A recent paper by Caterina Wiedemann describing her success in freezing and thawing the egg cells of several different cat species is raising an interesting question about our efforts to preserve endangered animals. We've got a doomsday seed vault in the Arctic, so why not create egg vaults, too?

To be more specific about Wiedemann's achievement, she managed to both freeze and thaw feline oocytes (immature ovums, or egg cells) still packed in the ovary cortex. These cells were exposed to minus 196 degrees Celsius in vats of liquid nitrogen. It's basically cryopreservation.

The ovarian cortex is the reservoir of these reproductive cells, and it contains thousands of oocytes. Storing the entire cortex, therefore, would help to ensure genetic diversity when kickstarting an endangered (or even extinct) species.

Wiedemann used a freezing procedure that's used in human medicine. Women who are suffering from cancer often have their ovarian tissue removed to avoid damage from chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

"This is the first report of preserving a huge amount of follicles within ovarian tissue by slow freezing performed in several wild feline species," she noted in the study.

Wiedemann looked at felid species specifically because all wild cats are currently listed on the Red List for endangered species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Interestingly, the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, where the study took place, has its own genome resource bank which it calls "Arche." In addition to these oocytes, it also contains a variety of sperm samples taken from various wildlife species.

Seeing as we're having great success freezing and thawing the oocytes of humans and cats, it's not a stretch to suggest that we can do the same for other mammals as well. Perhaps its time to start thinking seriously about an egg vault.

Check out Wideman's study here (pdf).

Top image: isisrfc, inset image: Pyshnyy Maxim Vjacheslavovich/shutterstock.

As if Boston Dynamics's robotic pack mule wasn't terrifying enough, its designers have, in their infinite wisdom, equipped it with a throwing arm. But not just any kind of throwing arm. This thing's a total cannon — one that would make Peyton Manning jealous. Check out the video and watch BigDog toss a cinder block across the room like it was a Nerf football.

We're not entirely sure why a mechanical pack mule needs to be able to throw stuff. But hey, Boston Dynamics is doing its damnest to ensure the most nightmarish robopocalypse possible.

Update: An earlier version of this article noted that DARPA was involved with this add-on, which isn't the case. Rather, it's U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

_{H/t Engadget.}

What you're seeing here is a cloud formation so rare that it defies classification. Meteorologists suspect that these are undulatus asperatus clouds — an entirely new cloud type that was proposed only three years ago by the Cloud Appreciation Society. The one featured here was photographed by Witta Priester in New Zealand.

Image credit and copyright Witta Priester.

NASA's APOD explains:

Whereas most low cloud decks are flat bottomed, asperatus clouds appear to have significant vertical structure underneath. Speculation therefore holds that asperatus clouds might be related to lenticular clouds that form near mountains, or mammatus clouds associated with thunderstorms, or perhaps a foehn wind — a type of dry downward wind that flows off mountains. Such a wind called the Canterbury arch streams toward the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. The above image, taken above Hanmer Springs in Canterbury, New Zealand, in 2005, shows great detail partly because sunlight illuminates the undulating clouds from the side.

Click here for a larger image.

Nearly 1.4 million babies are born surgically in the United States each year. That's a third of all births, and the numbers are only getting bigger. The trend is due in part to an increase in elective cesarean sections, or surgical births that aren't medically necessary. Why are women in the United States being encouraged to undergo unnecessary surgery? Certainly, money is a factor. Hospitals save money if they can schedule births months in advance, and they make money from a procedure that is on average more expensive than vaginal birth. But women are taking more than a financial hit. Some studies suggest that elective C-sections may pose health risks to mothers — and long-term health complications for babies.

Since the 1990s, C-sections have become the most common operating room procedure in the United States. Without question, these procedures are absolutely necessary in certain circumstances, usually when there's danger to the mother or baby (like a uterine rupture, a breech baby, or a placental abruption). Nobody is arguing that women should stop having C-sections when they are needed.

It's the overuse of cesarean delivery in the absence of an identifiable health risk that's the growing concern. First, these elective C-sections seem to be the result of doctor recommendations, rather than patient requests. A 2008 study by Marian MacDorman and Eugene Declercq noted that "Increases in primary cesareans in cases of ‘no indicated risk' have been more rapid than in the overall population and seem the result of changes in obstetric practice rather than changes in the medical risk profile or increases in ‘maternal request.'"

In other words, while a small proportion of women do ask to have an elective cesarean, it's more often on the advice of their obstetrician or hospital that they decide to go through with the procedure — even in the absence of an "indicated risk." Studies show that few women prefer cesareans in the absence of medical or obstetrical factors. So the rise in C-sections is likely not coming from patient choice, but pressure from doctors and hospitals.

An Unnecessary Intervention

To understand what's going on, and why there's a trend towards elective cesareans, we contacted Maureen Corry, the Executive Director of Childbirth Connection, a not-for-profit that seeks to improve the quality and value of maternity care.

"I am concerned that women don't have full, accurate and unbiased information about the benefits and harms of having an elective C-section," she told io9. "And if they don't have that information and really consider it in relation to their values and goals for their pregnancy, then they cannot make a truly informed decision." The consequence, says Corry, is that women may decide to have an elective procedure that is unnecessary, and thereby exposing themselves and their babies to unnecessary risks.

And in terms of explaining the trend, Corry pointed her finger at the medical profession, saying the business aspect can't easily be cast aside.

"The hospitals stand to make a lot more money on cesareans than they do on vaginal births," she said, "and we know this because we issued a cost report back in January called ‘The Cost Of Having A Baby in the U.S.'"

Looking at the report, the average cost of a C-section in 2010 was $27,000 compared to $18,000 for a vaginal birth.

"We know that the greatest portion of the costs are in the hospital facility fees," she told io9, "so, it's one of the incentives for having a high cesarean rate in a hospital setting."

More Risks

While most elective cesareans are relatively uneventful, Corry says many will have poor outcomes and morbidities (an increased rate of health problems or disease) associated with having what is largely an unnecessary intervention.

"Babies born via C-sections have an increased chance of having to be administered into the NICU [the neonatal intensive care unit] and suffer from breathing problems," she said. "Mothers are more likely to have a major infection, they are at higher risk for embolisms, for bleeding, and for long term consequences with each additional C-section, some of which can be life threatening." On that last item, Corry was referring to placental complications in subsequent pregnancies — a frustratingly common problem.

Corry pointed us to a 2012 report by Amy Romano and Carol Sakala, "Vaginal or Cesarean Birth: What Is At Stake For Women And Babies?," in which the various risks are assessed, both for cesarean and vaginal births. In the report, the authors write, "Overuse of cesarean delivery in low-risk women exposes more women and babies to potential harms of cesarean with minimal likelihood of benefit."

