Number 85 - To see a tree asmiling.

Danon and Stradee, and anyone else who is lurking,
I'm going to take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas as I am flying to South Carolina tomorrow and may not have an opportunity to stop by and do my clicking. I will be without computer access for a week and return the 30th so will see you New Year's Eve.

Hope you are not snowed, or rained, in, Stradee. And Danon, a peaceful and quiet time for you and Patti.

December 22, 2010

Siberian Fossils Were Neanderthals’ Eastern Cousins, DNA Reveals

By CARL ZIMMER
An international team of scientists has identified a previously shadowy human group known as the Denisovans as cousins to Neanderthals who lived in Asia from roughly 400,000 to 50,000 years ago and interbred with the ancestors of today’s inhabitants of New Guinea.

All the Denisovans have left behind are a broken finger bone and a wisdom tooth in a Siberian cave. But the scientists have succeeded in extracting the entire genome of the Denisovans from these scant remains. An analysis of this ancient DNA, published on Wednesday in Nature, reveals that the genomes of people from New Guinea contain 4.8 percent Denisovan DNA.

An earlier, incomplete analysis of Denisovan DNA had placed the group as more distant from both Neanderthals and humans. On the basis of the new findings, the scientists propose that the ancestors of Neanderthals and Denisovans emerged from Africa half a million years ago. The Neanderthals spread westward, settling in the Near East and Europe. The Denisovans headed east. Some 50,000 years ago, they interbred with humans expanding from Africa along the coast of South Asia, bequeathing some of their DNA to them.

“It’s an incredibly exciting finding,” said Carlos Bustamante, a Stanford University geneticist who was not involved in the research.

The research was led by Svante Paabo, a geneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Liepzig, Germany. Dr. Paabo and his colleagues have pioneered methods for rescuing fragments of ancient DNA from fossils and stitching them together. In May, for example, they published a complete Neanderthal genome.

The stocky, barrel-chested Neanderthals left a fossil record stretching from about 240,000 to 30,000 years ago in Europe, the Near East and Russia. Analyzing the Neanderthal genome, Dr. Paabo and his colleagues concluded that humans and Neanderthals descended from common ancestors that lived 600,000 years ago.

But the scientists also found that 2.5 percent of the Neanderthal genome is more similar to the DNA of living Europeans and Asians than to African DNA. From this evidence they concluded that Neanderthals interbred with humans soon after they emerged from Africa roughly 50,000 years ago.

Dr. Paabo’s success with European Neanderthal fossils inspired him and his colleagues to look farther afield. They began to work with Anatoli Derevianko of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who explores Siberian caves in search of fossils of hominins (species more closely related to living humans than to chimpanzees, our closest living relatives).

Last year, Dr. Derevianko and his colleagues sent Dr. Paabo a nondescript fragment of a finger bone from a cave called Denisova. Dr. Derevianko thought that the fossil, which is at least 50,000 years old, might have belonged to one of the earliest humans to live in Siberia.

Dr. Paabo and his colleagues isolated a small bundle of DNA from the bone’s mitochondria, the energy-generating structures within our cells. Dr. Paabo and his colleagues were surprised to discover that the Denisova DNA was markedly different from that of either humans or Neanderthals. “It was a great shock to us that it was distinct from those groups,” Dr. Paabo said in an interview.

Dr. Paabo and his colleagues immediately set about to collect all the DNA in the Denisova finger bone. Once they had sequenced its genome, they sent the data to researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass., to compare with other species.

The Massachusetts scientists concluded that the finger bone belonged to a hominin branch that split from the ancestors of Neanderthals roughly 400,000 years ago. Dr. Paabo and his colleagues have named this lineage the Denisovans.

Next, the researchers looked for evidence of interbreeding. Nick Patterson, a Broad Institute geneticist, compared the Denisovan genome to the complete genomes of five people, from South Africa, Nigeria, China, France and Papua New Guinea. To his astonishment, a sizable chunk of the Denisova genome resembled parts of the New Guinea DNA.

“The correct reaction when you get a surprising result is, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ ” said Dr. Patterson. To see if the result was an error, he and his colleagues sequenced the genomes of seven more people, including another individual from New Guinea and one from the neighboring island of Bougainville. But even in the new analysis, the Denisovan DNA still turned up in the New Guinea and Bougainville genomes.

If the Denisovans did indeed have a range spreading from Siberia to South Asia, they must have been a remarkably successful kind of human. And yet, despite having the entire genome of a Denisovan, Dr. Paabo cannot say much yet about what they were like. “By sequencing my complete genome, there’s very little you could predict about what I look like or how I behave,” he said.

One solid clue to what the Denisovans looked like emerged in January. Dr. Paabo and his team had flown to Novosibirsk to share their initial results with Dr. Derevianko. Dr. Derevianko then presented them with a wisdom tooth from Denisova.

