Easter Island’s statues may have been ‘walked’ to their location

Easter Island’s statues may have been ‘walked’ to their location - Were the giant statues on Easter Island actually "walked" to their final resting spots?

Researchers have unveiled a new theory that may redefine the historical understanding of how natives on Easter Island transported the iconic moai statues.

Writing in July's issue of National Geographic magazine, California State University at Long Beach archeologist Carl Lipo and Hawaii anthropologist Terry Hunt postulate that Polynesian natives used a system of ropes and manpower to walk the statues across the island.

 

Researchers "walk" a replica of Easter Island's famous statues (Sheela Sharma/National Geographic)

"A lot of what people think they know about the island turns out to be not true," Lipo says.

Using the ropes, islanders would stand on each side of the statues, swaying them back and forth to create the walking effect.

Popular theory has held that the islanders created sled-like devices out of the island's trees to cart the statues. That theory also claims that deforestation from the island's inhabitants as part of the statue transporting process was directly tied to the population's eventual downfall.

Instead, Lipo and Hunt say the island's population was actually sustainable and instead fell victim to disease when European explorers first visited the island. In fact, Lipo said the cooperative effort involved in his transportation theory might have led to a more harmonious existence amongst Easter Island's inhabitants.

"You're actually putting a lot of your effort into the process of moving a statue rather than fighting," Lipo said. "Moving the moai was a little bit like playing a football game."

Jared Diamond, proponent of the sled transportation and subsequent deforestation theory, has disputed the new theory.

"This seems an implausible recipe for disaster," Diamond wrote in a post titled "The Myths of Easter Island" on Mark Lynas' blog. "Imagine it yourself: If you were told to transport a 90-ton statue 33 feet high over a dirt road, why would you risk tipping and breaking it by transporting it vertically with all its weight concentrated on its small base, rather than avoiding the risk of tipping by laying it flat and distributing its weight over its entire length?"

To counter Diamond's criticism, Lipo and Hunt attempted to recreate the walking method. They built a 5-ton moai replica (much smaller than the 90-ton Easter Island versions) and found the method worked quite well. And Hunt tells MSNBC that the theory applies to the larger statues as well.

"With the physics of the taller statue, you have greater leverage," he said. "It almost gets to the point where you would have to do it that way." ( The Sideshow )

READ MORE - Easter Island’s statues may have been ‘walked’ to their location

Aging Reversed in Mice

Aging Reversed in Mice, Say Scientists - Scientists have turned back the clock in mice they engineered to age faster than normal, an advance they suggest is the first time aging in mice has been reversed.

Researchers at Harvard-affiliated medical centers genetically manipulated mice to age faster, and then used gene therapy to lengthen telomeres -- compounds found at the ends of strands of DNA -- which reversed age-related problems such as decreased brain function and infertility.

"We at best expected it to be a slowing of the process or perhaps an arresting of the process. We did not anticipate that it would be so dramatic a reversal in all of the problems that the animal was experiencing," said Dr. Ronald DiPinho, professor of medicine and genetics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, and co-author of the paper published Sunday in the journal Nature. "We were so struck by the findings that we rushed to get the study published."

A human cell holds 23 pairs of chromosomes, each containing protective caps at each end called telomeres. Enzymes called telomerases protect the telomeres and reduce DNA damage thought to contribute to tissue aging. But as we age, our cells produce less telomerase; telomeres are cut shorter and eventually fail to protect DNA from damage.

Researchers boosted telomerase in the mice cells -- which hold 20 pairs of chromosomes -- to prevent telomeres from getting shorter. They found restoring the enzyme not only stopped aging but revived failing organs and even restored dark fur to mice who had turned grey. DePinho said the mice that were equivalent to ages 80 to 90 in human years returned to the equivalent of middle age.

"This [research] indicates there's a point of return for these tissues," said DePinho. "The fact that you can bring a tissue to the brink and then bring it back this dramatically is remarkable."

