Moulins de Beez - Namur
vendredi 2 et samedi 3 décembre 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Ice Age Hominins And Their Adaptability To Climate Change
Computational modeling that examines evidence of how hominin groups evolved culturally and biologically in response to climate change during the last Ice Age also bears new insights into the extinction of Neanderthals. Details of the complex modeling experiments conducted at Arizona State University and the University of Colorado Denver will be published in the December issue of the journal Human Ecology, available online Nov. 17.
“To better understand human ecology, and especially how human culture and biology co-evolved among hunter-gatherers in the Late Pleistocene of Western Eurasia (ca. 128,000-11,500 years ago) we designed theoretical and methodological frameworks that incorporated feedback across three evolutionary systems: biological, cultural and environmental,” said Michael Barton, a pioneer in the area of archaeological applications of computational modeling at Arizona State University.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
New articles in Speleogenesis Journal
Two new articles has been published in the current (#11, 2011) issue of the journal "Speleogenesis and Evolution of Karst Aquifers":
- Hypogene speleogenesis in the Cenozoic carbonates of the Prichernomorsky artesian basin (north Black Sea region) Klimchouk, A.B., Timokhina, E.I., Amelichev, G.N.
- Estimating the Timing of Cave Level Development with GIS Jacoby, B.S., Peterson, E.W. Dogwiler T., Kostelnick J. C.
Many articles from recent karst/cave and other geoscience journals have been recently featured by posting their bibliography information with respective web links.
Check regularly: http://www.speleogenesis.info/content/
All previous issues of the journal are available from the left panel on the main page.
The UIS Commission on Karst Hydrogeology and Speleogenesis kindly invites the Speleogenesis community to submit articles to the journal.
Check regularly: http://www.speleogenesis.info/content/
All previous issues of the journal are available from the left panel on the main page.
The UIS Commission on Karst Hydrogeology and Speleogenesis kindly invites the Speleogenesis community to submit articles to the journal.
See previous post for more articles.
New NCKRI website
Dear Friends,I’m delighted to announce that the National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI) has launched its new website at www.nckri.org.
In it you’ll find much information about NCKRI, its programs and projects, how to join or support NCKRI, its staff and board, and more. And even more is coming! In the next few months we’ll add information on conferences we are leading and hosting, plus other news and information. Now that we’ve finished giving the website a great new look and better structure, we will keep building and updating it for years to come.
The website also has our new Annual Report, which covers NCKRI’s activities from July 2010 through June 2010. You’ll find it on our publications page (in our “About NCKRI” tab).
George Veni, Ph.D.
Executive Director
National Cave and Karst Research Institute
George Veni, Ph.D.
Executive Director
National Cave and Karst Research Institute
Monday, November 21, 2011
Therion 5.3.9 (beta) released
A new beta version (5.3.9) has been released and is available here.
Therion solves the most annoying problem of cave cartography – how to keep a map of large and complicated cave system always up-to-date.
Main features include:
Complete maps with all the detail. No additional ink stroke is needed.
- Maps are dynamic, always up-to-date – i.e. they are automatically re-drawn after loop closure, blunder fix, scale or symbol set change
- 3D models are created using 2D maps
The latest version includes following additions/bug fixes:
Therion:
* added new point types: ice-stalactite, ice-stalagmite, ice-pillar,
clay-choke, clay-tree
* added new wall subtypes: pit, flowstone, moonmilk, overlying
* added new symbol groups: ice, sediments
* added -height option for pit/wall:pit
* added new layout option: color map-bg transparent
* Austrian symbol set added (thanks to Georg Pacher)
* updated German translation (thanks to Georg Pacher)
* updated Italian translation (thanks to Marco Corvi)
* added bulgarian translation (thanks to Alexander Yanev)
* added possibility to define own coordinate system in therion.ini (cs-def)
* updated survex img library to version 1.1.15
* added option -enable/disable splay-shots to 3d model export
* bugs fixed:
- fixed huge coordinate numbers in extended elevation xvi
- xvi with sketches export
- unnecessary warningcheck changes eliminated from metapost code
- fixed bug with 3d model generation from scraps without outline
- fixed bug with missing patterns in symbols.xhtml
- fixed bug - direction point not working with line secion
- fixed inaccurate clipping of coloured scrap background
- fixed placement of surface bitmaps with larger offset
- fixed alignment of some point symbols in AUT symbol set
- missing white fill below cave passages in transparent PDFs if background
colour is white (needed if the map is included into other map with
non-white background)
- fixed incorrect line width conversion in some patterns
- hide white background of scraps when the PDF layer containing them
is invisible
- constrained Delaunay triangulation engine replaced by poly2tri
- passage outline scanning algorithm improved
- "nosurvey" shots allowed between unfixed stations
- added missing area flowstone and moonmilk into legend
- fixed xvi export of extended elevation
- fixed symbol-hide/show point remark bug
- fixed wall:debris bug in AUT symbol set (thanks to Georg Pacher)
- fixed layout color map-bg transparent bug
- LRUD area dimensions is drawn for all shots before these shots are drawn
(centerline is compact when map is exported from centerline only)
xtherion:
* bugs fixed:
-
loch:
* VTK file export changed to binary type (problem with coordinate systems)
* bugs fixed:
- vthreshold should work now for LRUD modelling
Source: Therion
Floyd Collins To Open at The Vault, Southwark Playhouse For Six Week Run
The play features music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, and additional lyrics by Tina Landau.
