Category Archives: Evolution

Hearsay is not admissible as evidence in court and it doesnt seem to go very far in science, either.

A pair of researchers in the field of human evolution have lost a paper which contained data from personal correspondence that the providing party apparently did not enjoy seeing in print.

The article, Early hominin biogeography in Island Southeast Asia, was published in the September/October 2015 issue of Evolutionary Anthropology. The authors, Roy Larick and Russell Ciochon, are paleoanthropologists and co-founders of the Iowa-Bandung Java Project a 20-year old collaborative effort to study the origins of early humans in Indonesia.

Per the retraction notice:

The above article from Evolutionary Anthropology, published on 19 October 2015 in Wiley OnlineLibrary (www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com), and in Volume 24, Number 5, pp. 185-213, has been retracted by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The retraction has been made due to the inclusion without explicit permission of unpublished third-party research data disclosed to the authors in personal correspondence. The Editor notes that the journal has since clarified its policy on citing unpublished research findings, and in particular those disclosed in personal correspondence, to avoid future instances of this nature.

John Fleagle, who edits Evolutionary Anthropology, referred us to the writers guidelines page for the new policy:

Because Evolutionary Anthropology is primarily a review journal, we discourage the use of Personal Communications as citations. If Personal Communications, or any other unpublished materials are cited, the author(s) must include a copy of the communication stating the evidence cited and giving the author(s) permission to use the observations.

This is the journals first-ever retraction.

Larick provided a bit more information about the article in an email:

The issue of communicated data arose after publication. We were surprised with the issue and especially with the demand for retraction. We were yet more surprised that Wiley retracted the paper on the grounds cited. Through two lawyers, one in Iowa City and one in New York, we attempted to develop a solution not involving retraction. Our biggest surprise was that Wiley seemed determined to retract under any circumstance.

We have not yet decided on how to proceed with the paper, which is a review of literature and current ideas. Much of the communicated data (citations of personal communication) has now been published.

The Evolutionary Anthropology paper is a synthesis of our work integrated with other current research, especially that of the Australians. So much good material was on the verge of publication as we were finishing the paper in 2015. We relied on personal communications to bring new studies to light. We had made our intentions clear to our colleagueseveryone knew about this paper. With hindsight, we pushed personal communication a little too far. As an aside, neither the editor nor any of the five reviewers expressed concern about our citations.

It is our great disappointment that the paper could not be kept published with accommodations to the offended scientists. We feel that our case lies well outside the standard (an necessary) reasons for retracting scientific papers.

The paper has been cited once, according toClarivate Analytics Web of Science.

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Inclusion of personal correspondence in evolution paper prompts retraction, new journal policy - Retraction Watch (blog)

If theres one person in the Trump family known for having a good sense of style, its admittedly not Donald.

His tieshave long been a befuddling topic of conversation. His hair style has mystified many. And hes worn a wide selection of hat styles over the years, be it of the construction, baseball or wide-rimmed variety. And before his presidency, Trump of yesteryear wore boatloads of color, having what appears to be a strong affinity for the color pink and even donning a purple blazer.

Behold, the Donald Trump style evolution you never really wanted, but need to see.

The Washington Post via Getty Images

Standingnext to a model of the D.C. convention center he had hoped to develop.

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With Ivana Trump at Roy Cohn's birthday party in New York City.

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With Ivana Trump at John Kluge and Patricia Gay's wedding in New York City.

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With Lee Iacocca and Bill Fugazy at the Steinbrenner wedding ceremonyin New York City.

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At his home in Greenwich, Connecticut.

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Meeting with Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca athis New York City office.

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At home with Ivana Trump in Greenwich, Connecticut.

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WithIvana Trump at theU.S. Open tennis tournament in Queens, New York.

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At the Williams vs. Tyson boxing match at Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino.

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At the Superboat Race at Trump Plaza Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

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With Michael Jackson at the opening of Taj Mahal hotel and casino in Atlantic City, NJ.

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Posing for a portrait at Yankee Stadium.

Ron Galella via Getty Images

With Marla Maples at The Look of the Year Benefit Press Partyin New York City.

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With Marla Maples at theU.S. Open tennis tournamentin Queens, New York.

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With Marla Maples at their wedding in New York City.

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With Marla Maplesin New York City.

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With Marla Maples and Peruvian former actress Pilar Pallete at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

Ron Galella via Getty Images

At the Second Annual DISHES Summer Beach Partyin Amagansett, New York.

