Antarctic Ice Halo Persistent

We slowly beef up our knowledgeof the influence of ice on the surrounding ocean.  At least, they are accumulations ofatmospheric dust and are acting as concentrators.  This results in an inevitable release of nutrients,including nitrogen, I am sure.  The surroundingocean naturally responds to the increase.

The Southern Ice Sheet was atmaximal extension and is presently contracting, yet this variation is prettyminor in terms of annual variation. 

The claim it is significant interms of the global carbon cycle is a bit of a stretch and merely reflects theobligatory bow to the gods of funding.

Antarctic icebergs play a previously unknown role in global carboncycle, climate

March 25, 2011

Image credit: NSF

(PhysOrg.com) -- In a finding that has global implications for climateresearch, scientists have discovered that when icebergs cool and dilute theseas through which they pass for days, they also raise chlorophyll levels inthe water that may in turn increase carbon dioxide absorption in the SouthernOcean.

An interdisciplinary research team supported by the National ScienceFoundation highlighted the research this month in the journal NatureGeosciences.

The research indicates that "iceberg transport and melting have arole in the distribution of phytoplankton in the Weddell Sea," which waspreviously unsuspected, said John J. Helly, director of the Laboratory forEnvironmental and EarthSciences with the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University ofCalifornia, San Diego and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Helly was the lead author of the paper, "Cooling, Dilution andMixing of Ocean Water byFree-drifting Icebergs in the Weddell Sea,"which was first published in the journal Deep-Sea Research Part II.

The results indicate that icebergs are especially likely to influencephytoplankton dynamics in an area known as "Iceberg Alley," east ofthe Antarctic Peninsula, the portion of the continent that extends northwardstoward Chile.

The latest findings add a new dimension to previous research by thesame team that altered the perception of icebergs as large, familiar, butpassive, elements of the Antarctic seascape. The team previously showed thaticebergs act, in effect, as ocean "oases" of nutrients for aquaticlife and sea birds.

The teams's research indicates that ordinary icebergs are likely tobecome more prevalent in the Southern Ocean, particularly as the Antarctic Peninsula continues a well-documented warmingtrend and ice shelves disintegrate. Research also shows that these ordinaryicebergs are important features of not only marine ecosystems, but even ofglobal carbon cycling.

"These new findings amplify the team's previous discoveries abouticebergs and confirm that icebergs contribute yet another, previouslyunsuspected, dimension of physical and biological complexity to polarecosystems," said Roberta L. Marinelli, director of the NSF's AntarcticOrganisms and Ecosystems Program.

NSF manages the U.S. Antarctic Program, through which it coordinatesall U.S.scientific research and related logistics on the southernmost continent andaboard ships in the Southern Ocean. 

The latest findings document a persistent change in physical andbiological characteristics of surface waters after the transit of an iceberg,which has important effects on phytoplankton populations, clearly demonstrating"that icebergs influence oceanic surface waters and mixing to greaterextents than previously realized," said Ronald S. Kaufmann, associateprofessor of marine science and environmental studies at the University of SanDiego and one of the authors of the paper.

The researchers studied the effects by sampling the area around a largeiceberg more than 32 kilometers (20 miles) long; the same area was surveyedagain ten days later, after the iceberg had drifted away.

After ten days, the scientists observed increased concentrations ofchlorophyll a and reduced concentrations of carbon dioxide, as compared tonearby areas without icebergs. These results are consistent with the growth ofphytoplankton and the removal of carbon dioxide from the ocean.

The new results demonstrate that icebergs provide a connection betweenthe geophysical and biological domains that directly affects the carboncycle in the Southern Ocean, Marinelli added.

In 2007, the same team published findings in thejournal Science that icebergs serve as "hotspots" for oceanlife with thriving communities of seabirds above and a web of phytoplankton, krill andfish below. At that time, the researchers reported that icebergs holdtrapped terrestrial material, which they release far out at sea as they melt, aprocess that produces a "halo effect" with significantly increasednutrients and krill out to a radius of more than three kilometers (two miles).

The new research was conducted as part of a multi-disciplinary projectthat also involved scientists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium ResearchInstitute, University of South Carolina, University of Nevada, Reno, Universityof South Carolina, Brigham Young University, and the Bigelow Laboratory forOcean Sciences.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography research biologist Maria Vernet andgraduate student Gordon Stephenson also contributed to the paper.