Directed by Derek Bond.
22nd February to 31st March 2012
Kentucky, 1925. Floyd Collins, soon to be acclaimed as the ‘greatest caver ever known', dreams of finding fame and fortune underground. When a cave-in leaves him trapped 55 feet below the earth's surface, the media circus above ground makes a very personal tragedy a national sensation.
Emergence Exhibit Video: Extremophiles in Caves
Extremophiles are organisms that thrive in all kinds of extreme environments. They are found throughout New Mexico—on the surfaces of desert rocks, cave walls, lava tubes, and mineshafts. In these environments, scientists have discovered thousands of species of microorganisms whose genes have remained virtually unchanged over billions of years. Going back so far in time, these organisms may harbor important clues to how life originated.
This same research into extremophiles is being tapped to help our space program decide what to look for while searching for life on other planets.
or the 3D version:
Darkness calls cave art expert
 |
| Leslie Van Gelder |
A Glenorchy-based archaeologist, having just completed 11 years studying ancient art in two French caves, is itching to return to the darkness next year.
Dr Leslie Van Gelder - one of only two cave art experts in New Zealand - specialises in the study of Paleolithic finger-flutings, man-made lines left in soft stone surfaces up to 32,000 years ago.
She spoke to 60 people recently at a screening of documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams, which follows an expedition into France's Chauvet Cave, and man's most ancient visual art.
Many of the researchers featured in the documentary were Dr Van Gelder's contemporaries from research in the caves of Rouffignac and Gargas with her late husband Kevin Sharpe.
The couple's development of ways to identify individual artists showed women's and children's roles in cave art, and, in the Rouffignac cave, was the first to show symbolic work from children. Among the swirling swathes of parallel finger flutings across the walls and ceilings of the caves were symbolic tectiform drawings. She hopes to have finished a book on their findings in a year.
For now Dr Gelder works from home as programme director for Walden University - a distance-learning institution - as well as working on a documentary about the history of the road to Glenorchy.
The documentary continues at Dorothy Browns.
Source: Otago daily Times
Dr Leslie Van Gelder - one of only two cave art experts in New Zealand - specialises in the study of Paleolithic finger-flutings, man-made lines left in soft stone surfaces up to 32,000 years ago.
She spoke to 60 people recently at a screening of documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams, which follows an expedition into France's Chauvet Cave, and man's most ancient visual art.
Many of the researchers featured in the documentary were Dr Van Gelder's contemporaries from research in the caves of Rouffignac and Gargas with her late husband Kevin Sharpe.
The couple's development of ways to identify individual artists showed women's and children's roles in cave art, and, in the Rouffignac cave, was the first to show symbolic work from children. Among the swirling swathes of parallel finger flutings across the walls and ceilings of the caves were symbolic tectiform drawings. She hopes to have finished a book on their findings in a year.
For now Dr Gelder works from home as programme director for Walden University - a distance-learning institution - as well as working on a documentary about the history of the road to Glenorchy.
The documentary continues at Dorothy Browns.
Source: Otago daily Times
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Bats stop high-speed train in its tracks: Work stopped after rare colony is found
A new £130 million high-speed rail link from Oxford to London has been halted by bats.Commuters had been looking forward to the faster service within three years, following a public inquiry into the scheme.
Proposals for the development, which will go through Bicester, were put forward by Chiltern Railways and the project is expected to cost £130 million.
But the planning inspector has withheld approval due to concerns the faster trains could destroy a colony of rare bats roosting in Wolvercote Tunnel in Oxford.
And Chiltern Railways and environment body Natural England also need to agree on a scheme to stop possible pollution of nearby ponds inhabited by endangered great-crested newts.
The two organisations have been given four weeks to find a solution.
The Department for Transport said if measures to protect the species were agreed, Transport Secretary Justine Greening would be ‘minded to approve the scheme’.
Jonathan Gittos of the Engage Oxford group, which raised fears about noise and vibrations from the service, said: ‘It’s a completely mad world when the inspector seems to pay more attention to the needs of bats and newts than people.’
