoth task. The use of pattern in this instance is comparative to optical illusion, due to the fact that when perceiving it, it is immensely difficult to actually see what is in front of you.

Animal camouflage is a result of adaptation. Adaptation is a mutation, or genetic change that helps beings (plant and animals) be able to survive depending on their environment. The organism will gain this mutation, and because of its significant help to survival, it will be passed down from generation to generation until most of the species feature the specific mutation.

You can have two different types of adaptation; physical, and behavioural adaptation which is how that particular organism acts. An example of behavioural adaptation is when animals migrate to travel to a warmer area, or when animals hibernate. It provides a better chance of survival, hence why they keep up the tradition. An example of physical adaptation is how cacti store water in their thick stems as a result of the desert conditions not regularly having water.There is a type of adaptation called exaptations, this form is when an adaptation was developed to aid something specific, and ends up being used and aiding the organism for another purpose. An example of this is feathers on a bird, they were most likely developed to help keep the animal warm, however, later feathers helped aid the bird to fly. Opposite to the previous type of adaptation you can get vestigial adaptations, which are developments that later become useless to the organism. For example, dolphins and whales have vestigial leg bones, these legs bones are a remaining adaptation from previous ancestors who once used them to walk. The majority of the time adaptations are made as a result of change in habitat, which does link to animal camouflage in some way.

The Oxford dictionary definition of an optical illusion is “Something that tricks your eyes and makes you think you see something that is not really there, or see it differently from how it really is.”. This statement could be related back to a number of different camouflage techniques covered thus far, however, in a study the opinion on whether camouflage could be considered a form of optical illusion, the results were very divided half way. Many common presumptions and knowledge about camouflage itself is very misinformed and misunderstood. Understanding animal camouflage and the science behind it can help us better understand the animals around us as well as give us a new found appreciation for them. Animal prints are already often used heavily in design and fashion however if we view them more from the perspective of optical illusion then it could spark a whole new design movement as well as new animal studies and education topics.

Unfortunately this topic is still under debate however after reading this book you should be equip with the necessary information to create your own educated judgement. Animal camouflage on the surface seems like quite a simple and childish subject, however it is actually a very deep and information rich subject that is often ignored.

If you wish to look even deeper into the subjects here are so potential further reading materials:

[sciencespies]

We just got closer to truly determining who were the world's first animals

https://sciencespies.com/nature/we-just-got-closer-to-truly-determining-who-were-the-worlds-first-animals/

We just got closer to truly determining who were the world's first animals

The tree of animal life had to begin somewhere. Finding that original branch amongst such a tangled canopy is harder than it sounds, though.

A new analysis of genomic data suggests that one phylum in the running for the oldest branch has been deceiving us all along.

Since the 19th century, many scientists have presented the sponge – one of the simplest creatures in existence – as the world’s first animal. 

Modern genomic studies, however, have pitted this muscle-less, nerve-less and organ-less blob against a far more complex creature.

Comb jellies comprise a small phylum known as Ctenophora, but unlike Porifera – the phylum sponges belong to – these orb-like creatures show much more advanced traits, including neurons and muscle cells to detect and eat prey, as well as a gut for digestion.

If these jellies actually came first, it means many of their traits were subsequently lost among Porifera, only to evolve again later on. While this might sound downright illogical, it’s not entirely out of the question, although it does threaten to change our understanding of early animal evolution and the development of the nervous system itself.

“It may seem very unlikely that such complex traits could evolve twice, independently, but evolution doesn’t always follow a simple path,” explains geneticist Anthony Redmond from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland.

“For example, birds and bats are distantly related but have independently evolved wings for flight.”

In recent years, some models that have split genes up into smaller groups for comparison have found comb jellies hold a greater phylogenetic signal than sponges, which suggests these animals evolved and existed first.

Using the same data, other models that do not partition genes but rely on a larger super-matrix have revealed the exact opposite timeline, with sponges arriving on the scene earlier than comb jellies.

