For it's "tech-savy fan base"

Jed York faces quite a task. As president of the San Francisco 49ers, the franchise his family owns, York has the challenge of coming up with a state-of-the-art stadium design for perhaps the world's most technologically discerning fan base — in the heart of the Silicon Valley.

Set aside for a moment the difficulty of actually getting a stadium constructed in California, and consider the approach of York, 29, who envisions a venue that satisfies the old-line fans and those from his plugged-in generation.

For that, he has to think outside the box … and inside the tablet, pad and hand-held device.

While heaping praise on Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his palatial new stadium — one that features a colossal high-definition video screen — York said that's not his vision for a 49ers stadium.

"Everything for us is micro, not macro," York said in a telephone interview. "In the Silicon Valley, we want to know: What you can do on your smartphone? Our approach is, why build a $50-million scoreboard as opposed to enabling 65,000 people to have scoreboards in their hands that are interactive?

Glittery Debut

Half a century on, at long last there's something afoot that might lure Robert Redford and other arts lovers to the San Fernando Valley — or at least make it worth their while to check the cultural listings and consider that, on a given night, Cal State Northridge may have the most happening arts palace in town.

The difference-maker is the new Valley Performing Arts Center, a $125-million, 1,700-seat answer to one of America's longest-running geographical put-downs. Tyne Daly, Gillian Murphy, Ethan Stiefel and Dave Koz will highlight the gala opening Jan. 29. Then it's down to business — if not quite business as usual. Taking a deliberately gradualist approach to presenting in a major hall after years of booking only a 500-seater, the university will offer 14 performances in a four-month spring season.

Classical attractions are the China Philharmonic Orchestra (April 16) and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (March 12). For Broadway fans, there are concerts by Joel Grey and Marvin Hamlisch (Feb. 26), Brian Stokes Mitchell (April 30) and Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin (May 21). Dance offerings are the Russian National Ballet's "Swan Lake" (Feb. 8), Parsons Dance (March 4) and Aszure Barton & Artists (March 26). Arianna Huffington lectures on Feb. 19, and Joan Rivers jests on March 1. Shirley MacLaine performs May 7; pop music performers are Shawn Colvin and Loudon Wainwright III (Feb. 5) and Rosanne Cash (March 19). Mexican brass quintet Metales M5 plays a free Cinco de Mayo concert on the plaza framed by the three-sided performance center, where the reflective glass and tile exterior changes colors as each day progresses.

Tickets are $15 to $55, or $25 to $70, with subscriber discounts of 10% to 40%.

Jack LaLanne

Jack LaLanne, with his hand and foot chained, tows 76 youths in 13 boats for a mile across Long Beach Harbor in 1976. He opened what is commonly believed to be the nation's first health club, in Oakland, in 1936.

MUSCLE BEACH

On the beach in Santa Monica, a young Jack LaLanne is third from the bottom. Harold Zinkin does a back bend, supporting Deforrest "Moe" Most, who supports LaLanne, with Gene Miller on top. LaLanne was the spiritual father of the health movement that blossomed into a national craze of weight rooms, exercise classes and fancy sports clubs.

(Photo by Harold Zinkin and Bonnie Hearn)

Filmmaker's Journal: when things go wrong, take it in stride

Saturday was to be an interesting day: diving on a newly found 100-foot wreck off of San Clemente, CA and then filming a brief introduction to a video I was preparing for a film festival/science conference. A busy day but a very satisfying one. At least that was the plan.

Wildlife filmmaking is infused with a high degree of serendipity - unusual animal encounters, shots of once-in-a-lifetime behaviors - along with an often equal measure of frustration when things don't quite go your way. You control only that which you can control, and the rest you just take as it comes.

My dive buddy, photographer Budd Riker, and I had heard about a newly discovered wreck several miles offshore from Southern California's San Clemente beach and we were looking forward to this first of what could be many dives. Ocean wrecks have always fascinated me. As a man-made structure, they seem eerily out of place underwater and yet they also can prove to be an attraction for a wide range of sealife, from schooling fish to algae, corals, and numerous small critters that take up residence in the iron and wood oasis.

But first you have to find it. The boat operators had marked the location with a buoy (which makes for an easy method to descend straight to the wreck, but today the buoy marker was no where to be seen. Lost in rough water or cut free by a grumpy lobster fisherman who felt his unspoken lobster trap territory was being encroached upon; whatever the cause, the crew's easy reference point was now gone and hopes for relocating it on the sandy bottom via sonar proved to be ineffective. Rock outcroppings provided tantalizing but ultimately disappointing sonar wild goose chases.

With time running out, the boat captain had to eventually abort all hopes of locating the wreck. He moved the boat to another site with kelp beds and rocky reefs to offer some sort of consolation prize for having missed out on diving the wreck. However, that turned out to be a disappointment too, as visibility could easily be seen from the surface as having the consistency of green-tinted cafe mocha. With that, all diving was scrubbed and the boat and its disappointed and embarrassed crew headed back to the harbor.

Well, at least I didn't have to spend part of my afternoon cleaning camera and dive gear.

On to plan B in the day's schedule: to shoot the video introduction. Budd and I scouted for a suitable location at Dana Point Harbor and found an interesting spot with rocks, trees, and ocean breakwater in the background. Well, at least I will be able to salvage something from my day, I thought. Oh, but I will have to wait a moment as this one recreational powerboat motors by; its throaty engine rumblings being picked up by the microphone.

Good. All clear. Oops, hold on; here's another one. Now a helicopter cruises over head. And another boat. Now I'm having people who are strolling along the harbor's edge, enjoying the day's great weather, stop and call out, "Hey, you guys making a movie?" Well, not at the moment, that's for sure.

Working in uncontrolled environments can often be very challenging when you have specific goals or objectives to meet. The yin-yang attitude of mother nature is not always conducive to specific agendas. But it's those occasional monkey wrenches that can and do make it interesting.

Fortunately, Budd and I are scheduled to return to the offshore wreck in two weeks, after the dive operator promised to have it once again marked by buoys and accurate GPS coordinates. And we got the introduction filmed the next morning in a different and, thankfully, quieter location - just minutes before rain, forecasted for the evening, decided to come early.

Hah. you missed me, mother nature. At least for the time being.

