Monthly Archives: March 2021

Its Womens History Month and what better way to celebrate than to spotlightWhite House Correspondent April D. Ryan. Ryan is a veteran journalist who has workedat the White House for 24 years, while also serving as a major voice for the Black community.

ESSENCE spoke with Ryan about her early days in the news industry, how she overcame working in the White House under a racist, sexist president, and her new role withtheGrio.

When did you realize you wanted to be a journalist?

RYAN: I realized when I was at Morgan [State University]. I started out doing radio, being a DJ between classes on Friday and overnights on Sunday. I was a DJ at WEAA FM and WEBB AM [previously owned by singer James Brown]. I always had a passion for knowing what was going on, and that stemmed from my home in Baltimore from my late parents. They always had the radio on first thing in the morning. You get up youhear the sounds of the news, traffic and temperature. In the evenings we would sit and watch Walter Cronkite. Thats the way it was. News was always in me, but I didnt realize how much it was until I got tired of spinning the records and I wanted to do more. I was always the one who wanted to get the people talking, to have it on the record, to make it credible, so that you could believe this is something you need for your daily life.I think being a DJ is the best thing in the world. I couldnt do it, but news, give me a pen, a pad, a microphone or a camera and Im there. I can work it out in a minute.

As someone who attended Morgan State University, how do you respond to people who argue HBCUs are archaic and need to be eliminated?

RYAN:I would not be April Ryan if it werent for an HBCU. I attended predominately white catholic schools forthe vast majority ofmy education and then I attended Morgan. This is my quote: HBCUs love you to success. Its like a family. Theres an intimacy there and we understand, we want you to survive and thrive. We are building you up because weve been down for so long. HBCUs are not archaic. When some institutions wont accept us now, family accepts us. There is still a non-even playing field for admissions for us. The same reasons we needed them [HBCUs] now are the same reasons we needed them yesterday. A lot of these schools would not take us in.

The nation watched the fiery exchanges that took place between you and Trump during his presidency. Youre the epitome of a strong Black woman, but how did it feel to be challenged by a racist, sexist president who was never fit to lead this country?

RYAN: It wasnt necessarily about me. When youre a mother, you dont necessarily think about yourself, you think about your children. I wanted to make sure my children were okay. My children know Im a fighter and they know I stand up when something issaidor something is wrong. But my concern was for them most of all. One, that they were safe. Two, that it didnt hurt their mother as much as other people felt hurt for me. When many of those fiery exchanges were happening, my oldest daughter was in class in Baltimore in currentnews watching the ticker go by, Donald Trump says this to April Ryan. She would text me, momareyou okay? I said, Im great. And thats the hurtful piece, when youre doing your job and your family and friends get it before you can say what happened.

Lets discuss your new role with theGrio. What are you doing and why theGrio?

RYAN: I am a White House correspondent Washington bureau chief with theGrio. Im learning things, like the Tik Toking and all that stuff. I said I need to go digital, but I wanted to stay at the White House and build something great for Black America. TheGriois offering me the opportunity to help lead that side of it. Its amazing what the team has. I love the energy there, young people who arent new to this, but true to this. They believe in giving information to Black America.

What advice would you give to Black women and girls who are looking to enter the media industry, but may feel discouraged?

RYAN: Believe in yourself. Theres something called a dream deferred. It could be a dream thatsdeferredor you can believe in yourself and still work towards your dream. Never walk away from your dream, even if it is part time or a hobby. Ive been in this business since1985. For me to still be here in 2021, you dont see a lot of that. Ive been at the White House for 24years. You dont see that. Im saying all that to say, this business has changed so much. Be open. You need to be able to get on Zoom calls and hold conversations that bring people in. You need to be able to writeyoura** off. You need to be able to speak the queens English. You need to be able to handle the camera at a moments notice. Practice your craft.

Link:

April D. Ryan Reflects on Her Evolution as a Journalist - Essence

Lampreys are boneless, blood-sucking snake-like fish considered to be "living fossils" that have barely changed since they first arose during the Paleozoic era, more than 100 million years before the first dinosaurs.

Interestingly, since the 1800s, scientists have thought that the earliest ancestors of all vertebrates, including ourselves, resembled lampreys' worm-like babies.

Now, recently discovered baby lamprey fossils have overturned that popularevolutionary theory, which some scientists were already starting to question, reports a Canadian-led study published in the latest issue of the journal Nature.

It turns out that baby lampreys from the Paleozoicera, which had been "missing" from the fossil record until now, don't look the way scientists had previously hypothesized raising new questions about what our ancestors were really like.

To be sure, adult lampreys seem like an unlikely candidate for what the progenitor of vertebrates might have looked like.

They'realien-looking predators with a sucker-like mouth ringed with multiple rows of sharp teeth that they use to pierce the skin of their prey usually other fish and suck out their blood. One species, the sea lamprey, has devastated fisheries in the Great Lakes since invading them in the early 1900s via shipping canals.

But lampreys aren't born monsters. Their babies or larvaeare tiny, blind, worm-like creatures called ammocoetes that burrow in the mud and slurp algae and rotting organic matter floating by.

They also have an uncanny resemblance to worm-like animals called lancelets that don't have a backbone, but do have many other characteristics of vertebrates, the group that includes fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. That puts lanceletsjust on the other side of the border between vertebrates and invertebrateslike worms, snails and insects.