Previous studies suggest that even in humans, shorter telomeres may be associated with age-related diseases such as heart disease and Alzheimer's disease.

In fact, the brains of the age-modified mice were 75 percent of the size of a normal brain, much as happens in a patient with Alzheimer's disease. But when researchers reactivated the telomerase, the brains returned to a normal size, according to the study.

The aging process is complex and telomeres are just one element that contributes to its course. But DePinho said this is one step in learning more about not only the slowing of aging, but also the reversal.

"Telomere dynamics in mice has taught us the role of telomeres in [diseases like] cancer and helped us better understand how to take advantage of these situations," said DePinho.

Aging Process Reversed in Lab Mice

Still, DePinho said the research is an early look down the pipeline for subsequent studies. Researchers plan to study the potential benefits in normal aging in mice before understanding whether the process might work in humans.

"We want to understand what contribution this makes to the aging process in conjunction with other factors that are responsible for the aging process," said DePinho. "We need to do a more careful analysis of these tissues and their cells to ascertain whether or not we could further regulate the process." ( abcnews.go.com )

READ MORE - Aging Reversed in Mice

Baby Bugs from 300 Million Years Ago Pictured in 3D

Baby Bugs from 300 Million Years Ago Pictured in 3D - Researchers have made 3D reconstructions of two 300-million-year-old insect nymphs by putting the rare fossils under an X-ray.

The scientists have not pinned down the precise identity of either bug, or matched them with their adult counterparts, but they say their scans offer the most complete picture of baby insects from this prehistoric Paleozoic Era.

  

A 3D reconstruction of the insect nymph Anebos phrixos.

Both insects are just over 0.8 inches (2 centimeters) long and their fossils, which date to the late Carboniferous period (part of the Paleozoic Era), were found at Montceau-les-Mines in France. The researchers, led by Russell Garwood, of the U.K.'s University of Manchester, published their reconstructions online Sept. 25 in the journal PLoS ONE.

The scientists named one of the insects Anebos phrixos, drawing on the Greek words for "young" and "bristling," the latter of which alludes to the insect's defensive spines. The researchers did not name the other insect, but said it resembles a modern cockroach with a flat body that allowed it to squeeze into narrow crevices and avoid making shadows that might attract predators.

The 3D reconstructions also gave the researchers detailed pictures of the young insects' mouthparts, which hold clues about their diet. In the roach-like nymph, they found little evidence of specialization in its mandibles, maxilla and other parts, suggesting it ate just about anything.

  

The roach-like nymph described in the study.

"Much like modern forest roach nymphs, they could have eaten decaying and rotting matter on the forest floor," the scientists wrote.

Researchers have been turning to CT scans to analyze fossils in a non-invasive way. Another team reported Sept. 18 in the journal Paleontology that they reconstructed a spiny mollusk that creeped around the sea 390 million years ago with the same method. Taking their digital reconstruction a step further, they used a 3D printer to make a physical model of the sea creature. ( LiveScience.com )

READ MORE - Baby Bugs from 300 Million Years Ago Pictured in 3D

Odd ways 9/11 changed the world: happy whales and sad babies

Odd ways 9/11 changed the world: happy whales and sad babies - The tragic events of September 11, 2001 changed the world forever. But 11 years after the terrorist attacks, a number of strange byproducts of that day's events are coming to light.

For example, two independent studies have suggested that events directly connected to the 9/11 attacks had a positive effect on whales and a negative effect on unborn babies.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 had unexpected affects around the world, including on whales (AP)

As first reported by the Washington Post, a study of whale behavior was already taking place in September 2001. Researchers continued collecting data and found that whale health and activity improved in the days after the attacks, when nearly all shipping activity in the U.S. ground to a sudden halt.

The evidence is now being used to study how "whales and other sea life that use sound to communicate and travel can be harmed by the noise."

