Daily Archives: May 11, 2017

individuals diving down to catch eagle rays along the seafloor of a shallow cove off the coast of present-day Peru. Illustration: Alberto Gennari

Fossil hunters say they have unearthed a missing link in the evolution of baleen whales after digging up the remains of a creature thought to have lived more than 36 million years ago.

The whales, known as mysticeti, sport a bristling collection of sieve-like plates known as baleen that they use to filter water for food. Species include the enormous blue whale, the gray whale and the humpback whale.

But while baleen whales are known to have shared a common ancestor with toothed whales, which are the other major group of modern whales, the path by which the creatures emerged has been somewhat hazily understood. Now researchers say they have discovered the oldest known cousin of modern baleen whales, offering unprecedented insights into their evolution.

This [split in the family tree] has been dated to about 38 or 39m years ago, said Olivier Lambert, co-author of the research from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. The whale we discovered here has been dated to 36.4 [million years ago], so it is only two to three million years younger than this presumed origin.

Unearthed at a site known as Playa Media Luna on the southern coast of Peru, the newly discovered creature has been named Mystacodon selenensis a portmanteau of the Greek for moustache and tooth, together with a nod to the Greek goddess of the moon.

The animal would have been just under four metres in length but, rather than boasting baleen, it had a mouthful of teeth and apparently vestigial hind limbs.

From an analysis of the skull, jaw and teeth, Lambert says that the newly unearthed animal likely hoovered up other marine creatures by suction feeding, moving its tongue to lower the pressure inside its mouth and draw its prey in, before expelling the water.

If it was indeed using suction to catch its prey, it means that the prey items could not be too large, because the whole animal was swallowed in a single gulp so medium sized fish, maybe small squid, could have been a good type of prey for such an animal, he said.

By contrast, the ancestors of both baleen and toothed whales are thought to have captured prey by grabbing it with their teeth, a method also used by many modern toothed whales.

The feeding method and body form of the new creature, added Lambert, backs up previous predictions of the features expected for an animal near the bottom of the baleen branch of the whale family tree.

Sometimes it is good to see that predictions were precise enough, and well documented, in a way that new fossils really fit the story, he said.

Whats more, said Lambert, the find ties in well with the recent discovery of Alfred, a much younger, toothed fossil whale dating from 25m years ago that is also thought to have been a suction feeder and falls on the baleen branch of the whale family tree.

But the new find has also thrown up surprises, not least that the creature was found to have tiny, probably useless, hind limbs sticking out from its body. That, says Lambert, was a shock.

The absence of hind limbs in all modern whales, together with evidence of apparently vestigial limbs in fossils dating to before the split in the whale family tree, had previously led scientists to believe the appendages had been lost in a common ancestor of toothed and baleen whales.

But the new finding, published in the journal Current Biology, suggests that both branches of the whale family tree lost the hind limbs independently.

Emily Rayfield, professor of palaeobiology at the University of Bristol who was not involved in the research, welcomed the findings, adding that the suggestion that the creature was a suction feeder ties into recent theories about how terrestrial animals returned to the water and evolved into the whales we see today.

I think it is an interesting new fossil from an exciting part of the world that shows how new information can enrich and development our understanding of the evolution of groups, including their feeding strategies, she said.

Continued here:

36m-year-old fossil discovery is missing link in whale evolution, say researchers - The Guardian

by Samantha Stephens 5/10/2017

Sassy, frank, warm, bold and real are just a few of the descriptions that come to mind when I think about singer-songwriter Jo Smith.

Im pretty fearless, the Georgia-native told me with a full-belly laugh as we chatted one sunny afternoon on Music Row about her new single and video and, most importantly, the journey that brought her to this moment in her career.

Its an evolution quite a few years in the making and one heck of a story the Old School Groove singer is ready to tell.

But she had lot more teeming beneath the surface. This country girl also had soul, but she didnt exactly find the outlet to let that part shine as she found opportunity in Music City.

She signed to a major record label in 2010 and released a handful of singles to country radio.

When I first moved to Nashville, I moved from South Georgia, where I grew up on a farm, Smith told CMT.com. You jump into the creative circles here and you want to be an artist, and people immediately just look at the surface.

It taught Smith so much and forced quite possibly the most important realization and moment of self-discovery for the singer/songwriter.

