Mass Extinction

Mass Extinction – Unsolved 

Over 90% of all organisms that lived on the planet Earth are extinct and as new species evolve to take place of the ever changing ecological place, the older ones have faded away though the rate of extinction is not constant. In the last 500 million years around 50 to over 90 percent of the species on the Earth seemed to have disappeared with great speed.

Although these mass extinctions seemed to be deadly events, they have given way to new life forms to emerge in the planet. Dinosaurs showed up after one of the biggest mass extinction events on Earth and the Permian-Triassic extinction around 250 million years back. The mass extinctions which were most studied between the Cretaceous and Paleogene period around 65 million years back, had killed off the dinosaurs making space for mammals to diversify and evolve rapidly.

 The reason of these mass extinctions event seemed unsolved though the prime suspects for the cause of these mass extinctions events are volcanic eruptions and the impacts of large asteroid or comets in several cases.Both are the cause of ejecting tons of debris in the atmosphere, darkening of the skies for at least a month on end and deprived of sunlight, plants and plant eating creatures would definitely die quickly.

Extinction & Global Warming 

Moreover the space rocks together with volcanoes could also be responsible in giving out toxic and heat trapping gases which once the dust got settled would enable runaway global warming. The most closely linked to the Cretaceous extinction event is an extra-terrestrial impact where a huge crater off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula dated about 65 million years back had coincided with the extinction and global warming which could have been fuelled by volcanic eruptions at the Deccan Flats in India could have aggravated the event.

Whatever could be the reason, dinosaurs together with about half of the species on the planet were extinct. Regarding the Triassic-Jurassic extinction, massive floods of lava came from the central Atlantic magmatic province around 200 million years back where around 20% of the marine families were extinct together with most mammal like creature as well as other large amphibians and non-dinosaur archosaurs. The impact of the asteroid could be another possibility of the extinction and the tell-tale crater is yet to be identified.

Heading – Sixth Mass Extinction

About 250 million years ago, the deadliest of the lot was the Permian-Triassic extinction where over 90% of all the species suffered. Several scientists were of the opinion that an asteroid or a comet could have triggered the massive die-off, where again no existence of a crater was found.

Another possibility was the flood volcanism from the Siberian Traps which is a large igneous province in Russia and the impact triggered volcanism. About 440 million years back, the Ordovician-Silurian extinction involved huge glaciations which locked much of the world’s water as ice causing a drop in sea levels which took its hardest toll on marine organisms like shelled brachiopods, eel-like conodonts as well as the trilobites.

Presently scientists are of the opinion that the evidences are heading for a sixth mass extinctions and the blame for it, probably the fastest in Earth’s history, lies on humans. By 2100, human activities like pollution, clearance of land together with overfishing could drive more than half of the world’s marine as well as land species towards extinction.

Can Classical Music Make Us Smarter?

Image credit:blog.lib.umn.edu

Classical Music Developed in 18th Century

Classical music is usually seen as a choice of the refined, music for clever people having stylish taste and since many tend to listen to classical music regularly to relax, there have been claims that listening and playing classical music could do more than entertaining. Research has recommended that the music of Mozart could boost the power of the brains enabling us to grow more intelligent. Suzy Klein, writer and broadcaster visits the Royal College of Music Museum to explain toher, power of classical music and find out if it has made her smarter.

Classical music developed in the 18th century due to a way of writing music down which was accepted all over Europe. It not only enabled complex musical instruction on what to play, how to play and who played it but also helped to preserve music for the future generations. Classical has its own term like symphony, sonata and concerto which baffles those who are untrained. Music tends to have its own language with strange symbols and musicians need to be able to read these musical notations prior to picking up an instrument to play a piece of music.

Classical Music Associated with Intelligence

Plenty of practice is essential in order to play classical music of good standard. The reason to think that classical music is associated with intelligence is due to a study dubbed the Mozart Effect. Researcher carried out an experiment in 1993 and volunteers were divided into two groups with each group asked to perform complex origami style tasks.

