Category Archives: Paleontology

Caught in the act: Insect sex preserved in amber

by Piter Kehoma Boll

A recently published paper describes a new species of insect of the order Zoraptera from two specimens found in mid-cretaceous amber from northern Myanmar.

The preserved couple. They did not leave descendants but were eternized in science. Credits to Chen & Su (2019).*

But the most impressive thing about this new pre-historic species, named Zorotypus pusillus, is the fact that the fossil contains a male and a female that apparently died while they were mating. This is concluded because the two individuals are very close to each other and the male has an elongate structure coming out of his abdomen, which is probably the aedeagus or intromittent organ, a penis-like organ found in most zorapterans and used to deliver sperm into the female.

A detail of the posterior end of the male showing the aedeagus or intromittent organ. An anatomical reconstruction is shown to the right. Credits to Chen & Su (2019).*

The order Zoraptera contains a very small number of species, currently 44 extant ones and 14 fossils. They are very small, live in groups and look like tiny termites, although they are not closely related to them. Most extant species mate with the male introducing its aedeagus into the female to deliver sperm, but at least one species, Zorotypus impolitus, does not copulate. In this species, the male deposits microscopic spermatophores on the abdomen of the female.

The discovery of the preserved mating behavior in this species from the cretaceous period indicates that the mating behavior seen in most extant species was already used by species living 99 million years ago. The origin of zorapterans is not well known yet, but this and other fossil species indicate that they exist at least since the beginning of the cretaceous.

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Chen X, Su G (2019) A new species of Zorotypus (Insecta, Zoraptera, Zorotypidae) and the earliest known suspicious mating behavior of Zorapterans from the mid-cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. doi: 10.1111/jzs.12283

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Hagfish: Another Phylogenetic Headache

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Years ago, I wrote a post about the problematic Acoelomorpha and their controversial position among bilaterian animals. Now I am going to talk about another headache: hagfish.

Hagfish are primitive chordates that make up the class Myxini. They are marine animals that live at the bottom of the sea and feed mainly on polychaete worms that they pull out of the substrate. However, they are also scavengers and have a peculiar behavior in which they perforate the body of dead fish and enter it, eating the dead animal from inside out.

Specimen of the Pacific hagfish Eptatretus stoutii. Photo by Jeanette Bham.*

Morphologically, hagfish are characterized by the presence of a cartilaginous skull, like vertebrates, but lack a vertebral column, keeping the notochord, the dorsal cartilage-like structure of chordates, during their whole lives. Due to this lack of vertebrae, the hagfish were classified outside of the vertebrates, but united to them due to the presence of the skull. Thus, Myxini was seen as the sister-group of Vertebrata and both together formed the clade Craniata.

Among the vertebrates, most extant groups have a jaw that evolved from modified gill arches, making up the clade Gnathostomata. The only animals with a vertebral column that lack jaws are the lampreys (Petromyzontiformes) and, although this lack of jaws is shared with hagfish, it is not usually seen as a synapomorphy uniting these groups. In hagfish, the jawless mouth have lateral keratin plates with tooth-like structures that act somewhat like the true jaws of Gnathostomata, but working from the sides and not from above and below. In lampreys, on the other hand, the mouth is circular and have keratin tooth-like structures arranged circularly.

General organization of the head of hagfish, lampreys and jawed vertebrates, with special attention to the mouths. Extracted from Oisi et al. (2012).

There are a lot of morphological features that unite lampreys to vertebrates and separate them from hagfish, the main one being the already mentioned vertebrate column. Likewise, lampreys and jawed vertebrates have dorsal fins while hagfish lack them. Lampreys also have lensed eyes in common with jawed vertebrates, while hagfish have simple eyesposts without lenses or even associated muscles.

Some of the traits shared between hagfish and lampreys, just as the lack of jaws, are usually seen as a primitive state that changed in jawed vertebrates, or have clearly evolved independently. For example, both hagfish and lampreys have only a single nostril, while jawed vertebrates have two, but this is likely a primitive character. Adult hagfish and lampreys have also a single gonad, but this appears in hagfish by an atrophy of the left gonad, so that only the right one develops, while in lampreys the left and right gonads fuse into a single organ.

Specimens of the least brook lamprey Lampetra aepyptera. Photo by Jerry Reynolds.*

Therefore, morphologically, it seems logical to consider hagfish as a sister group of vertebrates, which include lampreys and jawed vertebrates. It is also important to mention that there are more groups of jawless vertebrates that are currently extinct, such as the class Osteostraci, one of several fossil groups traditionally called ostracoderms. Although lacking a jaw as well, these vertebrates had paired fins just like jawed vertebrates. Thus, the phylogenetic organization of these major groups based on morphology would be as shown in the figure below:

The craniate hypothesis, where hagfish are a sister-group to vertebrates.

However, in the last decades, the use of molecular phylogenetics has challenged this view by grouping hagfish and lampreys into a monophyletic clade that is sister-group of jawed vertebrates. But how could this be possible? Such a relationship would imply that the primitive state of hagfish is the result of secondary loss.

The cyclostome hypothesis. Hagfish are a sister-group to lampreys.

Evidence from fossils could help clarify this issue, but most fossils that have been associated with hagfish have not good enough morphological characters preserved to assess their correct phylogenetic position. Recently, however, a well preserved hagfish fossil from the Cretaceous helped to elucidate part of the hagfish phylogeny. The divergence between lampreys and hagfish, considering previous knowledge, was usually put around the early Cambrian period, just after the beginning of the divergence of most animal phyla, but with data of the new fossil, it is pushed to a more recent point in time, around the Early Silurian, more than 130 million years after. This new fossil, named Tethymyxine tapirostrum, clearly lacks a skeleton or dorsal fins as seen in lampreys and jawed vertebrates, but has several characters shared with extant hagfish.

Fossil of Tethymyxine tapirostrum found in Lebanon. Extracted from Miyashita et al. (2019).

At least two synapomorphies can be found uniting hagfish and lampreys and separating them from jawed vertebrates. The first one are the teeth, which in these two groups are composed of keratin plates. The second one is the organization of the myomeres, the series of muscles arranged along the body of chordates in a somewhat segmented fashion, that in both hagfish and lampreys begin right around the eyes.

Considering the evidence from molecular data, the new fossil that makes it likely that hagfish and lampreys diverged more recently if they form a monophyletic group, and the likely true synapomorphies uniting these two jawless vertebrate groups, it seems that hagfish and lampreys are indeed sister-groups, forming a clade called Cyclostomata and sister-group of the jawed vertebrates Gnathostomata. If this is really the case, then the apparently more primitive features of hagfish are in fact the result of secondary losses and its ancestor likely had a more vertebrate look, with a vertebral column, dorsal fins and lensed eyes.

But let’s keep watching. Things may change again in the future as new data become available.

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Miyashita T, Coates MI, Farrar R, Larson P, Manning PL, Wogelius RA, Edwards NP, Anné J, Bergmann U, Palmer AR, Currie PJ (2019) Hagfish from the Cretaceous Tethys Sea and a reconciliation of the morphological–molecular conflict in early vertebrate phylogeny. PNAS 116(6): 2146–2151. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1814794116

Oisi Y, Ota KG, Kuraku S, Fujimoto S, Kuratani S (2012) Craniofacial development of hagfishes and the evolution of vertebrates. Nature 493: 175–180. doi: 10.1038/nature11794

Wikipedia. Cyclostomata. Available at < >. Access on March 25, 2019;

Wikipedia. Hagfish. Available at < >. Access on March 25, 2019.

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Shaking dinosaur hips and messing with their heads

by Piter Kehoma Boll

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ResearchBlogging.orgReferences and further reading:

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Biological fight: kites, mites, quite bright plights

ResearchBlogging.orgby Piter Kehoma Boll

A recently described fossil from the Silurian Herefordshire Lagerstätte in the United Kingdom has called much attention.

A photo of the fossil itself. Image by Briggs et al., extracted from

The appearance of the creature was build by scanning the rock and creating a 3D reconstruction of the fossil. It revealed that the animal, obviously and arthropod, had several smaller creatures attached by long threads, like kites. The species was named Aquilonifer spinosus, meaning “spiny kite-bearer”.

A 3D reconstruction of what Aquilonifer and its kites would have looked like. Image by Briggs et al. extracted from

The authors (Briggs et al., 2016) thought about three possibilities to explain the unusual “kites”. They could be parasites, phoronts (i.e., hitchhikers), or babies. The idea of parasites was discarded because such long threads separating them from the host would have made it difficult to feed properly. They also considered it unlikely to be a case of phoronts, i.e., a species that uses the host as a mean to move from one site to another, because there were too many of them and the host most likely would have removed them by using the long antennae.

