How 2-million-year-old ancestor moved: Sediba's ribcage and feet were not suitable for running

Apr. 11, 2013 ? Researchers at Wits University in South Africa, including Peter Schmid from the University of Zurich, have described the anatomy of a single early hominin in six new studies. Australopithecus sediba was discovered near Johannesburg in 2008. The studies in Science demonstrate how our 2-million-year-old ancestor walked, chewed and moved.

The fossils discovered four years ago in Malapa near Johannesburg show a mixture of primitive features of australopiths and advanced features of later human species. The researchers led by Prof Lee Berger of Wits University are therefore of the opinion that the new species is currently the best candidate for a direct ancestor of our own genus Homo. Researchers are now presenting new studies, including those of Peter Schmid, who taught and did research at the University of Zurich until he retired. Also involved were UZH students Nakita Frater, Sandra Mathews and Eveline Weissen.

Schmid has described the remains of Au. sediba's thorax. "They show a narrow upper ribcage, as the large apes have such as orangutans, chimpanzees and gorillas," says Peter Schmid. The human thorax on the other hand is uniformly cylindrical. Along with the largely complete remnants of the pectoral girdle, we see the morphological picture of a conical ribcage with a raised shoulder joint, which looks like a permanent shrug. The less well-preserved elements of the lower thorax on the other hand indicate a slim waist, similar to that of a human being.

Conical ribcage makes it difficult to swing arms when walking

The narrow upper thorax of apes enables them to move the shoulder blade, which is important for climbing and brachiation in trees. Its conical shape makes it difficult, however, to swing their arms when walking upright or running, plus they were a similar length to an ape's. This is why Schmid assumes that Au. sediba was not able to walk or run on both feet as well as humans. "They probably couldn't run over longer distances, especially as they were unable to swing their arms, which saves energy," says Schmid.

An examination of the lower extremities shows a heel, metatarsus, knee, hips and back, which are unique and unprecedented. Sediba must have walked with feet turned sharply inwards. This inward turn distinguishes it from other australopiths. The conclusion to be drawn is that our early ancestors were able to move around in a different way.

Arms for climbing and brachiation

Au. sediba was an experienced climber. This is shown by the remains of the upper arm, radius, ulna, scapula, clavicle and fragment of sternum found in Malapa. These clearly belong to a single individual, which is unique in the entire previously known fossil record of the earliest hominins. With the exception of the hand bones described above, the upper extremity is exceptionally original. Au. sediba, like all the other representatives of the Australopithecus genus, had arms that were suitable for climbing as well as possibly for brachiation. Perhaps this capability was even more pronounced than has been assumed for this genus hitherto.

Differences from Australopithecus afarensis

Based on the dental crowns the researchers assume that Au. sediba does not belong phylogenetically to the eastern African australopiths but is closer to Au. africanus and thus forms a southern African sister group. This has an impact on our modern understanding of the evolution of early hominins from the late Pliocene. As such, Au. sediba and maybe even Au. africanus were not descended from Au. afarensis.

The lower jaw of the female skeleton was also examined along with previously unknown incisors and premolars. As noted already on the skull and other areas of the skeleton, the mandibular remains show similarities with other australopiths. They differ, however, in size and shape as well as in ontogenetic growth changes of Au. africanus. These results support the hypothesis that Au. sediba is taxonomically different from Au. africanus. In the relevant differences the parts of the lower jaw appear most to resemble those representatives of early Homo.

An analysis of the cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral region of the spinal column shows that Au. sediba had the same number of lumbar vertebrae as modern man. The strong hollow back suggests that he was more advanced in this area than Au. africanus and may be more likely compared with Homo erectus.

The new studies show a unique image of a human species with a mosaic-like physique. Some body parts are similar to those of earlier and others to those of later hominins. "The numerous similarities with Homo erectus suggest that Au. sediba represents the most appropriate early form of the genus Homo," says Peter Schmid. The previous candidates are too fragmentary to be capable of occupying this position.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Zurich.

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Journal Reference:

1. P. Schmid, S. E. Churchill, S. Nalla, E. Weissen, K. J. Carlson, D. J. de Ruiter, L. R. Berger. Mosaic Morphology in the Thorax of Australopithecus sediba. Science, 2013; 340 (6129): 1234598 DOI: 10.1126/science.1234598

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/FUOvbYTlEEs/130411142942.htm

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Real Estate Site Calls Sacramento the 4th Nerdiest City in US - KTXL

Cosplayers at the SacAnime convention.

