"To think of where we started and where we are now, it's kind of hard to believe we got so big so fast," junior Kylie Doty said.

Wrestling practice at Colfax-Mingo High School looks like many others. The wrestlers file in, tape some ankles, warm up and practice. Except, there is one difference.

"Here at Colfax-Mingo, it's the norm to have girls involved in wrestling," Head Coach Erin Hume told Local 5.

To be fair though, it is slowly becoming the norm across the state.

Back in January, 476 girls competed at the IWCOA Girls High School State Championship.

"To think of where we started and where we are now, it's kind of hard to believe we got so big so fast," junior Kylie Doty said.

That weekend showed more than just how far girls wrestling has come.

"It's only going to help the sport here in Iowa and across the United States," Hume said. "To see more people involved, and female wrestlers is one way to grow it."

But at Colfax-Mingo, it is about more than just growing a sport.

"The more options we give them the more likely they are to be involved and feel connected to the school," Hume said.

It also provides a connection to the generations of girls that follow.

"I remember when I was just a small little girl here and there was no one else that was a girl," Doty said. "Having a role model is the best thing you can have."

"If they want to leave the program in a better place, and have it be a part of them and see it grow once they're done, then it's up to them to be the role model to the younger girls on the team," Hume said.

The 15 girls on last year's Tigerhawk team and the 10 this year are trying to provide a foundation for a sport and future girls to grow from.

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'It's the norm': Colfax-Mingo part of Iowa wrestling evolution - Local 5 - weareiowa.com

Congratulations to the author of the recent book from Discovery Institute Press, Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell, for an excellent write-up by World Magazine editor Marvin Olasky:

Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the same day: Feb. 12, 1809. Lincolns words have stood the test of time, while Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell (Discovery, 2020) shows why Darwinism and its neo variants fall short. Authors Thomas Lo, Paul Chien, Eric Anderson, Robert Alston, and Robert Waltzer explain that life could not have emerged from a chemical soup, because it only exists via secret ingredient: information. Cells are intricate machines. Irreducible complexity is an unavoidable complication. Junk DNA is not junk. Our surroundings, and chemical elements themselves, are fine-tuned for life.

The comparison between Lincoln and Darwin is noteworthy. The words of the former are immortal, of the latterincreasingly evident in their mortality. The Nutshell book is an easy-to-digest introduction to a profound subject. There was an urgent, long-standing need for such a book, and here it is!

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Lincoln, Darwin, and ID in a Nutshell - Discovery Institute

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Instruction

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U of A researchers start bug fight club to study weapon evolution - AZFamily

Recent archaeological digs in Africa found evidence of Middle Stone Age tools dating to just 11,000 years ago, about 20,000 years after these tools were traditionally believed to have stopped being produced. This means groups of ancient humans moved to using newer tools at different speeds, and that early human hunters lived in relative isolation from each other.

All previous archaeological and anthropological discoveries in Africa have supported the belief that humans in Africa stopped using simple points and scraper tools and developed more complex weapons, tools and craft appliances about 30,000 years ago. However, researchers from Germanys Max Planck Institute have published their new findings in the journal Scientific Reports claiming the latest evidence gathered at sites in Senegal, on the West coast of Africa, are fueling a rethink of the passage of human evolution.

The new paper suggests some ancient people living in Africa 11,000 years ago were still using simple tools, while other groups had developed more advanced technologies 20,000 years previously. This directly challenges the traditional theory that humans evolved in a linear fashion, making technological advances together, and proves humans evolved at greatly different rates around Africa, and the world.

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Why the theory of human evolution needs a tweak, once again - Genetic Literacy Project

Its been suggested that an advance party of robots will be needed if humans are ever to settle on other planets. Sent ahead to create conditions favorable for humankind, these robots will need to be tough, adaptable and recyclable if theyre to survive within the inhospitable cosmic climates that await them.

Collaborating with roboticists and computer scientists, my team and I have been working on just such a set of robots. Produced via 3D printer and assembled autonomously, the robots were creating continually evolve in order to rapidly optimize for the conditions they find themselves in.

Our work represents the latest progress towards the kind of autonomous robot ecosystems that could help build humanitys future homes, far away from Earth and far away from human oversight.

Robots have come a long way since our first clumsy forays into artificial movement many decades ago. Today, companies such as Boston Dynamics produce ultra-efficient robots which load trucks, build pallets, and move boxes around factories, undertaking tasks you might think only humans could perform.

Despite these advances, designing robots to work in unknown or inhospitable environments, like exoplanets or deep ocean trenches, still poses a considerable challenge for scientists and engineers. Out in the cosmos, what shape and size should the ideal robot be? Should it crawl or walk? What tools will it need to manipulate its environment, and how will it survive extremes of pressure, temperature and chemical corrosion?

An impossible brainteaser for humans, nature has already solved this problem. Darwinian evolution has resulted in millions of species that are perfectly adapted to their environment. Although biological evolution takes millions of years, artificial evolutionmodeling evolutionary processes inside a computercan take place in hours, or even minutes. Computer scientists have been harnessing its power for decades, resulting in gas nozzles to satellite antennas that are ideally suited to their function, for instance.

But current artificial evolution of moving physical objects still requires a great deal of human oversight, requiring a tight feedback loop between robot and human. If artificial evolution is to design a useful robot for exoplanetary exploration, well need to remove the human from the loop. In essence, evolved robot designs must manufacture, assemble, and test themselves autonomously, untethered from human oversight.

Any evolved robots will need to be capable of sensing their environment and have diverse means of movingfor example using wheels, jointed legs, or even mixtures of the two. And to address the inevitable reality gap that occurs when transferring a design from software to hardware, it is also desirable for at least some evolution to take place in hardware, within an ecosystem of robots that evolve in real time and real space.

The Autonomous Robot Evolution (ARE) project addresses exactly this, bringing together scientists and engineers from four universities in an ambitious four-year project to develop this radical new technology.

As depicted above, robots will be born through the use of 3D manufacturing. We use a new kind of hybrid hardware-software evolutionary architecture for design. That means that every physical robot has a digital clone. Physical robots are performance-tested in real-world environments, while their digital clones enter a software program, where they undergo rapid simulated evolution. This hybrid system introduces a novel type of evolution: new generations can be produced from a union of the most successful traits from a virtual mother and a physical father.

As well as being rendered in our simulator, child robots produced via our hybrid evolution are also 3D printed and introduced into a real-world, creche-like environment. The most successful individuals within this physical training center make their genetic code available for reproduction and for the improvement of future generations, while less fit robots can simply be hoisted away and recycled into new ones as part of an ongoing evolutionary cycle.

Two years into the project, significant advances have been made. From a scientific perspective, we have designed new artificial evolutionary algorithms that have produced a diverse set of robots that drive or crawl, and can learn to navigate through complex mazes. These algorithms evolve both the body-plan and brain of the robot.

The brain contains a controller that determines how the robot moves, interpreting sensory information from the environment and translating this into motor controls. Once the robot is built, a learning algorithm quickly refines the child brain to account for any potential mismatch between its new body and its inherited brain.

From an engineering perspective, we have designed the RoboFab to fully automate manufacturing. This robotic arm attaches wires, sensors, and other organs chosen by evolution to the robots 3D printed chassis. We designed these components to facilitate swift assembly, giving the RoboFab access to a big toolbox of robot limbs and organs.

The first major use case we plan to address is deploying this technology to design robots to undertake clean-up of legacy waste in a nuclear reactor, like that seen in the TV miniseries Chernobyl. Using humans for this task is both dangerous and expensive, and necessary robotic solutions remain to be developed.

Looking forward, the long-term vision is to develop the technology sufficiently to enable the evolution of entire autonomous robotic ecosystems that live and work for long periods in challenging and dynamic environments without the need for direct human oversight.

In this radical new paradigm, robots are conceived and born rather than designed and manufactured. Such robots will fundamentally change the concept of machines, showcasing a new breed that can change their form and behavior over timejust like us.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Image Credit: NASA

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We're Teaching Robots to Evolve AutonomouslySo They Can Adapt to Life Alone on Distant Planets - Singularity Hub

In 2011, Travis Kelce wasnt really Travis Kelce yetat least not as a football player. He was a junior at the University of Cincinnati, getting his first real playing time as a tight end. He barely played his freshman and sophomore seasons at UC and was a quarterback in high school. At 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds, he had obvious athleticism and a good mind for the mechanics of an offense, but he lacked a clear purpose on the field. There had to be more he could offer than a few blocks here and there and 13 catches over the course of that season.

That year was also Rob Gronkowskis second NFL season, when Gronk became a household name. He had 1,327 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns in 2011, both single-season records for a tight end. He seemed unstoppable because of the mismatches he created: He was too fast for linebackers and too big and strong for safeties. He was still an excellent in-line blockerthe traditional role of the Y tight endbut could line up in multiple spots in any formation. New England had been successful for years using slot receivers like Wes Welker to manipulate the middle of the field. Eventually, it started experimenting by lining up a bigger playeroften Gronkowskiin the same space. There was little he couldnt do.