A second study in the emerging field of epigenetics suggested that many of the estimated 1,700 pregnant women in New York City at the time of the attacks may have potentially have passed heir Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms to their unborn children.

The study results, which were published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, found that some of the children tested in the year after September 11, 2001 measured low-levels of cortisol, a trait commonly associated with PTSD.

Professor Jonathan Seckl of the University of Edinburgh told the BBC, "Because the babies were about a year old at the time of testing, this suggests the trauma effect transfer may have to do with very early parent-child attachments, cortisol 'programming' in the womb or shared genetic susceptibility It may be that stress has an effect on the developing brain of a fetus."

However, the results are still being debated, as some other experts say the low-levels of cortisol may have only been present in children of mothers who were already predisposed to symptoms associated with PTSD.

These two odd news items were included in a larger list compiled by Robert Evans over at Cracked magazine. Amongst the other strange ways Evans says 9/11 affected the world: a decline in sales of the drug Ecstasy, lowered suicide rates in England, an increase in the number of car accident fatalities and more insects making it past screeners at U.S. shipping facilities. ( The Sideshow )

READ MORE - Odd ways 9/11 changed the world: happy whales and sad babies

Ancient 'New York City' of Canada Discovered

Ancient 'New York City' of Canada Discovered - Today New York City is the Big Apple of the Northeast but new research reveals that 500 years ago, at a time when Europeans were just beginning to visit the New World, a settlement on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in Canada, was the biggest, most complex, cosmopolitan place in the region.

Occupied between roughly A.D. 1500 and 1530, the so-called Mantle site was settled by the Wendat (Huron). Excavations at the site, between 2003 and 2005, have uncovered its 98 longhouses, a palisade of three rows (a fence made of heavy wooden stakes and used for defense) and about 200,000 artifacts. Dozens of examples of art have been unearthed showing haunting human faces and depictions of animals, with analysis ongoing.

A model of a longhouse at the Royal Ontario Museum

Now, a scholarly book detailing the discoveries is being prepared and a documentary about the site called "Curse of the Axe" aired this week on the History Channel in Canada.

"This is an Indiana Jones moment, this is huge," said Ron Williamson, an archaeologist who led dig efforts at the site, in the documentary shown in a premiere at the Royal Ontario Museum. "It just seems to be a game-changer in every way."

Williamson is the founder of Archaeological Services Inc., a Canadian cultural resource management firm that excavated the site.

"It's the largest, most complex, cosmopolitan village of its time," said Williamson, also of the University of Toronto, in an interview with LiveScience. "All of the archaeologists, basically, when they see Mantle, they're just utterly stunned."

The Mantle people

Scientists estimate between 1,500 and 1,800 individuals inhabited the site, whose fields encompassed a Manhattan-size area. To clothe themselves they would have needed 7,000 deer hides annually, something that would have required hunting about 26 miles (40 km) in every direction from the site, Williamson said.

"When you think about a site like Mantle, 2,000 people, massive stockade around a community, a better analogy is that of a medieval town," Jennifer Birch, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Georgia, said in the documentary. "While the cultures are very different, the societal form really isn't."

Despite its massive size, the site remained hidden for hundreds of years, likely escaping detection because its longhouses were primarily made of wood, which doesn't preserve well.

Not all of the 98 longhouses were in use at the same time, with more recent ones having been built on top of the older longhouses, as buildings are today. At one point 55 longhouses were in use at once.

Charred wood found in one of the post moulds suggested that when one of the longhouses burnt down the rest of the settlement was saved. Williamson said that this is remarkable considering the longhouses were made of wood, which was very flammable, and close together. "Somehow their 'fire department' did that."

Enemies become friends

Another curious discovery at Mantle is its apparently cosmopolitan nature. The art and pottery at the site show influences from all five nations of the Iroquois to the south in New York State, suggesting extensive contacts and trade.

