Category Archives: Evolution

If there was one motivational factor for Matt Olson to reboot his career, to turn himself into an all-around fabulous player, to earn the right to be selected an All-Star for the first time, it was this basic eight-word premise:

As manager Bob Melvin said it, and it makes perfect sense when examining how Olson evolved from his disappointing 2020 to his inclusion in the American League MVP conversation, at least beyond Shohei Ohtani and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Olson, the multifaceted 6-foot-5 first baseman, arrived in the majors with power and Gold Glove skills, but he always knew he could take his game to the next level by making more solid contact. More contact, period.

Olsons first three full seasons, he struck out roughly once every four plate appearances 27.8%, 24.7%, 25.2% but the swings and misses came far more frequently last year when his strikeout rate soared to 31.4%, the ninth highest rate in the majors among hitters with enough plate appearances to qualify for the leader board.

Those days are gone. Olson has turned himself into an exceptional contact hitter while maintaining his power stroke. He strikes out just 16.5% of the time, and only 31 qualified batters whiff less.

The transformation is evident throughout Olsons stat line, and hes using all fields and beating the shift, a true all-around hitter and centerpiece of a team that has led the AL West for most of the season.

Pretty much my whole baseball career, Ive been a slow starter and kind of a second half guy, Olson said. This year, even from spring training, I felt I was in a better place after addressing some things in the offseason.

Matt Olson (28) is high fived in the dugout in the ninth inning after being taken out for a pinch runner as the Oakland Athletics played the Boston Red Sox at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, July 4, 2021. The As were defeated 0-1.

Aside from an improved mental approach at the plate It really got away from me. I honestly had a bad attitude Olson has been doing a couple of things that have made a difference. Hes religiously using a high-velocity pitching machine and also choking up on the bat.

That latter practice is an old-school technique batters used to assure making contact, especially with two strikes. It has become a rarity over the years as hitters dumped their two-strike approach and tried to power up on every pitch.

Olson can be seen these days choking up at least an inch, as Barry Bonds did, which gives him more control of the bat and a quicker swing through the zone.

Hes not missing the high fastballs as he did in 2020. Hes either fouling off those pitches or knocking them into left field for base hits.

I played around with it in the spring and in the offseason, and I didnt see a ton of power difference, Olson said. I cant say Ill be doing it forever. Its honestly just a big feel thing. Im always moving around in the box, up and back and away from the plate, and changing grip on the bat is just one of those things where if it aint broke, dont fix it.

But well see how long it sticks.

Not many people know Olsons swing like Eric Martins, the As assistant hitting coach who worked with Olson in the minors and has had a front-row seat to the lefty swingers evolution of hitting.

Now he has confidence he can use the whole field, Martins said, and when he hits balls to left field and center field and left-center, thats a dangerous man right there.

Olson is hitting to the opposite field like never before. Of the balls he puts in play, 52.7% have gone to center field, up from 45.1% last year, and a career-high 15.9% have gone to left.

He pulls the ball 31.4% of the time, a career low.

Oakland Athletics' Matt Olson, left, rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the first inning of the team's baseball game against the Houston Astros, Wednesday, July 7, 2021, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

Olys trying to take advantage of what the defense is giving him. He was getting tired of hitting it to that rover out in short right field, said Melvin, adding the 2020 season wasnt kind to Olson and some of the games other top hitters because it was so short.

He got off to a slow start, and it was tough catching up because there wasnt enough time. Now hes just trying to become a better hitter, hit the ball the other way, let the ball travel a little bit more in the zone, cut down on his strikeouts.

Mission accomplished. Aside from choking up, a major difference in Olsons approach is the constant use of a velo machine with dimpled balls that are rubbery and a bit lighter than baseballs, delivering them through a horn-shaped apparatus.

Its made by Power Alley, and the As call it the little red machine because, well, its red. Tommy La Stella, whos known for rarely striking out, brought one with him from Anaheim when the As traded for him last season, and it caught on.

The As bought a few of the machines to accommodate those who like the ball whizzing toward them from short range without the fear of cracking a bat. Matt Chapman and Ramon Laureano are users.

One of the benefits for Olson is practicing hitting the high cheese with his long swing. The machine can make pitches have a rising effect, which resembled pitches thrown when MLB wasnt policing pitchers using illegal substances on the ball.

He uses that thing every single day and used it the whole offseason, Martins said. In the sticky era, thats what guys were throwing, fastballs that were rising. He worked on combating that pitch, which was giving him trouble. In turn, it has cleaned up his path and ability to handle all pitches and hit it anywhere.

Oakland Athletics first baseman Matt Olson before a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, June 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Despite a recent funk, Olson is hitting .283 with a .372 on-base percentage and .552 slugging percentage, a huge upgrade over his 2020 slash line: .195/.310/.424.

He has 20 homers and 53 RBIs. And 56 strikeouts in 80 games, a far cry from last year when he had 77 Ks in 60 games, fifth most in the majors.

Nowadays, once hes done with his prep work, hes not caught up with mechanics. He doesnt go overboard with video. Hes able to walk to the plate and let his baseball instincts guide him. As any premier hitter would. See ball, hit ball.

Last year, if I put together a few bad games, I felt I needed to make a big change, Olson said. You just cant be successful in the box thinking about where my hands are, when do I start, all these things.

Just get in there, even if you dont feel you have youre A swing, and compete. Sometimes you get rolling that way just by barreling up a couple of pitches.