To be honest and fair, at the time I wasnt sure of who I was, she admitted. I thought I was, and, of course, it seemed so natural to be singing songs about Georgia and farms and then to be very country, not countrypolitan,

But when I lost my record deal and lost everything, and it was just me sitting alone in my house, I discovered that I was leaving out massive pieces of myself because either people didnt look hard enough or I didnt trust my own instincts enough to raise my hand and say, I want to do this.'

With the loss came personal, spiritual and creative freedom and the opportunity to peel back those layers and dig deeper into herself and her artist. Thats when she realized it was a pop, soul and Motown-inspired vibe that she was missing from her sound.

I grew up listening to my all dads vinyl, Smith revealed, and just as much as I listened Keith Whitley and KT Oslin and the Judds and Merle Haggard and Patsy Cline, I listened to James Taylor, Steely Dan, Chicago, Aretha Franklin and all of Motown.

And she grew up singing all that, as well. Smith was an extremely successful pageant competitor and a favorite entertainer on the Miss America Organization circuit in Georgia as a teen (she was crowned the first-ever Miss Georgias Outstanding Teen in 2001.)

In the pageant world, you have to cover all your musical bases and be comfortable with an audience that may be filled with your competition and not necessarily on their feet for you. Thats another experience Smith told me shes truly grateful for because molded her into the performer she is today.

Smiths journey is filled with gratitude for her past experiences and the lessons learned along the way. The last few years of her journey have brought even more wisdom and the gift of discernment as she continues to navigate her career path.

Thats the whole thing of learning to listen to your inner voice, she said. I know that sounds super corny. It took me my first decade in Nashville to know that that little thing inside was what I should listen to.

So she did. And made her way back as part of the SMACKsongs family, with Grammy-winner Shane McAnally and Jesse Frasure at the helm of her new project, Introducing Jo Smith, the culmination of years of soul-searching and owning the many colors of her musical tapestry.

The debut single Old School Groove is the truest representation of Jo, as a person and as an artist. Motown magic meets classic countrypolitan with this laid-back, romantic tune, and the video brings it to life in the perfect way.

Filmed at the American Legion Post 82 in East Nashville, the staple dancehall is one of the few places you can go in town and see people dancing and mingling in the tradition of days gone by. It welcomes everyone, from our distinguished veterans to the hip youngsters who revere the culture and all things throwback. For Smith, the venue brought her vision to life.

And that adorable older couple you seeing dancing in the spotlight?

Those are not actors, Smith revealed. I just didnt want a lot of acting. What was filmed there was really what was going on a normal Tuesday night!

The older people that were theretheyre what is so great about America, Smith said. They were Veterans, and they were so accepting of this young, hipster crowd. They werent annoyed that the young people were there, it was great.

There was nothing but old school love in the room that day, which for me begged the question: what is old school love to Jo?

Its harder these days, she admitted. Im a traditionalist like the song saysa very forward thinking traditionalist. When youre a traditional girl like me, I still want a traditional guy. And I know not all women are like me, but I think that that traditional heart and soul is what everybody wants in a relationship, whether its outwardly manifested in a traditional way.

Throwback love for the modern erathats the aim of the tune, and theres no question Smith hits the mark perfectly.

Introducing Jo Smith is now available on iTunes.

Samantha is a country radio insider with a deep love for the music and its stars. She can often be found on a red carpet or at a late-night guitar pull.

Read more from the original source:

Jo Smith's Soul-Searching Evolution - CMT.com

Bob Morrisons column stated but weve only recently learned that birds are evolutionary descendants of dinosaurs.

This is an unproved theory of evolutionists. He went on to say that dinosaurs adapted to environmental changes over 150 million years. Hmm. Dinosaurs had solid bones: birds have hollow ones honey-combed for lightweight/strength. So if this transition took 150 million years would that mean an evolving bird could only get five feet off the ground for the first 50 million years or so?

Darwins unproved theories are based on survival of the fittest. How could a half dinosaur survive as the fittest in a dual land/air environment? I have the answer. This never occurred.

After debating creation vs. evolution for years, I have concluded there is a third element common sense. Setting both Gods Word and evolutionary theory aside, please consider that if all lifes ancestor was an accidentally created one-cell organism:

* How did an animal form turn into a plant (blood to sap)?

* How did virtually all animals develop both male and female forms simultaneously?

* As many male animals have rituals to attract females for mating, how were they attracted while they were evolving?

* How did a butterfly survive over millions of years while evolving? The life stages are egg, which becomes a caterpillar, which spins a chrysalis and later emerges as a butterfly with wings. Its like the old question about which came first, the chicken or the egg. Did some mysterious force of nature tell the egg (if it came first) to turn into a worm, eat like crazy, spin a chrysalis and then youll become a butterfly and be able to lay eggs?