Dr. Gregory Stone: understanding ocean conservation on the world stage

I first met Dr. Greg Stone some years back when he was heading up research and expeditions for Boston's New England Aquarium. I was there conducting a screening and meet-and-greet for my documentary, Island of the Great White Shark. We spent some time chatting about the oceans and he was kind enough to give me a copy of his book, Ice Island, about Antarctica's largest iceberg.

We next met when I corralled him to be on the shark conservation discussion panel for the inaugural BLUE Ocean Film Festival and Ocean Summit. Soon after that event, Greg took the position of Chief Scientist for Oceans with Conservation International. In that capacity he has been instrumental in working with the Kiribati government to establish the Phoenix Island Marine Reserve, the second largest marine reserve in the world.

Greg was kind enough to once again join the shark conservation panel I organized for the BLUE Ocean Film Festival this past August. His contributions were most insightful as he has not only an extensive grasp of the scientific issues surrounding many of our most pressing ocean conservation issues, but also has a mastery of the political, economic, and diplomatic realities that are crucial in making quantitative progress. We continue to stay in touch and I look forward to meeting up with him again soon, although he has lately been racking up frequent flyer miles like nobody's business. He's currently at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which follows recent meetings in London, Washington D.C., and Australia. He heads back to his new home base in New Zealand when schedules permit.

Greg has been a featured presenter for TED.com and a new interview was just posted on Treehugger.com. Below are a few interview excerpts followed by the Ted.com presentation. Greg is someone who understands both the critical issues of marine conservation and how the world works. And with that, he gets things done.

"Part of Conservation International's (CI) work builds upon a strong foundation of science, partnership and field demonstration. We empower societies to responsibly and sustainably care for nature and our global biodiversity, for the well-being of people. That last part is key. We humans need healthy ocean ecosystems and abundant natural resources to thrive."

"The issue of profitability is less critical than the understanding and belief that sustainably
managing nature actually improves lives by providing new, diversified or more stable income opportunities. For example, if there are abundant fish and healthy coral reefs, eco-tourism and small-scale fisheries that depend on these resources are more likely to grow and succeed. If people see the livelihood benefits in responsible stewardship of ocean resources, they are more likely to become incentivized to support conservation."

"In order to save the oceans we need to begin to look at the issues in a collective way. In the past marine conservation has been issue driven and hasn't looked at the bigger picture. Now through marine reserves, marine protected areas, seascapes and now oceanscapes we can focus efforts on larger areas of ocean and can work with governments on collectively managing them. As we scale up in size, these areas will provide healthy habitats for diverse and abundant marine life, and also provide homes and income for millions of people."

"A Kool Tradition "

In past years the Grand National Roadster Show has brought us some crazy customs of the '60s like this Barber Shop car creation by Joe Bailon.

Shark Fin Legislation: Support efforts in Guam and Northern Mariana Islands

Building the need for shark conservation, one piece of legislation at a time, there are two important shark fin bills - one for Guam and the other for the Northern Mariana Islands - that are coming to a head and could use the support of those who feel that the rapid depletion of the worldwide shark populations due to industrial shark fishing must come to an end. Both of these bills have strong supporters within the island governments but there is also strong resistance from fishing interests and lobbying from shark product distributors.

I received an email today from Stefanie Brendl who, as a Hawaiian shark diving operation owner, worked diligently to support the Hawaiian ban of shark fins that was passed in May, 2010. Following many email conversations over the past few years, I was pleased to have Stefanie be on the shark conservation panel I organized for the BLUE Ocean Film Festival in Monterey, CA last August. At the time, she was in discussions with WildAid and other major NGOs on how to capitalize on Hawaii's bold move to protect sharks and export "anti-shark fin fever" to other countries. She has been a very busy person ever since.

Here is her latest update on the status of the Guam and CNMI (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) legislation. They both could use your written support - not bellicose rants, mind you, but respectful and well-thought out, intelligent responses. And a few well-chosen facts or scientific references wouldn't hurt either - politicians respond to data as well as opinions.

Time again for more shark fin bill action!
Some of you will have already heard about the shark fin bills (based on last years Hawaii fin bill) in progress in Guam and the CNMI (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands).

CNMI
CNMI legislator Diego Benavente introduced almost the exact same bill as Hawaii last August, prohibiting possession and trade of shark fins. The measure has traveled through the House and Senate and has made it to Governor Fitial's desk, waiting to be signed into law. The opposition has mounted a last minute full blown effort to kill this bill. All hands are needed to help this bill take the last hurdle.
When Senator Hee and I were there in December, Governor Fitial stated that he would be in support, but lobbying by opposition has caused a delay of the signing and has endangered passage of this bill. Short, but powerful statements from all Shark and Ocean conservation organizations will help push this over the finish line.
We didn't need it until now.
But its time to bring everything we have to the table! Passage of this bill is key to setting the pace in the region. With Guam and other Islands considering shark fin legislation it is imperative that this bill will pass into law!

So please take a few minutes to urge Governor Fitial to sign bill HB 17-94

Deadline: Now

Send email or call
fitial@yahoo.com
(670) 664-2282

(CNMI time zone is GMT +10)

GUAM
Vice Speaker BJ Cruz and Senator Rory Respicio of the Guam legislature introduced a similar measure last week. see attached bill 44-31.
Strong opposition is already mounting in Guam, mostly from the fishing community and some members of WESPAC (Western Pacific Fisheries Council, the regional Fisheries Management Organization). Some of this opposition is based on the misunderstanding that this bill will affect local fishermen, but as they do not fin sharks, (which is now illegal due to the Federal Shark Conservation Act), this bill will not hinder their fishing activities. It will disrupt the commercial take of sharks and fins, which is beneficial to all fishing communities.
Explaining your view on why sharks are important to the ocean eco system and why such legislation is necessary in the form of testimony will be most valuable.

The first scheduled public hearing will be next week on Feb 1st. In order to get traction for this bill we need as many supportive statements as possible submitted before the hearing. See message and instruction from Senator Cruz' office below. I have attached the bill and the hearing notice.

Message from Senator Cruz' office
Please find enclosed in the attachment the memo related to the time and date for the Public Hearing for Bill No. 44-31 (COR). The hearing is for 5:30PM on February 1, 2011. Please attend this meeting and submit as much written and oral testimony and supporting data as possible. The best way to neutralize the opposition and support the environment is to turnout in mass numbers with knowledge and information.