Source: Daily Mail
And Chiltern Railways and environment body Natural England also need to agree on a scheme to stop possible pollution of nearby ponds inhabited by endangered great-crested newts.
The two organisations have been given four weeks to find a solution.
The Department for Transport said if measures to protect the species were agreed, Transport Secretary Justine Greening would be ‘minded to approve the scheme’.
Jonathan Gittos of the Engage Oxford group, which raised fears about noise and vibrations from the service, said: ‘It’s a completely mad world when the inspector seems to pay more attention to the needs of bats and newts than people.’
Source: Daily Mail
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Second rescue for Devon caver in underground fall drama
A caving enthusiast from the Westcountry who was rescued from 300ft underground after a fall, escaped from a similar accident five years ago, it has emerged.
Emily Sellick, from Kingsbridge in Devon, was exploring a disused lead mine in Shropshire with six friends when she suffered an epileptic fit and fell.
Emily Sellick, from Kingsbridge in Devon, was exploring a disused lead mine in Shropshire with six friends when she suffered an epileptic fit and fell.
 |
| Emily Sellick pictured after her rescue from Pridhamsleigh Cavern in June 2006. She was so impressed by the work of the cave rescuers who helped her that she later volunteered to join the Devon Cave Rescue Organisation |
Message to Obama: Save the Bats!
Do you want to help save America’s insect-eating bats from extinction? Then tell President Obama.People who love bats — or at least the multi-billion dollar agricultural benefits they provide — are urging Obama to include in his 2013 budget research on White Nose Syndrome, the disease that’s annihilating insect-eating bats across much of the eastern United States and Canada.
Caused by a fungus that was first identified less than a decade ago, scientists are racing to learn how to fight WNS. Federal research funding, however, has been minimal, with bat supporters scratching and clawing for the Beltway equivalent of couch change.
To ask for direct White House support, Bat Conservation International has set up a We the People online petition. We the People is the formal White House petition site, with a response promised to any plea with at least 25,000 signatures to back it.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Bats are key to biosafety - study
Bats coexist with so many lethal viruses scientists hope they can show us how to fend off deadly diseases.
Researchers at the world's most advanced biosecurity research facility, CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory, are keeping the nation safe by studying RNA viruses that come from bats - Hendra, SARS, Ebola, and Nipah.
Dr Alex Hyatt says the Geelong lab's state-of-the art microscopy technology allows research with infectious disease agents that require the highest levels of biocontainment.
'We are talking about viruses here that if you are infected you are a gonner,' he said.
'There are no vaccines, they are pathogenic, they are deadly ... so we can look at the interactions in real time, live viruses in cells without risk of infection or death. And come to understand how viruses replicate in cells.'
Dr Linfa Wang says bats, the second most abundant animals on earth after rodents, are key to their research.
'Bats have been around for 60 million years so they somehow developed this symbiotic relationship with a virus and they can co-exist happily. The virus won't cause any disease in bats.'
Some scientists believe there is an ancestor form in bats of most of the modern viruses infecting humans and livestock.
The scientists want to watch live interaction in bats with viruses and how bat cells behave to see why they co-exist with the viruses without getting sick.
'We consider bats almost like a black hole, we have very limited understanding of this interesting group of mammal species,' Dr Wang said.
Professor Martyn Jeggo says their aim is to diagnose and respond to an emergency disease as fast as possible and research to mitigate or protect against disease.
But some viruses are just too risky to let in, including live foot and mouth virus, because it has the potential to devastate the livestock industry.
So the researchers are studying it in pigs in Vietnam, in sheep work in South Africa and in cattle work in Argentina.
The laboratory allows scientists around the world to work together in real time.
Source: Big Pond News
Researchers at the world's most advanced biosecurity research facility, CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory, are keeping the nation safe by studying RNA viruses that come from bats - Hendra, SARS, Ebola, and Nipah.
Dr Alex Hyatt says the Geelong lab's state-of-the art microscopy technology allows research with infectious disease agents that require the highest levels of biocontainment.
'We are talking about viruses here that if you are infected you are a gonner,' he said.
'There are no vaccines, they are pathogenic, they are deadly ... so we can look at the interactions in real time, live viruses in cells without risk of infection or death. And come to understand how viruses replicate in cells.'
Dr Linfa Wang says bats, the second most abundant animals on earth after rodents, are key to their research.
'Bats have been around for 60 million years so they somehow developed this symbiotic relationship with a virus and they can co-exist happily. The virus won't cause any disease in bats.'
Some scientists believe there is an ancestor form in bats of most of the modern viruses infecting humans and livestock.
The scientists want to watch live interaction in bats with viruses and how bat cells behave to see why they co-exist with the viruses without getting sick.