John Shea is The San Francisco Chronicles national baseball writer. Email: jshea@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnSheaHey

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Evolution of A's Matt Olson: From swinging and missing to landing in All-Star Game - San Francisco Chronicle

By definition, the MIKE linebacker is the middle defender in the trio of base off-the-ball linebackers commonly seen in a even front (4-3 base), or the shifted strong side backer in an odd front (3-4 base). This player is often known as the quarterback of the defense, and is usually responsible for setting the unit based on the offensive formation, personnel grouping and down and distance.

In the past, the MIKE linebacker was known as the downhill thumper, who was excellent in run support, but was not the best when in came to defending the pass. You would often see guys hover in the 245-260 range, and their common pass responsibility was high-hole deep sit, intermediate hook-to-curl, or spy the quarterback in case he took off running. Over the year the position as evolved, and in todays NFL, its almost impossible for the defense to have a run-only type of defender, who is a liability against the pass, manning the middle.

The first major change we have seen in this dynamic shift, is the size and speed of todays NFL MIKE linebacker. In the late 90s and early 2000s, the top MIKE linebackers in the game were players like Junior Seau, Ray Lewis, Brian Urlacher, Patrick Willis and Levon Kirkland. Each was 245 plus pounds. Guys like the Seahawks Bobby Wagner, the 49ers Fred Warner, the Bucs Lavonte David and Devin White (both interchangeable as the MIKE), and the Bears Roquan Smith are the new prototype NFL MIKE linebacker.

Some of the NFL top MIKE linebackers (H/W/S):

- Eric Kendricks: 60 232 4.61 40

- Lavonte David: 61 233 4.65 40

- Devin Bush: 60 234 4.43 40

- Roquan Smith: 61 236 4.51 40

- Fred Warner: 63 236 4.64 40

- Devin White: 60 237 4.42 40

- Bobby Wagner: 60 240 4.46 40

The second major change with todays MIKE linebackers, is run fits. Its no secret teams pass the ball a lot more today than even a decade ago. The NFL pass/run average is 62/38, with some teams getting as high as 70 percent passing. Due to the heavy passing schemes, more defense are in nickel packages, which usually have just two linebackers on the field (a MIKE and WILL), and will sub in a extra defensive back or hybrid defender (often call a Dime LB or as Jack Del Rio likes to say, the Buffalo Nickel). Make no mistakes that savvy offensive coordinators will try to take advantage of this even out of 11 personnel, using inside and outside zone running schemes in an attempt to crease a nickel defense.

Because of this dynamic, todays MIKE linebackers need to be complete sideline-to-sideline defenders, able to stack and shed interior lineman, but also beat a guard to the lane, and even shoot gaps in a even front where gap-stack alignments and one-gapping techniques are prevalent.

Essentially, todays unique MIKE has to be able to run-and-chase AND tackle in a phone booth.

The biggest change we see in todays NFL MIKE linebackers is coverage responsibilities. In the past, you mostly saw MIKEs dropping into an underneath zone or deep high-hole. Today, due to the prevalence of nickel looks, the MIKE often has to carry a tight end vertically on the seam, cover running backs out of the backfield and even match up one-on-one in cover zero with slot receivers - along with their periodic blitzing responsibilities.

This is the most difficult responsibility the MIKE has, as they are still a run-first defender, and frequent play-action can cause that one second pause that allows a receiver, tight end or running back to gain space. Because of this, todays MIKE has to be able to read/diagnose, open the hips, and get into his responsible zone or turn and run with his man.

Make no mistake, this is no easy task, and requires a certain breed of athlete at the position.

For the first time in what feels like decades (and it may truly have been that long), we now have a linebacker with the unique skill set that matches todays new MIKE linebacker. The Washington Football Teams 2021 first round draft pick, Jamin Davis, has every intangible you look for in todays off-the-ball linebacker.

First, at 63 234 pounds and running a 4.37 40 with a 39.5 inch vertical, Davis has a ridiculous athletic profile made for todays game.

Jamin can effectively play the stack-and-shed run game (although some say its not his strength), shoot a gap and make a tackle in the backfield, or peruse a ball carrier sideline-to-sideline.

What truly makes Davis special is his coverage ability from both inside and outside the box. This is extremely rare to see from a man his size.

With Jamin manning the middle of Washingtons defense, and being kept clean by one of the best defensive fronts in the entire league, offensive coordinators wont be able to single our middle linebacker out, and try to force mismatches against more athletic pass catchers like we saw last year with Jon Bostic inside.

Much like the new-age MIKE linebackers I mentioned earlier in this article, Jamin can certainly do it all!

Ideally, what I think Jack Del Rio would like to do, is similar to what they did in Tampa last year - essentially making Devin White and Levonte David your two interchangeable inside linebackers based on the offensive formation.

In Washingtons sub-grouping, it would be ideal to have both Davis and Holcomb as the two linebackers on the field together, as both players have the size, speed and athleticism to effectively play the run or pass, and could be identified by the offense in any set at the MIKE depending on formation and personnel groupings.

By doing this, it would not only allow Del Rio the advantage of disguising coverages based on HIS personnel; causing some confusion for the offense, but it could eliminate the offense from singling out what would be perceived as a weak link on the defense, while also providing the needed skill set for two every-down off-the-ball box linebackers.

Here are some potential looks from both base and nickel.

