When Oxygen Fired Up the Earth

300 million years ago there was much more oxygen than today

  Spontaneous fires could burn large surfaces of land, because of the high oxygen concentration in the atmosphere
Scientists analyzing the Earth's atmosphere have concluded that the atmospheric oxygen levels were much higher a few hundred million years ago, and that they vary along with the evolution of life. Scientists from the Royal Holloway, University of London and from The Field Museum in Chicago have published their research about the amount of oxygen there was in the past, in this week's “Nature Geoscience”.

Today the Earth's oxygen level is at 21%, but 400 million years ago it was much higher, according to scientists. They have revealed that the amount of charcoal preserved in ancient acidic peat wetlands, now transformed into coal, can tell how much oxygen there was in the past.

Until now, to estimate atmospheric oxygen levels, scientists used geochemical models. Even if this only lead to different results, they all agree that in the Late Paleozoic, levels of oxygen concentration in the atmosphere were much higher than today. Researchers believe that these high amounts of oxygen were linked to gigantism in some animals, mostly insects, like the dragonfly Meganeura monyi that had a wingspan of over two feet; oxygen might also have allowed vertebrates to colonize the land.

These huge levels of oxygen were mainly caused by the plants colonizing the land. As plants produce oxygen through photosynthesize and trap carbon into the ground through their roots, it is only normal for the oxygen levels to be very high. As for the burial of the carbon, it was particularly intense during the Late Paleozoic, when huge deposits of coal accumulated.

The major inconvenient with large amounts of oxygen is the extreme flammability of everything, even of the green wet leaves. As Dr Ian J Glasspool from The Field Museum explains, “Atmospheric oxygen concentration is strongly related to flammability. At levels below 15% wildfires could not have spread. However, at levels significantly above 25% even wet plants could have burned, while at levels around 30 to 35%, as have been proposed for the Late Paleozoic, wildfires would have been frequent and catastrophic.”

Professor Andrew C Scott from the Royal Holloway University of London along with other researchers, have discovered that for the past 50 million years, the level of charcoal in coal stabilized at concentrations of 4-8%, which corresponds with today's oxygen level, however they did not yet found the reason why this happened.

Still they say that during several periods in the Earth's history, the charcoal percentage was up to 70%. This means that fires were frequent and catastrophic, especially during the Carboniferous and Permian Periods some 320 to 250 million years ago and the Middle Cretaceous Period nearly 100 million years ago.

“It is interesting that these were times of major change in the evolution of vegetation on land with the evolution and spread of new plant groups, the conifers in the late Carboniferous and flowering plants in the Cretaceous,”adds professor Scott. “The mystery to us is why oxygen levels appear to have more or less stabilized about 50 million years ago.”

By    2 Aug 2010, 14:06 GMT


Deep but not dead: how tropical subsoil microbes could affect the carbon cycle

It’s no exaggeration to say the tropics drive our planet’s carbon cycle – the constant transfer of carbon back and forth, on a global scale, between living things and the environment. Understanding the dynamics of the carbon cycle is increasingly important because more carbon in the atmosphere increases the warming greenhouse effect.

Rainforests are known for their unparalleled biodiversity, but they also pull more CO2 from the atmosphere than any other terrestrial ecosystem, helping to keep our climate in the stable state we’ve enjoyed for the past 10,000 years. But overlooked beneath the lush green canopies lies a big piece of the carbon puzzle: the soil.

Carbon cycles through living things and the environment.
Sahmed1890, CC BY-SA

Tropical forest soils contain more carbon than all living vegetation on Earth. And we’d like to keep it that way. Not only does organic matter — a mixture of decomposed plant, animal and microbial molecules — build soil fertility, it locks up carbon that might otherwise end up in our atmosphere. Keeping soil carbon in the ground, particularly in the tropics, is critically important to maintaining Earth’s climatic stability.

In some parts of the soil, notably the deep soil, carbon seems to be doing a pretty good job staying put on its own. Here, you’re apt to find soil organic matter that’s been sitting around for hundreds to thousands of years. It’s appealing, then, to call these subsoils a long-term carbon sink.

But a critical question remains with regard to how locked away that soil carbon really is: can microorganisms — the biological engine that drives the soil carbon cycle — actually decompose this ancient organic matter? If the soil microbes can decompose some of it, metabolizing it for energy, some of the previously sequestered carbon would eventually wind up in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. And that could be a big problem for the climate.

The view above the canopy in Luquillo.
Joe Spurr, CC BY-NC-SA

To answer that question, I traveled to the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory, an environmental “laboratory” located in the world’s most extensively studied tropical forest, in northeast Puerto Rico. Here, I investigated how microbial metabolism changes as we dig deeper.

Beneath organic-rich surface soils, the subsoil contains small amounts of very old – and potentially very stable – carbon that’s been there for thousands of years. What sorts of microbes live down there? What controls their activity? And if tropical subsoils are biologically active, is subsoil carbon really as stable as we think?

Collecting a soil core in the clay-rich tropics.
Madeleine Stone, CC BY-NC

Digging for data in the dirt

First, my colleagues and I spent weeks traipsing up and down the mountains, identifying sites with distinct geologies and plant communities at different elevations. Within each site, we dug holes a meter and a half deep, collecting samples from discrete depth layers for chemical and microbiological analysis back in the lab.

Everywhere we dug, microbial activity, soil carbon and nutrients dwindled rapidly with depth. This we expected: Over large areas, subsoils hold vast pools of carbon, but actual carbon concentrations dwindle rapidly away from the surface. And as their food supply diminishes, so does the amount of microbes.

Performing a respiration experiment to assess the metabolic potential of soils.
Madeleine Stone, CC BY-NC

What surprised us was that even in the deepest, most carbon-starved soils, microbial activity didn’t disappear. Rather, subsoil microbes were ready and waiting to cycle soil carbon and nutrients. Exoenzymes — proteins that break down large, complex molecules into smaller ones that can pass through cell membranes — remained active. On a per-microbe basis, soil respiration – the collective CO2 “exhale” of microbial metabolism – was equal or greater in subsoils than at the surface.

Microbes at the ready

In total numbers, the subsoil contained less carbon and fewer microbes. But on a per-capita basis, subsoil microbes were capable of cycling carbon and nutrients, at rates equal — or even exceeding — their surface counterparts.

How could this be? In resource-poor subsoils, any metabolic process comes at a steep energetic cost. In such environments, microbes often go dormant and wait for fairer weather. So what’s causing microbes to maintain their metabolic machinery here?

For one, deep soil microbes may have adapted to exploit resource-poor environments. High per-capita microbial activity in subsoils could also be a stress response. Much like car engines, biological systems perform less efficiently as conditions get worse. Microbes that are stressed due to low energy availability may, paradoxically, respire more carbon as CO2 for each molecule they actually use. Or they may produce more enzymes to harvest increasingly scarce resources.

Iron-breathing microbes, Geobacter, are a major component of tropical soils.
Derek Lovley, Kelly Nevin & Ben Barnhart, University of Massachusetts

Climate implications

Soil microbes are critical drivers of Earth’s carbon cycle. But in deep tropical soils, we still don’t know what controls them.

My research shows how tropical subsoil carbon, typically considered stable, may in fact be biologically vulnerable. Small changes in microbial carbon metabolism could have a huge effect, integrated over all the carbon present in tropical subsoils. Releasing as CO2 all the carbon currently locked up in these subsoils would have devastating effects on the planet’s climate.

What sorts of environmental changes might amp up subsoil metabolism? Climate-induced soil warming, for one, which makes it easier for enzymatic reactions to occur. A recent modeling study shows how soil carbon losses over the 21st century vary dramatically depending on the microbial response to temperature. Other climate change feedbacks, including increased root carbon production under elevated atmospheric CO2, could also stimulate soil biota.

Land use change is another persistent threat in the tropics. Conversion of forests to pasture can expose subsoils that haven’t seen the light of day in hundreds or thousands of years. Will ancient, “stable” carbon become susceptible to loss?

