[NEWS.YAHOO] The hand structure of early human ancestors who lived 3.2 million years ago suggests they had the ability to grasp and use tools, even if they hadn't invented them yet, anthropologists said Thursday.
Until now, Australopithecus africanus, which lived two to three million years ago in what is now South Africa, were not believed to have made tools -- the first evidence of which dates back to 2.6 million years ago -- but their hands suggest otherwise, according to a study in the journal Science.
A creature with an ape-like face and long arms, but that had a large brain and walked upright on two feet, Australopithecus africanus appears to have descended from the trees, gained hand dexterity and became capable of fine motor movements.
The new findings are based on a new study of the internal spongy structure of bone, called trabeculae, which can reveal how the bones were used while the individuals were alive.
For instance, trabecular bones look very different in humans and chimpanzees, which cannot mimic the way a human hand can grip forcefully using thumb and fingers.
Neanderthal fossils, however, more closely resemble modern human hands in this regard. Neanderthals had the dexterity to use tools and make cave paintings.
Australopithecus, too, had "human-like trabecular bone pattern in the bones of the thumb and palm (the metacarpals) consistent with forceful opposition of the thumb and fingers typically adopted during tool use," the University of Kent said in a statement.
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01/23/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Great, but could he throw a deflated football into the end zone?
#3
Was manual tool-abuse on the rise?
As always, the skeleton testifies:
One argument comes
From opposable thumbs,
But worn fossil teeth suggest otherwise.
Ahmedabad: When a middle-aged, cheerful Gujarati couple decided to go on a trekking expedition in Kerala on January 17, little did they realise that they had driven a nail in their coffins.
Indeed, even when Ahmedabad-based Bhupendra Raval (52) and his wife Jagruti, were happily clicking pictures of a rare herd of elephants while on a trekking trail in the Periyar Tiger Reserve on Wednesday afternoon, the ecstatic couple did not have an inkling that death was staring them in the face.
Provoked by the flash of their camera, one of the pachyderms in the cardamom plantation ran amok, charging at them and trampling the duo to death even as their guide ran for his life. While the husband was beaten to death by the trunk, the wife was stomped over by the irate elephant.
A Gujarat forest department official told Khaleej Times that elephants turned violent when they were in musth, a periodic state of heightened sexual activity and aggression in adult male elephants during the rutting season.
The Ravals, who were killed on the spot, were part of a group of eight that were on a two-hour trekking expedition organised by the state forest department in Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/23/2015 00:00 ||
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GAROWE, Somalia -- Somalia's Puntland Government has condemned a surprise visit by Somaliland's separatist administration leader to Sool regional capital of Lasanod, Garowe Online reports.
On Thursday, in a press statement from the office of the President, Puntland called President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud (Siilaanyo)'s tour an apparent provocation.
"Puntland State of Somalia condemns the apparent provocation of Hargeisa administration [Somaliland] in some parts of the state," read the presidential statement.
Somaliland's neighbor to the east also unveiled that it notifies Somalia Federal Government, regional countries and International community of the presence of Somaliland troops in the Sool by coercion.
"Hargeisa administration [Somaliland] will unilaterally shoulder the grim consequences of the provocative measures," warned Puntland.
The rebuke has come after Somaliland leader arrived in Lasanod on unofficial visit Wednesday.
On March 16, 2014 President Siilaanyo paid similar visit to the coastal town of Laasqoray which is situated 108km from Bossaso.
Puntland and Somaliland, both located in northern Somalia have long engaged in sporadic battles over the ownership of Sool and Sanaag regions. Somaliland forces wrested control of Lasanod in October 2007.
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01/23/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] An international human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... organization says the planned flogging of a Saudi blogger convicted of insulting Islam has been delayed for a second straight week.
The London-based Amnesia Amnesty International says that around eight doctors carried out medical tests on Raif Badawi and recommended against flogging which was planned to be carried out this Friday (tomorrow).
He has been sentenced to 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam and is serving a 10-year jail term.
His wife Ensaf Haidar, who has sought asylum with her children in Canada, said by telephone that Amnesty had notified her of the latest delay but she had no other details.
Badawi, 30, received the first 50 lashes of his sentence outside a mosque in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on January 9.
He was expected to undergo 20 flogging sessions to complete the punishment but last Friday Haidar said the second round had been delayed on medical grounds.