For instance, among Mantle's discoveries are the earliest European goods ever found in the Great Lakes region of North America, predating the arrival of the first known European explorers by a century. They consist of two European copper beads and a wrought iron object, believed to be part of an ax, which was carefully buried near the center of the settlement.

A maker's mark on the wrought iron object was traced to northern Spain, and the fact that it was made of wrought iron suggests a 16th-century origin. In fact, in the early 16th century Basque fisherman and whalers sailed to the waters off Newfoundland and Labrador. It's believed that it would have been acquired by the aboriginal people there and exchanged up the St. Lawrence River until eventually reaching Mantle.

The people of Mantle, it seems, were on trading relations with the Iroquois of the St. Lawrence.

"Historically, we know that the Huron and the Iroquois were not only at odds, they were mortal enemies," Williamson said in the documentary.

In the period before Mantle there is evidence of widespread warfare throughout southern Ontario and New York as well as parts of Michigan and Quebec, a period known as "the dark times." Human remains from that period show evidence of scalping and torture.

Mantle, with its large size and palisade defense, may have discouraged this type of warfare, making an attack risky. Other settlements in southwest Ontario were getting larger and sites in New York were clustering together, suggesting that they too were becoming harder to attack.

Birch compares the situation at Mantle and other sites to what happened after World War II, with the formation of the United Nations and NATO, institutions that discouraged warfare, allowing for trade and cultural interaction.

Williamson noted that, sadly, with the arrival of Europeans, this peace did not last, with warfare intensifying in the 17th century. "When Europeans arrive the whole thing is re-fired over economic reasons related to the fur trade," he said in the interview.

Mantle today

Today, seven years after excavations wrapped up, only a small portion of the site remains as houses were built on top of it after the dig was complete. "We did not have the planning legislation in place to preserve these sites like we do today," Williamson told LiveScience. "If the site were found today there would be far more exploration of options to preserve it."

However, while the site is mostly built over, the modern-day town where Mantle was discovered — Whitchurch-Stouffville — is commemorating the Wendat's history in the community. The town recently opened Wendat Village Public School and the mayor will display the Huron Wendat flag in his office. ( LiveScience.com )

READ MORE - Ancient 'New York City' of Canada Discovered

Giant amoebas discovered in deepest ocean trench

Giant amoebas discovered in deepest ocean trench - These single-celled organisms can measure up to four inches across - Gigantic amoebas have been found in the Mariana Trench, the deepest region on Earth.

During a July 2011 voyage to the Pacific Ocean chasm, researchers with Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and National Geographic engineers deployed untethered landers, called dropcams, equipped with digital video and lights to explore the largely mysterious region of the deep sea.

The team documented the deepest known existence of xenophyophores, single-celled animals exclusively found in deep-sea environments. Xenophyophores are noteworthy for their size, with individual cells often exceeding 4 inches (10 centimeters), their extreme abundance on the seafloor and their role as hosts for a variety of organisms.

National Geographic Society Remote Imaging engineers Eric Berkenpas (bottom) and Graham Wilhelm prepare to deploy Dropcam.

Extreme environment, extreme creature

The researchers spotted the life forms at depths up to 6.6 miles (10,641 meters) within the Sirena Deep of the Mariana Trench. The previous depth record for xenophyophores was approximately 4.7 miles (7,500 m) in the New Hebrides Trench, although sightings in the deepest portion of the Mariana Trench have been reported.

Scientists say xenophyophores are the largest individual cells in existence. Recent studies indicate that by trapping particles from the water, xenophyophores can concentrate high levels of lead, uranium and mercury and are thus likely resistant to large doses of heavy metals. They also are well suited to a life of darkness, low temperature and high pressure in the deep sea.

"The identification of these gigantic cells in one of the deepest marine environments on the planet opens up a whole new habitat for further study of biodiversity, biotechnological potential and extreme environment adaptation," said Doug Bartlett, the Scripps marine microbiologist who organized the expedition.