Biologists also believed that the larval or embryonic development of some animals was, in some ways, a look back through time at their evolution. For example, human embryos have a tail and gill-like structures around their necks.

All that led scientists to theorize about what the ancestor of all vertebrates from fish to fowl to humans might have looked like.

Tetsuto Miyashita, a research scientist at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa who led the new study, says that since the 19th century, when people looked at ammocoetes, "the common wisdom was that we were looking at... our distant ancestors in the face."

It's not a flattering thought, but it was a popular one up until several years ago..

That's when researchers such as Margaret Docker, a professor in the department of biological sciences at the University of Manitoba, began to question the evidence.

For one thing, scientists hadn't found ammocoete fossils dating back earlier than 125 million years ago, even though the earliest lamprey fossils known are 360 million years old.

So, did early lampreys even have an ammocoete stage?

"There were just none of the earlier stages apparent," said Docker, who wasn't involved in the new study. She published a paper with two other scientists in 2018 suggesting that early lampreys either didn't have a larval stage or only had a very short one, but noted they weren't the first to be thinking of that.

"For the longest time, I sort of just came to the conclusion that we would never really know for sure."

That'sbecause lampreys don't fossilize well, as they have no bones, only cartilage. They only form compressed fossils under very specific conditions, similar to those that preserved soft-bodied ancient creatures in Canada's Burgess Shale, said Philippe Janvier, emeritus director of research at the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientific (CNRS) in an email.

"Such fossils have long been regarded as barely more informative than a squashed slug on a highway," said Janvier, who co-authored the 2018 paper with Docker. It was hard to tell whether any of them were ammocoetes or juveniles in the middle of metamorphosing into adults.

Still, Miyashita was determined to have a closer look at that fossil evidence to see if the theory about ancient ammocoetes was true, so he went looking where the oldest known lamprey fossil had been found: a site in South Africa called Waterloo Farm.

Back in the Paleozoic, South Africa was located at the South Pole, but it was much warmer and wasn't always iced over. At that time, Waterloo Farm was a coastal lagoon teeming withfish and invertebrates, which made up most of the animals on Earth at that time, when the ancestors of modern amphibians were just starting to take their first steps out of the water and onto land.

Miyashitagot in touch with the local expert there, Robert Gess, a paleontologist and research associate at the Albany Museum and Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa. Gess had rescued 100 tonnes of shalethat contained thousands of fossil specimens atWaterloo Farm before the construction of a local road.

Miyashita wanted to see if there were very small lampreys or ammocoetes in the rocks.

Gess managed to spotseven, all smaller than the smallest ones he had previously found, Miyashita recalled the tiniestof them "the size of your little fingernail."

Despite that, the researchers could see that it was clearly a lamprey, with huge eyes for spotting prey and a sucker mouth with sharp teeth like adult lampreys today.

But it wasn't an adult. Upon closer inspection, that fossil had a little bulge on its belly.

With excitement, the researchers realized that it was ayolk, which many fish carry with them to feed them when they first hatch, Miyashita said: "This baby fossil lamprey just hatched out of the egg."

Janvier, who wasn't involved in the study, agreed that the bulge was clearly a yolk sac, similar to those found in many fossil hatchlings of other fish.

When Miyashita went through museum collections of other ancient lamprey fossils, he foundhatchlingsof other species that also looked like mini-adults.

It was clear evidence that ancient lampreys didn't have a worm-like larval stage. While the adults might be "living fossils," the ammocoetes evolved later.

Docker estimates it happened around 300 million years ago, since modern lamprey species all have an ammocoete stage, suggesting their common ancestor from that time already had the trait. That period was when many insects and amphibians also developed very different juvenile and adult stages in different environments, such as water and land, with a metamorphosis in between.

At that time, plants had colonized the land, creating and stabilizing soils with their roots, making freshwater environments less prone to wild fluctuations and raging floods, and therefore more habitable.

But it was still an environment with few predators one where tiny baby animals could safely grow.

Miyashita said developing a larval stage capable of colonizing those safe freshwater environments probably "was the key for the survival of modern lamprey lineages."

Miyashita said the fossil discovery has big implications for theories about the evolution of vertebrates. Clearly, ammocoetes don't look the way they do because of a resemblance to the ancestor of all vertebrates, as previously thought.

"It's not exactly often that just a single set of tiny fossils can just completely overturn that accepted scenario of vertebrate evolution," he said. "I think this is one important step toward figuring out what our distant ancestors actually looked like 500 million years ago."

Both Janvier and Docker agree that the discovery is important, even if some scientists had already suspected it before. Docker called it "quite exciting."

"There's a big difference between thinking it and having the clear evidence," she said. "So it's certainly a big deal."

Go here to read the rest:

Bloodsucking-fish fossils overturn once-popular theory about our evolution - CBC.ca

Ideas are like seeds. Some of them sprout, some grow to a level and some become giant trees. This is true for digital platforms as well. The giant trees of our era are WhatsApp, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, with crores of users interacting using them. As organisations and by corollary, platforms grow, they need rules to organise and govern themselves. When they grow too much, they invite new regulations. Our social media platforms are also navigating this cycle. Couple it with the fact that criminals are some of the initial as well as advanced users of most new technologies.