Please submit written testimony, scientific documentation, essays, and petitions to the address below. Please Cc Mike Lydia when you send electronic documents and feel free to drop documents at the Office of Vice Speaker Cruz so that they may be transmitted to the Office of Senator Respicio.

(Guam time zone is GMT +10)

Honorable Rory J. Respicio
Majority Leader
Suite 302
155 Hesler St.
Hagåtña, Guam 96910
Ph.: (671) 472-7679/3545/6
Fax: (671) 472-3547
e-mail: roryforguam@gmail.com
Committee on Rules, Federal, Foreign & Micronesian Affairs, and Human & Natural Resources

Mike Lydia email: mike.lidia@senatorbjcruz.com

Learn more about the CNMI legislation on its supporters' Facebook page.
Learn more about the Guam legislation from Shark Defenders.

The Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship returns in 2011 bigger, badder and better than ever before...

Topping 2010, and two extraordinary events in Munich and Quebec, is no mean feat but Red Bull Crashed Ice is about to take Ice Cross Downhill competition to a whole new level.

Four courses in four different countries will be carved out of ice as elite athletes fuse ice skating and skiercross to create this year's unique winter spectacle.

Featuring athletes in full ice hockey gear racing four-at-a-time down a high-impact course packed full of bumps and jumps, unpredictable action is guaranteed.

Germany’s Martin Niefnecker kept his feet and held his nerve to be crowned the inaugural Red Bull Crashed Ice World Champion in 2010. Snapping at his heels this year will be some fearsome Finns, ice-cool Canadians, and, of course, the ice cross downhill legend Jasper Felder. The Swede will be out to prove who’s really boss. After all, revenge is a dish best served ice-cold!

It’s Raining, Men

Laura Jacobs and Michael Roberts spotlight the male stars of Fox’s Glee, in a designer-clad homage to Gene Kelly. The men of Glee—Mark Salling, Kevin McHale, Chris Colfer, Matthew Morrison, and Cory Monteith—with Chris Burden’s 2008 “Urban Light” installation at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The glory of Rome

ROME (AP).- The founder of Tod's luxury leather goods and shoes announced Friday that he will foot the 25 million euros ($34 million) to restore the Colosseum. The ancient Roman arena is blackened by pollution and rocked by vibrations from a nearby subway line. Officials accepted Diego Della Valle's offer to sponsor the restoration. But Della Valle said he expected other entrepreneurs to also step in to help out as the project gets under way. "It is the end of a nightmare," Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno said.

"A surprise awaits you"

Reporting from Miami Beach — From nearly every exterior angle — as approached from the beach, which is just a few blocks from its front door, or from the boutiques and gelaterias on nearby Lincoln Road — Frank Gehry's building for the New World Symphony looks surprisingly nondescript. Wrapped in glass and white plaster, the six-story concert hall has a boxy profile to go with a rather unassuming architectural personality.

But the building's outward simplicity — miles from the shimmering metal skins of Walt Disney Concert Hall or the Guggenheim Bilbao — turns out to be deceptive. Its soaring sky-lit atrium is filled with a jumble of the architect's familiar sculptural forms. Another collection of his daring shapes awaits inside the auditorium.

Throughout the $160-million concert hall, set to open officially Tuesday evening, the interplay between rectangular containers and their virtuosic architectural contents gives the design a shifting, unpredictable vitality. This is a piece of architecture that dares you to underestimate it or write it off at first glance.

Australia's Queensland Floods: aftermath poses grave risks to coral reefs

Nature has an uncanny way of healing itself from its own natural disasters, like forest fires, hurricanes and wind storm damage, and even volcanoes. The damage can be devastating but, given sufficient time, nature recovers. Time is the key factor. Time to rejuvenate and time for it to prepare for the next calamity, many of which being cyclical.

But when events happen one right after another or are working in concert to weaken the ecosystem's ability to withstand a particularly powerful disaster, or if we add man-made factors into the mix, then nature can find itself in dire peril.

Such is the case following the heavy rains and flooding that have recently taken place in and around Queensland, Australia. The flood waters don't simply evaporate but, instead, continue to move towards open sea. Swollen rivers feed into the ocean and they bring along three elements that are dangerous to the coral reef systems, offshore and to the north, that make up Australia's famed Great Barrier Reef: fresh water, sediment, and fertilizers/herbicides.

When great quantities of fresh water are introduced into a coral reef, the corals suffer tremendously as they are strictly salt water creatures. As the fresh water moves further offshore, it blends with the salt water and so the negative effects of too much fresh water are primarily limited to reefs and islands relatively close to shore.

Sediment that fans out at the mouth of rivers can also block sunlight and cover the corals. These fine particles essentially choke the corals, preventing them from feeding effectively and, with the loss of sunlight, starving the symbiotic algae that grows within the coral's tissues. Through photosynthesis, the algae converts sunlight into organic energy for the coral's benefit. But, with floating sediment, that life-giving process is disrupted.

Perhaps the corals could withstand those abuses, but then we must add man's contribution: fertilizers and herbicides. Washed down from farmlands, these chemicals stimulate plant growth, in particular seaweed and algae. Both compete for space with the coral and typically the coral loses. Nature has a way of balancing the relationship between plants and corals so that both can coexist, but with the introduction of fertilizers and other plant stimulants, that balance is thrown off kilter. Corals are rather slow growing, whereas sea plants, particularly when chemically stimulated, are very fast growing. It becomes an aquatic land grab and the seaweeds and algae soon take over.

However, even with the added impact of man-made fertilizers, coral reef ecosystems could deal with these three factors were it not for the fact that they are continually being bombarded and weakened by other hazards. Climate and temperature change, acidification, pollution and disease - one hit after another can have a cumulative effect that can leave the coral reefs exposed and overwhelmed by the negative effects of a natural disaster like the one that occurred in Australia.

The Queensland flooding has been a recent event and researchers are only now beginning to see and monitor the residual effects of the floods working their way out to sea. Coral damage from flooding has happened before and the reefs were able to heal themselves within a decade. But life in the Great Barrier Reef is different now, more precarious and fragile.

