Barb Adams
GCN Live.com

Four new species of dwarf chameleons have been discovered in Madagascar and one, Brookesia micra, appears to be the smallest chameleon in the world while possibly representing an extreme example of “island dwarfism”.

A team of scientists in Madagascar, led by researcher Frank Glaw, has discovered what now appears to be the smallest amniote in the world. Brookesia micra, a chameleon, is so small that it can fit onto the head of a match. The researchers also discovered three additional species of dwarf chameleons including Brookesia confidens, Brookesia desperata, and Brookesia tristis, all of which are distinct species.

The chameleons were discovered in the northern regions of Madagascar, with the smallest, Brookesia micra, being found on the tiny islet of Nosy Hara. Using flashlights and headlamps the team searched for the reptiles at night, when the tiny chameleons are asleep. According to Glaw, a herpetologist and curator at the Museum of Natural History in Munich, the chameleons are fairly easy to catch. “They are sleeping and you can just pick them up. It’s like picking a strawberry, so it’s easy. They do not move at all at night.”

How tiny is Brookesia micra? In general, the species has a total body length of 29 mm (1.1417 inches), including tail, which is smaller than the previous record holder for smallest reptile, a dwarf gecko Sphaerodactylus ariasae, which has a total body length of 30 mm (1.1811 inches). Adult male B. micra chameleons reach a maximum snout-vent length (SVL) of 16 mm (just over half an inch), while adult females are larger, about three-quarters of an inch in SVL.

One possible explanation for this extreme dwarfism may be what is termed insular, or island dwarfism, which can occur for a variety of reasons. Island dwarfism is a selective process whereby only smaller animals trapped on an island survive as food and other resources decline. Smaller animals require less resources and smaller territories to survive and reproduce, and are more proficient at processing nutrients. They also have the additional advantage of being able to avoid predators more easily.

The scientists believe that the extreme dwarfism of Brookesia micra may represent a case of “double” island effect. Basically, the larger island of Madagascar was favorable to the evolution of the Brookesia minima group whereas the isolated, tiny islet of Nosy Hara might have favored the extreme miniaturization found in B. micra. The scientists point out, however, that the sea between Madagascar and Nosy Hara is shallow, and that they may have been joined at one time; thus, it remains to be seen if B. micra is actually indigenous to Nosy Hara.

Whereas larger animals are mostly known, miniaturized species often go unnoticed and undetected, and discoveries of dwarf species are generally quite extraordinary. It has been postulated that dwarfism may be an important pre-adaptation for “entirely new patterns of organismal organization. Extremely small animals often display unique behavioral repertoires, and evolutionary novelty may also arise through ecological specialization directly related to size,” say the scientists. Thus, the extreme miniaturization of these dwarf reptiles offers a unique opportunity for study.

Of utmost importance, however, the scientists emphasize, is that the focus be on conservation efforts, as they warn that two of the newly-discovered species are “threatened” because of deforestation and loss of habitat.

Whether the miniaturization of Brookesia micra can be interpreted as a case of “double” island dwarfism is uncertain. Glaw and his team will be returning to Madagascar to continue researching the ever-growing list of dwarf species. And as to whether B. micra is the smallest possible miniaturization remains to be seen. As Glaw points out, “…each time scientists have proclaimed the discovery of the tiniest one yet, another, tinier species appears.” As the saying goes, “It’s a small world (after all)!”

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Barb Adams is the host of Amerika Now talk radio show, which airs on GCN Saturdays 10:00p-1:00am Central Time. Listen to the show On Demand.

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W C Augustine
Atlas Rising

Can you imagine the calamity of it – an ice sheet four times thicker than the Willis tower’s height crushing it as the glacier slides south toward the plains of central Illinois? But according to scientists delaying that catastrophe for at least 1500 years would be worrisome. By their analysis the culprit in potentially delaying a new ice age is humankind’s insane use of fossil fuels.

When mile-thick glaciers previously occupied the Midwest 14 to 20 thousand years ago, sparse numbers of humans hunted for a meager existence. Delaying a return to such a pristine environment we should lament, says the left, still thinking of themselves as ‘humanists’, while lobbying for their solution- less freedom, more state control.