These are the questions that need to be answered. Compared with temperate and boreal regions, tropical forests remain a poorly studied microbial ecosystem. Field experiments that simulate anthropogenic drivers — climate change, deforestation — are virtually nonexistent. Until we can predict how tropical microbes will respond to global climate change, we can only guess at how the vast carbon pools beneath our planet’s most productive forests will shift over the 21st century and beyond.

The Conversation

This article was originally published on The Conversation.
Read the original article.

We’d all like to get to Mars. Let’s make sure we don’t get sick along the way.

Wikimedia commons

Every day it seems, we become increasingly aware of our insignificance on planet Earth when compared with our microbial cousins. Our bodies host vast ecosystems of bacteria, often said to outnumber our own cells ten to one (I looked for a citation on that one, and curiously, couldn’t link the statement back to a single peer-reviewed article, so take it as you will). So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that when humans go into space, we bring loads of our invisible comrades along with us. And some of them, it turns out, actually like it up there, forming biofilms that gunk up our water filtration systems and degrade the very fabric of our ships. But these bacteria are more than just a nuisance: They may pose significant health threats to astronauts. That’s why researchers at NASA and other space agencies recently published a series of papers on them in the journal Microbes and Environments. These review papers outline what we know about microbes in spaceships, and the specific measures space agencies are taking to monitor, counteract and control biological contamination.

Space agencies, including NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), routinely monitor the microbes on manned spacecrafts. Most monitoring efforts involve collecting samples from various parts of the indoor environment (air and water samples, surface swabs) culturing microbes on board, and brining them back to the ground for identification. Some of the most common microbes found on spacecrafts are human commensals—stuff we carry with us on our skin— including bacterial genera Staphylococcus, Bacillus and Micrococcus, and fungal genera Penicillum, Apsergillus and Cladosporium. This shouldn’t come as a surprise; recent studies from across a range of indoor environments also find microbial communities filled with critters that lives on us (for instance, see my post on this recent study about the NYC subway microbiome).

International Space Station, NASA

What’s more concerning than the mere presence of microbes on spacecrafts is the fact that some bugs become tougher after a stint in space. Various researchers have observed increased growth and biofilm formation, and cell wall thickening, in strains of Eschericia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus — all potential human pathogens. Often, these changes are correlated with increased antibiotic resistance. Several defining characteristics of the indoor space environment— including microgravity, increased exposure to cosmic radiation, and vacuum—  may be important selective forces driving these changes.Unfortunately, human physiology also responds to the space environment: For reasons that are still being studied, astronauts often exhibit decreased immune function following prolonged trips into space.

Given the possibility of the bugs we bring into space becoming more pathogenic, while our own physiologies make us more susceptible to illness, what steps should space agencies be taking to ensure the safety of our astronauts? It’s clear that swabbing for bugs, waiting for them to grow, and IDing them on the ground—methods that have provided us a wealth of useful information about space microbes—isn’t going to cut it for long-term manned missions to Mars, during which astronauts may have to respond to a pathogenic threat in real time:

“As we move farther away from Earth and deeper into the frontier of space, the development of new microbial monitoring technologies aimed at detecting, quantifying, and identifying the presence of target organisms of interest will become increasingly important,”– Dr. Nobuyasu Yamaguchi and colleagues in their recent review paper.

NASA is currently developing new tools that astronauts can use in-flight to rapidly detect microbial pathogens. These include both molecular (DNA based) identification tools and simple portable systems. For instance, a recent proof-of-concept-study found that gold nanoparticles, tagged with an antibody that has a high affinity for S. aureus, could indicate the presence of the bacteria via a colorimetric reaction in less than ten minutes. The JAXA, meanwhile, is developing small microfluidic devices in which bacteria can be detected via a fluorescent dye. In another recent microbial monitoring experiment, the JAXA introduced a handheld particle counter that could detect bacteria-sized particles in the air and store up to 500 measurements.

Mars, Wikimedia commons

There’s abundant circumstantial evidence to suggest that bacterial endospores, as well as some fungal and Archaeal species, may be able to survive an interplanetary journey. Ultimately, the success of long-term manned missions is going to depend on our ability to keep astronauts healthy. We’re just at the frontier of exploring the microbial ecology of indoor environments, and the indoor space environment presents a host of unique environmental challenges. As the technology for monitoring, IDing and responding to pathogenic threats on space ships continues to grow and improve, we move ever-closer to long-term manned space missions becoming a reality.

Three recent review papers covering the microbial ecology of indoor space environments are freely available here:

More context on the microbiology research currently conducted by NASA can be found here:

Microbial highlights from ESA 2014

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) annual conference, once dominated by discussions of lions, tigers and bears (or so I’ll pretend), has become a convergence point for microbial ecologists. From amphibian skin microbiomes to biological soil crusts and more, the diversity of microbial talks this year was astounding.

As the conference winds down, I wanted to share just a few of the coolest microbial findings that stuck with me from the last couple days at ESA. What was your favorite microbial talk of the week? Post about it in the comments, or better yet, tweet about it! And don’t forget to tag me (@themadstone) as well as the official ESA microbial ecology twitter (@ESAmicrobe), if you do ;)

Can dormancy explain microbial biogeography?

Dormancy is a condition that afflicts the best of us.

Dormancy is a condition that affects the best of us.

Dr. Jay Lennon gave a great talk on dormancy; a subject that’s particularly fascinating to me in light of the vast (and probably rather dormant) microbial populations living in deep, subterranean environments.

Dormancy, otherwise known as metabolic inactivity, is an important strategy for surviving stressful environments. Conditions such as extreme drought, cold, or lack of food can cause microbes to enter a dormant state. Dormant microbes are fascinating not only for their ability to survive extreme conditions, but to do so for thousands to millions of years.

Lennon’s research group is particularly interested in applying principles of biogeography- how diversity scales across space- to microbial ecology. But understanding spatial patterns in microbial diversity is tricky because:  1) microorganisms are enormously diverse compared with macroorganisms and 2) unlike, say, mountain lions, which may be very genetically similar across kilometer scales but diverse over thousands of kilometers, genetically distinct populations of microbes can exist at the millimeter scale. Scientists find that microbial communities in soil samples taken 1 centimeter apart from each other can be up to 90% genetically distinct.

Here’s where dormancy comes in. Lennon’s group can separate the active from dormant members of microbial communities, by looking at the number of RNA transcript copies for a ubiquitous bacterial gene. RNA transcripts, the intermediate product between a DNA “blueprint” and an active protein, are well correlated with metabolic activity. Lennon finds differences in how diversity scales with space when examining the dormant versus active portions of a microbial community. Simply put, dormant microbial communities are more homogenous across space than their active counterparts. Furthermore, active microbial communities tend to become dominated by select taxa, probably those with some fitness advantage in the local environment. Dormant communities are less likely to be dominated by a few individual taxa, but rather represent a well-distributed “seed-bank” of genetic diversity.

The difference in how dormant versus active microbial communities scale with space may seem like a nuance, but this information could go a long way toward helping ecologists understand the distribution of microbial diversity across our planet. Lennon’s results suggest dormant microbes may represent up to 40% of a community. That’s no small portion of the total genetic diversity. Furthermore, dormant microbes, as a potentially long-term seed-bank, may help replenish the diversity of a community following extinction events.

Pine needle bacteria that soak up nitrogen

Scots Pine, Poland. Pine needles may host communities of nitrogen fixing bacteria that aid in survival in low-nitrogen environments. Credit: Encyclopedia of Life

Did you know that nearly all leaves on Earth host their own microbiomes? Neither did I! But perhaps it’s not too surprising, given we’re now studying the microbiomes of cell phones and sewers. Anyway, it’s pretty cool. It’s extra cool in alpine ecosystems, where scientists are finding that these leaf-dwellers may play an important role in making nitrogen available to plants.

Dr. Carolin Frank’s lab studies nitrogen cycling in high, cold alpine ecosystems dominated by coniferous trees. Alpine ecosystems have long puzzled ecologists, because their soils and vegetation often contain more nitrogen than can be easily explained. Dr. Frank and colleagues hypothesized the “missing nitrogen” might come from nitrogen fixers- bacteria that carry a special enzyme which allows them to convert atmospheric N2 gas to ammonia- found in an unlikely place.