When Kelce watched Gronkowski that season, he saw a prototype for how to unleash an exceptional tight end all over the field. He saw a role that looked as satisfying and impactful as his dual-threat quarterbacking days in high school.

When I moved to tight end, he was the staple, Kelce said Monday. He was up-and-coming and had made his mark in the NFL as a young player, and his dominance fueled me to be able to have that much impact in a football game.

In 2012, in his last college season, Kelce caught 45 passes for 722 yards and eight touchdowns, all career highs by a wide margin. In 2013, Kansas City drafted him in the third round, looking for a playmaking tight end in the mold of Gronkowski and others who were succeeding in similar roles.

He transcended [the position] just in terms of being such a dominant force, a big athletic guy who can run up the seams, catch the ball, make a few guys miss, break a tackle, and take it to the house, Kelce said. You didnt see that in every offense. What that did for a guy like myself, coming into the league, was it gave coach Andy Reid an understanding of OK, we can use the tight end position a certain way if he works at his craft enough.

Kelce and Gronkowski, who came out of retirement to play in Tampa this season, are not identical playersGronkowski is the better blocker and, at his peak, was the better athletebut they are part of the same macroevolution at their position. One way of viewing Super Bowl LV is as the continuation of a cycle that began around the time Gronkowski was drafted: a new generation of tight ends, great pass catchers who could run intermediate and deep routes, not just short ones, and who could split out wide or line up in the slot, entered the league. They were different from the traditional in-line blockers, the Y tight ends who were often offensive tackles who couldnt keep enough weight on. Their emergence punctuated an equilibriumno longer did playing tight end mean performing drudgery in relative anonymity. Teams were encouraged to expand their roles to fit the spread offenses of the modern NFL. Kelce has picked up in Kansas City where Gronkowski left off in New England, setting new standards of achievement. This season, Kelce became the first tight end to record a 1,400-yard receiving season, just as Gronkowski was the first to 1,300 yards in 2011.

Theres been a tight end renaissance in the past decade. From Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham to Kelce and George Kittle, theyre putting up better numbers, earning more fame, and getting bigger contracts. By changing the view of the position from grunt work to glamour, theyve inspired a new generation of players.

Great athletes have started playing the position, Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians said Monday. Most of them werent good enough basketball players, so they turned to footballI think Tony Gonzalez was one of those guys who started it, and Antonio Gates. Really good power forwards who ... werent going to the NBA [and] went to the NFL. Thats what youre seeing.

Gronkowski was drafted as part of a two-year run on tight ends in 2009 and 2010. Twenty were taken in each of those drafts, more than any other year since the draft went to seven rounds in 1994, save for 2002, an outlier year when 24 were chosen. In addition to Gronkowski, the 2009 and 2010 drafts included Ed Dickson, Graham, Dennis Pitta, and Jared Cook, among others.

Their success piqued other teams interests and led to another run on tight ends in 2013, especially those with receiving skills. Tyler Eifert, Zach Ertz, Vance McDonald, Kelce, Jordan Reed, and Luke Willson went in the first five rounds of 2013. These players could play in space and thrived as the spread offense took over the NFL. The prevalence of spread concepts has helped offensive players in general, but it took the right player pipeline being in place for NFL tight ends to take advantage. There was no guarantee that a position named for its traditional spot tight to the end of the line was going to flourish in a system defined by spreading out wide.

The NFL, to an extent, has to take what it can get. When theres a steady supply of talent at a position, of a certain body type, or anything else, the smart teams take advantage, and the rest eventually follow suit. Its not clear why so many good tight ends came out of those 2009 and 2010 drafts, but it is possible to draw a line from those players success to other teams wanting the sameand better athletes in high school and college taking an interest in what became an increasingly high-profile and lucrative job. The more good players become available at a position, the more the NFL prioritizes it financially and schematically, and the cycle continues.

Its become a position that is more viable for young players to turn to whereas before it was kind of like playing right field in little league, said an NFL personnel executive. If you look at guys on a scale of 1 to 5, theres probably more 3s and 4s now than there ever were. Before it was some 5s and some 2s.

In 2010, Gates became the NFLs highest-paid tight end when he signed a five-year contract extension with the Chargers worth $7.2 million per year. Last offseason, Kittle signed a five-year extension with the 49ers worth more than twice that, $15 million, in average annual value. Kittles deal largely ignored precedent at the position. I dont care about the tight end market. Im being paid to do a George Kittle deal, his agent, Jack Bechta, told NFL Network at the time. The tight end market, though, definitely cared about them. Hours after Kittles deal was complete, Kelce signed his own four-year extension worth an average of $14.3 million per year. Both deals shattered what had been the previous high-water mark: Browns tight end Austin Hoopers $10.5 million per year. In 2020, 16 tight ends made over $5 million and four made at least $10 million.

Gronkowski and his contemporaries deserve much of the credit for advancing a tight ends role in an NFL offense, but he gives Kelce and Kittle credit for showing the true value of the position in terms that matter to those who play itby getting paid.

I feel like the tight end position is on the map now. Its a position that I feel like kids want to play, Gronkowski said Monday. People want to grow up to be a tight end which is pretty, pretty awesome.

Its also possible those kids also want to grow up to be Gronk, another matter entirely and a taller task, but Gronkowski is right. In Kelces caseor for players like Houstons Darren Fells or Indianapoliss Mo Alie-Cox, who became tight ends after playing college basketballthe specialization at the position takes place during or after college. For many others, though, it starts earlier.

A promising high school athlete with a certain size and speed combination might, for instance, now prefer to play tight end over outside linebacker.

Timothy Bostard is the head football coach at Woodland Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Gronkowskis alma mater. Bostard told me he gets more students wanting to try out at tight end than there are roster spots at the position. A wider range of body types can realistically point to successful college or NFL tight ends as their inspiration.

Theyre trying to migrate to that position because of what it is now, Bostard said.

The beauty of the modern tight end position is how many things it can be. No wonder it captures players imagination. Theres a self-fulfilling element to the cycle: If there are more good players at a position, teams start finding more ways to use them. One reason there are more jobs available now is because some of these better athletes can add value on special teams by covering kicks and kick returns. Teams carry more tight ends on their rosters than they used to, and the very best of them are earning more lucrative contracts. A good receiving tight end can split out wide and function as a fourth or fifth receiver in a spread formation; a bigger one can take advantage of the middle of the field from the slot; and someone still has to block sometimes. Almost none of these players are or will be at Gronkowskis, or even Kelces, level of talent or accomplishment, but theyll follow the trail they blazed and choose to follow the footprints that suit their skill sets best. In an era of positionless football, a positionless position should be thriving.

There are so many different types of tight ends now, where you can line up out wide, you can line up to the left, you can line up in the backfield, you can line up on the line, Gronkowski said. Thats what makes the position really cool and very intriguing to kids these days. I feel like its the cool position.

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The Evolution of an NFL Tight End, From Gronk to Kelce - The Ringer

Completion of the Australian-led astronomy project sheds light on the evolution of the Universe.

The complex mechanics determining how galaxies spin, grow, cluster and die have been revealed following the release of all the data gathered during a massive seven-year Australian-led astronomy research project.

The scientists observed 13 galaxies at a time, building to a total of 3068, using a custom-built instrument called the Sydney-AAO Multi-Object Integral-Field Spectrograph (SAMI), connected to the 4-meter Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) at Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales. The telescope is operated by the Australian National University.

Overseen by the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), the project used bundles of optical fibers to capture and analyze bands of colors, or spectra, at multiple points in each galaxy.

The results allowed astronomers from around the world to explore how these galaxies interacted with each other, and how they grew, sped up, or slowed down over time.

The SAMI instrument inside the Anglo Australian Telescope being readied for action. Credit: ngel R. Lpez-Snchez (AAO-MQ)

No two galaxies are alike. They have different bulges, haloes, disks, and rings. Some are forming new generations of stars, while others havent done so for billions of years. And there are powerful feedback loops in them fuelled by supermassive black holes.

The SAMI survey lets us see the actual internal structures of galaxies, and the results have been surprising, said lead author Professor Scott Croom from ASTRO 3D and the University of Sydney.

The sheer size of the SAMI Survey lets us identify similarities as well as differences, so we can move closer to understanding the forces that affect the fortunes of galaxies over their very long lives.

The survey, which began in 2013, has already formed the basis of dozens of astronomy papers, with several more in preparation. A paper describing the final data release including, for the first time, details of 888 galaxies within galaxy clusters was published today (February 2, 2021) in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The nature of galaxies depends both on how massive they are and their environment, said Professor Croom.

For example, they can be lonely in voids, or crowded into the dense heart of galactic clusters, or anywhere in between. The SAMI Survey shows how the internal structure of galaxies is related to their mass and environment at the same time, so we can understand how these things influence each other.