Indeed, the scientific literature on the matter is sobering.

According to a 2010 study, mothers are three times more likely to die from complications stemming from a C-section than a vaginal delivery. The authors write that cesareans are "increasingly perceived as a low-risk procedure. However, the present study clearly demonstrates that the risk of maternal death due to [C-sections are] significantly high, particularly when performed in labor. Therefore, [it] should only be practiced when conditions clearly demand it."

Compared to vaginal births, cesareans lead to an increased risk for cardiac arrest (Liu et al 2007), urgent and/or unplanned hysterectomies (Liu 2007, Kacmar et al. 2003, Knight et al. 2008), blood clots (or thromboembolic events) (Koroukian 2004), anesthetic complications (Koroukian 2004), hematomas (Liu 2007), major infections (Tita et al. 2009), persistent pain (Latthe 2005), and problems with physical recovery (Thompson 2002).

These studies have led Kirstin Hendrickson of Arizona State University to conclude that:

an uncomplicated vaginal delivery is safest for mother and baby, while a planned C-section is safer than a complicated vaginal delivery that results in an unplanned C-section. Unfortunately, it's impossible to know in advance who will have an uncomplicated vaginal delivery.

Indeed, it's important to note that when the baby is in the breech position (a complicated delivery), infant mortality and serious morbidity are significantly lower in planned cesareans compared to planned vaginal delivery (Hannah et al. 2000).

Women who have cesareans are more likely to be sent to intensive care or to be re-admitted to the hospital (Lydon-Rochelle et al. 2000, Sanchez-Ramos et al. 2002, Hannah et al. 2005). And needless to say, C-sections also increase the length of a hospital stay by as much as two (expensive) days compared to vaginal births (Sanchez-Ramos 2002).

For the baby, C-sections increase the chances of respiratory distress syndrome (Hansen et al. 2008), pulmonary hypertension (Hansen et al. 2008), and the (very slight) chance of being cut.

Other experts — including physicians themselves — have waded into the discussion. Daghni Rajasingham, an obstetrician and spokeswoman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, told AP back in 2010 that: "As long as it's safe for both mother and baby, a vaginal birth is absolutely the best way for anyone to deliver." She noted that, while C-sections are safe, the operation comes with risks — including infections, bleeding, and the potential for problems with future pregnancies.

She also said that the physical stress put on a baby's lungs during labor helps them adapt to breathing after being born. And indeed, this hints to another, perhaps non-intuitive issue. It's not just the risks that need to be considered, but also the potential benefits that may conferred by vaginal deliveries.

Kickstarting A Healthy Gut

In an unprecedented study led by Anita Kozyrskyj of the University of Alberta, it was shown that babies born by cesarean are deficient in a specific group of bacteria found in babies born vaginally. This gut bacteria is important for newborns, as it helps them digest food, regulate bowels, develop their immune systems, and protect against infection.

It's literally a one-time shot for a baby to get exposed to his or her mother's microbes — and it can only happen during a vaginal birth. Cesareans, it would seem, deny them that opportunity.

"The Canadian Medical Association Journal article is the first publication of our SyMBIOTA research program to show the effects of C-section delivery of term infants on their gut microbiome," Kozyrskyj told io9 via email. "Even among 24 infants, we were able to find differences in the gut microbiome at four months of age according to method of delivery, notably, that Bacteroides was virtually absent in infants born by C-section. Increasingly, we are learning about the importance of this group of bacteria in training the infant's immune system to prevent overreaction (and allergy) to ingested substances which are not harmful."

Cesarean delivery, she said, interferes with a newborn's acquisition of vaginal and perianal microbes from the mother, which is required for "seeding" the normal development of the infant gut microbiome.

In her paper, she wrote:

Further, C-section is not an isolated event. Mothers undergoing C-section receive prophylaxis with antibiotics and often delay breastfeeding. Their infants are more likely to be born with respiratory distress, which increases the likelihood of additional (and direct) exposure to antibiotic treatment to rule out infection. All of these events are known to affect the composition of the infant's gut microbiome and in several studies, have been found to increase the risk of allergies and asthma in children. Unless indicated otherwise to protect the health of the woman and her fetus, the benefits of vaginal delivery are clear to me: avoidance of exposures that interfere with the normal development of the gut microbiome in infants.

Kozyrskyj admitted that her preliminary report on 24 infants offered "insufficient evidence" to support recommendations that doctors refrain from performing non-medically indicated C-sections. Moreover, these decisions are always made in consultation with expectant mothers. What the woman wants is paramount.

But looking forward, Kozyrskyj plans to report on C-section disruption of the gut microbiome composition of 2,500 infants at four months and one year of age — and it's significance to subsequent development of childhood allergy and asthma.

"With this large amount of data, we will be in a better position to provide stronger evidence and reassurance to parents, physicians and nurses on the unseen consequences in the infant of non-medically indicated C-section," she says.

And indeed, Kozyrskyj is not the only one investigating the allergy connection. Researchers are gathering more evidence for the "hygiene hypothesis."

In an unrelated study presented on February 24th, 2013 at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology's annual meeting in San Antonio, Dr. Christine Cole Johnson presented evidence that babies born by C-section are five times more likely to develop allergies than babies born vaginally. Specifically, babies born via C-section are at heightened risk of developing Immunoglobulin E, or IgE, after exposure to allergens (which is linked to the onset of allergies and asthma).

"This further advances the hygiene hypothesis that early childhood exposure to microorganisms affects the immune system's development and onset of allergies," she noted in a statement. "We believe a baby's exposure to bacteria in the birth canal is a major influencer on their immune system."

When we brought the hygiene hypothesis to Corry's attention she said she was familiar with it, but that more work needs to be done to get the word out.

"That is certainly not a message that most women get when they're trying to make these decisions," she told us.

The Potential To Interfere With Bonding and Breastfeeding

Further downsides to cesareans include their potential to disrupt other natural processes, such as breastfeeding and mother-infant bonding.

Anne Weeks, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant working in Ontario, is concerned about how elective C-sections may interfere with early breastfeeding — something that, ideally, should be initiated moments after birth.

"The mode of birth impacts early breastfeeding success," she told io9. "Newborns are hardwired to learn how to breastfeed in the first hour following a non-medicated, vaginal birth. When placed skin-to-skin upon their mother's chest immediately following delivery, a non-medicated, healthy newborn has the innate ability to seek, find, and self-attach to the mother's breast." She says that medications can greatly interfere with this process and all pain medications used in obstetrics affect the baby — including epidural and spinal medications.

Weeks makes the case that the successful establishment of breastfeeding is enhanced when newborns are allowed unlimited access to the breast. When babies are not breastfed "early and often" after birth, mother's mature milk may be delayed and a full milk supply may be compromised.

