Placoderms were first live-bearers

I like placoderms in general: in addition to being really cool-looking, the armored fishes are scientifically fascinating and important. A new species from Australia confirms that the placoderms were, in addition to being the first sexually dimporphic vertebrates (OK, we knew that), were the first to bear live young (we DIDN'T know that.) The fossil is so well preserved an embryo attached to an umbilical cord is discernable. Materpiscis attenboroughi, 380 million years old, gets my vote as the fossil find of the year so far.

FIlm Sasquatch, get rich

Bushnell Trail Cameras has promised big money - one million dollars - to the first person who gets a "verifiable photo of Sasquatch" using (of course) a trail camera. There have been rewards before, but Bushnell, a major optics and outdoor gear maker, can deliver - IF its experts (whoever they are) verify the photograph. Full details are yet to be published, but obviously the company hopes for a lot of good publicity, not to mention sales of its trail cameras (the model described at the Cryptomundo post in the above link retails for about $270.)
Trail cameras are increasingly popular in game surveys as the technology improves and the cameras get smaller, more capable, and cheaper while battery life gets longer. They have captured some very rare animals: a recent image of the nearly-extinct Javan rhino was published around the world. There have been some purported trail camera images of Sasquatch before, including the one shown at the top of this link, which didn't impress most cryptozoologists, as it looks more like the tail and rump of a horse.

COMMENT: It seems certain Bushnell is going to get a lot of fuzzy or outright fake submissions. Cryptozoologists who think it likely there is a real Sasquatch out there to be filmed are very interested in learning the details: who is going to verify the photographs and what standards will be applied. This may be problematical. It's arguable that, if you get a photograph of a Sasquatch the only way to "verify" it is to go out to that location and collect the actual Sasquatch. Easier said than done....

Florida Teacher finds New Species

Six years ago, Boynton Beach, FL, high school biology teacher Bud Gillian was swimming when he noticed an odd-looking box jellyfish. Keeping a careful distance, he stayed with the jelly for as long as he could, then headed to shore and began a long program of research and consulting with authorities. In the end, he got what he was after: confirmation he'd seen a previously unrecorded species. Awaiting a formal scientific name when a paper is published later this summer is the Caribbean Banded Box Jelly, a small, highly venomous addition to the known fauna of the Caribbean.

COMMENT: I love stories like this: Interested amateur spots something intriguing, pursues it for however long it takes, and adds new knowledge to science. Congratulations to Mr. Gillian.

Air Force Picks ORS Jumpstart Payload

A SpaceDev, Inc. microsatellite was picked to ride a Falcon booster later next month in the first Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) "Jumpstart" mission, intended to demonstrate rapid test, integration, and launch of a spacecraft. The satellite is intended primarily as a risk reduction payload for the Trailblazer multi-purpose microsat bus, but also carries a suite of experiments.
As SpaceDev reports:

" Jumpstart is a multi-pronged effort set to fly a responsive payload on the SpaceX Falcon 1 Flight 003 mission, currently scheduled for a late June 2008 launch from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The spacecraft was built and assembled on schedule and budget at SpaceDev’s Poway, California facility in less than five months. It has been delivered to the ORS Office at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico for final testing and integration...This mission demonstrates the first step of responsive launch with an end-to-end call up within seven months of funding availability and within four months following approval to proceed. In addition, Jumpstart demonstrates several key ORS enabling models: rapid call up of a mission to launch; rapid development, integration and checkout of spacecraft; a concept of operations that allows flexibility late in the payload processing flow to determine which mission will fly; efficiencies in processes and procedures to reduce payload integration timelines; and identification and assurance of payload technical readiness."

COMMENT: It's a worthy effort and will be a step forward for ORS if they make it work. There will be some crossed fingers regarding the booster, which did not make it to orbit on its first two attempts. The schedule, while nothing unusual 45 years ago, is very tight in this era of multiple reviews and multi-month launch prep times, so here's hoping the folks at SpaceDev, ORS, AFRL, and SpaceX (the booster maker) can pull it off. Go Jumpstart!

