Paleozoic predator predates the dinosaurs

Voltaire Neto

The mammal-like creature known as Pampophoneus biccai takes on a plant-eating Paleozoic creature called a pareiasaur in this artist's conception.

By Alan Boyle

Paleontologists have found the skull of a weird but deadly mammal-like?monster that terrorized Brazil long before dinosaurs ruled the earth.

The specimen is from the Permian period, more than 260 million years ago. The complete skull measures about 13 inches (35 centimeters) in length and was?discovered in 2008 during a scientific excavation on a farm in the pampas region of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil. The skull came from a creature that was part of a class of long-extinct?vertebrates called dinocephalian therapsids, which predated the dinosaurs and were distantly related to mammals.

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In an interview with Discovery News, lead researcher Juan Carlos Cisneros of Brazil's?Federal University of?Piaui said the critter was a cross between "a tiger and a Komodo dragon, if you can imagine that." A report about the fossil was published?online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The creature has been dubbed Pampaphoneus biccai: The Latin-derived genus name roughly translates as "pampas killer," and the species name pays tribute to Jose Bicca, the landlord?of the farm where the skull was found. The fossil site was identified through an analysis of satellite imagery from Google Earth.

Juan Carlos Cisneros

A photo and a drawing show the skull discovered on a Brazilian farm.

Cisneros told me in an emailed statement that the find is important for two reasons: First,?Pampaphoneus is?the first Paleozoic terrestrial carnivore discovered in South America. Combining this find with earlier discoveries of plant-eaters from the same time frame will help paleontologists "picture a more complete ecosystem during the Permian period," the statement said.

Second, the skull suggests that this South American species was a close relative to similar dinocephalians previously found in Russia and South Africa. That supports the idea that?therapsids were able to disperse easily from one part of the Pangaea supercontinent to the other, during an age?when most of?Earth's modern-day land masses were linked together.

The therapsids were dealt a heavy blow 250 million years ago?in?an extinction event known as the "Great Dying." During the Triassic period?that followed, they gave way to the dinosaurs ??but their distant?relatives?in the mammalian tribe once again rule the earth.

Update for 7:51 p.m. ET: Brian Switek adds to the Permian picture in his Wired Science posting on the "Terrible Heads."

More about the days before the dinosaurs:

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In addition to Cisneros, the authors of "Carnivorous Dinocephalian from the Middle Permian of Brazil and Tetrapod Dispersal in Pangaea" include Fernando Abdala, Saniye Atayman-G?ven, Bruce Rubidge, A.M. Sel?l Seng?r and Cesar Schultz.

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.?

Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/17/10176294-predator-ruled-before-dinosaurs

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Ron Paul may be Republican Muslims? pick for president

Ron Paul campaigns in South Carolina (AP)

Though a majority of American Muslims say they lean Democratic?as many as 70 percent in a survey released last year by the Pew Forum?the population also includes social conservatives, whose religious values lead them to side with Republicans on moral issues.

But it?s not always easy to find a Muslim-friendly Republican candidate. Hopefuls like Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have expressed their concern over Muslim populations in America and the institution of shariah law in a way that offends and alienates Muslim voters.

Omar Shaukat, a doctorate candidate in religious studies at the University of Virginia, speculated that Ron Paul might be the best pick for Muslims, since he presents a (very) conservative approach to government without the Muslim fear-mongering. He wrote in an essay for Policy Mic:

I assume most Muslim-Americans will support Paul because of his foreign policy views on Iran, Afghanistan and war. But more crucially, I am attracted to his paleo-conservative tendencies, even if his radical libertarianism might give me some pause. Not guilty of Islamophobia, a non-interventionist, defending civil liberties, consistently pro-life, not willing to subsidize abortion, and uninterested in regulating sexual behavior without abandoning a traditional view of marriage, I think Paul?s nuanced message on the relation between law and morality should resonate with many Muslim-Americans.

In sum, most versions of conservatism, because they are not hostile to religiosity, are, in my opinion, compatible with the ethical worldview of many religious Muslim-Americans. The only obstacles that personally keep me from becoming an enthusiastic Republican are the party?s idolatrous and jingoistic tendency to turn interventionist and Islamophobic. Whether Paul gets nominated or not, I hope the Republicans are able to return to their original paleo-conservative roots.