"The problem is that all forms of disturbances, loads of sediments/nutrients/pesticides, as well as bleaching events from warming seawaters, more intense cyclones and more frequent outbreaks of coral predators such as the crown-of-thorns starfish, all increase in frequency and intensity," says Dr. Katharine Fabricius of the Australian Institute for Marine Science. "This gives the reefs often not enough time to recover before they get hit again."

Read about the effects of Australia's floods on BBC News.

Southwest Fisheries Science Center: 25 years studying the Antarctic seas

Twenty-five years ago the Southwest Fisheries Science Center was formed in La Jolla, California. And since that time, federal researchers have been plying the Antarctic seas, monitoring the health and biodiversity of that chilly region to the south.

Their studies have resulted in the declaration of as many as 30 biological hotspots that need protection from overfishing and destructive bottom-harvesting techniques. In addition, the researchers continue to monitor the impact of commercial fishing on species such as Chilean sea bass (renamed from Antarctic or Patagonian toothfish) and the overall population of krill, currently being harvested for vitamins and fish meal.

A popular commercial fish, Chilean sea bass numbers have plummeted by as much as 80 to 90% and more, according to some experts. But even with conservation efforts in place and many chefs and restaurants choosing not to carry the tasty fish on their menus, their numbers remain drastically low.

“That is one of the key things we want to unravel,” said George Watters, director of the Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division at the fisheries center. “Why haven’t these things recovered? We want to know that so that in the future we can prevent that kind of thing from happening again.”

The work undertaken by the Southwest Fisheries Science Center is by no means easy. Two month-long expeditions take place every January and February when sea conditions in the Southern Ocean are most favorable. But at best, it's bone-chilling work as the researchers monitor seal and sea birds movements, take video and samples from the sea floor, and basically spend time in one of the most inhospitable places on the planet for the purpose of gauging the overall health of an ecosystem that, as remote as it is, is closely tied to all of us.

“The real challenge with our work is to sort out the causes of the different trends we see,” said Mike Goebel, a wildlife biologist with the program. “Sometimes it can make sense and other times it doesn’t make sense, so you are always searching for the best possible explanation of what we observe.”

Of particular interest to the researchers, has been the study of krill populations and the impact of commercial harvesting on this fundamental ocean food source. If you have sprinkled fish meal on your plants or popped an Omega-3 vitamin supplement in the morning, there's a good chance that it consists of krill. Since krill is the principal food source for many ocean species, a decline in krill populations can have tremendous adverse effects on other species. And there are indications that krill populations have declined by as much as 80% in some areas.

One of the many challenges facing the seas of the Antarctic is a confusion or outright lack of unifying international regulations and management to protect the Southern Ocean. Many interested nations are looking to solve the situation and avoid a disastrous exploitation of the region from legal or illegal harvesting activities.

“There is a huge emphasis globally on maintaining the uniqueness and special character of Antarctica,” director Watters said. “Decision-making is supposed to be made on the basis of the best available scientific evidence. That is where we come in.”

Read more about the center's studies in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

"Boots can not be changed during the game"

Swamp football is a form of association football that is played in bogs or swamps. The sport is said to come from Bishop Auckland in the north east of England where it initially was used as an exercise activity for athletes and soldiers, since playing on soft bog is physically demanding. However the first organised championship was the 1998 Finnish championship and was the brainchild of Jyrki Väänänen nicknamed "The Swamp Baron" when the creator of swamp football moved there. There are currently an estimated 260 swamp football teams around the world.

The World Championship in swamp football is played annually on Vuorisuo bog in Hyrynsalmi, Finland, the first taking place in 2000. At the swamp football world championship games of 2005, some 5,000 players participated.

"Man bored to death ‘running the tortoises’"

man has died of boredom participating in the annual ‘Running Of The Tortoises’ event through the back streets of Reigate. It is the first such incident recorded during the event’s 100 year history and, although five days had passed, the ‘running’ was abandoned as a mark of respect and an investigation is currently underway.

Safety concerns have been expressed before about this unique spectacle which is normally run over the first fortnight in July. Three time winner, Jack Robson, has always been concerned about participants and spectators not having enough to occupy them once the event commences. “I make sure I carry a fast paced paperback, a hand-held games console, a Sudoku magazine and a thermos of hot coffee. Believe it or not I still have time to keep an eye on the tortoises. I never take them for granted, but you must keep yourself occupied.”

Organiser Brian Charlton confirmed the man who died was indeed a runner, who became fixated by coverage from Natural History TV on the big screen and simply lost the will to live. “It’s a tragedy of course, but we mustn’t be rushed into making hasty changes. People are already saying we should replace the tortoises with a faster animal. Someone even suggested running bulls. I can imagine what Health and Safety would have to say about that.”

Source: http://thejester.biz/jesternews/

Coral's Fight or Flight: Coral Sea reserve proposed, but some corals can migrate to the poles

The Coral Sea, while known to some as a World War II battle zone or the name of a super aircraft carrier, it is in reality a body of water off the northeastern coast of Australia, southeast of Papua New Guinea, that has remained relatively unscathed from industrial fishing and other human impacts due to its remoteness and sometimes rough seas.

To preserve its good health, efforts are underway to make it a protected marine reserve. The Australian-based Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC) is pushing for having the Coral Sea designated as a marine park that would provide for marine tourism, recreation, and scientific research, while limiting or prohibiting commercial fishing to protect the billfish, sharks , and tuna that either pass through or call the Coral Sea home.

While the idea of a Coral Sea marine reserve has been endorsed by many scientists (as many as 250 from 35 countries have gone on record in support of the reserve), there has been opposition from local recreational fishermen who see it as a step-by-step strategy leading to expansion along the entire east coast of Australia. However, proponents recognize the needs of the locals and say that expansion is not on their agenda. But protecting one of the few unspoiled tropical areas in the ocean is.

Corals head toward the poles
Protecting areas like the Coral Sea would be a good short-term strategy measure. In the long term, we need to consider what might be happening to coral reefs as ocean temperatures continue to rise. Coral thrives within a relatively narrow temperature range and as the waters become warmer, which has been documented as ongoing for several decades, coral reefs experience "bleaching" events where the symbiotic algae that lives within the soft tissues of the coral, providing much of their color, vanishes. This weakens the coral and often proves fatal.