From a one-cell organism, how did extremely complex things like sight, smell, hearing, touch, speech, thoughts, feelings, the brain and all the other marvelously complex systems of humans, animals and plants just happen?

Evolution, as in one animal turning into another, is utter nonsense spawned mostly since Darwins theories about 150 years ago, which most of mankind has swallowed.

God stated 10 times in Genesis 1:11-25 that all life was created after its kind. Do you think God didnt know this evolution slop was coming, due to the wickedness of mankind?

Larry Allgood

Sophia

Original post:

Element missing in evolution common sense - Asheboro Courier Tribune

Join popular Biblical scholar Scot McKnight as he explores the contours of Marys life, from the moment she learned of God's plan for the Messiah, to the culmination of Christ's ministry on earth. McKnight dismantles the myths and also challenges our prejudices. He introduces us to a woman who is a model for faith, and who points us to her son.

What does it look like to follow Jesus, and how will doing so change the way we live our life---our love.life, our justice.life, our peace.life, our community.life, our sex.life---everything about our life.

This book examines conversion stories as told by people who have actually undergone a conversion experience, including experiences of apostasy. The stories reveal that there is not just one "conversion story." Scot McKnight and Hauna Ondrey show that "conversion theory" helps explain why some people walk away from one religion, often to another, very different religion. The book confirms the usefulness--particularly for pastors, rabbis, and priests, and university and college teachers--of applying conversion theory to specific groups.

McKnight's The Blue Parakeet has emerged at the perfect time to cool the flames of a world on fire with contention and controversy. It calls Christians to a way to read the Bible that leads beyond old debates and denominational battles. It calls Christians to stop taming the Bible and to let it speak anew for a new generation.

Scot McKnight here explains the Letter of James both in its own context and as it may be seen in light of ancient Judaism, the Graeco-Roman world, and emerging earliest Christianity.

The gravity point of a life before God is that his followers are to love God and to love others with everything they've got. Scot McKnight now works out the "Jesus Creed" for high school and college students, seeking to show how it makes sense, giving shape to the moral lives of young adults. The Jesus Creed for Students is practical, filled with stories, and backed up and checked by youth pastors Chris Folmsbee and Syler Thomas.

Jesus amended the Shema, giving his followers a new creed for life: to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, but also to love others as themselves. Discover how the Jesus Creed of love for God and others can transform your life.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And...love your neighbor as yourself."

Scot McKnight has come to call this vital teaching of our Lord the Jesus Creed. He recites it throughout the day every day and challenges you to do the same. You may find that, if you do, you will learn to love God more creatively and passionately, and find new ways to love those around you.

In The Jesus Creed DVD, explore with Scot how the great Shema of the Old Testament was transformed by our Lord into the focal point for spiritual maturity. According to the Jesus Creed (found in Mark 12:29-31), loving God and loving others are the greatest commandments.

The act of fasting, he says, should not be focused on results or used as a manipulative tool. It is a practice to be used in response to sacred moments, just as it has in the lives of God's people throughout history. McKnight gives us scriptural accounts of fasting, along with practical wisdom on benefits and pitfalls, when we should fast, and what happens to our bodies as a result.

McKnight discusses the value of the church's atonement metaphors, asserting that the theory of atonement fundamentally shapes the life of the Christian and of the church. This book, the first volume in the Living Theology series, contends that while Christ calls humanity into community that reflects God's love, that community then has the responsibility to offer God's love to others through such missional practices of justice and fellowship.

Discover not only the original meaning of Galatians, but also how the message of Galatians can speak powerfully today.

Learn not only what Peter said to his audience in the first century but also how what he taught can be applied today in this volume of the NIV Application Commentary Series.

Praying with the Church is written for all Christians who desire to know more about the ancient devotional traditions of the Christian faith, and to become involved in their renaissance today.

In the candid and lucid style that has made McKnight's The Jesus Creed so appealing to thousands of pastors, lay leaders, and everyday people who are searching for a more authentic faith, he encourages all Christians to recognize the simple, yet potentially transforming truth of the gospel message: God seeks to restore us to wholeness not only to make us better individuals, but to form a community of Jesus, a society in which humans strive to be in union with God and in communion with others.