Scripps ocean engineer Kevin Hardy (right) and marine technician Josh Manger prepare to test Hardy's deep-sea lander at Scripps' Nimitz Marine Facility.

Tip of the iceberg

The xenophyophores are just the tip of the deep-sea ecosystem iceberg. The expedition also found the deepest jellyfish observed to date, as well as other mysterious animals.

"As one of very few taxa found exclusively in the deep sea, the xenophyophores are emblematic of what the deep sea offers. They are fascinating giants that are highly adapted to extreme conditions but at the same time are very fragile and poorly studied," Levin said. "These and many other structurally important organisms in the deep sea need our stewardship as human activities move to deeper waters."

The dropcams used to observe the creatures contained an HD camera and lighting inside a glass bubble that can withstand the extreme pressures encountered at these depths.

"Seafloor animals are lured to the camera with bait, a technique first developed by Scripps professor John Isaacs in the 1960s," said Kevin Hardy, a Scripps ocean engineer and cruise participant. Hardy advanced the ultra-deep glass sphere design used on 'dropcams' more than a decade ago. "Scripps researchers hope to one day capture and return novel living animals to the laboratory for study in high-pressure aquariums that replicate the trench environment." ( msnbc.com )

READ MORE - Giant amoebas discovered in deepest ocean trench

Ancient submerged landscape of mountains found on the Atlantic seabed

Ancient submerged landscape of mountains found on the Atlantic seabed - Lost World -- An ancient landscape long ago submerged beneath the North Atlantic Ocean has been discovered by scientists.

Researchers found the 56million-year-old lost terrain, which they have likened to the mythical lost city of Atlantis, by analysing data collected for oil companies using an advanced echo-sounding technique.

The 1.2mile-deep landscape is located in the North Atlantic west of the Orkney-Shetland Islands and has peaks that once belonged to mountains and eight major rivers.

It would once have risen up to 0.6miles above sea level and probably joined up with what is now Scotland, and may even have stretched as far as Norway, the scientists said.

Researcher Nicky White, from University of Cambridge, said: 'It looks for all the world like a map of a bit of a country onshore.

'It is like an ancient fossil landscape preserved 1.2miles beneath the seabed.' The discovery came from data gathered by a seismic contracting company.

A hi-tech echo-sounding technique was deployed that involved releasing high-pressured air underwater - this produced sound waves that travelled through sediment on the ocean floor. An echo would bounce back each time these waves happened upon a change in the terrain through which they were travelling.

Scientists were able to construct this 3D image of the landscape submerged beneath the North Atlantic Ocean by measuring the echoes made by underwater sound waves as they hit different land types

This echo was then picked up by a microphone being dangled deep underwater from a ship travelling on the ocean's surface. Scientists were then able to construct a 3D image of the terrain below, at which point they realised they had evidence of a submerged landscape.

Evidence of land-dwelling life was gathered by core samples taken from the rock beneath the ocean - these revealed pollen and coal. Elsewhere, the Cambridge scientists found tiny fossils, proving the landscape was once a marine environment.

More :

• Satellite duo picture entire far side of our sun for the FIRST TIME
• Research finds young stars blast water into space at 120,000mph
• How a lunar eclipse and volcanic ash create colourful phenomenon for moon-gazers
• Shuttle Endeavour Launches for Last Time, Headed to Space Station

They believe that the landscape rose up and subsided within 2.5million years due to the Icelandic Plume - an upwelling of material through Earth's mantle beneath the North Atlantic Ocean.

This functions by carrying hot magma from deep within Earth to just below the surface, where it ripples outwards. Dr White said the landscape was probably swept beneath the Atlantic during this magma surge.

Indeed, he claims to have found two more recent underwater landscapes since, both caused by the same phenomenon. The research is published in the journal Nature Geoscience. ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - Ancient submerged landscape of mountains found on the Atlantic seabed