Both of these approaches have their limitations, but examining them together helps alleviate some of our previous errors and biases when looking at the data.

A reanalysis using a more integrative model now suggests we were on the right track to begin with – namely, sponges were it.

“Our approach bridges the gap between two disagreeing methodologies, and provides strong evidence that sponges, and not comb jellies, are our most distant animal relatives,” says Redmond.

“This means our last common animal ancestor was morphologically simple and suggests that repeated evolution and/or loss of complex features like a nervous system is less likely than if comb jellies were our most distant animal relatives.”

In evolution, natural selection tends to maintain the function and shape of certain proteins by substituting specific amino acids with others that have similar biochemical properties. These properties, however, can differ from site to site, within and between genes.

Partitioned models, where genes are split up and substitution patterns among sites are compared in groups, often do not account for this diversity, which means they could be missing multiple ‘hidden’ substitutions, especially in species where new amino acids were selected for relatively quickly.

As such, most partitioned models point toward comb jellies as the original sister to other animals. But when models that do account for site differences are incorporated, researchers have found sponges instead take on that role.

This lines up with previous studies that have found partitioned and unpartitioned models can affect branch-lengths and nodes of change on the tree of life, “sometimes dramatically so.”

In other words, researchers argue, it is our “poorly fitting” and “overly simplistic” models that are suppressing some evolutionary changes on the long branch of comb jellies. This makes the Ctenophora phylum look like it evolved before sponges, when, in fact, these jellies probably split from Porifera quite early on and then evolved incredibly fast.

The results support a previous study in 2020 that found the rapid evolution of comb jellies introduces a bias into our models that fools us into thinking they came first.

Both the Porifera and Ctenophora phyla have long branches, but when we compare the two using similar amino acid replacement models, the jellies look as though they must be older because of their rapid evolution. In reality, however, the gene sequences of comb jellies have occurred in a much tighter space of time, which makes them seem more closely related to sponges than they actually are.

Two possible trees for the first phyla in existence. (Telford and Kapli/The Conversation)

Future models need to account for this bias, known as the ‘long branch attraction’, researchers say, otherwise these discrepancies will keep popping up again and again.

“Long-branched animal groups are often difficult to place,” evolutionary biologist Detlev Arendt told Quanta Magazine in 2015.

“So far, the phylogenetic data is not really conclusive on where [comb jellies] belong.”

Given how heated this debate has become, it’s unlikely this new study will end the conversation for good. That said, the results of this updated model do join other recent advances in genomic research that suggest the genes of comb jellies are somehow throwing us off the scent.

“Consternation over which lineage is sister to other animals has had a major influence on development of novel approaches and reassessment of the quality of commonly applied phylogenetic methodologies,” the authors write.

“This looks set to continue, with many avenues of research highlighted by this debate yet to be explored.”

The study was published in Nature Communications. 

#Nature

[djgblogger-blog]

Mother's milk holds the key to unlocking an evolutionary mystery from the last ice age

http://bit.ly/2r21MEn

Sunrise at noon in the Arctic. Little exposure to sun was a piece of the genetic puzzle. Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, CC BY

As biologists explore the variation across the genomes of living people, they’ve found evidence of evolution at work. Particular variants of genes increase or decrease in populations through time. Sometimes this happens by chance. Other times these changes in frequency result from the gene’s helping or hindering individuals’ survival, a phenomenon known as selection. If a gene conferred a survival advantage, people with the mutation would have more offspring and the mutation would become more common in subsequent generations.

Most of those past episodes of selection make sense, as they worked on genes involved with things like resisting disease, blood oxygen levels at high altitudes, and having paler skin at northern latitudes.

However, researchers have also identified an episode of strong selection that doesn’t have such an obvious logic. It’s a mutation on a gene involved with the development of a suite of traits that don’t seem very similar at first glance: hair, teeth, sweat glands and breasts. This one was a mystery — what could have been the adaptive value of this mutation that led to it being common in northeastern Asia but nowhere else?