"Babies born by C-section are routinely separated from their mothers immediately following delivery," says Weeks. "They may require deep suctioning which can cause oral aversions in some babies." Separation frequently continues in the first few days, she adds, as the mother recovers from major and painful abdominal surgery. Additionally, mothers report more challenges finding comfortable positions in which to breastfeed, and they report more breast engorgement, a side-effect of the fluids they received during the surgery — yet another early breastfeeding challenge.

Weeks worries that disruptions — like cesareans — may discourage mothers from breastfeeding, particularly inexperienced moms. Early challenges with breastfeeding can quickly snowball into many complex problems that become difficult to overcome, she says, even with skilled assistance. And when early difficulties with breastfeeding are not overcome, many mothers simply opt to pump their milk to provide to their children, rather than directly breastfeed (thus reducing the much-needed skin-on-skin interaction); many others wean their babies to formula far earlier than their original intentions.

A 2013 paper published in BJOG by A. Karlström adds scientific evidence to Weeks's claim.

In this study, Karlström looked at 5,877 births of women undergoing caesarean sections with no medical indication, and a control group of 13,774 women undergoing births through the spontaneous onset of labour (a subset of which had emergency C-sections). Analysis showed that maternal complications occurred more frequently among women undergoing C-sections. Specifically, among women opting for elective cesareans, the data showed an increased chance for bleeding and infections (which is consistent with previous studies). The risk of hypoglycaemia was at least twice as high for infants in the cesarean group.

Moreover, as Karlström noted in the paper, "Breastfeeding complications were most common in women having an elective caesarean section," leading her to conclude that, "Caesarean sections without medical indication as well as emergency caesarean sections were associated with higher risks for maternal and infant morbidity."

An earlier study by Karlström showed postoperative pain after cesarean births affects breastfeeding and early infant care.

Too Posh To Push?

Word about the risks associated with elective cesareans is starting to get out, leading some to complain that modern women have become "too posh to push." And this backlash is not just happening in the United States; similar sentiments are being echoed in Canada, Australia, and Europe. But it's an accusation (and a stereotype) that's completely unfair; as noted, most women are simply following the advice of their doctors.

But there are some women who say that elective cesareans are a valid option — and that women have the right to choose the mode of birth that's most suitable for them.

According to Pauline Hull, who blogs about elective C-sections from her home in Surrey, UK, doctors tend to overexaggerate the risks, while underestimating those of vaginal births. The tagline of her website makes her opinion explicitly clear: "The informed decision to choose a planned cesarean with no medical or obstetrical indication is perfectly legitimate." At the same time, however, she warns that it's no "walk in the park."

Many women agree with Hull, including Madonna and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham — both of whom have had scheduled procedures. It's a hot-button topic that touches upon many different domains, including women's rights, the responsibilities of doctors and hospitals — and the nature of the medical profession as big business.

Corry believes there are ways to reverse the trend toward elective c-sections. "If a hospital wants to genuinely do the right thing — to improve the health of mothers and babies — then they need to put policies in place which will reduce the likelihood that their providers will schedule unnecessary or elective C-sections or inductions." Corry says this has to happen from the board on down. "And they have to make sure that their providers are onboard and they understand the reasons for the policy."

Induced births, adds Corry, are a significant contributor to unplanned cesarean deliveries.

Corry says it's already starting to happen in various locations across the county. "There are new facilities and institutions within hospitals that are leading the way," she says. She hopes more hospitals will follow their lead. "They need to ensure that these [education] programs include all the information that's important for women to know."

Images: Mikhail Tchkheidze/Shutterstock, Maureen Corry, University of Alberta, Henry Ford Hospital, Sayanjo65/shutterstock, Sang Tan/Associated Press.

For the first time in astronomical history, scientists have taken an actual snapshot of an exoplanet in the midst of formation. Located about 337 light-years from Earth, the protoplanet, which will eventually resemble something like Jupiter, is completely surrounded by a massive ring of gas and dust. The photo was taken by astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile.

The discovery marks the first time that scientists have been able to observe the formation of a planet directly. Prior to this, scientists have used computer simulations to show that these kinds of cosmic processes are possible. Astronomers Sascha Quanz, Julien Girard, and colleagues had their paper published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

An artistic impression of HD100546. Illustration: ESO/L. calçada.

The astronomers made the discovery by analyzing the unusually large circumstellar disk that surrounds the HD100546 solar system. Normally, these disks are about 200 AU in diameter, but this one's 700 AU, making it an intriguing candidate for analysis — and one that's considerably easier to study with a telescope.

A few years ago, scientist noticed that the disk displayed strange asymmetrical properties. Hoping to catch a glimpse inside this disk, Quanz and his team used a high-resolution camera at the Very Large Telescope called the Apodising Phase Plate (APP). It's a system they developed themselves, and it works by minimizing the distribution of starlight. This allows them to study the object's immediate surroundings.

And that's how they discovered something at a distance of 70 AU from its parent star.

But they weren't entirely sure what it was at first. Assuming their calculations were correct, it would be an object that's 20 times the mass of Jupiter. This presented a problem. Something that big should create a large gap in the circumstellar disk as it sucks in material over the course of time. But no gap could be found. As a consequence, the researchers were forced to posit two different explanations in their paper.

First, they speculate that it's a very, very young protoplanet — one that's only about 100,000 years old. This bright and hot planet, they argue, may still be actively absorbing and compressing mass, what's called the accretion phase.

Alternatively — and they're less certain about this one — is that a second planet might exist within 10 AU of the star. In this scenario, two planets would have competed with each other, resulting in the smaller one being ejected. The scientists just happened to observe this solar system at the right time to observe the remnants of this, what they admit would be a tremendous coincidence given the 20-year window for this kind of discovery. Moreover, there's absolutely no evidence to support the second planet hypothesis.

But what they do have is stronger case in support of the idea that it's a gas giant in the making. The astronomers will keep their eye on this protoplanet just to make sure.

You can read the entire study, which was published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, here (pdf).

Top image: ESO.

There's a really grumbly post over at The Guardian by Eliane Glaser in which she complains about all the flowery and hyperbolic language being used by so many high profile scientists today. But more than that, Glaser is claiming that these popularizers of science, many of whom are avowed atheists, are using the tropes of religion to get their point across — something Glaser says is both contradictory and potentially harmful to science itself.

Top image: Brian Cox via BBC.

It's not difficult to guess who Glaser is referring to. Popular figures like Brian Cox, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, David Brooks, Jonah Lehrer, Malcolm Gladwell, and Richard Dawkins are all renowned (or guilty, as far as Glaser is concerned) for exclaiming the profound wondrousness of science. "Instructions to appreciate the wonder of science," she writes, "are everywhere."