Each group, in the experiment were asked to listen to different music and had their speed and efficiency measured while carrying out the task. It was found that the group which had listened to Mozart’s music excelled in the task and their IQs boosted for the duration of time they had performed the task. The discovery was published by the researchers in the respected science journal – Nature which unexpected started a phenomenon.

The classical music soon unlocked the doors of untapped reserves of the mind and gave way to the Mozart Effect. There were several issues that came up when other researchers struggled to duplicate the Mozart Effectwith some who produced a similar effect but not with Mozart’s music.

The Mozart Effect 

The Mozart Effect could have been generally de-bunkedbut with science’s attraction with music together with its effect on the brain led to a sincerely fascinating encounter where playing music was at the forefront. Boosting our brains with music may not depend on listening to it but in learning to play it and learning a musical instrument had indication of sharpening the learning skills, improve our motor coordination as well as our memories.
Besides teaching new useful skills, playing a musical instrument could also permanently activate our brains. Scan done on professional musician’s brains have indicated that there has been great development in areas which involve sound processing, coordination and movement when compared to non-musicians.

Though there is no confirmation that musicians could be more intelligent due to playing an instrument or singing, it is clear that musicians’ brains have improved for the better by their dedication and love for music. Often people tend to enjoy listening and playing music which enables them to relax and discover more about themselves. Music does help to change the overall mind set.

Mimizuka

Mimuzuka – Memorial Constructed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi 

Mimuzuka is the memorial;ToyotomiHideyoshi had constructed to hold the ears and noses of some of the 38,000 Koreans who had been slain during the 7th year war fought between the Korean and the Japanese.

It literally means Hill of Ears or Ear Mound. The reason for the memorial which was dedicated in 1597 is not known and some say Hideyoshi wanted to honour the Korean soldiers who were slain while others say that he meant it as a warning for Japan’s enemies not to resist conquest.

According to tradition, Japanese warriors had to return with the heads of their slain enemies though the distances involved between the two made this unreasonable and hence they cut off their ears and noses as a confirmation of their deeds to receive rewards.

Their facial parts were placed in barrels of brine and returned to the Imperial capital and due to several barrels which were discarded; it will never be clear how many Koreans perished in Hideyoshi’s invasions. Some historians have made an estimate between 40,000 and a million on the Korean alone.

Ultimately Hideyoshi’s war seemed meaningless and Korea was abandoned after his death. Towards 1970, the Korean government called for the levelling off the mound which according to them meant nothing more than Japanese cruelty and brutality.

Mound Topped with Sanskrit Inscribed Stone Stupa

The mound was topped with a Sanskrit inscribed stone stupa and is next to a nondescript playground on a street leading to the tori gate of the shrine where the mound and the shrine form ironic neighbours for the man who was the cause of the death of thousands of Koreans and the Buddhist burial site which was dedicated to them and the Toyotomi Hideyoshi is enshrined at this place.

Mimizuka’s original name was Hanazuka or Nose Mound since this was the limit which denoted a dead Korean whether he was a soldier or a hapless non-combatant. According to Tadashi Takahashi of the Nippon Christian Academy Kansai Seminar House states `the reason that the grave was called `ear grave’, though there were more noses than ears is the good proof of Japanese government’s cunning strategy since the image of cutting off one’s nose was much more cruel or inhuman than the image of cutting off ears’.

He further claimed that the Japanese Government tried to portray Mimi-zuka, in the early 20th century, as a symbol of Hideyoshi’s mercy for mourning the souls for the Koreans though he dismissed this as government propaganda to create Hideyoshi as a merciful hero.

Mound to Stay in Japan 

As per the New York Times article, some Japanese debated that Koreans and Chinese greatly exaggerated the scale of the suffering and in any case atrocities were simply an unfortunate part of any war. At one point of time, there was a plaque in front of the ear mound which read `One cannot say that cutting off ears or noses were so atrocious by the standard of the time’.The article further explains that the Koreans had different views on what had to be done with the mound.

