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Louis C.K. admits sexual misconduct allegations are true - BBC News

Ban on US Import of Elephant Trophies Remains, For Now

On Friday, President Trump tweeted that he was putting the decision to reverse a ban on elephant trophy imports "on hold," pending a review of "all conservation facts."

President Trump tweeted that he was putting that decision “on hold,” pending a review of “all conservation facts.”

BOMBTURBATION

Yes, it’s your new word for the day and a real phenomenon studied by today’s geoscientists – bombturbation.

Essentially, it reflects the change in a geomorphologic surface due to bombing. Whether by cannon balls or A-bombs, whenever the surface of the Earth is blown up, there is a tendency to create craters. Bombturbation was initially applied to the disturbance of soil due to warfare (Hupy and others 2006): a bomb or some sort of artillery explosion excavates a crater, ejecting soils out into a surrounding rim of mixed material. Bombing can have the effect of creating entirely new geomorphological environments as seen in photos of Omaha Beach (#37 at http://tinyurl.com/nyhdu8), US Civil War Battlefields (http://tinyurl.com/kamaebd), or as in the present photo, the Nevada nuclear test site.

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Dark ocean bacteria discovered to play large role in carbon capture

This study reveals that despite their relatively low abundance, nitrite-oxidizing bacteria capture more than 1.1 gigatons of carbon dioxide in the mesopelagic zone annually. This is comparable to prior estimates of the total carbon captured in the entire dark ocean.

Marine bacteria that live in the dark depths of the ocean play a newly discovered and significant role in the global carbon cycle, according to a new study published in Science.

The “dark ocean” - everything that lies below 200 meters - makes up 90 percent of the ocean. Very little is known about the microscopic life in this realm and its critical role in transforming carbon dioxide to cell material, proteins, carbohydrates and lipids. This freshly produced organic material can then be consumed by other marine organisms enhancing the productivity of the ocean.

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Today in Godsmack History marks the release of the lead single and title track “Awake” from Godsmack’s second studio album. The music video made for this single was filmed at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio. The video contains footage of prisoners rioting and leaving the reformatory and seeing Godsmack play in the exercise yard inside a fenced-in area. The music video was produced by the band.

In an MTV online chat, Godsmack vocalist Sully Erna said that “Awake” is Godsmack “getting some closure, on a past relationship”. Erna then said: “That’s me getting closure on a relationship. I’m just saying that now I’m awake, and I’m able to deal with everything I have to deal with. Where before I felt like I was going to lose control without this person in my life. I’m saying that I’m okay now without that person”.

“Awake” was released to radio on October 3, 2000. "Awake" achieved mainstream success. The song was on the Mainstream Rock chart for 53 weeks and peaked at number 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart. "Awake" also was on the Alternative Songs chart for 28 weeks and peaked at number 12 on the Alternative Songs chart. "Awake" was on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart for 24 weeks and peaked at number 1 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart in 2001. "Awake" was nominated for the Rock Single of the Year category at the 2001 Billboard Music Awards. With the popularity of “Awake”, Godsmack’s album of the same name was certified 2x platinum by the RIAA in March 2002.

There are three versions of “Awake”, the first version, which is the original version, appeared on Godsmack second studio album, Awake. The second version is a radio edit which appeared on the single release of the song and music video, and the third is an acoustic version called “Asleep”, which appeared on their EP, The Other Side.

The radio edit is the same song as the album version, just shortened. The album and acoustic versions have very similar lyrics but different sound. The acoustic version runs for 3:58, making it closer to the radio edit than the full album version.

This song was featured prominently in the Nash Bridges episode “Manhunt” that first aired on November 3, 2000. It was also featured in the game Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 and The One starring Jet Li.

Since the mid-2000s, the song has been featured extensively in the U.S. Navy’s “Accelerate Your Life” commercials. The Godsmack albumAwake’’s opening track, “Sick of Life,” would also be used in the campaign.

The song also made an appearance on several compilations including the band greatest hits album, Good Times, Bad Times… Ten Years of Godsmack, WWF Tough Enough, Kerrang: Life Is Loud, and Crusty Demons: Unleash Hell.

The song features as the background track in the promos of the 2006 Bollywood film Fight Club.

Although the song was featured in the United States Navy’s “Accelerate Your Life” commercials, Erna insists that Godsmack doesn’t support any war: “By no means has this band ever supported any war for any country or that we support government decisions or why we’re sticking our nose in other people’s business at times. What we support is our troops. And the women and men that go over there — or anywhere — to fight for our country and our lives and protect our freedom and I feel that.”