The Government of India has announced new Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code to manage the possible misuse of platforms that make it easy for anyone to communicate with anyone publicly. The guidelines focus on ensuring security of users, redressal of their grievances, ensuring traceability of messages, restricting the flow of illegal information and right classification of digital content. Regulations will evolve as the social media ecosystem evolves and impacts the way we communicate.

As a business, social media platforms invest a lot in building, sustaining and constantly improving their technology platforms. It is not easy to run billions of live conversations without glitches and definitely not without substantial costs. Revenue comes primarily from advertisements or promoted content. Users get to use the platform for free but then the collective number of users is the strength of a network. More the users, more its net worth and more the revenue it can earn.

Social media platforms have opened up a digital industry of sorts giving livelihoods to many pro-users and intermediaries. This includes the digital marketing economy, social media outsourcing agencies and influencers, apart from being a key vertical in any marketing plan today. Platforms enable an economy where they really do not gain directly.

Social media platforms are in perpetual beta mode like most software products. They are evolving as the ecosystem grows as the users ask for, discover or create new uses of the platform. At any point in time, there are problems that need equal attention. Let me share some of the issues that I see as a regular user that need redressal.

Anonymous handles and accounts are a big source of nuisance. No one knows who they are, if it is an individual or a group of people, if they are naive users or fully funded activist groups. It is not easy to identify them. They usually have a huge following owing to sharing a lot of content in their niche. Anonymity gives them a shield to be nasty or abusive. This needs to be addressed. I am aware that a mobile number is now mandatory with most platforms, which in turn is linked to verifiable identity. However, this information is accessible only in case of a serious breach.

Anonymous handles are rarely averse to piracy. I have seen big respectable names also engaging in piracy actively but with anonymous handles, it is rampant, almost a norm, an easy way to build a large following. No one owns the responsibility and the IP owner does not even know whom to report. Instagram is a great example of pirates earning at the cost of original content creators and the platform does not seem inclined to correct it. Going forward, platforms need to come out with mechanisms to identify and honour original content creators. YouTube, though not yet perfect, still manages to identify and penalise piracy to a large extent.

Posting of paid or sponsored content must be declared by the influencers, even when they share personal stories, if they have been shared in lieu of benefits. At one end, social media brings transparency and at the other, these veiled messages blur the same.

When it comes to data privacy, users should have an option to opt out. It would probably mean that I pay for the use of a social media network. So the social media company gets compensated for my use of its platform and in turn it has to keep my data aside and not use it for anything without my explicit permission. It may be something like a YouTube premium subscription that allows you to enjoy the platform without any advertisements. In fact, sometimes I wonder if a social media that is subscription-based would be the future, where everyone would be a verified user. Today probably LinkedIn is closest to this vision with its freemium model, but then it is just a professional network where people put their best foot forward to ensure their career growth.

Finally, there needs to be a consensus and clarity on revenue generated seamlessly across borders through advertisements or affiliate marketing. Google just announced a tax deduction on income generated anywhere in the world through users in the US. We can assume other countries would follow soon with taxation laws of their own. It may be the case of the internet connecting us and tax authorities keeping us disconnected.

Social media platforms are ever-evolving tools, and they would always have some unresolved issues. Their judicious use is in our hands.

AnuradhaGoyal

Author and founderof IndiTales

(Tweets @anuradhagoyal)

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Riding the evolution curve of social media - The New Indian Express

I would like to thank the community for their support for my leadership of Water Resources Research (WRR) over the past four years. I know that I speak for all Editors in saying that it has been a remarkable term for us. The scientific aspects of WRR cannot be easily separated from the political environment in which we operate. Our term was bookended by the start and end of the Trump presidency: it started with our reaction to the marginalization of science (the Earth and Space Science is Essential for Society special collection) and concluded with our adjustments to the way science is done during the Covid-19 pandemic. Weve certainly seen some challenges along the way, and I think that we have helped the hydrologic science community thrive.

In the past four years we have seen growth in several key areas. We have published many new science advances on cryospheric research, especially on snow hydrology. We have also published many new science advances in large-domain hydrological modelling, especially global hydrology. Other areas of growth include research on coupled human-natural systems, Earth System change, and machine learning. Its terrific to see the community evolve in these new directions.

Successes and challenges

WRR has substantial strengths. I think that WRRs most distinguishing characteristic is interdisciplinary research. We celebrate the fact that the hydrological sciences are a wickedly interdisciplinary enterprise. The journal is also distinguished by scientific rigor: we expect major science advances in each research article. WRR also continues to have a high-quality (and fair) review process. Reviewers go out of their way to provide extensive and constructive feedback, and for papers that receive reject without review decisions, Editors and Associate Editors provide detailed feedback to authors.

WRR is also a strong part of the hydrological sciences community.WRR is also a strong part of the hydrological sciences community, having a close relationship with the AGU Hydrology Section; additionally, WRR has a strong presence at the AGU Fall Meeting (e.g., the Centennial sessions, the WRR science advances session). The community wants WRR to succeed.