Artistic impression of Aquilonifer spinosus by Andrey Atuchin.

Artistic impression of Aquilonifer spinosus by Andrey Atuchin.

The remaining option is that the kites were offspring. The mother (or father) would have attached them to itself in order do carry them around in a unique mode of brood care. The authors compare it to several other arthropod groups in which some species carry their babies around during their first days. They also consider that the animal could have delayed its molting process to avoid discarding the babies with the exoskeleton.

But can we be sure that this is the case? The entomologist Ross Piper thinks differently. He compares the kites to uropodine mites, in which the juveniles (deutonymphs) attatch themselves to beetles by long stalks in order to be transported from one food source to another. As there are marine mites, that could be the case. He also points out that the kites are scattered through the body, which would make them unlikely to be offspring, as such a distribution would only hinder the parent’s mobility.

Briggs at al. responded to Piper’s critique arguing that marine mites have only recently evolved and that Aquilonifer is very different from a terrestrial beetle. It was most likely a bentonic species, crawling on the ocean’s floor, and not a swimmer, so that it would not be a very good dispersal agent.

What do you think of it? I find it difficult to choose one side. Piper’s comparison with mites is interesting, but only as a way to suggest a convergent evolution. I cannot see how the kites would have been really mites or even arachnids. Now the argument on the kites’ position on the body is a good point. No other group of animals carries their young attached to long stalks spread all over the body. Furthermore, how would the parent properly place the juveniles there? I can only see it as a plausible way if the host were the father and the mother crawled over him to stick the eggs in place. Additionally, couldn’t they be true phoronts  that were benefitial to the host? The little fellows could benefit by moving around on the big pal and reaching new food sources while giving protection or other advantage in return. And regarding the delay in molting, I cannot see any evidence that there was any delay. We don’t know how long the kites remained there and perhaps after molting they could simply leave their little houses and build new ones on the host’s new skeleton.

We may never know the truth, but we can keep exchanging ideas.

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Briggs, D., Siveter, D., Siveter, D., Sutton, M., & Legg, D. (2016). Tiny individuals attached to a new Silurian arthropod suggest a unique mode of brood care Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113 (16), 4410-4415 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1600489113

Briggs, D., Siveter, D., Siveter, D., Sutton, M., & Legg, D. (2016). Reply to Piper: Aquilonifer’s kites are not mitesProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113 (24) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1606265113

Piper, R. (2016). Offspring or phoronts? An alternative interpretation of the “kite-runner” fossil Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113 (24) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1605909113

Switek, B. 2016. This bizarre creature flew its babies like kites. National Geographic News. Available at < >. Access on July 07, 2016.

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Biological fight: Should we bring mammoths back?

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Everybody knows the amazing large animals that are found in Africa and Southeast Asia. Elephants, giraffes, rhinos, hippos, horses, lions, tigers… such large creatures, mostly mammals, are usually called megafauna, the “large fauna”.

Mammals as big as the African bush elephant once roamed the Americas. Photo by flickr user nickmandel2006*.

The Americas once had an astonishing megafauna too, full of mastodons, mammoths, giant sloths, giant armadillos and sabertooth tigers. Nowadays it is restricted to some bears and jaguars. What happened to the rest of them? Well, most went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, around 11,ooo years ago.

South America once had mammals as big as an African bush elephant. Picture by Dmitry Bogdanov** (

South America once had mammals as big as an African bush elephant, such as the giant sloth. Picture by Dmitry Bogdanov** (

As humans already inhabited the Americas by this time, it was always speculated if humans had something to do with their extinction. It is true that nowadays hundreds, thousands of species are endangered due to human activities, so it is easy to think that humans are the best explanation for their extinction, but 10 thousands years ago the number of humans on the planet was thousands of times smaller than today and our technology was still very primitive, so it is unlikely that we could hunt a species to extinction by that period… if we were working alone.

No, I’m not talking about humans cooperating with aliens! Our sidekick was the famous climate change. Periods of extreme warming during the pleistocene seem to have had a strong impact on the populations of many large mammals and, with the aid of humans hunting them down and spreading like an invasive species, the poor giants perished.

Le Mammouth by Paul Jamin

Le Mammouth by Paul Jamin

This happened more than 10 thousand years ago, TEN THOUSAND YEARS.

In Africa, elephants and large carnivores are well known for their importance in structuring communities, especially due to their trophic interactions that shape other populations. The extinct American megafauna most likely had the same impact on the ecosystem. As a result, suggestions to restore this extinct megafauna has been proposed, either by cloning some of the extinct species or, more plausibly, by introduced extant species with a similar ecological role.

Svenning et al. (2015) review the subject and argue in favor of the reintroduction of megafauna to restore ecological roles lost in the Pleistocene, an idea called “Pleistocene rewilding” or “trophic rewilding”, as they prefer. They present some maps showing the current distribution of large mammals and their historical distribution in the Pleistocene, which they call “natural”. They also propose some species to be introduced to substitute the ones extinct, including replacements for species extinct as long as 30 thousand years ago. Now is this a good idea? They think it is and one of the examples used is the reintroduction of wolves in the Yellowstone National Park. But wolves were not extinct for millenia there, neither are they a different species that would replace the role of an extinct one.

A wolf pack in Yellowstone National Park

A wolf pack in Yellowstone National Park

Rubenstein & Rubenstein (2016) criticized the idea, arguing that we should focus on protecting the remaining ecosystems and not trying to restore those that were corrupted thousands of years ago. They also argue that using similar species may have unintended consequences. Svenning et al. answered that this is mere opinion and that a systematic research program on trophic rewilding should be developed. The reintroduction of horses in the New World and its non-catastrophic consequences is another point used to respond to the critiques.

So what’s your opinion? Should we bring mammoths, mastodonts, giant sloths and sabertooth tigers back? Should we introduce elephants and lions in the Americas to play the role that mastodonts and smilodonts had?

My opinion is no. The idea may seem beautiful, but I think it is actually fantastic, too fabulous and sensational. Horses may have come back to the Americas without bringing destruction, but we cannot be sure with anything, even with several theoretical and small-scale studies. We all know how often introducing species goes wrong, very wrong. Look at poor Australia and Hawaii, for instance. Furthermore, those giant mammals went extinct TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO. Certainly ecosystems have adapted to their extinction. Life always finds a way. There are worse threats to those ecosystems to be addressed, such as their eminent destruction to build more cities and raise more cattle and crops.

Get over it. Mammoths are gone. Let’s try to save the elephants instead, but without bringing them to the Brazilian cerrado. They don’t belong there. They belong in the African savannah.

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Rubenstein, D. R.; Rubenstein, D. I. From Pleistocene to trophic rewilding: A wolf in sheep’s clothing. PNAS, 113(1): E1. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1521757113

Svenning, J-C.; Pedersen, P. B. M.; Donlan, C. J.; Ejrnæs, R.; Faurby, S.; Galetti, M.; Hansen, D. M.; Sandel, B.; Sandom, C. J.; Terborgh, J. W.; Vera, F. W. M. 2016. Science for a wilder Anthropocene: Synthesis and future directions for trophic rewilding research. PNAS, 113(4): 898-906. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.150255611

Svenning, J-C.; Pedersen, P. B. M.; Donlan, C. J.; Ejrnæs, R.; Faurby, S.; Galetti, M.; Hansen, D. M.; Sandel, B.; Sandom, C. J.; Terborgh, J. W.; Vera, F. W. M. 2016. Time to move on from ideological debates on rewilding. PNAS, 113(1): E2-E3. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1521891113

Wade, L. 2016. Giant jaguars, colossal bears done in by deadly combo of humans and heat. Science News. DOI: 10.1126/science.aag0623

Wade, L. 2016. Humans spread through South America like an invasive species. Science News. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf9881

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The tegu lizard and the origin of warm-blooded animals by Piter Kehoma Boll

Warm blood is the popular way to refer to endothermy, the ability that certain animals have to maintain a high body temperature by the use of heat generated via metabolism, especially in internal organs. Mammals and birds are the only extant groups in which all representatives are endothermic, but some fish also have this feature.

Tunna fish are truly endoothermic fish, similar to mammals and birds.

Tunna fish are truly endothermic fish, similar to mammals and birds. Photo by**

In order to maintain a high body temperature, endothermic animals need a much higher amount of daily food than ectothermic animals (the ones that rely on environmental sources to adjust their body heat). There must be, therefore, a considerable advantage in endothermy to explain such a increased consumption of resources. The advantages include the ability to remain active in areas of low temperature and an increase in efficienty of enzimatic reactions, muscle contractions and molecular transmission across synapses.

