Category Archives: Evolution

Highway 401 is so big and formidable, it feels like it has always been there, as if its a land formation left over from the glacial retreat.

We built it, of course, and kept expanding it to the incredible, never-ending river of steel and rubber it is today. Where it crosses Bathurst St. is a particularly interesting place to see how this beast of a freeway and the city have grown up with each other.

Bathurst here is relatively dense, not much different than, say, the Danforth, with mixed retail and apartments on the main street, and detached residential homes on side streets. When approaching from the south the highway seems almost tucked into the neighbourhood as the buildings hug it closer than most parts of the 401. Theres just one eastbound on-ramp too, without the usual long approach lane. It wasnt always like this.

When the Toronto portion of the 401 opened in 1956, then called the Toronto Bypass as it was an alternative to Highway 2 which ran through the centre of the city, farmland around here was just beginning to be urbanized. Originally just two lanes in each direction, the 401 passed just south of the Bathurst St. and Wilson Ave. intersection.

The Toronto Archives online aerial photograph collection reveals the story of how quickly Toronto expanded. In 1947, Bathurst and Wilson was rural, with just a scattering of residential houses and faint traces in the landscape of the subdivisions that were being prepared, some that would eventually be home to part of Torontos Jewish community.

Three years later, as 401 planning was well underway, the area was a patchwork of brand-new housing tracts and streets waiting for houses, some where the 401 would be built just a few years later.

Pull out your phone and type Carhartt St. into a map app. This tiny, dead-end street was once an on- and off-ramp for the eastbound 401, in addition to the on-ramp on Bathurst that still exists today. Highway 401 traffic was funnelled along adjacent Marquette Ave., a residential street.

Similarly, on the north side, wee Brightwood St. was the on- and off-ramp for the westbound 401, funneling people up to Wilson. People actually lived on both 401 approaches, unbelievable today, but its telling how tranquil the highway was originally imagined.

However tame it was when first opened, it congested quickly and by 1964 construction was underway for the collector lanes. The aerial photos show wide swaths cleared out, as if a giant eraser was dragged alongside the highway, destroying roads and houses. The ramps at Carhartt were closed on the south side, and a massive off ramp that leads directly to Wilson today was created where Brightwood was, clearing away some houses in the process. Brightwood still exists as a small loop of a street next to the ramp.

Two blocks east of here, Richelieu Rd. is another loop running south of Wilson that was altered by the 401 expansion, and just two houses remain of the original five that were on its east side. All along the 401 sound barrier are streets that were truncated as it expanded.

Again, this is easier to follow with a map app open, but the speed of city growth is apparent in how quickly new houses and streets were completely torn down and removed to make way for the expansion of a highway that now seems as if its been there forever. If there is one constant here its that the city has always changed, but time has a funny way of covering up the traces of change.

Underneath the highway on Bathurst the growth rings of the 401 are visible in the gentle arc of the original central overpass that looks like some of the early overpasses that still exist on rural sections of the 400 series highways. The more angular collector lane overpasses that came later are next to it, heavier on the engineering and less on the architecture.

A westbound on-ramp on the north side of the 401 at Bathurst and Wilson was also removed, and the triangle of leftover land that was created eventually became what is now the Bathurst-Wilson Parkette. In 2016, it got an update with a Mabuhay (Welcome) Garden to recognize the presence of the Filipino community that has made this area home, and includes more seating, a pergola and new landscaping.

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A massive mural designed by artist Ian Leventhal was installed on the 401s retaining wall here in 2005, a project under former mayor David Millers Clean and Beautiful City program. It has tranquil scenes that, at times, resembles Georges Seurats famous 1884 painting of Parisian swimmers, Bathers at Asnires.

From farmers fields to Little Manila in 70 years, the change here is remarkable, even if the 401s vehicular river isnt exactly Pariss Seine.

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Torontos rapid growth can be measured by Highway 401s evolution at Bathurst St. - Toronto Star

SALT LAKE CITY These last eight days had dragged on. It showed when Tareke Lewis grabbed hold extra tight of his position coach, Sharrieff Shah, and embraced. For eight days, they had to wait for their turn to suit up again. To find a way to flush all the highlight-reel grabs theyd conceded the week prior.