Provided by National Science Foundation (news : web)

Vancouver Sasquatch Report

There are many excellentSasquatch reports, hundreds in fact adding up to several thousands over the pastdecades.  This one is important becauseit adds new information and it is local for me. I know the country.

Themountains directly north of Vancouverare covered with some of the most impenetrable forests anywhere and most istrue wilderness the instant you get a hundred yards in.  A compass march of a single mile is oftensimply impossible and usually takes hours climbing over ill placed deadfalls oftrunks ten feet thick (I have done it). It is truly tough country that channels game to long establishedpathways and runs.


I should mention that Indian Arm is a branch of the fiord that includes Burrard Inlet which is Vancouver's main Harbor.  Limited road access exists into it and it is normally accessed by boat.

Herea witness is able to observe a Sasquatch at close quarters crossing a creek bed(likely flat stones near the sea) that also chooses to stop and observe them.

Thewitness made some clear observations about the nature of the creature’s hairwhich is very welcome.  It obviously issporting its summer coat that would be quite like a dog.  We confirm that the face is also covered inthe same way and no beard is mentioned at all suggesting nothing unusual orhuman like there.

Againthe creature moves in a walking stride similar to human locomotion and its facealso appears human like. We do not have a muzzle which is an unusual alterationfor a primate linage and shared only with humans. In fact it is the lack of amuzzle which makes the face so human like.

Theway it strode across the creek bed speaks to this creature not been a human outgetting his jollies.  It was too way too closeat 12 meters to be pulled off anyway. The witness really had a good look see. That is also why it was caughtby surprise. You have to keep your eyes on the rocks if you plan to boundacross them.

Againhundreds of reports exist but this joins the few that delivers new informationand insight also.

Sasquatch Encounter Leaves Lasting Memory

Posted: 29 Mar 2011 09:49 AM PDT

By Chris Bush - Nanaimo News Bulletin - One of myco-workers asked me, jokingly, if I saw any sasquatches on my recent holidays.

No, but....

A few of us in the newsroom are mountain bikers and encounter the occasionaldeer and bear on our wilderness excursions.

They scurry off at the sight of creatures with shiny, coloured heads that rideon animals with round black hooves by grabbing their antlers and rapidlykicking the enslaved beasts.

When you ride by yourself and stop for a drink and a snack you sometimes getthat eerie feeling someone or something is watching you.

I’ve never seen a sasquatch on the Island – I guess most other people haven’teither – but, a bunch of us kids were pretty sure that’s we saw one night atsummer camp many years ago.

I was 11 in July 1969 when my mother sent me to CampJubilee, about halfway up Indian Armeast of Vancouver.

Camp activities involved a lot of swimming, hiking, archery and verbally andphysically bullying each other to establish the pecking orders in our cabins.

One afternoon we hiked into the bush to camp overnight in a wide dry creek bed.As it got dark, kids hunkered down in the rocks for the night. I found acomfortable spot in the boulders.

Some boys caught little lizards that ran around in the rocks. Occasionally akid would let out a yelp when his new pet bit him.

We were settling down when we heard something trucking through the woods, snappingbranches as it went, seemingly unconcerned about the noise it made. A bearmaybe?

The last of the twilight was fading, but the moon was full, so there was plentyof light to see by. What walked out of the woods was no bear.

It was about 12 metres from us, not just walking upright, but taking big easystrides across the rocks. About halfway across the creek bed it stopped, as ifit realized suddenly that we were there, and turned to look at us.

It was nearly two metres tall and its body was proportioned just like a largeman’s, except its forearms were a little longer than ours, so its hands hungcloser to its knees.

It's body was covered in hair, but it was so fine, almost like an Irishsetter’s, that you could see its muscle definition underneath. I remember hisforearm muscles being clearly defined and, yup, “it” was definitely a “he”.

He just stood there and sort of regarded us for a moment as we gaped back instunned silence. His face appeared human and was covered in an even finer layerof hair. His eyes were a medium shade and when I looked in them I rememberthinking, “That’s a man.”