A startling new view of pterosaurs

A scientific paper published by Darren Naish and Mark Witten argues that the largest of the Mesozoic pterosaurs, or "flying reptiles," had a lifestyle that contradicts nearly every book and documentary ever produced on the topic.
Naish and Witten say the normal view of giant pterosaurs like Hatzegopteryx (10-meter wingspan) as creatures which skimmed the water's surface plucking out fish is contradicted by their anatomy. Their necks were stiff, almost rigid, which makes them useless for reaching down into the highly resistant medium of water and grabbing fish while the animal was still flying forward: the neck would break. The authors also didn't think they were well designed for carrion feeding, wading, or other proposed lifestyles. Instead, they spent much time on the ground, walking in the manner of gigantic quadrupedal storks as they plucked prey animals from the ground. The biggest would have stood nearly as tall as giraffes when they stalked the plains like (as an episode of Blackadder once put it) "giant stalking things."
The authors are careful to note the idea is not entirely original with them, but they've developed it in more depth than anyone else. On the Tetrapod Zoology blog, which includes links to the original paper and some articles about it, Darren and others have patiently answered my questions about this seemingly counterintuitive theory, explaining how the animals could still launch quickly into the air, survive reasonable damage to those seemingly vulnerable wing membranes, etc.
I can't say I'm convinced on every point, but the authors have certainly thought this thing through and are sticking by their guns. Read it: agree or disagree, you'll find you never think about pterosaurs the same way again.
Congratulations to the authors for a truly fascinating "out of the box" contribution to one of palentology's long-running debates.

Stay tuned for "MonsterQuest"

I was just up in Montreal, taping an interview for the show’s “mystery bears” episode (no, I have no “preview” information on any new findings: they took pains not to discuss the other parts of the show, so as not to color my overview of where I thought the topic stood). I know they looked into the classic questions of ursine cryptozoology: MacFarlane's bear (Canada, 1864), Bergman's bear (Kamchatka, 1920), and other oddities. I tried to emphasize taking a scientific, open-minded look at the mysteries of the natural world, even as I explained why the bear has such a hold on the human imagination. When asked about cryptozoology as a legitimate branch of zoology, I emphasized that cryptozoology, properly done, uses the same methods as traditional zoology - going through museums and libraries, talking to local peoples, etc. - but sets the boundaries of inquiry a little more broadly, risking failure and sometimes ridicule to make sure we were not overlooking important discoveries.
I found the crew from the production company to be very professional, and the questions they asked were intelligent and well-informed, if sometimes speculative. I proposed future episodes on Lake Iliamna and Colorado’s “ghost grizzlies” if they get a third season, and we’ll see if those draw any interest.
My thanks to everyone at CMJ Productions who made this a great experience. I am hoping sales of my books go up this year so I can earn enough to cover the souvenir purchases I made on my first-ever trip to Canada.

Coolest pic from Mars

This dramatic and lucky shot from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captures the Phoenix lander on its way down through the Martian atmosphere by parachute. It's the first image ever of a lander descending on another world.

On Mars!

After "seven minutes of terror," as controllers describe the descent phase when the Phoenix Mars Lander was out of contact, the spacecraft has safely put its mechanical feet down on the soil of Martian arctic. Images are already streaming back, showing a relatively flat, pebble-strewn landing site and the kind of geometric patterns created in of permafrost regions of Earth as ice freezes and thaws. Missions controllers and managers hugged each other, cheered, and pumped their fists when the craft touched down on its three parachutes and its descent thrusters. Now it's the scientists' turn, and they expect a treasure trove of data to help answer questions like how much water ice the Red Planet conceals and, of course, whether it's ever been - or even now could be - the home of indigenous microbial life.

COMMENT: Congratulations to everyone involved. It's a great day to be an Earthman.

R.I.P. Ernst Stuhlinger

Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, one of the members of Wernher von Braun's inner circle and an invaluable resource to myself and Erika Lishock in writing our book The First Space Race, has died. A physicist who collaborated with James Van Allen on the first American satellite, Explorer 1, he helped develop the Jupiter C/Explorer design, especially the guidance system. When Explorer 1 lifted off on January 31, 1958, Stuhlinger had the critical job of studying DOVAP signals and other data to determine when the booster had arced over to the proper angle for him to manually ignite the upper states and put the satellite in orbit. Stuhlinger was with NASA for many years after the agency absorbed the von Braun team from the Army. He was one of the inventors of the ion propulsion concept now being actively used in deep-space exploration.