But a new study, about to be published in Geophysical Research Letters, claims that many coral species are migrating towards the poles, to more suitable water temperatures. And the rate that these corals appear to be traveling is quite remarkable: up to 14 km (8.7 mi) annually. With average speeds of 1 km for terrestrial plants and animals and 5km for bottom dwelling sea creatures, these corals would appear to be sprinting. The study combined data with that of others who have tracked coral migrations for years and the researchers noted that of nine coral species studied, four species (all of which considered "near threatened" or "vulnerable" by the IUCN) had moved, most likely with floating larval polyps being aided by currents headed towards the poles, as found along the east coasts of the United States, South America, Africa, and Australia.

Does this mean that corals will simply out run climate change? Not necessarily. The components of climate change and the impacts on coral reefs are complex, from temperature increases to acidification to epidemics which could lead to shifts in the types of corals that stay and flourish, or migrate, or die. One way or another, the tropical reef zones will be disrupted.

In discussing coral's ability to persevere and survive in changing conditions by migrating to more hospitable environments, Paul Sammarco of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium was quoted in NatureNews, "For corals it is good news, but for ecosystems, maybe not."

Read about the Coral Sea in Cairns.com.au.
Read about coral on the move in NatureNews.com.

Nature and the Law: Center for Biological Diversity continues to work the courts

The conservation strategy adopted by the Center for Biological Diversity revolves around bringing the courts to bear on the issues that seem to have been ignored and to put the feet of government agencies to the fire when it appears they are not fulfilling their responsibilities and obligations. It is a strategy that certainly keeps the Tucson, Arizona-based nationwide organization busy.

Turning attention towards the predicaments of cats in the United States (wild, not domesticated) and a few other animals, here's what Executive Director Kieran Suckling and his staff have been up to:

Historic Suits Defends 214 Rare Species From Pesticides
"In the most comprehensive legal action ever taken to protect wildlife from pesticides under the Endangered Species Act, the Center for Biological Diversity and Pesticide Action Network North America sued the Environmental Protection Agency today for failing to determine whether hundreds of approved pesticides harm already-imperiled species around the country.

The lawsuit names more than 200 species in 49 states -- from the Florida panther to the Chiricahua leopard frog to the Alabama sturgeon -- that wildlife officials and scientists say are threatened by pesticides. Our lawsuit challenges the EPA for not consulting with wildlife agencies before approving more than 300 pesticides. 'For decades, the EPA has turned a blind eye to the disastrous effects pesticides can have on some of America's rarest species,' said the Center's Jeff Miller."

Read more in a Center for Biological Diversity press release.

Lynx to Earn More Protected Habitat
"The feds will likely protect more habitat for the stealthy Canada lynx, one of North America's most imperiled predators; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has dropped its appeal of a federal court decision last summer that said the agency's 'critical habitat' designation for the lynx was too paltry.

Only about 1,000 Canada lynx remain in the United States, and about half of them are in Montana. After a lawsuit in 1994 by the Biodiversity Legal Foundation (now merged with the Center for Biological Diversity) and allies, the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2000 designated the spotted silver cat as 'threatened' under the Endangered Species Act. But even after a Center lawsuit overturning a previously inadequate critical habitat decision, the agency failed to base its designation on areas where lynx currently roam, leaving out habitat key for recovery (especially in Colorado). The latest development means the Fish and Wildlife Service will reevaluate how much critical habitat it will assign to this rare and mysterious forest cat."

Read more in the Helena Independent Record.

Suit Filed to Block Loan to Proposed Minnesota Mine
"The Center for Biological Diversity and four partners on Tuesday sued Minnesota's Iron Range Resources Board over its $4 million loan to PolyMet Mining Company, which has proposed the state's first open-pit sulfide mine. The state agency's loan is premature and illegal under state law because the proposed mine is still going through the required environmental review process. The mine site is in the Superior National Forest, within the Lake Superior watershed.

PolyMet's proposed mine would destroy hundreds of acres of high-quality wetlands, violate water-quality standards for hundreds to thousands of years, and eliminate two square miles of protected 'critical habitat' for imperiled lynx and wolves. The draft environmental impact statement for the proposal was deemed "environmentally unsatisfactory-inadequate" by the EPA, triggering the need for a supplemental draft analysis that is still months from completion."

Read more in the Duluth News-Tribune.

The Center for Biological Diversity wants people to realize that the legal process can be a very productive tool in building conservation awareness. The latest edition of their newsletter, Endangered Earth, recaps many of their 2010 accomplishments and lays out the organization's objectives for 2011. You can download it by clicking here.

"A fascinating tradition that ran for some 60 years and was never fully explained"

BALTIMORE — Telltale hearts beat with anticipation during a rainy, midnight dreary and beyond, hoping the mysterious visitor to Edgar Allan Poe's grave would return after a one-year absence.

But once again, the unknown person who for decades has left three roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac at Poe's grave on the anniversary of the writer's birth failed to appear Wednesday, fueling speculation that he may have died.

Four impostors came and went overnight. The real one never showed. Around 5 a.m., the dozen Poe fans who were left began to wonder if the eerie ritual is indeed nevermore, so they walked to Poe's tombstone and performed their own tribute by leaving roses and drinking a cognac toast.

A fascinating tradition that ran for some 60 years and was never fully explained appears to have ended at the downtown Westminster Hall and Burying Ground.

"a daunting number of stairs"

The steep flight of stairs featured in the Oscar-winning 1932 comedy short, "The Music Box" are cherished among fans of the legendary team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. There's even a plaque on the steps in Silver Lake commemorating the production.

Directed by James Parrott, "The Music Box" — the first film to win the Oscar for live action short — follows the misadventures of Laurel and Hardy as they try to deliver a player piano to a residence located up a daunting number of stairs. Of course, nothing goes according to plan and the duo find themselves in what they always called another fine mess.

The "Music Box" steps still exist at 923-937 Vendome at Del Monte in Silver Lake. But unlike in the film, the steps don't lead to a residence. Instead they connect Vendome with Descano Drive at the hill's top.

It's like being admitted to their inner circle

In the public eye, they lived a fantasy that mere mortals could only dream of. But between the ellipses of Rat Pack lore existed a carnival of leisure, stress, politics, starlets, heartache and happiness. For decades, some of the only photographic evidence was stashed in a cardboard box labeled "Do Not Print." That is, until now.