Research arising from the survey has already revealed several unexpected outcomes.

One group of astronomers showed that the direction of a galaxys spin depends on the other galaxies around it, and changes depending on the galaxys size. Another group showed that the amount of rotation a galaxy has is primarily determined by its mass, with little influence from the surrounding environment. A third looked at galaxies that were winding down star-making, and found that for many the process began only a billion years after they drifted into the dense inner-city regions of clusters.

A/Prof Julia Bryant from the University of Sydney inside the SAMI instrument at the top end of the Anglo Australian Telescope. Credit: Scott Croom/University of Sydney

The SAMI Survey was set up to help us answer some really broad top-level questions about galaxy evolution, said co-author Dr Matt Owers from Macquarie University in Australia.

The detailed information weve gathered will help us to understand fundamental questions such as: Why do galaxies look different depending on where they live in the Universe? What processes stop galaxies forming new stars and, conversely, what processes drive the formation of new stars? Why do the stars in some galaxies move in a highly ordered rotating disk, while in other galaxies their orbits are randomly oriented?

Professor Croom added, The survey is finished now, but by making it all public we hope that the data will continue to bear fruit from many, many years to come.

Co-author Associate Professor Julia Bryant from ASTRO 3D and the University of Sydney said: The next steps in this research will make use of a new Australian instrument which weve called Hector that will start operation in 2021, increasing the detail and number of galaxies that can be observed.

When fully installed in the AAT, Hector will survey 15,000 galaxies.

Reference: The SAMI Galaxy Survey: the third and final data release by Scott M Croom, Matt S Owers, Nicholas Scott, Henry Poetrodjojo, Brent Groves, Jesse van de Sande, Tania M Barone, Luca Cortese, Francesco DEugenio, Joss Bland-Hawthorn, Julia Bryant, Sree Oh, Sarah Brough, James Agostino, Sarah Casura, Barbara Catinella, Matthew Colless, Gerald Cecil, Roger L Davies, Michael J Drinkwater, Simon P Driver, Ignacio Ferreras, Caroline Foster, Amelia Fraser-McKelvie, Jon Lawrence, Sarah K Leslie, Jochen Liske, ngel R Lpez-Snchez, Nuria P F Lorente, Rebecca McElroy, Anne M Medling, Danail Obreschkow, Samuel N Richards, Rob Sharp, Sarah M Sweet, Dan S Taranu, Edward N Taylor, Edoardo Tescari, Adam D Thomas, James Tocknell and Sam P Vaughan, 1 February 2021, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab229

The final data release paper has 41 authors, drawn from Australia, Belgium, the US, Germany, Britain, Spain and The Netherlands.

The full data set is available online through Australian Astronomical Optics (AAO)Data Central.

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Complex Mechanics of the Evolution of the Universe: The Secrets of 3000 Galaxies Laid Bare - SciTechDaily

A school field trip in 1971 set me on my career to become an engineer. We visited what was then the largest engineering project ever undertaken in the history of the State, by the ESB at Turlough Hill in Co Wicklow.

A half kilometre-length tunnel was constructed deep through the granite between a man-made reservoir on the summit and the lower lake, driving hydroelectric turbines. Fully operational since 1974, Turlough Hill is, in essence, a massive battery recharged by using otherwise surplus power on the national grid to pump water up to the reservoir. The power station then can rapidly come on line to generate electricity at times when the grid is under stress. It thus smooths the national power generation and demand. The capacity is about 1,500MW hours. As a comparison, our record national demand was over 5,000MW in a peak surge just last December.

Our need for energy storage systems is increasing as we switch to renewable power sources, such as wind and solar. Today renewables supply up to about 40 per cent of our national power. Because of the need to balance load over weather vagaries, the ESB has recently announced two battery storage projects: one at Inchicore, Dublin, and the other at Aghada, Cork. In conjunction with Fluence (a joint venture between Siemens and AES) these batteries can together provide about 100MW hours before requiring recharging.

Energy storage has become a part of our everyday lives. We have all become much more aware of improvements in battery technology as we seek out the latest laptops, smartphones and devices. A significant proportion of their weight is the battery, and we all want lighter devices. The time available between recharging also influences our purchasing decisions, but multiple recharges reduce the life of the battery and it is often not possible to replace the battery in smart devices.

When selling an electric vehicle (EV), showroom staff are frequently quizzed on the quality of the battery. We may be concerned by the length of time needed for a recharge, and have range anxiety over how long a charge can last. Colder and hot climates impact battery range, as power is used to keep the passenger cabin comfortable with heating or air conditioning. The lifetime of the battery controls the secondhand and resell value of an EV: as the capacity of a battery diminishes with multiple recharges, then so does the available range.

We can also worry about the physical safety. It is only a few years ago that the newly introduced Boeing Dreamliner was making headlines as its lithium-ion batteries spontaneously caught fire in parked aircraft leading to fleet groundings, Boeing pausing production and a Federal Aviation Administration safety review.

As we move to EVs, in the past year alone there have been well over a dozen reports of lithium-ion based battery fires, unrelated to collisions or accidents, when a parked EV or an EV being recharged has spontaneously caught fire. Following numerous battery fires, the Hyundai Kona EV underwent a worldwide recall in October 2020, followed by General Motors of the Chevy Bolt EV in November 2020. And if you have a boat trailer, be extremely careful not to dip your EV battery into the sea or a lake when loading or unloading!

Some commodity traders describe lithium as the new white gold, as worldwide demand has accelerated due to EV batteries. Tesla has gone as far as to assert it will control its supply by owning its lithium mining operations. Cobalt is also used in most of the current generation of EV batteries, and accounts for a significant proportion of their cost. The Democratic Republic of Congo controls much of the worlds cobalt production and there have been allegations of child labour and human rights abuses in its mining operations.

The EV industry is keen for myriad reasons to move to new battery technologies. A decade-old Stanford University spinout, QuantumScape, announced in December its new solid state battery technology for EVs using a flexible ceramic electrolyte. Current lithium-ion batteries in contrast use a liquid electrolyte. QuantumScape claims just a 15-minute charging time, but nevertheless a battery lifetime more than double that of current battery technology. The company went public last September and is now valued at about $16 billion (13.3 billion).

Meanwhile, Chinas Contemporary Amperex Technology has announced a new EV battery technology with a 16-year or two million kilometre lifetime. In conjunction with Volkswagen, it is now building a plant at Erfurt, Germany, due to enter production later this year.

Ford, BMW and Hyundai are working with Solid Power, a Colorado based start-up, using a sulphide electrolyte solid state battery. Toyota, Samsung, Panasonic and LG Energy (a spin-off from South Koreas largest chemicals company) are all also rumoured to be researching solid state EV batteries.

The EU has just announced 2.9 billion support for a 11.9 billion European Battery Innovation project, with 42 collaborating companies and 12 member states (Ireland was not one of the proposer countries).

Energy storage technology is likely to remain a fruitful area of research and innovation for some considerable time.

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Chris Horn: A rundown on the evolution of batteries - The Irish Times

ORLANDO - A master at the professional level.

One of the most underrated players in the league.

Those are two powerful quotes the first from point guard Jordan Bone and the second from forward Jonathan Isaac stated recently about Orlando Magic teammate Nikola Vucevic.

Others have made similar remarks about the 7-foot, 260-pounder, now in his 10th NBA season and ninth with the Magic.

At the time he was acquired by Orlando back in 2012 as part of the four-team blockbuster trade that sent Dwight Howard to the Lakers, Andrew Bynum to the Sixers and Andre Iguodala to the Nuggets, barely was he mentioned when basketball enthusiasts discussed and analyzed the deal.

Its understandable why. He had been in the league just one year and played sparingly in his rookie campaign with the Sixers, who drafted him in 2011 16th overall out of the University of Southern California.

Not before long, however, Vucevic started harvesting more attention. In just his second game with the Magic, he scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in a win over the Suns. He actually posted five double-doubles in his first eight contests with Orlando, which had acquired other assets, including Arron Afflalo, Maurice Harkless and future draft picks, in that trade.

As the days, weeks and months passed, it became more apparent that Orlando had landed a gem and someone that could transform into one of the premier centers in the game by the time he reached his prime.

Fast forward to today and that has come to fruition. Vucevic is indeed one of the leagues best big men. In fact, hes one of the NBAs best players, irrespective of position.

Whats made his journey so impressive, though, is the fact that hes made noticeable improvements every year.

In his first season with the Magic, the majority of his shots came near the basket. Just about 43 percent of his attempts were from three feet out or closer. Currently this year, only 13 percent of his attempts come that close, which speaks volumes about his excellent touch from deeper ranges.

Much has been made about the 30-year-olds 3-point shooting, and for good reason now that hes arguably the best long-distance-shooting center in the NBA today. Vucevic is on pace to break NBA records for a center. Hes currently shooting 44.4 percent from 3-point range on 6.2 attempts per game. Never has a center shot 43 percent or better with at least four 3-point tries per game for an entire season.