“I actually sympathize with a lot of the soldiers, and the military in general, that are trained to go out and protect for us, and what they have to go through, it’s really kind of shitty in a sense that these young kids have to go over there and die, sometimes, for something that isn’t our problem. And that kind of sucks. So what I have to do is at least support them, because they don’t have the choice that we do.”

Some critics say that the band’s young audience will now be influenced to join the military because of the popular tunes. However, Erna doubts very seriously that a kid is going to join the Marines or the United States Navy because they heard Godsmack as the underlying music in the commercial.

US military agency invests $100m in genetic extinction technologies

Technology could be used to wipe out malaria carrying mosquitos or other pests but UN experts say fears over possible military uses and unintended consequences strengthen case for a ban

They’re investing in Gene Drives.

(For a really good intro to gene drives and the opportunities and threats they pose: x) As the headline states, it can be used as an “extinction technology”. (It basically quickly forces genes to spread through a population.)

The article pretty much nails it when they point out that everyone is nervous about a branch of the military investing in this. Cause really, anyone looking into this should have the greatest amount of oversight possible. This technology can be used for a lot of good, but also a lot of bad. And most importantly, even the best intentions could have disastrous effects with this technology.

DARPA - the gov’t’s fringe science division - basically argues that a big part of the rationale is to be ready for others who might use it in a negative way. Which does seem important, to be fair. I guess the question becomes, ‘who watches the watchmen?’

Highlights:

A US military agency is investing $100m in genetic extinction technologies that could wipe out malarial mosquitoes, invasive rodents or other species…

The use of genetic extinction technologies in bioweapons is the stuff of nightmares, but known research is focused entirely on pest control and eradication…

Some UN experts, though, worry about unintended consequences. One told the Guardian: “You may be able to remove viruses or the entire mosquito population, but that may also have downstream ecological effects on species that depend on them.”

“My main worry,” he added, “is that we do something irreversible to the environment, despite our good intentions, before we fully appreciate the way that this technology will work.”…

“Darpa is not and should not be the only funder of gene-editing research but it is critical for the Department of Defense to defend its personnel and preserve military readiness,” he said.

Darpa believes that a steep fall in the costs of gene-editing toolkits has created a greater opportunity for hostile or rogue actors to experiment with the technology.

“This convergence of low cost and high availability means that applications for gene editing – both positive and negative – could arise from people or states operating outside of the traditional scientific community and international norms,” the official said. “It is incumbent on Darpa to perform this research and develop technologies that can protect against accidental and intentional misuse.”

P.s. Related story on how Britain wants to genetically alter rats to help reduce their overall numbers. (x)

The world mocks… as it should.

‘Tobacco at a cancer summit’: Trump coal push savaged at climate conference

The Trump team was heckled and interrupted by a protest song at the UN’s climate change summit in Bonn on Monday after using its only official appearance to say fossil fuels were vital to reducing poverty around the world and to saving jobs in the US.

While Donald Trump’s special adviser on energy and environment, David Banks, said cutting emissions was a US priority, “energy security, economic prosperity are higher priorities”, he said. “The president has a responsibility to protect jobs and industry across the country.”

Other attendees at the summit condemned the argument.

“Promoting coal at a climate summit is like promoting tobacco at a cancer summit,” said Michael Bloomberg, the former New York mayor and a UN special envoy for cities and climate change.

White House officials and business leaders appear at the event, titled The Role of Cleaner and More Efficient Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Power in Climate Mitigation. Photograph: Ronald Wittek/EPA 

Clovis wasn’t qualified, but worse may be yet to come

Why is Grassley still supporting Clovis despite evidence, acknowledged by his attorney, of Clovis' e-mail urging Papadopoulos' trip to Russia?

“Come on, folks. Let’s be honest. Clovis has zero scientific credentials for the chief scientist post to begin with. The former professor and right-wing radio host who has a doctorate in public administration is already a USDA staffer, but the investigative news site ProPublica could find no evidence he ever even took a graduate-level course in science. He believes human contributions to climate change are a hoax.

The chief scientist, who advises the government on scientific issues, has long been some leader in biochemistry, medicine, food nutrition, and ecosystem ecology. But Clovis has said the USDA under Trump would focus mostly on slashing regulations.“

Keep fighting back: climatetruth.org/standup

Bird seen becoming new species

A population of finches on the Galapagos is discovered in the process of becoming a new species.

This is the first example of speciation that scientists have been able to observe directly in the field.