Weird Shrimp Has Astounding Vision
ScienceDaily (May 15, 2008) — A Swiss marine biologist and an Australian quantum physicist have found that a species of shrimp from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, can see a world invisible to all other animals.
Dr Sonja Kleinlogel and Professor Andrew White have shown that mantis shrimp not only have the ability to see colours from the ultraviolet through to the infrared, but have optimal polarisation vision — a first for any animal and a capability that humanity has only achieved in the last decade using fast computer technology.
“The mantis shrimp is a delightfully weird beastie,” said Professor White, of the University of Queensland. “They’re multi-coloured, their genus and species names mean ‘mouth-feet’ and ‘genital-fingers’; they can move each eye independently, they see the world in 11 or 12 primary colours as opposed to our humble three, and now we find that this species can see a world invisible to the rest of us.”
Dr Kleinlogel, is based at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics in Frankfurt, and collected the shrimp from the reef. She notes that, “…scuba divers know them as ‘thumb-splitters’, they’ve got wickedly strong claws and are very aggressive!”
Prehistoric crocodiles
Scientists Unveil Prehistoric “Sea Warrior” Crocodile
A fossil of a new prehistoric crocodile species “Guarinisuchus munizi” is seen during a press conference at National Museum of the Rio de Janeiro Federal University in Rio de Janeiro, Wednesday, March 26, 2008. Brazilian scientists say they have found a new prehistoric crocodile species that inhabited the Earth’s oceans some 62 million years ago.
(Ricardo Moraes/AP Photo)Pointy-nosed crocodiles may have joined sharks as the dominant predators in the world’s oceans some 62 million years ago, according to Brazilian scientists who on Wednesday unveiled one of the most complete skeletons found yet of the prehistoric animals.
Scientists called it a new species, “Guarinisuchus munizi,” and said it sheds new light on the evolutionary history of modern crocodiles.
The fossil includes a skull, jaw bone and vertebrae, making it one of the most complete examples of marine crocodylomorphs collected so far in South America, said Alexander Kellner of the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He and other scientists unveiled fossils and a model of the 10-foot-long crocodile at the museum.
“It’s a very rare find and it gives rise to several new theories,” said Kellner, who co-authored an article on the find that was published Tuesday in Proceedings of The Royal Society B, a London-based peer-reviewed journal.
Guarinisuchus appears to be closely related to marine crocodylomorphs found in Africa, which supports the hypothesis that the group originated in Africa and migrated to South America before spreading into the waters off the North American coast, Kellner said.
The find also suggests that marine crocodylomorphs replaced marine lizards during the early Paleocene era, about 65 million years ago — the same time marine lizards became extinct. They believe it’s a new species based on anatomical differences in the skull that are unique to this creature.
Philip Currie, a paleontology professor at the University of Alberta, Canada who was not involved with the discovery, said it was an important find.
“There are a lot of unknowns with this group in terms of evolution. Clearly the discovery of a specimen as nice as this one will help sort things out,” Currie said in telephone interview.
The bones were found in the northeastern state of Pernambuco. Scientists named the species “Guarinisuchus” after the Tupi Indian word “Guarani,” which means warrior and “munizi,” in honor of Brazilian paleontologist Deraldo da Costa Barros Muniz, who has discovered many dinosaur fossils off Brazil’s northeastern coast. Muniz didn’t participate in this find.
Scientists have discovered a wealth of crocodile ancestors around Brazil in recent years.
In January, they announced the discovery of an 80 million-year-old land-bound reptile described as a possible link between prehistoric and modern-day crocodiles.
Two years ago, paleontologists from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro announced the discovery of a 70-million-year-old crocodile fossil that they called Uberabasuchus Terrificus, or “Terrible Crocodile of Uberaba.”
This “Terrible Crocodile of Uberaba” sounds interesting, so let’s dig up that story:
‘Terrible crocodile of Uberaba’ unveiled
Fossil offers look at Earth’s ecosystem of 70 million years ago
Thursday, February 17, 2005 Posted: 2109 GMT (0509 HKT)
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) — The discovery of a nearly intact fossil of a prehistoric crocodile is
teaching scientists what the world was like before the continents were separated by oceans, a Brazilian paleontologist said.
A reproduction of the previously unknown creature — dubbed Uberabasuchus terrificus, or the terrible crocodile of Uberaba, was unveiled Wednesday at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Uberabasuchus lived 70 million years ago and was smaller than today’s crocodiles — only about three meters (10 feet) long and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), said paleontologist Ismar de Souza Carvalho.
“It’s important because the fossil was extremely well preserved, with 85 percent of its skeleton practically complete and intact,” he said.
Carvalho said Uberabasuchus lived on land — it was named because the fossil was found near Uberaba, an inland city in southeastern Brazil. It probably carried its body high off the ground on sturdy legs and was a strong and voracious hunter, he said.
