Reflectorites
Here are excerpts from web articles for the period 7 - 19 September, 2000.
My comments are in square brackets.
Steve
==========================================================================
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000914/sc/fungi_dc_1.html Yahoo!
... September 14 ... Fungi May Have Joined First Plants on Land -Study ...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fossils dating back 460 million years show
that plants may have had friendly allies, in the form of fungi, helping them
make the move to land from the sea, scientists said .... Virtually all green
land plants have partnerships with fungi today. Threadlike fungi grow in
and around the roots of plants, helping them absorb minerals and water.
But what happened when plants first left the water for the land hundreds
of millions of years ago is less clear. Linda Graham, a professor of botany
... and her students were examining shale taken from a road cut near the
school. Etching them with acid, they found tiny structures that looked like
fossilized fungal spores. Dirk Redecker ... an expert in the evolution of
fungi, confirmed their suspicions. Further examination turned up imprints
of the threadlike hairs of fungi. This dates fungi to the same time that land
plants first started appearing. They may have soon started working
together .... "The presence of both organisms at the same time suggests
that there could have been such an interaction, and that organisms even
then were interdependent," .... "It's evidence that this fungal group was
already present when the evolution of the land plants was at a very early
stage," .... Redecker stresses that no evidence has been found that these
early, tiny fungi were living in the roots of plants. "We only found the
fungi. We didn't show an association of the plants and fungi at the time,"
he said. But studies done of fossils that date to 60 million years later
suggest that plants and fungi had teamed up by then. The study ... suggests
that fungi had already evolved on land when plants first moved there, and
were ready to form their alliance, .... The fungi found in the Wisconsin
shale looked like those in the modern-day Glomus genus, .... . "The fossils
were found in a shale marine setting. It's not quite clear if they were
growing on land or in the seas," he said. "But the similarity to present-day
fungi suggests they were growing on the land." Fungi as a kingdom are
much older than plants. No one is sure what they evolved from, Redecker
said. The first land plants were very simple organisms, he said -- much
like modern day liverworts. Just as animals have become more complex,
plants developed complicated systems as the eons passed. They also
teamed up with other species such as bacteria, which help legumes such as
beans and peas "fix" nitrogen -- an important nutrient for plants. ... Also
at: http://www.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/09/15/ancient.fungi.ap/ CNN ... ...
Earlier studies suggested that fungi did not become land dwellers until
about 400 million years ago. Fossils from that era have shown that some
fungi had established a partnership then with more advanced green plants.
But the new fossils, dated 460 million to 455 millions years old, contain
impressions of microscopic spores and threads of an organism similar to a
modern fungi genus called Glomus. ..." ... [Interesting that fungi 460 mya
looks much the same today. If "natural selection increases the information
content of the genome all the time - that is precisely what natural selection
means" (Dawkins R., in Williams B., "Creationist Deception Exposed,"
The Skeptic, Sept. 1998. http://www.freethought-
web.org/ctrl/news/file007.html) then why are these fungi disobedient? :-)
It is also interesting that an expert in fungi - an entire *Kingdom* - doesn't
know where they came from!]
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000908/sc/extinction_plants_dc_1.html
Yahoo! ... September 8 ... Big Extinction Wiped Out Plants, Too, Study
Finds ... WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The greatest mass extinction on
Earth, which wiped out up to 85 percent of all animal life 250 million
years ago, also killed off most of the plants, scientists said ... Evidence
from South Africa's Karoo region suggests strongly that many species of
plants disappeared at the end of the Permian period, along with oceans
teeming with creatures. So many plants were lost that once- meandering
rivers turned into straight- flowing steams laden with sediment stripped
from land no longer held in place by roots, the team ... found. Dave
Montgomery ... said the finding did not explain what caused the huge
extinction. "Maybe the same thing killed both (animals and plants) at the
same time," he said .... "With what we have we can't say. But it does
suggest that it was global and it was big." Before the Permian extinction,
the Earth's seas were filled with odd and fantastic life, from the first fish to
nautilus-like mollusks called ammonites. Trilobites, once found almost
everywhere, disappeared. There were 10,000 different species of the
arthropods.... Fossil evidence suggests at least 85 percent of all marine
species and 70 percent of the land animal species ... perished in less than 1
million years .... Theories as to what could cause such devastation include
an asteroid impact ... also ... radiation from a supernova, excessive
volcanic activity, a huge "burp" of trapped gases from beneath the ocean
or perhaps global warming may have caused the extinctions. ... Whatever
caused the Permian extinction was major. "That change triggered changes
in vegetation that were catastrophic and global and those may have
triggered basic and catastrophic changes in the basic morphology of
rivers,"... The finding could also help explain what other scientists have
found -- that huge amounts of carbon showed up at the bottom of the seas
at the time of the extinction. Carbon is found in all life forms. "All that
dead stuff had to go somewhere," ... [This sounds really mysterious. The
KT extinction did not much affect plants which can withstand long periods
of darkness and regenerate from spores, seeds or shoots. Something that
would specifically affect plants and only indirectly animals could be a
major change to the bands of red light emitted by the sun? Maybe a gas
cloud that absorbed red light came between the sun and Earth?]