To truly appreciate what transpired Saturday night inside Rice-Eccles Stadium, they first had to feel the sharp pain of so many self-inflicted mistakes, the exact kind they felt again and again last week inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Once Shah let loose of Lewis, the senior defensive back flashed his massive smile, his gold grill suddenly glistening with the reflection of the lights inside his home stadium. Then he overheard the P.A. announcer proclaim what happens after every Utah home win.

The players were to press down on the lever and light up the U on the hill far above campus.

Lewis couldnt contain himself.

Light that...

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The key element in Utah's win over Washington State? Evolution - The Athletic

Uber Eats will get the chance to shine within the official Uber app. Uber

Uber Eats has had quite an evolution since launching five years ago. The food delivery platform was created by parent company Uber in 2014, during a pivotal time for the ride hailing apps popularity, as a venture to become an all-in-one convenience platform.

However, since its debut Uber Eats has had quite a journey competing with takeout-ordering veterans, such as Grubhub-owned Seamless, Yelps Eat24 and rival Postmates. Over the years, Uber attempted to grow the apps popularity by consistently tweaking and rearranging its interface, climbing to become the third most popular food ordering app.

SEE ALSO: Ready to Have Your Dinner Delivered by Drones? Think Again.

Now, its finally settling on incorporating the service within the main Uber app, which brings us to Thursdays announcement of the full integration. The push to feature Uber Eats on the official Uber homepage may become a nuisance for customers attempting to hail rides, but it could be the services best chance at getting in front of new eyeballs.

Most people today know Uber as a ridesharing app: they open the app when they want to go from A to B, Joost van der Ree, the designer who worked on the Uber apps new home screen, told Fast Company. How do we help widen that intent from just ridesharing to other modes of transport and daily needs?

The latest facelift was also previewed by Emilie Boman, head of global policy for Uber Eats, in a company blog post titled Making Food Delivery More Accessible & Sustainable. New features will include utensil opt-in and dietary allergies and restriction requests.

For power users, the move to combine the transit and food delivery services could seem like a long time coming. After all, the company has been experimenting with displaying the food-ordering button above its famous map for the past year, which takes customers to the official Uber Eats app or prompts them to download it.

In 2019, Uber Eats offerings have also extended to include a monthly subscription pass similar to Postmates program, as well as a new option to eat in after placing a restaurant order.

Its unclear whether the sprawling Uber Eats menu will overwhelm the official Uber app and turn customers off. But if the companys evolving Eats strategy is any indication, they probably wont give up on finding it a place.

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The Long Evolution of Uber Eats App - Observer

ATHENS Kirby Smart is in the business of winning games, and the Georgia football coach isnt concerned about aesthetics or posting gaudy statistics.

But there are certain characteristics Smart insists be a part of his Bulldogs identity on offense. The ability to run the football effectively and avoid turnovers are at the top of the list .

A heightened sense of awareness for protecting quarterback Jake Fromm is also on the list. Fromm is the most valuable and irreplaceable piece on a team aiming to win an SEC and national championship.

Four games in, theres room and arguably a need for Smart to modify his offensive framework. Like any other coach, Smart is using his bye week to closely examine his team and find ways to improve.

Giving Fromm and offensive coordinator James Coley more rope could be a start. Theres more to to opening up the Georgia offense than just throwing more on first down and attempting more deep strikes down the field.

The three areas Smart indicated he wants to improvement after the 23-17 Notre Dame win are:

Getting the plays in quicker

Getting the ball to playmakers in space

Making teams pay for stacking the box.

Getting the play in quicker enables Fromm to do more at the line of scrimmage, in terms of reading defenses and changing to more favorable plays.

Getting the ball to playmakers is easier said than done. The pro style offense is built to take what the defense gives and defenses arent willing to give DAndre Swift, James Cook or George Pickens much space.

And Fromm, based on his recent history, isnt inclined to force the ball as much as he is to find a more available option going through his progressions.

Thats where its important for big targets Pickens and Lawrence Cager to continue to earn Fromms trust on fade and vertical routes. The quarterback has to have faith in them to make plays on the ball.

Personnel decisions are another key. Putting the fastest and most explosive players on the field pays off, as theyre the most inclined to turn check downs into big plays.

The other change up Coley could consider with the approval of Smart is to go more uptempo.

Defensive-minded coaches like Smart arent always big fans of that it puts their defense on the field more quickly and for more snaps. Smart spends most of his time with the defense and often speaks from the defensive perspective after scrimmages.