The origin of endothermy is still a matter of debate and several hypothesis have been erected. The main ones are:

1. A migration from ectothermy to inertial homeothermy and finally endothermy.

According to this hypothesis, animals that were initially ectothermic grew in size, becoming inertially homeothermic, i.e., they retained a considerable constant internal body temperature due to the reduced surface area in relation to the their volume. Lately, selective pressures forced those animals to reduce in size, which made them unable to sustain a constant internal temperature and therefore their enzimatic, muscular and synaptic efficiency became threatened. As a result, they were forced to develop an alternative way to maintain a high body temperature and acquired it through endothermy.

Initially considered a plausible explanation due to the body size of the ancestors of mammals in fossil record, new phylogenetic interpretations caused a complete mix of large-bodied and small-bodied animals, so that currently fossils don’t support this idea anymore.

2. A large brain heating the body

The brain in endothermic species produces much more heat than any other organs. This led to the assumption that maybe a large brain generating heat was the responsible for the later development of full endothermy. However, evidence from both exant and extinct species point to the opposite. It seems more reasonable that a large brain evolved after endothermy and not the opposite.

3. A nocturnal life needs more heat

This idea states that the development of endothermy happened as a way to allow animals to be active during the night. The fact that most primitive mammals appear to have been nocturnal seems to support this hypothesis, but in fact many extant nocturnal mammals actually have a lower body temperature than diurnal mammals. Other aspect that counts against this hypothesis is that the ancestors of mammals already showed evidences of an increase in body temperature despite the fact that they most likely were not nocturnal.

4. Heat to help the embryos to develop

As you may know, in many ectothermic vertebrates, such as reptiles, eggs need to be incubated at a constant temperature in order to develop adequately. Endothermy, therefore, could have evolved as a way to allow parents to incubate the eggs themselves and have a higher control on temperature stability. One fact that support this theory is the dual role of thyroid hormones in reproduction and in the control of metabolic rate.

Endothermy may have evolved to incubate eggs at a constant temperature.

Endothermy may have evolved to incubate eggs at a constant temperature. Photo by Bruce Tuten**

5. Aerobic capicity leading to the heating of internal organs

According to this hypothesis, endothermy evolved after the increase of aerobic capacity, i.e., the first thing to happen was to increase the ability of muscles to consume oxygen in order to release energy, which helped the animal to move faster, among other things. This increased aerobic capicity was attained by increasing the number of mitochondria in muscle cells, which led to higher body temperature in the muscules and consequently a higher visceral temperature. Despite fossils indicating that mammal ancestors developed morphological adaptations indicating increased aerobic capacity, it is not possible to afirm that endothermy was not already present in those species.

Very recently, it has been found that the tegu lizards (Salvator merianae) from South America increase their body temperature during the reproductive season, achieving as much as 10°C above the environment temperature at night. Thus, it seems that they are able to increase heat production and heat conservation in ways similar to the ones used by fully endothermic animals.

The tegu lizard Salvator merianae is a facultative endotherm.

The tegu lizard Salvator merianae is a facultative endotherm. Photo by Jami Dwyer.

As such an increase in body temperature happens during the reproductive cycle, it supports the hypothesis of endothermy evolving to assist the development of embryos, as explained above. Also, it indicates that ectotherms may engage in temporary endothermy and perhaps permanent endothermy may have evolved by using this path.

Further studies on the tegu lizards are needed to clarify this interesting phenomenon and expand our knowledge on endothermy evolution in mammals and birds.

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Kemp, T. (2006). The origin of mammalian endothermy: a paradigm for the evolution of complex biological structure Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 147 (4), 473-488 DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2006.00226.x

Tattersall, G., Leite, C., Sanders, C., Cadena, V., Andrade, D., Abe, A., & Milsom, W. (2016). Seasonal reproductive endothermy in tegu lizards Science Advances, 2 (1) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1500951

Wikipedia. Endotherm. Available at: <;. Access on February 1, 2016.

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Pooping to evolve: how feces allowed us to exist

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Thanks to the appearance of the first photosynthetic bacteria, the so-called Cyanobacteria or blue-green algae, our atmosphere started to accumulate oxygen. As you may know, photosynthesis is a process by which plants and other photosynthetic organisms convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and organic compounds.

Oxygen is a very reactive element, so it can easily interact with other compounds and is great to burn organic matter to release energy. Without oxygen, heterotrophic life, such as animals, would not be able to use large quantities of energy and therefore would have never been able to achieve large size.

As you may also know, animals most likely appeared in the oceans and only much later conquered the land. However, oxygen produced by photosynthesis accumulates mainly in the atmosphere and not in the oceans. Today, only 1% of the global oxygen is found in the oceans, and it was even worse during the first million years of multicellular life. Do you know why?

The most primitive animals alive today are sponges, which are quite different from other animals. They usually have a hollow body with several pores, which function as tiny mouths through which water carrying small planktonic organisms and other organic matter is pulled inwards and later released by a large opening on the top of the body. So the main thing sponges do is mixing water and extracting a small amount of organic matter from the water column. Their feces, when returning to the water, are not very different in size from the organic matter they initially ingested.

Sponges ingest organic particles and release organic particles. They are not very efficient in removing organic matter from water.

Thus, in a sponge-only world, the water column was possibly always crowded with dissolved organic matter. This was a feast for bacteria, which are always eager to decompose organic matter and, while doing so, they consume large amounts of oxygen. Therefore, water with high amounts of organic matter increases bacterial activity and turns the environment anoxic, i.e., without oxygen. As a result, there was no oxygen available to allow animals to become large.

Despite not growing very much, animals were still evolving, of course, and eventually the bilaterian animals appeared. Bilaterian animals have a bilateral symmetry and, the most important feature in this story, a gut. It means they ingest food, digest it, process it and later eliminate the rests as… poop! In the gut, feces become compact as fecal pellets and sink much quickly to the bottom of the ocean, cleaning the water column from organic matter and drastically reducing bacterial activity. With no bacteria decomposing in the water column, the oxygen levels rapidly started to increase, allowing animals to grow and things like fish to evolve.

Bilaterian animals produce compact fecal pellets which sink to the bottom, cleaning the water column.

If animals had never started to poop, we most likely would have never been able to arise in this world. Long live the poop!

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Holland, H. (2006). The oxygenation of the atmosphere and oceans. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 361 (1470), 903-915 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2006.1838

Turner, J. T. (2002). Zooplankton fecal pellets, marine snow and
sinking phytoplankton blooms. Aquatic Microbial Ecology, 27, 57-102

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Tag Archives: research

An Ivory Gull in Duluth, So What?

What does it mean when one of the least researched and understood marine birds in the Arctic turns up in Duluth, Minnesota 1,500 miles outside of its range? Locally, it ensures a birding rush of in-state and out-of-stater birders eager to see the rare bird, but what does it say about the global status of this unique bird? How can we use its presence to  educate ourselves of human impact on the high Arctic? Is the Ivory Gull (Pagophila eburnea) an indicator species of a greater issue in the Arctic? The suspicion that their unprecedented, 80% population decline over the last 20 years may be linked to mercury suggests they are.

Ivory Gull, Duluth
The Ivory Gull at Canal Park in Duluth sits on the piers a few hundred feet from the human observers on shore.

Population Free-fall of the Ivory Gull

Ivory Gulls are colonial birds, meaning that large numbers gather into groups to breed. By monitoring the nesting colonies of colonial birds, population trends may be established by researchers. However, surveys for Ivory Gulls  were only conducted in 1985 (Thomas and MacDonald, 1987) making it impossible to understand population trends. Compounding the lack of population data, Ivory Gulls are considered to be one one of the least understood marine birds. This is partly due to wintering along the ice pack between Greenland and Labrador ensuring they are not a bird which is in-sight of many people. However, indigenous knowledge has suggested declining populations since the 1980s (Mallory et al. 2003). In light of this, researchers  flew surveys of known nesting islands as well as newly found Islands in 2002 and 2003 and found something shocking. The number of nesting Ivory Gulls had declined by 80% since the 1980s (Gilcrest et al. 2005).

Ivory Gull, Identification
The Ivory Gull is a distinct bird with a blue bill, black feet, and stunning black tips on the wings.

Gilcrest et al. (2005) started to hypothesize at alternative reasons for the lack of gulls. They explored the possibility that the Ivory Gulls had simply shifted their nesting locations. However, a significant move is not inline with the known biology of the bird which generally move less than 1-2 kilometers.  Food sources of fish and carcasses have remained relatively stable in their study area giving them little reason to move. They noted that Ivory Gulls were not seen flying along the survey paths. It seems that the Ivory Gull was truly dying off.

Ivory Gull, Duluth, Minnesota
In Duluth, the Ivory Gull was gracious enough to land close to my camera, offering exceptional looks at the details of this beautiful bird.