“We’re learning about a new species of crocodile, the ecosystem of 70 million years ago, and the evolution of the land crocodile on the ancient continent of Gondwana,” Carvalho said.
Scientists believe the continents then were joined in a huge land mass, which some call Gondwana. Fossils similar to Uberabasuchus have been found in Africa and in Antarctica, which possibly were linked to South America.
Despite some similarities with modern-day crocodiles, Uberabasuchus became extinct when the other great dinosaurs died out, and it has no relation to today’s crocodiles, Carvalho said.
Brazil has drawn international attention for its recent discoveries of prehistoric creatures.
In December, scientists unveiled a replica of Unaysaurus tolentinoi, an ancestor of the huge Brontosaurus, that lived 230 million years ago in what is now southern Brazil. Experts said it was more closely related to fossils found in Germany than to dinosaurs from neighboring Argentina.
Zootaxa, a scientific journal published in New Zealand, said Unaysaurus “differs from all other dinosaurs.”
Carvalho predicted there was more to come.
“Important new discoveries are practically certain,” he said.
Sonny Chiba to return as Nanairo Kamen (Seven-Color Mask) in new film
Variety is reporting Sonny Chiba will reprise his role as Seven-Color Mask in an upcoming movie:
Action icon Sonny Chiba is prepping a pic based on the pioneering Tokusatsu TV series “Nanairo Kamen” (Seven-Color Mask) via his shingle, Kyoto-based Thousand Leaves Hollywood.
The series, which gave Chiba his first starring role, ran on the predecessor to the TV Asahi network from 1959-60.
Chiba will reprise the title role, fulfilling a promise he made to series creator Kohan Kawauchi, who died last month at age 88.
Godzilla Island – Story Arc 12
Godzilla Island – Story Arc 12
1997
Directed by Shun Mizutani
You wanted a giant story arc, and here it is! 22 episodes long! At three minutes each, that’s over an hour of story! And it has a huge cast, major transitions to the character line-up in the series, and even TWO Jet Jaguars! Jet Jaguar is cool. Zaguresu’s latest evil plan is her most complex, and the stakes for her succeeding are higher than ever, because Giant Emperor has lost patience with her failures. So Godzilla Island must look out, as March of Godzilla Island continues!!!!
If you are new here or got lost looking for photos of Hong Kong celebrities or lesbians, we’re going through the entire series of Godzilla Island. Head on over to Story Arc 1 and get caught up. There, caught up? Good, get to reading episodes 104-125 right now! Because time’s a wasting!
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Different monster feature in each episode, so we’ll keep track of them in each story arc. The complete Godzilla Island Daikaiju List is located here. We’ll also list any new monster match-ups that weren’t in any film but now exist thanks to this series, such as Kamacuras fighting Megalon or something. The R2 Japanese DVD release is unsubtitled, so most of what is going on will be educated guesses thanks to our limited Japanese speaking ability. But here at TarsTarkas.NET we don’t need no stinking subtitles!
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Gazelles Shrink Heart to Beat Heat
Muhahahahahaha!
Bizarre Survival Tactic: Gazelles Shrink Heart to Beat Heat
By Bjorn Carey
LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 08 June 2006
04:13 pm ETIn an extreme way to beat the heat, a sand gazelle shrinks its liver and heart to cope with long periods of drought, a new study reveals.
The deserts of the Arabian Peninsula rank among the most severe environments in the world. It’s extremely hot and unpredictable rains do little to quench the arid land.
While some of the region’s animal inhabitants struggle under these conditions, the sand gazelle stands out as one of the most successful critters at dealing with this stress.
“We found that gazelles had the lowest total evaporative water loss ever measured in an arid zone ungulate [hoofed animal],” write the team of researchers from Ohio State University and the National Wildlife Research Center in Saudi Arabia.
Organs such as the liver and heart require significant amounts of oxygen to function. By shrinking these organs, the gazelles don’t have to breathe as much and thus reduce the amount of water lost by respiratory evaporation.
Water-deprived sand gazelles also have a higher fat content in their brains. The researchers suggest that these stores might be beneficial for fueling brain metabolism during prolonged food and water deprivation.
The study, announced today, was published online May 19 in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology.
Upcoming Japanese female revenge flick – Hard Revenge, Milly
Actress Miki Mizuno, who has earned a reputation as an action star, has taken on her most demanding role yet. She was cast as the lead in Takanori Tsujimoto’s “Hard Revenge, Milly,” which follows in the same vein as Quentin Tarantino’s violent action film “Kill Bill.” Similar to Uma Thurman’s character in that movie, Mizuno’s Milly is a woman seeking revenge against those who killed her family.
Milly hits theaters in August