Base Even Front 7:

- 1-technique: Payne/Settle

- 3-technique: Allen/Ioannidis

- Left EDGE: Sweat

- Right EDGE: Young

- MIKE: Davis

- WILL: Holcomb/Hudson

- SAM: Bostic/Toney

Base 4-3 Under Front 7:

- 1-technique: Payne/Settle

- 3-technique: Ioannidis

- 5-technique: Allen

- Wide-9: Young/Sweat

- Walked-Up SAM: Toney

- MIKE: Davis

- WILL: Holcomb/Hudson

Nickel Even Front 7:

- 1-technique: Payne/Settle

- 3-technique: Allen/Ioannidis

- Left EDGE: Sweat

- Right EDGE: Young

- MIKE: Davis/Holcomb

- WILL: Holcomb/Davis

- Buffalo Nickel: Collins/Curl, Hudson

Make no mistake, the future is bright for this young defense, and its next rising star may just be the rookie Davis - who CERTAINLY looks the part of todays new NFL MIKE linebacker.

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The Evolution of Todays MIKE Linebacker in the NFL - Will Washington Follow Suit? - Hogs Haven

Issued on: 05/07/2021 - 16:45

You thought dinosaurs became extinct after a meteor hit the Yucatan region of Mexico some 66 million years ago?Think again!A new study suggests theimpact did indeed doom the animals, but that they were already on their way out due to a drop in temperatures. In this edition, we discussthis groundbreaking discovery with the co-author of the study,Fabien Condamine.

We all know that some 66 million years ago, a six-mile-wide space rock hit the Yucatan region of Mexico, wiping dinosaurs off the face of the Earth. But would they have survived without it? New groundbreaking research suggests otherwise. Scientists at the Institute of Evolutionary Science in Montpellier have studied 1,600 fossils from 247 dinosaur species that lived during the late Cretaceous period. They found that some dinosaurs had already started to become extinct before the impact occurred.

We talk to Fabien Condamine, the co-author of the study,and ask him how it's changing the way we view evolutionary theory and the need to constantly keep an open mind and revisit past beliefs.

Our tech editor Peter O'Brien tells us how this applies not just to dinosaurs, but to our own species too. In fact, even Charles Darwin may not have had all the answers.

Plus, the source code for the World Wide Web has been auctioned off at Sotheby's in New York for $5.4 million in the form of an NFT. The programme paved the way for the internet as we know it today.

And in Test 24, wetake a look at how far underwater drones have come,from those that pilot themselves to one that anyone can pilot from home.

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Tech 24 - Revisiting evolution theories: Dinosaurs were on way out before meteor hit - FRANCE 24

Image source: Wikimedia Commons.

Given evolutions racist baggage, you might think the theorys proponents would be somewhat abashed to accuse the critics of Darwin of white supremacy.Apparently not. Writing inScientific American, Allison Hopper goes there: Denial ofEvolution Is a Form of White Supremacy. Who isAllison Hopper? She is a white lady, a filmmaker and designer with a masters degree in educational design from New York University. Early in her career, she workedon PBS documentaries. Ms. Hopper has presented on evolution at the Big History Conference in Amsterdam and Chautauqua, among other places. Having been handed a platform by Americas foremost popularscience publication, she writes:

I want to unmask the lie that evolution denial is about religion and recognize that at its core, it is a form of white supremacy that perpetuates segregation and violence against Black bodies.

White people like this always talk about Black bodies instead of Black (or black) people. The idea here is that our human ancestors, who created the first cultures, came out of Africa and were dark-skinned. Supposedly evolution skeptics wish to deny this history, holding that a continuous line of white descendants segregates white heritage from Black bodies. In the real world, this mythology translates into lethal effects on people who are Black. Fundamentalist interpretations of the Bible are part of the fake news epidemic that feeds the racial divide in our country.

She concludes,

As we move forward to undo systemic racism in every aspect of business, society, academia and life, lets be sure to do so in science education as well.

Of course there have been, and still are, religious people who doubted evolution for religious rather than scientific reasons while at the same time holding racist views. The idea, though, that racism can be logically supported from the Bible is ludicrous. As the biblical story goes, writes Ms. Hopper, the curse or mark of Cain for killing his brother was a darkening of his descendants skin. Theres nothing whatsoever in the biblical story to that effect. Handed a copy of the Bible, no reasonable person would come away with a conclusion of white supremacy.

A person who absorbed the history of evolutionary thinking from Charles Darwin to today, and took it all as inerrant, would be an entirely different story. If you had nothing more to go on than Darwins legacy, a conclusion of white supremacy would follow as a matter of course.

Ms. Hopper is concerned about children and their education, but, in concealing Darwinisms foul past, her version of history is wildly inaccurate. From not long after the theory of evolution by natural selection was first proposed by Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, evolution took two different paths. That of Wallace, who split with Darwin over human exceptionalism and came to espouse a proto-intelligent design view, supported equal human dignity regardless of skin color.

That of Darwin followed the pseudo-logic of the purposelessly branching tree. Humanity did not advance all as one, equally, Darwin taught. Instead, as he explained in theDescent of Man, Africans were caught somewhere between ape and human, destined to be liquidated by the more advanced peoples: The civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace the savage races through the world. Darwin did not celebrate this, but he recognized it as what he saw to be a fact.

His cousin Francis Galton drew from Darwins work the pseudo-scientific idea that races could be improved through eugenics. That became mainstream science right up until it was embraced and put into practice by the Nazis, who justified a Final Solution with scientific evolutionary arguments. Eugenic solutions put into place in the United States against African-Americans, and others, including mass forced sterilizations, provided a warm-up and education for the Nazis.