Have the politically correct considered, in their bemoaning a thousand year delay of an ice age, the disastrous effects of such an event on humankind? How many humans could be supported with prime agricultural land from the wheat fields of Canada to much of the Midwest corn belt covered in ice?

Recent research confirms what many agriculturalists know – doubling CO2 levels actually increases production by 25 percent more than offsetting any decline in the nutritional value of foods.

DeKalb, IL Climate Statistics	Average Now	+10 degrees	-10 degrees
January Temperature	25 degrees F	35	15
July Temperature	72 degrees F	82	62
Date of Last Frost	April 22	March 25	June 1
Date of First Frost	October 11	November 5	September 15
Growing Season Length	165 days	210	95

If we buy the assumption our activities could influence climate, do you think the farm fields of DeKalb, IL would produce more food with a ten-degree increase or decrease in average temperature? You don’t need an agricultural degree to answer the question. Would you prefer living in a ten degree warmer or colder DeKalb?

The world’s greatest snow-capped peaks in Asia have lost no ice over the last decade new research shows. “The discovery has stunned scientists” reports the left’s Guardian. Were those same scientists stunned when Dr. Pachauri’s, chairman of the International Panel on Climate Change, calculations predicting that the Himalayan glaciers would be gone by 2035 were found to be in error?

Perhaps in future attempts to scare us into adopting their “solution looking for a problem” they will be paint global warming–no scratch that– climate change scenarios that actually are scary rather than beneficial to humankind.

Have a fulfilling and profitable day,

W. C. (Bill) Augustine

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A unique insight into what could happen if man responded to his duty, Atlas Rising portrays a world where, amid a stifled life, the contrast of hope shines even brighter. Discover the difference one man can make in W. C. Augustine’s eye-opening novel, Atlas Rising.

 

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Barb Adams
GCN Live.com

At approximately 22:45:19 UTC on February 9, 2012, a 3.0-magnitude earthquake occurred in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, which was reported on both the US Geological Survey (USGS) and Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) websites, neither of which now list any evidence of such an earthquake having occurred.

On Thursday, February 9, 2012, at 22:45:19 UTC, official reports from both the USGS and ANSS detailed a 3.0-magnitude earthquake that occurred in southwestern Wyoming at coordinates 41.450 north and 108.881 west, which places it within Sweetwater County. The area where the quake occurred is within 9 miles of a Scientology Bunker which was supposedly built to house the writings of L. Ron Hubbard. There is also a dormant volcano (Emmons Cone) and large mining operation in the area as well. The epicenter of the earthquake is just over 200 miles south of Yellowstone National Park and the Yellowstone Supervolcano.

According to a study conducted by the Wyoming State Geological Survey, the area where the earthquake occurred has experienced 30 earthquakes of magnitude 2.0 or greater since 1888. Recent activity occurred in 2000, with two earthquakes, a 4.0 and 3.2, occurring in Sweetwater County. Sweetwater County is considered the Trona Mining Capitol of the World, and Wyoming has the world’s largest deposits of trona, a rare mineral. Trona is a water-bearing sodium carbonate bearing compound which is mined underground. It is processed into soda ash or bicarbonate of soda for a variety of uses, including environmental protection.

One of the largest historic earthquakes in southwestern Wyoming occurred on February 3, 1995, near Little America. The quake registered 5.3 in magnitude, and was associated with the collapse of a trona mine in the area, with one miner losing his life. That quake was felt as far away as Rock Springs in Sweetwater County (where the 3.0-magnitude quake occurred) and Salt Lake City, Utah.

There is an active fault system that runs through Uinta and western Lincoln Counties, both adjacent to Sweetwater County. But considering that the USGS and the ANSS both removed their earthquake reports from their sites, maybe the “earthquake” was not a naturally occurring tremor, but was mining related instead. Perhaps an explosion or collapse in one of the trona mines was the source of the 3.0-magnitude “earthquake,” or perhaps something else occurred which is now being covered up. Unfortunately, at this time, there are no answers, as the “3.0-magnitude earthquake” that occurred in Sweetwater County apparently didn’t “officially” happen.

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Barb Adams is the host of Amerika Now talk radio show, which airs on GCN Saturdays 10:00p-1:00am Central Time. Listen to the show On Demand.