While some of the officials of Park Chung Hee, the dictator of South Korea in the 1970s, urged that the Ear Mound be levelled since it was shameful for Korean, there were others who suggested that the mound be relocated to Korea to soothe the spirits of the dead. Most of them were of the opinion that the mound should stay in Japan as a reminder of past savagery and Japan has been treating the Ear Mound as a national landmark and were unwilling to return it.

Hoboglyphs

Hoboglyphs– A System of Symbols or Codes

To manage with the difficulty of hobo life, a system of symbols or code was developed by hobos who would write these codes with coal or chalk in order to provide directions, information and warning to the other hobos.

Hobo is used interchangeably with `bum’ or `drifter’, though hobos was a type of homeless traveller. Hobo used to travel around for the purpose of work and in every new place they visited; they were forced to leave home for the purpose of jobs. Bums usually avoided work and preferred drinking heavily while `tramps’ only worked when the need arose.

Due to their willingness to work on jobs which were rejected by others, they followed a strict moral code where they were tolerated by some and life as a hobo was dangerous and difficult. In order to help each other they developed their own secret language to direct the other hobos and help them in finding food, water or work.

The Hobo Code thus added a small element of safety whenever they travelled to a new place. They played an important role in the history of America which was often overlooked. They comprises of a group of nomadic workers who moved in the country from early 20th century, through the Great Depression and took their work wherever they travelled, never staying too long at any particular place.

Hoboglyphs-Leaving Notes Behind for Other Hobos

In their travels, hobos learned to leave behind notes for each other, providing information on some of the best places to camp or locate a meal or even on dangers of what lies ahead. The unique Hobo Code became known to the brotherhood of freight train riders and then used by all to keep the community of travelling workers safe, well fed and in work.

The pictographic Hobo Code is an amazing system of symbols which is understood among the hobo community. Since they were not welcomed, they were often illiterate and the messages left behind for them had to be easy for them to understand though they looked like random markings to others with an element of secrecy.

The features of the code had certain elements which appear in more than one simple symbol like the circles and arrows which made up for the directional symbols while hash marks or crossed line meant danger of some kind.

Cryptic & Difficult

Most of the hoboglyphs seems to be cryptic and difficult for people other than the hobo community to understand even if it was spotted. Diverse symbols in the Hobo code were found scrawled in chalk or coal all over the country near rail yards or in places where hobos were likely to meet and the purpose was to reach out to them and their community.

They helped the hobos against authorities whenever they would crack down on vagrants and save them from any trouble. In due course of time the hobo subculture declined, the reason being that the community were intricately connected with the American railway. It was very difficult to hop on and off on a freight train unnoticed than it was many years ago and hence rail-loving hobos steadily reduced in number.

Linear Motion Systems

Linear Motion Systems in Schools

The linear motion systems (LMS) are designed for various applications that include the handling of materials technology, as well as the performance of various light tasks in schools. The LMS is composed of various drive configurations, as well as the various control systems used in different equipments in schools. In this paper, the use of linear motion systems to enhance the automation of classes and in addressing the issues that hinder learning outcomes.

The linear motion systems (see also http://www.progressiveautomations.com/table-lifts) are equipped with various drive variants that can be used in running projectors, opening and closing of doors, regulating the lighting and temperatures, among other features. The LMS are also ready to mount, and they are supplied with the controller and motor combinations. They are critical in performing tasks such as adjusting the position of the projector, opening and closing of windows in response to the external environmental conditions.

Linear motion 

The mechanical systems in LMS are combined to form more complex systems that play an essential role in automating schools. For instance, a camera that is used in turning on a camera can be fixed with a micro switch that can be used in turning on and off the lights.

In conclusion, linear motion systems can be used in schools to facilitate the automation of classes and other facilities in schools. This is attained by combining two or mechanical linear systems to form a complex system. This complex system can be used in performing multiple tasks such as switching on the projectors and cameras and regulating the lighting systems from a single control centre.

Extraterrestrials

Extraterrestrial life – Exobiology/Astrobiology

Extraterrestrial life is known as exobiology or astrobiology though astrobiology also considers Earth-based life in its astronomical context. It is life which does not originate from Earth and is also known as alien life.