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With Venezuelan beauty pageant winner Alicia Machado at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

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Donald Trump at Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss' Halloween party in New York City.

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With Celina Midelfart at the U.S. Open in Queens, New York.

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With Ivanka Trump celebrating Dennis Basso's fur collection party in Aspen, Colorado.

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With baseball star Sammy Sosa and Melania Knauss at Jennifer Lopez's30th birthday partyin New York City.

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With Melania Knauss at the 73rd Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles, California.

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With Melania Knauss In New York City.

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Inspecting damage to the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn, New York.

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With Melania Knauss at the2003 MTV Video Music Awardsin New York City.

James Devaney via Getty Images

With Melania Trump at the Washington Wizards vs New York Knicks game in New York City.

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With Melania Trump at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in West Hollywood, California.

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Performing the "Green Acres" theme withMegan Mullally at the 57th Annual Emmy Awardsin Los Angeles, California.

Jeff J Mitchell via Getty Images

At theOld Course in St. Andrews where he met with the media to answer questions regarding Trump International Golf Links in St. Andrews, Scotland.

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With Melania Trump at New York Fashion Week in New York City.

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On site at Trump Hollywood in Hollywood, Florida.

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With Melania Trump at Woody Johnson's "Wig Out" 60th birthday party in New York City.

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With Melania Trump atthe MoMA Film Benefit Gala Honoring Baz Luhrmannin New York City.

Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

With Melania Trump at the American Ballet Theatre 68th Annual Spring Gala in New York City.

Jim Spellman via Getty Images

With Melania Trump at the opening of broadway show "A Little Night Music" in New York City.

Katy Winn via Getty Images

WithMelania Trump atMercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City.

Michael Loccisano via Getty Images

At the opening of "Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth" on broadway in New York City.

Uri Schanker via Getty Images

With Ivanka Trump at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at the Trump Doral Golf Resort & Spain Doral, Florida.

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Visiting "Extra" studios in New York City.

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Arriving ata campaign event in Mesa, Arizona.

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Entering a taping of "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" in New York City.

The Washington Post via Getty Images

Showing his golf course to David Charles (L) and Pete Bevacqua of PGA America in Sterling, Virginia.

Julie Dermansky via Getty Images

At a campaign event in Mobile, Alabama.

TIMOTHY A. CLARY via Getty Images

WithKanye West at Trump Tower in New York City.

DON EMMERT via Getty Images

With Melania Trump at a New Year's Eve Party at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

At his first address to a joint session of Congress in Washington, D.C.

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'Many People' Say Donald Trump's Style Evolution Is Tremendous - HuffPost

CHICAGO, June 30, 2017 As one airman took the sitting volleyball court at McCormick Place here for practice before the 2017 Department of Defense Warrior Games, he reflected on how the games have changed since he began competing in 2011.

I was on the original Air Force team in Colorado Springs, [Colorado], Air Force Tech. Sgt. Chris DAngelo said. In his first games, he said, he competed in any sport he could. I shot, played volleyball, basketball and track. I was doing just about everything. You were just worn down.

Things have changed for the Warrior Games, said D'Angelo, a facility management, pavements and equipment specialist with the 819th Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer Squadron out of Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana. "Now, we just have so many more people to help carry the load," he said.

The teams have grown from about 12 athletes in those early days to as many as 50, so more people can be put where they are the strongest in their respective sports, D'Angelo said, adding that during the first Warrior Games, the athletes had to drive themselves to each event, and there was just one van shuttling the athletes to each event. The games are now very structured, he said.

Each Warrior Games has gotten more organized as it went along and more people bought into it and supported us, D'Angelo said. Its been amazing to see that transition, to see how much its grown, to see how much support and how many people just want to help us compete and get better, from teammates to coaches to volunteers to outside organizations.

He said the best part about the Warrior Games, both then and now, is that they're about recovery through sports.

Winning is an added bonus, D'Angelo said, "but helping your fellow teammates out is the bigger picture. And if that gets them one step closer to recovering and meeting their new normal, then thats what we want to do."

Why He Competes

DAngelo joined the Air Force in February 2000 and has served 17 years on active duty, with 81 combat missions in Iraq. He has post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury from an improvised explosive device blast during his deployment to Iraq in February 2008. Though his sister, cousin and two aunts served in the Air Force, DAngelo said he joined the Air Force because of his grandfather, Jack Penrose, who also served in the Air Force.