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000913/sc/flood_dc_1.html Yahoo!
... September 13 ... Explorer Finds Evidence of Life Before Great Flood ...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. explorers said ... they have found signs
of human habitation hundreds of feet below the Black Sea where a
catastrophic flood occurred about 7,500 years ago, which some scientists
say is linked to the biblical story of Noah. Explorer Robert Ballard,
famous for discovering the wreck of the Titanic, said his ... expedition
found a "rectangular structure," possibly that of a building, about 310 feet
(90 meters) below the sea's surface, indicating people lived there before a
massive flood inundated the area. "We now know people were living on
that surface when that event (the big flood) took place because we are now
finding evidence of human habitation," .... "This is an incredible find. It's
clear a vast amount of real estate is under water and that a vast amount of
people were living around the Black Sea," .... said it was too soon to say
whether there was a link between the great flood he believes occurred in
the Black Sea and the one depicted in the Bible. "What we are trying to do
is gather facts. We are testing that theory and so far we have not found any
holes in it. We will continue to gather data," Ballard said. ... "Its
architecture and artifacts were of the Neolithic bronze age, which is from
about 7,000 years ago," ... "This is a major discovery that will begin to
rewrite the history of cultures in this key area between Europe, Asia and
the ancient Middle East," said Hiebert, an archeologist ... The cataclysmic
flood in that area was tentatively linked to the biblical story of Noah in the
book of Genesis by U.S. geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman ... in
their 1997 book "Noah's Flood." The two geologists believe Noah's flood
took place not in the Middle East, as might be assumed from reading the
Bible, but in the area around the Black Sea. ... Scientists believe the Black
Sea was a freshwater lake until it was flooded by the Mediterranean Sea
about 7,000 years ago. ... today's Black Sea was transformed when melting
glaciers raised the level of the Mediterranean, causing water to break
through the strip of land separating the Mediterranean from the smaller
freshwater lake. ... [I doubt this was Noah's Flood but perhaps it was the
great flood that was the source of the flood stories that Plato talks about in
his book "The Laws"?]
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000919/sc/health_transplants_dc_1.html
Yahoo! ... September 19 ... Italians Report Breakthrough in Stem Cell
Research ... MILAN (Reuters) - Scientists in Italy said ... they had shown
that certain cells from the brains of adult rats can be used to generate
muscular tissue, a discovery that could have implications for transplant
therapy. The discovery concerns so-called stem cells, the body's "master
cells" responsible for reproducing other types of cells. The breakthrough
comes at a time of controversy in the scientific world about the use of
stem cells from embryos, which have great potential for transplant therapy
because at an early stage they can be used to recreate any kind of cell. If
the research on rats translates to humans, it could allow doctors to use
adult stem cells, skirting the ethical dilemma about using human embryos.
.... Previously it was thought adult stem cells did not have the same
capacity to produce cells in different parts of the body. Critics say taking
cells from embryos involves destroying a human life. The embryos used in
current research are usually those left over from test-tube fertility
treatment. .... "With adult stem cells there would also be the possibility of
auto-transplantation, eliminating all the problems of immunological
compatibility and rejection," it said. ... Asked whether it could eventually
phase out the need for organ donors, Vescovi was cautious. "In terms of
potential it could. The problem is we have not demonstrated whatsoever
that this is the case. There is no proof," he said ... [If this turns out to be
true for humans it will be *great* news. The only problem might be the
transplated cell or organ grown from it could be as old as the donor?]
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000918/sc/health_gene_dc_2.html
Yahoo! ... September 18 ... Science Group Opposes Inherited Gene
Modification WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The modification of human
genes that can be passed to future generations is not safe at this time and
should not be undertaken, the world's largest federation of scientists
reported ... In a long-awaited report on human inheritable genetic
modifications, known as IGM, the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS) said no human trials of this kind of gene
therapy should occur until standards and stringent oversight are in place.
.... "IGM utilizing current methods for somatic gene transfer cannot
presently be carried out responsibly to humans," Dr. Mark Frankel, the
report's co- author, said ... Aside from strictly medical questions, the
issues of ethics and religion come into play on this matter .... "IGM might
change attitudes toward the human person, the nature of human
reproduction, and parent-child relationships," .... "IGM could exacerbate
prejudice against persons with disabilities. The introduction of IGM in a
society with differential access to health care would pose significant
justice issues and could introduce new, or magnify existing inequalities,"
.... If there is ultimately "a societal decision" to go ahead with IGM
research, "The ethical and social issues are sufficiently compelling to
justify government oversight in this case," ... There should also be "a
meaningful dialogue" with the American public ...[This is *great* news
too. I must admit that I am pleasantly suprised that the AAAS should
actually take into account what "religion" might think about this. OTOH
the step to permanently modify the human germline would probably create
such a public backlash that other forms of genetic engineering might be
banned.]
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000908/sc/comet_dc_1.html Yahoo!