The Driver of Change

Since the startling revelation of population decline, researchers have been trying to understand why Ivory Gulls are disappearing. It is probable that ice-pack changes and altered forage have contributed to the population decline (Gilchrest et al. 2005), but researchers think a stronger factor is in play . In his interview with the BBC World Service (full interview below) Dr. Alex Bond  hypothesizes that mercury is a leading stressor on Ivory Gulls based on findings that levels of mercury have risen 45 -50 times the levels found 130 years ago. There is strong evidence showing mercury levels in the eggs of Ivory Gulls is significantly higher than any other known marine bird. Braun et al. 2006 found that mercury in the eggs of Ivory Gulls were 2.5 times greater than even the next highest species, and were almost 3 times greater the amount which impairs reproductive success. Where is that much mercury coming from? And how exactly might it effect Ivory Gulls?

Ivory Gull, Underwings
The Ivory Gull in Duluth shows off its beautiful, white underwings.

To understand where the mercury is coming from, its important to know the basics of the mercury cycle. Mercury falls into the oceans from atmosphere pollution originating from coal-fired power plants, or is directly input from Alkali metal processing . There are also natural sources of mercury like volcanic eruptions and “volitilization of the ocean” (USGS 2000).  Once deposited in a waterbody, mercury becomes available to marine animals when it is transformed to methylmercury. Once in the that state, it moves up through the food chain into plankton, and then to fish, and finally to top level predators like birds and marine mammals.  Levels of mercury grows in organisms through bioaccumulation and biomagnifcation. To clarify that jargon, bioaccumulation means that the older you are, the more mercury you have since it is difficult to get it out your system once ingested. Biomagnification means that if you feed higher on the food chain you gain mercury more quickly. Marine mammals like seals have very, very high levels of mercury due to the effect of both bioaccumulation and biomagnifacation. With that information in mind it is easier to understand why Ivory Gulls accumulate mercury; they scavenge on carcasses of marine mammals and feed on fish which have high levels of mercury. They also have a high metabolic rate and consume more fish (Braun et al. 2006).

To date, the effect of mercury on Ivory Gulls has not been studied, but we can gather clues from looking at other species.  Common Loons (Gavia immer) also accumulate high levels of mercury due to eating fish (biomagnification) and having long lives (bioaccumulation). Evers et al. 2008 found a 41% decrease in fledged loon young in parents with >3 micrograms of mercury per gram of tissue compared to those with <1 microgram. They predict total reproductive failure of Common Loons if levels exceed 16.5 micrograms. Based on hundreds of hours of observation, they report that loons with elevated levels of mercury are lethargic and spend significantly less time foraging for food and less time taking care of their young. Each lead to fewer chicks growing to adulthood.  It is important to note in their study that mercury levels of a species change throughout their range due to climate, forage, and many other factors. Transferring the lessons of Common loons to Ivory Gulls, variation in  mercury levels changes are observed in Canada as well; in general levels of mercury increase from east to west in Canada. Although the effect of mercury on Ivory Gulls has not been directly studied and may effect gulls differently than loons, a good hypothesis for their decline is poor parenting and lethargy due to extraordinarily high levels of mercury. Only future research will help tease out the true effect of mercury on their decline.

Ivory Gull, Flying, Duluth
The Ivory gull in Duluth takes to the wing showing off its beautiful plumage and black feet.

When an Ivory Gull shows up in Duluth, Minnesota it is a chance to reflect. Reflect on the beauty of an animal. Reflect on the joy of seeing such a rarity. However, do not miss the opportunity to acknowledge that its prescense is out of the norm of the species and that an unseen driver which we do not fully understand is at play. Reflect on the fact that the impact of humans in a nearly un-inhabited region is undeniable. Human consumption of fossil fuels is depositing mercury into the Arctic at rates which may be directly effecting a species. The Ivory Gull is a red flag, an indicator that things are not right in the Arctic and that we should pay heed to what else may be going wrong that we just have not taken the time to study yet.

Braune, B. M., Mallory, M. L., & Gilchrist, H. G. (2006). Elevated mercury levels in a declining population of ivory gulls in the Canadian Arctic. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 52(8), 978-982.

Evers, D. C., Savoy, L. J., DeSorbo, C. R., Yates, D. E., Hanson, W., Taylor, K. M., … & Munney, K. (2008). Adverse effects from environmental mercury loads on breeding common loons. Ecotoxicology, 17(2), 69-81.

Gilchrist, H. G., & Mallory, M. L. (2005). Declines in abundance and distribution of the ivory gull (Pagophila eburnea) in Arctic Canada. Biological Conservation, 121(2), 303-309.

Mallory, M. L., Gilchrist, H. G., Fontaine, A. J., & Akearok, J. A. (2003). Local ecological knowledge of ivory gull declines in Arctic Canada. Arctic, 293-298.

Thomas, V.G., MacDonald, S.D., 1987. The breeding distribution and
current population status of the ivory gull in Canada. Arctic 40,

USGS. 2000. http://www.usgs.gov/themes/factsheet/146-00/

Quantifying Rural Hunter Access in Alaska*

Fort Yukon Aerial

Yukon Flats Study Area

Access Index Schematic
Access Index Final Model

Humans and Wolves in the Yukon Flats, Alaska

For the last 2.5 years in fulfillment of my Masters in Wildlife Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, I have been researching the biological and human component of two key moose hunters (wolves and humans) within the Yukon Flats. I am happy to say that the full thesis is is completed and that I will be graduating in December! In my eyes, a critical next step is to make the results of this work public. Hence, I will be dedicating four blog entries to the subject. This first installment will introduce  the biology of the region, study area, and my research questions. My next installment will examine access of subsistence hunters to moose within the region. Following that I will look at movement of wolves in the region, and I will conclude by looking at areas were the likelihood of competition between wolves and humans for moose is highest.

I conducted my research on human hunters and wolves in the Yukon Flats, Alaska. The predator-prey relations in Yukon Flats are unique because wolves and subsistence users pursue low-density moose that are held at a low-density equilibrium from predation. In fact, moose are at some of the lowest densities in the world (<0.20 moose per square kilometer).

Broadly I was interested in:

  1. How do human hunters and wolves utilize their environment when pursuing moose?
  2. How does understanding space use and movement and of humans and wolves pursuing moose help us understand competition for a scarce resource they rely on?

The Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge is located in central Alaska, and extends nearly 220 miles east to west and 120 miles north to south.  It falls directly into a the boreal forest, which means if you walk around that you’ll find birch, black spruce, white spruce, alder and willow. Its namesake is the Yukon River which bisects the Flats, and the huge watershed of the Yukon River is fed by a plethora of rivers. In short, it is a water dominated system.

Yukon Flats
The Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge is located north of Fairbanks. It extends nearly 220 miles from east to west and 120 miles north to south.

Yukon Flats

Within the Yukon Flats there are several communities that are defined by their reliance on the land to harvest food, fuel, and fiber. Their subsistence lifestyle provides up to 85% of the resources they use including but not limited to moose, fish, and waterfowl. Since moose are such low densities but are critical for humans and moose,  it is interesting to research how moose are pursued, and where the likelihood of competition between humans and wolves in the highest. Answering any of those questions pertinent for managers.  My thesis integrated spatially explicit (i.e., locations) datasets of moose (Alces alces) hunters and of wolves (Canis lupus) to ultimately evaluate how two predators pursue a common resource, moose.

To this end, Chapter 1 of my thesis will be the second installment on this blog and focus on quantifying rural hunter access in the Yukon Flats, Alaska, through spatially-linked interviews. I chose this research topic because previous studies have only qualitatively surmised use area for subsistence resources by drawing boundaries around use areas. However, a quantitative approach can yield firmer management information. My novel approach provided pertinent insight into resource use for our system and created a method that may be applied to other systems. Using results generated from subsistence hunter interviews, I applied a model of access to moose hunting areas. Harvest reporting is low among the subsistence communities in our study, and from our results we generated an estimate of harvest based on game densities similar to the best data available on reported harvest. As such, my method may provide an alternative to, or supplement, harvest-ticket reporting.

In Chapter 2, I characterized movement paths (i.e., hunt paths) between moose kills by six packs in the Yukon Flats. The results of that work will be the third installment on this blog. The movements of wolves have been studied and documented in many high prey-density systems, but almost no information exists on their movements when prey is just dense (<0.20 /km2) enough for wolves to survive.

Finally, I will tie what I learned about wolf movement and human access to examine where competition between humans is the most likely. At that time, I hope to provide a full copy of the thesis for comprehensive reading of the research. I look forward to sharing this information with you, please feel free to ask questions!