Bence Viola, a paleoanthropologist in the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, who was at the meeting, was flummoxed. “I looked at it and said, ‘Ah, O.K., this is not a modern human, and it’s definitely not a Neanderthal,”’ said Dr. Viola. “It was just so clear.”

The tooth had oddly bulging sides, for one thing, and for another, its large roots flared out to the sides. Back in Germany, Dr. Paabo and his colleagues managed to extract some mitochondrial DNA from the tooth. It proved to be a nearly perfect match to that of the Denisova finger bone.

That match offers some hope that if researchers can find the same kind of tooth on a fossil skull, or perhaps even a complete skeleton, they’ll be able to see what these ghostly cousins and ancestors looked like in real life.

Dr. Bustamante also thinks that other cases of interbreeding are yet to be discovered. “There’s a lot of possibility out there,” he said. “But the only way to get at them is to sequence more of these ancient genomes.”

Yeah, that is the way of money - it cuts out the little guy. I do like the fact that the USA wasn't mentioned as one of the countrys doing damage - but that someone or some group from the USA is trying to help the farmers.

Thanks. And you have a safe trip and enjoy the holidays...................

Keep saving a tree a day - it makes a difference.

Did my clicking and about ready to go flying. Have good weather for it.

Thanks for making a tree asmiling......... Have a safe trip.

Everyone have a happy Christmas Eve!!!!

And good clicking to all good kids --- and, bad ones also. What the heck.

Sleigh Bells ring
Are ya listenin'
In the snow
They're a glisnin'
A Beautiful sight
We're Happy Tonight...


Have a beautiful Holiday wildclickers

Sue, godspeed

Dan and Pattie...Seasons Best Wishes

Hi Stradee and Merry Christmas to you and all Wildclickers.....

Here's a funny one for people who know about aviation.

------------
Santa's FAA checkride -----

Santa Claus, like all pilots, gets regular visits from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It was shortly before Christmas when the FAA

examiner arrived.
In preparation, Santa had the elves wash the sled and bathe all the reindeer. Santa got his logbook out and made sure all his paperwork was in

order.
The examiner walked slowly around the sled. He checked the reindeer harnesses, the landing gear and Rudolph’s nose. He painstakingly reviewed

Santa’s weight and balance calculations for the sled’s enormous payload.

Finally, they were ready for the checkride.

Santa got in and fastened his seat belt and shoulder harness and checked the compass. Then the examiner hopped in carrying, to Santa’s surprise,

a shotgun.

“What’s that for?” asked Santa incredulously.

The examiner winked and said, “I’m not supposed to tell you this, but you’re gonna lose an engine on takeoff.”

Hi all ----- Great clicking and there's more trees asmiling today..........

Happy New Year's Eve Eve Eve to everyone.....

With a wink and a prayer, Santa's Sleigh made the trip unscathed.

Super day, good friends and family, Christmas Day was a blast.

At home where a new storms lurking skyward and ready to pounce. Have everything needed for the next weather burst, plus blessing all electrical transformers everywhere, specially in my neighborhood. ommmmmmmmm

Stay warm all you wildclickers and those living on the East Coast especially. Mother Nature sent one heck of a Christmas this year, didn't She?

Deer visited yesterday though, looking very healthy huuuurayyyyyyy! Next gunshot heard during the evening hours, and i'm joining the forest service. With a gun!!!!!!!!!! Animals deserve so much better than what some humans call "wildlife management".

Yeah, the sleigh is a good ride and passed the FAA inspection. The "lost engine" part was just a very light tranquilizer - so, everything is great.

Deer herd has been camping out all around our house -- this morning they were all grazing in the front yard. My Chloe is getting so old now she just barks at them -- they ignore her. It's fun watching the exchange though.

I've been watching the WX out your way - hope the rain is light.

Stormed Christmas Day...but the drive home wasn't bad...no snow! yaaaaa

Freezing weather now though...26 degrees...no wind...clear skies. Amazing.

That is so cool! Deer hanging out for the day. Amanda yells at the top of her lungs when she sees the deer now...she's so funny! Like they'll walk through the front door and eat her food er sumpin'...Amanda is my watch cat even though she's 20 now...Bella just yells at me and i'm never certain what for! I sure miss Bootsie (my kitty sitter) who just had such a beautiful way of dealing with her daughter Bella. sweet

Well Dan, sue, and all the wildclickers, I hope you have a safe and happy New Year. I plan staying indoors where it's warm and cozy with me kittens. Rain expected tomorrow and Saturday.

Stay warm

Hi Stradee, glad the really bad stuff missed ya. Lotta bad Wx on the W coast - I get worried about your area often. It freezes and warms here on an almost regular cycle. Last week we had four nights below freezing then warmed up to high 70's days and 60's at night. 67' last night but expect 21' again by tomorrow night and freeze for about four nights. Then the cycle repeats itself........... Wow. What an unusual trend.

Stay safe and keep those clicks ahumming so some trees may keep asmiling.