SACRAMENTO-

?Nerd? isn?t necessarily the insult it once was.

Comic book movies regularly?dominate the box office, ?Star Wars? references are a normal part of our cultural lexicon, video game releases have turned into blockbuster events and professional athletes seem to be dressing more and more like Steve Urkel.

Sacramento was named the country?s fourth nerdiest city in a blog posted Wednesday on real estate site Movoto.

The survey was put together by a number of factors: People per comic book store, video game store and science museum, the number of ?nerdy? conventions and the distance to the nearest Renaissance faire.

According to that criteria, Atlanta, Ga. is the nerdiest and Denver, Colo. rounded out the top 10. The only other California city in the list is San Jose, coming in at number nine.

Curiously, San Diego, the home of the San Diego (duh) Comic Con, is absent from the list.

Sacramento came in seventh in Movoto?s list of the top cities for gamers. It?s clear that, at least according to Movoto, that the Force is with the River City.

Read Movoto?s full blog post here.

Source: http://fox40.com/2013/04/10/real-estate-site-calls-sacramento-the-4th-nerdiest-city-in-u-s/

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Quake hits near Iran's nuclear city Bushehr, 37 dead

By Yeganeh Torbati and Marcus George

DUBAI (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake struck close to Iran's only nuclear power station on Tuesday, killing 37 people and injuring 850 as it destroyed homes and devastated two small villages, Iranian media reported.

The 6.3 magnitude quake totally destroyed one village, a Red Crescent official told the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), but the nearby Bushehr nuclear plant was undamaged, according to Iranian officials and the Russian company that built it.

"Due to the intensity of this earthquake, this tragedy has deepened and we have seen the destruction of many homes in the region, the deaths of 37 people and more than 850 injured," the governor of Bushehr province, Fereydoun Hassanvand, told Mehr news agency.

Many houses in rural parts of the province are made of mud bricks, which have been known to crumble easily in quake-prone Iran. Some 700 homes were destroyed, Hassanvand said.

Across the Gulf, offices in Qatar and Bahrain were evacuated after the quake, whose epicenter was 89 km (55 miles) southeast of the port of Bushehr, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The early afternoon shock was also felt in financial hub Dubai.

The Russian company that built the nuclear power station, 18 km (11 miles) south of Bushehr, said the plant was unaffected.

"Personnel continue to work in the normal regime and radiation levels are fully within the norm," Russian state news agency RIA quoted an official at Atomstroyexport as saying.

Iran informed the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency that there was "no damage to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and no radioactive release from the installation", an agency statement said.

One Bushehr resident said the quake shook her home and the homes of her neighbors but they were not damaged.

"We could clearly feel the earthquake," Nikoo, who asked to be identified only by her first name, said. "The windows and chandeliers all shook."

While initial fears about nuclear fallout receded, nearer the epicenter the rescue efforts ramped up into the night in search of survivors and to feed and house hundreds of residents who were traumatized by at least 16 aftershocks.

A Red Crescent official told ISNA that 20 people had been saved by rescue teams searching through the rubble.

Reports in Iranian media spoke of landslides destroying buildings and crowds gathering in the town of Dashti from outlying areas in search of help. Military officials said army and police units had been deployed to maintain order.

Water and electricity lines were severed and communities stayed in the streets because of the threat from aftershocks.

Iran's most powerful authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, offered his condolences to the victims and urged authorities to extend all efforts to save lives and help the afflicted.

Tuesday's quake was much smaller than the 9.0 magnitude one that hit Japan two years ago, triggering a tsunami that destroyed back-up generators and disabled the Fukushima nuclear plant's cooling system. Three of the reactors melted down.

Iran is the only country operating a nuclear power plant that does not belong to the Convention on Nuclear Safety, negotiated after the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl which contaminated wide areas and made 160,000 Ukrainians homeless.

Western officials and the United Nations have urged Iran to join the safety forum.

REPEATED WARNINGS

Tehran has repeatedly rejected safety concerns about Bushehr - built in a highly seismic area - that began operations in September 2011 after decades of delays.

Iran sits on major fault lines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6 magnitude quake in 2003 which flattened the southeastern city of Bam and killed more than 25,000 people. In August more than 300 people were killed when two quakes struck the northwest.