Then he turned and continued on his way. The sound of branches snapping startedagain when he entered the woods and eventually faded into the distance.

The encounter didn’t frighten me. I was simply amazed. Our silence broke when afew terrified kids started freaking out and crying.

We ran to our counsellors’ campsite in wooded area not far down the creek totell them what happened. They were just teenagers themselves, and were sittingaround a campfire talking and playing guitars. They just told us to get lost.

In the morning we found a narrow trail paralleling the creek bed and sawbranches snapped off the trees about shoulder height of the creature. The counsellorsfound this a bit strange, but figured it must have been a bear.

I’ve seen films on TV and heard sensational stories about sasquatches over theyears, but none of those have ever described anything like what we saw thatnight.

New Type 1 Diabetic Pathway

The surprise of course is thatthere is an additional pathway besides insulin though one not so obviouslyuseful.  It suggests that a balanceexists that needs to be discovered and understood that might explain the irregularitiesin insulin therapies.

As posted before, the great hopefor diabetics will be and is stem cell therapy. That will surely outrun hormonal pathways to the finish line.

In the meantime we will learnmuch about the issues and improve upon present practice.

Researchers find potential new non-insulin treatment for type 1diabetes

March 24, 2011

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Centerhave discovered a hormone pathway that potentially could lead to new ways oftreating type 1 diabetes independent of insulin, long thought to be the soleregulator of carbohydrates in the liver. Results of this new study will bepublished March 25 in Science.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-potential-non-insulin-treatment-diabetes.html

Another hormone, fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19), has insulin-likecharacteristics beyond its role in bile acid synthesis. Unlike insulin,however, FGF19 does not cause excess glucose to turn to fat, suggesting thatits activation could lead to new treatments for diabetes or obesity.

"The fundamental discovery is that there is a pathway that existsthat is required for the body, after a meal, to store glucose in the liver anddrive protein synthesis. That pathway is independent of insulin," said Dr.David Mangelsdorf, chairman of pharmacology at UT Southwestern.

Naturally elevating this pathway, therefore, could lead to new diabetestreatments outside of insulin therapy. Thestandard treatment for type 1 diabetes, whichaffects about 1 million people in the U.S., involves taking insulinmultiple times a day to metabolize blood sugar.

Dr. Mangelsdorf and Dr. Steven Kliewer, professor of molecular biologyand pharmacology atUT Southwestern, are co-senior authors of the study. Dr. Kliewer has beenstudying the hormone FGF19 since he discovered its involvement in metabolismabout eight years ago.

Fibroblast growth factors control nutrient metabolism and are releasedupon bile acid uptake into the small intestine. Bileacids, produced by the liver, break down fats in the body.

Researchers studied mice lacking FGF15 – the rodent FGF19 hormoneequivalent. These mice, after eating, could not properly maintain bloodconcentrations of glucose and normal amounts of liver glycogen. Glycogen is aform of glucose storage found mainly in liver and muscle tissue. The mice werethen injected with FGF19 to evaluate its effects on metabolism in the liver.

FGF19 restored glycogen levels in the mice lacking FGF15. Whenadministered to diabetic mice lacking insulin, FGF19 also corrected the loss ofglycogen.

"FGF19 does not make fat, and that's one of the effects thatseparates it from insulin. Insulin also does not really have a dramatic effecton bile acid synthesis. So, the two pathways are different even though theyboth function in glycogen and protein synthesis,"said Dr. Mangelsdorf, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at themedical center.

Manipulating FGF19 as an alternative to insulin therapy remains adaunting challenge, however, given some unwelcome side effects. In somestudies, he said, activating the hormone in rodents caused the liver to growand develop cancer.

One promising diabetes treatmentroute could involve the nuclear bile acid receptor FXR, which Dr. Mangelsdorfsaid induces expression of FGF19. Modulators of FXR (farnesoid X receptor) havebeen shown to lower triglycerides and improve cholesterol profiles inpreclinical models.

Provided by UT Southwestern Medical Center(news : web)

Prostate PSA Test Shown Useless

The take home here is that the gold standard prostratecancer test has no value and provides no lifespan improvement.

I suspect that a high PSA reading may be indicative ofimmune system activity, possibly related to passing or even chronic infections. Such needs to be treated, but as such.