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John Palm, Editor
GCN Live.com

After 20 years of stop-and-go drilling, Russia announced Wednesday that it has reached Lake Vostok – a body of water two miles under the Antarctic ice that may hold new revelations about life on and off the earth.

Scientists reached the lake, reportedly untouched for 14 to 20 million years, just before the bitterly cold Antarctic winter set in, with temperatures of minus 89.2 Celsius (minus 128.6 Fahrenheit).

Valery Lukin, head of the Russian Antarctic expedition, said the breakthrough came on Feb. 5, on the eve of the mission’s departure, at a depth of 3,769 meters (12,365 ft).

“The discovery of this lake is comparable to the first space flight in its technological complexity, its importance and its uniqueness,” Lukin told Interfax.

The hope is the discovery of Lake Vostok will provide scientists a look into the possible environments under ice on planets other than our own – such as Mars and Jupiter’s moon Europa.

Martin Siegert, head of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Geosciences, told Reuters, “This is probably one of the last frontiers on our planet that remains largely unknown to us.” Siegert will be leading a British expedition to explore Lake Ellsworth in West Antarctica in 2012-2013.

University of Colorado scientist Ted Scambos told Fox News he is sure there will be microbes found in Lake Vostok once Russian scientists return in the Antarctic summer. He said ice many feet above the lake had bacteria, so it makes sense that the lake does.

Due to the chilly climate, Russia must wait for the summer months to explore further, which may provide the United States and Britain with a chance to discover similar specimens at other sub-glacial lakes.

Below, find a video report on the Russians discovery of Lake Vostok, courtesy of Channel 4 News:

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Steven Birn
Steven Birn Speaks

A NASA and University of Arizona study suggests there hasn’t been global warming since 1997.

In fact, the study suggests that we are headed towards a cooling period. They base all of this off of sun spot and other sun related activities. The study of course bows to its global warming masters by suggesting the cooling will be offset by man bade carbons. They have no choice but to say this, otherwise the leftists who control the academy will either completely ignore the report or they’ll go on the rampage and disparage personally everyone involved.

Those on the right are jumping for joy over the vast majority of the report. Finally a comprehensive study largely dispels the rumor mongering of the socialist, global warming left. Let’s be honest with ourselves though, we knew this all along but it doesn’t change anything. The truth has never mattered to the far left. We’re dealing with people who believe the ends justify the means. In the 70′s the left touted global cooling and proposed all sorts of government regulations and restrictions on individual freedom. When global cooling didn’t work out they moved to global warming. We all know the dire predictions the left has made, all without basis. They even went so far as to hedge their bets, calling it climate change rather than global warming over the last several years.

For the left it doesn’t matter whether the issue is global warming or global cooling. One prong of their socialist goal is to play on one of the base fears of mankind: massive weather disasters. It doesn’t matter whether the fear mongering is based in reality or not. The goal is to force socialism down the throats of Americans and the world. The goal is to limit individual freedom. Scaring people over weather is just one way they seek this.

So for us on the right, we cannot for a second believe we’ve won some big battle. We’ve done no such thing. The left will drift to one theory after another, scaring people all along the way. If we want to win a big victory, we have to connect these scientists to the socialists. We have to do a better job of calling into question the credibility of people who receive their funding from the government. We have to expose the failure of all of the global warming socialists long term goals, none of which have ever materialized.

We’ll also have to call into question government regulations. Obama’s venture socialism green energy program, which had three bankruptcies last week alone, is one thing. But there are hundreds of government programs and there are dozens of government propaganda programs largely directed at government school children. Most of these programs provide no actual benefit to the environment but they do cost businesses billions and they cost individuals freedom.

This battle is more than just one study or one theory. The battle really has nothing to do with the environment. The environment and climate in particular is little more than the talking point for a wider war between socialism and liberty. In this war, those who love freedom and liberty are being badly defeated. Largely because we’re focused on the details of the talking point while the left couldn’t care less about the talking point itself. The environmental and climate talking points shift around on the left to much for them to really care. What they care about is socialism. The sooner the right recognizes that this is what the climate change hysteria is really all about the better.

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Steven Birn is an attorney and conservative political junkie and blogger. For more news and commentary visit Steven Birn Speaks.

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