'We consider bats almost like a black hole, we have very limited understanding of this interesting group of mammal species,' Dr Wang said.
Professor Martyn Jeggo says their aim is to diagnose and respond to an emergency disease as fast as possible and research to mitigate or protect against disease.
But some viruses are just too risky to let in, including live foot and mouth virus, because it has the potential to devastate the livestock industry.
So the researchers are studying it in pigs in Vietnam, in sheep work in South Africa and in cattle work in Argentina.
The laboratory allows scientists around the world to work together in real time.
Source: Big Pond News
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Video: Orphaned baby bats nursed back to health
Brisbane has welcomed the arrival of almost 100 baby bats, after conservationists flew the tiny flying foxes over from Cairns, where extreme weather has left many of them orphaned
Check out the video at The Globe and Mail.
Check out the video at The Globe and Mail.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Cathedral Cove cave has shave
 |
| Spiderman: Geotechnical specialist Adam Warren descends after chipping away loose rock from Cathedral Cove archway |
Thuds resonated through the majestic cave as pieces of ignimbrite rock fell about 15 metres to the bleached sand below.
Hard hats were compulsory inside the cave's exclusion zone as Warren and colleague Raphael Lemgruber, suspended from ropes, scanned the rock face for loose rock to remove.
The cave was closed in April last year because of falling rock, and yesterday the geotechnical specialists assessed the risk of more falls, "scaling" loose rock inside and out.
75th Anniversary of the MCR on 18th /19th November
Saturday's programme (details below) will involve, videos, kit displays and various activities such as pitch hauling on a climbing wall, an underground practice rescue and the Speleo Olympics course for a “rescue” race event.
Food will be available at lunchtime and in the evening and celebratory T- shirts will be on sale. The bar will be open all afternoon and evening.
The activities in the evening will include a talk on the Mendip Cave Rescue, an auction of caving related objects and the JRat Digging Award for 2011. This will be followed by a Stomp later in the evening
Food will be available at lunchtime and in the evening and celebratory T- shirts will be on sale. The bar will be open all afternoon and evening.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
CSI Wisconsin: Are Wind Turbines Killing Bats?
It’s a little Animal Planet, a little CSI. A new study conducted by the University of Wisconsin Madison looked into the cause of death of countless numbers of bats found near wind turbines. The study was funded by Invenergy and Wisconsin Focus on Energy and recently discussed on the University of Wisconsin’s news site.Researchers conducting the study had two culprits in mind for the cause of death: barotrauma, caused by bats flying through different pressures created by the turbines which causes the bats internal organs to explode and blunt-force trauma from bats colliding directly with turbine blades or poles. While bats are able to fly around non-moving objects, the speed of the blades makes reaction time difficult for bats to avoid.
Researches used veterinary diagnostic techniques along with x-rays, tissue analysis, and gross necropsy to support or rule out their assumptions. Three-quarters of the bats studied had broken bones and ruptured organs. About half of the bats examined had middle and/or inner eardrum ruptures.
“We still don’t know exactly why bats are being killed — why the bats can’t see such a large thing protruding from the landscape, or what is possibly attracting the bats,” UW Professor David Drake said in the new article, “but now that we know direct causes of death we can start thinking about how to redesign turbine blades to have a smaller pressure differential or identify other cost-effective mitigation strategies that would minimize damage to bats.”
The full study, “Investigating the causes of death for wind-turbine associated bat fatalities,” is published in the October 2011 issue of the Journal of Mammalogy. It also isn’t the first study to look into this matter – one last year found that a slight alteration in turbine operation practices can have a big effect in reducing bat fatalities.
Source: Earthechling
Thursday, November 3, 2011
New Route in Peak Cavern
Pitch 1 (wet 7c+) of Ring of Fire during the first ascent in Peak Cavern. All pics Triple Echo Productions.
The other shoot I just finished with Triple Echo for the BBC was even weirder than the Handa adventure! The director Richard Else managed to get special permission to climb in the show cave Peak Cavern near Castleton right in the middle of the Peak District. The idea was for myself and Alan Cassidy to see if we could find a route out of it!
Peak Cavern, otherwise known as 'The Devil's Arse' is one of the biggest and most impressive limestone crags in the Peak. In a region where every other inch of rock has a route on it, it’s pretty amazing that there are no free routes on this crag at all. It comes down to access. The crag has been banned for climbing forever as it’s a tourist attraction on private land - paying public walking around below climbs etc. Of course it’s a massive shame since I’m certain a way round it could be found with the help of the BMC. The cave is only open to the public until 5pm and then it’s locked. Climber’s lock-in? Sadly I don’t think a change is likely any time soon. We appealed as best we could.