The team went out to a high-altitude forest in Colorado, collecting pine needles and bringing them back to the lab. In the lab, they placed the needles in sealed jars and added a chemical called acetylene. Acetylene, a simple carbon compound, can be chemically converted by nitrogenase, the same enzyme used to fix dinitrogen gas. This is a quick and cheap way of assessing whether a sample contains the nitrogenase enzyme, and hence nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

After finding that the pine needles did indeed host nitrogen fixers, the group used genetic techniques to look more closely at who exactly is there. The most prominent bacteria in all pine needle samples was genetically similar to Gluconacetobacter -a nitrogen fixer found in sugarcane.

So, nitrogen fixers are living in pine needles and helping their host trees take up nitrogen. If replicated in other coniferous forests, these findings could transform our understanding of alpine and boreal ecosystems, helping explain how coniferous trees persist on very nitrogen-limited soils.

Ocean acidification and marine calcifiers: it’s more complicated than you thought.

Coccolithophore, a single celled marine phytoplankton that produces calcium carbonate scales. Credit: Encyclopedia of Life

Or at least, it’s much more complicated than an ignorant terrestrial scientist like myself thought. See, my understanding of ocean acidification went something like this: more CO2 in the atmosphere means more CO2 dissolving in the surface ocean. When this CO2 dissolves, it reacts with water to produce acid, lowering the pH of the ocean. This is bad news for organisms that build exoskeletons from calcium carbonate (CaCO3), because the protons that create acidity get in the way of calcium carbonate formation. Sound good?

Well, like most natural phenomena when examined closely, the answer is quite a bit more complicated. Dr. Deborah Iglesias-Rodruigez enlightened me today as to some of that complexity. Iglesias-Rodruigez studies Coccolithophores, a common group of marine phytoplankton (photosynthetic organisms) that precipitate a beautiful, calcium carbonate exoskeleton. But in order for these little guys to create their exoskeletons, they must first take up some form of carbon into their cells.

It turns out Coccolithophores have evolved to take up the predominant form of carbon found in seawater: bicarbonate, or HCO3-. And it also turns out this is the particular form of carbon that becomes more abundant during ocean acidification. So- does that mean acidification is good for calcium carbonate formation, after all?

Well, not quite. Although Coccolithophores seem to take up more bicarbonate under more acidic conditions, this isn’t exactly a good thing. Iglesias-Rodruigez finds that, in acidic conditions, Coccolithophores can start over-calcifying: precipitating more calcium carbonate than they need to, which is energetically wasteful. Moreover, once that calcium carbonate is precipitated, it gets slowly eaten away by the more-acidic seawater.

There was more detail to be found in this presentation, including some interesting stuff about differences in microbial cell volume mediating ocean acidification effects, but I’ll leave that for another day. One ocean chemistry lesson today was enough for my brain to juice on.

Ultrasmall bacteria from Antarctic Lake raise questions about the limits of life

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Approximate location of Lake Vida, Antarctica. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Approximate location of Lake Vida, Antarctica. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Further analysis using x-ray spectroscopy indicated that both ultrasmalls and nanoparticles had granular, iron-rich surface coatings. Interestingly, these coatings resemble iron oxide minerals found in old, weathered soils. It was also common for ultrasmalls to possess exopolysaccharides- long, filamentous proteins- connecting them to the nanoparticles.

Could magnetic bacteria be the next generation of microbots?

Artist's depiction of a nanobot performing cell surgery. Credit:

Artist’s depiction of a nanobot performing cell surgery. Source:

Source: iGEM2009

Source: iGEM2009

Rocks and their microbes: a co-evolutionary partnership

Different rocks, different microbes

A different picture emerged on the silicate rocks. Members of the phyla Firmicutes and Actinobacteria- also known as Gram-positive bacteria- were found here. While community composition was relatively similar among the carbonates, communities that grew on quartz were very different than those found on albite or microcline. Jones observed fewer sulfur oxidizers on silicates, and those he found tended to be more acid-tolerant.

From farm to table: insects as a conduit for antibiotic resistant bacteria

The love affair between industrial agriculture and the antibiotic industry has come into an uncomfortable spotlight of late. In 2011, 7.7 million pounds of antibiotics were sold to treat sick people in the United States. This compares with a whopping 29.9 million pounds of antibiotics fed to cattle, pigs and poultry.1 Regular antibiotics doses keep perpetually overcrowded animals from falling ill and dying en masse, but antibiotics are also widely used to hasten growth, shortening an animal’s time to slaughter and increasing profit.

Concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, have come to dominate the meat industry over the past fifty years. Swine operations such as the one depicted here represent an enormous source of environmental pollution and are a breeding ground for antibiotic resistant bacteria. Credit: Wikimedia commons

What’s the consequence of all this unfettered antibiotic use? Multi-drug resistant strains, or “superbugs” are on the rise. Our ability to keep pace with resistance by producing new antibiotics is diminishing. It’s even been suggested that we’re now entering a post-antibiotic era.

In 2010, representatives of the FDA, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Center for Disease Control and Prevention testified before Congress that a definitive link exists between the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture and antibiotic resistant diseases in humans.

But in spite of mounting evidence, the meat industry has largely succeeded in lobbying against any antibiotic restrictions. A major thrust of the industry’s argument is the lack of direct evidence linking antibiotic resistant bacteria bred on animal farms to human disease.

Now, proponents of antibiotic regulation may have some powerful new evidence to fuel their case. Microbial ecologist Ludek Zuerkand colleagues at Kansas State University are finding that insects- particularly houseflies and cockroaches- may represent the missing link between animal farms and human population centers.

Their review paper on insects and antibiotic resistance is currently in press in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Zurek’s research team focuses on Enterococci, a group of bacteria responsible for illnesses ranging from urinary-tract infections to meningitis. Enterococci are also rather infamous for developing multi-drug antibiotic resistance. In one study, researchers measured the abundance of Enterococci in two swine production facilities in Kansas and North Carolina. The scientists examined houseflies, roaches and pig feces collected at both sites, finding Enterococci in 89% of all samples. Multi-drug resistant strains were found everywhere. Moreover, the drug-resistant strains found in flies and roaches were genetically identical to the strains found in swine feces, indicating insects acquired their pathogens from pigs.

In another study, the researchers screened houseflies collected from five fast food restaurants in a town in northeastern Kansas. Ninety seven percent of flies harbored Enterococci. The most abundant strain, Enterococcus faecalis, showed resistance to broad-spectrum antibiotics including tetracycline, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin and kanamycin. The scientists also identified transposons- snippets of DNA bacteria can swap during conjugation, their version of sex- that are associated with antibiotic resistant traits.

Ready-to-eat food from the same restaurants was also contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Contamination was higher in summer than winter, corresponding with increased numbers of houseflies in restaurants.

From these investigations, the researchers concluded that “food served in restaurants is commonly contaminated with antibiotic-resistant Enterococci and that houseflies may play a role in this contamination.”

The common housefly may be more than just a nuisance: new research highlights this insect's important role in spreading antibiotic resistant bacteria.

The common housefly may be more than just a nuisance: new research highlights this insect’s important role in spreading antibiotic resistant bacteria. Credit: Wikimedia commons

Not wishing to lose points for a lack of thoroughness, the scientists decided to test directly whether insects from animal farms can contaminate food. In another study, they collected flies from a cattle feedlot and brought them back to the lab. Within thirty minutes, the flies deposited roughly 1,000 antibiotic-resistant Enterococci on a hapless beef patty. This experiment was carried out using as few as five flies.

Houseflies give bacteria more than just a free ride from farm to food. They may also serve as an incubator. Several studies have shown that pathogenic strains of E.coli proliferate in the gut of common houseflies and can be transferred during feeding.

Using a fluorescent protein to tag and track bacteria, Zurek’s research team found Enteroccoccus density peaks in the fly’s crop, or foregut, roughly 48 hours after ingestion. Significantly, houseflies regurgitate the contents of their crop while feeding. In doing so, they can disseminate bacteria into their food and water.  Zurek suggests houseflies serve as a “bioenhanced vector for bacteria” because of their dual role as incubator and locomotion.