As a result, she says, we've become worshippers, adoring these priest-like characters who now occupy an elevated position in relation to the phenomenon they admire. They're essentially functioning as "powerful gatekeepers to a mystical beyond."

She writes:

The rhetoric of wonder is all about encouraging participation. But this infantilising power dynamic is not conducive to confident involvement or critical inquiry. It creates an inaccessible aura around science which has little to do with the everyday practicalities of what goes on in labs. Science is essential to our world, but like looking after children, the nitty-gritty is often prosaic and incremental. In its evangelical, popular guise, science becomes a matter not of reality or scepticism but of anti-intellectual reverence. All we can say in response is, wow.

Glaser's point is well taken (to a degree), and I have to admit that similar ideas have crossed my mind. I've seen friends and colleagues swoon over many of these public figures in way that can only be described as religious adulation. These figures are, to a certain extent, filling the void that has been created by the ongoing secularization of human culture. Science provides a good outlet for our 'spiritual' longings and sense of existential awareness.

And this is not such a terrible thing! Religious folk often complain that science has taken all the awe and wonder out of the human experience. The science popularizers have shown that this doesn't necessarily have to be the case.

Also, Glaser's claim that these rhetorical approaches are "infantilising" and not conducive to involvement or inquiry is a rather serious claim — and one that doesn't feel entirely right to me. I think most of us are cognizant of how arduous and difficult science can be. Most people appreciate the effort that goes on behind the scenes.

That said, if the pop scientists are doing their job right, they're also instilling a sense of skepticism; as the producers of entertaining science-based media, it's important that they talk about the scientific method and critical inquiry (an area that could stand for improvement).

But what makes the popularizers so important is that they make science sound so fascinating and relevant and real. These are good things. Once an interest in science has been kindled, who knows where it will lead.

It's completely fair to suggest that the Michio Kaku's and Brian Greene's of the world have inspired fleets of people to pursue careers in science. Or at the very least, they've helped to garner interests in seemingly arcane topics previously assumed inaccessible. Which brings up another point: Not everyone needs or wants to know about the tedious details of science — and that's okay, too.

Personally, I can honestly say that if I hadn't discovered Carl Sagan when I was a teenager — the granddaddy of science popularizers — I would not be writing this article today. When it comes to latching on to a role model, I think I could have done a lot worse.

Read Glaser's entire article here.

As if we needed any more reminders as to the extent of Nazi brutality during the Second World War, a new study is showing that there's still lots to learn about the Holocaust. In a project that took nearly 13 years to complete, historians Geoffrey Megargee and Martin Dean have catalogued some 42,500 Nazi ghettos and camps that were dispersed across Europe during Hitler's reign from 1933 to 1945. It's a figure that has shocked even Holocaust scholars.

The camps, which spanned an area extending from France to Russia, included not only "killing centers," but also thousands of forced labor camps, POW camps, brothels, and so-called "care" centers where pregnant women were forced to have abortions or have their babies killed after birth.

Initially, the researchers were expecting to uncover about 7,000 Nazi camps and ghettos. They found six times that number.

Broken down, they consisted of 30,000 slave labor camps, 1,150 Jewish ghettos, 980 concentration camps, 1,000 prisoner-of-war camps, 500 brothels filled with sex slaves (the ultimate in Nazi hypocrisy, given that it was a capital offense for a German to have sex with a Jew), and thousands of other camps used for killing the elderly and infirm, conducting abortions, "Germanizing" prisoners, or transporting victims to the gas chambers.

Writing in the New York Times, Eric Lichtblau reports:

Auschwitz and a handful of other concentration camps have come to symbolize the Nazi killing machine in the public consciousness. Likewise, the Nazi system for imprisoning Jewish families in hometown ghettos has become associated with a single site - the Warsaw Ghetto, famous for the 1943 uprising. But these sites, infamous though they are, represent only a minuscule fraction of the entire German network, the new research makes painfully clear.

The maps the researchers have created to identify the camps and ghettos turn wide sections of wartime Europe into black clusters of death, torture and slavery - centered in Germany and Poland, but reaching in all directions.

The lead editors on the project, Geoffrey Megargee and Martin Dean, estimate that 15 million to 20 million people died or were imprisoned in the sites that they have identified as part of a multivolume encyclopedia. (The Holocaust museum has published the first two, with five more planned by 2025.)

The existence of many individual camps and ghettos was previously known only on a fragmented, region-by-region basis. But the researchers, using data from some 400 contributors, have been documenting the entire scale for the first time, studying where they were located, how they were run, and what their purpose was.

The first Nazi camps were established as early as 1933, and they were set up to imprison political dissenters. Eventually, however, these camps were expanded both in terms of scope and scale. By the end of the war, Nazi camps were being used to imprison or exterminate Jews, homosexuals, Romanis, Slavs, and other ethnic groups.

The extent of these camps shows just how important it was to the overall Nazi war effort. For the Germans, exterminating Jews and other "undesirables" was as much a part of the war as their battles on the Eastern Front.

Much more at the NYT.

Top image of Auschwitz-Birkenau via auschwitz.org.

There was a time on Earth, about 635 million years ago, when almost the entire planet was covered in ice. At least, this is the idea underlying the Snowball Earth Hypothesis, which holds that there was a massive ice age before the proliferation of complex, multicellular life. Though it's still controversial, geological evidence supports the hypothesis — and suggests that Snowball Earth may have been integral to the formation of an atmosphere friendly to life.

Scientists call it the Marinoan glaciation period. It's an idea that's been around for well over a hundred years, but the theory was revived in 1998 by Paul Hoffman and Dan Schrag.

Their analysis of negative carbon isotope anomalies in prehistoric carbonite rocks suggested that all biological life (namely eukaryotic and prokaryotic life) came to a grinding halt in the oceans for a period of about a million years.

"This collapse can be explained by a global glaciation (that is, a snowball Earth), which ended abruptly when subaerial volcanic outgassing raised atmospheric carbon dioxide to about 350 times the modern level," they wrote. This rapid turn of events, they said, would have resulted in a warming of the snowball Earth to extreme greenhouse conditions.

The resulting phase is known as the Marinoan meltdown.

As the Hoffman and Schrag study suggests, much of the evidence in support of this theory comes in the form of sedimentary deposits that appear to be glacial in origin — deposits that are located at tropical paleolatitudes (i.e. deposits that were located in tropical regions at the time). And indeed, the Earth's landmasses were primarily situated in the tropical regions during the Marinoan.

But not everyone is convinced that volcanic activity was responsible for the Great Thaw.

Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, geologists Huiming Bao and three of his graduate students have put forth an intriguing theory suggesting that it was the Marinoan glaciation period itself that instigated the proceeding greenhouse heat wave. Essentially, the million-year Snowball Earth period resulted in a significant atmospheric shift in carbon dioxide levels — one so dramatic that it hasn't been equalled in geological history.

Under normal circumstances, CO2 levels in the atmosphere are in balance with levels found in the ocean. But Bao suspects that a thick layer of ice could have cut off the connection between water and air, resulting in a dramatic rise in atmospheric CO2 levels. In fact, the authors draw a comparison to modern global warming. As a result, the Snowball Earth created the conditions for extreme changes in atmospheric chemistry that eventually lead to the rapid end of the Marinoan glaciation.

But not only that, it allowed for the conditions suitable for life and the Cambrian Explosion that soon followed. In addition to creating a more temperate climate, the phase also resulted in modern levels of atmospheric oxygen.

Bao and colleagues were able to make this determination by using available radiometric dates from areas near layers of barite deposits (a common mineral deposited in rocks following the Marinoan glaciation). The geologists now call this phase the Marinoan Oxygen-17 Depletion (or MOSD event), a period which may have lasted as long as one million years. The oxygen-17 isotype was critical to their analysis, as only an event like this one could have resulted in the large deviations seen in the normal ratio of O-17 to O-18 (with respect to O-16 isotopes).

"If something unusual happens with the composition of the atmosphere, the oxygen isotope ratios can change," noted co-author Bryan Killingsworth through a statement. "We see a large deviation in this ratio in minerals deposited around 635 million years ago. This occurred during an extremely odd time in atmospheric history."

These findings also demonstrate that the Earth is capable of recovering from severe geological conditions at a rapid pace.

"Mother Earth lived and life carried on even in the most devastating situation," wrote Bao. "The only difference is the life composition afterwards. In other words, whatever humans do to the Earth, life will go on. The only uncertainty is whether humans will still remain part of the life composition."

You can read the entire study at PNAS.

Top image via.

The always interesting and highly entertaining Retronaut has just scanned and published a series of pages from a 1956 article titled, "Here's What We'll Wear in Space." Though it wouldn't happen for another five years, it was becoming quite obvious that that time had come to prepare for space. Here's what the experts thought we'd be wearing.

Lloyd Mallan, the author of the original article, noted that these spacesuits were being designed not by stylists, but by "biophysicists, anthropologists, electronic scientists, and doctors of medicine."

He wrote:

But they have one thing in common: all are willing to risk their own necks to perfect equipment that will make it safe for other men to fly through the alien vacuum of space. Acting as their own guinea pigs, they are locked into altitude chambers, spun wildly on centrifuges, and closed up in insulated rooms. In the process, they discover whether or not their space fashions are practical. And in order to be absolutely certain they plunge needles into their veins and spines, under their skin and over their brains. Wires connected to the needles carry their slightest physical reaction.

Early full pressure suit was not efficient. It looks impressive but it was clumsy and restrictive. Air Force has developed new space suit: the design is Top Secret.

Gee, this looks eerily familiar.

"Open the pod bay doors, Hal."

Testing the suits to see if they'll withstand the pressures of explosive decompression. Mallan wrote, "Problems of living in the alien vacuum of space are being solved."

Ah, finally some signs of modernity.

Seriously?

Much more, including full hi-res scans of pages and text at Retronaut.

For the first time ever, scientists have tied water into a knot. It's not the kind of knot sailors would be familiar with, but it's a knot nonetheless. These knots have closed loops with no ends to untie, sort of like trefoil knots or Hopf links. It's an achievement that has eluded scientists for nearly a hundred years, but now they've finally done it in the lab.

Indeed, physicists have suspected that something like this is possible for quite some time, both for fluids and plasmas (in both classical and quantum realms). Given the prominence of knots in other aspects of science, like mathematics and biology, the potential for a fluid knot (linked and knotted vortex loops in particular) was taken very seriously.

Writing in New Scientist, Jacob Aron explains how it was done:

Mathematicians have shown that just as knots in string can't be untied no matter how much you prod and pull them, fluid knots should also never unravel – even though the particles that make up the fluid will be circulating around. But this non-unravelling property only applies if the knot is made of a theoretical "ideal fluid", one that has no viscosity – in other words, no resistance to flow. How a knot in a real fluid such as smoke or water would evolve is unknown, as is whether these structures exist in nature or in the plumes created by machines such as aircraft.

To investigate, Dustin Kleckner and William Irvine of the University of Chicago, Illinois 3D-printed strips of plastic shaped into a trefoil knot and a Hopf link. Crucially, the strips had a cross section shaped like a wing, or hydrofoil (see picture).

Next, the researchers dragged the knots through water filled with microscopic bubbles. Just as a wing passing through air creates a trailing vortex, the acceleration of the hydrofoils created a knot-shaped vortex that sucked in the bubbles. The result was a knot-shaped flow of moving bubbles – the first fluid knot created in a lab – which the team imaged with lasers.

Once formed, the knots move, rotate and eventually appear to dissipate, though whether the vortices completely unknot, unlike in ideal fluids, or somehow preserve the knottedness but in a more diffuse form remains an open question.

As the researchers note in their study, "This work establishes the existence and dynamics of knotted vortices in real fluids."

Moving forward, the physicists will seek to understand if similar effects can happen in other vortices, including those that come off of aircraft wings. This effect may also play a role in superfluids (frictionless quantum fluids).

More at New Scientist. And you can read the entire study at Nature Physics.

Pratt student Melanie Hoff was curious to know what would happen to a sheet of wood when blasted with 15,000 volts of electricity. So, she decided to run the experiment — with the results being something quite unexpected. Rather than causing it to catch fire or blow up, the electricity created intricate fractal patterns — patterns that were very lightning-like in shape — which spread and grew across the wood. The whole thing turned out to be quite beautiful, actually.

The wood that Hoff used was plywood, and the video you see here is played back at a dramatically sped-up rate. She elaborated in the Vimeo comments:

Yes, the grain of the wood influences the pattern and direction. The layers of veneer and the glue that holds them together causes the growth to progress much slower than in non-plywood. This is sped up hundreds of thousands of times.

Via This Colossal.

Brown University researchers have developed a fully implantable and rechargeable wireless brain sensor capable of transmitting neural data to an external receiver. The system, which has performed remarkably well in monkeys and pigs for over a year, could eventually allow humans to control external devices with their thoughts.

The purpose of the project was to develop a neural interface device that could eventually help amputees, spinal cord injury victims, and those living with severe neuromotor disease (like Parkinson's) overcome their physical limitations. The challenge, however, was in developing a system that's safe, effective — and durable. Brain implants are not the kind of thing physicians want to be implanting and extracting on a regular basis. Ideally, the researchers wanted to create something that was small, low-power, leak-proof, and could last for decades.