I looked up to him as a big part of my life so I trusted his judgement, and I did it for him more than anything, he said. I stayed in because I loved it and ended up doing it for me, but he was the reason I joined.

As he earned gold, silver and bronze medals over the years -- gold in the 1500-meter run in 2011, 2012 and 2014 and gold in 2011 and silver in 2012 for sitting volleyball -- he said his greatest pleasure was seeing his grandfathers face in the stands as he was competing.

It was awesome to see his face, seeing me get back into competitions, being active, happy and normal again after everything I was going through, just to see that joy on my face and to see the joy I brought him and to be able to keep doing it, DAngelo said. It was just an amazing experience.

He said after he received his first medals, his grandparents hugged and congratulated him.

It just made me feel amazing because I made him proud, he said. And at the end of the day, that was always my goal, I just wanted to make him proud.

DAngelo said he also wouldnt be here today if it hadnt been for the love and support of his wife of 11 years, Chanda, and his children, Chance, 22, Jace, 15, and Brittyn, 6.

Theyre my rock, he said with a big smile. Everything I do is for them and without them, I wouldnt be here today. Without their support and their constant pushing me to get better, I wouldnt be here.

DAngelo will be competing in sitting volleyball and the 800-meter and 1500-meter in track.

The Department of Defense Warrior Games are taking place here today through July 8. About 265 wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans representing teams from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, U.S. Special Operations Command, United Kingdom and the Australian Defense Force are competing in shooting, archery, cycling, track and field, swimming, sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball.

Follow Shannon Collins on Twitter @CollinsDoDNews

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Airman Reflects on Warrior Games' Evolution, Growth - Department of Defense

The fossilized teeth of Coronodon havensteini (Credit: New York Institute of Technology)

If you're a fan of whales, then you probably already known that some of the largest ones feed mainly on tiny crustaceans known as krill. They do so by lunging forward and filling their mouths with water, then straining the krill out of that water as they expel it, using fibrous plates in their mouth called baleen. Now, scientists claim to have come a step closer to understanding how that baleen came to be.

Although there are currently both toothed and baleen whales, the fossil record indicates that the prehistoric ancestors of today's baleen whales just had teeth. Even now, baleen whales pass through a phase in which they start developing teeth while still in the womb, but then stop and grow baleen instead.

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This means that at some point in their evolution, baleen whales transitioned from catching larger prey by catching it with their teeth, to filtering smaller prey out of the water. What hasn't been clear is whether they used their teeth to filter-feed, or instead went through a toothless stage of sucking prey down whole, before later evolving baleen.

That's where Coronodon havensteini comes in.

A type of mysticete a toothed prehistoric precursor to baleen whales it lived about 30 million years ago, in a period between that of purely toothed whales and the appearance of the first modern baleen whales. Its fossilized remains were discovered in the early 2000s by scuba diver Mark Havenstein, while exploring South Carolina's Wando River. In a recent study conducted by the New York Institute of Technology, associate professors Jonathan Geisler and Brian Beatty led a team that examined its teeth.

One of the things they discovered was that as compared to other ancient whales, its molars were unusually large about the size of an adult human's palm. Unlike its front teeth, which were presumably used to snag prey, they showed no evidence of having performed shearing or cutting. Wear was visible, however, on cusps bordering openings between them.

"The transition from teeth to baleen is widely contested, but our research indicates that ancient toothed whales relied on the spaces between their complex and enormous teeth for filtering," says Geisler. "It appears that over millions of years, the teeth were retained until baleen became sufficiently large and complex to take over the role of filter feeding."

Source: New York Institute of Technology

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Fossilized teeth provide clues to evolution of whales - New Atlas

Canadian football is a game built on stars. Those guys you see on all the flashy television game promos and on billboards around your town, theyre how teams hope to get you to games. We connect with stars because we want something to cheer for or against. With so much player movement in the CFL off-season we want someone consistent and known to us.

The Edmonton Eskimos built a core of those stars over the last couple of seasons that any fan would be right to welcome onto their teams roster tomorrow. The smooth talking, big play receiver in Adarius Bowman. The elusive and explosive Derel Walker who played a perfect Robin to Bowmans batman in 2016 and the 9-5 lunch pail linebacker who you could set your watch to in J.C. Sherritt.