Colorful Seasons in Alaska

Wildflowers of Alaska

Identification Sources:

USDA Plant Database http://plants.usda.gov/java/


The ICRC Conference wraps up in Geneva. Ambassador Cornado: "A success"

The ICRC Conference wraps up in Geneva. Ambassador Cornado:

"A success, which outlines a strategic path of common commitment of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and of the Member States, to face the great humanitarian challenges of our time" Permanent Representative of Italy to the International Organizations of Geneva, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, said on the results of the negotiation marathon that led to the adoption of six major Resolutions in the 33rd International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, which ended late yesterday in the Swiss city.

The Conference, which coincided with the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, represents the most important global forum for discussion on International Humanitarian Law, the set of rules tha protect civilians and the most vulnerable during conflict.

"Our country has been active on all the negotiating tables" - added Cornado - which revolved around crucial issues such as the mental health of both civilian populations and humanitarian workers exposed to conflicts; emergency assistance following natural disasters, including those caused by climate change; new digital technologies and the evolution of war instruments and offensive capabilities; the conflict-migration link; the challenges posed by war operations in urban contexts.

It is essential that the Geneva message reaches out to all the populations affected by conflicts in the world: we will be at your side and we will strive to make the humanitarian response more effective and focused ”.

In the negotiation on the resolution "Bringing IHL home: a roadmap for better national implementation of international humanitarian law", the Italian Delegation successfully worked to highlight the importance of protecting children in armed conflicts, and the specific needs of the most vulnerable.

Our country has also presented a solemn commitment ("pledge") open to all members, which calls for targeted action to protect minors involved in armed conflicts. The commitment also aims to guarantee access to education, and the safety of school facilities.

The Italian proposal has received the highest level of support, in the context of the Conference, by representatives of membership belonging to all regions of the world. "This convergence will give further strength and credibility to the joint commitment of the Governments and the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in the years to come, in defense of the most vulnerable", concluded Cornado.


Turning It Over

I struggle with letting go of control. Ash will tell you this should you ask him. When I get into a micro-managing state, it’s one of the quickest ways for me to experience an exacerbation. When I feel out of control, I tighten my grip to control everything around me, and then I stress out because I feel out of control. While I haven’t had a significant exacerbation in several years, my brain fog, L’Hermittes Sign, and neck twinges when I start down the path of stressing out.

I’ve learned I have had to say to myself, “I can’t control everything, so I need to stop,” and attempt to go with the flow no matter what direction that might take. But I can slip back into bad habits of wanting to control everything and then I start stressing out again.

It’s a vicious cycle.

And usually feeling out of control helps bring that about. I’ve learned that I cannot control everything, and for the most part I do well to go with the flow of everything, but then I slip back into bad habits of wanting to control everything around me and then I get back into that space of feeling out of control and stressed.

It’s a vicious cycle.

When we have a particular life philosophy, we are often told to let go and give up control. And there’s something to that – it’s just got to be done in a healthy and reasonable manner. I have found what works for me, and so it’s important that you find what works for you.

Depending on your life philosophy, or belief system, we are often told the importance of giving up control. That may be to a higher power, the universe, or just in general. That’s solid advice no matter your background: recognizing what you can control, what you can’t, and letting go of what you can’t.

Letting Go of Our Worries

If you have a higher power, you are at an advantage to someone who does not, because many belief systems teach the importance of giving up control to a higher power. If you don’t have a particular belief system, you have to remind yourself not to be so controlling and go with the flow. It’s a built-in reminder that those without a higher power do not have. But if you don’t have a higher power, that’s fine, you just have to remember to say, “it’s okay, I don’t need to control everything.”

Struggle with giving up control? Well, if you have a belief system, seek out direct texts that teach you to give up control. If you can’t find anything there that speaks to you, seek out secondary books, usually written by scholars, that might speak to the matter.

If you don’t have a belief system, consider mindfulness techniques to bring you back to the present moment. When you focus on the present, the moment you are in now, you cannot try to control everything around you. Center yourself at the moment and find ways to let go of the control you are fighting to hold. Look to your health as a starting point: I must let go of control to better tend to my health.

Finding the Balance

This brings up the question: who is responsible for our lives? Us? Our Higher Power? The Universe? Something else?

That’s an answer only you can decide. I cannot tell you, nor can I presume to suggest the correct answer. What I can do is tell you what worked for me, but that does not mean it will work for you.

For myself, I gave up personal responsibility when I had a specific higher power. I gave that higher power responsibility for my life, my happiness, and at times, my actions. I gave up too much control to this higher power. They were not responsible for my specific actions or responses to a situation, though I said they were as a means of absolving bad behaviors.

When I took responsibility for my actions and reactions to situations, I found a more profound peace within myself because I was able to feel more in control of my life. Even though things happened to me, outside of my control, I recognized that my response to those things was something I could control. It was about finding a balance between what I could control and what I could give up.

Figure out the balance in your own life: what responsibility can you take on for yourself, and what control you can let go. When you recognize that there are elements in life beyond your control, such as your chronic illness, you can start to lower your stress.

Acceptance of What We Cannot Change

Another advantage people with a higher power have over those who do not have one, is it allows for recognition for what cannot be changed and force us to move forward. Without a higher power, there needs to be a reminder to move forward in life, despite the roadblocks. People can place their trust in the higher power to see them through and take comfort in that.

Without a higher power, we must seek comfort elsewhere. We must trust that life will guide us through the process and that a coincidence will pop up to allow us to move forward or find an alternative. Often, life provides us with this when we aren’t expecting it. So remember to expect nothing, but accept everything to embrace an opportunity when it arises.

Moving Forward

It’s not easy to give up control, whether to a higher power or just in general. It’s never going to be easy, no matter how often we might need to do it. Why? Because control allows us to feel empowered. When we give up control, we lose a sense of power.

But if we want to move forward in life, if we’re going to begin to heal the emotional wounds caused by a chronic illness, we must give up control over things we cannot control. Whether that is to your higher power or to something else, when you give up control, you begin the process to move forward in life.

Life moves us in a forward momentum whether we like it or not, we might as well accept that movement and find ways to work with it, rather than against it.

Featured photo credit: Canva

The Power of Others

When dealing with a chronic illness, it is sometimes our deepest desire to enlist the help of others. We might be too afraid to ask on the surface, but unconsciously we desire connection to others, especially when we feel alone. Often people want to help us, but can’t or don’t know how best to do so. Sometimes the best thing they can do is pray or send positive thoughts our way.

Is the concept of “thoughts and prayers” actually helpful? Or is it something we say to each other, and accept on our behalf as low-effort?

I think it boils down to your perspective. If you are a glass-half-full person, then having someone pray or reflect on you is helpful. If you are a glass-half-empty person, then it might be a hollow offer.

How can others help you through your health crisis? If you are new to my blog, please review this month’s disclaimer before reading any further.

The Power of Prayer (or Positive Thoughts)

As a teenager, I remember sitting and listening to my religious leader “cite” a study on the effect of prayer for those in crisis. I use quotes not to disparage, but because the leader was extremely vague about the study, the details, and did not provide resources to find the study on our own.

Reflecting back, I believe they were referring to Dr. Randolph C. Byrd’s 1988 study, “Positive therapeutic effects of intercessory prayer in a coronary care unit population.” The study found that participants who received intercessory prayer fared better in their follow-up appointments than those in the control group, who received no prayer at all.

Unfortunately, subsequent studies found that Dr. Byrd’s 1988 study to be at best flawed, and at worse irresponsible. Relying on prayer, regardless of the religion, to heal a patient can prevent the patient from receiving the necessary medical intervention needed to help with the illness. Each study that comes out relating to prayer and health finds little correlation between prayer and improvement of health.

Here comes the “but…”

While prayer itself may not change the outcome of a medical diagnosis, there is something behind knowing that others are thinking about you. It may not improve your health, but do you feel comfort when you know others tell you they are thinking/praying about you?

Unfortunately, I ran into a bunch of dead-ends in my research for this post surrounding the benefits of having others think about you. Current trends are to not worrying about what others think, and focusing solely on self-care. Both of these are positive in its own right, but it doesn’t answer the question: what are the benefits knowing others are thinking about us?

What I am about to say is speculative and unscientific: I believe knowing others think about you, whether it’s via prayers or positive thoughts, provides comfort. It allows those of us with a chronic illness to know we aren’t alone. Others may not know our experience, we may be alone (mentally) in our disease, but when others care for us to spend a few moments out of their day to reflect on our journey, it means a lot.

Going Beyond “Thoughts and Prayers”

If you are reading this as a friend or family member of someone with a chronic illness, there are some things you can do to stretch out your “thoughts and prayers” for them.

Use the time you reflect on them and find ways you can help. Sometimes, when we say we’re thinking about someone, it’s the most we can do. That’s fine, but consider doing something in their honor.