A report published last week by U.S. think-tanks Carnegie Endowment and the Federation of American Scientists said that "ominously" the Bushehr reactor sits at the intersection of three tectonic plates.

"Iran's sole nuclear power plant is not at risk of a tsunami similar in size to the one that knocked out the electricity and emergency cooling systems at Fukushima. But, repeated warnings about the threat of earthquakes for the Bushehr nuclear plant appear to have fallen on deaf ears," the report said.

The quake happened on National Nuclear Technology Day when Iran's leaders celebrate the technological advances they say will reduce the country's reliance on fossil fuels, leaving more of its abundant oil for export.

Israel, Gulf Arab states and many Western countries fear Tehran is seeking a nuclear weapons capability and the Islamic Republic is under international sanctions aimed at forcing it to curb some of its atomic work.

Iran denies it wants nuclear arms and says its atomic work is for electricity generation and other peaceful uses.

(Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl in Vienna, Regan Doherty in Doha, Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Michael Roddy and Jon Hemming)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/6-3-magnitude-quake-strikes-near-irans-nuclear-123722902.html

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Lithuania taxman uses Google Maps to find dodgers

FILE - An undated file photo provided by Google shows one of their street mapping cars. The moment Google Maps Street View was rolled out in Lithuania earlier 2013, tax authorities were ready. Sitting in the comfort of their own officers, tax inspectors used the free Internet program for a virtual cruise around the streets of some of Lithuania?s large cities, uncovering dozens of alleged tax violations involving housing construction and property sales. Darius Buta, spokesman for the State Tax Inspectorate, said Wednesday April 10, 2013 that authorities have identified 100 homeowners and 30 construction companies as suspected tax dodgers thanks to Google Maps Street View. (AP Photo/Google, file)

FILE - An undated file photo provided by Google shows one of their street mapping cars. The moment Google Maps Street View was rolled out in Lithuania earlier 2013, tax authorities were ready. Sitting in the comfort of their own officers, tax inspectors used the free Internet program for a virtual cruise around the streets of some of Lithuania?s large cities, uncovering dozens of alleged tax violations involving housing construction and property sales. Darius Buta, spokesman for the State Tax Inspectorate, said Wednesday April 10, 2013 that authorities have identified 100 homeowners and 30 construction companies as suspected tax dodgers thanks to Google Maps Street View. (AP Photo/Google, file)

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) ? As soon as Google Maps Street View was rolled out in Lithuania earlier this year, tax authorities were ready.

Sitting in the comfort of their own offices, inspectors used the free Internet program for a virtual cruise around the streets of some of the Baltic country's big cities, uncovering dozens of alleged tax violations involving housing construction and property sales.

They identified 100 homeowners and 30 construction companies as suspected tax dodgers thanks to Street View, finding homes where they shouldn't be and other suspicious activity, Darius Buta, spokesman for the State Tax Inspectorate, said Wednesday.

"Our inspectors track these buildings on the Internet, and if a violation seems obvious, they visit the sites. This saves lots of time and resources," Buta said.

Lithuanian officials said they were unaware of any other country where revenue collectors had used Google's Street View, saying they didn't draw on anyone else's experience. Still, tax authorities across the world are turning to high-resolution maps, online databases, and social media in a bid to catch out cheats.

In the United States, the Internal Revenue Service has said it would be cross-referencing information from taxpayers' Facebook and Twitter accounts if their returns threw up any red flags.

In Britain, tax officials have revealed they are using Web crawling software to trawl auction websites for undeclared sales, while in Greece authorities have been using satellite imagery to locate undeclared swimming pools in wealthy neighborhoods.

Among the tax cheats caught in Lithuania were a couple in Kaunas, Lithuania's second largest city, who didn't register the sale of buildings and avoided 240,000 litas ($91,000) in taxes, said Vaimaira Jakiene, the coordinator of the new program.

Another couple declared a sale of land but didn't mention a new house built on the property that was sold via a separate deal, said Jakienie. They are looking at a tax bill of 130,000 ($50,000), she added.

Tax officials said they planned to use Street View to take a peek at properties purchased from dubious construction companies over the past two years.

Google has had scrapes with European governments over Street View, with the Germans and French in particular concerned that the company's practice of deploying camera-mounted cars and bicycles to collect images and information for the application intrudes on privacy.