On Saturday night on the road in Vancouver the Eskimos displayed the ever important ability to evolve. A capability which just might make them a contender in the West Division.

Duke Williams was one of Mike Reillys favourite targets last week (Jimmy Jeong/CFL.ca)

Derel Walker left for the NFL this off-season. Duke Williams had four catches for 110 yards and a touchdown.

J.C. Sherrit went down early with a season ending achilles injury. Korey Jones stepped in and played admirably with six tackles.

Adarius Bowman was held to two catches for 13 yards. Brandon Zylstra exploded into 2017 by leading the CFL in receiving yardage with 152 in Week 1.

Hell, even Cory Greenwood the prized free agent linebacker who went down early in camp wasnt in uniform which apparently just opened the door for Adam Konar to make seven tackles on defence, two on special teams and pick up a quarterback sack for good measure.

If you would have told me a month ago the Eskimos would have two backup linebackers playing, Derel Walker nowhere to be seen and Adarius Bowman had as many catches as John White and only two more receiving yards than Calvin McCarty I would have predicted Edmonton took a beating. Especially with the knowledge they were playing a revamped BC Lions squad with a talented young quarterback in Jonathon Jennings ready to take the next step in his development.

That didnt happen.

The Eskimos evolved, they kept their cool which seems to be a Jason Maas team quality and found ways to be successful.

The Eskimos offence led the CFL during Week 1 in terms of run/pass play calling balance with 39 per cent of their play selection being of the ground and pound variety and most important of all, they didnt ask Mike Reilly to be Superman.

Now lets get one thing straight, Mike Reilly can be a super hero any day of the week, hes that good, but nothing signals desperation more than a team seeing what they used to rely on leave or be nullified by a defensive game plan and respond by putting it all on the quarterback.

The Eskimos avoided that cliche mistake Saturday and I think it got them a win.

Reilly would finish with just twenty completions. Yet another stat that would suggest the Eskimos probably lost the game and scored under ten points, but that wasnt true. It was a managed game plan by a veteran quarterback and a savvy coaching staff who clearly had a plan to grind the clock, be balanced and find creative ways to get everyone, not just Bowman, the ball.

If Edmonton can harness Saturday nights performance as their mentality moving forward they could be a difference maker in the West again this season. Lost in the excitement and shuffle of having football back is just how important winning on the road against a playoff team like the BC Lions could be down the road for seeding and home field.

We have a long way to go until we get into that discussion and throughout the season Edmonton will inevitably face periods of instability at a variety of positions.

For now, all that matters to the Eskimos is the quiet confidence of two men charged as leaders of the Green and Gold on game day, Mike Reilly and Jason Maas.

More here:

Ferguson: Evolution is Esks' offence greatest strength - CFL.ca

The firewall market has changed drastically over the past 10 years, and now it's ready for the next evolution.

Fortinet CEO Ken Xie said he has watched the market evolve from when he started NetScreen in 1996, pairing together software and hardware for an ASIC-based network firewall and VPN appliance, to the end of 2000 when he launched an anti-virus firewall to focus on content and application security as part of a company that ultimately would become Fortinet.

Fortinet itself has evolved alongside the market, moving beyond the firewall two years ago to secure the entire infrastructure instead of just looking inside the network connections. Xie called that transition the "third generation" of network security, comparing it to getting TSA pre-checked for a flight instead of just needing a ticket and a security X-ray scan.

[Related:Q&A: Fortinet CEO Xie On Why The Company Will Beat Cisco, Palo Alto Networks And Check Point As The Network Security Market Evolves]

Now, Xie said the firewall market is preparing for the fourth generation, one that has technology companies across the enterprise infrastructure building in security from the beginning and leveraging automation to improve security capabilities and management.

"We're hoping that we can build a foundation for the next generation of the internet and networking based on content and applications," Xie said. "In order to protect the data today, just to look on the network side is no longer enough. It has to be more broad than that," he said.

To get there, firewall manufacturers have to evolve around five key areas, Xie said: detection, prevention, integration, performance and lower cost. Xie said few firewall vendors to date have checked the boxes in all those areas.

With that vision in mind, Xie said Fortinet has been repositioning its business over the past two years. The culmination of that transformation was the launch a year ago of the company's Security Fabric strategy, which looks to provide a security framework for the company's broad set of offerings.