Georgias current pace of play 62 plays per game ranks 120th out of 130 teams. Its the lowest rank since Mark Richts final team (2015) ranked 126th with 64 plays per game.

Defensively, Smarts 2019 team could prove to be his best if current trends hold.

The Bulldogs focus to increase havoc has paid off thus far, as reflected in the statistics comparing this seasons team to last seasons and the 2017 UGA SEC Championship team.

The biggest issue facing the defense appears to be the players durability. Injuries have hampered players on all three levels of the defense, even with Smart protecting them by limiting the number of plays and substituting liberally.

Heres a look at how Smarts past three Georgia teams measure up:

Current Georgia 42.8

2018 Bulldogs 37.9

2017 UGA 35.4

Current Georgia 508.8

2018 Bulldogs 464.9

2017 UGA 435.3

2017 UGA 258.4

Current Georgia 253.0

2018 Bulldogs 238.8

Current Georgia 255.8

2018 Bulldogs 226.1

2017 UGA 176.9

Current Georgia 178.81

2018 Bulldogs 170.52

2017 UGA 154.12

2018 Bulldogs 47.5

2017 UGA 45.6

Current Georgia 44.7

Current Georgia 10 ppg

2017 UGA 16.4

2018 Bulldogs 19.2

Current Georgia 262.5

2017 UGA 294.9

2018 Bulldogs 314.3

Current Georgia 57.0

2017 UGA 126.0

2018 Bulldogs 134.0

2017 UGA 168.9

Current Georgia 205.5

2018 Bulldogs 180.3

Current Georgia 107.20

2017 UGA 113.40

2018 Bulldogs 117.47

Current Georgia 30.0

2017 UGA 32.9

2018 Bulldogs 34.0

Current Georgia +0.50

2017 UGA +0.27

2018 Bulldogs +0.21

Current Georgia 3.00 per game

2017 2.27

2018 Bulldogs 1.71

Current Georgia 0.25 per game

2018 Georgia 1.43

2017 UGA 1.47

2017 UGA 23.54

2018 Bulldogs 22.85

Current Georgia 16.3

Current Georgia 12.60

2017 UGA 19.52

2018 Bulldogs 31.30 (128 of 129)

2018 Bulldogs 16.64

Current Georgia 15.10

2017 UGA 10.11

2017 UGA 5.94

Current Georgia 8.50

2018 Bulldogs 12.80 (119th)

2017 UGA 41.65

Current Georgia 39.45

2018 Bulldogs 37.35 (70th)

Current Georgia 32:22

2017 UGA 32:07

2018 Georgia 31:29

Grad-transfer Lawrence Cager rises to the occasion

Bye week heat: DC Dan Lanning brings the intensity

Georgia looks to tweak offense, more downfield

DAndre Swift shows he can be thunder and lightning vs. Irish

Georgia football freshman report from Notre Dame game

Fake injuries? Kirby Smart addresses issue

Recap: Georgia football holds on to beat Notre Dame, 23-17

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Measuring up: Examining Georgias offensive evolution, comparing past to current UGA teams - DawgNation

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After two decades, Pierre Hardy continues to play by his own rules.

I have only done things that I enjoy and love, the designer said at his Paris Fashion Week spring 20 presentation today, adding that fashion is always in motion, and he doesnt often stop to think about the past.

More from Footwear News

Here, Hardy sounds off on why nothing is forbidden in fashion now and why comfort should be a given.

Designing comfortable shoes:

I dont think it needs to be something you talk about. It just means Im doing my job. [Comfort has] to be there first, and then I dont have to think about it. If youre wearing the shoes, you shouldnt have to think about the way you walk. You will never be as comfortable in a high stiletto, but women are ready to adapt to that for an hour or two up to a point.

The lack of pumps at the presentation:

Theres one. People dont really come to me for that. I love them though. My first shoe was a pump, the Blade heel.

The sneaker equation:

Its stable; its just a way of life now. Maybe people will buy [fewer] sneakers from designers, but they still buy Nike or Converse. Now you buy sneakers like you buy a T-shirt. This season, I think theres more femininity now, lightness, joy. Were not in a moment of Its this or nothing else. Fashion is more open now. Nothing is forbidden. Music and art are like this too.