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Monday, November 28, 2011
Belgium event: Journées d'Archéologie en Wallonie
Moulins de Beez - Namur
vendredi 2 et samedi 3 décembre 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Ice Age Hominins And Their Adaptability To Climate Change
Computational modeling that examines evidence of how hominin groups evolved culturally and biologically in response to climate change during the last Ice Age also bears new insights into the extinction of Neanderthals. Details of the complex modeling experiments conducted at Arizona State University and the University of Colorado Denver will be published in the December issue of the journal Human Ecology, available online Nov. 17.
“To better understand human ecology, and especially how human culture and biology co-evolved among hunter-gatherers in the Late Pleistocene of Western Eurasia (ca. 128,000-11,500 years ago) we designed theoretical and methodological frameworks that incorporated feedback across three evolutionary systems: biological, cultural and environmental,” said Michael Barton, a pioneer in the area of archaeological applications of computational modeling at Arizona State University.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
New articles in Speleogenesis Journal
Two new articles has been published in the current (#11, 2011) issue of the journal "Speleogenesis and Evolution of Karst Aquifers":
- Hypogene speleogenesis in the Cenozoic carbonates of the Prichernomorsky artesian basin (north Black Sea region) Klimchouk, A.B., Timokhina, E.I., Amelichev, G.N.
- Estimating the Timing of Cave Level Development with GIS Jacoby, B.S., Peterson, E.W. Dogwiler T., Kostelnick J. C.
Many articles from recent karst/cave and other geoscience journals have been recently featured by posting their bibliography information with respective web links.
Check regularly: http://www.speleogenesis.info/content/
All previous issues of the journal are available from the left panel on the main page.
The UIS Commission on Karst Hydrogeology and Speleogenesis kindly invites the Speleogenesis community to submit articles to the journal.
Check regularly: http://www.speleogenesis.info/content/
All previous issues of the journal are available from the left panel on the main page.
The UIS Commission on Karst Hydrogeology and Speleogenesis kindly invites the Speleogenesis community to submit articles to the journal.
See previous post for more articles.
New NCKRI website
Dear Friends,I’m delighted to announce that the National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI) has launched its new website at www.nckri.org.
In it you’ll find much information about NCKRI, its programs and projects, how to join or support NCKRI, its staff and board, and more. And even more is coming! In the next few months we’ll add information on conferences we are leading and hosting, plus other news and information. Now that we’ve finished giving the website a great new look and better structure, we will keep building and updating it for years to come.
The website also has our new Annual Report, which covers NCKRI’s activities from July 2010 through June 2010. You’ll find it on our publications page (in our “About NCKRI” tab).
George Veni, Ph.D.
Executive Director
National Cave and Karst Research Institute
George Veni, Ph.D.
Executive Director
National Cave and Karst Research Institute
Monday, November 21, 2011
Therion 5.3.9 (beta) released
A new beta version (5.3.9) has been released and is available here.
Therion solves the most annoying problem of cave cartography – how to keep a map of large and complicated cave system always up-to-date.
Main features include:
Complete maps with all the detail. No additional ink stroke is needed.
- Maps are dynamic, always up-to-date – i.e. they are automatically re-drawn after loop closure, blunder fix, scale or symbol set change
- 3D models are created using 2D maps
The latest version includes following additions/bug fixes:
Therion:
* added new point types: ice-stalactite, ice-stalagmite, ice-pillar,
clay-choke, clay-tree
* added new wall subtypes: pit, flowstone, moonmilk, overlying
* added new symbol groups: ice, sediments
* added -height option for pit/wall:pit
* added new layout option: color map-bg transparent
* Austrian symbol set added (thanks to Georg Pacher)
* updated German translation (thanks to Georg Pacher)
* updated Italian translation (thanks to Marco Corvi)
* added bulgarian translation (thanks to Alexander Yanev)
* added possibility to define own coordinate system in therion.ini (cs-def)
* updated survex img library to version 1.1.15
* added option -enable/disable splay-shots to 3d model export
* bugs fixed:
- fixed huge coordinate numbers in extended elevation xvi
- xvi with sketches export
- unnecessary warningcheck changes eliminated from metapost code
- fixed bug with 3d model generation from scraps without outline
- fixed bug with missing patterns in symbols.xhtml
- fixed bug - direction point not working with line secion
- fixed inaccurate clipping of coloured scrap background
- fixed placement of surface bitmaps with larger offset
- fixed alignment of some point symbols in AUT symbol set
- missing white fill below cave passages in transparent PDFs if background
colour is white (needed if the map is included into other map with
non-white background)
- fixed incorrect line width conversion in some patterns
- hide white background of scraps when the PDF layer containing them
is invisible
- constrained Delaunay triangulation engine replaced by poly2tri
- passage outline scanning algorithm improved
- "nosurvey" shots allowed between unfixed stations
- added missing area flowstone and moonmilk into legend
- fixed xvi export of extended elevation
- fixed symbol-hide/show point remark bug
- fixed wall:debris bug in AUT symbol set (thanks to Georg Pacher)
- fixed layout color map-bg transparent bug
- LRUD area dimensions is drawn for all shots before these shots are drawn
(centerline is compact when map is exported from centerline only)
xtherion:
* bugs fixed:
-
loch:
* VTK file export changed to binary type (problem with coordinate systems)
* bugs fixed:
- vthreshold should work now for LRUD modelling
Source: Therion
Floyd Collins To Open at The Vault, Southwark Playhouse For Six Week Run
The play features music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, and additional lyrics by Tina Landau.