In the U.S. from the start of the 20th century, respectable scientists at top universities, echoed by theNew York Times, supported caging and displaying Africans and others to educate the public about the truths of Darwinism. Before Hitler, Germans committed genocide in Africa, citing Darwinian theory as their justification. Political scientist John West tells these stories in a pair of widely viewed and critically recognized documentaries,Human ZoosandDarwin, Africa, and Genocide. Speaking of racism and eugenics, West has also traced The Line Running from Charles Darwin through Margaret Sanger to Planned Parenthood. As to education, the biology textbook at the center of the 1925 Scopes trial taught both Darwinism and white supremacy.

Todays actual white supremacists, represented by the Alt-Right and various neo-Nazi groups, are warmly disposed to Darwinism, as a glance at their websites will show. Like Hitler before them, they see in evolutionary theory a justification for racial hatred. Allison Hopper leaves ALL OF THIS OUT, both from herScientific Americanarticle and from a simplistic video on YouTube, aimed at kids, Human Evolution and YOU! And she has the nerve to smear skepticism about Darwinian theory as white supremacist.

I am only skimming through a few points of the relevant history. There is much more. Ms. Hopper is either deeply ignorant or deeply dishonest. Ill assume the former. Her concern for Black bodies is well and good. What about a concern for the truth, which matters, or should matter, to people of all skin colors?

This is important. In coming days atEvolution News, we will be sharing some of our past coverage of evolution and its racist past and present. The phrase white supremacy has already been weaponized in politics. Now it is going to war in science education. The aim is to feed children their minds, not their bodies a massive falsehood. This must be resisted.

Originally posted here:

On Evolution and Racism, Scientific American Goes to War Against the Truth - Discovery Institute

Programming is an ever-evolving discipline. In some respects, it evolves in ways that make coding more difficult. The shift to cloud-native architectures, pressure to achieve flawless software performance and similar trends have made the job of programmers more difficult today than ever before. Yet, in other ways, programming has become easier, especially during the past decade or so. To understand what it means to be a programmer today, it's worth surveying programming evolution in recent years to appreciate which aspects of a coder's job have grown much simpler.

One programming evolution trend that has simplified programming is the proliferation of open source code.

There are now millions of repositories of source code out there that anyone can legally download, modify and incorporate into their own programs. For some programmers, this means it is easier than ever to build out applications quickly by borrowing code written by others.

Doubling down on this trend is the fact that open source today tends to be governed by relatively liberal licenses that give programmers maximum freedom to reuse it in any ways they want. That was not the case 10 years ago, when stricter licenses like the GNU General Public License (GPL) predominated.

The reuse of open source code does come with its downsides, of course. It's impossible to guarantee the quality and security of code written by third parties unless you vet it yourself. In that respect, programmers who borrow from open source projects face more work.

Still, it's hard to deny that the ready availability of such an astounding amount of open source code hasn't made programmers' lives easier in some core respects.

What if you want to build an application quickly, but you can't find ready-made open source code to do it with?

The solution may be low-code (or no-code) programming techniques, which allow developers to write applications quickly by taking advantage of prebuilt modules and automatically generated code.

To be sure, low code isn't the right approach for every project. Low-code applications tend not to achieve optimal performance, and, as with the reuse of open source, developers need to manage the security issues that may arise when they use code generated by low-code platforms.

Nonetheless, if you had asked developers 10 years ago to imagine a programming evolution in which programmers could automatically generate much of the code they need to build their applications, they probably would have been incredulous. After all, earlier efforts to create something resembling low-code platforms enjoyed little success. But, today, that approach has become routine for many programming teams.

In the past decade, APIs have played a huge role in the programming evolution. It's easy for developers to have a love-hate relationship with APIs. APIs create additional security risks that programmers need to manage. They often place limits on which functionality you can implement within an API-dependent app because you can only do whatever the API supports. And APIs can become single points of failure for applications that depend centrally on them.

On the other hand, APIs make the lives of programmers easier in the sense that they make it fast and simple to integrate disparate services and data. Until about 10 years ago, if you wanted to import data from a third-party platform into your app, you probably would have had to resort to an "ugly" technique--such as scraping the data off of a web interface. Today, you can easily and systematically import the data using the platform's API (assuming it offers one, which most major platforms do today).

In short, while you could argue that APIs have complicated the work programmers do, they have done much to simplify the implementation of applications that need to integrate or interact with multiple external resources.

Perhaps the biggest driver of programming evolution has been the rise of modern standards.

Until about a decade ago, not only were there relatively few open standards that major vendors supported, but companies often went out of their way not to make their platforms compatible with those of external organizations. This meant that programmers had to write different code for each platform that their apps needed to support.

Fast forward to the present, and even companies that were once stalwart opponents of shared, open standards have changed their ways, making it much easier to build applications around a core set of standard frameworks.

For example, take OpenTelemetry, a framework for exposing and collecting observability data from applications. Using OpenTelemetry, developers can write applications that work seamlessly with any monitoring software that supports OpenTelemetry. That beats having to implement different instrumentation for each observability platform that you want to work with.

Another example is Open Policy Agent, or OPA, which provides a single policy-as-code framework that can be used across most mainstream platforms. Instead of having to use a different policy framework for each service, developers can standardize around OPA.

For some programmers--some of the time, at least--programming today is considerably faster and easier than it would have been just 10 years ago. Despite the ever-increasing complexity of applications themselves in the last decade of programming evolution, developers today can lean heavily on open source, low-code platforms, APIs and open standards to make some core aspects of their jobs easier.