As hypothetical type of life that ranges from simple bacteria like organism to far more complex being than human and the possibility of the existence of viruses that may exist extraterrestrially has also been anticipated.

Several scientists consider extraterrestrial life reasonable though there is no evidence of its existence and from mid-20th century there has been continuous search for signs of extraterrestraial life from radios that have been used to identify possible extraterrestrial signs, to telescope for potential habitable extra solar planets.

Scientists David Brin, Elon Musk, Frank Drake, Geoffrey Marcy and Seth Shostak, on February 13, 2015, at a convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, discussed Active SETI and if transmitting message to possible intelligent extraterrestrial in to Cosmos, was a good notion.

One result seemed to be a statement signed by several that a `worldwide scientific, political as well as humanitarian discussion could take place before a message was sent.

Alien Life – Microorganisms Exist in Solar System 

It is considered that alien life like microorganisms has been assumed to exist in solar system as well as in the universe and this assumption depends on the vast size as well as consistent physical laws of the observable universe. According to scientists Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking, it could be unlikely for life to be unable to exist anywhere else rather than Earth and this debate is personified in the Copernican principle stating that the Earth does not inhabit a unique place in the Universe and the Mediocrity principle suggesting that there is nothing unique about life on Earth.

Life could have occurred independently at several places all over the universe or alternatively it could have formed less seldom and spread by meteoroids, asteroids as well as other small bodies in the solar system between habitable planets, the process of which is known as panspermia. Some of the bodies in the solar system are considered to have the potential for an environment which could have extraterrestrial life especially those with a possibility of subsurface oceans.

Image Credit:Bio-Pro.de

Lack of Habitable Environments – Extremophile Microorganisms

However due to lack of habitable environments further than the Earth if life is discovered elsewhere in the solar system, astrobiologists recommend that it could be more likely in the form of extremophile microorganisms. Some are of the opinion that planets Mars and Venus together with several natural satellites which circle Jupiter and Saturn as well as comets could possess slot environments where probably life could exist.

 A subsurface marine environment on Jupiter’s moon, Europa could be the ideal habitat in the solar system beyond the Earth for multicellular organisms. Panspermia recommends that life somewhere in the solar system could have some common origin and if extraterrestrial life could be found on elsewhere in the solar system, it could have been created from Earth like life on Earth could have been seeded from exogenesis.

Living Interplanetary Flight Experiments which was developed by the Planetary Society that was launched in 2011 was intended to test some aspects of these hypotheses though it was destroyed together with the carrier Fobos-Grunt mission.

Psilocybin Mushroom

Psilocybin Mushrooms – Psychedelic Mushrooms 

Psilocybin mushroom known as psychedelic mushrooms are those types of mushrooms which contain psychedelic mixtures of psilocybin and psilocin and the shared colloquial terms include magic mushrooms and shrooms. Its use is primarily as an entheogen as well as recreational drug, the effects of which includes euphoria, closed and open eye visuals, altered thinking processes, synaesthesia, and an altered sense of time together with spiritual experiences.

The Biological genera comprising psilocybin mushrooms are inclusive of Copelandia, Galerina, Gymnopilus, Inocybe Panaeolus, Mycena, Pluteus, Pholiotina and Psilocybe with over 100 species that are classified in the genus Psilocybe. These Psilocybin mushrooms have probably been used since prehistoric times and could have been portrayed in rock art as well as pre-Contact historical materials and several cultures have utilised these mushrooms in religious rites.

In the case of modern societies, they have been used for spiritual reasons and recreational purpose like mood lifting as well as psychedelic effects. The mushroom is considered to be one of the several over 100 species which are psychoactive causing hallucination and other trippy symptoms besides euphoria and these magic mushrooms have been used for long in Central American religious ceremonies which are now part of the black market in drugs in United States and several other countries and are considered as a controlled substance.