But the Lithuanian revenue agency dismissed any claims that its new approach violated privacy rights.

"We conducted precise legal consultations. There are no rights violations," Buta said, added that tax authorities also discussed privacy and security concerns with Google officials in Lithuania.

Human rights advocates in the Baltic state seemed to agree.

"We do not see violations here since inspectors use the Google application only to look at suspicious places ? then they visit them," said Karolis Liutkevicius, a lawyer at the Human Rights Monitoring Institute in Vilnius. "If they were using it as the sole tool, then it could possibly be qualified as a violation. But in this case it's just using a modern resource."

_____

Associated Press writer Raphael Satter contributed to this report from London.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-04-10-EU-Lithuania-Google-Maps/id-1348ce253ec74ab6b8606e3ca581a761

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Austin next city for ultra-fast Google Fiber

FILE - In this Oct. 8, 2010 file photo, the Google logo is displayed outside Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Google executives and Texas Gov. Rick Perry are expected Tuesday, April 9, 2013 to name tech-savvy Austin as the second city where the search giant will offer its ultra-fast home Internet service. Last summer, Kansas City became the first metro area in the U.S. to receive Google Fiber. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 8, 2010 file photo, the Google logo is displayed outside Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Google executives and Texas Gov. Rick Perry are expected Tuesday, April 9, 2013 to name tech-savvy Austin as the second city where the search giant will offer its ultra-fast home Internet service. Last summer, Kansas City became the first metro area in the U.S. to receive Google Fiber. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? Google Inc. picked tech-savvy Austin on Tuesday as the next city where the search giant will wire homes with ultra-fast Internet connections, but did not say how much customers will pay or when the fiber-optic experiment might expand elsewhere in the U.S.

Austin and Kansas City are the only places to get Google Fiber ? a broadband service 100 times faster than the competition and an alternative to cable or satellite TV providers.

The rollout is an expensive undertaking and gamble for Google, which must first build costly new broadband pipelines that can handle "gigabit" speeds. Google hopes the rollout will drive innovation and pressure phone and cable companies to improve its networks, since Google benefits when people spend more time online.

Google expects Austin homes to begin receiving Google Fiber in mid-2014.

"Equipping them with a gigabit network will allow them to build new kinds of applications and services that will help write the next chapter in the story of the Internet," said Milo Medin, Google's vice president of Access Services who heads up Google Fiber.

What Austin residents will pay is not yet known. Medlin said the prices will likely be "roughly" similar to what Google charges in Kansas City, where customers pay $70 a month for a gigabit connection. For another $50, customers there can also receive a cable TV-like service that offers a channel line-up featuring mainstays such as ESPN, Nickelodeon, FOX News and MTV.

Some popular channels remain unavailable on Google Fiber, including HBO and AMC.

Medin would not say when Google might announce another city to receive its sought-after network. Google says more than 1,100 cities applied starting in 2010, and some used gimmicks or elaborate videos in hopes of outshining the competition. Topeka even informally renamed itself to "Google, Kansas."

Kansas City wound up prevailing, and Google began signing up residents there last year. By the end of 2013, Google expects that 180 neighborhoods that were selected for service based on demand will be completed.

The $70 fee in Kansas City is more than what cable or phone companies charge for basic Internet service, but the service is also much faster. "Gigabit" speeds, or 1,000 megabits per second, are generally unavailable from other companies. One exception is the city-owned electric utility in Chattanooga, Tenn., which has pulled its own fiber and sells gigabit service for $350 per month.

However, it's expensive to pull optical fiber compared with using existing phone and cable lines to provide Internet service. Verizon Communications Inc. is the only major U.S. telecommunications company to have connected homes directly to fiber. Some Wall Street analysts have estimated that project, which has cost $23 billion, is not paying off.

Kansas City residents can sign up with Google for a slower, standard Internet connection at no monthly fee for a one-time cost of $300. Medlin said Austin homeowners will also be offered free standard broadband.

Google made the announcement in a sleek and trendy downtown warehouse building, where a giant video board greeted guests with "Hello, Austin. Goodbye, loading bars."

Gigabit customers are unlikely to notice substantial difference with basic activities, such as Web surfing or email. Higher speeds are most desirable for uploading, creating online backups and playing video that doesn't buffer ? what Google calls "instantaneous Internet."