His 20th anniversary:

Fashion is always in motion, so I know its 20 years, but youre always projecting to the next thing. I feel really lucky. When I started, I didnt know [what would happen]. You never know. Youre starting from scratch. Youre starting from zero. I only have done things that I really enjoy and love. This is what you can say afterwards you dont think about it when youre doing it. I havent celebrated my own [birthdays] since I was 22. I dont really stop and think about it.

For more from Pierre Hardys spring 20 collection, click through the gallery.

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Pierre Hardy Reflects on Fashions Evolution: Nothing is Forbidden Now - Yahoo Lifestyle

CultureTVFrom her first major role as Young Wendy in Hook to the launch of Goop in 2008, Hollywood's controversial star is returning to acting

Friday, 27th September 2019, 17:14 pm

Earlier this week, Gwyneth Paltrow shuffled out onto the stage at the Emmys to present an award. She looked very pleased with herself, making the biggest of productions in crossing from one side of the stage to the other in tiny little steps. She was instantly transformed into a meme.

Paltrow is easily one of the most memeable celebrities. Over the past few years, she's become the punchline to many jokes; the super-privileged wellness guru telling women to shove 55 jade eggs up their vaginas, spraying psychic vampire repellent to get rid of bad vibes and rebranding divorce as the fluffy conscious uncoupling. Relatable? Absolutely not.

It's easy to forget that it was once Paltrow who was at the receiving end of the awards, an Oscar-winning actor who was adored by the critics and public, a highly accomplished talent who led some of the biggest films of the 90s and 00s.

Her metamorphosis into a beatific self-help deity meant acting has fallen by the wayside to her other $165m empire. But this week sees an about turn from Paltrow as she takes on one of her meatiest and funniest roles of recent times.

With tongue firmly in her cheek, she stars as Georgina Hobart in Ryan Murphys The Politician, the millionaire art-collecting adoptive mother to the hyper-ambitious high-schooler, Payton. Doing the gardening in designer ball gowns and painting pictures for charity of a Syrian child killed in an airstrike, she seems to be sending up the image that most people have of who we think she is.

Is she beyond satire, now? Or is it simply a masterstroke to prove that shes in on the joke? For all the criticism fired at Paltrow - in 2013 she was branded Star magazines "most irritating celebrity" - it appears that shes come to the point of acceptance and now is taking back ownership of her image.

Shes recently been credited with kick-starting the takedown of the disgraced film producer, Harvey Weinstein. In The New York Times Jodi Kantor and Megan Twoheys book, She Said, they revealed that Paltrow had hosted the evening in which actors like Ashley Judd opened up about the abuse they had received at the hands of Weinstein and that she also facilitated other actresses coming forward with their experiences, all of which he denies.

Whether she can transition from glowing earth-mother to self-deprecating star of the screen again is still to be seen. However, her past history shows shes always embraced change, evolving time and time again over the years. With a bit of cosmic ordering, its surely written in the stars.

The evolution of Gwyneth Paltrow

The teen screen princess

The year is 1991, and how ever will 19-year-old Paltrow, daughter of director Bruce Paltrow and Tony-award winning dancer Blythe Danner, catch a break in the film industry? Remarkably, she struggles against the odds and gets cast as young Wendy in Hook.

The serious actress

Her big break came four years later in 1995, when she played Tracy in Seven, alongside Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey and Morgan Freeman. The fact that her head ended up memorably in a box at the end of the film bore no relation to her captivating screen presence, something that Pitt also picked up on, and the pair later started dating (and morphing into each other).

The rom-com every woman

From 1995, Paltrow was hot property, and dipped her toes into the rom-com world, starring with Friends David Schwimmer in the entirely unremarkable funeral-themed The Pallbearer (actual tagline: Something magical is about to unfold in the most unexpected place!). Then there was the genre-defining Sliding Doors - Paltrow played the hard-done-by British PR girl Helen - in which a generation pondered what they would do if they missed their tube and came home to find John Lynch shagging in their bed.

The period romance star

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? Thatll be Paltrow, going full period drama in productions like 1996s Emma, an adaptation of the Jane Austen novel in which she played the titular role, or the modern adaptation of Dickens' Great Expectations, where she played Estella, who had a penchant for stripping off in New York warehouse apartments. Still, all the literary greats were a great background for her next role...