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Programming Evolution: How Coding Has Grown Easier in the Past Decade - ITPro Today

Richard Lewontin, a geneticist and evolutionary biologist at Harvard University, died on July 4 at the age of 92, according to an obituary. Mary Jane Lewontin, his wife of more than 70 years, died three days prior on July 1. Lewontin studied genetic diversity within populations and helped develop the use of protein gel electrophoresis to examine this at a molecular level.

Hes considered one of the evolutionary biology greats, Adriana Briscoe, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Irvine, who was a graduate student in Lewontins lab from 1993 until 1998, tells The Scientist. Hes considered a giant in his field.

Born in New York City in 1929, Lewontin graduated with a bachelors degree in biology from Harvard University in 1951 and then went to Columbia University to study fruit fly population density with his graduate advisor, Theodosius Dobzhansky, according to The New York Times. He graduated with a masters degree in 1952 and a doctorate in zoology in 1954.

In 1966, at the University of Chicago, Lewontin and John Hubby published two papers that pioneered the use of protein gel electrophoresis to study genetic variation within populations of wild fruit flies. Not only did the technique lay the groundwork for the field of molecular genetics, but it revealed a surprising amount of genetic diversity within the population.

He joined Harvard in 1973 as a professor, and remained there until his retirement in 2003, according to a memoriam written by Harvards Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Lewontin was well-known for his critiques of adaptationist programsthe idea that all organismal traits have been optimized due to natural selection. Rather, he argued that genetic variation within a population could also be the product of random chance, or due to selection on linked loci on the genome.

He also wrote a seminal 1972 paper in which he argued there is more genetic variation within members of a population of humans than there is between members of different groups, undermining the idea that there is a genetic basis for the idea of race.

Richard Dick Lewontin was [a] foundational scholar in the field of evolutionary genetics and evolution writ large whose impact on the field is hard to over-estimate, writes Elena Kramer, the department chair in Harvards Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, in an email to The Scientist. He is recognized as a phenomenal scholar but also a talented communicator, both as a teacher and writer, whose fluency in communicating science was underpinned by a deep understanding of his material and the practice of teaching.

Lewontin won numerous awards and honors, including a the Sewall Wright Award in 1994, honorary lifetime membership in the American Society of Naturalists, the 2015 Crafoord Prize in Biosciences, and the 2017 Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal from the Genetics Society of America.

Briscoe says Lewontin expected his graduate students to come up with their own ideas, which could be intimidating. But that also meant that at the end of your PhD, you really own your intellectual labor, she adds, noting that Lewontin was concerned about how some academics would appropriate their students work. She says he wouldnt even put his name on one of his students papers unless he felt he had contributed to the study.

He was blunt and gruff, the kind of person who did not suffer fools gladly, but he also had a sense of humor, a lot of fondness for his students, and he told entertaining stories, says Briscoe. Scientists, philosophers, and historians of science flocked to his lab to participate in the labs lively seminars, and of course, to speak with him about ideas.

Lewontin and his wife are survived by four sons, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

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Evolutionary Biologist Richard Lewontin Dies at 92 - The Scientist

Caltech Professor of planetary astronomy Mike Brown, pictured in an undated photo provided by the institution.

A group of curious Caltech scientists are looking to other planets in our solar system and beyond in order to learn more about the cosmic history of Earth, and potentially its future.

The recently formed Caltech Center for Comparative Planetary Evolution, or 3CPE, brings together experts from an array of different fields to study how planetary systems work, according to the institution..

The goal of the 3CPE is to merge the fields of astronomy, geology, and biology to explore the origin and evolution of planetary systems and their biospheres. Addressing these questions requires research and insight which crosses traditional discipline boundaries, Caltech said in a written statement.

The 3CPE will be a catalyst for driving collaborations and forming a community spanning these disciplines, according to the statement. We will seed innovative partnerships bridging fields, provide opportunities for young scientists to expand their training into new areas, and help to develop a common culture linking these often well-separated disciplines.

Rather than occupying a building on campus, the center is operated in a virtual format, said 3CPE Director and Caltech Professor of Planetary Astronomy Mike Brown.

The first Planetary Science Department was founded at Caltech in the 1960s, he said.

What we have learned over the course of those now nearly 50 years is that the way to make progress on understanding, in particular, the earliest history of the earth, and the way that our entire planetary system got here, is by looking at other planets to try to compare: Why? Why is the Earth this way? Why is Mars this way? Why is Venus this way?

In recent decades, advances in science have allowed scientists to study planets orbiting other stars, or expoplanets, Brown added.

We can now look at planets throughout the galaxy, planetary systems throughout the galaxy, and start to ask the question not just, Why are we here on Earth? but, Why is the Earth here? Why is there even a solar system here? he said. And we can compare that to other planetary systems and really understand our entire context of how we fit in with the galaxy and with the universe.

The researchers are working to answer some of the big questions, according to Brown.

This is why this new center is both a compelling thing for people to want to work in, but also just fun and exciting, he said. And Im just as excited as can be to work in this area.

Our neighbors Mars and Venus could have a lot to teach us about our own planets past, and possibly shed insight on how to avoid their unfortunate fates.

Venus could have once been much different that it is today, before runaway greenhouse gases turned it into a high-pressure inferno, Brown explained.

How we first started to even understand about climate change, about global warming, is by understanding that things like this have happened on Venus, he said.

Mars is believed to have once been far warmer and wetter, compared with the dusty and desolate terrain visible today. It has dried out and frozen, Brown said. So understanding that these planets that are all relatively closely packed together here in the solar system can go very divergent with small changes really helps us understand what we need to do to make sure that we dont do either of those things on our own planet.

Brown said he and his team were eagerly anticipating findings from Jet Propulsion Laboratorys Perseverance Mars Rover, which landed on the Red Planet in February.