Directed by Derek Bond.
22nd February to 31st March 2012
Kentucky, 1925. Floyd Collins, soon to be acclaimed as the ‘greatest caver ever known', dreams of finding fame and fortune underground. When a cave-in leaves him trapped 55 feet below the earth's surface, the media circus above ground makes a very personal tragedy a national sensation.
Emergence Exhibit Video: Extremophiles in Caves
Extremophiles are organisms that thrive in all kinds of extreme environments. They are found throughout New Mexico—on the surfaces of desert rocks, cave walls, lava tubes, and mineshafts. In these environments, scientists have discovered thousands of species of microorganisms whose genes have remained virtually unchanged over billions of years. Going back so far in time, these organisms may harbor important clues to how life originated.
This same research into extremophiles is being tapped to help our space program decide what to look for while searching for life on other planets.
or the 3D version:
Darkness calls cave art expert
|
| Leslie Van Gelder |
A Glenorchy-based archaeologist, having just completed 11 years studying ancient art in two French caves, is itching to return to the darkness next year.
Dr Leslie Van Gelder - one of only two cave art experts in New Zealand - specialises in the study of Paleolithic finger-flutings, man-made lines left in soft stone surfaces up to 32,000 years ago.
She spoke to 60 people recently at a screening of documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams, which follows an expedition into France's Chauvet Cave, and man's most ancient visual art.
Many of the researchers featured in the documentary were Dr Van Gelder's contemporaries from research in the caves of Rouffignac and Gargas with her late husband Kevin Sharpe.
The couple's development of ways to identify individual artists showed women's and children's roles in cave art, and, in the Rouffignac cave, was the first to show symbolic work from children. Among the swirling swathes of parallel finger flutings across the walls and ceilings of the caves were symbolic tectiform drawings. She hopes to have finished a book on their findings in a year.
For now Dr Gelder works from home as programme director for Walden University - a distance-learning institution - as well as working on a documentary about the history of the road to Glenorchy.
The documentary continues at Dorothy Browns.
Source: Otago daily Times
Dr Leslie Van Gelder - one of only two cave art experts in New Zealand - specialises in the study of Paleolithic finger-flutings, man-made lines left in soft stone surfaces up to 32,000 years ago.
She spoke to 60 people recently at a screening of documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams, which follows an expedition into France's Chauvet Cave, and man's most ancient visual art.
Many of the researchers featured in the documentary were Dr Van Gelder's contemporaries from research in the caves of Rouffignac and Gargas with her late husband Kevin Sharpe.
The couple's development of ways to identify individual artists showed women's and children's roles in cave art, and, in the Rouffignac cave, was the first to show symbolic work from children. Among the swirling swathes of parallel finger flutings across the walls and ceilings of the caves were symbolic tectiform drawings. She hopes to have finished a book on their findings in a year.
For now Dr Gelder works from home as programme director for Walden University - a distance-learning institution - as well as working on a documentary about the history of the road to Glenorchy.
The documentary continues at Dorothy Browns.
Source: Otago daily Times
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Bats stop high-speed train in its tracks: Work stopped after rare colony is found
A new £130 million high-speed rail link from Oxford to London has been halted by bats.Commuters had been looking forward to the faster service within three years, following a public inquiry into the scheme.
Proposals for the development, which will go through Bicester, were put forward by Chiltern Railways and the project is expected to cost £130 million.
But the planning inspector has withheld approval due to concerns the faster trains could destroy a colony of rare bats roosting in Wolvercote Tunnel in Oxford.
And Chiltern Railways and environment body Natural England also need to agree on a scheme to stop possible pollution of nearby ponds inhabited by endangered great-crested newts.
The two organisations have been given four weeks to find a solution.
The Department for Transport said if measures to protect the species were agreed, Transport Secretary Justine Greening would be ‘minded to approve the scheme’.
Jonathan Gittos of the Engage Oxford group, which raised fears about noise and vibrations from the service, said: ‘It’s a completely mad world when the inspector seems to pay more attention to the needs of bats and newts than people.’