The Oscar-winning starlet

1998s Shakespeare in Love: everybody in the world watched, then promptly wondered why we werent being taught about his muse, Viola De Lessops in GCSE English Lit. Damn patriarchy in action, yet again. There was no doubt this was Paltrows finest hour, and she eventually bagged the Academy Award. Her incredibly emotional Oscars speech was widely mocked, but let the woman have a moment - she was just crowned the best actress in the entire world (in 1999).

The indie kid

Fact: it took exactly 18 years for Phoebe Waller-Bridge smoking a cigarette with a cocktail in Chateau Marmont to oust Paltrow as Margot Tenenbaum lighting up a cig in a fur coat as the coolest woman of all time. Paltrow got serious hipster kudos as she appeared in Wes Andersons The Royal Tenenbaums in 2001, playing the aloof playwright with a bob, and who later spawned a million lazy fancy dress outfits.

The wholesome chef

The year is 2007, and Paltrow is now a TV chef, sitting somewhere between Mary Berry and Martha Steward on the cooking chart. The same year, the Los Angeles born-and-bred star launched her first cookbook, Spain... A Culinary Road Trip with the now disgraced chef Mario Batali. If anyone doubted her Spanish credentials, know this: she once went on a school exchange there aged 15, so please pass the cho-ri-tho and sit back down.

The self-help guru

In 2008, Paltrow pivoted to wellness and launched her weekly lifestyle letter, Goop, which then became a website, an e-commerce site and basically a bible for rich American women to make lifestyle choices by. She says it was set up to "nourish the inner aspect", presumably of her wallet, as it pulled in an estimated $60m in 2017.

Of course, Goop has not been without its many controversies - namely, advising people to steam their vaginas (do not do this, countered pretty much every actual medical GP across the world), to use a coffee enema (same) and that they should be wearing NASA-made body stickers to rebalance energy frequencies (to paraphrase NASA: nah). Still, who needs experts anyway? Tickets for her Goop festival, In Goop Health, move quicker than the Glastonbury resale, so while shes got a quick minute in between sex dust smoothies,why not pick up acting again in a newly iconic TV show? Good on you Gwynnie.

The Politician is on Netflix from Friday 27 September.

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The rocky evolution of actor, philanthropist and Goop guru Gwyneth Paltrow - iNews

A study of gliding animals has challenged the idea that evolutionary innovations adaptations that bring new abilities and advantages spur the origin of other new body types and other characteristics in descendent species.

The research, undertaken by evolutionary biologists at UNSW Sydney and universities in the US and Spain, examined the key innovation of gliding in two types of gliding animals: flying dragons (family Agamidae) and flying squirrels (family Sciuridae), both common to forests in South East Asia.

The study confirms previous assumptions that gliding animals originated from arboreal ancestors and likely arose as a means of escaping predators some 25-30 million years ago.

Lead author Dr Terry Ord, an evolutionary ecologist with UNSWs Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, says another advantage that gliding brought was the ability to exploit a new three dimensional environment and explore more of the forest than just one tree.

From an evolutionary biologists perspective, these types of innovation that open up new opportunities are assumed to drive even more adapted diversification, Dr Ord says.

Suddenly theres all these new microhabitats available offering up new resources and you have new species moving into those particular microhabitats where you would expect them to adapt even more.

The evolution of flight in birds, insects and bats is an example where the changes brought about by taking to the wing caused an explosion in diversity. Millions of species of insects, tens of thousands of birds and more than a thousand species of bats developed greatly different shapes, sizes, behaviours and habitats since their ancestors first evolved to fly.

But in the case of the gliding animals like the dragons and squirrels, the advantage of gliding has not led to a proliferation of changes to body shapes, sizes and functions. In fact, for the dragons the key innovation of gliding appears to have done the opposite.

Hey Rocky, where's Bullwinkle...A gliding squirrel in full flight. Picture: Shutterstock.

In the case of the dragon lizards, gliding appears to be a constraint on subsequent adaptation because of the aerodynamics of having to glide, Dr Ord says.

Basically the heavier you are, the more difficult it is to glide. So there is a constraint on general body size and shape meaning a halt to the evolution of longer limbs and bigger heads, for example, that would normally reflect adaptation to particular microhabitats.

But instead, the dragons have to glide, and that means limiting their body sizes to stay small and aerodynamic which has what we call stabilising selection on their bodies.

Interestingly, some species of flying dragons actually did go on to evolve larger bodies, at the expense of their gliding abilities. To offset their poor gliding, they had to develop new behaviours such as flattening their bodies against the tree trunk to blend in with the bark, Dr Ord says.