"The Rat Pack," a limited-edition volume by Reel Art Press, is a sprawling compilation of visual footnotes in the everyday world of Frank Sinatra and his band of brothers. In private life, their mystique lingered in the clothes they wore, the cigarettes they smoked, the women on their arms and the rules they broke. The bulky hardcover pools guarded snapshots with gems from the cutting-room floor taken at the Cal Neva Resort in North Lake Tahoe and the star-studded gatherings at Peter Lawford's Santa Monica beach house. Among them are shots by Bob Willoughby, Sid Avery, Ted Allen, Bernie Abramson and others in their inner circle.

Sharks and Monochromacy: examining predator's limited color vision

It's a colorful world we live in. At least it appears that way. A red apple is not actually producing red light; it's absorbing other non-red light wavelengths and reflecting those wavelengths that we perceive as red. Our eyes have evolved to contain three types of color receptors that respond to certain light wavelengths - basically reds, greens, and blues - which puts us in the category of trichromats. Other animals are dichromats, having two color receptors, while many others have little or no color vision.

Why? Well, partly its evolution's adaptive radiation at work, where animals evolve certain traits or abilities to best respond to their environment and thereby enhance their chances for survival.

In the aquatic world, color can take on a different purpose as the water environment effects various wavelengths. Red wavelengths fade quickly - the underwater world is cast in a blue or green hue because these wavelengths - particularly blue - can travel further, deeper into the water column. So, if you are a predator, what works best in hunting prey? Having a full-range of color sensitivity or limited monochromatic vision that best matches your environment?

In a paper recently published in the natural science journal, Naturwissenschaften, researchers from the University of Queensland, Australia, (including my niece, Dr. Susan Theiss) studied the color vision capabilities of 17 different species of sharks, from small bottom-dwellers like the port jackson shark to open water species like tiger and bull sharks. In many cases, what they found was a monochromatic trend toward blue but with some interesting exceptions.

Juvenile lemon sharks have a greater sensitivity to red, perhaps because of the amount of time spent in shallow waters where a fuller color spectrum would exist. But as adults, they appear to lose that sensitivity as they move into deeper waters. Bull sharks, which can spend up to the first 5 years of life in shallow, brackish water areas, seemed to have a similar sensitivity to red but research has yet to show that they too become more monochromatic as they mature, although it is a distinct possibility.

Many skates and rays are trichromatic and, as these species are close cousins to sharks, it begs the question as to what evolutionary advantage monochromatic vision might provide sharks. Well, in a very unscientific observation, as a filmmaker I can concur with one of the prevailing theories: contrast. Many broadcast video cameras have viewfinders which can switch from color to black and white. With black and white, contrast is all you are left with, and many cameramen feel they are able to focus more accurately and even track the on-camera action better in black and white, as if the fullness of color becomes a visual distraction.

And perhaps that is what the shark needs: a greater sensitivity to high contrast derived from monochromatic vision which helps to discern prey from its surrounding background. Combined with their other electroreceptive capabilities like the Ampullae de Lorenzini and sensitive lateral line, sharks may have developed the most efficient form of vision for hunting, one that has evolved from its surroundings over millions of years.

Susan and her colleagues are continuing to study the color vision capabilities of various shark species. Its microscopic, exacting, and tedious work (sharks can't exactly cover one eye and read from an eye chart: EFPTOZ . . .), but with that knowledge we can gain a better understanding of shark behavior and how, as apex predators, they effectively contribute to a healthy marine ecosystem.

Read the entire paper on sharks' color vision in Naturwissenschaften.

Will the real Jesse James stand up ???

John William James, who showed up in Los Angeles in 1933, was just one of several men who impersonated the infamous outlaw over the years. To clear up remaining doubts, descendants of Jesse James consented to a 1995 DNA analysis of the remains in Jesse James' casket. The verdict: It was probably Jesse.

Oddly enough, when he was unearthed, he was lying face down.

Biographer Ted Yeatman wrote that some wondered if all of the "impostor stories, bad fiction and movies had caused Jesse James to turn over in his grave."

Mission Blue in the Gulf of Mexico: ocean exploration is no walk in the park

The ocean is an incredible laboratory for studying the complex intricacies of life itself. From the sea all life first came, so what better to place to learn. But it's not exactly a controlled environment where men and women in starched white lab coats can measure, test, and analyze in sterile, secure labs. No, out in the elements, it can be a challenging place where not all goes according to plan.

Dr. Sylvia Earle's Mission Blue organization knows this first hand as they have been attempting to study the after effects of the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill. It has been an expedition of successes and frustrations, but that is nothing new to anyone who has spent time on the seas.

There are many unanswered questions regarding the Gulf Oil Spill. Where has all of the millions of gallons of oil settled? Dissipated, evaporated, or consumed by bacteria and other microorganisms? Has it settled into the deep sea floor and is this having an impact on the many small bottom-dwelling forms of sealife that make an important foundation in the marine ecology. What of the many fish, like whale sharks and bluefin tuna, that migrate through the Gulf or use it as a primary breeding ground? Has there been an impact on them or their eggs or other larvae?

The list goes on and on.

"Speaking as a scientist," said Mission Blue researcher Eric Hoffmayer, "this oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico sort of caught us off guard. We don't know a lot about many of these animals. Whether it's whale sharks, tiger sharks, makos, whatever, we don't know what their habitat use is in the region. We don't have the baseline data. Without understanding how they use this environment, we don't know how the spill will affect them."

Ups and Downs
The Mission Blue expedition, supported by National Geographic, the Waitt Institute, and Dr. Earle's Hope Spots LLC, has been in the Gulf several times over the past few months. It has had great success in tracking down whale sharks that have been known to congregate in an area named Ewing Bank, off of Louisiana. This location is in relatively close proximity to the site of the spill. By tagging and tracking the sharks, in addition to studying the condition of the food sources that the sharks are living on as they pass through the area, researchers hope to gain some insight as to whether the oil has had an adverse impact on these huge filter feeders.

Mission Blue's latest expedition to the Gulf was planned as an opportunity to study marine life on the deep seafloor using the advanced ROV, Medusa, and travel throughout the water column, assessing the health of the openwater community using the two-man submersible, Deepworker. While the Medusa had several successful initial dives, using its red-lit video camera systems (red light, which fades quickly with depth, is less disturbing to deep water marine life as they are less sensitive to it), later dives were scrubbed due to rough seas.