The work of Zurek and his fellow scientists has profound public health implications.  Through many lines of evidence, this body of research demonstrates a direct link between the antibiotic resistant bacteria on factory farms and antibiotic resistant bacteria in our food.

Of course, none of this is terribly surprising, is it? We’ve known since biblical times that flies are harbingers of disease. Included in the ten Biblical Plagues in the Book of Exodus is the Plague of Flies, which “came [as a] grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.”

 However, when it comes to an issue as personal (and political) as food, we sometimes tend to forget unpleasant truths. In his book in Eating Animals, an acclaimed work of investigative journalism on the modern meat industry, Jonathan Safran Foer writes, “Food choices are determined by many factors, but reason (even consciousness) is generally not high on the list.” As hard scientific evidence accumulates on the link between antibiotic resistance on animal farms and public health, one can only hope growing consumer consciousness will force the meat industry to take a hard look at its practices.

1. Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming

Zurek, L., & Ghosh, A. (2014). Insects Represent a Link between Food Animal Farms and the Urban Environment for Antibiotic Resistance Traits Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 80 (12), 3562-3567 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.00600-14


Energy Blue Print
Archive 2010

South africa energy [r]evolution scenario

South Africa is making crucial energy decisions at a time when humankind is at a critical crossroads. Since the industrial revolution, the planet has warmed by 0.74oC; a distortion of the climate system caused by human activities such as the burning of carbon-intensive fossil fuels1. The impacts we are witnessing are occurring far sooner than had been predicted. Droughts in many parts of the world, the near-total loss of the Arctic ice-cap and an additional 150,000 deaths per year2 indicate that we are already experiencing dangerous climate change. And it is the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people who will be affected first – that means that the African continent is on the frontline of climate change. The challenge humanity faces now is to avoid “runaway” climate change. Climate scientists warn that if we warm the atmosphere by more than 2oC from pre-industrial levels, we invite catastrophic climate change and trigger processes that will result in even more emissions being released, taking global warming beyond our control.

The warming we have already experienced, plus an additional degree expected due to the “lag” effect of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, takes us to the brink. If we pass this threshold, the economic, social, political, cultural and environmental impacts will be catastrophic. South Africa is the largest CO2 emitter on the African continent, and the 12th largest emitter in the world. As such, the country has a moral responsibility to act and implement a coordinated, coherent, efficient and effective response to the global challenge of climate change.

In presenting the greatest threat the planet faces, climate change also provides an opportunity for sustainable development. South Africa has massive renewable energy sources, from wind and marine energy to some of the best solar resources in the world. Harnessing these resources would not only make a huge contribution to averting runaway climate change, but would also create a green economy based on green jobs. We can and must create a much more sustainable society, using existing clean technologies. However, time is not on our side and the transition must begin immediately. Action is required both through the international United Nations climate negotiations (aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions), but also through concrete and immediate action domestically.

There is much South Africa can do to become a climate leader. Currently, South Africa’s greenhouse-gas emissions are still on a sharp upward trajectory, with more than 90% of South Africa’s electricity coming from coal, and two of the biggest coal-fired power stations in the world (Medupi and Kusile) under construction.

Renewable energy is forced to compete on an uneven playing field, as the majority of political and financial support is still enjoyed by the powerful fossil fuel industry, and Eskom enjoys a monopoly in the electricity sector. However, this can and must be turned around. With the political will and South Africa’s abundance of renewable energy resources, the country could become a renewable energy leader in Africa. It is also well placed to become much more energy efficient and reduce the costs of energy as well as emissions.

the advanced energy [r]evolution scenario: South Africa

This scenario is based on the global energy scenario produced by Greenpeace International, which demonstrates how energy-related global CO2 emissions can be reduced by 80% by 2050 based on 1990 levels. The South African scenario provides an exciting, ambitious and necessary blueprint for how emission reductions can be made in the energy and transport sectors and how South Africa’s energy can be sustainably managed up to the middle of this century.

our renewable energy future

This report demonstrates that renewable energy is mature, ready and can be deployed on a large scale. Decades of technological progress have seen renewable energy technologies such as wind, solar photovoltaic, geothermal power plants and solar thermal collectors move steadily into the mainstream. They will play a vital role in providing secure, reliable and zero-emission energy in the future. The global market for renewable energy is booming internationally; between 2005 and 2010 the installed capacity of wind grew by 333% globally3 while solar photovoltaics grew by over 700%4. As renewable energy is scaled up, we can start phasing out coal. In fact, this report illustrates how if renewable energy is implemented with enough ambition, together with comprehensive energy efficiency measures, South Africa would not have to build one of the biggest coal-fired power stations in the world (Kusile) at all. Decisions made today by governments and power utilities will determine the energy supply in decades to come and coal-fired power plants are incompatible with an energy mix that helps us avoid runaway climate change. An Energy [R]evolution driven by the creation of green jobs and the creation of a sustainable, clean future must be the result of political action taken today.

the forgotten solution: energy efficiency

The South African Advanced Energy [R]evolution scenario takes advantage of the enormous potential for the country to become much more energy efficient. Energy efficiency offers some of the simplest, easiest and most cost effective measures for reducing both greenhouse gas emissions and costs to end-users. Removal of government subsidies, emissions trading and carbon taxes will all result in the cost of fossil fuels increasing, perhaps to a level that truly reflects the damage they cause. As fossil fuels are phased out, it will be necessary to protect those poorest and most vulnerable to energy price increases – and energy efficiency presents major opportunities for people to be protected from the costs of rising energy prices.

keeping it fair

The Advanced Energy [R]evolution Scenario describes a major restructuring of energy and transport markets in South Africa. An integral part of the inevitable transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy will be ensuring that the overall negative social and economic impacts are kept to a minimum and the opportunities for new employment, investment and innovation are maximized. The transition away from fossil fuels opens up new opportunities in skills development, manufacturing and infrastructure development. Early planning will help ensure that a skilled workforce is ready to deliver South Africa’s low-carbon future, through a just transition towards a renewable energy-based society.

on the front foot

Avoiding runaway climate change will require the most far-reaching structural reforms carried out by human society. Business as usual is simply not an option. Furthermore, there can be no half measures, or falling short of the required emission reductions. The risk of passing the threshold of runaway climate change is not one that humankind can afford to take.

The Advanced Energy [R]evolution scenario demonstrates that making the necessary transformations in how we use energy is achievable, and provides a wealth of opportunities to stimulate economic growth, ensure access to electricity for all and create green, sustainable jobs. We call on South Africa’s political leaders to turn the Advanced Energy [R]evolution scenario into a reality and to begin the inevitable transition from fossil-fuels to renewable energy now: delivering immediate reductions in emissions; minimising economic and social disruption; and maximising opportunities for the South African economy to prosper from the transition.


Are Valuation Cases Really Reviewed De Novo?

Article excerpt

"How much duty will I pay?" is perhaps one of the most important and frequently asked questions from clients who import merchandise into the United States. In nearly all cases, the amount of customs duty to be assessed is a critical factor in computing an importer's cost of doing business. The answer to this question depends on how the merchandise will be classified and valued upon its importation into the United States. However, the more difficult task is to understand the principles of classification and value and to predict how they will be applied.