But his game stretches far beyond his shooting. Its hard, if even possible, to find a weakness in his game. Does he move his feet exceptionally well on defense? Maybe not, but that doesnt mean he isnt a good defender. In fact, quite the opposite is true.

One could argue that Vucevic is among the leagues best positional defenders, particularly among centers. What that means, although its open for interpretation, is that he uses good judgment and alertness to make the right defensive reads.

One way to measure that is through foul rate and opponent shooting percentage when a defender contests the shot attempt.

The two best centers when it comes to defending without fouling are Al Horford and Vucevic, and that has been the case each of the last few years. This season so far, Vucevic is averaging just 1.7 fouls per game, which for someone who plays as many minutes as he does in a starting role is not only rare, its potentially historic.

Only two centers all time have started in at least 60 games, averaged a minimum of 33 minutes of playing time a night and committed 1.7 fouls per game or less, per Stathead. They are Mike Gminski, who in 1988-89 with the Sixers averaged 1.7 fouls and 33.4 minutes with 82 starts, and Bynum, who in 2011-12 with the Lakers averaged 1.7 fouls and 35.2 minutes with 60 starts.

So, if Vucevic can lower the amount of fouls he is committing per game at the moment by one-tenth of a point, can continue playing the same number of minutes hes been playing this season and can avoid missing more than 12 games by the time the year is complete, he will become the first center ever to average 1.6 fouls or less, at least 33 minutes of action and start in 60 or more games.

When Vucevic contests shots, opponents typically shoot lower than their season average. So far this season, per Second Spectrum tracking data, opponents are shooting 44.9 percent when he contests, which is a solid mark for a big man.

Back to the offensive end, where hes a jack of all trades. Many times down the floor, hes orchestrating the offense, which for a big man is unique. Nikola Jokic, Domantas Sabonis, Bam Adebayo and Vucevic are the only four bigs in the NBA today that you can truly run an offense through because of their exceptional playmaking and vision.

What separates Vucevic from those other three, though, is his low turnover rate. Currently, Vucevic is averaging just 1.5 turnovers per game, incredibly good. This isnt unusual for him, though.

Last season, he did something no center had ever done since turnovers became an official stat in 1977, which was average at least 19 points and three assists while turning the ball over fewer than 1.5 times per game, per Stathead. He was only the third player ever at any position to accomplish this. The other two are Jimmy Butler, who averaged 20.0 points, 3.3 assists and 1.4 turnovers with the Bulls in 2014-15, and Tobias Harris, who in 2019-20 with the 76ers averaged 19.6 points, 3.2 assists and 1.4 turnovers.

Just for proof of how much Vucevic has improved, in 2014-15 he averaged 3.0 fouls and 2.0 turnovers, which at the time was still considered very good. But now, averaging under two fouls and under two turnovers is unheard of for a center having to protect the rim, occasionally switch in pick-and-roll and make critical decisions on the offensive end.

At the moment, Vucevic leads the NBA in both field goals made and top of the key 3-pointers made. Not since the 2000-01 season when Shaquille ONeal did it has a true center led the league in field goals made and never before has a center beat out everyone else for most threes made in any region of the court.

Whats crazy, though, is hes also dominating offensively in pick-and-rolls. Vucevic currently leads the league in points scored out of pick-and-roll action (as the roller) by a fairly wide margin. He also was No. 1 in this category two years ago and came in second last year.

Only Joel Embiid, a top three MVP candidate, has a better scoring average than Vucevic among Eastern Conference centers. The Magic big man is averaging a career-best 23.6 points, and hes doing that while taking just a shade over 2.1 free throws per game. If the season ended today, Vucevic would be the first player in NBA history to average at least 23 points while taking fewer than three foul shots per game.

He continues to climb up the rankings in all major statistical categories in Magic history. Right now, hes third in points behind Howard and Nick Anderson, second in rebounds behind Howard, eighth in assists (No. 1 among centers), fourth in blocks, sixth in steals and first, which he accomplished earlier this season, in field goals made.

He also still holds the team record for most rebounds in a game. He had 29 of them in a game against the Heat during his first season with the club.

In the playoffs last season, he became the fourth player in franchise history to score 30-plus three times in a postseason series. The only others who did it were ONeal (1995), Penny Hardaway (1997) and Tracy McGrady (2001, 2002, 2003).

Someone who isnt at all surprised about Vucevics continual development is Evan Fournier, his teammate in Orlando since 2014. Fournier, who also has made steady progress throughout his time with the Magic, sees the hard work he puts in to his craft day in and day out.

Thats the highest level Ive seen him play, Fournier said. Hes being just himself inside and mid-range. Hes taken another step from the 3-point line and that opens up so many more things for us. Congrats to him because hes been shooting a lot before and after practices, so Im glad his work has paid off.

Continued here:

The Evolution of Nikola Vucevic's Game: From Good to Great to Now Potentially Historic | Orlando Magic - OrlandoMagic.com

In the genetic diaspora of an epidemic, there is ferocious competition between strains of virus to get to the next victim first. That leads to apparently purposeful outcomes, as if the virus had a mind. One of the things people find hardest to grasp about evolution is that it appears purposeful but the mutations on which it feeds are random. How come dolphins evolved to swim if all they had to work with were random changes in genes? Viruses also mutate at random but most people talk as though the rise and fall of these mutant versions is mainly down to chance or luck. Its not.

Mutations occur all the time in RNA viruses; what matters is which ones find favour in natural selection. The champions of Darwinian medicine have been calling for their colleagues to take evolution and adaptation more into account for years, and one of them, Paul Ewald of the University of Louisville, has something very relevant to say about this pandemic. Years ago, Ewald came up with a theory of why some diseases are lethal and others are mild. He argues it is all about the mode of transmission. Infections that you catch from coughs and sneezes are mostly mild; we get more than 200 different kinds of common cold virus and on the whole none of them puts you in bed, let alone kills you. Yet insect-borne diseases such as malaria, plague and yellow fever, and water-borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid, seem quite content to kill you.

The reason, says Ewald, is that in direct-contact diseases such as colds, mild strains will do better than nasty ones, because they send you out to work and to parties, coughing and sneezing. Insect-borne or water-borne diseases, meanwhile, may actually spread better if they confine you delirious to a deathbed with a high pathogen load, the better to attract mosquitoes or (sorry) maximise your contribution to local sewers.

There are two other categories of transmission: sexually transmitted diseases, such as syphilis, herpes and Aids, which may or may not kill you in the end but are good at lurking hidden so you have a chance to move to a new partner; and durable, sit-and-wait diseases such as tuberculosis and to some extent smallpox, caught from surfaces, which can afford to be lethal because they can be passed on after you are dead.

Every virus uses mutation and selection to find a compromise between maximising its offspring while killing the host, or moderating its effect and keeping the host active. Yet there was always one epidemic that didnt seem to fit Ewalds theory: the 1918 flu, which grew more deadly in the second wave, despite being spread by coughs and sneezes. In 2011, Ewald had a crack at explaining this exception in a way that neatly tests the rule. See if you find it convincing.

The 1918 flu was first noticed in US army training camps in Kansas in early March. Throughout the spring and summer it was about as lethal as most flus: dangerous to the very young and very old but mild in everybody else. It was in August, on the Western Front, that army doctors started noticing that the flu was turning deadly, regularly killing fit young adults. Influenza increasing and becoming more fatal, wrote a senior US army surgeon in his diary on 17 August.

Ewald thinks that this was because the lethal strains were spreading better than mild ones. Imagine that a mild case would

There is a worrying parallel with Covid-19. In the early wave a lot of cases were spread by attendants in hospitals and care homes. One South African hospital traced how a single outpatient seeded an epidemic that spread from ward to ward, infecting 39 patients and 80 staff. The virus had a means to get from victim to victim even if they stayed put: it was attendant-borne, like the 1918 flu. Did that encourage the virus to be more lethal? An estimate published this week by Public Health England finds that the B117 (Kent) mutant is roughly 65 per cent more fatal than previous strains.

By contrast, because of lockdown, a mild case of Covid kept you isolated at home. Last week the Financial Times carried an article about the huge but surprisingly mild epidemic of Covid that India is suffering. It quoted one doctor as saying that we are seeing a lot less severe disease than the rest of the world, and a lot more asymptomatic infections and another that its pretty generally accepted that in India, we have a very mild form of the virus. There are lots of possible explanations, but because lockdowns have been mostly ineffective in India, could it be that mild variants have done well and an attendant-borne evolution to greater virulence has not happened?

Yet for every Mumbai, there is a Manaus a city in Brazil that had a huge first wave with little or no lockdown and saw a lot of people die. Some thought Manaus had reached the herd immunity threshold, but it is now seeing a bad second wave. Remember, however, that the deadly strain of 1918 flu started in the trenches, but soon spread everywhere. Its the global average strategy that we use against the virus that counts, not the local one: Manauss new strains seem to have arrived in the city from elsewhere.

