Two news items that make me feel small in the grand scheme today.
The first is about how mankind evolved and moved around our planet. DNA from a 4 year-old Syberian boy who died in south-central Siberia 24,000 years ago, link him to the origins of Native Americans, whose ancestors crossed from Siberia into the New World during the last Ice Age. Eske Willerslev from the University of Copenhagen said native Americans are composed of the meeting of two populations - an East Asian group and these Mal'ta west Eurasian populations.
The first is about how mankind evolved and moved around our planet. DNA from a 4 year-old Syberian boy who died in south-central Siberia 24,000 years ago, link him to the origins of Native Americans, whose ancestors crossed from Siberia into the New World during the last Ice Age. Eske Willerslev from the University of Copenhagen said native Americans are composed of the meeting of two populations - an East Asian group and these Mal'ta west Eurasian populations.
news.bbc.co.uk The burial of an Upper Palaeolithic Siberian boy was discovered along with numerous artifacts, one of which was a Venus figurine, in the 1920s by Russian archaeologists near the village of Mal'ta, along the Belaya river. Apparently, these Venus figurines are found all the way west of this area into Europe.
Dr Willerslev and a colleague obtained a sample from the boy's arm bone, extracted DNA and compared it with that of present-day populations. "When we sequenced this genome, something strange appeared," he explained. "Parts of the genome you find today in western Eurasians, other parts of the genome you find today in Native Americans - and are unique today to Native Americans."
The most puzzling part was the genones showed no link with the East Asian populations such as the Chinese, Japanese or Koreans.
Dr Willerslev and a colleague obtained a sample from the boy's arm bone, extracted DNA and compared it with that of present-day populations. "When we sequenced this genome, something strange appeared," he explained. "Parts of the genome you find today in western Eurasians, other parts of the genome you find today in Native Americans - and are unique today to Native Americans."
The most puzzling part was the genones showed no link with the East Asian populations such as the Chinese, Japanese or Koreans.
news.bbc.co.uk The other story is about the planet Mars. Scientists believe a rock discovered in the Sahara Desert is the oldest Martian meteorite ever found on Earth. New tests indicate the rock dates to 4.4 billion years ago. The dark and glossy meteorite, nicknamed Black Beauty, would have formed when the Red Planet was in its infancy. It would have been created during a turbulent period of Martian history, when volcanoes were erupting all over the surface.
All that history about the formation of planets is hard to take in. Earth is such a tiny part of the cosmos. Here on our world, life has evolved to make the human race the most powerful of all the species. In charge of the day-to-day running, eliminating animals and insects we don't consider important, clearing forests, using rivers and seas for our dumping grounds, and, in our greed, using the land for our own purpose without considering other life forms that inhabit the earth with us. What have we done?
All that history about the formation of planets is hard to take in. Earth is such a tiny part of the cosmos. Here on our world, life has evolved to make the human race the most powerful of all the species. In charge of the day-to-day running, eliminating animals and insects we don't consider important, clearing forests, using rivers and seas for our dumping grounds, and, in our greed, using the land for our own purpose without considering other life forms that inhabit the earth with us. What have we done?
Excerpt from Golden Submarine - (on the sidebar)
March 25, 2032
I need to finish my recordings today. Tomorrow may be too late.
I dozed fitfully through the lapping of flood water outside after watching the news last night. First, meteor showers hit various parts of the world. Very quickly the weather changed. Volcanoes erupted in California, Australia, and the European continent. Heat killed people in Russia. Snow covered the tropics and people froze to death. Then ice melted after more eruptions in Iceland. After three days of reporting catastrophes, the radio and television channels have shut down for evacuation.
The water is flowing under the door and rising under my feet. I need to seal my records and carry through with my plans. I've lost touch with all my family and friends. If only I could see my mother one more time. Did I tell her I loved her enough? What is she going through right now? I don't know if I can carry on through this sorrow, but I must. If someone finds this record it might help people in the future to know what happened.
But could they avoid making the same mistakes?
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