What You Can Do to Help

  1. If the person is dealing with a massive health crisis, consider getting yourself screened. For example, if they have cancer, try to get tested for that particular form of cancer. Or, get yourself screened as a potential donor for them or in general.
  2. Learn all you can about their health crisis and be better prepared for how to engage with the patient. In your research, find out what other patients say about the “dos and don’ts” in conversations.
  3. Donate money in the person’s honor towards research for their illness.
  4. Share across social media the latest information and research on the illness, but make sure to get their consent before tagging them.
  5. If you can physically help the person, take them to appointments or for a social outing of their choosing.

There are many other ways you can help someone with a chronic illness to extend the efficacy of thinking about them. You just have to find what works best for you and them.

Powerlessness and Control

Often, those in our lives feel powerless when we get a chronic illness diagnosis. They stand beside us, hold our hand, and do everything to help us manage our illness and still feel like they can do more.

Prayer or reflecting on us is an additional way to feel like they are helping. It’s calling on a higher power or the universe to intercede on our behalf. While the answer may never come, or be positive, it’s yet another way for our friends and family to feel in control in an out of control situation.

Sometimes saying “I will pray/keep you in my thoughts,” is enough to empower the person to go beyond the statement and spring into action.

When faced with powerlessness, the smallest action can help someone regain a sense of control. Next time someone says, “I am thinking about you,” think not of it as a common thing we say when there’s nothing to say, but rather a way of providing comfort at the moment.

Featured photo credit: Canva

Belief, Positivity, and Chronic Illness

“Embrace the power of positive thinking!” We hear that all the time when we endure a health crisis, a rut, or embark on a wellness journey. We are told if we want to change our mindset or become healthier, we need to shift our thinking to be positive. It’s something I frequently promote on the blog. But that isn’t possible with a chronic illness. Sometimes we need a little extra help.

Can positive thinking help you manage your illness? What if you are feeling particularly low on positivity?

This is where a higher power or greater cause can step in to help. Belief comes from the same place in our brains, whether it’s religious or not. Having strong beliefs, no matter the source, helps us create a sense of community and support when we find others who are similar. Prayer or meditative practices can help quell darker emotions that arise in illness.

Depending on your perspective and your practices, it’s effortless to slip in positive thinking. You just have to use what you already know to work with you, rather than against you.

Positivity, Meditation, and Prayer

Nature works against us when we want to sit down and focus on the positive. Geared towards survival, we get caught in the negativity to help keep us safe. Yet, negative thinking causes so much mental and physical harm. We no longer need it to survive, yet it still follows us around.

Belief can help us ward off negative thoughts. If you have a higher power, you can engage in your practices to find comfort in the routine and tradition. If you don’t have a higher power, you can participate in relaxation/self-care exercises to help set your mind at ease.

Regardless of your background, when you want to start engaging in positive thinking, there are tools available to you. If you are religious, look into your texts, and any devotionals explicitly created for comfort. If you aren’t religious, there are a lot of secular and science-based books available to get you started.

Seek out someone more knowledgeable too: a leader in your community, life coach, or counselor. They can give you text, tools, and mantras equivalent to meditation or prayer.

Prayer, or self-reflection, help bring comfort to the practitioners. It can take the edge off of emotions, help you collect your thoughts, and self-soothe. Most importantly, it can give us a break we need to refocus our thoughts to be objective. While coping with a chronic illness, we sometimes sink into darkness and crisis. Prayer/meditation grants our brains the break we need to help see beyond the darkness.

If you have a higher power, you might hear them speak to you with words of comfort. If you don’t, you might gain a similar moment of peace while meditating. These practices serve as a wonderful means to distract us from our despair.

Is it Helpful?

Finding a sense of direction within your personal philosophy should always be helpful. Your belief system (of any kind) needs to bring you comfort, not additional stress. If you find that you aren’t getting the support you need, figure out what’s going on. You may need to re-examine your beliefs to see why it’s not fulfilling your needs.

When you are in a time of personal crisis, such as a diagnosis or exacerbation, you want something to draw your strength upon.

I found as I grew older that the philosophy I used as a child no longer worked or brought me comfort. It only brought anger and resentment. I needed to look elsewhere to draw support as I dealt with my MS and settled on one that I dabbled in since I was a teenager. It took me a long time to feel okay with this switch, but it was more important to care for my mental health than anything else.

If your philosophy works for you and brings you comfort, continue to find ways to keep it working for you. If not, then speak with someone objective: they might be able to healthfully redirect you to materials to help you reaffirm your beliefs. Examination and reflection is essential no matter your faith, or non-belief.

Keep trudging forward as you deal with your illness and continue to draw sources of strength close to you as a means of help.

Featured photo credit: Canva

Positive Thinking Leads to Positive Actions

Since the 1952 publication of Norman Vincent Peale’s book The Power of Positive Thinking, there’s been a market for promoting positive thinking in the self-help circuit. It does make sense, and science backs it up: when we focus on engaging with our positive thoughts, we are less stressed and improve our health. The more we engage with positive thinking, the more it leads to positive actions in our lives.

We are marketed positive thinking as a way to increase our overall happiness in life. The issue is that happiness gets conflated with satisfaction. What we are truly seeking is total satisfaction with our lives, whereas happiness becomes a byproduct from that satisfaction. We can achieve joy, and therefore, happiness when we begin to shift our mindset from mostly negative to mostly positive.

To begin this process, we must self-reflect and be open to rewiring our brain to be receptive to positive experiences and thoughts.

Positive Thinking = Healthy Mindset

So positive thinking, what is that anyway?

The theory is this: if we start to incorporate more positive thoughts in our daily lives, we engage in a healthier mindset. Once we have a healthier mindset, we engage in more positive behaviors.

Anecdotally: when I started viewing myself with a positive perspective, I found I was open to doing positive things for myself. I have a hard time accepting myself as a decent person, but once I stopped thinking of myself as a bad person, I was more willing to eat healthier. I started to make healthier decisions regarding exercise. I decreased my desire for self-destructive behaviors. The idea of making healthy decisions became palatable because I finally felt like I was worthy of the effort.

It all stemmed from the moment I chose to engage with positive thinking.

Healthy Mindset Leads to Healthy Actions

The science is there: when a person develops a positive mindset, they are more inclined to engage in healthy behavior. You are more prone to go to the doctor to treat an exacerbation of an ailment you might have ignored. You re-prioritize your thoughts, choosing not to get distracted by things out of your control. You may even decide to reconfigure who you spend your time with, opting to be with people who leave you feeling good about yourself, rather than those who are toxic.

To be clear, this isn’t saying we take on a Pollyanna perspective and only view the good out there. We still acknowledge the negative and yet get caught in the negative thought cycle, but we spend less time in the negativity.

For those of us who spent a lot of time in the negativity, incorporating more positive thoughts is not a 180-degree turn, but a chance to be more centered in our thoughts. Be realistic, but also choose to be more positive in our realism.

Engaging with Positivity More

Find ways to think of yourself in a positive light. Celebrate your life as much as possible. Did you let someone in front of you in line today? How did that make you feel when you brightened their day, even for a moment? Engage in those good feelings you get when you do something positive.

Often we look to others to be our cheerleaders, our parents, friends, coworkers, and sometimes strangers. But the biggest cheerleader in our lives has to be ourselves. External validation is nice to have, but its the internal validation that’s more important. If you let that person in front of you in line and they didn’t acknowledge it, that’s okay. You didn’t do it for their validation or gratitude. You did it for yourself. If you feel good about doing it, who cares how others react?

Praise yourself for the moments you did something that makes you feel good. Don’t look around for others to do it. Engage with your positive thinking and positive actions as often as possible.

It will be gradual, but you’ll find that after some time, your actions will begin to reflect your positive thinking. Your feeling of self-satisfaction and its byproduct of happiness will increase as well.

Featured photo credit: Canva

Is there Positive in an Exacerbation?

The Frustration of an Exacerbation

Gratitude in the Lowest Moments

What would gratitude during an exacerbation look like?

Searching for Positive

Featured photo credit: Canva


Astrology signs age of gemini

An example of this is Patrizio Monty who is a Sagittarius but has the personality of a Cancer rather than a Libra while Nervous Subject is an Aquarius but had the personality of a Virgo if its crawled through boolprop testingcheatsenabled true by the player rather than a Sagittarius as well. Sims whose zodiac signs are not visible when viewing SimPE are not mismatched in-game. Unlike premade playable Sims who usually have their genetic personalities at the start of the game, many NPCs from The Sims 2 have randomized personalities that are different from their genetic ones, but their zodiac sign will match their genetic personality rather than the randomized one.