"Today is not only about network security anymore," Xie said. "It's from the network, to Wi-Fi access, to the application, to email, web applications, and to the cloud. Network is still a major piece, but the other pieces need to be working together as well."

Fortinet has grown significantly during the past two years, with more than 300,000 customers, 3 million FortiGate devices deployed globally, and sales up 20 percent year over year in the most recent quarter to $340.6 million. Earnings also were up for the most recent quarter, from $2.1 million in 2016 to $10.7 million in the first quarter this year.

Continue reading here:

The Firewall Evolution: Fortinet CEO Says Security Vendor Prepping For The Fourth Generation Of Firewall Market - CRN

At its peak, 24 players crowd around the tarima, a make-shift platform in front of the Aratani Theatre at the Japanese American Culture and Community Center on June 3 for a pre-show fandango, the extended jam session fueled by son jarocho music. Playing a melody in unison on requintos and jaranas (small guitars with four and eight strings, respectively), the musicians watch as two dancers stepped on top of the plywood and set off a percussive, tap-like dance that provided the backbeat of the son (the music). That rhythm is infectious, spreading through the crowd. Even on the first hot day of the summer, a couple of crowd members attempt the dance, cheered on by what was an audience, but now feels like a part of the party.

Despite the thousands of miles between downtown Los Angeles and the Mexican state of Veracruz, this fandango wasnt worlds away from how Cesar Castro, lead singer and founding member of Cambalache, the evenings headlining act, was first introduced to the traditions of son jarocho.

Cambalacheand friends performing at the Aratani Theatre | Erick Iiguez

[My first fandango] was very warm, very human, very friendly, he recalls. The people from the house who were hosting the fandango, they noticed that I hadnt eaten, and they just told me, sit down and eat. I felt very protected and very safe.

That warm feeling of community has been one of the constants of son jarocho, even as the genres music and traditions have spread, migrating from Veracruz to Mexico City and, in the hands of skilled practitioners like Castro, to Los Angeles.

A direct translation of son jarocho may come closest to Veracruz sound. The style started in the eastern Mexican state, and the music contains the influences one might expect from a region with one of the most important ports during the colonial era; the stringed instrumentation owes to Baroque, while the time signature and rhythm is indebted to Africa. The percussion comes primarily from dancers, stepping rhythmically on top of a small platform (the tarima).

Accordingly, it is difficult to separate son jarocho from the fandango, the gathering so central to the culture. Sones, the long-form jams played at a fandango, can go for ten minutes or more (at JACCC, the pre-show fandango consisted of two sones over a 35 minute-period), with pairs of dancers tagging in and out, stepping onto the platform to help propel the music forward. In the beginning, that was as far as the music made it: a folk art made to bring friends and family together with sones passed from family to family and town to town by word of mouth.

But eventually, music became both an industry and an art, and the city came calling.

When the music started to become commercialized in the 1930s, thats when you started to see musicians play sones that were three minutes long, because now they had these opportunities to make money and move into urban areas, says Alexandro Hernandez, who earned his PhD in ethnomusicology at UCLA and is a member of jarocho/futurist group Aparato!. The music started to get taken out of the context of the fandango setting, which wasnt even a performance it was outside at someones house.

The golden age of Mexican cinema put son jarocho and the fandango front and center, with artists like Andres Huesca, a harpist, relocating to Mexico City, now with the ability to make a living playing the music. Huesca eventually made the move to Los Angeles (he passed away in the late 50s in the San Fernando Valley) and is credited by many as bringing son jarocho with him, performing at major venues like the Million Dollar Theater in downtown L.A.

Aparato! performing in Peru | Romina San Martin

But son jarochos formal introduction to wider America likely came in 1958, when Ritchie Valens recorded a rock-and-roll version of La Bamba, one of the older sones, with verses thought to date back to the 1800s. The plugged-in cover peaked at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was one of the first rock songs sung in Spanish to cross over to American audiences, its existence a shot across the bow of a white-dominated culture.

The time that it emerged here was McCarthyism, and legal segregation, Hernandez says. The places I grew up [Hernandez is originally from Texas], 30 or 40 years before me, signs said No Dogs and No Mexicans. I think anything that didnt fit into the status quo, at least to the people on the status quo, that was already resistance itself, whether the musicians articulated it that way or not.