... September 8 ... Catastrophic Event Preceded Dark Ages - Scientist
LONDON (Reuters) - Something catastrophic occurred on Earth 1,500
years ago that may have led to the Dark Ages and coincided with the end
of the Roman Empire and the death of King Arthur, a Northern Ireland
scientist said .... It could have been a bombardment of cometary debris or
the eruption of a super volcano. But whatever it was, it is clearly etched in
the chronology of tree rings from around the world, according to Professor
Mike Baillie .... The global environmental event that occurred around 540
AD is not recorded in any history books. But the tree ring chronologies
compiled from samples of trees, some preserved in bogs, which date back
thousands of years, single out something that was quite extraordinary. "It
was a catastrophic environmental downturn that shows up in trees all over
the world," .... "This event is clear in the tree ring records." ...the rings
hold clues about past climate conditions and have been used to date events
in the past. ... Baillie believes the slowdown of tree growth recorded in the
rings around 540 AD was due to a bombardment of cometary debris which
happened around the time of King Arthur's death, the end of the Roman
Empire and the beginning of the Dark Ages. Traditional myths recorded in
13th century texts refer to a comet in Gaul around 540 AD when the sky
seemed to be on fire, according to Baillie. "These myths hint strongly at a
bombardment vector for the environmental downturn but are almost
universally dismissed as fiction or fantasy by academics," he said. Baillie
is appealing to historians to accept that something terrible happened
around 540 AD and to find a record of it. "I am calling for a debate by
scientists and historians on how to approach the evidence for catastrophic
events of this kind ... [More evidence that the uniformitarian assumption
that: QQ is false.]
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000907/sc/malaria_dc_1.html Yahoo!
... September 7 ... Study Suggests Global Warming Won't Spread Malaria
... WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fears that global warming could spread
malaria to regions otherwise free of the disease are unjustified, scientists
said .... Computer models show that global warming will mean drier
conditions in northern latitudes, not the steamy, humid conditions needed
for malaria-spreading mosquitoes to thrive .... "We disagree with these
silly wild predictions that malaria could spread dramatically because those
studies rely on a rather suspect model," David Rogers of Oxford
University ... said .... [More evidence that computer models are prone to
generate predictions that confirm the particular prejudice of the
programmer! Maybe that's why they are claimed to be good evidence for
Darwinism? :-)]
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000918/sc/aids_cocktails_dc_1.html
Yahoo! ... September 18 ... Doctors Describe AIDS Patients' Medical
Paradox WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some AIDS ... patients whose
ravaged immune systems have been boosted by taking cocktails of
powerful medicines have been suffering a surprising increased
susceptibility to infections, researchers said .... Scientists ... labeled as a
medical paradox their discovery that AIDS patients whose conditions had
been improving thanks to treatment with drug cocktails had been coming
under attack from opportunistic infections that ordinarily should not have
been much of a problem. In a study ... researchers said the sometimes-fatal
"immune reconstitution syndrome" stemmed from an inflammatory
reaction by the newly strengthened immune system to bacteria or viruses
already present in the patient. The researchers said the causes of the
syndrome were unknown. The researchers said they were startled by the
fact that the infections were affecting patients who had been benefiting
from so-called highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) involving the
use of combinations of powerful anti-HIV (human immunodeficiency
virus) medicines. .... "The infection was not showing up in someone with
end-stage AIDS who wasn't taking antiretrovirals and HAART, but
someone getting better and on HAART," ...DeSimone said .... "No one is
exactly sure what to do against this syndrome yet," .... The study
concluded that it would be difficult to form controlled studies to find
suppressing agents given the "atypical and sporadic presentation of these
reactions" considering the number of patients using drug cocktails. More
than a year ago, researchers began to see patients with HIV, the virus that
causes AIDS, developing infections at times that caught them off guard. ...
doctors at other hospitals mentioned infections such as CMV retinitis, an
AIDS-related blindness. "The AIDS-related blindness some patients
experience was getting better, and when patients were started on their
HAART therapy they overall were getting better," .... "But then they
seemed to be getting an aggravation of their disease. It was another
process, not necessarily the CMV being reactivated. It was an
inflammatory reaction to the CMV infection already there." ... [I wonder if
they really know what they are doing? They probably will treat this with
yet another drug!]
==========================================================================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"New concepts and information from molecular, developmental biology,
systematics, geology and the fossil record of all groups of organisms, need
to be integrated into an expanded evolutionary synthesis. These fields of
study show that large-scale evolutionary phenomena cannot be understood
solely on the basis of extrapolation from processes observed at the level of
modern populations and species. Patterns and rates of evolution are much
more varied than had been conceived by Darwin or the evolutionary
synthesis, and physical factors of the earth's history have had a significant,
but extremely varied, impact on the evolution of life."
(Carroll R.L., "Towards a new evolutionary synthesis," Trends in Ecology
and Evolution, 2000, Vol. 15, pp.27-32)
Stephen E. Jones | sejones@iinet.net.au | http://www.iinet.net.au/~sejones
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Sep 20 2000 - 18:20:56 EDT