Last year, Paul criticized opponents Santorum and Michele Bachmann for ?hating Muslims,? and during a debate, he defended Muslim-Americans by saying the Muslim world as a whole was not responsible for 9/11. His remarks got him booed by the Tea Party audience.

Source: http://blog.chron.com/rickperry/2012/01/ron-paul-may-be-republican-muslims%E2%80%99-pick-for-president/

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Ten dead in militant attack in Iraq's Ramadi (Reuters)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) ? Ten people were killed when gunmen wearing explosive belts stormed a police building in the Iraqi city of Ramadi on Sunday, police and provincial officials said.

The attack in mainly Sunni Anbar province followed several weeks of bombings targeting Shi'ites after the eruption of a political crisis that has threatened to break up the coalition government and raised fears of renewed sectarian violence.

The assault in Ramadi, a onetime al Qaeda hotspot where militants frequently attack government facilities, provided a new test for Iraqi security forces without the support of U.S. troops, the last of which pulled out in mid-December, nearly nine years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Six gunmen, three policemen and a civilian died in the assault on the Ramadi police building, which houses an anti-terrorism unit and a jail, and 18 other people were wounded, police and hospital sources said.

One of the attackers detonated his explosive belt at the entrance to the police building and others tried unsuccessfully to take hostages but were turned away by intense gunfire from security forces inside, police and provincial officials said.

Three of the gunmen were killed by police gunfire and three blew themselves up, the last after he was cornered by security forces on a rooftop, the officials said.

Ramadi, the Anbar provincial capital, witnessed some of the worst violence during the height of the war that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. It was the heart of a Sunni Islamist insurgency tied to al Qaeda.

Anbar tribal leaders and thousands of Sunni insurgents eventually turned against al Qaeda and formed the Sahwa militia, which joined U.S. forces and helped turn the tide of the war.

Iraqi security officials have expressed concern that al Qaeda may regroup in Anbar following the U.S. withdrawal.

Anbar has had testy relations with the central government recently, particularly following an arrest campaign against former members of Saddam's banned Baath party. Local officials have suggested Anbar might join other Sunni-majority provinces in seeking more autonomy.

Violence in Iraq has ebbed since the height of sectarian slaughter in 2006-2007 but Sunni insurgents and rival Shi'ite militias still carry out attacks almost daily. Insurgents often target local government buildings and security forces.

The attack in Ramadi came a day after a suicide bomber killed more than 50 people and wounded more than 100 in an attack on Shi'ite pilgrims passing through a police checkpoint in the southern city of Basra.

Tensions are running high in Iraq, four weeks after the last U.S. troops pulled out, following moves by the Shi'ite-led government against two Sunni political leaders and a series of bombings that have killed scores of Shi'ites.

(Reporting by Fadhel al-Badrani; writing by Jim Loney and Patrick Markey; Editing by Andrew Roche)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120115/wl_nm/us_iraq_violence

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Germany rejects rescue fund boost, Greece under pressure (Reuters)

BERLIN/MADRID (Reuters) ? Germany, the only major euro zone member to retain a top-notch credit rating, refused on Monday to consider boosting the bloc's rescue fund, while Greece was under pressure to urgently break a deadlock in debt swap talks if it is to avoid an unruly default.

European leaders vowed to press ahead with a fiscal pact for stricter budget discipline and hasten the launch of a permanent bailout fund for the 17-nation euro area, the European Stability Mechanism, in the light of Standard & Poor's move last Friday.

The downgrading of France, Austria, Italy and Spain in particular means the European Financial Stability Facility risks losing its AAA rating or having less money to lend, unless remaining triple-A nations raise their guarantees, euro zone officials said.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert told reporters: "The government has no reason to believe that the volume of guarantees that the EFSF has now should not be sufficient to fulfill its current obligations.

"We should not forget that it has been decided to significantly move forward the ESM and to have it in place in mid-2012, one year earlier than planned."

Financial markets took the downgrades in their stride, with the euro and government bond yields broadly steady. Traders said the European Central Bank bought Italian and Spanish bonds to offset pressure from S&P's salvo.

But the relief could be shortlived due to the rising risk of a disorderly Greek default unless Athens can secure a last-ditch agreement with its private creditors to accept voluntary losses on their holdings of Greek bonds.