La Bamba would figure again in son jarochos journey in the late 80s, when Los Lobos recorded its version of the son for the soundtrack to the movie of the same name. By then, the music had become not just a tradition on its own, but a part of the musical DNA of several acts. Son jarocho influences, especially through the jarana and requinto, can be seen in the pan-Mexican sound of Jarana Beat, the rock and beat music of Las Cafeteras and the electronic assisted mash-up of Aparato!.

Its like being bilingual musically, Hernandez says of his musics multicultural influences We can fuse and take it as far as we want to, but we can also show up to a fandango and hold it down. Its not like we dont know the traditional verses some of us are really good at it. Theres that code switching that exists with us as well.

Cesar Castro performing at the Aratani Theatre | Erick Iiguez

In order to add to the tradition, though, one has to understand it. Thats where artists like Castro come in; the master luthier and sonero has taught students in the art of son jarocho in Veracruz, Mexico City, Los Angeles and everywhere in between.

Im not trying to repeat the tradition as it is in Veracruz, but we need to keep the most important pillars of what makes son jarocho what we like, he says. If we lose that, then it goes off the stage and thats it. We have more people trying to learn the tradition and trying to learn the social dynamic that comes with the fandango than performers.

On the evening of June 3, the performers threaten to outnumber the audience at the Cambalache show, even in a near-capacity Aratani. Guests like Hernandez and Louie Perez of Los Lobos round out the numbers on stage. Non-traditional elements, like a rapped verse by emcee Maya Jupiter on an original song, fold into the music seamlessly. And as the show draws to a close, the band and associates are joined on stage by their children, playing bass, dancing on the tarimas, or even singing.

Son Jarocho performers at the Aratani Theatre | Erick Iiguez

For an evening, it might have felt like those outdoor fandangos in Veracruz. But simply reminiscing about home isnt on Castros agenda.

Im not tied to Veracruz, he says. Im expanding Veracruz. Its not about moving to L.A. to become something different. Its growing up as a human being, understanding the world a little broader. It is vital, I need that connection, but its an extension.

Top Image:Cambalacheand friends performing at the Aratani Theatre | Erick Iiguez

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From Veracruz to East LA: The Evolution of Son Jarocho - KCET

GIF

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is going on right now, which means we get to watch some tasty, tasty delights race up a British driveway. One of those delish numbers was supposed to be a Ford RS200 Evolution 2, until it crashed directly into some hay bales.

And before you go HAR HAR HAR I AM THE GREATEST DRIVER IN THE WORLD WHO EVER CRASHED THAT CAR SUXXXXXXXXXX Y0, the driver in question is named Pat Doran, and hes a four-time British rallycross champion.

The man knows what hes doing, is all Im saying. Crashes happen to the best of us, and Pat seems to be in good spirits about the whole thing.

The car, on the other hand, isnt in such good spirits. But thats okay, because its an RS200 Evolution 2. Ill let Hemmings explain what the difference is between the regular, already-legendary Rs200, and the Evolution models:

Evolution models received a 2.1-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, rated at a minimum of 600 horsepower in stock trim, though the use of larger turbos, bigger intercoolers, a variable-boost controller and updated tuning could produce outputs as high as 900 horsepower. Torque could be split three different ways, including 100-percent rear; 63-percent rear and 37-percent front; and 50:50, depending upon road conditions and driver preference. Performance of Evolution models, even in stock form, was impressive, with the run from 0-60 MPH taking just three seconds and the run from 0-100 MPH taking a mere five.

Lets see you try to drive that beast up a hill.

(You cant, youd probably die.)

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is streaming their stuff all weekend on our Facebook page. Follow our Facebook stuff and you can watch it all weekend. FOR FREE.

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Watch A Legendary Ford RS200 Evolution Eat It At Goodwood - Jalopnik

Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library

Viruses have evolved to invade the cells of plants, animals and other organisms.

Viruses and their hosts have been at war for more than a billion years. This battle has driven a dramatic diversification of viruses and of host immune responses. Although the earliest antiviral systems have long since vanished, researchers may now have recovered remnants of one of them embedded, like a fossil, in human cells.

A protein called Drosha, which helps to control gene regulation in vertebrates, also tackles viruses, researchers report today in Nature1. They suggest that Drosha and the family of enzymes, called RNAse III, it belongs to were the original virus fighters in a single-celled ancestor of animals and plants. You can see the footprint of RNAse III in the defence systems through all kingdoms of life, says Benjamin tenOever, a virologist at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York and lead author of the paper.