She also said her husband's case has been referred to the Supreme Court, possibly paving the way for an appeal.
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[ARABNEWS] In the worst incident, 13 civilians died when shelling hit a trolleybus Thursday morning in the rebel bastion of Donetsk, with Kiev alleging that ultimate blame for the tragedy rested with Russia.
The violence came only hours after peace talks in Berlin called for a cease-fire and as the toll from the conflict surpassed 5,000 dead, with a million people also forced from their homes.
Another 10,000 people have been maimed by rocket and mortar strikes raining down daily on the industrial region's residential districts, Michael Bociurkiw of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe told Ukrainian radio.
With intensifying festivities rocking Donetsk airport in recent days, Ukraine's military said early Thursday that its troops had abandoned the main part of the site.
The airport had become the symbolic prize of the conflict, with the army and pro-Russian rebels continuously battling for control of the devastated site.
"Yesterday evening we made the decision to leave the new terminal," military front man Vladyslav Seleznyov said in reference to the main airport building that had been held by Kiev forces since late May.
The trolleybus shelling was among the bloodiest incidents involving civilians in recent months in a conflict that has devastated the ex-Soviet republic's industrial heartland and brought Ukraine's economy to its knees.
Stunned Donetsk residents gathered around the shredded remains of the bus, with bloodied bodies of elderly victims sprawled in their seats hours after the attack and local militias cautiously inspecting the damage.
An official with the city's emergency services said 12 people died in the bus while another was killed in a passing car.
One resident who lives nearby said shelling in the area the day before targeted a military academy housing a headquarters for rebel fighters, killing two militia members.
"Today as the shelling began, some people managed to escape from the trolleybus stop," said Maksim, a 35-year-old teacher.
"There are several ambulances and (rebel) military police here. Children are very scared."
Russia's government-controlled television immediately blamed the attack on Kiev's forces, while Ukraine said the rebels were responsible and added that ultimate responsibility rested with Moscow.
"Russian snuffies again committed a horrible act against humanity," Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said in statement. "And responsiblity for this is borne by the Russian Federation."
The strike occurred just south of Donetsk's city center, with concerns having been raised over shelling that has at times moved closer in from the airport northwest of the city, putting civilians in increasing danger.
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[ARABNEWS] Sri Lanka's new government pledged Thursday to trace billions of dollars in stolen wealth stashed abroad by members of the previous regime and said experts from the IMF and World Bank had agreed to help.
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his powerful family are accused of siphoning large sums of money from the public coffers during his decade in power, which ended when he was voted out this month.
The new cabinet agreed at its first meeting Wednesday to track down the cash, and said forensic experts from India's central bank, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund would assist.
"We will go after the foreign assets of Sri Lankans," health minister and cabinet front man Rajitha Senaratne told news hounds in Colombo.
"Billions of dollars have been stolen and taken out of the country. We are taking steps to bring them back."
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"Calling themselves the 'The Radical Brownies', the group meets for marches, protests and arts and crafts and seemingly eerie looking maneuvers that resemble militant-style poses." Beat it, y'little brats! I don't wantcher damned cookies!
#2
She was a principled student
And he was a little... imprudent.
Now he shines up her boots
As she drills the recruits
Who march in her Braun-Hitler Jugend.
#3
The Sturmabteilung (SA) was the first Nazi paramilitary group to develop pseudo-military titles for bestowal upon its members. The SA ranks were adopted by several other Nazi Party groups, chief amongst them the Schutzstaffel (SS), itself originally a branch of the SA. SA men were often called "brownshirts" for the colour of their uniforms (similar to Benito Mussolini's blackshirts). Brown-coloured shirts were chosen as the SA uniform because a large batch of them were cheaply available after World War I, having originally been ordered during the war for colonial troops posted to Germany's former African colonies. - cite
And remember the National Socialist Workers Party (Nazi) was socialist.
#4
It will be interesting to see if the radical brownies are around in a year. I mean it is one thing to do silly $hit to make your parents happy but to keep it up for a year takes serious brain washing.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[NEWS.YAHOO] The hand structure of early human ancestors who lived 3.2 million years ago suggests they had the ability to grasp and use tools, even if they hadn't invented them yet, anthropologists said Thursday.
Ahmedabad: When a middle-aged, cheerful Gujarati couple decided to go on a trekking expedition in Kerala on January 17, little did they realise that they had driven a nail in their coffins.