WRR will also encounter some challenges moving forward. A key challenge is to cleanly separate the scientific aspects of publishing from the commercial aspects. Historical challenges have included standing up to criticisms on the large number of rejected papers, advocating for reasonable open access publishing costs, and pushing back on initiatives to include advertisements in WRR papers.

Another challenge is including the extent to which FAIR principles are addressed in the review process (that models and data be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). Specifically, should code be reviewed? Should data be reviewed? And how should this be done? Should reviewers be responsible for running test cases and commenting on the organization/structure of models and datasets?

A further challenge is how to handle hot topics in hydrology, specifically socio-hydrology and machine learning. For socio-hydrology, how can we manage the interdisciplinary nature of the science advances, especially building on the extensive research on coupled human-natural systems that is done by other communities? For machine learning, how can we effectively document both the new capabilities offered by machine learning as well as the limitations of machine learning models?

Hopes for the future of WRR

A key change on the horizon is the potential transition to open access. Open science is perhaps the most important paradigm shift in the recent history of scholarly publishing: We have open data and open models, but closed publications.

Changes in publishing models mean that more of the responsibility for open science is devolved to individuals. We have been transitioning away from a system where institutions pay (i.e., institutional libraries pay journal subscriptions on behalf of its readers). We are transitioning towards a system where many authors are responsible for paying article processing charges from grant funding or other sources.

These shifts in financial responsibility create dissonance between individual self-interest and the common good. Open science (and thus open access) can benefit the common good because the science is freely available; individual self-interest can be shaped by an unwillingness to pay.

The inherent value of open science should frame any open access decision.These issues were evaluated in depth by the AGU Hydrology Section Open Access Task Force: The path forward requires weighing the financial feasibility of alternative cost models against the common good of open science. The inherent value of open science should frame any open access decision.

Thanks

In closing, I would like to offer some words of thanks. Id like to thank our team of Editors: Jean Bahr, Marc Bierkens, Jim Hall, Stefan Kollet, Charlie Luce, Jessica Lundquist, Scott Mackay, Ilja van Meerveld, Xavi Sanchez-Vila, Peter Troch, and Ellen Wohl. Id also like to thank the Associate Editors, who are the lifeblood of the journal and make the whole operation possible; we have appreciated their thoughtful and constructive recommendations. Moreover, thanks to the reviewers. With more than 2,000 submissions per year, we rely on the community more than ever for thoughtful and constructive reviews. Thanks to them for maintaining WRRs high standards. And finally, thanks to the AGU Publications staff, especially Erin Syring and Phil Cobb for keeping the wheels moving and keeping everyone on track.

I am delighted to welcome to Georgia (Gia) Destouni as the new Editor in Chief of WRR. I have had the opportunity to talk extensively with Gia and learn about her plans for the journal. WRR is certainly in excellent hands. Im looking forward to the future of WRR under Gias leadership.

Martyn Clark ([emailprotected]), outgoing Editor in Chief, Water Resources Research, and Global Institute for Water Security, University of Saskatchewan, Canada; with thanks to Sina Khatami ( 0000-0003-1149-5080), Hydrology Researcher, Stockholm University, Sweden

See the rest here:

The Evolution of Water Resources Research - Eos

Its been a few months since weve seen a Ford RS200 Evolution go up for sale, and even longer since the last regular RS200 changed hands. But now, a one-of-24 1986 Ford RS200 Evolution has surfaced for sale on Bring a Trailer, and it has wasted no time accumulating bids and nearly cresting the $300k mark as of this writing.

Thats par for the course with these beloved models, of course, which routinely sell for big bucks. And this 1986 Ford RS200 Evolution doesnt figure to be an outlier among those results. After all, this supremely rare machine was originally constructed for FIA Group B homologation purposes and immediately endeared itself to racing fans around the globe.

This particular RS200 Evolution was imported to the U.S. from Norway back in 2017 and is now for sale out of Oceanside, California with right around 800 kilometers (500 miles) on the clock. Evolution models featured a number of enhancements over the regular RS200, including upgraded suspension and brakes and a larger, 2.1-liter version of the cars turbocharged Cosworth BDT-E inline-four-cylinder powerplant.

The rest of the RS200 Evolution is a mixed bag of parts as well, with fiberglass bodywork designed by Filippo Sapino of Ghia and constructed by Reliant, along with a chassis developed by F1 designer Tony Southgate and engineer John Wheeler. This particular example is finished in white with a fixed rear spoiler with built-in ventilation, a vented clamshell hood, integrated Hella driving lights, roof- and side-mounted air intakes, and 16-inch multi-piece Speedline wheels.

Inside, a gray and black cabin contains fixed-back bucket seats, a fire extinguisher, a red leather-wrapped steering wheel, and a host of VDO instrumentation. Meanwhile, the upgraded powerplant was rebuilt back in 2018 and was originally rated to produce 600 horsepower, which it sends to all four wheels via a five-speed manual transmission and twin limited-slip differentials.

Given the incredible interest these cars still generate, decades after their construction, its a safe bet that this one will rake in some serious cash at auction. And if we had the means, wed certainly be in that mix as well.

Well have more cool auction finds like this to share soon, so be sure andsubscribetoFord Authority for more Ford RS200 news and ongoing Ford newscoverage.