December 30, 2010

Abandoned Horses Are Latest Toll of Drug Trade

By MARC LACEY
PHOENIX — Found tottering alone in the desert with their ribs visible and their heads hung low, horses play a backbreaking, unappreciated role in the multibillion-dollar drug smuggling industry.

Mexican traffickers strap heavy bales of marijuana or other illegal drugs to the horses’ backs and march them north through mountain passes and across rough desert terrain. With little food and water, some collapse under their heavy loads. Others are turned loose when the contraband gets far enough into Arizona to be loaded into vehicles with more horsepower.

“We would pick up 15 to 20 horses a month, and many more of the animals would get past us,” said Brad Cowan, who spent 28 years as a livestock officer for the Arizona Department of Agriculture before retiring a few months back. “They wear poorly fitted equipment. It’s obvious they were not well taken care of. The makeshift saddles rub big sores in their backs.”

Even once rescued, the horses face an uncertain future. Since they are not from the United States, the state of Arizona must draw their blood and conduct a battery of tests to ensure that they do not carry any disease that would infect domestic livestock. Then the horses head to auction, where some are bought and shipped back to Mexico for slaughter.

Others are luckier. They find their way to equine rescue operations, which help place them with homes.

“We just got a horse in, and he’s sticks and bones, and his feet are horrific,” said July Glore, president of Heart of Tucson, a rescue operation that nurses the horses back to strength. “We get calls all the time about abandoned horses. How many do I have right now? One, two, three.”

One, named Lucky, had his tongue almost cut in half from the sharp wire bit put in his mouth. “I was told he was a drug horse,” Ms. Glore said.

Farther north, at the Arizona Equine Rescue Organization in New River, Soleil K. Dolce said drug horses were just part of the problem. Ms. Dolce responds to police calls about horses that have escaped from illegal rodeos and are running down the street. Horses are also left at freeway off-ramps or tied to fences by owners who no longer want them, she said.

Rehabilitating them is expensive and time consuming, Ms. Dolce said, and there is the possibility that some horses will never be adopted.

“I can’t even describe the suffering these horses have gone through,” Ms. Dolce said, petting Rim Rock, who was abandoned in Tonto National Forest, east of Phoenix, several years ago and still suffers problems in his hooves.

It is sometimes not clear when a horse is discovered exactly how it came to be abandoned. State officials say the economic crisis has led to many more animals being let loose by owners no longer able to care for them. But the horses that are found with Mexican brands are presumed to be smuggling horses. And sometimes the authorities have no doubt: groups of horses or donkeys are discovered in the act, with bales of drugs on their backs and their human guides hiding.

Last year, seven horses laden with 971 pounds of marijuana were discovered by Border Patrol agents in the Patagonia Mountains in southern Arizona. The human smugglers had fled.

“I’d get angry when I’d see the condition these horses were in,” Mr. Cowan said. “The smugglers would buy them or steal them on the Mexican side and then work them almost to death. They have horrible sores that can take months to heal up.”

He recalled one horse he came across in Pima County, not far from the Mexican border, that had deep wounds in its hide, was clearly malnourished and was so weak that it was trying to sit back on its hind end to take the weight off its legs. Mr. Cowan and a co-worker had to carry the horse into a trailer.

Still, he said, horses are resilient. “They can come back from a lot,” he said.

Some of the abused horses end up back in the rugged border region where they were first found, Mr. Cowan said. Instead of smuggling, though, they are sometimes used by law enforcement agencies to pursue the traffickers who mistreated them.

That's horrible sumac..... I wish it would not happen to animals - but, in fact, the same thing happens to humans. Beasts of burden - then abandoned.
Make the MJ legal and sell it to adults in USA and the abuse will stop. And, there will be no more abuse of the drug in USA than there is now. People will be weeded out by their own idiocy.

Danon and Stradee. Happy New Year's to you both. I slept right through it. Long since gave up staying up till midnight.

Hi sumac --- my secret is that I celebrate New Year's with Sidney, Australia. That way I don't miss it and also go to bed early as usual.

Anyway --- Happy New Year!!

And, Happy 1/1/11 to all good clickers..........

Incidently, this morning One/One/One One, I awoke and looked at the clock which said 5:55..........

Terrible about the horses - and no comparison possible with the humans because the humans agreed to carry the stuff, the horses didn't. At least there are good people out there who try what they can to help them; we should be grateful for that. Anyway I came across a tree story from Sicily I thought you'd all like to know about; this time of year Mafia clans stop fighting because it's time to collect the bergamot crop for perfumes. Happy new year!

http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook

Edit to enter perma link: http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2010/12/bergamot

Drug cartels are the sickest s.o.b's on the planet! Cruelty to animals, people, and anything that gets in their way a daily occurance.

Fort Bliss should send a few hundred of their special ops and take care of business, imo.

Those abandoning horses should be jailed. There are rescue groups that will take animals who for whatever reason their 'owners' can't care for.

Anyhooo, that's my rant for the New Year...and past years and on and on and on...