So theyre almost regressing from that gliding lifestyle. But in this case, the reason why theyre changing their body size is to overcome competition with other lizards.

There were no such bodily constraints with squirrels, due to key differences in the gliding membranes. Whereas the ribs of the dragon lizards evolved to extend laterally as the wings of the animals, the squirrels gliding membrane developed as a flap of skin joining their wrists to their ankles.

So squirrels just evolve longer limbs which means the size of the membrane increases proportionally to the longer limbs, enabling somewhat bigger bodied animals to glide without sacrificing too much ability, says Dr Ord.

But despite squirrel body sizes not being as constrained, the body sizes and characteristics of gliding squirrels are no more diverse than non-gliding squirrels.

So again the expectation of a key innovation driving the evolution of greater diversity was thwarted in the case of gliding squirrels.

Dr Ord says his research has implications for our understanding of the way key innovations and competition come into play in evolution.

Evolutionary innovations are evocative because theyre often amazing curiosities. And perhaps this has led us to infer theyre also key in opening the door to even more adaptation. But it seems that interactions with other organisms competition for resources is a far more powerful force for generating adaptive diversity, he says.

Looking ahead, Dr Ord will be following up with research into the dragon lizards to find out how they use another evolutionary innovation, their dewlaps the colourful flap of skin that hangs beneath their jaws to communicate.

The rest is here:

How gliding animals fine-tuned the rules of evolution - UNSW Newsroom

CultureGaming

Friday, 27th September 2019, 08:17 am

It might have been a while since Pokemon GO received the kind of obsessive attention that it did in the beginning, but Niantic's addictive mobile monster catcher hasn't gone anywhere.

The game's community remains so active that just this August it enjoyed its most profitable month since 2016, bringing in $176 million.

A big factor in the game's impressive stamina has been the steady supply of new content that Niantec has kept up. This month saw a major new addition, with monsters from the series' fifth generation (Pokemon Black and White) appearing for the first time.

Hailing from the Unova region, these critters included the likes of sneaky feline, Purrloin and the snooty-looking lizard, Snivy. With the addition of Unova stones, some of the new 'mon can now be evolved into their more powerful forms.

For anyone who still has ambitions of being the very best, like no-one ever was, here's everything you need to know.

What are Unova stones?

Since the original Gameboy games, stones have featured in the Pokemon universe as been a key way to evolve certain monsters. However, rather than the various elemental rocks found in the original series, Niantec have chosen to streamline things a little by creating new stones that can be applied more widely.

When Pokemon from the Sinnoh region were introduced, the Sinnoh stone was added to handle all of the older critters who had been given new evolutions in Diamond and Pearl Rhyperior, Lickilicki, Ambipom and various others.

The Unova stones are similar except that, rather than evolving old 'mon into their newer forms, the Unova stones will be used to handle some of the evolutions of Pokemon that were first introduced in Black and White, such as Panpour and Lampent.

What Pokemon can I use them on?

As there haven't been that many Unova Pokemon added as of yet, the list of compatible critters is pretty short just now.

The three elemental monkeys Pansage, Panpour and Pansear can all be evolved into their bigger, badder selves Simisage, Simipour and Simisear while spooky lantern Lampent can be upgraded to a Chandelure (it's like "chandelier" but not).

However, it is worth keeping in mind that more Unova Pokemon are probably on the way, some of whom will no doubt also use the stones. Before long, it's very possible that they will be used to turn a Woobat into a Swoobat, a Boldore into a Gigalith, or a Minccino into its far fancier evolution, Cinccino.

How do I get one?

At the moment, there is only one way to get your hands on a Unova stone by completing your seventh day Field Research reward.

The Field Research tasks, added to the game last year, are daily missions which challenge the player to catch, hatch or battle in a specific way. Completing seven tasks across seven days unlocks a Research Breakthrough and lets the player reap a variety of rewards, one of which can now be a shiny new Unova stone.

While this is currently the only way to acquire the new evolutionary item, it seems likely that this will change in the future. Sinnoh stones can be earned through player versus player battles, so its easy to imagine that this will eventually happen with the newer region's stones as well.