The rest is here:

Supremely Rare 1986 Ford RS200 Evolution Hits The Auction Block - Ford Authority

Miami Heat forward Kelly Olynyk, left, sets up for a shot in front of Orlando Magic forward Gary Clark during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Sunday, March 14, 2021, in Orlando, Fla. Three-point shooting plays an integral role in NBA offense. Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP Photo.

Professional basketball has evolved a lot since its inception in1898.The NBAhas seen players push the physical limitsof the humananatomy. These athletes run faster, jump higher and increasingly resemble comic book superheroes with each passing season. The league today would be unrecognizable to someone who watched the game in the mid-2000s, let alone a century back. While listing all the changes the league has undergone would warrant its own article, there is one massive change that fans have quickly grown accustomed to: The absolutely insane amount of scoring over the past10seasons.

NBA teams currently average112.2points per game. The last time NBA teams cumulatively averaged such a staggering number of points was during the1971-72season. The 70s and 80s featured a breakneck pace that resulted in teams getting more offensive possessions which led to more fast-break points. Adjusting the NBA league averages to statistics per 100 possessions reveals that NBA scoring has never beenthis prolific.The lastthree seasonshave all been record-breakers in average league scoring per 100 possessions. This means that the recent uptick in scoring is not because of teams just getting more opportunities to shoot but because NBA offenses have fundamentally evolved.

With that being said, its time to address the elephant in the room. Everybody is aware that three-point shooting is now an integral part of the league. Celtics legend and former Indiana Pacers president of basketball operationsLarry Birdsummed up this idea best when he saidif youre not firing up thirty 3s, youre just not playing basketball. While Bird is correct, the root of the scoring explosion goes far deeper than the NBA just shooting more threes.

In the 2010-11 season, there were onlyseven playerswho averaged 25ppgor more. There are16players who have scored at this volume in the 2020-21 season. In fact, when analyzing all the games best scorers from 2011-2016, there were only twenty three players who averaged 25 points per game. In comparison, there have been 58 players who have averaged a minimum of 25ppgin the past five seasons. The league has never had such a surplus of elite scorers. Players are having30point performances every other night and shattering scoring records on a consistent basis. There were 77530plus point games during the 2019-20 NBA season in comparison to just 368 such games in the 2003-2004 season which had a similar number of games. Scoring30has become a norm in the NBA, a feat not exclusive to the games premier scorers. This discrepancy is even evident when observing the frequency of50-pointoutbursts. There was only one such scoring performance in 2010, two in 2011 and three in 2012. The league broke a record for50-point games in 2018-19 with11and the last half decade represents thehighest frequency of50-point games with just one exception Wilt Chamberlainsabsurd scoring totals of the early 1960s. He even averaged50points a game in the 1961-62 seasonwhich is the only outlier in the data.

The most telling part of the NBAs scoring jump is that role players are now routinely scoring20to30points per game. Instantaneous offense has become a necessity in the current basketball era of pace, space and isolation greatness. At this point, just to be a serviceable player in the NBA, you have to be able to defend multiple positions while having the ability to create instant isolation offense. Players that specialize in certain aspects of the game but cant score are now a relic.The sole exception is Ben Simmons who has still managed to average16.3 ppgfor his career.Simmons is one of the few players in the league that is able to influence the game by excelling in skills other than shooting. His size advantage at the point guard position, surreal passing ability and defensive prowess make him an asset to the Philadelphia 76ers who also composed their team to cater toward his style of play. Most other average or even above average players that cant shoot are now seen as liabilities as they restrict floor spacing and the shooting efficiency of other players.

The analytics boom has expedited the NBAs offensive revolution by educating teams on statistically efficient shot selection. This has given nearly all players the green light to shoot and execute flashy moves to create opportunities.Ray Allen, the NBAs currentall-timethree point leader, even said I was getting it up but not like these guys are today and that he felt like he was settling if he took five three pointers a game.

This offensive freedom and shift in team philosophies has made30points in todays NBA mean as much as scoring20points10years ago. Consequently, there are several all-time great players from previous eras that never averaged twenty points a game in their careers that would see their averages skyrocket had they played in todays league. Some prime examples of these players include Steve Nash, ManuGinobli, Bill Russel, John Stockton and Jason Kidd. All of these players shot with incredible efficiency and wouldexponentiallyincreasetheir scoring output if they attempted shots with the same frequency as todays top scorers.

Additionally, the average player in the NBA is far more skilled than ever before while defenses are struggling to adapt at the same rate. Defenses are often forced into playing zones because teams field lineups where every player on the court is a threat to score and produce ESPN top10highlights. Ultimately, defense, regardless of the individual talent of the players, is reactionary and entails physical and strategic limits while offensive skill sets are constantly expanding. Centers are shooting threes with accuracy, guards are pulling up for shots near half-court, the vast majority of the league can play above the rim and more. This begets one critical question. How have the offensive skills of NBA players improved so dramatically in recent years?

There are four primary drivers of the NBAs recent jump in offensive production. The NBA is an advocate of more scoring from a financial standpoint and has facilitated this style of basketball through rule changes, the inherent advantage offense has in basketball being exploited through better player training regimens, the social media marketing of high school prospects and the incorporation of analytics.