After reviewing relevant statutes, regulations, and rulings, this Article looks to judicial decisions for guidance in gleaning the appropriate rule of law that will answer our client's question. Hopefully, these decisions form a predictable body of law that will allow businesses to conduct transactions in a manner consistent with both current global business practices and U.S. international obligations under the Trade Agreements Act of 1979.(1) However, decisional law may not always adequately achieve this objective. One theory, explored below, asks if that goal remains unrealized in the context of valuation issues because the Court of International Trade (CIT) and its appellate court defer too greatly to Customs decisions in that area. Undue deference to these determinations would thwart the congressional goal in establishing the Court of International Trade, which was "intended to provide a complete system of judicial review with respect to matters arising under the customs laws."(2)

Congress enacted the Customs Court Act of 1980 to provide "for significant and much-needed reform and clarification in the laws governing the United States Customs Court."(3) By creating the U.S. Court of International Trade ad granting it exclusive jurisdiction over actions arising under the customs laws of the United States, Congress sought to eliminate many complex questions that had arisen under the former Customs Court. These question included confusion about the court's status, jurisdiction, and power to resolve particular issues. Among the many clarifications provided, 28 U.S.C. [section] 2640(4) emphasized the scope and standard of review in civil actions contesting the denial of a protest under Section 515 of the Tariff Act of 1930.(5) Specifically, judicial review of the denial of a protest contesting Customs' appraisement or classification of imported merchandise is to be conducted de novo.(6)

While the standard of review is de novo, the Customs Court Act of 1980 nevertheless grants to these Customs determinations a presumption of correctness.(7) The co-existence of a presumption of correctness with de novo judicial review of Customs decisions should not in and of itself provide any confusion or conflict.(8)

The presumption of correctness has been incorporated into U.S. jurisprudence practically from its inception.(9) Similarly, judicial review of administrative decisions is a basic tenet of the statutory scheme authorizing agency action.(10) With this background, these two concepts must be properly integrated so that the presumption of correctness does not operate as a limit on the judicial review of administrative decisions.

The government tends to argue for such a limitation, especially when the decision under review involves a position adopted under authority delegated to the agency to prescribe rules, regulations, or instructions necessary to carry out a congressional or presidential mandate.(11) However, whether findings of fact or interpretations of law are implicated in the contested decision, Congress intended to assure de novo review, or what has been described as judicial review of an "extensive character,"(12) to a litigant who seeks adjudication of the proper assessment of duty on imported merchandise.

The Court of International Trade has applied a heightened level of scrutiny to Customs decisions in recent classification, drawback, and country-of-origin cases. …


Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Developmenterikson

Like Piaget, Erik Erikson (1902-1994) maintained that children develop in a predetermined order. Instead of focusing on cognitive development, however, he was interested in how children socialize and how this affects their sense of self. Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development has eight distinct stage, each with two possible outcomes. According to the theory, successful completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and successful interactions with others. Failure to successfully complete a stage can result in a reduced ability to complete further stages and therefore a more unhealthy personality and sense of self. These stages, however, can be resolved successfully at a later time.

Trust Versus Mistrust. From ages birth to one year, children begin to learn the ability to trust others based upon the consistency of their caregiver(s). If trust develops successfully, the child gains confidence and security in the world around him and is able to feel secure even when threatened. Unsuccessful completion of this stage can result in an inability to trust, and therefore an sense of fear about the inconsistent world. It may result in anxiety, heightened insecurities, and an over feeling of mistrust in the world around them.

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt. Between the ages of one and three, children begin to assert their independence, by walking away from their mother, picking which toy to play with, and making choices about what they like to wear, to eat, etc. If children in this stage are encouraged and supported in their increased independence, they become more confident and secure in their own ability to survive in the world. If children are criticized, overly controlled, or not given the opportunity to assert themselves, they begin to feel inadequate in their ability to survive, and may then become overly dependent upon others, lack self-esteem, and feel a sense of shame or doubt in their own abilities.

Initiative vs. Guilt. Around age three and continuing to age six, children assert themselves more frequently. They begin to plan activities, make up games, and initiate activities with others. If given this opportunity, children develop a sense of initiative, and feel secure in their ability to lead others and make decisions. Conversely, if this tendency is squelched, either through criticism or control, children develop a sense of guilt. They may feel like a nuisance to others and will therefore remain followers, lacking in self-initiative.

Identity vs. Role Confusion. During adolescence, the transition from childhood to adulthood is most important. Children are becoming more independent, and begin to look at the future in terms of career, relationships, families, housing, etc. During this period, they explore possibilities and begin to form their own identity based upon the outcome of their explorations. This sense of who they are can be hindered, which results in a sense of confusion (“I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up”) about themselves and their role in the world.

Intimacy vs. Isolation. Occurring in Young adulthood, we begin to share ourselves more intimately with others. We explore relationships leading toward longer term commitments with someone other than a family member. Successful completion can lead to comfortable relationships and a sense of commitment, safety, and care within a relationship. Avoiding intimacy, fearing commitment and relationships can lead to isolation, loneliness, and sometimes depression.

Generativity vs. Stagnation. During middle adulthood, we establish our careers, settle down within a relationship, begin our own families and develop a sense of being a part of the bigger picture. We give back to society through raising our children, being productive at work, and becoming involved in community activities and organizations. By failing to achieve these objectives, we become stagnant and feel unproductive.

Ego Integrity vs. Despair. As we grow older and become senior citizens, we tend to slow down our productivity, and explore life as a retired person. It is during this time that we contemplate our accomplishments and are able to develop integrity if we see ourselves as leading a successful life. If we see our lives as unproductive, feel guilt about our pasts, or feel that we did not accomplish our life goals, we become dissatisfied with life and develop despair, often leading to depression and hopelessness.


Ohio Egg-As-Person Petition Rejected By Attorney General

Personhood Ohio is in the beginning steps of trying to start a constitutional amendment that would redefine a fertilized egg as a legal person, but even this early the path has been rocky. The group has now had its petition rejected by State Attorney General Mike DeWine, who called the summary “not fair and truthful.”

The problem? The summary in the petition is announcing what the amendment would not affect, rather than what it would, and the “would nots” aren’t necessarily compatible with the petition’s wording.

Personhood Ohio, however, thinks it is being unjustly treated and announced that it would appeal.

Via The Columbus Dispatch:

Personhood Ohio organizer Patrick Johnston said the group would file an administrative appeal of the decision.

“I don’t think it’s necessary (to file a new petition),” Johnston said. “The amendment is scientifically sound, it’s constitutionally sound and I think he’s being arbitrary to reject our wording.”

Johnston said the wording of the amendment is similar to the wording of the Healthcare Freedom Amendment passed last year, also for Ohio’s constitution.

“I disagree that it isn’t consistent. On what basis? He didn’t give us a reason,” Johnston said.

The “exceptions” in the summary of the petition? That egg-as-person rights would not affect:

Genuine contraception ‘that acts solely by preventing the creation of a new human being,’ human eggs ‘prior to the beginning of life,’ or reproductive technology or in vitro fertilization procedures ‘that respect the right to life of newly created human beings.’

Follow Robin Marty on twitter: @robinmarty

  • crowepps

    if the Zygote is a legal person, and at some point its presence, dependence on the woman’s organs and the metabolic load it is inflicting on her ruins her health or threatens her life, is the embryo/fetus criminally liable for assault or attempted murder?

    If its presence in the uterus is consequent to rape and its remaining there is repugnant to the woman as a reminder of that attack, is it guilty of torture?

    If the woman has to stay home from work in order to maintain the pregnancy, does it owe her the wages she lost?

    Any prenatal and obstetric care necessary because it is present would rightfully be its responsibility so will it be born in debt to the doctor who delivered it and the hospital where the delivery took place?

    If the woman dies during labor and childbirth, is the surviving newborn a murderer?

    It seems problematic to me to assert that from the instant of conception it is “a person” with all the rights of a person and yet to neglect recognizing it also would have the burden of the same responsibilities as other persons, including providing its own support, paying its own debts and respecting others right to health and life.