You might conclude from this logic that we have made a mistake by locking down, ensuring that the virus remains deadly or becomes more so. I hesitate to agree with that, because I have been wrong about a lot during this pandemic. And there is one crucial way in which Covid-19 differs from flu: it spares the young and clobbers the old. That might be enough to ensure that nasty strains remain competitive with mild ones even in the absence of lockdowns. A strain that causes only very mild symptoms in most people, so they go out spreading it, but occasionally kills the vulnerable, might thrive.

I dont know if Britain would have seen more than 100,000 deaths or fewer if we had pursued a less draconian strategy like India, Sweden or Florida. But I do know that evolution is about more than mutation.

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Stresses and strains: the evolution of Covid is not random - Spectator.co.uk

The evolution of Turkeys domestic narrative towards Syrian refugees

In many cases, the issue of Syrian refugees has stirred controversy in Europe from the very start of the so-called "refugee crisis". While others in Europe and the US tapped into the national backlash against immigration, the Turkish government tried to spread a different narrative. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened his countrys borders to millions of refugees fleeing Syria, asking his fellow citizens to be compassionate towards those who fled Alawite Shiite tyranny and sought shelter in their country. In particular, he and other government members made use of two terms: muhacir (religiously oppressed) to describe the refugees escaping the Bachar Al Assads regime; and ensar (helpers, a word referring to the people of Medina who aided the Prophet Mohammed and his followers) to describe the Turkish citizens who welcomed Syrian refugees.

However, Syrian refugees struggled to integrate into Turkish society because they are seen as "temporary guests". The Turkish asylum regime bears an anomaly dating back to 1961 when Turkey adopted the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees but declared that it would admit only refugees coming from Europe due to the volatility of the geographical region in which Turkey is located. Non-European asylum seekers, hence, are only granted temporary asylum. Even so, Umut Korkut maintains that the Turkish government used the principle of temporary protection to treat the Syrian refugees preferentially in comparison to refugees of other nationalities, since the former has "religiously, ethnically and politically acceptable backgrounds to the Islamist AKP (Justice and Development Party) ideology" in power. Hence, on the one hand, Turkey adopted an open border policy for all Syrians; on the other hand, though, this policy precludes any right for permanent residence and, ultimately, citizenship.

As Turkish economy started to increasingly face challenges such as recession, high inflation, and Lira devaluation, local resentment toward the refugees grew stronger creating a nationalist backlash and forcing the government to revise its domestic narratives. Opinion polls show rising anti-Syrian sentiments and discomfort towards the open border policy, contributing to the AKP's loss in the 2019 local elections. Since then, hate speech on social media and clashes between supporters of refugees and nationalist groups began to rise exponentially. Responding to this anti-Syrian surge, Erdogan has been swapping his compassionate Islamism for a Turkey first approach; he began to stress the need of the refugees return to Syria in the public discourse, while tightening the screws with unregistered migrants and illegal refugees on the ground and making refugees relocation plans public. While these recent measures cannot address effectively the countrys refugee problem, promoting integration and devoting more economic and political resources is politically too risky for Erdogan, in a context where anti-refugee sentiments keep rising.

The refugees card in foreign policy

The AKP government's efforts to help the refugees resulted in international praise and a soft power boost, especially compared to the "fortress Europe image shaped by many EU governments (and citizens) refusal to welcome refugees. Nevertheless, from 2016 on, there was a growing tendency to play the "refugees card" more cynically in international politics, especially vis--vis the EU. After waves of refugees created turmoil in the EU and were deemed responsible for the rise of populism in many EU countries, in late 2015 Ankara and Brussels agreed on a Joint Action Plan to regulate migratory flows and cut irregular migration. In exchange, the EU committed to bringing new energy into Turkey's accession process (for instance, committing todialogue on the visa-free regime to eventually lift it by October 2016 and provide an initial 3 billion euros to improve the situation of Syrians in Turkey). Essentially, the EU-Turkey Migration Deal consolidated the EUs externalization strategy in the face of the refugee crisis a strategy still guiding the EUs migration and asylum strategy. However, due to growing tensions with Brussels, especially regarding the funds and Turkeys accession process - the so-called EU's broken promises Turkey started to adopt a much blunter approach, to the point of weaponizing refugees in its relationship with the EU. In 2016, Erdogan threatened to "flood Europe with migrants" in a quarrel over the EU aid amount. In 2019, in the middle of mounting international criticism over Turkey's military operation against a Syrian Kurdish militia, Erdogan declared: "Hey, European Union! Pull yourself together. () If you try to describe our operation as an invasion, we will do what's easy for us: we will open the doors and send 3.6 million refugees to you".

This trend is likely to stay in 2021, in light of an even more challenging EU-Turkey relationship: apart from the migration issue, tensions between the EU and Turkey remain over gas fields exploitation in the Eastern Mediterranean and Turkeys intervention in Libya, while Ankara's membership process looks dead to many in Turkey and the EU alike. In the meantime, the EU-Turkey deal is set to expire in a year or two upon the completion of the EU financial assistance transfer; however, the revamping of the deal would require resuming membership talks or, at least, upgrading the customs union both being not popular options at the moment. The urgency of the refugees' issue will also depend on the COVID-19 pandemic, which initially brought to an abrupt halt of asylum applications in Europe - reaching a historic low of 9,000 in April (an 87% reduction compared to January 2020). With a vaccine-driven improvement of the situation, though, it will not be long before new refugees waves and even COVID-induced migration will become an emergency again, forcing the EU and Turkey to sit like it or not at the negotiation table.

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Syrian Refugees in Turkey: The Evolution of Domestic and International Narratives - Valdai Discussion Club

Background:Co-occurrence of autoantibodies specific for more than one autoimmune disease is widely prevalent in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. To understand the prevalence of polyautoimmunity in preclinical RA, we performed a comprehensive autoantibody assessment in a First Nations (FN) cohort of at-risk first-degree relatives (FDR) of RA patients, a subset of whom subsequently developed RA (Progressors).

Methods:Venous blood was collected at scheduled visits from all study participants and serum was stored at -20C. Hs-CRP, anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA), and autoantibodies were determined using commercially available ELISA kits. Rheumatoid factor (RF) was detected by nephelometry. Anti-nuclear autoantibodies (ANA) were identified using HEp2 indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and classified according to international consensus nomenclature as various anti-cell (AC) patterns.

Results:We observed positive ANA reactivity (1:80) in 78.9% of our study cohort, which was either a homogenous, fine-speckled (AC-1 and AC-4) or mixed IFA pattern. Importantly, the AC-4 and mixed ANA pattern was also observed in Progressors at the time of disease onset. While all the RA patients showed a high prevalence of arthritis-associated autoantibodies, they also had a high prevalence of ENA-positive autoantibodies to other autoantigens. In FDR, we did not observe any increase in serum autoreactivity to non-arthritis autoantigens, either cross-sectionally or in longitudinally collected Progressor samples prior to RA onset.

Conclusion:While alternative autoimmunity and ANA positivity is widely prevalent in FN population, including asymptomatic, seronegative FDR, expansion of alternative autoimmunity in FDR does not occur in parallel to ACPA expansion and is restricted to established RA patients.

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Expansion of alternative autoantibodies does not follow the evolution of anti-citrullinated protein antibodies in preclinical rheumatoid arthritis -...

Street art and graffiti in India inch closer to the mainstream, now being used as tools to brighten cities, transform neighborhoods and bring communities together

When I painted my first wall without any permission, I waited for the day when it would make it to the news. When my work started getting featured on the news, I decided I wanted to sell my paintings... Tomorrow, the doors open for my solo exhibition and I have nothing more to strike off now, writes Mumbai-based anonymous artist Tyler in a rather emotional Instagram post addressed to his 67.9K followers on January 13.

Tylers first solo exhibit in India, currently on display at Method, Bandra and Kala Ghoda, is perhaps a sign that graffiti and street art, largely considered anti-art, has found a place in the mainstream. The exhibit literally brings street art into a white cube space shining light on the fact that as much as it is a statement, it is also nothing less than high or fine art.

About a year ago, Chennais Kannagi Nagar (Off Mahabalipuram Road), one of the largest resettlements in India housing those who have been rehabilitated from river beds and slums, saw a dramatic transformation as 16 artists etched murals on multiple walls, in a bid to make it a public art destination.

The art sought to bring the community together. In locations across India, public art welcomed a similiar response as more art destinations cropped up, courtesy St+art India, a non-profit collective that collaborates with governing authorities to drag art out of galleries and into a public space.

This kind of accessibility and reach that public art provides is what still intrigues budding artists and collectives, despite the risks involved. Celebrated Kochi-based anonymous artist, Guess Who, who is dubbed as Indias own Banksy asks, Isnt that the beauty of it? It demystifies the aura around art and makes it approachable for everyone.