Players have realized that developing their offensiveskill sethas a direct correlation to increasing their chances to land larger contracts and endorsement opportunities. The teambuilding tactics of franchises now are simple. Why should they sign a player who specializes in rebounding and defense when they can sign a guy who can do that and score with the best players in the league? When putting the ball in the basket is what actually yields the points, why should any other skill matter as much as scoring prowess? Positions no longer matter. The league is about letting your players maximize their natural talents and rounding out a team with versatile pieces that supplement the stars deficiencies. It is no wonder that older players crave the opportunity to play in todays league given their freedom to shoot as they please with zero repercussions.

The lack of defense in the NBA is a myth. The games offensive talent is simply improving at a faster rate than ever before.While there are several players from the late 80s and 90s that would flourish in todays league, it is undeniable that the league is continuing to raise the bar of possibility in athleticism and sheer talent.With offense thriving, The NBA is in a great place and will undoubtedly continue delivering iconic moments for years to come.

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Karthiks Take: The evolution of NBA offense - UConn Daily Campus

THIS IS A PROMOTED POST

By Phil LangleySenior Vice President, Global Pro AV and UCCWESCO and Anixter

Professional audiovideo and its role within information communications and technology (ICT) is the bridge that has been connecting the virtual and onsite worlds for businesses, schools and communities over the past year. Its easy to imagine the added difficulties we could have experienced if not for AV technology.

Hybrid workplaces and learning environments are nothing new, but much of the heavy lifting was done amid chaotic conditions over the last 12 months. The pandemic accelerated not only enablement but also user comfort levels with collaboration tools. The next generation of the physical and digital worlds will be integrated even further, with AV playing an integral role in the evolution. For now, its clear there are choices to be made on whether there is a wholesale return to onsite, a move toward the fully virtual, or a hybrid approach that embraces both.

Companies that revert to pre-pandemic business operations will likely have a competitive advantage.

There are clear benefits of remote work for employees: no commute time, more physical activity and a global talent pool. And for the company, there are financial advantages: no office means no office costs. But one advantage of in-person work that is seldom spoken of is chance collaboration those moments when inspiration strikes, or a question appears with the opportunity to immediately go to work on it with one or more people in your vicinity. The energy and enthusiasm generated from these chance collaborations often lead to tremendous results.

A famous example comes from one of the most successful companies in recent memory: Pixar. In his book, Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson wrote:

So [Steve Jobs] had the Pixar building designed to promote encounters and unplanned collaborations to make people get out of their offices and mingle in the central atrium with people they might not otherwise see. The front doors and main stairs and corridors all led to the atrium, the cafe and the mailboxes were there, the conference rooms had windows that looked out onto it, and the six-hundred-seat theater and two smaller screening rooms all spilled into it. Ive never seen a building that promoted collaboration and creativity as well as this one, [Lasseter, Pixars former chief creative officer, recalled].

Not all buildings were created for these chance collaborations, but collaborative work areas were trending before the pandemic, with AV integrators building huddle rooms at a furious pace. While the advantages of ICT will propel us into the future, theres still the matter of that chance encounter at the office that should not be overlooked as a way a company can thrive.

One aspect of a companys future success lies in the balance between enabling people virtually with ICT and ensuring there is fertile ground for powerful and unscheduled chance encounters. Pro AV can facilitate these encounters with virtual, always-on meetings for remote employees; like the huddle room, but virtual.

To make this hybridized workplace a reality, integrators will need to understand and operate in both the physical and virtual worlds.

Here are 6 ways integrators can prepare for the evolution of the workplace:

1. Recognize and Understand the Fourth Utility Concept

If you work in AV/IT today, it is critical to understand the concept of the Fourth Utility. Tom Shircliff and Rob Murchison, co-founders of Intelligent Buildings, coined the term. The approach positions the Fourth Utility internet connectivity and ICT itself as necessary to a buildings infrastructure as the three main utilities of gas, water and electricity. With an increasing number of technologies converging on the network, understanding how it should seamlessly interact will be key; ICT is rapidly becoming the umbrella for all the projects that AV integrators will be undertaking.

2. Enable Day-Two Expansion

AV integrators will need to meet customers rising expectations for immediate service with day-two support. Third-party support services can help deliver a seamless transition for customers. Look for these qualities in a support partner:

3. Scalability for Low-Complexity, High-Volume Projects

Technology convergence and the large role AV is playing have led to the commoditization of every aspect of unified communications and collaboration technologies. The result is that complex deployments and projects are now much simpler. These low-complexity projects are also at a higher volume and spread across large geographic areas within every environment and sector, driving the need for scalability.

4. Utilize Global Capabilities on a Local Level

Global capabilities are equally valuable for integrators working on a local or regional level. These same concepts of scalability apply to deployments across cities, states and the country. Work with a partner who can help you scale, as well as increase efficiency. For example: integrators who work with a global supply chain need to deal with things like product stock, credit terms, product education and labor optimization. WESCO and Anixter already navigate these project realities every day and can help integrators optimize each step.

5. Safety, Security and Productivity

Access control and health safety via AV technology can provide new uses to screen visitors and deliver a safe and secure workplace. AV advancements pave the way to connecting todays health and safety technology such as touchless access, thermal scanners, virtual concierge services, building security and access control. The result is easy-to-use, simplified interfaces for the user and an expanded, diverse portfolio of offerings for the integrator.