Source: Daily Mail
And Chiltern Railways and environment body Natural England also need to agree on a scheme to stop possible pollution of nearby ponds inhabited by endangered great-crested newts.
The two organisations have been given four weeks to find a solution.
The Department for Transport said if measures to protect the species were agreed, Transport Secretary Justine Greening would be ‘minded to approve the scheme’.
Jonathan Gittos of the Engage Oxford group, which raised fears about noise and vibrations from the service, said: ‘It’s a completely mad world when the inspector seems to pay more attention to the needs of bats and newts than people.’
Source: Daily Mail
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Second rescue for Devon caver in underground fall drama
A caving enthusiast from the Westcountry who was rescued from 300ft underground after a fall, escaped from a similar accident five years ago, it has emerged.
Emily Sellick, from Kingsbridge in Devon, was exploring a disused lead mine in Shropshire with six friends when she suffered an epileptic fit and fell.
Emily Sellick, from Kingsbridge in Devon, was exploring a disused lead mine in Shropshire with six friends when she suffered an epileptic fit and fell.
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| Emily Sellick pictured after her rescue from Pridhamsleigh Cavern in June 2006. She was so impressed by the work of the cave rescuers who helped her that she later volunteered to join the Devon Cave Rescue Organisation |
Message to Obama: Save the Bats!
Do you want to help save America’s insect-eating bats from extinction? Then tell President Obama.People who love bats — or at least the multi-billion dollar agricultural benefits they provide — are urging Obama to include in his 2013 budget research on White Nose Syndrome, the disease that’s annihilating insect-eating bats across much of the eastern United States and Canada.
Caused by a fungus that was first identified less than a decade ago, scientists are racing to learn how to fight WNS. Federal research funding, however, has been minimal, with bat supporters scratching and clawing for the Beltway equivalent of couch change.
To ask for direct White House support, Bat Conservation International has set up a We the People online petition. We the People is the formal White House petition site, with a response promised to any plea with at least 25,000 signatures to back it.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Bats are key to biosafety - study
Bats coexist with so many lethal viruses scientists hope they can show us how to fend off deadly diseases.
Researchers at the world's most advanced biosecurity research facility, CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory, are keeping the nation safe by studying RNA viruses that come from bats - Hendra, SARS, Ebola, and Nipah.
Dr Alex Hyatt says the Geelong lab's state-of-the art microscopy technology allows research with infectious disease agents that require the highest levels of biocontainment.
'We are talking about viruses here that if you are infected you are a gonner,' he said.
'There are no vaccines, they are pathogenic, they are deadly ... so we can look at the interactions in real time, live viruses in cells without risk of infection or death. And come to understand how viruses replicate in cells.'
Dr Linfa Wang says bats, the second most abundant animals on earth after rodents, are key to their research.
'Bats have been around for 60 million years so they somehow developed this symbiotic relationship with a virus and they can co-exist happily. The virus won't cause any disease in bats.'
Some scientists believe there is an ancestor form in bats of most of the modern viruses infecting humans and livestock.
The scientists want to watch live interaction in bats with viruses and how bat cells behave to see why they co-exist with the viruses without getting sick.
'We consider bats almost like a black hole, we have very limited understanding of this interesting group of mammal species,' Dr Wang said.
Professor Martyn Jeggo says their aim is to diagnose and respond to an emergency disease as fast as possible and research to mitigate or protect against disease.
But some viruses are just too risky to let in, including live foot and mouth virus, because it has the potential to devastate the livestock industry.
So the researchers are studying it in pigs in Vietnam, in sheep work in South Africa and in cattle work in Argentina.
The laboratory allows scientists around the world to work together in real time.
Source: Big Pond News
Researchers at the world's most advanced biosecurity research facility, CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory, are keeping the nation safe by studying RNA viruses that come from bats - Hendra, SARS, Ebola, and Nipah.
Dr Alex Hyatt says the Geelong lab's state-of-the art microscopy technology allows research with infectious disease agents that require the highest levels of biocontainment.
'We are talking about viruses here that if you are infected you are a gonner,' he said.
'There are no vaccines, they are pathogenic, they are deadly ... so we can look at the interactions in real time, live viruses in cells without risk of infection or death. And come to understand how viruses replicate in cells.'
Dr Linfa Wang says bats, the second most abundant animals on earth after rodents, are key to their research.
'Bats have been around for 60 million years so they somehow developed this symbiotic relationship with a virus and they can co-exist happily. The virus won't cause any disease in bats.'
Some scientists believe there is an ancestor form in bats of most of the modern viruses infecting humans and livestock.