However, there is a running risk of the work being tampered with. How do artists respond to that? I would prefer to see the tampering as a response to the artwork or maybe as part of the conversation the art is trying to provide, Guess Who adds. The artist began commenting on events, political or otherwise, on walls in Fort Kochi, Bengaluru, Chennai and other parts of the country, as early as 2012. By the artists own admission, the kind of work they do technically falls under street art.

In graffiti, however, self expression takes precedence; in fact it is a form of narcissism, opines Chennai-based graffiti writer, A-Kill. Graffiti is ultimately a call out to the public saying that I exist, says A-Kill who believes that the art form asserts a certain sense of individuality while street art relies heavily on a narrative.

In the country, however, the inception point of this form of art is difficult to trace. At varied points, around the turn of the 20th Century, is when street culture in India started emerging. But, the starting point of it all is believed to be simple, unassuming wall art mostly used for commercial purposes.

Veteran banner artist and art critic V Jeevananthan from Coimbatore remembers seeing his first wall art around 1967 as a child: The wall held lettering and motifs that etched out campaign promises by political parties contesting for elections at the time. That is the first time I saw a colourful graffiti, says the artist who recently collaborated with St+art India Foundation to paint a mural in Coimbatore on human/animal conflict.

Wall paintings used to be done widely for commercial and political purposes before that. It was an employment opportunity for many who went around hunting for large walls to paint on, after agreeing upon a contract with the owner. Street art in its true sense, however, is a new trend especially in Coimbatore, perhaps only four years old, he adds.

Political writing on public walls seem to be the starting point for street art in Kerala as well.

Guess Who adds, You wouldnt call it graffiti but their distinctive styles of hand painted letters have a lot of characteristics that are similar to graffiti culture. Unfortunately, there isnt much of an individual artistic expression.

The artist says that though there are individuals and collectives like Trespassers who paint public walls, there are too few takers for urban art in the State. The size of it is too negligible for it to be called a collective movement, says the artist.

However, it seems like Chennai has a different story to tell. The graffiti culture in the metropolis started picking up around 2014, and was a movement that rose in parallel to the hip hop and b-boying scene.

A-Kill who is also part of T3K Collective says, In Chennai, cinema and politics play a vital role in the societal fabric. For instance, if you go out and paint a wall, people automatically assume that they are political ads or something related to cinema. But street art is neither.

Seven years on, the works are more original, and are actively used to beautify the city, says A-Kill, who had recently finished a mural (65 feet by 903 feet) on the facade of Chennais Indira Nagar MRTS, in a bid to create awareness about HIV/AIDS.

That is what graffiti is moving towards, he says, adding that a lot of commissioned works for cafes, restaurants and private walls that his crew receives, is testament to the same. Even in events, live graffiti is being commissioned for an experience, where people can see artists paint live, almost as though it is a performance.

Now, many young artists are interested in learning the basics; from tagging (signing ones name) to throwing up (a more elaborate version of the tag with multiple colours and styles) and even piecing (their masterpiece in a legal spot). Whenever they see us paint, they stop to ask us about the work, says A-Kill, whose crew tries to claim a wall wherever they travel to.

Commercial or otherwise, street art is a response to the world around and will continue to be so. Concludes Guess Who, Like every individual who responds to the realities around them, artists too respond, react and question the world they live in, through their art.

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The evolution of street art and graffiti in South India - The Hindu

Pokemon GO trainers who want to battle and defeat Mega Gyarados to earn the new temporary evolution can use this counter guide to find its weaknesses.

The Lunar New Year event is bringing a lot of excitement to Pokemon GO with some popular increased spawns, bonuses, and temporary Battle Raid bosses to throw down against. Included in that list of powerful Pokemon to defeat is a highly-anticipated addition to the mobile AR game's Mega evolution lineup - Mega Gyarados.

Gyarados has been one of the most popular Pokemon in the game for as long as the app has been around and many fans are very excited about the possibility of temporarily evolving into a Mega form. In order to have that opportunity, Pokemon GO players are going to have to find some Mega Gyarados battles while they are live and earn enough resources to trigger the temporary evolution when the time is right.

RELATED: Pokemon GO: Team Rocket Leader Lineups and Changes (February 2021)

Mega Gyarados isn't available quite yet, but it's never too early to start preparing. When the Lunar New Year event kicks off next week, the battle will become available and trainers should have their ideal counter roster ready to go...

Mega Pidgeot, Mega Gyarados, and Mega Ampharos will be appearing in Mega Raids from Tuesday, February 9, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. to Saturday, February 20, 2021, at 9:00 a.m. local time. This will be Mega Gyaradoss debut in Pokmon GO!

Once players find a Gym that has hatched a Mega Gyarados raid opportunity between February 9 and February 20, they're going to need to pull together a powerful list of counters to defeat the big boss. Mega Gyarados is a Water- and Dark-type Pokemon, which means that it is going to be weak to Electric-, Grass-. Fighting-, Bug-, and Fairy-types. That gives players a lot to work with.

For the best requests, players should consider putting together a roster that includes at least a few of these supreme counters and optimal move sets...

Shadow Raikou - Thunder Shock/Wild Charge

Zekrom - Charge Beam/Wild Charge

Mega Venusaur - Vine Whip/Frenzy Plant

Lucario - Counter/Aura Sphere

Electivire - Thunder Shock/Wild Charge

Magnezone - Spark/Wild Charge

Zapdos - Thunder Shock/Thunderbolt

As always, playersshould keep in mindthat the list presented represents the absolute best counters and move sets based on the current meta game. It's not the end of the world if any trainers can't pull together a roster of that quality though. The main thing to keep in mind is that the selected roster should focus on using the best Electric-, Grass-. Fighting-, Bug-, and Fairy-type Pokemon available.

Onceplayers manage to team up with a group of other trainers and put those counters to good use, it should be possible to win the raid and move on to the encounter. Keep in mind that team and damage bonuses can help players secure additionalPremium Pokeballsto use during the reward encounter though, so being a top damage dealer has its perks. Mega Evolutions aren't actually caught, so completing the Mega Raid will help players save up the resources needed for the temporary Mega Evolution.

Over the next week or so players should begin to learn a lot more about what other events are on the way in February. Be sure to check back in the near future for morePokemon GOstrategy guides, news, and updates. Until then, good luck out there, trainers!

Pokemon GOis available on Android and iOS.

MORE:Pokemon GO Lunar New Year Event Date and Details

Source: Pokemon GO Hub

Fortnite Reportedly Changing Controversial Superhero Skin

Denny Connolly is an editor and contributor who joined the Game Rant team in 2014. He specializes in game guides, MMO coverage, and the Pokemon GO beat; but is a lifelong fan of all game genres. He's a graduate of Penn State where he studied English and Education.

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Pokemon GO How To Beat and Evolve Mega Gyarados | Game Rant - GameRant

A study of more than 1,400 protein-coding genes of fleas has resolved one of the longest standing mysteries in the evolution of insects, reordering their placement in the tree of life and pinpointing who their closest relatives are.

The University of Bristol study, published in the journal Palaeoentomology, drew on the largest insect molecular dataset available. The dataset was analyzed using new statistical methods, including more sophisticated algorithms, to test all historically proposed hypotheses about the placement of fleas on the insect tree of life and search for new potential relationships.

The findings overturn previously held theories about fleas, the unusual anatomy of which has meant that they eluded classification in evolutionary terms. According to the authors of the study, contrary to popular belief, fleas are technically scorpionflies, which evolved when they started feeding on the blood of vertebrates sometime between the Permian and Jurassic, between 290 and 165 million years ago.

The closest living relatives of fleas are the members of the scorpionfly family Nannochoristidae, a rare group with only seven species native to the southern hemisphere. Unlike the blood-thirsty fleas, adult nannochoristid scorpionflies lead a peaceful existence feeding on nectar.

Of all the parasites in the animal kingdom, fleas hold a pre-eminent position. The Black Death, caused by a flea-transmitted bacterium, was the deadliest pandemic in the recorded history of mankind; it claimed the lives of possibly up to 200 million people in the 14th century, says lead author and undergraduate student Erik Tihelka from the School of Earth Sciences.

Genomic study of fleas finds them to be related to scorpionflies.

Yet despite their medical significance, the placement of fleas on the tree of life represents one of the most persistent enigmas in the evolution of insects.

It used to be thought that all blood-feeding parasitic insects began life as either predators or by living alongside vertebrate hosts in their nests. In actual fact, blood feeding can evolve in groups that originally fed on nectar and other plant secretions.

It seems that the elongate mouthparts that are specialized for nectar feeding from flowers can become co-opted during the course evolution to enable sucking blood, says Mattia Giacomelli, a PhD student at the University of Bristol who participated in the study.

Previous studies had suggested a connection between fleas and anatomically unusual groups of scorpionflies, but their exact relationships remained unresolved. The mystery was prolonged by the fact that flea genomes underwent rapid evolution, which makes reconstructing ancient evolutionary relationships challenging. Moreover, the nannochoristids are a quite rare and little-studied group that only occurs in New Zealand, southeastern Australia, Tasmania, and Chile, so they are easy to overlook.