Plants and invertebrates deploy RNAse III proteins in an immune response called RNA interference, or RNAi. When a virus infects a host, the proteins slice the invaders RNA into chunks that prevent it from spreading. But vertebrates take a different approach, warding off viruses with powerful interferon proteins while Drosha and a related protein regulate genes in the nucleus.

But in 2010, tenOever witnessed an odd phenomenon: Drosha appeared to leave the nucleus of human cells whenever a virus invaded2. That was weird and made us curious, tenOever says. His team later confirmed the finding, and saw that Drosha demonstrates the same behaviour in cells from flies, fish and plants.

To test the hypothesis that Drosha leaves the nucleus to combat viruses in vertebrates, the researchers infected cells that had been genetically engineered to lack Drosha with a virus. They found that the viruses replicated faster in these cells. The team then inserted Drosha from bacteria into fish, human and plant cells. The protein seemed to stunt the replication of viruses, suggesting that this function dates back to an ancient ancestor of all the groups. Drosha is like the beta version of all antiviral defence systems, tenOever says.

tenOever speculates that RNAse III proteins originally helped bacteria to maintain their own RNA, and that bacteria later deployed the proteins against the genetic material of viruses. He points out the occurrence of RNAse III proteins in immune responses throughout the tree of life. For instance, some CRISPR systems, a virus-fighting response in archaea and bacteria, include RNAse III proteins. Plants and invertebrates deploy the proteins in RNAi. And although vertebrates rely on interferons for viral control, this study now shows that Drosha still chases after viruses, in the same way a pet Golden Retriever a dog bred to retrieve waterfowl fetches a stick as if it were a fallen duck.

Donald Court, a geneticist at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Maryland, calls the finding cool, but he doesnt buy the evolutionary scenario. RNAse III is involved in many things, in almost all domains of life, he explains. He sees no reason to think that one antiviral system evolved into the next. For instance, he says, the fact that one CRISPR system includes RNAse III whereas others dont suggests that the proteins were probably deployed acquired independently and not inherited.

Its a really intriguing story, and the data are good, but youre talking about processes that happened over millennia so its hard to know whether its true, says Bryan Cullen, a virologist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Cullen predicts that the paper will prompt researchers who study RNA and infectious diseases to test tenOevers hypothesis. The immune system has been under tremendous pressure to evolve as viruses overcome defences, and this paper suggests that RNAse III has played an important role in that evolution, he says. Its like what the Red Queen said to Alice in Through the Looking-Glass: you have to keep running to stay in one place.

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A billion-year arms race against viruses shaped our evolution - Nature - Nature.com

Signs of altruism selfless concern for others have been seen in chimpanzees, giving scientists cause to believe that this could be the basis of modern-day human cooperation.

Until this point, it has been difficult to pinpoint such behavior in animals closest to humans evolutionary makeup, as anything akin to selflessness had only been noted in rats in the past. However, in a recent experiment, it appeared that chimps would be willing to give up a treat if it meant that another unrelated chimp could be helped. In addition, it was found that chimps in the wild would risk going on patrols and standing guard even for those not of their own kin.

As Science Magazine reported, the first study was formulated around a sharing game that required the chimps be put into pairs and given options for receiving or not receiving treats. After this, one chimp was trained to give up their treat completely, while the second chimp had the option to simply eat their own treat or pull a rope and reward the both of them. At least 75% of the time, the second chimp would pull the rope, rewarding both of them and showing appreciation for the first chimp whod given its treat for the pure reason of that chimp having taken a risk.

To take the experiment one step further, researchers wanted to see if the chimps would pay their partners back simply just for having been shown kindness and giving up their treat in the first place. Results showed that the chimps did, in fact, feel compelled to frequently reward the first chimp for its perceived selflessnesseven at their own expense, as reported by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Though nothing is definitive yet, some researchers believe that this could be the first key to unlocking the psychological phenomenon that compels humans to cooperate with large, diverse communities or determine what it is that makes them reject that kind of cooperation.

Top photo by foshie / Flickr, CC BY 2.0

Natalie Wickstrom is a freelance writer based in Athens, Georgia. She most likely wrote this piece to the tune of a movie score whilst chewing gum.

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Chimpanzee Interactions Lead To New Clues About Human Evolution - Paste Magazine