Li-ion Batteries

To that end, David Borton and his colleagues developed a hermetically sealed implantable interface device that can be recharged by an external source.

They achieved this by using an embedded medical grade rechargeable Li-ion battery that can last for seven hours of continuous operation between recharges. It takes about two hours to refuel, with the incoming energy arriving from an inductive transcutaneous wireless power link at 2 MHz. Amazingly, the entire thing only requires 100 milliwatts of power to function.

During the early developmental stages, the researchers noticed that the recharging process caused it to heat up, which is obviously not good when you're talking about something that's connected to the brain. So, to resolve this problem, the researchers developed a liquid cooling system that uses chilled water.

A "Brain Radio"

The interface device is basically a "brain radio"; it transmits 24 Mbps via 3.2 and 3.8 Ghz microwave frequencies to an external receiver (which is about one meter away). The signals are transmitted in real-time by subjects who can move freely, and the data stream can relay information extracted from up to 100 neurons.

To make it work, a pill-sized chip of electrodes were implanted on a brain's motor cortex, which in turn relayed signals into the device's laser-welded, hermetically sealed titanium "can." It measures 2.2 inches (56 mm) long, 1.65 inches (42 mm) wide, and 0.35 inches (9 mm) thick. The entire signal processing system is contained within that tiny space, including the lithium ion battery, ultralow-power integrated circuits for signal processing and conversion, wireless radio and infrared transmitters, and a copper coil for recharging.

The researchers essentially established a point-to-point communication link for human clinical use. They can now use the system to observe, record, and analyze the signals emitted by scores of neurons in particular parts of the brain.

Capturing and Decoding Motor Activity

The brain-interface device was shown to work in six different animals, namely three pigs and three rhesus monkeys. "[The] wireless implant was electrically stable, effective in capturing and delivering broadband neural data, and safe for over one year of testing," noted the researchers in their study. "In addition, we have used the multichannel data from these mobile animal models to demonstrate the ability to decode neural population dynamics associated with motor activity."

No doubt, this is the very heart of the experiment. This information, once mapped, can be used for a variety of applications.

In particular, this implantable neural interface technology will greatly assist in the development of advanced neuroprostheses. Once refined and proven safe for humans, it could allow disabled people to move objects remotely with their thoughts. It would be a kind of technologically-enabled telekinesis. Indeed, the project is very closely linked to the BrainGate initiative — another Brown University project that's working to develop brain interface technologies for the disabled.

And of course, this technology will very likely trickle over to non-medical applications, allowing even able-bodied people to move objects with their minds.

In terms of next steps, Borton's team will be using a version of the device to study the role of the motor cortex in an animal model of Parkinson's disease. They will also work to reduce the size and cost of the device.

You can read the entire study at the Journal of Neural Engineering.

Supplementary source: ExtremeTech.

All images: David A Borton et al./J. Neural Eng.

The Chinese city of Shenzhen recently commissioned the French firm Vincent Callebaut Architects to come up with an innovative and sustainable building solution for the growing metropolis. The result is this: The Shenzhen Asian Cairn Farmscraper project, an initiative consisting of six mix-used towers structured like a pile of rocks. Aside from being absolutely gorgeous, the buildings will provide space for residents, offices, shops, recreation — and as the name would imply, its own food.

China is often accused of being environmentally irresponsible, and for good reason. But it's a claim that may not stand the test of time. With an eye firmly planted on the future, the city of Shenzehn is actively responding to the demands of its rising population, unchecked urban sprawl, and rising CO2 emissions.

Each farmscraper will consist of three interlacing eco-spirals of 'pebbles' which make their way up two large towers. The word 'cairn' describes piles of stones that are often used to identify hiking trails.

Vincent Callebaut Architects explains their design:

In this context of hyper growth and accelerated urbanism, the Asian Cairns project fights for the construction of an urban multifunctional, multicultural and ecological pole. It is an obvious project to build a prototype of green, dense, smart city connected by the TIC [information and communication technologies] and eco-designed from biotechnologies.

Other sustainability features will include an open-air epidermis of photovoltaic and photo thermal solar cells, along with an extensive array of wind turbines that will be situated on top of the zenithal roofs.

Large basins of viticulture and lagoons of phyto-puration will be used to recycle the waste water generated by the farmscrapers.

The architects write:

These six farmscrapers are pioneer towers aiming at the 10 following objectives :

1. The diminution of the ecological footprint of this new vertical eco-quarter enhancing the local consumption by its food autonomy and by the reduction of means of road, rail and river transport.
2. The reintegration of local employment in the primary and secondary sectors coproducing the fresh and organic products to the city dwellers who will be able to reappropriate the knowledge of the farming production modes.
3. The recycling in short and closed loop of the liquid or solid organic waste of the used waters by anaerobe composting and green algae panels producing biogas by accelerated photosynthesis.
4. The economy of the rural territory reducing the deforestation, the desertification and the pollution of the phreatic tables.
5. The oxygenation of the polluted city centres whose air quality is saturated in lead particles.
6. The production of a vertical organic agriculture of fruits and vegetables limiting the systematic recourse to pesticides, insecticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers.
7. The saving of water resource by the recycling of urban waters, spraying waters and the evapo-sweated water by the plants.
8. The protection of the biodiversity and the development of eco-systemic cycles in the heart of the city.
9. The diminution of the sanitary risks by the disappearance of pesticides noxious for the health and by the fertility and total protection of the phreatic tables.
10. The diminution of the recourse to fossil fuel needed for the conventional agriculture in long cycle for the refrigeration and the transport of the goods.

Some of you may recall that Vincent Callebaut Architects is responsible for this highly conceptual design: The Lilypad.

Sources: Vincent Callebaut Architects, World Architecture News, Inhabitat.

All images via Vincent Callebaut Architects.

The idea of drones flying above our heads and tracking our every move is a spooky prospect. Just last month the Federal Aviation Administration released its drone list, which freaked out the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU. While the general public has yet to make a big fuss over this, some Texas representatives have taken action. But while they claim to be looking out for the privacy rights of its citizens, some observers say that the proposed bill goes way too far.

Take the analysis by Robots.net, for example. They write about representative Lance Gooden's proposed HB912 bill — what they say is a "badly worded" document that could conceivably "outlaw most outdoor hobby and STEM robotics activities, stop university robotics research programs, endanger commercial robotics R&D, and end many common commercial uses of robots such as commercial aerial photography."