The new results suggest that we may need to revise our entomology textbooks. Fleas no longer deserve the status of a separate insect order, but should actually be classified within the scorpionflies, says Chenyang Cai, associate professor at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology (NIGP) and a research fellow at the University of Bristol specializing on Mesozoic insects.

We have exceptionally preserved fossil fleas from the Jurassic and Cretaceous. In particular, some Jurassic fleas from China, about 165 million years old, are truly giant and measure up to two centimeters. They may have fed on dinosaurs, but that is exceedingly difficult to tell. What is more interesting is that these ancient fleas share important characters with modern scorpionflies.

Reference: Fleas are parasitic scorpionflies by Erik Tihelka, Mattia Giacomelli, Di-Ying Huang, Davide Pisani, Philip C. J. Donoghue and Chen-Yang Cai, December 2020, Palaeoentomology.DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.3.6.16

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Study of More Than 1,400 Protein-Coding Genes Resolves Long Standing Mystery in the Evolution of Insects - SciTechDaily

New York, Dec. 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Big Data Analytics, AI, and Collaborative Combat Driving the Evolution of Land-based EO/IR CONOPS, 20192029" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06000045/?utm_source=GNW This study identifies emerging trends that will have an impact on the EO/IR industry and highlights areas of opportunities in the land segments and also the technology adoption that will potentially add value in terms of helping the security objectives.

All security industry participants and other industry verticals will benefit from this research as this is a growth insight study investigating potential impact that future technologies will have on the market and how it will evolve during the forecast period. Technology companies who are looking at new avenues to add capabilities to their portfolio will also benefit from this study.What makes our reports unique? We provide diverse research services focused on existing and evolving markets across the aerospace, defense, and security (ADS) markets, covering them at global and regional levels. We provide specialist studies focused on specific product or market segments which provide a deep-dive opportunity for strategists and investors who wish to learn about the future state of any ADS market or product in terms of addressable markets, opportunities, and future disruptions.Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06000045/?utm_source=GNW

About ReportlinkerReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

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Big Data Analytics, AI, and Collaborative Combat Driving the Evolution of Land-based EO/IR CONOPS, 20192029 - GlobeNewswire

Photo credit: Airman 1st Class Alexis Christian, via Peterson Air Force Base.

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The following wasoriginallypublished on March 30,2020.

Many people have been wondering about the relevance of intelligent design (ID) or evolution to the new coronavirus reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. What follows is my view as a molecular biologist.

The new virus goes by several names. It was initially called2019-nCoVby the World Health Organization (with n standing for new). Since its RNA sequence is similar to that of the coronavirus that causedSevere Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS) in 2003, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses renamed itSARS-CoV-2in March 2020. The disease caused by the virus has been calledCOVID-19(with d standing for disease).

There are other coronaviruses (includingMERS-CoV, the virus that caused the 2012 epidemic of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome). To avoid confusion, I will refer to the latest coronavirus by its technical name, SARS-CoV-2.

Some people have maintained that SARS-CoV-2 is a product of human design. According to a FebruaryNew York Postarticle, it may have escaped from a microbiology laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. But I have seen no scientific evidence to support this claim.

On March 17, 2020, an analysis of RNA from several different coronaviruses was published inNature Medicine. The authors concluded, Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus.

Jonathan Bartlett, who has studied the logic ofdesign inferencesin depth, subsequently argued that the scientists had ruled out only one design hypothesis, so design was still theoretically possible. But Bartlett did not maintain that SARS-CoV-2 is a product of human design.

Could SARS-CoV-2 have evolved from another coronavirus by mutation and natural selection? I dont see why not, though there is only indirect evidence (from RNA sequences) to support the idea. If it had happened, however, it would not provide support forDarwinianevolution.

First, viruses are not living organisms: They are just pieces of DNA or RNA enclosed in a protein coat. They do not carry out metabolism (the chemical processes that are essential for life), and they do not reproduce themselves (only living cells or skilled genetic engineers can make copies of them). Second, even if viruses were considered living things, the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 from another coronavirus would be akin to microevolution minor changes within existing biological species. (Species are not even defined the same way in viruses as they are in living organisms.)

But Darwin did not write a book titledHow Existing Species Change Over Time. He wrote a book titledThe Origin of Species. In other words, Darwin attempted to explain macroevolution the origin of new species, organs, and body plans.

What, then, is the relevance of ID or evolution to SARS-CoV-2? As we have seen, their relevance to the origin of the coronavirus is unclear. But what about their relevance to combating the disease, COVID-19? According to DarwinistTheodosius Dobzhansky(who distinguished between microevolution and macroevolution in the 1930s), nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. In 2003, Texas Tech University professorMichael Diniwrote:

The central, unifying principle of biology is the theory of evolution. How can someone who does not accept the most important theory in biology expect to properly practice in a field [medicine] that is so heavily based on biology?

Yet the measures being taken against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic owe nothing to evolutionary theory. The use ofquarantineto block the spread of disease began in the fourteenth century. In the 1790s,Edward Jennervaccinated people to protect them from smallpox. In 1847, Hungarian obstetricianIgnc Semmelweisdemonstrated that proper hand washing lowers mortality from infectious disease. Theadministration of oxygento patients with labored breathing was first reported in the years just following the publication ofThe Origin of Species, but the practice was based on physiological and clinical considerations, not evolution. And if any treatments are found to cure COVID-19 or lessen its effects, they will come from the intelligently designed efforts of virologists, biochemists, and clinicians not evolutionary biologists.

Editors note: This article was updated on April 5, 2020.

Excerpt from:

#5 Story of 2020: Coronavirus, Intelligent Design, and Evolution - Discovery Institute

A turning point in human evolution has been identified through reanalysis of a single stone tool found in Tabun Cave in northern Israel, from about 350,000 years ago. It had been used not to bash animals or butcher their carcasses but to abrade soft material, possibly animal hides, much earlier in human evolution than had been thought, say Ron Shimelmitz, Iris Groman-Yaroslavski, Mina Weinstein-Evron and Danny Rosenberg from the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa.

Grinding and abrading (scraping) had only been thought to have developed much later, Shimelmitz explains to Haaretz. The entire engagement in this technology is much later, around 200,000 years ago, he says.

How Bibi pushed a 4th election and 3rd lockdown, and how we exposed his secret flights. LISTEN

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Yes, based on one tool, this discovery, reported in the Journal of Human Evolution, changes our thinking about part of our deep technological evolution.

Abrading stones abound in Africa and Europe starting about 200,000 years ago, from which point there was more frequent evidence of that technology, explains Shimelmitz, an expert in the evolution of technology. But it is also true that given that assumption, archaeologists hadnt necessarily been looking for such artifacts at earlier sites for one thing, theyre very hard to identify. You need to look for them, he adds.

You can fairly easily identify a knapped stone, especially the likes of arrowheads or spear points and especially when theyre made of flint a stone widely preferred because its so hard. They look quite unnatural. It is, conversely, not trivial to identify an abrading or grinding stone, which looks like a stone.

However, the authors point out that this particular piece of dolomite stood out among the tens of thousands of knapped stone tools found in Tabun Cave, located on the Mount Carmel range south of Haifa, from various periods of occupation. And they concluded that it wasnt just any chalky rock, but a tool, through microscopic use-wear analysis, including examination of the patterns on the cobbles surface, which were compared with known naturally weathered surfaces.

The importance of this technology [abradement] hadnt been on the table regarding the ancient world, Shimelmitz says. And why was the invention of abrading a crucial turning point? Because thats the way of humankind, he explains. To shape materials and our environment, to improve our adaptation to situations. The tools are external to our bodies and enable us to do things we couldnt do without them. Abradement is another significant technology within our possibility to adapt the environment. It appeared relatively late in human evolution; we thought very late; and now we show that its roots are deeper. We need to open our eyes wider.

Asked why, actually, abrading was so significant to our evolution, he brings the example of hides. You cant just skin an animal and comfortably wear its pelt. It is better to scrape off the fat and muscle remains, and soften the hide by abrading a precursor to proper tanning than to strut around garbed in decaying aurochs.

Does this mean the abrasion-stone of Tabun indicates there was a Middle Stone Age fashion? Not necessarily. The use-wear experiments conducted on the ground-breaking stone indicate that it was used on soft material (as opposed to bone, for instance), but not which soft material. It could have been hides used for clothing, or might not have been.

Great leaps forward

Usage of stone tools goes back at least 3.3 million years, well before modern humans were even a gleam in the eye of evolution. The first tools were large, crude hammers. Over the ages, as hominins gained sophistication, tool manufacture and use became more finely developed.

But throughout the period loosely known as the Early Stone Age, usage was confined to vertical motions: striking, battering and pounding, and then using knapped stones as knives as the researchers put it, applying a thin or narrow working edge of the stone tool.