Those wind-whipped seas continued to play havoc with a series of planned dives using the Deepworker submersible. A few dives were completed in shallow water, where Dr. Earle and Harte Research Institute director Larry McKinney had to contend with poor visibility - lots of phytoplankton to see up close but "big picture" views of the surrounding open water seascape were limited at best. As the expedition is drawing to a close, famed author and ecologist Dr. Carl Safina came aboard to share his experiences, having spent considerable time in the Gulf during the spill, and to hopefully get some dives in himself.



Perseverance in the face of challenging conditions is a fundamental requirement of ocean exploration. And if we are to understand the full ramifications of our actions on complex marine ecosystems with regards to oil drilling at sea, expeditions like that being undertaken by Mission Blue and other organizations will endure what nature throws their way and they will continue. The answers to so many questions must be found before we find ourselves faced with another environmental disaster; the result of our own ignorance.

Read about tracking whale sharks in the Gulf in NatGeo News Watch.
Read about Mission Blue's ROV and submersible in the SEA blog.

Mesophotic Coral Reefs: a new find in Puerto Rico brings calls for protection

For many people, the images they have seen of corals and coral reefs are of two extremes. At one end of the spectrum are the more commonly seen "shallow reefs" - colorful explosions of various shapes and sizes, mostly fueled by the combination of specialized algae (zooanthellae) that reside within the coral itself, and photosynthesis, the process by which plants use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into organic compounds. Stereotypical iconic images of tropical reefs - from Hawaii to the South Pacific to the Caribbean to Australia's Great Barrier Reef - are compliments of the ocean's shallow coral reef ecosystems.

At the other end are the deep water corals, where light is scarce and so a different type of ecosystem flourishes. Without the supporting zooanthellae algae, deep water corals often consist of large stony corals and will aggregate in thickets or groves, forming very different reef structures compared to their shallow water cousins. Much of what we know about deep water corals, we have learned from manned deep submersibles or unmanned ROVs.

However, as we find in so many other aspects of life, nature has its middle ground. In this case, mesophotic coral reefs. These are coral ecosystems that basically exist between 30-40m (100-130 feet) down to around 150m (490 feet), which puts you at the edge of darkness. Existing beyond the range of typical scuba diving limits, mesophotic coral ecosystems have largely existed underneath the scientific radar. There's much we still need to learn about these coral reefs and the biodiversity that they support.

So when new mesophotic coral reefs are discovered, it's newsworthy indeed. Last week, NOAA announced the discovery of a large mesophotic coral reef off the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico. Found by Dr. Richard Appledoorn and his staff from the University of Puerto Rico, the reef is basically a 12-mile span, supporting a variety of plate-type corals, like lettuce and star corals, and various sponges along with groupers, snappers and reef sharks.

NOAA, along with Appledoorn, are vowing to protect this new find and managers with Puerto Rico's Coastal Zone Management are giving it serious consideration.

"We recognize the need to extend protections to mesophotic coral ecosystems in Puerto Rico, and the information being provided by this research is key to making that happen," said Ernesto Diaz, director of Puerto Rico's Coastal Zone Management Program.

The newly found reef could also benefit from fortuitous timing. Representatives from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are meeting to consider a joint program of coastal management and conservation. Under discussion is a coastal zoning map that would consider the best and most ecologically sustainable uses of the coast for recreational and commercial activities - from tourism, aquafarming, to ocean energy development. Coral reef protection, of all types, would be a key component of the program.

While shallow coral reefs might provide the laymen with the most colorful images to use for making the case for coral conservation, scientists realize that, from the surface to the deepest depths, each of the various strata that make up the entire coral reef ecosystem play an important role in maintaining a healthy and vibrant marine biodiversity. All must be protected, whether we see them or not.

Read about Puerto Rico's mesophotic coral reefs in redOrbit.
Read about mesophotic coral reef systems at www.mesophotic.org.
Photo credit: H. Ruiz/NOAA

San Francisco has plans

The 25th Anniversary of the world-famous Loony Dook

On 1 January 2011 upwards of 1000 brave Loonies took to the freezing waters of the Forth Estuary in the shadow of the iconic Forth Bridge to celebrate the 25th successive year of this massive event now for the first time part of the official Edinburgh's Hogmanay programme. Weather conditions were as good as could be expected, huge crowds gathered on the streets, foreshore and harbour to witness the fun and it is anticipated that many thousands of pounds will be raised for a variety of charities including the RNLI Queensferry station which will also receive a donation from funds raised in registration fees. On behalf of the sponsors, Haggis Adventures, the management team Unique Events said that the event was a great success. Loony Dook stalwart for all of the 25 years and one of the founders of the event, Jim McKenzie said "I know I'm mad but again I thoroughly enjoyed the day. Even so, I'm glad it's over for another year and look forward to 1 January 2012."

The grand parade was led as usual by our Town Crier Lindsay Munro, our piper Michael Shiels and the two veterans Jim McKenzie

"Winning by a toe"

The Bentley Brook Inn in Derbyshire hosts the Ben & Jerry's World Toe Wrestling Championship - a feast of foot foolery, bad wrestling outfits and toeriffically treacherous puns. All proceeds from the event go to the Derbyshire charity When You Wish Upon a Star.

Contestants sit opposite each other on the "Toedium" and, locking big toes, place their feet on a small wooden frame, imaginatively termed the "Toesrack". At the cry of "Toedown" they wrestle both right and left feet, in a straight knockout competition with the winner being the person who pushes his opponent's foot to the bookend on the side of the frame. It's a game of theatrics, awesome ankle power and, of course, plenty of ale and ice cream - courtesy of the sponsors - for the audience.

"Good as Gold"

In a sign of the times, Abu Dhabi's ritzy $3 billion government-owned Emirates Palace Hotel unveiled a gold dispensing ATM machine. The "Gold to Go" ATM, which is itself covered in 24-carat gold, dispenses gold bars up to 10 grams or customized gold coins. The machine monitors changes in the price of gold every ten minutes [gold prices reached a new all time high yesterday, over $1,245/ounce; 10 grams = U.S. $436]. The machine is the idea of German entrepreneur Thomas Geissler, chief executive of Ex oriente Lux AG; it first debuted at the Frankfurt International Airport in 2009. Geissler says he chose Abu Dhabi because . . . well, it's rich, they trust gold more than paper currency and they're no doubt up to their ears in U.S. dollars.