My research usually focuses on teeth, specifically genetic influences on their development. I came to this particular evolution puzzle when my colleagues and I gathered in Boston at the AAAS meeting last year to discuss the latest evidence of how people first migrated into the Western Hemisphere. We put together the clues about this episode of selection on human genetic variation – and found an example of adaptation to life at high latitude during the last ice age.

Natural selection … of what?

We were trying to understand selection for a mutation in the gene called EDAR – it encodes the ectodysplasin A receptor that plays a role in how tightly cells adhere to each other during the development of hair, teeth, sweat glands and breasts. All of these anatomical structures form via a very similar developmental process that happens while you’re still in your mother’s womb. Slight changes to the developmental mechanism results in the final differences between hair and teeth and sweat and mammary glands. But there is a fundamental similarity that, among other things, includes the activity of EDAR.

This shared development is especially obvious when things go wrong. For example, 1 in 10,000 newborns have a disorder called ectodermal dysplasia, which causes disruption to the development of their hair, teeth, skin, sweat glands and breasts.

The V370A mutation that we focused on, the one that experienced strong selection, doesn’t disrupt development of these structures; rather, it augments them. People with V370A have thicker and straighter hair shafts, and their incisors have extra buttressing on the tongue side – a feature biologists call “shoveling.”

Human upper incisors with significant ‘shoveling’ on the tongue side. Christy G. Turner, II, courtesy G. Richard Scott, CC BY-ND

So why did this mutation provide such an advantage to people who carried it? Mice that have been experimentally induced to have the V370A mutation have thicker fur shafts and increased density of sweat glands. A previous study of modern human genomic variation interpreted the selection to have occurred in northern China during the last ice age and focused on the sweat glands. The researchers suggested that the selection was for improved sweating that could help with regulating body temperature. But to my colleagues and me, that just didn’t feel like a convincing adaptive scenario given that this took place during the (cold) ice age.

Instead of the sweat glands, our attention was drawn to another trait. Mice with the V370A mutation also have an increase in the branching of their mammary ducts – the tiny tubes that intertwine with breast tissue and extract nutrients to make milk. Maybe it was this change in the breast tissue that was so valuable to people with this mutation?

Christy G. Turner II, shown working in 1975, and his students assessed variation in incisor shoveling in over 30,000 people around the world. The current study relied on a subset of these data collected by co-author G. Richard Scott. G. Richard Scott and Joshua P. Carlson, CC BY-ND

Rather than trying to sample DNA from thousands of ancient people’s remains to see if they carried the mutation, we took advantage of the effect V370A has on human incisors. Relying on data collected over many years by my colleague G. Richard Scott from the University of Nevada, Reno, our group looked at the dental variation of over 5,000 skeletons from archaeological sites in Europe, Asia and the Americas to get a sense of how this mutation varied through time.

We found that all of the indigenous people living in the Western Hemisphere prior to European colonization had shovel-shaped incisors, which means they all likely had the V370A mutation. In contrast, only about 40 percent of the people in Asia had shovel-shaped incisors, and essentially no one in Europe did.

This pattern suggests that a population ancestral to Native Americans experienced the strong selection for V370A, an interpretation that differed from what my colleagues found when they only looked at genomic variation in living people. Using these ancient teeth, we were able to figure out when and where the selection happened. The next question we needed to address was why this selection occurred. What was going on to make this mutation so helpful and thus so much more prevalent?

An ice age advantage

Beringia outlined over today’s Siberia and Alaska. U.S. National Park Service, CC BY

Previous genetic work found that Native Americans descend from a common ancestral population that lived in Beringia, the region that links Siberia and Alaska. During the dramatic climate change associated with the last ice age 28,000 to 18,000 years ago, plants and animals that had previously lived in Siberia took refuge in a circumscribed area called the Beringian Refugium. For about 5,000 years, they were genetically isolated from other populations because of a vast dry tundra to the west and a lot of ice to the east. The people who found haven there too are referred to as the Beringian Standstill population.