Farewell to a great contributor to spaceflight.

Schedule note

Friday, May 23:

I was getting really good about doing the blog daily, but it will be spotty for the next few days. I am off to Canada to do an interview on prehistoric bears for a History Channel program. There are things more fun than that, but there are very few of them.
There's a lot going on in the scientific world, from NASA's preparations for Phoenix Mars lander to a vociferous debate over new enhancements and alleged details of the Patterson-Gimlin sasquatch film (see www.cryptomundo.com). (To me, that film has been analyzed past the point where any new efforts are likely to be valid or useful, if you keep in mind the image was 1.8 mm high on a 16mm frame, but it's the Zapruder film of cryptozoology - people will never stop debating it.)
Just to remind us exploration never stops: a core sample taken 1,600 m below the seafloor off Newfoundland revealed methane-eating microbes living deeper than any life discovered before: not only that, but the sampled organisms were thriving in temperatures up to 100 C.
See:
http://www.livescience.com/animals/080522-deepest-sealife.html

Back soon!

The Yeti and the Bear

If one goes to the website linked above, an archive of the International Bear News is provided. Bringing up the November 2007 issue, page 6 offers an article entitled "The Ninth Bear," about the brown bears of Asia, especially southern Asia. The authors contend the yeti has been shown to be a brown bear, and use "the elusive and symbolic nature of the yeti" to discuss how poorly known these bears are. The authors don't rule out that this area might contain an actual ninth species of bear (in another issue of this publication, it's noted that the critically endangered Gobi Desert population is held by some to be a separate species from Urus arctos.)

Food for thought.

The Real Crystal Skulls

The crystal skull Indiana Jones chases down in his newest movie isn't made up. There are several known skulls carved from quartz crystal, and they are indeed somewhat mysterious. Some are modern forgeries, while others attest to the considerable skill and incredible patience of ancient artisans. None are of extraterrestrial origin, but there are still unanswered questions about how, when, and why they were made.

Flashes from the Moon

How can the impact of a meteor or other cosmic object make an explosion on the Moon without oxygen present? It turns out NASA scientists have had to ask themselves that a lot, and they think they've come up with a solution. Some 100 lunar flashes have been observed over the past two and half years, leading to scientific study of a phenomenon once dismissed as imaginary. Bill Cooke of Marshall Space Flight Center explains that it has to do with the velocities - up to 30,000 mph - with which objects strike the lunar surface (given that there's no atmosphere to slow them down). "At that speed, even a pebble can blast a crater several feet wide. The impact heats up rocks and soil on the lunar surface hot enough to glow like molten lava — hence the flash."

Resources: space-related magazines

In this article, Dwayne Day provides an overview of the major space-related hardcopy publications, from Space News and (my favorite) Quest to Novosti Kosmonavtiki (Spaceflight News) which he describes as the best space magazine in the world - IF you can read Russian.

Why China tested antisatellite weapon

A veteran military space analyst, Joan Johnson-Freese of the U.S. Naval War College, thinks China screwed up in their recent ASAT test, and has now realized it. Essentially, the testing program got ahead of the diplomatic thinking, and the nation was surprised at the hostile reaction to its test. "I think they now are now recognizing that the international condemnation due them was actually moderated," she said.
COMMENT: If this article reports her testimony correctly, Johnson-Freeze said this is the outcome of a Chinese program started in response to the sole U.S. ASAT weapon live shot, which came way back during the Reagan Administration. That seems to me to be connecting two events so separated in time and in political/military context that the case for a causal connection is weak to nonexistant.

Johnson-Freese made a good point about the ballyhoo surrounding China's manned space accomplishments - they are important, but not significant enough to put China in a race with the U.S. She said, "Personally I hate to see the U.S. and China's space programs characterized as competitive. They fly two manned space flights over a five-year period and are perceived as beating the U.S. space program. That's just wrong."

