African Desert Rift is New Ocean In The Making

Posted on November 4, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

New research confirms that the volcanic processes at work beneath the Ethiopian rift are nearly identical to those at the bottom of the world's oceans, and the rift is indeed likely the beginning of a new sea. (Credit: Imagery (c) 2009 TerraMetrics. Map data (c) 2009 Europa Technologies / Courtesy of Google Maps)

A 35-mile rift in the desert of Ethiopia will likely become a new ocean eventually, researchers now confirm.In 2005, a gigantic, 35-mile-long rift broke open the desert ground in Ethiopia. At the time, some geologists believed the rift was the beginning of a new ocean as two parts of the African continent pulled apart, but the claim was controversial.

Now, scientists from several countries have confirmed that the volcanic processes at work beneath the Ethiopian rift are nearly identical to those at the bottom of the world’s oceans, and the rift is indeed likely the beginning of a new sea.A new study involving an international team of scientists and reported in the journal Geophysical Research Letters finds the processes creating the rift are nearly identical to what goes on at the bottom of oceans, further indication a sea is in the region’s future.

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The Red Sea Parts Again

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Free GPS navigation to mobile phones

Posted on November 2, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

 

 

Google unveiled a free navigation system for mobile phones in a move seen as a potential challenge to the makers of standalone GPS navigation devices.US telecom carrier Verizon Wireless and US handset maker Motorola announced simultaneously that a smartphone going on sale in the United States, the Droid, would be the first to feature Google Maps Navigation.The Droid, which will cost 200 dollars and is being touted as a challenger to Apple’s iPhone and the Blackberry from Research in Motion, is powered by Android 2.0 software, Google’s next-generation mobile phone operating system.Google Maps Navigation, which will only work on smartphones running Android 2.0, includes many of the features of a traditional GPS device such as 3D map views and turn-by-turn voice guidance.Google’s Internet-connected system allows navigation using voice search in English, provides live traffic updates, includes satellite imagery from Google Maps and features “street view” — real ground-level pictures of destinations. Google Maps Navigation also allows users to conduct a search along their route for gas stations or restaurants, for example.Verizon and Motorola said the Droid, which features a touchscreen, a slide-out Qwerty keyboard, a five-megapixel camera and DVD-quality video capture and playback, will go on sale in the United States on November 6.Verizon is the latest US telecom carrier or manufacturer to adopt Android software in a bid to mount a challenge to the Blackberry and iPhone.

Source : http://tech.yahoo.com

 

 

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Hurricane History Recorded in Earth’s Noise

Posted on November 1, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

Hurricanes leave their mark with more than just wind damage and flooded lives. According to a research in the North Atlantic Ocean, these powerful storms also make a small but detectable mark on the rhythm of the Earth’s background noise.The discovery may help scientists detect previously undocumented hurricanes in the planet’s past. Getting a more accurate picture of that stormy past,  may finally help determine whether hurricanes are becoming more frequent or more powerful as a result of global warming.Some evidence suggests a connection, but no one knows for sure, mostly because the records are so spotty.

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Culture Drives Evolution

Posted on October 29, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

Culture, not just genes, can drive evolutionary outcomes, according to a study  that compares individualist and group-oriented societies across the globe.The study looks at the interplay across 29 countries of two sets of data, one genetic and the other cultural.It was found that most people in countries widely described as collectivist have a specific mutation within a gene regulating the transport of serotonin, a neurochemical known to profoundly affect mood.

In China and other east Asian nations,  up to 80 percent of the population carry this so-called “short” allele, or variant, of a stretch of DNA known as 5-HTTLPR.Earlier research has shown the S allele to be strongly linked with a range of negative emotions, including anxiety and depression.It is also associated with the impulse to stay out of harm’s way.By contrast, in countries of European origin that prize self-expression and the pursuit of individual over group goals, the long or “L” allele dominates, with only 40 percent of people carrying the “S” variant.Ancient cultures in Asia, Africa and Latin America highly exposed to deadly pathogens, they conjecture, may have tended toward collectivist norms in order to better combat disease.That social transformation, in turn, could have favored the gradual dominance of the risk-avoidance S allele.

The study, published in Britain’s Proceedings of the Royal Society , offers a novel explanation as to how this divergence might have come about.
Setting aside discredited ideas linking genetics and race, the researchers suggest that culture and genes may have interacted over time to shape the process of natural selection, helping individuals — and the societies in which they lived — to survive and thrive.

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