Modern-day mesic shrub tundra near the northwestern Alaskan town of Kotzebue is similar to what the environment would have been like in Beringia during the ice age. Scott Elias, CC BY-ND

It’s not easy to live that far north. Sure, it’s cold. But more importantly, at high latitudes the sun is lower in the sky so sunlight must travel through more atmosphere to reach Earth’s surface. This journey through the atmosphere mostly filters out the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Most life forms need sun exposure to be healthy, in large part because UV exposure induces the body to make vitamin D.

Lighter skin tones let in more UV and have been selected for multiple times in human history. But once you get to the Arctic, skin depigmentation alone won’t suffice. In order to live with so little UV, people have culturally innovated, eating diets rich in vitamin D, such as oily fish. But nursing infants don’t eat these foods. Babies get their nutrients through their mother’s milk.

This is where our EDAR gene comes back into the picture. The V370A mutation in mice increases the branching density of the mammary ducts, and very likely does the same exact thing in human breasts. Scientists know that vitamin D deficient conditions induce more ductal branching during the breast development that happens with pregnancy. All of the evidence suggests that the increased ductal branching associated with V370A helped transfer nutrients from mother to infant through breast milk in a population that was extremely vitamin D deficient.

So the selection wasn’t for thicker hair or shovel-shaped incisors – instead, it was much more likely to have been on mammary ducts. The thicker hair and tooth variation just went along for the ride because they are created by the same basic developmental pathway. Selection on genetic variation in EDAR is probably related to health consequences for nursing infants rather than its effects on hair, teeth or sweat glands.

Excavation of a site occupied in Beringia 32,000 years ago. V. V. Pitul'ko & E. Yu. Pavlova, CC BY-ND

Still traceable genetic inheritance

Once the Earth started warming up at the end of the last ice age, those ice sheets started to melt, sea level rose and global climate became more humid. The people living in Beringia needed to move again. Some went east, populating the Western Hemisphere rapidly and extensively. Some went west, merging back into populations that were living in northern and eastern Asia. Scientists see traces of this migration today. The occurrence of incisor shoveling decreases as you move away from the Arctic, there is evidence of a long-lost language, and some of those Beringian Standstill mitochondrial DNA mutations can be found in Asian populations.

Today, everyone with shovel-shaped incisors carries a little remnant of this ephemeral population with them and a reminder of the importance of the maternal-infant bond to human survival.

But they also have the other effects of the V370A mutation. The increase in mammary ductal branching seems likely to influence the transfer of nutrients from breast tissue into milk. It may also play a role in susceptibility to breast cancer, given that breast density differs between Asian and non-Asian women as does the occurrence of breast cancer, a relationship that matches the distribution of V370A around the world today.

These ideas present exciting hypotheses to test in future studies. For now, our research shows that the bones of our ancestors can provide evidence of human adaptation, evidence that shifts our understanding of how genes work.

Leslea Hlusko does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

[podcastsofpsa]

(Feel free to listen to the podcast via audio only, or follow along with the transcript if you’d like).

I realize that with much of the United States in a constant state of turmoil, it’s increasingly more difficult for us to grasp a firm understanding of how we are being influenced and persuaded by the information around us. Take this case of Theo Wilson, a human being (of color) that went “undercover” in a digital sense to explore and try to understand more of the attitudes and beliefs of the alt-right population.

Side note: The fact that I have to address Mr. Wilson as a person of color to even get my point (or his) across is the reason we are having this conversation in the first place.

This is the reason why we need to have the courage to engage in those face-to-face conversations with people we may disagree with, even if they truly that are difficult.

Here’s the thing - and you’ll have to bear with me, feel free to move further on if you want me to get back to the topic at hand. I have a tendency to run off on tangents that help to further explain my reasoning behind something.