  • littleblue

    A personhood bill was proposed in WI last week.  It’s my understanding that in WI, a measure must be adopted by two consecutive legislatures before it can go to the ballot.  Here’s the text of the bill:


Article structure:
  1. Lead
  2. Sampling Bias
  3. Well-chosen average
  4. 10 more failed experiments of which we haven’t written yet
  5. Playing with scale
  6. Selecting 100%
  7. Hiding main numbers
  8. Visual metaphor
  9. Example of qualitative visualization
  10. Conclusion and what to read next
KlauS 30 june 2014, 14:35

- Why do not you learn?
- Yep, the programming is not really for everyone.
- Actually, the programming makes me miserable.
- Wow. What do you mean by that?
- What is this mindset?
- Why do you need this to become a good coder?
- I work like this:
KlauS 28 may 2014, 15:11

Do you remember this movie? What is it doing here? Why the hell such post on Kukuruku at all?
I guess, because I think that the main piece of IT is human, or rather our brain. I’ll tell you about another possibility of using your brain a bit more effectively. Everything described here has been tried out on me. It’s important to note that I’ll highlight if I haven’t tried something out. I didn’t use any drugs or devices. Popular methods have only been used. And yes, it’s devastatingly realistic. Having tried it once, you'll never resist telling about it.
KlauS 27 may 2014, 9:48

Pirat 22 may 2014, 15:38

Since the days of a Gold Rush a little has changed in the rating of high-risk enterprises by the man. A half century later, still in the same California is the Silicon Rush epicenter.
Here are in the photo San Francisco in XIX century and today.
Pirat 18 february 2014, 21:37

KlauS 31 january 2014, 20:25

Presently, the distance learning system has been developing all the time. There is no longer a problem to get a good education remotely. Online learning has several advantages, such as learning at own pace, freedom and flexibility, accessibility, and social equality. The Web offers a variety of services to help gaining new knowledge.
MeLavi 7 december 2012, 21:46

MSL Curiosity did the most detailed geological research on Mars

BumBum 15 november 2012, 16:00

Pirat 12 november 2012, 19:48

A couple years ago, I worked together with Ken Thompson on the interactive graphics language that was developed by Gerard Holzman in Bell Labs. I was typing quicker, therefore, I sat at the keypad, and Ken stood behind me. We worked quickly and when the compiler gave out an error, I started reflexively digging in a problem, studying the call stack, program output and launching a debugger, and so on. But Ken simply was standing nearby and thinking, ignoring me and a code, which we just wrote. Soon I noticed regularity that Ken often understood the problem faster than me and was saying, “I know, what is going on”. Usually, he was right. I understood that Ken built the mental model of a code, and when something was broken, it was the error in this model. He was thinking of how this problem could arise, so he explained what was wrong with model, or where our code could mirror this model incorrectly.
MeLavi 29 october 2012, 22:03
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Keep America Beautiful

A more sustainable future can start in a lot of places. It can start with a cleanup activity that engages local residents to come together for the betterment of their community.

It can start with an educational event, recycling drive, graffiti paint-out, planting a community garden or planting just one tree. Great movements begin with small actions.

Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup begins with small actions – the actions of individuals.

And those small actions lead to significant impact.

Most importantly, taking action starts within all of us, as we make a conscious decision to make a difference.

Vibrant communities aren’t just aesthetically pleasing, they’re places with engaged citizens, more active local economies, higher property values, healthier environments, and improved public safety. They’re better places to raise a family, start a business, or go to school. They’re better places for living our lives.

Thanks to everyone who plays a role in the Great American Cleanup—sponsors, volunteers, local organizations and coordinators. The Great American Cleanup results, highlighted here (PDF), offer proof of the power of our individual and collective actions.


Everyday Recipes

Comfort Food Made Healthy

6 delicious recipes from a rich-fare loving foodie turned heart-healthy eater

Georgia DownardAugust 22, 2013Comments

Now serving: comfort

1 / 8

I've always "lived to eat." Sounds decadent, I know, but given my heritage, it's hardly surprising. My mom weaned me on her great Southern cooking; Dad, a native of Canton, China, brought amazing Asian dishes to the table. Both ingrained in me a true appreciation for food and cooking.

A year spent in France studying the culinary arts further nurtured my passion. Returning home, I chose food as my life's work, and as a professional, I felt it my duty to embrace all food, including butter, red meat, creamy sauces, and rich desserts.

My cooking and eating style changed abruptly in February 2007. I went for a routine stress test, which led to an angiogram that showed one of my arteries was 85% blocked. A stent was inserted in the artery to keep it open, and I went home the next day.

But now I had to eat much more carefully—including following a low-fat diet. It sounded like unbearable deprivation! Thus began my quest to figure out how to cook what I love while protecting my heart from further damage.

The biggest adjustment was cutting back on meat and high-fat foods, particularly those high in saturated fat like my beloved butter, cream, and cheese—until I found satisfying ways to incorporate them into my diet, as you'll see in my versions of comfort-food classics such as macaroni and cheese, meat loaf, and chicken and dumplings. My passion for cooking still flourishes. And I still firmly believe that all foods have a place on my table; it's my job to tailor them to fit a heart-healthy lifestyle. Here are 6 of my favorites.

1 / 8


The Iao Valley State park was the last stop on my day trip. By now it was around 4:00 pm, and the sun sets at around 6:30 pm. I had no idea what to expect. There was a little star on the map the car rental place gave me that said “Iao Needle.”

The park is in the valley formed from a collapsed volcano (a caldera) Iao means “cloud supreme” from the bank of clouds that are usually hanging over the valley. Throughout the park, there are signs saying that flash floods occur regularly because of the frequent and heavy rains.


How blind mole rats ward off cancer

Washington, November 6 (ANI): Biologists at the University of Rochester have discovered the mechanism that helps blind mole rats fight off cancer and it differs from what they discovered three years ago in another long-lived and cancer-resistant mole rat species, the naked mole rat.

"We expected blind mole rats to have a similar mechanism for stopping the spread of cancerous cells. Instead, we discovered they've evolved their own mechanism," said Seluanov.

Gorbunova and Seluanov made their discovery by isolating cells from blind mole rats and forcing them to proliferate in culture beyond what occurs in the animal.

After dividing approximately 15-20 times, all of the cells in the culture dish died rapidly. The researchers determined that the rapid death occurred because the cells recognized their pre-cancerous state and began secreting a suicidal protein, called interferon beta.

The precancerous cells died by a mechanism, which kills both abnormal cells and their neighbours, resulting in a "clean sweep."

"Not only were the cancerous cells killed off, but so were the adjacent cells, which may also be prone to timorous behaviour," said Seluanov.

"While people don't use the same cancer-killing mechanism as blind mole rats, we may be able to combat some cancers and prolong life, if we could stimulate the same clean sweep reaction in cancerous human cells," said Gorbunova.

The research team also included Christopher Hine, Xiao Tian, and Julia Ablaeva in Rochester, Andrei Gudkov at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY, and Eviatar Nevo at the University of Haifa in Israel.

Gorbunova believes the anti-cancer mechanism is an adaptation to subterranean life.

"Blind mole rats spend their lives in underground burrows protected from predators," said Gorbunova. "Living in this environment, they could perhaps afford to evolve a long lifespan, which includes developing efficient anti-cancer defenses," the researcher stated.


Couder’s memory effect – could it be real?

There are many researchers who think that these experiments show something much more – they hint at what the microscopic quantum world is really like. The quantum like effects occur when the driving force and frequency of the system are carefully tuned. When the conditions are right, the drops interact with their own waves – long after the waves have been emitted. Couder calls this behaviour the ‘high memory regime’ – its where all the quantum like behaviour emerges.

So the question becomes – what is the memory of a real quantum system? The answer to that question is surprisingly simple. Its infinite. Quantum states can entangle and ‘live’ forever. This fact is the foundation of Quantum Computing, the Many Worlds Theory and many other absurdities (Schrödinger’s cat…). Indeed the only point in QM where memory is not complete and infinite is at the point of measurement. But measurement is in the eye of beholder, and thus we need not worry about the measurement problem here. Or rather we will attempt to solve the measurement problem with a new hypothesis – that the memory of real quantum systems are limited, and that this limit is responsible for the collapse of the wave function.

This of course could kill or seriously limit the reach of quantum computing, and would provide a quick end to the Many Worlds Theory, and many many other consequences of quantum mechanics. Indeed Hilbert Space itself would lose its ‘reality’ – becoming nothing more than a mere mathematical trick for ‘memory intact’  (AKA pre-collapse) states.

What is the form of the memory? In Couder’s experiments its simply the range of an emitted wave in meters. Since his test trays are small, this means that the waves can bounce off the walls and interact with the emitter again.

We can look at such a system as a particle in a well. In Couder’s experiments you can see excited states decay after a time, and this time is increased as the memory of the system is increased.

So if we look at the simplest alpha_emissionphysical analog of this – a particle in a well that can quantum tunnel out – we have  Alpha – emission. These particles are trapped in the nucleus, but sooner or later they tunnel out.