Evolution: study finds commonality in fish and mammal development

Evolution can appear to be a very complex process. How biodiversity developed over millions of years, producing thousands of various animal and plant species, is continually being studied and surprises seem to crop up with every new study. Whether piecing together the many branches and various dead ends that ultimately resulted in homo sapiens or deciphering the genetic code that determines who has a tail or who has wings, scientists are, piece by piece, assembling the puzzle that makes up nature's grand experiment in life on Earth.

And yet, from time to time, they discover within the puzzle a point of commonality - a puzzle piece that is being used over and over again - and the end result in diversity becomes simply a matter of timing. A recent study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, highlights a genetic process that determines gill structures in elephant fish and sharks and its similarities with the development of limbs in lizards and mammals.

The elephant fish is a distant relative to sharks and rays, sharing the same type of cartilage-based skeletal system and also an outgrowth called a branchial ray - an appendage that extends from the skeleton and forms a supporting structure for the gills. Somewhere in the development process, the elephant develops one set of branchial ray while sharks develop several. To determine how or when this takes place requires studying things at the embryonic level. And for the scientists involved in the study, from Cambridge and the University of Chicago, this was a challenge as elephant fish embryos are difficult to find. Elephant fish lay their eggs in cold, muddy ocean bottoms, so the researchers spent months diving and searching possible breeding sites in Australia and New Zealand, gathering the needed embryos.

The researchers traced the impact of a genetic factor called Shh - the sonic hedgehog gene. It is common to both the elephant fish and sharks but when it expresses itself in the early developmental process determines whether there's one branchial ray set or more. This same process appears in the development of lizards and mammals, helping to determine outgrowths like limbs and number of toes for different species.

"The research highlights how evolution is extremely efficient, taking advantage of preexisting mechanisms, rather than inventing new ones," said Dr. Andrew Gillis of Cambridge University. "By simply tinkering with the timing of when or where a gene is expressed in an embryo, you can get very different anatomical outcomes in adults."

"It's basically showing that the limb story is part of a much more general narrative, which is the story of outgrowths," said Dr. Neil Shubin, University of Chicago. "There's a common development toolkit for all the outgrowths that we know in the body; they're all versions of one another in a developmental sense."

While analyzing all of the minute components found within the evolutionary process might seem a little esoteric or obscure to some, one of the advantages in understanding species development is to then be able to consider how or what might change that process. What environmental factors might come into play to alter or disrupt embryonic development, producing an evolutionary course correction or a tragic mutation? How easily can an evolutionary process, millions of years in the making, be altered by pollution, climate change, or other shifts in the norm?

As we study and learn more about both the complexity and the commonality or simplicity of evolutionary development, we can begin to see nature's wondrous puzzle of life and how the pieces can possibly be rearranged for better or for worse.

Read about the study in EurekAlert!
Read more in a Cambridge University press release.
Read the entire report published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Earth's Magnetic Fields in Flux: poles move but the sky's not falling

There's a little bit of a Chicken Little groundswell running through the news and the blogospehere and probably by the end of the week, aliens from space, the CIA, or Mayan calendars will be fingered as the culprits. It all has to do with the Earth's shifting magnetic poles.

We think of the planet's magnetic fields as constant and dependable as the Northern Star. Every Boy Scout finds his way back to camp because he can count on his trusty compass to point North. And the magnetic fields also protect us. The entire magnetosphere helps to deflect much of the solar radiation emanating from the sun that bombards us in the form of solar winds.

But the Earth's magnetic fields are always in flux; the actual magnetic north and south poles are shifting, wobbling about on its axis due to forces taking place deep below the surface of the Earth where the fields are generated. Since the 19th century, when the position of the magnetic north pole was first identified, it has been moving from high in the North American Arctic towards Siberia. Through the 20th century, its movement was clocked at about 10 km a year, on average, but apparently it has been accelerating to around 40 km annually.

This movement can manifest itself as a real world consequence for us humans. It has been reported that an airport in Tampa, Florida had to close its runways so that they could be relabeled. Pilots use their magnetic compass instruments to determine which runway to use and so runway and taxiway signs apparently needed to be changed to properly coincide with aviation charts and the pilot's instruments.

"The Earth's poles are changing constantly, and when they change more than three degrees, that can affect runway numbering," FAA spokesperson Kathleen Bergen told Fox News.

Once in the news, the change in magnetic fields is rippling through the air and has been linked by some to the mysterious bird and fish deaths that took place recently in Arkansas and Delaware. I'm afraid soon we'll hear reports of a coming Armageddon, compliments of the Earth's magnetic field.

Well, what is happening? The Earth's magnetic fields are generated by the movement of the molten iron outer core around the planet's solid iron inner core. This movement, much like the movement of an electric motor, produces magnetic fields that extend thousands of miles beyond the planet forming our magnetospehere. The molten outer core is a very turbulent mass.

As described by NASA, "Sitting atop the hot inner core, the liquid outer core seethes and roils like water in a pan on a hot stove. The outer core also has "hurricanes"--whirlpools powered by the Coriolis forces of Earth's rotation. These complex motions generate our planet's magnetism through a process called the dynamo effect."

Could this movement of the magnetic poles be an indication of some major event? Scientists have been able to determine that there have been complete reversals of the magnetic poles throughout time - and I suspect this will put some doomsday theorists into a lather with pronouncements of catastrophic upheavals akin to the movie mayhem seen in "2012". However, these reversals occur roughly every 300,000 years on average, with the last one taking place over 780,000 years ago. According to scientists, it takes thousands of years for a reversal to take place, and they theorize that it would be less of a complete reversal as it would be a fragmented disruption that would leave the Earth temporarily with several poles around the globe, not just a single North and South. And through it all, the Earth's geographic North/South pole, the axis on which it spins, would remain stable.

You just might find your GPS acting a little funny and, as NASA mentioned, you might find Tahiti as the new go-to location to watch the Northern lights.

Read about the Tampa airport runways on YahooNews.
Read about the magnetic fields in NASA Science.