Let’s take a fairly generalized concept that most people have a basic understanding of; evolution. We know (or may not believe for some of us) that evolution is the biological process that enables organisms to respond/react to their environment and their surroundings. The conditions and the limitations of “what they are now” (or rather, then) is the blank canvas from which their eventual masterpiece will arise.

Either way, evolution has been an incremental factor in how the scientific community has gained a better understanding of how the human race came-to-be. Evolution, for better or for worse, is not a selective process. This isn’t the idea or the argument that “natural selection” is how nature chooses one specific organism over another. It’s about adaptation, and in some cases, it’s about the probability of genetic mutation. We know that our genes are part of the stuff that makes us who we are. Genes are part of the big picture that gave me brown eyes and black hair. The kind that makes my Chihuahua/Dachshund mix have a bullet-shaped body and a tiny little face. These don’t just affect the outward appearances, but also the internal make-up of who we are.

These genes, this process of “evolution,” it’s why sharks can’t walk and why we don’t have wings that allow us to fly (e.g. unless we’re onboard a Boeing 747 or something like that). Say that there’s a planet that’s inhabited by little red blobs &  birds that like feeding on these red blobs. If you’re a red blob and a bird is circling overhead, it’s probably the last day you’re going to be a red blob. But let’s say a red blob family has a little-baby blob, and instead of being a red blob the baby is a green blob. (Like how you might have blue eyes but your parents don’t).

Imagine that the group of red blobs and little baby green blob are hanging out in a field of grass. Who do you think might be the hardest blob to find for a hungry bird flying in the sky? Now, this is an extremely generalized example of one way that evolution can influence organisms to “adapt” to their surroundings. However, this isn’t always the case - not every group of red blobs will have a little green blob baby. Some planets inhabited by red blobs might actually be extinct because they were eaten by all the birds in the sky.

Point is, change needs to happen for evolution to ensue. The change may be by random chance (like the little baby green blob), or it may be intentional. Maybe there’s a planet full of green blobs, and now the birds flying in the sky are the ones in danger. They can’t see during the day and spend all night sleeping. But let’s say that the green blobs glow in the dark, and their red blob relatives did not. So the birds are having trouble finding food to eat, so they search longer during the day and sleep later at night. No blobs in sight, nothing for them to eat. But imagine a few birds have trouble sleeping at night, so they decide to take a night-time stroll in the sky. During their flight, what do they see? Glowing lights on the ground. They don’t see red blobs, but they’ve never seen the glowing light like this before. What could it be, none other than the green blobs? So these birds in the sky, they learn to search for food during the night and try sleeping during the day. The green blobs could hide during the day but were much easier to spot during the night when the night birds were foraging for food to eat. Another extreme generalization, but another example of how evolution can influence genes which are enacted by a change.

This whole idea of evolution & adaptation as a means to respond to “life-or-death” situations is a large part of how the human race has made it this far on planet Earth. When faced with discomfort (or risk of extinction), most organisms have a tendency to err on the side of survival. It’s an innate tactic of living things to “continue to live.” Fish don’t decide to wash up on land because they don’t have lungs and cannot breathe oxygen - so they “continue to live” in the water, where they most appropriately adapted to.  

The really big complexity of today’s tension, or more specifically the grinding tension in the United States is largely a victim of this “inability/unawareness to change.” So I’m not trying to say that this is a bad thing. Just like the birds searching for food on little green blob planet, foraging for food during the day was something that they learned to do from the birds before them who hunted little red blobs. But when the planet was dominated by green blobs, the birds had one of two options: continue searching for food during the day and risk starvation (and eventually extinction), or adapt to their environment and their surroundings to “continue to live.”  

But I think that at this current time, the majority of the population of the U.S. is in a very similar situation to the birds on little green blob planet. We have become very accustomed to how things were and have been, and are minutely concerned with what could be a problem vs what we have been persuaded or misinformed to believe is a problem.