The environment at Jezero Crater, where Perseverance landed, is an interesting and weird environment, he said. Its an ancient river delta, and it has some interesting chemistry in it thats unlike the chemistry on most of the Earth.

The Earth can teach scientists about other planets, as well.

In another 3CPE endeavor, a team is planning to travel to Australia to study rocks in hopes of gaining insights into how to conduct better geology on other worlds.

Theres a specific spot in Australia that has similar chemistry to the chemistry thats happening in Jezero Crater, according to Brown. The Australia-bound team will study the Australian features to better prepare them to encounter similar samples on Mars.

More information on the Caltech Center for Comparative Planetary Evolution can be found on the centers website at http://cpe.caltech.edu.

Get all the latest Pasadena news, more than 10 fresh stories daily, 7 days a week at 7 a.m.

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Caltech's Center for Comparative Planetary Evolution Looks to the Sky For Answers About Earth Pasadena Now - Pasadena Now

POS systemshave been around for quite a while. The first one was invented in 1879 by an American shopkeeper James Ritty. When he noticed that his employees were pocketing money his business was making.

He called the system Rittys Incorruptible Cashier, which is perhaps a more catchy name unlike, todays IT tool which would commonly become known as a cash register.

The first computer-driven cash register, which resembles what we have today, was developed by IBM in 1973 and it marked the first commercial use of a computer-based system used by the restaurant industry.

Then in the 1980s, the first credit cards were introduced into society, and the evolution of POS terminals accelerated when they had to be updated accordingly to suit the business industry.

1. Simply tell us your needs

2. Receive free quotes

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McDonalds started rolling out POS terminals in its restaurants in 1984, Invented by William Brobeck. The model they used was one of the first microprocessor-controlled cash registers.

The POS terminal system increasingly sped up the food ordering process by including a physical button for every item on the menu. It was also the first time a POS could be connected to a multitude of other devices, allowing the fast-food chain to easily manage reports and receipts for the first time.

In more fine-dining establishments, the bulky POS systems would be hidden so that they were out of view of customers.

POS systems changed drastically two years later, when touch screen technology and colorgraphic monitors became more affordable.

ViewTouch, the first POS system solution on the Atari ST, was launched in 1986 by a New York-based restaurateur - Gene Mosher at Comdex in Las Vegas.whilst the inventor was on his honeymoonwith his wife. Nowadays it is offered for free under the GNU license and can be run on the simplest computer hardware such a Raspberry Pi.

As computers became more sophisticated in the 1990s, so did POS systems, with the first e-POS (Electronic Point Of Sale) system, Nisyst, launched in 1992.

That year saw Martin Goodwin and Bob Hendry together develop and release the IT Retail POS software system onWindows, leading to a variety of POS applications being developed for Microsofts increasingly popular OS, in addition to Unix-based operating systems.

In 1993, Europay, MasterCard and Visa unveiled the EMV standard for the credit card industry in Europe, which is still used in integrated circuit cards, POS terminals and automated ATMs.

Powerful computers and more advanced networks led to an evolution of the POS, which began to develop capabilities beyond sales transaction processing in the early 2000s.

As internet connections became faster, ePOS systems took tothe cloudand found popularity among businesses due to increased convenience and lowered cost.

Cloud-based POS systems transformed the landscape as any device capable of connecting to the internet could suddenly be used as a potential POS terminal.

That includedsmartphonesequipped with barcode scanners and NFC tech that effectively turned them into payment terminals andmobile credit card readers.

Shifting to the cloud, this also brought new security capabilities to the POS systems. The introduction of theSaaS (or software-as-a-service)model removed the need for businesses to manually update software and licenses, with it instead being automatically taken care of by POS software vendors.

Since 2010, modern POS systems have become increasingly sophisticated, allowing business owners to manage both front-end and back-end operations with ease. Integrated systems enable everything from inventory management tomarketing; stafftime management;accountingprocess; and customer information to be accessed, analysed, and controlled through a single (often touchscreen) interface.

Adoption of cloud-based POS systems accelerated during the decade. Through the utilization of technologies to store sales and customer data usingcloud storage, companies found it quicker and easier to access (and act upon) their sales and customer data than ever before. This made cloud-based POS systems particularly attractive for companies that ran a franchise model with multiple stores.

The rise of cloud-based POS has naturally coincided with new trends around mobile POS. Like the many business owners and workers began the POS systems on mobile devices from 2010, which became easier thanks totabletsand smart mobile phones with increasingly larger displays and better processing power.

Many vendors offer theirbusiness applicationsfor free and take a cut of each sale throughpayment processingfees. By using a mobile POS system, companies allow their employees to easily look up product information, search for answers to customers questions, and take payments whilst walking around the shop floor. Consumers are also able to benefit from the mobile, by buying goods and services on devices like their own smart phones with a tap, using technologies such as NFC and Bluetooth.

The POS System has come a long way, with great leaps made particularly in the past two decades.

Our current decade is likely to continue seeing a convergence in technologies, with POS systems becoming smarter and able to help businesses get even more value out of their data than they can today.

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The evolution of the POS system - TechRadar

LAS VEGAS Conor McGregor landed a two-punch combination in the first round of his rematch with Dustin Poirier in January and the crowd at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi roared as Poirier backed to the cage.

What the fans in attendance, those watching on the pay-per-view broadcast around the world and most significantly McGregor did not know was how badly buzzed Poirier had been by that combination.