Thus tunnelling is a collapse of the wave function – these alpha particles leave fossil traces in rocks for instance, so they have been emitted in a very real sense.

Of course the pure QM follower will tell you that each emitted alpha is just another cat in a box - and that the entire history of the world hinges on you (or is that any smart person?) looking at the actual billion year old track - only then does the linear superposition of uncountable 10Millions of state vectors collapse. Kind of hilarious, but that is what a truly linear system will do to you if you push it!

What causes the emission? The wave function has presence inside and outside of the barrier, so it can ‘feel’ that there is a lower energy state out there waiting for it. In a real pilot wave sense the pilot wave extends into the region beyond the barrier. We have a series of waves inside a femto metre sphere or so, and they bounce around for a few years (or 1024) years, or 10-6 seconds.

So a large variation of lifetimes – yet the playground is almost the same size, its the energy levels that are different, but only by a small factor. The greater amount of the wave function that is outside the nucleus, the shorter half life.

What really happens? Is it that the particle keeps inside the nucleus, and as soon as it randomly happens to walk out it is released? In ‘real QM’ the wave function only gives a probability for finding the alpha outside the nucleus, so in some sense its ‘constantly’ out there. But in a realist theory the alpha has a real velocity inside and around the nucleus. This could perhaps be a real difference – perhaps if we postulate a fixed speed of the alpha on a random walk through the probability field, we can connect the lifetime to the percentage of the wave function that is outside the nucleus. See

Unpredictable Tunneling of a Classical Wave-Particle Association

So if a certain percentage of paths is outside, and the particle covers … do the calculation – random walk – step length is some distance much less than the nucleus size, speed v, then typical time to get out would be defined.  perhaps with the speed held constant, we can determine step length by looking at the size of the region of probability outside the nucleus, we can determine the speed/step length that is implied. Someone must have done this?

So in the playtime circa 1900 flat spacetime where QM currently works, there are no non – local effects and QM makes sense. This is why most theorists like the quantization of gravitation program – it would bury the annoying real 4D version of spacetime underneath many levels of obscure mathematics.

Einsteins Aether as the Inviscid Fluid for Brady’s Sonons?

The Aether

Einstein’s Aether in Fluid Dynamics terms

Truly Inviscid?

An Electron Model

A previous post here - An Electron Model from Gravitational Pilot Waves  outlines the process.

Potential = -G*me(t)/r

Look at the time derivative of the potential

  • Entirely constructed from classical General Relativity
  • Frequency of mass exchange is the Compton frequency
  • Electromagnetic effects are a result of GR phenomenology

Einstein’s Vision:

The State of Physics today

Obviously a sea change in fundamental physics would be needed to allow for anything like these ideas to be considered. In fact its not that the ideas here might be correct - but rather that Brady and others who toil on actual progress in physics are sidelined by the current 'complexity is king' clique that is the physics community today.

This clique gives rise to ideas like 'quantum mechanics is right' and other absurdities, such as the millions of hours spent on String Theory, when it's 'not even wrong'.

Tests and Simulations

Numerical Plans

Screen Shot 2014-07-14 at 10.08.23 PM

Computer Model:

See also the Wikipedia physical interpretation section.

Cosmic serendipity – not censorship

Cosmic Censorship:

Cosmic Serendipity Conjecture:

I will let Brandon Carter speak now:

Kerr Fields, Brandon Carter 1968.

The papers of A.Burinskii  come to mind, e.g.:

Kerr Geometry as Space-Time Structure of the Dirac Electron

An Electron model from Gravitational Pilot Waves

Electron model:

I said that the mechanism for this time - varying mass will not be discussed, but here are two possibilities. One possibility is that electrons are some sort of wormhole, with some portion of their mass disappearing into and out  of this wormhole, like some mass bouncing between two open throats. The other more simple way this could happen is if the electron was simply losing mass off to infinity - and getting it back - in a periodic fashion.

Coulomb Attraction

So how would two of these time varying mass electrons interact?

Please open up that paper and have a look:

Screen Shot 2014-05-17 at 11.48.22 AM

me == rest mass of electron,

ν = frequncy (greek nu).

ν = 1.5×10^25 Hz

Quantum Mechanical Behaviour

Pilot wave behaviour is outlined in the Brady and Anderson paper.

From the Brady and Anderson conclusion:

See also
MIT site: John W.M. Bush
Is quantum mechanics just a special case of classical mechanics?
Monopole GR waves
Other posts on this site as well..

–Tom Andersen

May 17,  2014

QM from waves – pilot waves.

Screen Shot 2014-03-10 at 8.40.20 AM

Screen Shot 2014-03-09 at 6.46.17 PM

Here is a 3 minute movie with the above slide:

The pilot-wave dynamics of walking droplets

Here is a paper about eigenstates, etc… Self-organization into quantized eigenstates of a classical wave driven particle  (Stéphane Perrard1, Matthieu Labousse, Marc Miskin, Emmanuel Fort, and Yves Couder).

Compare that with my hastily written post.

See also (pointed out by  Warren Huelsnitz) :

 “Why bouncing droplets are a pretty good model of quantum mechanics

Yves Couder . Explains Wave/Particle Duality via Silicon Drop

“Couder could not believe what he was seeing”.

Here it was sort of a eureka moment at home on a Sunday afternoon.

Here is a link to the whole show.(45 mins)

Valentini (along with me) thinks that QM is wrong, in that its not the ‘final layer’. His de Broglie arguments are powerful and hit close to home for me. I have read most of David Bohm’s papers and books since discovering him as a 4th year undergrad back in the 80s. Bohm’s ideas launched mine. Note that much of physics is built on the assumption that with QM somehow ‘this time its different’ – that any future theory will need to be QM compliant or it is wrong. As if QM was somehow as certain as the (mathematical and hence solid) 2nd Law or something. This leaves no room for argument or dissent. Perfect conditions for a paradigm change!

This is the presentation that outlines things as he sees them. I see things that way too, although I am of the opinion that the pilot waves are GR ripples.

Is Quantum Mechanics Tried, True, wildly Successful, and Wrong?

Quantum Theory at the Crossroads
Reconsidering the 1927 Solvay Conference

A relaxing read:

Not even wrong. Why does nobody like pilot-wave theory?

“De Broglie’s law of motion for particles is very simple. At any time, the momentum is perpendicular to the wave crests (or lines of constant phase), and is proportionally larger if the wave crests are closer together. Mathematically, the momentum of a particle is given by the gradient (with respect to that particle’s co-ordinates) of the phase of the total wavefunction. This is a law of motion for velocity, quite unlike Newton’s law of motion for acceleration. “

Antony Valentini, Beyond the Quantum

4D Spacetime as a media for the Hilbert Space of QM

If QM runs as wiggles in GR, we have a possible way to get collapse, and have a linear QM theory that breaks down over long times or with too many signals in one place.

In other words:

Each QM state vector is represented NOT only as a vector in a Hibert Space, but are really ‘real’  arrangements of (usually small scale) GR waves.

Since GR waves behave linearly over a large range of frequencies and amplitudes, these waves do not interact, and can be represented well as they are now in QM – by a Hilbert Space.

Collapse occurs when this linearity is compromised.

Thus there is a limit to entanglement and Quantum computing. The collapse of the wave function is a physical happening independent of observers. It occurs when these waves self – interact.

Indeed – with a theory where the QM states can only interact in a linear fashion, we have absurdities such as infinite computing power combined with massive Hilbert Spaces.

This should be quantifiable. In other words the collapse can be simulated on a computer system without Bohr like handwaving or the Many World’s trillions of universes per second per cubic cm coming into existence to avoid a true collapse (ok I know its more than trillions per second…).

To estimate the conditions for collapse: Take the likely amplitude of a single quantum wave (by looking at this mass – difference theory that I have for instance) and then see how many can pile into the same place before non-linear interference occurs – which would start a collapse. So collapse occurs when a simple isolated system interferes with a system with many more moving parts – an observation.

Entanglement/EPR/Bell outside the light cone is handled by non-local topology “worm – holes” in GR.

How to make Dark Matter

So what happens gravitationally?

What’s the best vacuum you can make?

Early universe CMB

This is the way things are thought to work.