The scientists want to watch live interaction in bats with viruses and how bat cells behave to see why they co-exist with the viruses without getting sick.
'We consider bats almost like a black hole, we have very limited understanding of this interesting group of mammal species,' Dr Wang said.
Professor Martyn Jeggo says their aim is to diagnose and respond to an emergency disease as fast as possible and research to mitigate or protect against disease.
But some viruses are just too risky to let in, including live foot and mouth virus, because it has the potential to devastate the livestock industry.
So the researchers are studying it in pigs in Vietnam, in sheep work in South Africa and in cattle work in Argentina.
The laboratory allows scientists around the world to work together in real time.
Source: Big Pond News
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Video: Orphaned baby bats nursed back to health
Brisbane has welcomed the arrival of almost 100 baby bats, after conservationists flew the tiny flying foxes over from Cairns, where extreme weather has left many of them orphaned
Check out the video at The Globe and Mail.
Check out the video at The Globe and Mail.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Cathedral Cove cave has shave
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| Spiderman: Geotechnical specialist Adam Warren descends after chipping away loose rock from Cathedral Cove archway |
Thuds resonated through the majestic cave as pieces of ignimbrite rock fell about 15 metres to the bleached sand below.
Hard hats were compulsory inside the cave's exclusion zone as Warren and colleague Raphael Lemgruber, suspended from ropes, scanned the rock face for loose rock to remove.
The cave was closed in April last year because of falling rock, and yesterday the geotechnical specialists assessed the risk of more falls, "scaling" loose rock inside and out.
75th Anniversary of the MCR on 18th /19th November
Saturday's programme (details below) will involve, videos, kit displays and various activities such as pitch hauling on a climbing wall, an underground practice rescue and the Speleo Olympics course for a “rescue” race event.
Food will be available at lunchtime and in the evening and celebratory T- shirts will be on sale. The bar will be open all afternoon and evening.
The activities in the evening will include a talk on the Mendip Cave Rescue, an auction of caving related objects and the JRat Digging Award for 2011. This will be followed by a Stomp later in the evening
Food will be available at lunchtime and in the evening and celebratory T- shirts will be on sale. The bar will be open all afternoon and evening.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
CSI Wisconsin: Are Wind Turbines Killing Bats?
It’s a little Animal Planet, a little CSI. A new study conducted by the University of Wisconsin Madison looked into the cause of death of countless numbers of bats found near wind turbines. The study was funded by Invenergy and Wisconsin Focus on Energy and recently discussed on the University of Wisconsin’s news site.Researchers conducting the study had two culprits in mind for the cause of death: barotrauma, caused by bats flying through different pressures created by the turbines which causes the bats internal organs to explode and blunt-force trauma from bats colliding directly with turbine blades or poles. While bats are able to fly around non-moving objects, the speed of the blades makes reaction time difficult for bats to avoid.
Researches used veterinary diagnostic techniques along with x-rays, tissue analysis, and gross necropsy to support or rule out their assumptions. Three-quarters of the bats studied had broken bones and ruptured organs. About half of the bats examined had middle and/or inner eardrum ruptures.
“We still don’t know exactly why bats are being killed — why the bats can’t see such a large thing protruding from the landscape, or what is possibly attracting the bats,” UW Professor David Drake said in the new article, “but now that we know direct causes of death we can start thinking about how to redesign turbine blades to have a smaller pressure differential or identify other cost-effective mitigation strategies that would minimize damage to bats.”
The full study, “Investigating the causes of death for wind-turbine associated bat fatalities,” is published in the October 2011 issue of the Journal of Mammalogy. It also isn’t the first study to look into this matter – one last year found that a slight alteration in turbine operation practices can have a big effect in reducing bat fatalities.
Source: Earthechling
Thursday, November 3, 2011
New Route in Peak Cavern
Pitch 1 (wet 7c+) of Ring of Fire during the first ascent in Peak Cavern. All pics Triple Echo Productions.
The other shoot I just finished with Triple Echo for the BBC was even weirder than the Handa adventure! The director Richard Else managed to get special permission to climb in the show cave Peak Cavern near Castleton right in the middle of the Peak District. The idea was for myself and Alan Cassidy to see if we could find a route out of it!
Peak Cavern, otherwise known as 'The Devil's Arse' is one of the biggest and most impressive limestone crags in the Peak. In a region where every other inch of rock has a route on it, it’s pretty amazing that there are no free routes on this crag at all. It comes down to access. The crag has been banned for climbing forever as it’s a tourist attraction on private land - paying public walking around below climbs etc. Of course it’s a massive shame since I’m certain a way round it could be found with the help of the BMC. The cave is only open to the public until 5pm and then it’s locked. Climber’s lock-in? Sadly I don’t think a change is likely any time soon. We appealed as best we could.
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