Others are concerned that, in actuality, Texas legislators are simply looking out for corporate interests. This bill, they argue, may protect businesses who are committing environmental violations. An earlier article in PopSci expresses this concern:

On a hazy day last January, an unmanned aircraft enthusiast piloted his camera-equipped drone in the vicinity of a Dallas meatpacking plant, cruising around 400 feet in the air. To test his equipment, he took some photos of the Trinity River with a point-and-shoot camera mounted to his $75 foam airframe. When he retrieved the remote-controlled aircraft, he noticed something odd in the photos: A crimson stream, which appeared to be blood, leaking into a river tributary.

The pilot, whose name has not been released, notified Texas environmental authorities, who launched an investigation. On Dec. 26, a grand jury handed down several indictments against the owners of the Columbia Packing Company for dumping pig blood into a creek. They now face hefty fines and even prison time stemming from the water pollution, and the plant has since been shuttered. Neighbors had complained about noxious fumes and other issues for a while, according to the local news. But investigators didn't get involved until this drone pilot took his pictures.

Under a new law proposed in the Texas legislature, sponsored by a lawmaker from the Dallas suburbs, this type of activity could soon be criminal. Not the pollution—the drone.

Lots more here and here.

Via Slashdot.

Image: AirMedia GmbH, Zurich.

Back in 1988, Magnus Magnusson (best name ever) somehow managed to bring three of the 20th Century's most fascinating personalities together to discuss God, the Universe, and Everything Else. In the hour-long program, the three talked about the Big Bang theory, the connection between science and scifi, the rise of computer science, extraterrestrial intelligence, and the puzzle that is human existence.

The remarkable program featured a spry 46 year-old Stephen Hawking who was already having to rely on his speech synthesizer — but his wit and deadpan humor was firmly established. Carl Sagan, who appeared via satellite, passed away only eight years later, with scifi author Arthur C. Clarke dying in 2008.

We were alerted to this video by Open Culture, who writes:

With minds like these, you can rest assured that the conversation won't stray far from what Sagan calls "the fundamental questions," nor will it come untethered from established human knowledge and float into the realms of wild speculation and wishful thinking. And of course, in such conversations, a sense of humor like Hawking's — a man who, not expected to reach age thirty, would nevertheless live to see more advancement in human knowledge than anyone else on the broadcast — never goes amiss.

Magnusson was the longtime host of BBC's Mastermind program. Props to him for putting this together back in the day.

Brain science can be a rather daunting area of study. So kudos to comic artist Matteo Farinella and neuroscientist Hana Ros of University College London for their upcoming Neurocomic project — an imaginative effort to explain the inner workings of the brain through the graphic novel format.

Farinella and Ros started Neurocomic in response to the increased public awareness of neuroscience, particularly as it relates to the problems of aging and mental disorders.

They describe their project like this:

Neurocomic will be a graphic novel that takes the reader on an exciting and visually captivating adventure through the brain, populated by quirky creatures and famous neuroscientists. Giant squid, talking sea slugs, mysterious trap doors, submarines, parachutes and underwater battles transport the reader on a fantasy journey that fascinates and helps them to understand how the brain works.

Though still in progress (the first issue is due out later this year), Neurocomic adventures will show how cells use electricity to communicate, how drugs work, and what happens during brain disorders.

H/t Mind Hacks.

The recent discovery of a well-preserved dissected head dating back to the 1200s has shown that the middle ages weren't as anti-science as many scholars would have us believe. While it looks pretty horrific, this mummified head was a medieval science project — a dissection that wasn't simply meant to be gawked at and tossed away. Given its remarkably well preserved state, scientists suspect that it was used for ongoing medical education.

Whoever preserved this head knew what they were doing. The veins and arteries are filled with a mixture of beeswax, lime and cinnabar mercury — compounds that preserved the body, while also giving the circulatory system some color (cinnabar mercury has a red tint).

Writing in LiveScience, Stephanie Pappas reports:

The gruesome specimen, now in a private collection, consists of a human head and shoulders with the top of the skull and brain removed. Rodent nibbles and insect larvae trails mar the face. The arteries are filled with a red "metal wax" compound that helped preserve the body.

The preparation of the specimen was surprisingly advanced. Radiocarbon dating puts the age of the body between A.D. 1200 and A.D.1280, an era once considered part of Europe's anti-scientific "Dark Ages." In fact, said study researcher Philippe Charlier, a physician and forensic scientist at University Hospital R. Poincare in France, the new specimen suggests surprising anatomical expertise during this time period.

"It's state-of-the-art," Charlier told LiveScience. "I suppose that the preparator did not do this just one time, but several times, to be so good at this."

Be sure to read Pappas's entire article, as she reviews the fascinating history of Medieval Era science and how it fared during this challenging period in human history.

Image via Archives of Medical Science.

A new discovery could rewrite the history books on the Milky Way. According to a new study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, our galaxy absorbed a smaller satellite galaxy several million years ago. But more than that, it was a celestial event that culminated in the meeting of each galaxy's central black holes. The ensuing collision resulted in a cataclysmic event that blasted a swath of old stars straight out of the core region at hypervelocity speeds.

The theory, put forth by Kelly Holley-Bockelmann of Vanderbilt and Tamara Bogdanović of Georgia Tech suggests that our galaxy has had a violent past — and it may not have been the only encounter like it over the course of its history.

A Fermi problem

Holley-Bockelmann and Bogdanović started to suspect something after studying Fermi Bubbles — two giant lobes of extremely energetic diffuse gamma-ray light that are bursting from the center of the galaxy straight above and below the galactic plane.

"Right now, each lobe is about 25,000 light years across," Holley-Bockelmann told io9. "Scientists know that gamma-ray light comes from the most energetic physics known, but we still don't completely understand what made these bubbles."

The astronomers suspect that particles erupted from the galactic center at nearly the speed of light, and then slammed into the ambient interstellar gas — a high-speed collision energetic enough to make just this kind of gamma ray.

But two clues in particular helped the team figure out what drove the Fermi Bubbles.

"The first clue was that the edges of these bubbles are super sharp, which made us think that whatever made the Fermi Bubbles was a very abrupt event," said Holley-Bockelmann. "By taking the current size and running the clock backwards, we could figure out that the Fermi Bubbles were made a few million years ago.

This was the second clue, she noted, because it matched the ages of the new stars formed at the galactic center — which made the researchers believe that both were caused by the same culprit.

"Ultimately, we suspected that gas was disturbed by a passing satellite galaxy, and some of the gas made stars, while the rest funneled into the supermassive black hole," she said. "The Fermi Bubbles can be thought of as the explosive 'burp' of the supermassive black hole after a gas-rich meal."

The galactic satellite infall event

And what a meal it must have been. After collaborating with Meagan Langto, Pau Amaro-Seoane, Alberto Sesana, and Manodeep Sinha, the researchers were able to piece together a chronology of events.