Hence the blog post title, “Positive Reinforcement of Polarized Biases.” We live in a world of convenient automation. Everything that our parents or grandparents used to do in person has been replaced/substituted (in some form or fashion) with an automated counterpart. No matter how you slice it, for better or for worse, technology has us completely invested in what utility and productivity we feel that we gain/get from it.

As is the case with most scenarios, emotional and attributed beliefs/meanings are what fuel our behaviors and actions in our day-to-day lives. This is a micro-response that we elicit when faced with challenging or difficult obstacles. Whether we choose to accept it or not, there are difficult decisions that each and everyone one of us has to make in our lives - it’s a variable of progress that inevitability turns the cogs of time. But here’s the kicker - while technology has enabled us with functionality and versatility like humanity has never had before; it has ironically robbed many of us from a quintessential part of what bonds humanity - communication.

Verbal, physical, mental, emotional - these ques and these channels of interpretation have been paramount in the development of the human race. From inscribed hieroglyphics on pyramids in Egypt to artificial intelligence between chatbots from Facebook, communication (e.g. primordially verbal) has given human beings an untapped potential for growth and development over millions of years through the process of evolution.

But our proclivity towards automation and the “future” of technology is also steering us in a direction that we don’t usually think about. Most of us associate technology with the “New-Age,” this era of prosperity and enhanced living that has allowed the human race to transcend the biological limitations that make us so. These are admirable qualities to envision for the future of society, but we underestimate the repercussions that this utopian dream can have on our very way of life.

That said, I am in no way attempting to discredit technology for the benefit and livelihood that it has brought us over the years - there is no denying that. But there is one thing that sticks out the most to me, something that I have also been subject to for as long as I can remember. The age of digital communication - of emails and text messages, even blog posts, and YouTube comments; the “convenience” and pervasive nature of this non-emotional conversation, it’s at the root of the battle that we as members of the human race need to address if we are to proceed forward in life as house-guests of this planet we inhabit.

Those “difficult” and “challenging” decisions in life that I referenced earlier? More and more I am beginning to see that face-to-face communication is becoming one of them. And if that doesn’t convince you that we are suffering from a deficiency in open dialogue - just keep in mind that in the United States, public-speaking used to be rated as the #1 fear among Americans. Unfortunately, the political stage in recent years has shifted that fear dramatically towards more present and subsequently prevalent issues. For more details, follow the link HERE.

But why was public speaking so largely feared by those who were surveyed? Just because our engagement in the “future of technology” has propelled society into a “New-Age” doesn’t mean that we are not still at the mercy of our genetic configuration. Our homo sapien ancestors invested an immensely greater portion of time (e.g. like millions of years to be more specific) to develop the basic framework we know today that is typically accepted as a universal axiom around the world. Verbal communication was of the last features to form during the evolutionary “refining” process of our ancestors. So much so, that humans developed the ability to speak (verbally) at the risk of dying.

You know about choking right?

Yeah, that’s how important the ability to communicate verbally was to our predecessors. We could have just had a mouth (e.g. with no vocal cords) to eat stuff with - but where would that have gotten humanity to now? The pharynx, that pocket of space that is essentially the fork in the road that leads to either our larynx (for speaking) or esophagus (for eating).

Interestingly enough, our windpipe (also where we conduct our voice) is just before our esophagus (as part of the digestive tract). So our bodies basically generated our ability to speak with the slight chance that we could choke while eating (and die - although hopefully, you know the Heimlich maneuver or someone around you does).

The big takeaway from this? Communication is key. And throughout the recent years, the importance of communication never dwindled in any way - but our perception and awareness of how it influences us and those around us have seemed to almost vanish completely.

(This is certainly not the last time that I will be addressing the implications and the inevitable downstream effect that our “absence” of communication has brought forth. My intention is to bring this idea to your attention and in so doing allow ourselves to get back in touch with the really fundamental aspects of what makes humans, human).