See the rest here:

Evolution is Stochastic (not Random) (RJS) - Patheos (blog)

The new mobile, free-to-play football title will feature officially licensed teams, players and stadiums, including club and national teams as well as a UEFA Champions League license. Konami says that the game, while optimized for mobile, was made with the console title's graphics engine, which could make for a slick, highly-realistic soccer experience on the go.

Soccer is a global phenomenon, and PES 2017 honors that tradition with an interface localized in 10 different languages and play-by-play commentary in nine: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese. Plus? For a limited time, pre-registering will net you some "deluxe" players to add to your team roster as you take on all comers.

This isn't Konami's first foray into the mobile soccer arena, of course. There have been many PES games on mobile since 2010, as well as a more strategic football manager app for the league. FIFA has been on mobile for a similar amount of time.

Here is the original post:

'Pro Evolution Soccer 17' is coming to your phone this month - Engadget

Food Evolution, the documentary about GMOs and how they have infiltrated our food supply from Oscar nominated filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy, has been picked up for distribution by Abramorama. Thefilm will bow in in the U.S. initially on June 23 at the Village East Cinemas in New York before it rolls out for a nationwide release to select cities.

Traveling from Hawaiian papaya groves to banana farms in Uganda to the cornfields of Iowa, Food Evolution wrestles with the emotions and the science driving one of the most heated arguments of our time. This is one of a handful of documentaries that have been produced about our food supply. Island Earth from filmmaker Cyrus Sutton about what is happening in Hawaii was also produced this year. Food Evolution is narrrated byNeil deGrasse Tyson.

Meanwhile, another film Song of Granite about traditional Irish singer Joe Heaney, has been acquired by Oscilloscope Laboratories which will open the film theatrically later in the year. The Pat Collinss film was co-written by Collins, Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhrde, and Sharon Whooley, and had its its world premiere at this years SXSW Film Festival.

Heaney was one of the greats of traditional Irish singing (sean ns). Shaped by the myths, fables, and songs of his upbringing in the west of Ireland, his emergence as a gifted artist came at a personal cost. Featuring performances from Colm Seoighe, Macdara Ftharta, Jaren Cerf, Lisa ONeill, Damien Dempsey, and sean ns singers Michel OConfhaola and Pl Ceannabhin, and beautiful black and white cinematography, Song of Graniteis a distinct portrait of Heaneys life and a marvelous exploration of music and song.

The film was produced by Alan Maher and Jessie Fisk of Marcie Films with Martin Paul-Hus of Amerique Film. Executive producers are Philip King, Tina Moran, and Keith Potter. The film was financed by Bord Scannn na hireann/Irish Film Board, SODEC, Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Telefilm Canada, and TG4. Song of Granite will open the Galway Film Fleadh in Ireland in July of this year.

Oscilloscope Laboratories is a film production and distribution entity launched in 2008 by Adam Yauch of Beastie Boys and released Lynne Ramsays critically acclaimedWe Need to Talk About Kevinstarring Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly in 2011.

Original post:

'Food Evolution' Acquired By Abramorama; | Deadline - Deadline

Abramorama has acquired North American theatrical rights to Scott Hamilton Kennedys documentary Food Evolution, Variety has learned exclusively.

The film, narrated by science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson, will have its U.S. theatrical premiere on June 23 at the Village East Cinemas in New York, followed by a nationwide release to select cities.

Food Evolution explores the controversy surrounding genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, and food. The film includes experts such as Mark Lynas, Alison Van Eenennaam, Jeffrey Smith, Andrew Kimbrell, Vandana Shiva, Robert Fraley, Marion Nestle and Bill Nye, as well as farmers and scientists from around the world.

Richard Abramowitz of Abramorama says, We are eager to introduce Food Evolution to this essential conversation, one in which emotion often overtakes information. Scott Kennedys always entertaining deep dive into the science of GMOs is going to change some minds.

Kennedy was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary for his film The Garden. Other credits include O.T.: Our Town, Fame High and Grace & Mercy.

At a time when science, facts and journalism seem to be under attack on a daily basis, I am thrilled to bring Food Evolution to theaters and a national audience, Kennedy said. Through our festival screenings at DOC NYC and CPH: DOX, weve witnessed the immense public appetite for a fact-based dialogue around the great food debate, and Richard and his team at Abramorama are the perfect partners to bring the film to as wide an audience as possible.

Watch the trailer below:

Read more here:

Documentary 'Food Evolution' Lands at Abramorama for U.S. (EXCLUSIVE) - Variety