6. Understanding the New Buyers for AV

As decision-making shifts from facilities and real estate to IT and the office of the CIO, the AV industry needs to understand that IT wants plug-and-play solutions that are easily replicated across large geographic areas. Scalability and consistency can only be enabled if integrators trade creative or proprietary solutions for ones that are uniform.

The combined company of WESCO and Anixter is perfectly positioned to offer an unmatched product portfolio and capabilities in AV technologies and supply chain solutions to help integrators scale, whether the project is in town or out of the country.

With nearly everything you need to help navigate the changes were seeing in the industry, our expertise and solutions will benefit you in several ways, including:

Learn more by watching WESCO and Anixters recent webinar, The Evolution of Pro AV: From Analog to Digital and Beyond. Wed love to connect with you.

Phil Langley is the senior vice president, global pro AV and UCC, with WESCO and Anixter. Phils extensive background in power distribution and substation control set the stage for an early entry in the European pro AV industry. For over 20 years, Phil has consistently led in nearly every facet of the ICT space from consultancies to system integrators, manufacturing and distribution across the globe.

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6 Ways AV Professionals Can Prepare for the Evolution of ICT - rAVe [PUBS]

Significance

Geochemical models of the phosphorus (P) cycle uniquely ignore microbial redox transformations. Yet phosphite is a reduced P source that has been detected in several environments at concentrations that suggest a contemporary P redox cycle. Microbial dissimilatory phosphite oxidation (DPO) converts soluble phosphite into phosphate, and a false notion of rarity has limited our understanding of its diversity and environmental distribution. Here we demonstrate that DPO is an ancient energy metabolism hosted by taxonomically diverse, autotrophic bacteria that exist globally throughout anoxic environments. DPO microorganisms are therefore likely to have provided bioavailable phosphate and fixed carbon to anoxic ecosystems throughout Earths history and continue to do so in contemporary environments.

Phosphite is the most energetically favorable chemotrophic electron donor known, with a half-cell potential (Eo) of 650 mV for the PO43/PO33 couple. Since the discovery of microbial dissimilatory phosphite oxidation (DPO) in 2000, the environmental distribution, evolution, and diversity of DPO microorganisms (DPOMs) have remained enigmatic, as only two species have been identified. Here, metagenomic sequencing of phosphite-enriched microbial communities enabled the genome reconstruction and metabolic characterization of 21 additional DPOMs. These DPOMs spanned six classes of bacteria, including the Negativicutes, Desulfotomaculia, Synergistia, Syntrophia, Desulfobacteria, and Desulfomonilia_A. Comparing the DPO genes from the genomes of enriched organisms with over 17,000 publicly available metagenomes revealed the global existence of this metabolism in diverse anoxic environments, including wastewaters, sediments, and subsurface aquifers. Despite their newfound environmental and taxonomic diversity, metagenomic analyses suggested that the typical DPOM is a chemolithoautotroph that occupies low-oxygen environments and specializes in phosphite oxidation coupled to CO2 reduction. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that the DPO genes form a highly conserved cluster that likely has ancient origins predating the split of monoderm and diderm bacteria. By coupling microbial cultivation strategies with metagenomics, these studies highlighted the unsampled metabolic versatility latent in microbial communities. We have uncovered the unexpected prevalence, diversity, biochemical specialization, and ancient origins of a unique metabolism central to the redox cycling of phosphorus, a primary nutrient on Earth.

Author contributions: S.D.E. and J.D.C. designed research; S.D.E. and A.F.S.G. performed research; T.P.B., M.A.B., H.K.C., K.C.W., and J.D.C. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; S.D.E., A.F.S.G., and J.D.C. analyzed data; and S.D.E. and J.D.C. wrote the paper.

The authors declare no competing interest.

This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. W.W.M. is a guest editor invited by the Editorial Board.

This article contains supporting information online at https://www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.2020024118/-/DCSupplemental.

All metagenomic reads, assemblies, and curated metagenome-assembled genomes reported in this paper (quality metrics >50% complete and <10% redundant) have been deposited in the NCBI BioProject (accession no. PRJNA655520).

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The diversity and evolution of microbial dissimilatory phosphite oxidation - pnas.org

The term culture is varyingly understood, often encompassing different manifestations of human intellectual and other expressions, particularly of ideas, beliefs, customs and social behaviour. At a more granular level this conception incorporates different art forms, languages and literature, traditions and values and even religious norms and practices. At times, urbane lifestyles and discerning tastes of material subjects are also considered archetypal of what culture embodies.

India, with its near continuous history of more than 5000 years as an evolving civilisation, has a dynamic and living culture. It is justifiably proud of this unique heritage which is often considered a key element of its own national identity. However, there are questions as to what is the true Indian culture and which hue in this multitude of cultural-chroma can be said to be quintessential representative of the Indian civilisation. But this begets some more queries, as to what is civilisation, what is the wider domain of culture, how has it evolved in India, how inextricably is it linked to our religious thoughts and practices and most importantly what is nationhood itself. For capturing even a glimpse of the vibrant Indian culture, behoves conceptual appreciation of these integral institutions. But first, what is culture?