SpaceX hopes third time is a charm

The third launch attempt for SpaceX's small Falcon 1 orbital launcher is now set for late June. SpaceX founder Elon Musk disavows a "stupid comment" (his words) he made three years ago, when he said that three failures might be it. He told reporters on May 14, ""I was asked, 'how many failures can you withstand?' I said, 'well, if we had three failures in a row, then I suspect we would not get any customers, and then it wouldn't make sense to continue.' I was partially quoted thereafter saying, 'three failures and we're out.' That's actually not the full statement. The full statement was if our customers abandon us, then we are out." He added, "We are in this for the long term. SpaceX will never give up. I will never give up. Never."
SpaceX has an order book of 12 payloads awaiting launch.
COMMENT: SpaceX has two things other small entrepreneurial launch efforts did not have: solid customer commitments and significant internal funding. I know these folks and understand their technical approach. The failures were disheartening (and I thought not making orbit on the second attempt was surprising), but I think they will make it work.

God and Science: the latest debate

This article encapsulates the debate at an American Enterprise Institute-sponsored forum that focused around publication of a new collection of essays collecting all points of view. Much of the discussion consists of long-argued points, but a couple of things struck me as worth mentioning. Arch-skeptic Michael Shermer made the interesting argument (a variation on Arthur C. Clarke) that we might not recognize God - that the universe may hold civilizations so advanced that, if we met them, we could not distinguish between the natural and supernatural. Philosopher Mary Midgely drew a distinction between science - a widely accepted way of understanding the physical universe - and scientism, which she describes as the view that science has a universal claim on truth and nothing outside it can exist. Nobel laureate William D. Phillips, a physicist, commented, "From what I know about physics, it's not impossible to imagine a world in which God acts but we never can prove it." Now that's kind of a frustrating thought.... For a copy of the published results, go to www.templeton.org.

True flying - without a plane

Yves Rossy goes by the nickname "Fusion Man," although "Bird-Man" would be more accurate. He dives from an airplane and ignites four small jets on the wings strapped to his back. The result, demonstrated in dazzling acrobatics high above the Swiss Alps, is the closest any human has gotten to bird-like freedom in the air. It took five years for Rossy to develop the wings and train himself to control them.

The VULCAN Mach 4 project

Speaking of DARPA, the agency now wants to get serious about a two-stage (turbojet+high speed system) propulsion option, dubbed Vulcan, which would allow a plan to leave a runways and accelerate to Mach 4, approximately one Mach number above what the storied SR-71 could do.

COMMENT: The USAF has wanted this kind of ability for a long time, and has seriously pursued it off and on (as budgets and changing priorities dictated). It's not as easy as it sounds to jump from a Mach 3 to a Mach 4 engine: every gain in those speed regimes takes hard work. And a propulsion system which can go from runway to Mach 4 is more of challenge, since, as DARPA points out, it's not going to be a single engine - it has to be some sort of two-stage device like the turbo/PDE option mentioned in the announcement. For a single engine, the high-speed end is outside what turbojets and their derivatives can do and the low-speed requirement means it can't be a relatively simple ramjet or a cutting-edge scramjet (which has a lot more development ahead of it and really only makes since for a much higher speed regime). I've known quite experienced USAF people to express the opinion that transatmospheric (long-range, zero to Mach 12 - 18) aircraft should not be too hard to develop, which made me want to quote Engineer Scott: "I can't change the laws of physics!"

DARPA at 50: Success, Failure, and Promise

THe agency which originated the Internet turns 50 this year. As this article describes, DARPA has had its share of failures and abandoned programs. However, it's one of the few Federal agencies where a reasonable degree of failure is understood to be acceptable. This article chronicles DARPA's pioneering work, from satellite navigation to stealth aircraft, and its less-remembered projects, like the idea of a "mechanical elephant" to transport troops through the jungles of Vietnam. Also covered are idea in development and testing, from autonomous vehicles to synthetic versions of gecko feet that would let soldiers climb walls.