View original post here:

Pokemon GO Unova stone locations: how to get the evolution items, and full list of Gen 5 Pokemon it works with - iNews

A kazoo might seem a world away from the spoken word. But our ability to produce its buzzing, Donald Duck-like sound at will was key in us ever developing the ability to speak at all. And while our capacity for speech is unique, my colleague Robert Shumaker and I have used the novelty instrument to show that great apes arent far behind.

Speech is one of the defining marks of humanhood. It is the interface of our social and societal relationships, and the baton through which individuals and generations pass information and knowledge from one to the other. Yet, how our species and our species alone developed such a powerful method of communication remains unclear.

Perhaps chief among the necessary tools for speech is voice control. That is, the uniquely advanced ability to engage our vocal folds to produce sounds at will, as opposed to the reflexive screams and cries that other animals produce as automatic responses to changes in their environment and physiology.

Scientists long thought that the capacity of great apes to control their voice was just as limited as that of their fellow mammals. However, recent evidence is suggesting that these views were misguided.

For instance, great apes can mimic the rhythm of speech, producing babbling vocalisations that could easily be confused with those of a Disney cartoon character (as in the video above). They can also match the pitch of a human voice (below). Such feats would be impossible if great apes could not deploy and use their voice on command in similar ways to us.

To find out more about these abilities, we gave captive orangutans at the USs Indianapolis Zoo the opportunity play a membranophone - a class of musical instrument that includes the kazoo.

Kazoos and other membranophones are unique in that despite their resemblance to a flute or a whistle, merely blowing a constant stream of air into them produces no sound. To activate the instrument, the player must hum or talk into the kazoo. This is because it is the bursts of air produced by our vocal folds opening and closing when we vocalise that make the membrane of the instrument vibrate, and the instrument play.

In our study, some of the orangutans activated the kazoo within minutes, producing sounds of varying pitches and durations in response to kazoo demonstrations by the human experimenters. The speed with which these orangutans changed the quality of their voices shows that they were producing the sounds at will, rather than through training which, as any dog trainer will reassert, requires months of reflex building and conditioning.

These findings show that orangutan voice control lags not far behind that of humans. They confirm that the vocal abilities of great apes have been largely underestimated.

The fact that only some of the orangutans managed to play the kazoo shows us that the capacity and/or motivation to demonstrate vocal control differs between individuals. So one great ape can never be representative of the vocal abilities of a whole species. To understand the vocal control of apes further, scientists should develop tests tailored to match each individual apes limitations and drive. This wont be a surprise to parents, teachers, and linguistic therapists, who know that children develop speech at different rates and manners, despite sharing virtually the same environment.

Although precise tests such as these are only possible in controlled settings with voluntary participation from captive individuals, evidence suggests that wild orangutans also use vocal control in their natural environment to communicate and pass information between individuals and generations.

For example, wild orangutans can modify their alarm calls with hands and leaves to make them sound bigger, depending on how dangerous the predator they encounter is. Wild chimpanzees are more likely to produce snake alarm calls when group members are unaware of the threat, and selectively inform high-ranking group members that food is available both indicators of intentional control of vocalisations.

More recently, I showed that wild orangutan mothers delay alarm calls in response to predators until there is no danger, before then informing their infants of the danger that just passed through the forest floor below. Such an ability not only indicates some degree of vocal control, but also another key prerequisite for speech the ability to communicate about the past.

Understanding the extent to which great apes can speak offers clues as to how and when the various skills required for full-blown speech emerged in our evolutionary lineage. Scientists previously thought that great apes didnt have the required brain circuitry. Now, it seems that they do. The question now is why our species used the last few million years to hone these neural capabilities, but our close cousins didnt or werent able to.

Having spent much time around orangutans, Im certain that they possess a great many more skills and abilities than current science gives them credit for. They are truly fascinating and intelligent creatures, and we must make every effort to conserve and protect them and their habitat not just to understand better our place in the natural world, but as a mark of respect for theirs.

Continued here:

Orangutans can play the kazoo here's what this tells us about the evolution of speech - The Conversation - UK

On Monday, Airbnb announced a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity": a one month, all-expenses-paid trip to Antarctica, where five winners will work as citizen scientists alongside microplastics researcher Kirsitie Jones-Williams, in collaboration with the Ocean Conservancy.

The volunteers will first fly down to Chile, where theyll get a crash-course in glaciology and field sampling. Airbnb said in an email that they will stay in a variety of accommodations for the Chile portion of the trip, including Airbnb listings and camp sites."