McGregor is one of the sports premier finishers and has the kind of ability sharks have to smell blood in the water. When an opponent is hurt and in danger, McGregor usually knows it, and fast.

This time, though, he did not, and the fact that Poirier was able to play possum significantly altered the course of UFC history.

Poirier went on to win that bout by second-round stoppage, and the lightweight stars will complete the trilogy on Saturday at sold-out T-Mobile Arena in the five-round main event of UFC 264.

This fight, which UFC president Dana White said has the most pre-buys this far out in the companys history, would not be happening if McGregor recognized he had Poirier hurt. Michael Chandler wouldnt have gotten the unexpected call to face Charles Oliveira for the lightweight championship.

It probably would have been McGregor against Oliveira for the title, and Poirier would have been trying one more time to rebuild from a crushing defeat.

But hell go into Saturdays bout as a -125 favorite at BetMGM to defeat McGregor and win the rubber match. And there is an argument to be made that with former champion Khabib Nurmagomedovs retirement, nobody has been more dominant over the last five years than Poirier.

Im a veteran and Ive had a lot of fights, Poirier said, explaining how he was able to survive. "Ive been hurt in fights. Ive had fights where everything went smoothly. But when something like that happens he hit me with two good shots in that last fight that hurt me you have to stay composed. Its important to be calculated. You have to weather the storms here and there.

Story continues

Fighting isnt a fight until there is something to overcome, so I expect adversity every time my feet hit that canvas. I dont think its going to be a smooth night any night. Its a fight.

Dustin Poirier reacts after his knockout victory over Conor McGregor at UFC 257 inside Etihad Arena on Jan. 23, 2021 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

Poirier said that as a younger fighter, when he was hit and buzzed, he felt a need to hit back, become even more aggressive and land something big. The wisdom hes gained from all those fights was the realization that its not always the best move to fire back.

Sometimes, it requires patience and time to let ones head clear.

Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt, Poirier said. Its a coin toss. But self-preservation is something Ive learned over the years, to step on the gas when I need to and to pull back when I need to. When someone hurts me, I want to hurt them back, so its a constant mental war in there dealing with those things.

What Poirier has done better than just about anyone active in the UFC over the last four-plus years is to win fights. And hes winning them against the best of the best, which makes the streak he is on even more impressive.

In his last nine fights, hes 7-1 with a no-contest. The loss was a submission in a title fight with Nurmagomedov, who retired last year with a 29-0 record.

Of those seven wins five were over current or former champions Anthony Pettis, Max Holloway, Justin Gaethje, Eddie Alvarez and McGregor as well as Jim Miller, one of the UFCs all-time winningest fighters, and Dan Hooker, who was top five at the time.

But its his humility that allows him to continue to be successful. Hes facing the best of the best and knows the fine line at the top level between winning and losing. He knows the danger in front of him and never enters the cage feeling invincible or untouchable.

Not at all [do I feel invincible]; I wish I did, he said, cracking a grin. I have a healthy understanding of the dangers that these guys, especially the guys Im fighting in the last 10 fights, that one mistake could be detrimental. I just know that Im a human being and I could make a mistake and get hit with a good shot or put in a bad position submission-wise. And if that happens I could be finished. I know that. I have a healthy fear for those things.

That fear has led to growth and development and has pushed Poirier to the brink of greatness, if hes not already there. If he beats McGregor, hell earn a shot at Oliveiras title.

And its all come because he appreciates all the dangers he faces every time he walks into the cage.

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'Its a constant mental war in there': The evolution of Dustin Poirier - Yahoo Sports

While many across the nation might view the Suns third-year center, Deandre Ayton, as a third fiddle of the scorching hot Phoenix roster, the Bahama native has placed a monument impact on the 2021 NBA Playoffs.

Even before Ayton officially became the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2018, it was predetermined by the masses that his name would forever be tied to fellow 2018 draft picks, Luka Doni of the Dallas Mavericks and Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks. Even those in the valley would quickly declare Ayton a draft bust through his first two seasons, only averaging 17 points per game on 56% shooting, while Doni and Young were boasting near-herculean performances every other night.

While Young and Doni averaged more than 25 points, nearly nine assists, and a strong chunk of rebounds per game, Ayton seemed to struggle to find his place in the professional game. The youngster was sometimes visibly tired in the fourth quarter, lacked finesse and aggression in the post, and was manhandled by the veteran centers of the league across the floor.

This postseason, Ayton has gone toe-to-toe with some of the most aggressive and talented big men in the league over the past decade such as Anthony Davis, Marc Gasol, Andre Drummond, Demarcus Cousins, and the last two NBA MVPs, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic. Even if not all the names listed are elite talent, not only could Ayton keep up with every player he faced but he oftentimes outperformed them game-by-game.

Ayton has scored a double-double in 12 of his 17 playoff games. In games where he doesnt pick up a double-double, the Suns are still 4-1.

To see his growth, man, I get goosebumps seriously, Suns guard Chris Paul said after Game 4 against the Clippers. We had some heated conversations this season, especially earlier in the season but I genuinely love him. The person that he is and to see everything thats coming to him, national audience getting to see who he is and why hes the No. 1 pick, I couldnt be happier for him.

Throughout the year, Ayton has made it clear that future Hall of Famer, Chris Paul, has made an insurmountable improvement to the centers game this season. It is impossible to dismiss Aytons growth from game one of the 2020-2021 season up to the playoffs.

While Ayton plays with a new demeanor and talent level, those who only look at the stat sheet wont understand this seasons road to success. Statistically, 2020-2021 has marked the centers lowest career scoring average and he failed to improve his rebound, block, and assist averages from last year.