In any case abradement, now known to have begun at least 350,000 years ago, is a precursor to a game-changer in human behavior and evolution: grinding grain.

Grinding grain comes much later, nearer the modern time and not the prehistoric time, Shimelmitz qualifies. Thats the end of the process. But this was a significant addition to the human tool chest. We note that mortars used possibly to grind grain have been found in Neolithic sites in Israel, from over 10,000 years ago.

The discovery of abrading in the Middle Pleistocene, which requires applying a wide working surface of the tool by means of sequential horizontal motions to modify or reduce the target surfaces of a materia,l rather than banging or stabbing at it, fits in with the bigger figure of huge strides among early hominin abilities to harness technology to shape their environment, the team explains.

Asked to elaborate, Shimelmitz points to two key behaviors that developed during that span one being a leap forward in the use of fire.

It remains an open question when fire was tamed in the sense that archaic humans could help themselves to a burning bush in order to roast their dinner and when our ancestors achieved control of fire, meaning they could ignite it at will. At sites dating to the Middle Pleistocene there is a giant step up in the discovery of purposely burned stuff, he say. One of those sites, by the way, is Tabun itself.

Another marked change in behavior is that during the Middle Pleistocene, hominins seem to have developed the concept of base camps, meaning a place they were leaving and coming back to every day (where they could curl up by their fire). Base camp and fire became a way of life during the Middle Stone Age, Shimelmitz says.

Asked if the upswing in intensity of occupation doesnt mean home, Shimelmitz agrees that one could see it that way. And this intensification also speaks to socialization and group structure. There is a reason early humans would return to their base camp every day. This was a period of intense change in the behavior of humankind, he sums up.

Israel has apparently been on the migration route for the human species for almost two million years. While solid evidence of hominin migration that far back is sparse, it has been demonstrated that the environmental conditions in the key region of the Negev desert were hospitable at the time, and hominin remains going back hundreds of thousands of years, as well as modern human remains, abound in this area. It begs qualifying that the study by Shimelmitz and his colleagues reevaluated previous discoveries at Tabun Cave, which had been used by hominins for hundreds of thousands of years, as of the early Stone Age. The cave was first explored by the famed British archaeologist Dorothy Garrod in the 1930s.

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At the end of the day, this is less a story about one rock found around 150,000 years earlier than had been expected, and more a story about what the artifact represents how deep abrading behavior, a totally different form of tool use, goes back in time.

Excerpt from:

A 350,000-year-old turning point in human evolution found in Israel - Haaretz.com

The question facing Johnson, chair and associate professor of Environmental Studies, was simple: Why is the Gorge so deep? What makes it so different than other rivers in the area?

While he stared at the maps, Olivia Stanley, an environmental studies major and 2020 graduate, came to him with findings from a research project. Her work transformed how Johnson saw his research.

I had spent the better part of my last two years at Davidson researching the Gorge, Stanley said. In the summer of 2019, with a grant from the Davidson Research Initiative, I walked miles and miles of riverside trails, taking field notes and turning them into a digital mapping of the Linville River and Gorge.

That map showed that the Linville River starts much farther up in the Blue Ridge than other streams around it, Johnson said. It looked just like stream profiles in Virginia that we had looked at in class the day before.

That paper focused on stream capturethe geological phenomenon when water from one stream is diverted into another, steeper stream. The similarity between the captured streams in Virginia and the Linville River seemed to indicate that stream capture might help to explain the unique nature of Linville Gorge.

At its most simple, it is really a question of which way a river flows, Johnson said. Rivers on top of the Blue Ridge Escarpmentthe steep section of terrain that leads into the mountainstend to be slow, meandering rivers that eventually drain toward the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, streams on the face of the Blue Ridge Escarpment are much steeper and drain toward the Atlantic. This creates a situation where the steeper streams that drain east can steal flow from the lazier streams on top.

The rest is here:

Research Reveals Origins of River, Evolution of Ancient Landscape - Davidson News

MIDDLETOWN A new Images of America book about the history of Wesleyan University and the street it dominates was a meticulously researched labor of love for its coauthors, they said.

Middletown municipal historian Deborah Shapiro and Portland architect Alain Munkittrick, a 1973 graduate of Wesleyan, teamed up on Middletowns High Street & Wesleyan University, a 12-month-long intensive project published in this year.

Shapiro, retired 10-year executive director of the Middlesex County Historical Society, has contributed to several other Images of America books, including Legendary Locals of Middletown, co-authored by Robert and Kathleen Hubbard.

Munkittrick wrote his senior thesis on the Samuel Russell House, which can be found at the corner of Washington and High streets. He was the only student named to the Wesleyan Landmarks Advisory Board, set up to help the college learn how to care for and restore its historic properties, he said. That piqued his interest even further.

It took close to a year to research, gather photos, and edit the 127-page volume, chock full of details discovered through land records, area libraries, and online and other sources. For me, that was the most enjoyable aspect, to learn even more about High Street, Munkittrick said.

The architects biggest asset was in describing the buildings, Shapiro said. My strength was bringing my lawyerly skills in the title searching, and going back and putting the pieces together.

That was necessary because the properties there now used to be much larger parcels situated in a rural, agriculture area, she said.

When you get into the early 1800s, late 1700s, it gets a little dicey, because the descriptions are this is the Pearce place by the oak tree, which, of course, the oak tree met its demise many years ago, Shapiro said.

Materials at Wesleyans Special Collections & Archives, the Middletown Room at the Russell Library, and the historical societys own extensive collection were among items used for research.

Over the course of five chapters, consisting of dozens upon dozens of historical photographs, the authors tell the story of the once highly regarded road, home to Wesleyan Row, the group of brownstone buildings at the center of the block. Its scope covers the area from Washington Street south to Warwick Street.

The writers were constrained by the Images of America parameters, which allowed for no more than 70 words per caption, Shapiro said. We encountered a lot of stories that didnt make it into the book. We chose the [photos] that were the most compelling, and would tell the most complete story, because we were starting with the settlement of the street in the late 1600s, early 1700s, when photography hadnt been invented yet.

Most illustrations from that era are paintings.

High Street is perched high on a hill, hence its name, and once afforded people a sense of prestige and sweeping view of the Connecticut River, now mostly obstructed by buildings, trees and other obstacles.

Many stories couldnt fully fit into the book, the authors said. For instance, the Rev. Enoch Huntington, minister of First Church, which used to occupy High Street, headed the parish during the Revolutionary War, Shapiro said. His brother Samuel signed the Declaration of Independence from Connecticut. He was the first president of the Continental Congress, Munkittrick said.

Samuel Huntingtons daughter Mary married Matthew Talcott Russell, cousin of Samuel Russell. Their son, William Huntington Russell, became a distinguished general, Shapiro said. He and Alphonso Taft, father of President William Howard Taft, founded the Skull and Bones Society at Yale University in New Haven.

A generation later, president Taft and William Huntington Russells son courted another woman named Mary. Taft lost out, Shapiro said. Mary was the great-grandmother of Jill Hunting, a writer from California, who discovered she was a descendant of Enoch Huntingon.

Hunting later visited Middletown, and she and Shapiro spent an afternoon talking about her ancestors. One day, Shapiro was watching the Ken Burns series on the Vietnam War, and saw Huntings name run quickly through the credits.

Shapiro wondered what her contribution was to the movie. Huntings brother, Pete Hunting, a 1963 graduate of Wesleyan, had become a civilian aid worker in Vietnam. It turned out he was the first American non-military member killed in the Vietnam War, Shapiro said.

Shapiro spent a great deal of time in the town clerks office, deep in the basements vault so much so that workers joked they should name the room after her. There, records turned up family names, which the two used to search newspapers online, Munkittrick said. That added a lot of flavor to the story and rounded out the picture of who these people were, what their occupations were, how they may have been related to other families on the street, he said.

That process was a lot of fun, said Munkittrick, who found a photo of Mr. and Mrs. Charles and Amelia H. Vinal (whom the state technical school is named for) among the cemetery records compiled on the Find a Grave site. Since every illustration can only be used with permission, he discovered the owner just so happens to live down the road from him.

This person could be anywhere in the world, and it turns out, shes a descendant of the Vinals and she lives in East Hampton, said Munkittrick, who spent an afternoon talking to her about the family history.

Munkittrick calls High Street a museum of American architectural building styles, ranging from the early 18th century through to modern day. Among them Greek Revival, Italianate, stick style, Second Empire, Gothic Revival and Eclecticism. All those styles you can find a great example of on High Street, he said.

The 127-page book, printed by Arcadia Publishing, is available at area bookstores, including Wesleyan R.J. Julia Bookstore, at 413 Main St.; the historical society, 151 Main St., by calling 860-346-0746; Arcadia Publishing, Amazon.com, as well as other online retailers. All proceeds go to the historical society.

Read more from the original source:

New book explores Wesleyan and evolution of High Street in Middletown - Middletown Press