Then, the volunteers will take a plane to two sites in the interior of the Antarctic continent: the Union Glacier camp, and the Three Glaciers Retreat. There, theyll collect snow samples that may or may not contain microplastics. After visiting Antarctic sites like the South Pole, Drake Icefall, and Elephant's Head, the volunteers will return the Chile and analyze their snow samples.

According to Airbnb, the goal is for the volunteers to become ambassadors for the worlds oceans. In this advocacy role, they will deliver insights on how the Airbnb community and others can help minimize their collective plastic footprint to support Ocean Conservancys mission, the Airbnb website says.

Our goal at this juncture is to better understand how travel can be a positive catalyst for change, an Airbnb spokesperson said in an email. Its worth noting that the travel and tourism industry accounts for about 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Research into microplastics is important, but these volunteers wont just be ambassadors on behalf of Antarctica, or the oceans, or environmental science. Theyre also, by default, ambassadors for Airbnb, informing the public that the company cares about the environment. Airbnb said in an email that it hopes the Antarctic Sabbatical will "inform educational and advocacy efforts."

However, Airbnb has not committed to carbon neutrality. The company said in an email that the Antarctic Sabbatical trip specifically is more than 100% carbon neutral because of carbon offsetting. Airbnb has tweeted that it considers carbon offsetting to include activities like donating to protect the Peruvian rainforest after booking a plane flight. As Naomi Klein spelled out in her book This Changes Everything, activities like these are known to not fully offset emission-heavy activities.

When asked about how Airbnb is limiting emissions, the company said that it has limited corporate plastic use by eliminating plastic straws, not offering plastic bottles or containers, and providing reusable produce bags in its San Francisco and Singapore offices.

Airbnb is also conducting an environmental impact assessment to measure and understand our impact and to identify what we can do to reduce our footprint over time, a spokesperson said in an email.

None of this amounts to making radical change. In essence, the Antarctic Sabbatical bolsters the companys environmental image without pinning it to any firm, possibly costly environmental commitments, like carbon neutrality.

Airbnb isn't the only travel company to organize Antarctic trips that claim to be guided by the values of sustainability, citizen science, and ambassadorship. Theres a booming Antarctic tourism industry, and many of the companies involved make their sales pitch by appealing to a sense of righteousness in possible vacationers. These companies tell wealthy vacationers that by going to Antarctica, and by having the chance to see it before climate change permanently changes the landscape, they will actually be committing an act of good and empowering themselves to advocate on behalf of the environment.

Volunteers for the Antarctic Sabbatical will be chosen by a team of five people, including Jones-Williams, a person from an unspecified industry organization, an Airbnb employee, an independent member, and a representative from Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions LLC, an Antarctic travel and logistics company. ALE also runs camps on the continent, including the Three Glaciers Retreat on the trip.

Theres several barriers of entry that a person has to clear before becoming an Antarctic ambassador. First, they have to have an existing platform, or a pool of people who will listen to them. According to the program guidelines, applicants will be judged, in part, on whether they have the capability to engage in dialogue with diverse audiences and educate others on complex topics in the future.

Notably, none of Airbnbs marketing materials for the program mention climate change. Despite the fact that climate change will alter Antarctica permanently, as highlighted by a new IPCC report, there's no indication that Antarctic Sabbatical ambassadors are expected to advocate for action on climate change specifically.

To be fair, the research on the sabbatical concerns microplastics, not climate change. But excluding climate change from the conversation has enabled Airbnb to market its program as concerning sustainability, a vague term that doesnt invoke any specific or radical changes that may involve lowering emissions. In fact, sustainability is a term that evokes the promise of growth. The logic of endless economic growth has consistently empowered utility companies, oil and gas companies, and the like to prioritize shareholder profit over the long-term health of the people they serve and the planet at large.

Airbnb has already exacerbated severe shortages in affordable housing in urban centers that desperately need it, even though affordable housing is actually a crucial part of mitigating the worst effects of climate change.

Airbnb claims that it "values healthy travel," and takes pride in the fact that "64 percent of guests" view it as an environmentally sustainable travel option. But valuing sustainability is not the same as requiring hosts to meet robust environmental standards, or committing its corporate facilities to ambitious environmental goals.

Link:

Airbnb's Antarctic 'Sabbatical' Is the Next Evolution in Crisis Capitalism - VICE