A growing number of experts, including a Standard & Poor's official, are warning a default is on the cards, after Greece's talks with creditors broke down on Friday.

European shares rebounded to end higher despite fears that banks would suffer knock-on downgrades in the wake of the governments whose debt they hold.

Yields on French treasury bills eased slightly in the first test of investor appetite for the country's debt since it was stripped of its coveted triple-A rating.

The head of Austria's debt office told Reuters the loss of Vienna's AAA status had also been priced into the market already, and Austria was able to sell treasury bills on Monday at rates very close to zero.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy brushed off the historic loss of Paris' top credit rating for the first time since 1975, a blow to his campaign for re-election in May, saying France's policy would not be dictated by rating agencies.

Contrasting S&P's move with a statement by rival watchdog Moody's, which still has France on an Aaa rating, he said: "My deep belief is that it changes nothing. We must reduce the deficit, we must reduce our spending and we must improve the competitiveness of our economy to return to a path of growth."

LOSERS TO PAY?

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, whose debt-laden country was downgraded by two notches along with Spain, called last week during a visit to Berlin for the EFSF to be increased to ward off attacks on his country's bonds.

But a senior politician in Merkel's conservative CDU party, Michael Meister, said it was the downgraded countries that should increase their guarantees for the fund.

"Germany was not downgraded so our contribution should not be changed. Countries that were affected must contribute more to the guarantees," Meister told Reuters.

Barely a month after an injection of bailout funds helped to avert bankruptcy, Greece is back at the centre of the euro zone crisis as fears of a default and a possible euro zone exit.

Cash-strapped Athens needs a deal with the private sector within days to avoid going bankrupt when 14.5 billion euros of bond redemptions fall due in late March. Without a private sector bond swap involving a voluntary writedown, a 130 billion euro second international bailout for Greece could fall apart.

Talks with creditor banks broke down last Friday because of different views on what interest rate is acceptable, the head of the group leading private sector talks said.

"They are looking at the private sector to accept interest rates that they would not accept (themselves), which is completely unreasonable," said Charles Dallara, managing director of the Institute of International Financial.

He said the banks were "very surprised" at the stance taken by some officials representing both governments and multilateral institutions, without naming them.

Sources familiar with the talks said EU paymaster Germany was pressing for new bonds to be given to banks in the planned swap to carry a low coupon of less than four percent that would increase the banks' effective losses to 75 percent.

The International Monetary Fund was also weighing on the talks by warning that the Greek economy and the euro zone's economic outlook have worsened since the bailout package was agreed in October, raising Athens' funding needs to make its debt sustainable by 2020, they said.

Greece put a brave face on the standoff.

"There is a little pause in these discussions," Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos told CNBC television.

"But I am confident that they will continue and we will reach an agreement that is mutually acceptable in time."

(Additional reporting by Lefteris Papadimos in Athens, Steve Slater and Richard Hubbard in London, Jan Strupczewski in Brussels and Fiona Ortiz in Madrid; Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120116/bs_nm/us_eurozone

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Keen On? People Power: The App That Will Power The Future

Ed Schmit's AT&T Developer Program was busy this week at CES. Not only did they run an innovative Hackathon, but they also announced the winner of their $20,000 Power the Future competition, a six month quest to find the best sustainability app to help consumers improve the quality of their environment.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/q3bZs5HroAI/

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Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Toshiba (update: video embedded)

Toshiba's senior product manager swings by to talk about Toshiba's ever growing product line and the future of their brand. Join us live at 3:00PM ET.

Correction: The Toshiba Excite X10's correct pricing is $529.99 MSRP for 16GB and $599.99 MSRP for 32GB

Update: Interview video now embedded.

Continue reading Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Toshiba (update: video embedded)

Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Toshiba (update: video embedded) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/7acK11UAJfw/

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This Amazing Point-Of-View Video Will Make You Want To Be An Eagle And Eat Flamingos [Video]

The BBC's Earthflight series is amazing. They use "many filming techniques to create the experience of flying with birds as they encounter some of the greatest natural events on the planet." The results are stunning. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/yJvw3Wwiw2c/this-amazing-point+of+view-video-will-make-you-want-to-be-an-eagle-and-eat-flamingos

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