The connotation of the word culture is vast and cannot be restricted to a singular definition. However, it can be understood as the collective values of a society, manifested through its numerous institutions as well as, in the disposition, attitudes, manners of its individual members. Those in turn find expression in various material objects, abstract ideas and beliefs of individuals and society.

Thus, culture includes certain aspects of collective institutions, such as morality, religion, spirituality, law, custom, art etc. which are not restricted to an individual and which are handed over from generation to generation. Evidently, the institutional elements of culture are evolutionary and dynamic.

Culture also includes intellectual and knowledge elements pertaining to languages, literature, human learning, social norms, customs and behaviour. Human and social aesthetics are another key aspect of culture, encompassing within it, the numerous manifestations of tangible and intangible art forms, viz, music, dance, sculpture, painting and architecture etc. The new-age theatre and cinema are as much a reflection of the modern culture as are the cave paintings of a prehistoric society, of which we know so little. The Bhakti and Sufi movements were the embodiment of the spiritual elements of the medieval culture, as were the imposing forts and grand palaces of this age, a reflection of its societal and corporeal cultural constituents. The Sangam literature was the manifestation of the human intellectual and socioethical elements of a culture at its zenith nearly two millennia ago. Folk art and traditional lifestyles are also as much indicative of the culture of a society as is urbane lifestyle and transient tastes. Thus, our habitat, cuisine, costumes, physical objects, apart from performing arts and architecture, are all reflective of the material or tangible elements of culture, as are religions, customs, festivals, traditions, social practices and ethics, philosophy and law, reflective of non-material or intangible elements.

But Culture in itself is never static or an isolated mass of homogenous attributes. It is pervious and dynamic, with fresh waves of socio-cultural influences sprouting pristine cultural milieus. Inclusivity and evolution are its inherent and integral traits. It is this very indispensable characterisitc which is reflected in Mahatma Gandhis words, No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive.

But given its transient nature, what is that abiding essence which provides continuum and sustenance to a culture, to maintain its integrity over epochs? At the very core of the myriad cultural manifestations, lies the element of goodness of the civilisation and its people. It is the enduring element. Narrow canons of the self, do not restrict it, nor is its domain limited to a specific society. It is all encompassing and its ethos best exemplified in the aspirational Upanishadic hymn, sarve bhavantu sukhinah (may all be happy).

Indeed, its universality extends even beyond the human dominion, to all the sentient beings and in its noblest manifestation, endeavouring even for the sustenance of the biotic world and the abiotic realm. Civilisations may somewhat assimilate this element as ethics and law, while religion may perceive it as the principles of morality or the essence of spirituality. But goodness, irrespective of its classification, is the only and truly the eternal soul of any culture, bereft of which, its external trappings no matter how seemingly glorious and glitzy, are a little more than a lifeless mass.

The writer is an IRS officer and author of the book, Indian Heritage, Art and culture. Views expressed are personal.

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Inclusivity and evolution are inherent traits of Indian culture - Hindustan Times

The oceans twilight zone which stretches from 200 to 1,000 metres below the surface is little understood. But new research from Cardiff University suggests that life may have become established there during a period of ocean cooling over the last 15 million years.

Life in the twilight zone relies on marine snow organic particles floating from the surface as a major source of food. The scientists found than with cooler ocean temperatures, the marine snow was preserved for longer, allowing it to reach to greater depths. This meant that diversity could flourish in deeper waters as there was a reliable source of food raining down from above.

During our study, we observed evidence of species migrating from the surface to progressively deeper regions of the oceans over the 15-million-year period, which was puzzling, said palaeontologist Dr Flavia Boscolo-Galazzo, the co-lead author of the study.

The temperature of the water turned out to be key to the mystery, said co-lead author Dr Katherine Crichton, who developed a computer model simulation of the way the marine carbon cycle developed through time. The interior of the ocean has cooled markedly over this period. That had a refrigeration effect, meaning that the sinking marine snow is preserved longer and sinks deeper, delivering food.

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In order to investigate how marine life in the twilight zone has changed over time, the scientists took drill cores of mud from the bottom of the ocean to study fossilised plankton. They were able to establish the depth at which the creatures lived, but also how actively the marine snow was sinking round them.

The scientists studied fossils of foraminifera, which are tiny, shelled planktonic creatures Richard Bizley (bizleyart.com) with scientific input from Paul Pearson and Flavia Boscolo-Galazzo

Today, a wide variety of weird and wonderful creatures live at this depth, including plankton, jellyfish, krill, squid and fish, and the sheer amount of diversity and biomass is key to the health of our seas. The scientists are therefore concerned that the current ongoing warming of the oceans may have an impact on this array of life, and wider implications on the marine food webs.

Asked by: Sonia Cooke, Northampton

While weve given our planets oceans separate names, in reality theres no border between them, and currents continually flow between them and mix their waters. The Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet at the southernmost tip of South America. In this region, a strong current carries water from west to east, sweeping water from the Pacific into the Atlantic.

The videos you may have seen online showing two different coloured bodies of water drifting alongside each other are actually showing light-coloured, sediment-rich freshwater from melted glaciers meeting dark, salty ocean water in the Gulf of Alaska (and over time, currents and eddies cause these to mix, too).

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Evolution of life in the oceans shadowy twilight zone may be linked to climate change - BBC Focus Magazine