Earth’s first animal was the ocean-drifting comb jelly, not the simple sponge, according to a new find that has shocked scientists who didn’t imagine the earliest critter could be so complex. The mystery of the first animal denizen of the planet can only be inferred from fossils and by studying related animals today. To get to the bottom of that, scientists analyzed massive volumes of genetic data to define the earliest splits at the base of the animal tree of life. The tree of life is a hierarchy of evolutionary relationships among species that shows which groups split off on their own evolutionary path first. The new study surprisingly found that the comb jelly was the first animal to diverge from the base of the tree, not the less complex sponge, which had previously been given the honor. ‘This was a complete shocker,’ said study team member Casey Dunn of Brown University in Rhode Island. ‘So shocking that we initially thought something had gone very wrong.’ Dunn’s team checked and re-checked their results and came up with the same result every time: the comb jelly came first. The results are detailed in the April 10 […]
WASHINGTON — Lots of people lunged for bottled water after they were told last month that tap water in many U.S. cities contains traces of pharmaceuticals. ‘They wanted five-gallon bottles, half-liter cases - anything that wasn’t municipal water,’ said Jennifer Brandon, who was taking phone orders for home-delivered Deer Park water the day the Associated Press story broke. Responding to the public alarm, Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Cal., and Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J. called for a hearing on the federal response to drugs in drinking water, now set for Tuesday. Despite the sudden clamor, however, many water-quality researchers kept doing what they’d done for years about contaminants in tap water: nothing. They kept drinking local tap or well water, a half dozen of them told McClatchy. For one thing, they knew that bottled water is less regulated than municipal supplies are. The big reason, however, was that researchers were less anxious than senators and a public jolted by another new environmental scare for which risk and remedy are both unknown. Goodness knows, there are lots of reasons to worry about the safety of drinking water. Contaminants now commonly found in drinking water include tiny traces of […]
Cuban state workers who have been paying rent to the government for years will get a chance to own their properties, the Cuban housing ministry announced in an official decree Friday. The move came on the heels of a broadcast announcement that salary caps would also be lifted, raising the speculation that even more broad reforms could be coming. ”Maybe it’s a hopeful sign that they are making changes,” said attorney Nicolás J. Gutiérrez, who represents clients in Miami whose properties on the island were confiscated. “I don’t think it’s earth-shaking … but it’s something. ”They don’t want to do too much because they fear they will whet people’s appetite for more and be swept out of power,” Gutiérrez said. “But they realize they have to do something.” Cuba has long boasted that up to 85 percent of its populace owns its own homes. But even those who have titles cannot sell their homes or leave them to relatives who don’t live there. Many other people live in rental housing projects set aside by their employers, such as the military, and this measure would put them on par with the majority of Cubans who have […]
NEW YORK — Disappointing first-quarter earnings from General Electric Co (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and a drop in U.S. consumer confidence to its lowest in more than a quarter century in early April provided the latest signs the U.S. economy may be in a recession. General Electric, the second-largest U.S. company by market capitalization, on Friday posted an unexpected 6 percent drop in first-quarter profit. Profit at its financial services arm, which accounted for more than a third of GE’s total revenue in the quarter, fell about 20 percent — the biggest shock yet to American industry from the credit crisis. Weakness in health care and industrial divisions also weighed on results. ‘It’s confirmation that we’re in a recession,’ Jerome Heppelmann, portfolio manager at Liberty Ridge Capital in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, said of GE’s results. The news sent GE shares down more than 11 percent on the New York Stock Exchange, the sharpest drop in two decades, and dragged down global markets. Meanwhile, a survey released on Friday showed U.S. consumer confidence dived deeper into recessionary territory on heightened worries over inflation and jobs. The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its preliminary index […]
Today the Senate approved an amendment to the U.S. Housing Bill that will, if passed in the House and signed by President Bush, will extend the Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for another eight years. Very simply, the ITC gives companies buying solar panels a 30% tax break on the money they spend on panels. The recent energy bill, passed several months ago, initially included the ITC, but Bush threatened to veto any legislation that reduced subsidies for big oil, so it was removed. The more recent bill is unclear about where the money will come from, leading to concerns that it will be vetoed in the House, as it would be adding to the deficit. If it makes it to the president, however, the bill is likely to be signed this time because he can’t make the ‘But it will increase gas prices’ claim. The solar industry continues to fret about the current ITC’s scheduled lapse. Many solar energy projects that have begun will not be financially viable without the ITC, and many others are waiting to see if the ITC is passed before being begun. All together, the ITC would cost about $0.50 per year for […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