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The Art of Staying Focused in a Distracting World

The tech-industry veteran Linda Stone on how to pay attention

Stephen Vuillemin

A longtime tech executive, Linda Stone worked on emerging technologies at Apple and then Microsoft Research in the 1980s and ’90s. Fifteen years ago, she coined the term continuous partial attention to describe the modern predicament of being constantly attuned to everything without fully concentrating on anything. Since then, she has frequently written and lectured about the challenges of living in an always-on, hyperconnected world.

James Fallows: You’re well known for the idea of continuous partial attention. Why is this a bad thing?

Linda Stone: Continuous partial attention is neither good nor bad. We need different attention strategies in different contexts. The way you use your attention when you’re writing a story may vary from the way you use your attention when you’re driving a car, serving a meal to dinner guests, making love, or riding a bicycle. The important thing for us as humans is to have the capacity to tap the attention strategy that will best serve us in any given moment.

JF: What do you mean by “attention strategy”?

Self-directed play allows both children and adults to develop a powerful attention strategy, a strategy that I call “relaxed presence.” How did you play as a child?

JF: When people talk about attention problems in modern society, they usually mean the distractive potential of smartphones and so on. Is that connected to what you’re talking about in early-childhood development?

JF: What you’re describing sounds like a society-wide autism.

LS: In my opinion, it’s more serious than autism. Many autistic kids are profoundly sensitive, and look away [from people] because full stimulation overwhelms them. What we’re doing now is modeling a primary relationship with screens, and a lack of eye contact with people. It ultimately can feed the development of a kind of sociopathy and psychopathy.

JF: I’m afraid to ask, but is this just going to get worse?

LS: I don’t think so. You and I, as we grew up, experienced our parents operating in certain ways, and may have created a mental checklist: Okay, my mom and dad do that, and that’s cool. I’ll do that with my kids, too. Or: My mom and dad do this, and it’s less cool, so I’m not going to do that when I’m a grown-up.

The generation that has been tethered to devices serves as a cautionary example to the next generation, which may decide this is not a satisfying way to live. A couple years ago, after a fire in my house, I had a couple students coming to help me. One of them was Gen X and one was a Millennial. If the Gen Xer’s phone rang or if she got a text, she would say “I’m going to take this, I’ll be back in a minute.” With the Millennial, she would just text back “L8r.” When I talked to the Millennial about it, she said, “When I’m with someone, I want to be with that person.” I am reminded of this new thing they’re doing in Silicon Valley where everyone sticks their phone in the middle of the table, and whoever grabs their phone first has to treat to the meal.

LS: When we learn how to play a sport or an instrument; how to dance or sing; or even how to fly a plane, we learn how to breathe and how to sit or stand in a way that supports a state of relaxed presence. My hunch is that when you’re flying, you’re aware of everything around you, and yet you’re also relaxed. When you’re water-skiing, you’re paying attention, and if you’re too tense, you’ll fall. All of these activities help us cultivate our capacity for relaxed presence. Mind and body in the same place at the same time.


The Big Picture

Mandorla follows Ernesto, a visual artist and seeker stuck in a corporate video job, who is drawn by dark and magical visions to a medieval French city. There he seeks an illusive banker to help him unlock an obscure dream, deep within him, that threatens to alter his job, family, and sanity.

Working trailers:

California trailer

 French trailer

Over 21,000 plays on Vimeo so far

This site is for you to discover and follow Mandorla (independent and low budget by necessity) as it's being made. We have written, shot, and edited the film, and are now preparing it for release in 2015. Follow regular updates on our Facebook page.

The Story is the Thing

We are preparing for and making film festival submissions and have a synopsis for you here. Coming soon in Spanish, French, and hopefully Portuguese.

narrative feature film
2015, USA & France, 90 min.
Dir. Roberto Miller

Ernesto is a devoted father, mystical seeker, and a visual artist stuck in a corporate job. Worse, he has disturbing dreams at night and is haunted by dark and magical visions when awake.

His life is dramatically turned inside out when his young daughters playfully knight him. He realizes that what’s happening to him eerily echoes the challenge that heroes in myths and legends must face, or he is simply going insane.

Desperate to understand what he is meant to do, he tries to push back on the waking visions and clear his head. He then encounters a guide in the form of a beautiful woman who senses his despair and offers a veiled way forward.

Inspired, he makes a video appealing for support and posts it on the web. An email soon arrives saying that what he seeks will be provided at a bank in a medieval French city.

With his job, marriage, and sanity in the balance, he sets off on a quest and enters a mysterious world where he must find an elusive banker who may be the one to help him unlock his dream.

In the neighborhood of Morrison

Mandorla was created and largely filmed in an interesting neighborhood in California. Jim Morrison, when he was very young, lived two blocks away from where I am typing this. His quote here, which Liz discovered and shared with me, is strikingly relative to the film.

What makes Mandorla unique and impactful?

Mandorla is now complete and submitted to film festivals worldwide from early summer to late fall 2015. Exciting times.

Four things that make Mandorla unique and impactful:

Mandorla’s main character does what has rarely been seen on screen: he recalls moving moments in films that help him understand the path he is on. Mandorla is one of the first narrative feature films to be Fair Use compliant in this way.

We all adore the look of cinemascope but few can afford it. I found a way to mount 30-year-old Russian LOMO anamorphic lenses to a British hacked Japanese GH2 DSLR, via an adapter machined in Los Angeles, and then recorded footage to an SD card designed in San Francisco and made in China--world peace (and indie cinemascope) achieved in one camera package. Watch the trailer.

Mandorla was written with sound design and music as part of the story experience. From the very beginning Skywalker’s Randy Thom (two-time Academy Award winner) and acclaimed ambient composers Robert Rich (US) and Vincent Villuis (France) have been onboard. The result is an amazing soundscape infusing the textures of light and dark textures in Mandorla.

Many of us are stuck in meaningless jobs, or at least jobs that have little meaning to us. Same goes for relationships that are often past mending. A lot of us, it seems, feel like we are dying inside and that there is little we can do about it. Ernesto is one of these people. However, instead of following the script to simply give up, he comes to understand that his inner calling cannot be ignored, and that taking risks is not an option anymore. It’s a necessity.

The Unconscious One

Art from Dan Colvin (once a DP for David Fincher) who will be soon "Colvinizing" our poster. At a specific point in the film, Mandorla directly asks why do we always tell the same story, in books, movies, music, and so on?

Why is it the same "hero's journey," as Joseph Campbell named it?

C.G. Jung, back in the 1930s, noted that so many stories had similar archetypes, and that this was related to what he called the "collective unconscious." What struck me was how it related to the "oneness" we, subconsciously or not, seem to yearn and strive for--in life, stories, and songs. John Lennon's "Imagine" comes to mind.

I can't help wondering that if humanity had already reached this level of oneness, wouldn't the issue of climate change have been addressed over 30 years ago, when the problem became known?

Mandorla speaks to us of an individual's journey to "oneness" in our pressing times.

Music Matters

Robert Rich bought "Luminary" by Nad Wolinska for his album cover art for "Filaments."

Our composer, Robert Rich, has a magical new album coming out in January. Filaments. We've had the great pleasure of hearing it bloom in his studio these last few months.


Assume the only period transaction is the purchase  invoice from an EU VAT reg business of printed materials [normally std rated in uk]  £ 95

A mother transfers a house as a wedding gift to her daughter 12 years ago. The daughter has lived there since. The mother's accountant now says she is liable for CGT under the gift provisions.

Simple question really

We have a niche market in CIS based subcontractors, occassionally we get referals to peopl who are seriously behind in filing returns.

Two individuals are forming an LLP to purchase land and, in due course, run a 'conservation camping' business on the land. The LLP will own the land.

If you are an existing PTP user and about to renew your licence for the first time under the new 12 month rolling contract terms you may wish to delay renewing for a few months until the 2011/12 up

What are the capital gains tax and income tax implications for Mr A and Mr B of the following share reorganisation.

I have a client who have two companies. Company A where his brother and wife are directors.

My client has 70% shares in the company and 30% is owned by his wife.

New limited company business run by parents has some shares issued to their parents before trading commences.