Google has not revealed how much the company is spending to build gigabit networks. A report this week from analysts at Bernstein Research put the cost at $84 million for Google to pass through 149,000 homes in Kansas City.

The authors of that report were skeptical that Google Fiber made financial sense to be expanded to a large portion of the U.S.

"In the end the effort would have limited impact on the global trajectory of the business," the Bernstein report concluded.

___

Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-04-09-Google%20Fiber-Texas/id-4536746ace4f4904babaf6f0132d0530

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Barricaded gunman releases one of five firefighter hostages in Ga.

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A gunman who barricaded himself in a home in Georgia on Wednesday with five firefighters as hostages has released one of his captives, officials said.

The firefighters were taken hostage after they responded to a home in Suwanee, about 35 miles northeast of Atlanta, on what was believed to be a medical call, police and fire officials said.

"There was no indication that they would meet with someone who was hostile," said Tommy Rutledge, spokesman for the Gwinnett County Fire Department.

The hostage-taker has since allowed one of the firefighters to leave in order to move a fire truck away from the front of the home, Rutledge said.

"We're not getting any word that any of our firefighters have been injured," he said.

Rutledge said the firefighters had alerted their dispatch center about the incident, but he could not say whether they were still in contact with officials.

Television footage of the scene showed a well-groomed neighborhood of two-story homes filled with police cars and fire engines. Residents were not being allowed in or out of the neighborhood, which they described in television reports as quiet.

(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins and David Beasley; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Steve Orlofsky)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/five-firefighters-taken-hostage-gunman-georgia-home-police-212913159.html

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'DWTS' reveals latest cut ? and Maks' return

ABC

Lisa Vanderpump's time in the ballroom with pro Gleb Savchenko has ended.

By Drusilla Moorhouse, TODAY contributor

Lisa Vanderpump didn't quit "Dancing With the Stars" -- she was voted out.

Considering how ill she was -- she fainted during practice and was vomiting in her trailer during most of Monday's performance show -- many believed that the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star would withdraw like Dorothy Hamill did in week one. ?

But she remained, and was the last star standing alongside Victor Ortiz when host Tom Bergeron asked to "cue the dramatic music" (such a card, that guy). The pro boxer will continue to fight for the mirror ball trophy, while Lisa and partner Gleb Savchenko are leaving the ballroom.

While her family (including Giggy) applauded from the audience, Lisa insisted she was leaving on a high note.

"Just to be included with this (wonderful) group of people," she told co-host Brooke Burke-Charvet, "I'm really happy. It's been six long weeks -- boy, has it taken its toll. It's been the hardest thing I've ever done."

"I was given a gift dancing with (Gleb)," she added. "He's been so patient. ?I'd like to thank my castmates -- they've been amazing and made it so much fun."

ABC shook things up by declaring six couples safe -- including "Bachelor" star Sean Lowe and Peta Murgatroyd -- in the first third of the show. Before the last commercial break, Tom revealed that comedian D.L. Hughley and Cheryl Burke were also safe. Then underdog Andy Dick and his partner, Sharna Burgess, were quickly plucked from the trio of couples in jeopardy. ?

The first "safe" couple, Aly Raisman and Mark Ballas, were also selected to perform an encore of their Monday dance. (Len Goodman joked that he'd coached the Olympic gymnast all day on how to improve her backflip.)

Other standouts of Tuesday's results show:

• Brooke's baffling dress, the inspiration for hundreds of Twitter jokes about her "thong" necklace. (If it were a two-hour show, maybe "Brooke's thong" would have its own Twitter account.)

• Blind dancer Brilynn Rakes' beautiful performance with Derek Hough.

• Anna Trebunskaya returning to dance with Val Chmerkovisky during Jennifer Lopez and Andrea Bocelli's duet.

• Peta Murgatroyd and Tony Dovolani performing while Brad Paisley sang "Southern Comfort Zone" (not "Accidental Racist").

• Val dancing with Karina Smirnoff. Maybe not a highlight, but still enjoyable because of their awkward pairing.

Next week will introduce a brand new theme: Len's side-by-side challenge! Each couple will have to dance alongside returning pros including Maks Chmerkovisky, Chelsie Hightower, Tony Dovolani and Tristan MacManus.

Did the right dancer go home? Tell us on our Facebook page!

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Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2013/04/09/17676945-lisa-vanderpump-eliminated-from-dancing-with-the-stars?lite

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