Psilocybin – Illegal in Several Countries 

Psilocybin is illegal in many countries and is considered a Schedule 1 drug with `high potential for abuse with no legitimate medical purpose in United States, according to the Department of Justice. The U.S. National Institute of Drug abuse states that long term negative effects like flashbacks, impaired memory and a risk of psychiatric illness have been defined in case reports and some individuals have been having frightening experiences when they are on psilocybin, experiencing terror reactions which could cause harm to others as well as to themselves.

According to David Nutt, profession of neuro-psychopharmacology who leads the Imperial College team and formerly drug adviser to the UK government, states that a number of mental illnesses like obsessive compulsive disorder – OCD and depression are linked with excessive connectivity of the brain and the default mode network tends to get over-connected.

The over-connectivity described by Nutt causes depressed individual to get immersed into reflexion and concentrate on negative thoughts about themselves and `by disrupting that network one can release them from the depression symptoms by showing a possibility to escape those thoughts. According to Dr Robin Carhart-Harris of Imperial College, London, he states that only by losing the self, can one find the self. People tend to run away from things in order to forget but with psychedelic drugs, they are forced to confront and take a look at themselves’.

The drugs referred to by him are hallucinogens like magic mushrooms, especially the active chemicals in them, psilocybin. He states that they are in the process of identifying the biological basis of the reported mind expansion that is associated with psychedelic drugs.

Psilocybin is not Addictive 

Psilocybin is not addictive and seems interesting to researchers due to its ability to make individuals envisage the world in a different manner and the team at Imperial College have started to untangle the reason for the same.

Carhart-Harris scanned the brains of around 30 healthy volunteers and injected them with psilocybin and noticed the more primitive regions of the brains associated with emotional thinking in getting more active and the brain’s default mode network, associated with high level thinking, self-consciousness as well as introspection, which tend to get disjointed and less active.

The new research had only touched the surface of the brain and its consciousness where according to Nuttthe `brain is about organizing information as well as predicting the external world and that they think psilocybin disrupts that making it more chaotic.

People have hallucinations because instead of seeing the world as the brain expects it to be, they tend to see what the brain is doing’. This chaos could possibly treat depression as well as addiction like smoking and alcoholism which seems to be the topic of some of the earliest lessons on psychedelics in the 50s and 60s prior to the introduction of laws against drugs.

Professor Roland Griffiths from Johns Hopkins School of medicine explains that `with psilocybin, people tend to feel reorganized, after the therapy and the nature of the reorganization is that there are effects on attitudes towards addiction’.

The mechanism behind the change is not completely comprehended though the therapy is considered to increase the motivation as well as self-efficacy, instilling more confidence in the ability of the person to quit. Griffiths assumes that `the default-mode network connected to habitual pattern of behaviour, whereby decreasing activity in the system could free them to think differently and that people state that addiction is not compelling anymore’.

To Be Administered with Specialised Support as Medical Therapy 

Michael Bogenschutz of the University of New Mexico has similar small scale studies on alcoholism and has promising results with great improvements in people after they had received psilocybin instead of counselling session.

He stated that `the degree of improvement was correlated with the intensity of the subjective effects of psilocybin’. Psilocybin therapy is still way behind from being accepted on a wide scale and trails are needed to be conducted on a larger scale in controlled settings. Dr Owen Bowden-Jones of UK’s Royal College of Psychiatrists comments that `the early research is promising but further research is needed’.

According to World Health Organization, depression is said to affect over 350 million people all across the world and the present pharmaceutical method of treatment is with selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors – SSRIs like Prozac which tends to increase levels of serotonin in the brain thereby improving the moods, though SSRIs may not be effective in all cases or it could take time to show results and are generally prescribed for long periods of time to obtain the desired results.

Nutt is of the opinion that psilocybin could be a game-changer and could be used as a part of therapeutic package where mind altering and confronting nature of psychedelics could be a combination of therapy in treating people within one or two doses of treatment. He states that they had never had drugs earlier with instant effect and this could create an example in helping people in a different way of thinking which they can consider staying in.He stresses that psilocybin to be administered with specialised support as a part of medical therapy.