If testingcheatsenabled is activated before loading a lot, it is possible to manipulate the personality of a Sim by simply dragging it up and down. The zodiac sign of the Sim will change to reflect these changes. Fire and Air signs are compatible among themselves and Earth and Water signs are compatible among themselves unlike how it was in The Sims 2: Nightlife.

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Start a Wiki. Contents [ show ]. Supposedly if a sign has another personality than it's original one, it will be recognized by the game as the closest similar sign, [3] and this will work for the chemistry table above. For example, an Aries has the personality closest to an Aquarius so it will be recognized as an Aquarius. Categories :.

Cancel Save. Dynamic and confident, most Aries never shy away from the opportunity to strike up a conversation with anyone. However, they can be somewhat impulsive and quick-tempered. The typical Taurus is strong-willed and determined. That can often mean determined to have a good time. Youthful and lively, many think Gemini have enough energy for two. Also energized by conversation, it isn't surprising to find them bouncing from one topic to the next at parties. There is nothing extreme about Cancers—they are very balanced. They can also be very changeable which can be good or bad depending on the situation.

The ultimate "people" people, Leos are complete extroverts. Unfortunately, this makes them deficient in other areas. Modest and shy, introverted Virgos take pride in their meticulous and practical approach to life.

Jimin star sign

Unfortunately, these same traits can result in a very fussy individual. Romantic and charming and incredibly sociable, it's hard not to like a Libra. However, their social pursuits leave them little time for more practical endeavors. While somewhat withdrawn from social activities, Scorpios are forceful and determined in more practical pursuits. Jovial and carefree, Sagittarians are also blessed with boundless energy. Unfortunately, this combination can make them restless and careless. The Gemini child will diligently gather all kinds of odd information and tell you about it — not only to show off a bit, but also because this is how he or she builds relationships.

The problem is that, being of two minds, they flip back and forth between ideas, decisions, etc. While this grants them a unique outlook, when one twin or the other goes into full gear it gives new meaning to non-sequitor. They will often have several projects going at once, some of which will linger for a long time before completion. Oh, by the way mom and dad — be prepared for a very eclectic gaggle of friends for your Gemini. They need diversity to keep from getting bored. The social scene at your house will never be dull. The difficulty here is that your child is not a natural born leader — some of those friends will feel left out as your Gemini goes hither and yon from one to another.

One of the most charming characteristics of a Gemini child is that they will never actually loose that youthful exuberance and playfulness! This is a beautiful gift because when we lose the child within life can become, well, less sparkly.

This Is How Often Each Zodiac Sign Likes To Have Sex & It's Scarily Accurate

And nobody wants that! Having a Gemini girl is like living in a constant treasure hunt game. Her curiosity drives everything! Be ready for question after question about anything that grabs their wandering eye. Sometimes finding answers may feel frustrating, but thanks to the Internet you can use search functions for even the most elusive of queries.

  1. Trending Now;
  2. Astrological sign.
  3. Gemini Dates in Astrology| May June 20 |

It is one of the ways they keep The Twins engaged, focused and happy. As soon as your gal is old enough introduce her to science, nature Exploratoriums, books rich with imagery and stories that twist and turn. One hobby or form of play simply cannot satisfy both sides of their character. In the grand scheme of Astrology, your Gemini daughter acts as an information magnet.

Her mind and soul are intimately connected. Feed one, you feed the whole being! The world is their playhouse and they want to try everything at least once twice if they LIKE it. No two days will be alike with your child. Use observation to discern what captured their imagination at any given moment and run with it. The intensity of Gemini children often leads them toward being storytellers or acting in school plays.

They love center stage and have a knack with presenting themselves in a wide variety of roles. Your daughter is a silver tongued twin who can unwittingly convince others of nearly anything sometimes to the point of manipulation.

The 7 Fundamental Gemini Traits, Explained

Without learning this discipline, however, the adult Gemini tends to become self-absorbed. Another struggle for your daughter will be her fine mind. She may become impatient with peers who cannot see both the global picture and the minutia of any given situation. This leads classmates to think of her as haughty, not to mention a fair share of hurt feelings. Be there to sooth the ache with a hug and sound advice. If you ever wanted twins, congratulations because you basically have two children in one body.

The two sides of your Gemini boy can seem so completely divergent as to make you crazy. One day one side agrees to something, the next day the other side adamantly declines and both have sound reasoning! The Gemini boy is smart as a whip with a wit to match. He is ruled by his highly active mind which needs on-going input. It is never too early to start reading with these children. Some adults report even remembering stories read to them before they could speak and theoretically understand language. A challenge for the parents of male Gemini children is their propensity for jokes and gags.

The love coming up with little tricks or twists of a phrase. This is good intentioned chicanery but it can catch you and others quite unaware.

It really is perfectly conceivable for them to handle two or more completely different things at the same time. They may read a book AND watch a movie, for example and remember the details of both. This is the point at which your Gemini boy will also probably get hit with a strong bit of wanderlust. Anything you can do as a family to fulfill his thirst for knowledge and adventure goes a long way toward a successful adulthood. Number Vibration Numerology: 5. Gemini Element: Air. Gemini Color: Yellow. Chakra: Heart Anahata. Chinese Zodiac Twin: Horse.

Funny Chinese Zodiac Twin: Horse.


Creating an IVE – Part II: Personalities

In this part of the series, we will create a personality and apply it to an IVE.

The Big 5

The Big Five personality traits, also known as the five-factor model (FFM) or the OCEAN model, is a way of classifying personality traits. We use this model to define an IVE’s personality, its natural mood, and how it reacts to emotional triggers.

The five factors are:

  • Extraversion (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved)
  • Agreeableness (friendly/compassionate vs. challenging/detached)
  • Neuroticism (sensitive/nervous vs. secure/confident)

As stated above, the natural (or “default”) mood is derived from the five-factor model. If you want to create a personality that has a certain natural mood (e.g. “exuberant”), you can tweak the FFM factors and watch the IVE’s natural mood update in real-time until the result suits your needs.

Moods & Emotions

We visualize the IVE’s emotional state and how its moods change over time using a three-dimensional space, called the “Emotional Cube” or “PAD Space.” The three dimensions of the cube are called “Pleasure”, “Dominance and “Arousal” (hence PAD space).

These three factors can be combined in varying proportions to describe the following 35 emotions:  admiration, anger, boredom, curiosity, dignified, dislike, disappointment, distress, elation, fear, fears confirmed, gloating, gratification, gratitude, happy for, hate, hungry, hope, inhibited, joy, liking, love, being loved, pity, pride, puzzled, relief, remorse, reproach, resentment, satisfaction, shame, sleepy, unconcerned and violent.

Essentially, every emotion that exists in our simulation occupies a specific position within the emotional cube. Emotions are something that the IVE experiences in the short term. Over time, its emotions influence its basic personality to create moods.

You might have noticed that the cube has distinctly colored areas. These are the mood octants, which define the different moods an IVE can have: exuberant, dependent, relaxed, docile, bored, disdainful, anxious and hostile.

It takes time for the IVE’s emotions to influence its moods. The longer it experiences a certain kind of emotion, the further its mood will shift towards a different octant. At the point when IVE’s current mood crosses over to a different octant, for example from the “exuberant” octant to the “docile” octant, its mood will change.

Different moods can change the IVE’s behavior — but only if you choose to allow it. This can result in an IVE making different decisions than it normally would, or using a different tone of voice when chatting with a user.

Emotional Appraisal

Emotions are triggered either when the IVE perceives a change in its environment or when it executes an action. In both cases, an “appraisal” takes place, during which the IVE emotionally evaluates the change or the action it has taken.

Appraisals are made on the basis of the desirability of an event and the praiseworthiness of actions the IVE decides to take. While actions are appraised in terms of praiseworthiness, concepts are appraised in terms of desirability. For example, you could associate the action of liking a Facebook post with a positive emotion or assign a negative emotion to receiving a very angry Tweet.

Social Relationships

An IVE can create and maintain social relationships to other actors in the world that are either positive, neutral or negative. These are based on the emotional appraisals of their interactions.

In our example, an IVE might develop a positive association to a Facebook user who regularly expresses positive sentiments about our products while disliking a more negative person. How these social relations are leveraged is up to the designer of the IVE.


The first-ever computer-generated piece of music that was created by Alan Turing has been restored by researchers.

The recording, which starts with a rendition of the British National Anthem, was created in 1951 using a machine built by Alan Turing, but the sound was distorted until now.

The University of Canterbury in New Zealand have managed to restore the audio, which includes renditions of God Save the Queen, Baa, Baa Black Sheep and In the Mood by Glenn Miller, was preserved on a 12-inch acetate disc.

It was a beautiful moment when we first heard the true sounds of Turing’s computer,” said Jack Copeland and Jason Long, the researchers behind the restoration.