Regardless of what the stats say, Ayton has added a new set of post moves to his game, keeps the ball high and protected in the post, and has developed the ability to receive nearly any lobbed pass. No. 22 looks like an entirely new player compared to just one year ago both physically and mentally.

I love CP, man. Like I said, thats really the only teammate that really push me. Like big bro-type push. Knowing what I got and that I aint never thought that I had, Ayton said after Game 4 against the Clippers. I think he was the best thing that happened to my career. I can say that every day.

The 6-11 starter was a literal bully during his time at Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix as a seven-foot, 235-pound monster. Ayton received offers from San Diego State, Maryland, Kentucky, Kansas, and his eventual one-year home, UArizona.

In his lone year at the University of Arizona, Ayton maintained the ability to be a walking double-double. Ayton played in 35 games his freshman season and averaged 20 points alongside 12 rebounds and 2 blocks per game.

A 27-8 season gave the Wildcats the fourth seed in the NCAA Tournament South bracket but was annihilated by the 13-seed, Buffalo. Ayton only scored 14 points but pulled down 13 rebounds in the massive upset loss.

While the addition of Paul has made a colossal difference for Ayton, another major piece of his development has been his growth alongside fellow Phoenix star, Devin Booker. The duos chemistry has reached new heights as their talent levels rise as well.

Another part of Pauls game he brought to this Suns team is his experience as a leader and as a winner. While Paul still needed to get over the hump to become a champion, the 36-year-old was able to bring a new sense of communication and confidence to this young Phoenix roster.

Earlier in the year, there was some gray areas as to how to help those guys play together. I think those three deserve a lot of credit for the time that they spent after practice talking about certain environments, Head coach, Monty Williams, said. I would love to tell you that I orchestrated it all, but we have given them a system and then those guys talk about the angles of the screens and different ways to run plays that we have so that they can be effective. I just think its a lot of intentional conversations between those three and all of our guys.

Ayton has become an offensive rebounding machine for Phoenix, a category that the Suns fell short on, in early rounds. On five different occasions this postseason, Ayton has collected four or more offensive rebounds. Even when he is not the guy collecting off the glass, he has improved in tipping the ball to his fellow teammate as well.

They got to tell me something every day to click, Ayton said. Book always has something to say in a good way, just to get me going. I can just say they keep a consistent thing where they are always giving constructive criticism, and I take the best of it.

The only player with former Finals experience is a newcomer from the Miami Heat last offseason, Jae Crowder. The nine-year NBA veteran has brought the extra intensity and grit on the floor while Ayton, Booker, and Paul tally up the stat sheet. Through this playoff run, Crowder credits the willingness of those three stars to adapt en route to success.

They have done a great job of just being who they are, but at the same time, trying to mold themselves into whatever that series or that team is forcing us to be as a team, as individuals, Suns forward, Crowder, said. I think its not a surprise to me that theyve come out and performed the way theyve performed the first few rounds.

In a world of stretch-fives and three-point shooting centers, the 250-pounder is proving that it is still possible for centers to thrive in the paint. While Ayton doesnt admire the term big-man and has a versatile set of shooting skills, his domination inside the arc has been a substantial part of the Suns success. Even when the Clippers attempted to shut down his efficiency in the post with double teams, sneaky rotations, and great coverage, Ayton still managed to leave his footprint on the series averaging 18 points with 14 rebounds.

[Ayton has] just locked into the role, Williams said. Sometimes when you tell a player he has a role, they tend to think that youre limiting their ability. I dont think DA thinks that. I think he understands his role and how he can affect winning on both sides of the ball. It certainly helps to have Chris and Book creating opportunities for him, but hes done a really good job of understanding the angles and screens and where to be in the pocket to finish around the basket. Hes just a presence down there.

Only Ayton and Atlanta Hawks center, Clint Capela, have not shot a three-pointer in the postseason, with a minimum of 60 shot attempts. From an advanced analytics perspective, Ayton has the highest amount of win shares of any player in the postseason. Add that alongside being tied for the most rebounds in the playoffs, the Bahamian very well could be looked back on as the most important player on the floor throughout the Suns first postseason appearance in 11 seasons.

I think Deandre Ayton, the way hes worked all season long, he took it to a whole nother level during the playoffs, Paul said.

Regardless of the NBA Finals outcome, expectations for the third-year youngster continue to rise as Aytons stats continue to draw comparisons to all-time greats. No longer can the naysayers heckle the center or deem him a bust. Ayton has become a face of the Suns franchise and is on his way to becoming a staple of their history.

Hes just learned how to embrace the grind, Williams said. The day-in, day-out work and then hes starting to see it pay off on this level. Its one thing to see it pay off in the regular season; its totally different to see a guy dominate series after series after series and see all the work thats put in and all the things that they do every single day.

I think thats what Ive seen from him. Hes embraced the work. Hes embraced being a part of the scouting report. Hes embraced coaching. He understands that were trying to call him up, not out, and how much we care about him. Hes embraced it all. At first it wasnt as easy, because he didnt know me and I really didnt know him and there was a lot of new stuff coming at him, and then he had the pressure of being No. 1 pick. Once he got all of that out of his mind, I think he just embraced his role and embraced the grind of trying to be a really good NBA player.

The Suns look to take a 2-0 lead over the Milwaukee Bucks Thursday night in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Coverage begins at 6:00 p.m. Arizona time on ABC.

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Ayton Evolution: How DA Has Placed a Lasting Impact on the Suns' Postseason - Sports360AZ