Things started to unravel for the smaller satellite galaxy about 13 billion years ago when it — and the medium-sized black hole lurking within it — fell towards the center of the Milky Way galaxy. As it wound its way deeper into our galaxy and towards its galactic core, it was gravitationally stripped of its stars and dark matter until it became a mere skeleton of its former self.

Then, a few million years ago, the shredded satellite finally reached the galactic center.

"But by this time it was just the black hole and a shroud of stars and dark matter," Holley-Bockelmann told us. "Still, it was massive enough that as it plunged through the final few hundred light years, it perturbed the gas that was calmly orbiting the galactic center, compressing some of it to form a burst of new stars, and driving the rest of it to fuel the supermassive black hole, which shortly after let out an explosive Fermi Bubble 'burp'."

And that's when things started to get even more interesting.

The middleweight black hole sunk so close to the Milky Way's center that it became intricately bound to its supermassive black hole, thus becoming a binary black hole.

"Once the two black holes made a binary, they started zooming around each other in a high speed orbital dance that flung out thousands of stars that veered near couple," she noted.

And it was this relativistic black hole dance that caused our galaxy to fling out scores of its old stars from the core's vicinity. The forces involved must have been incredibly intense for this to happen; the Milky Way's supermassive black hole weighs about four million solar masses and is about 40 light seconds in diameter — only nine times the size of our sun.

The researchers say that those stars should still be racing through space, about 10,000 light years from their original orbits.

Out with the old, in with the new

And interestingly, this satellite infall event may help to explain not just the Fermi Bubbles, but also why the galactic core region is relatively devoid of old stars. Models predict that the density of old stars should increase with proximity to the center. But our galaxy has very few old stars within several light years of the black hole.

In addition, the galactic center contains the three most massive clusters of young stars in the galaxy (including the Central, Arches, and Quintuplet clusters). These are stars that should burn out relatively quickly on account of their extreme brightness. The only reasonable explanation, say the researchers, is that there must have been a relatively recent burst of star formation in the region.

And indeed, Holley-Bockelmann and Bogdanović are suggesting that the galactic merger triggered a brief epoch of strong star formation. In their paper, the authors admit that the theory is "not beyond reproach," but that it does a good job explaining all these galactic anomalies.

Moreover, these infall events may not be rare across cosmological timescales. Their simulations indicate that infall events could happen once every one billion years.

"This implies that there may have been other bursts of hypervelocity star ejections, which can seed a population of 'intragroup stars' farther out in the halo of the Galaxy," they noted in the study.

Looking ahead, Bogdanović and Holley-Bockelmann plan to publish a paper about these hypervelocity stars in particular.

Their paper, "Can a Satellite Galaxy Merger Explain the Active Past of the Galactic Centre" has been published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Images: Top: an artist's illustration of a satellite galaxy falling into the submassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy (Julie Turner, Vanderbilt University). Interior images NASA; JPL via Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Chandra X-Ray Telescope.

Camels aren't typically associated with northern climates, but a recent discovery of 3.5 million-year-old fossils by Canadian paleontologist Natalia Rybczynski suggests that this is precisely where they came from. The finding was made on Nunavut's Ellesmere Island, the most northerly part of Canada, and an area that was much more temperate back during the mid-Pliocene era. But it was cold enough, say the researchers, to help the camels evolve their humps — an adaptation that would eventually prove useful in a vastly different ecological context.

Analysis of the bones show that the giant camel is likely a distant relative of the modern dromedary camel, the species known for its one hump. And as its name suggests, the giant camel was a rather large beast. Looking at the fossil evidence, Rybczynski and her team figure it was about 9 feet (2.7 meters) tall at the shoulder, which is 30% larger than today's camels. And it weighed close to 2,000 pounds (900 kg).

Millions of years ago, Ellsmere Island featured a boreal forest with temperatures ranging anywhere from 57 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit (14 to 22 Celsius). It was a warm period that predated the onset of the Quaternary glaciations. There was plenty for the camels to eat back then, including lots of grass and leaves. Today, camels are regarded a desert dwelling animals, but during the mid-Pliocene they browsed through the Arctic forests.

And fascinatingly, Rybczynski theorizes that the hump was already an important characteristic of the camel even back then. In her study, she writes:

Their iconic hump(s), containing fat, also may have been adaptive. As seen in high-latitude ungulates today, fat deposits could have been critically important for allowing populations to survive and reproduce in harsh climates characterized by 6-month long, cold, winters.

Indeed, given just how far up north they were, the winters would have been long and harsh — lasting for half the year and featuring 24 hours of darkness. These camels, in order to survive, would have likely shed most of their weight while feeding off their hump's fat reserves.

The camel populations eventually dispersed across the Bering Strait during the cold winters by using Arctic sea ice, where they resettled in Asia and adapted to an entirely different kind of life.

You can read the entire study at Nature.

A new analysis by Stephen Montgomery and Nicholas Mundy at the University of Cambridge is adding credence to the suggestion that the extinct Homo floresiensis was a dwarf species. And the new clue, they say, comes from the teeth of the world's tiniest monkey.

Ever since the discovery of a H. floresiensis fossil on the island of Flores in 2003, scientists have speculated that its miniaturized characteristics were the result of insular dwarfism — a form of speciation (and one not uncommon to other species on the island). These so-called Hobbits measured only three feet (one meter) in height and weighed about 70 pounds (32 kilograms).

Not everyone buys the dwarf theory, however, mainly on account of the size of its brain and teeth — measurements that are proportionally much smaller than what would be expected in a dwarf species. Some have even gone so far as to say that the Flores specimen was simply a diseased human.

But Montgomery and Mundy, after studying the teeth of pygmy marmosets (Callithrixpygmaea), noticed that they've also got unusually small teeth. And pygmy marmosets, as the team confirmed, evolved from larger ancestors. They're a dwarf species.

Writing in New Scientist, Colin Barras explains more:

So why the small teeth? The evolution of a dwarf species usually involves shortening the length of pregnancy or infancy, but recently it has been suggested that there might be a more unusual route: pregnancy length stays the same but the growth of the fetus slows down. This might influence brain and tooth size as these develop early.

Montgomery and Mundy found that the pygmy marmoset's pregnancy and infancy are similar in length to their evolutionarily close, larger relations. This suggests they took the unconventional route to small stature.

"If H. floresiensis is a dwarf, one of the controversies has been whether it fits with previous patterns of dwarfism," says Montgomery. The new analysis suggests it may fit with what is seen in pygmy marmosets.

Check out the study at Journal of Evolutionary Biology.

Image: Top: Susan Hayes; Marmoset: Jared Hobbs/All Canada Photos/Corbis.