Turing, who is known for cracking seemingly unbreakable codes during the Second World War, helped create the two-minute-long track using a machine that filled most of the Computing Machine Laboratory in Manchester’s ground floor.

It marked the beginning of electronically composed music, including synthesizers and modern electronica.

The frequencies in the recording were not accurate,” Copeland and Long told the AFP. “The recordings gave at best only a rough impression of how the computer sounded.”

To restore the sound of the audio, Copeland and Long increased the tempo of the track, filtered out “extraneous noise” and removed a “troublesome wobble” from the recording. They hope that their work will draw attention to Turing’s role in the creation of electronic music.

Alan Turing’s pioneering work in the late 1940s on transforming the computer into a musical instrument has been largely overlooked,” the researchers said to the AFP.

Alan Turing is most well known for cracking the Enigma code while working at Bletchley Park during World War Two, an achievement which was recently celebrated in the film The Imitation Game.

Despite his code-breaking skills, Alan Turing was prosecuted for “gross indecency” after the war on account of his sexuality.

He ended up committing suicide in 1954 having undergone a forced “chemical castration” treatment. The Queen posthumously pardoned him in 2013.

*This article was originally published at www.telegraph.co.uk by Cara McGoogan


Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul – 24 (Fin)

I’m not going to lie and say I was all that enamored by this finale. In fact, it was a bit of a chore to get through, ironically as soon as the titular Bahamut showed up. Now, all of a sudden, Charioce is a good guy like everyone else, and all is forgiven, at least until the more immediate threat of Bahamut is dealt with (and, as it happens, all is forgiven even after that).

Favaro is dead, and Bacchus’ wagon has crashed. Nina decides the only way to fight a dragon is with another dragon (hers truly) while the gods and demons get together and form a barrier to minimize damage to the capital—though Bahamut’s random breath blasts still causes plenty of apocalyptic destruction. I just wish it was more interesting a boss.

Dragon-Nina doesn’t go up against Bahamut head-to-head; that would be suicide. Instead, she flies to Dromos and lands (naked) on Charioce’s back, much to his chagrin. But that’s just tough: if he’s going to put his life on the line to destroy Bahamut, she will too. They interface with Dromos together and it takes the form of a dragon covered with magical circuitry.

Nina and Charioce’s dragon shoots a beam; Bahamut shoots a beam; the beams meet, the first beam pushes Bahamut’s back and eventually blasts his head off, and badda-bing-badda-bang, the capital—and the world—is saved.

Just before Bahamut is blasted away, Nina (but not Charioce) finds herself in “the light of Bahamut”, where Amira is still hanging out. She gives Nina a big ol’ hug (both are naked, so Nina’s a bit bashful) and whispers something. When the day returns, the Dromos dragon has turned to stone and Charioce and Nina are passed out on the deck.

Fast-forward to the epilogue: Nina is still in the capital, helping with rebuilding; still living with Bacchus, Rita and Hamsa; Favaro announces he’s leaving again to resume his wandering life; Nina tells him about Amira, and he’s heartened; Rita has apparently resurrected Kaisar as a zombie.

Nina can apparently visit the palace whenever she wants to dance with Charioce, who is blind now but still king. As I said, all the horrible things he did are forgiven now because Bahamut was defeated…only Bahamut isn’t really dead, and he’ll be back, because he’s the name of the franchise.

But…I guess Nina’s willing to let bygones be bygones in terms of the atrocities Charioce committed against demons, gods, and whatever humans opposed him. She’s also lost her voice, apparently the price she had to pay (along with Char’s other eye) to use Dromos.

I do loathe running out of enthusiasm right before the finish line, but Bahamut really undermined much of this season with its inexplicable insistence that the audience go along with the notion that Charioce was a fellow who deserved redemption.

Nina’s love always felt as blind as the king ended up. She gave and gave and never got anything back for her love, except for the occasional decently-animated dance.

This season was at times fun, often gorgeous, occasionally sweet or funny or even moving. But in the end I just wasn’t buying what Virgin Soul was trying so hard to sell, and as a result I doubt I’d have any use for a third round.

Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul – 23

Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul – 21

Alessand goes through a lot of emotions as he stalks and kills Mugaro. There’s some excitement and satisfaction he’s proven his “worth” to the Onyx Soldiers, but also a crushing guilt and self-hatred. He is truly a fallen knight. He failed the test.

He also fails to get out undetected; Favaro spots him fleeing the scene of the crime, but rather than give chase, he takes Mugaro to Rita, who tries despretely in vain to save his life as everyone around watches, including Nina, who had been previously so distracted by her own woes.

It wouldn’t be much of a drama if Rita could’ve so easily saved Mugaro, so he dies, and the group is scattered and lost as a result. After grieving, Jeanne returns to the Land of the Gods with Sofiel and purpose.

Azazel—at times a father, brother, and friend to Mugaro—also storms off, after his hunch about one of Kaisar’s subordinates being responsible is proven true by Favaro.

And naturally, Alessand doesn’t get what he bargained for. He has the blood of a holy child on his hands, but when the Onyx commander shows what being an Onyx soldier really means—becoming host to a life-sucking stone that leads to an agonizing half-life—he immediately balks. I must say, Alessand has gone from harmless buffoon to loathsome wretch in shockingly short order.

Up in the LotG, Gabriel rejoices at the return of Sofiel and Jeanne, but also pained by the news of the loss of El. Never mind; the time for mourning is over, as far as Jeanne is concerned. Sofiel transforms her into a holy warrior, and they prepare to return to the surface world in force to exact their revenge.

Azazel has less luck, at least initially, with his superior Lucifer, and Azzy has to take a book to the face, but he eventually convinces him that Jeanne is indeed moving against Charioce, and there will never be a better time to strike. Whether any kind of coordination is in the cards, we’ll have to see.

And then we have Nina. Ever since Mugaro’s death, her demeanor has been muted, and she admits to feeling numb; like Titus Andronicus, she hath not another tear to shed. She cleans and cleans until, while cleaning Bacchus’ wagon, she finds Mugaro’s dress, and the tears begin to pour, as she recalls raw anguish similar to when her dear father died.

After her good long cathartic cry, Favaro visits her in the wagon, but has no certain answers to her questions. When Nina gets up and shows her face, Favaro is surprised to see it’s no longer soaked with tears; instead, she wears a face of stern determination; of focus.

Like Azazel, like Jeanne, she’s done crying. And if Charioce will continue to hurt and kill her friends, she’ll take it upon herself to stop him, no matter what it takes. Not long thereafter, Jeanne speaks to the people from on high: rise up against the mad king who killed her only child and intends to kill many more.

Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul – 15

Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis – 06

Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil – 12 (Fin)

Cumulative Average Rating: 6.917
MAL Score: 6.45

Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil – 11

Hataraku Maou-sama! – 05

Rating: 9 (Superior)


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Nuclear Power Position Essay

Nuclear Power Position Essay

Length: 693 words (2 double-spaced pages)

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Nuclear power can be a benefit to the world because it emits low carbon dioxide which helps us with global warming but it’s also harmful to the environment. Using nuclear power as our energy source could be our solution to lowering global warming. The nuclear waste could seep through the ground and contaminate our water which causes our marine animals to be contaminated. Not only do we currently use nuclear power to produce energy, we also use it as a weapon. Nuclear power uses uranium to power the plant because the heat to create the steam happens during fission. The uranium used to power the plant is also dangerous. My opinion on nuclear power is that using nuclear power is a dangerous idea.
There are many ways that nuclear power helps our environment. It produces energy that emits low carbon dioxide. “Canada’s existing nuclear plants avoid the emission of about 90 million tons of CO2 each year that would result if their electricity were produced by coal fire plants…” (cna, 2013). A huge problem that we are currently having is global warming. Global warming is melting the polar ice caps and it’s increasing the temperature of the weather. An article from baltimoresun states that, “France has the world's most sophisticated energy policy, producing 75 percent of their power with nuclear plants.” (Woodstock, 2013). France produces a lot of its energy using nuclear power and France is Europe’s lowest producer of carbon dioxide. Nuclear power also requires less land than solar and wind energy. It produces more electricity below the cost of wind, solar, and coal energy combined. It’s also better because if we create dams, we will be destroying the animals’ habitat. We have brought an end to the migratory fish in Britain because we cr...

... middle of paper ...

... .
Moniz, Ernest. “Why We Still Need Nuclear Power.” Foreign Affairs. n.p. n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. .
Monbiot, George. “Why Fukushima made me stop worrying and love nuclear power” the guardian. n.p. 21 March 2011. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. .
“Nuclar Facts – Is nuclear energy a good choice for the environment?” cna. n.p. n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. .

Woodstock, Charles Campbell. “Nuclear is the greenest energy” baltimoresun. n.p. 28 May 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. .

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