The writer comes down hard on the medical industry for itsenthusiasm for this protocol and quite rightly sees a money blinded industrybadly in need of serious reform.

It is also true that a revolution in health care has beenworking through the system for the past two decades in particular.  Part of it is knowledge driven as new andbetter protocols are established, but a lot of it is coming out of a revisit ofoften weaker natural therapies and the establishment of sound eating patternsto support good health.

That prostate is a problem has not changed.  That we fail to intercept it often enough isalso true.  Its causation is still poorlyunderstood.

Prostate cancer screening has zero benefit, concludes 20-year study

Monday, April 04, 2011 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

NaturalNews) Don't let anyone from the cancer industry lie to you aboutPSA screening: The test is completely bogus and offers zero improvementin your lifespan. That's the conclusion from a 20-year study that followed over9,000 men. After 20 years of follow-up, guess what the results were? Nosignificant difference in the rate of death between those screened forprostate cancer versus those who weren't.

In other words, prostate cancer screening is really a bogus test used toexploit men's fear and recruit them into unnecessary and potentially harmfulcancer treatments. That's why the cancer industry uses the PSA test, of course:It's a powerful recruiting tool! It scares men into agreeing to expensive,high-profit treatments which are then billed to their insurance companies,Medicaid or Medicare. (Gee, no wonder our health care system is bankrupting thenation...)

This study, by the way, was published in the British Medical Journal(http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj....).I don't personally trust the BMJ on most issues, since it seems to so stronglyfavor vaccines and pharmaceuticals in its selective publication of research.But that's what makes this so remarkable: Even the BMJ is effectively admittingthat PSA tests don't work!

Why are hospitals still using a bogus quack test for prostate cancer?

Given that the PSA test simply doesn't work, it makes you wonder: Whyare hospitals are cancer centers still using the PSA test? Isn'tthatquackery to keep using something that doesn't work while marketing itto patients as if it did work? It's not just false advertising -- it's badmedicine! And if it were being done in any other industry, someone wouldprobably get arrested.

If you sold a car that turned out to be a lemon and didn't run, you could besued. If you sold a financial product but completely misrepresented it to yourcustomers, that would be considered criminal fraud. But why can hospitalsand cancer clinics sell PSA prostate cancer tests that are completelybogus while getting away with it?

The answer is because modern medicine has zero accountability.Most of it is simply fabricated quackery. Flu vaccines, for example, are basedon completely fabricated quacked-up evidence that has absolutely no connectionto scientific reality. ADHD screening programs are absurdly transparent aspsychiatric drug marketing tools. Mammograms actually cause breastcancer, and the No. 1 side effect of chemotherapy is -- get this -- canceritself!

It's all "pretend medicine" in a grand health care fairy tale

Nothing in medicine, you see, has to have any actual scientific evidencebehind it at all. The reason PSA tests are so popular is precisely the samereason that flu vaccines are so heavily pushed: Because modern medicine pusherssuffer from a deeply-ingrained cult-like irrational belief in everything theywere taught in medical school, regardless of whether it has any basis in fact.PSA tests, in other words, are a kind ofmedical voodoo which works nobetter than sticking pins in a rag doll.

And as literally dozens of studies have found over the last decades,antidepressant drugs are a kind of "brain chemical voodoo" that worksno better than placebo either. Let's face it: Much of modern medicine is basedentirely on a virus of the mind -- a contagious yet false idea thatsomehow disease is caused by a lack of chemicals, radiation or surgery. It's aninsane idea, of course, yet it is the foundation of virtually the entire modernsystem of "health care" (sick care).

A psychic would probably get you better results

If you want to go get screened for all these various diseases, that'syour choice, of course. But just know as a scientific fact that most of themedical screening being offered today is no more scientifically valid thana tarot card reading. A tarot card reading might be more valuable,actually, as it would remind you to consider your inner journey and perhapstake responsibility for your life rather than handing it over to a group ofutterly incompetent cancer doctors who are still using bogus prostate cancertests that have been proven utterly useless again and again.

Heck, your cancer doctor might as well use a dousing rod to diagnoseyour cancer. And even then, if you're told you have cancer, the only rationalthing to do anyway is to change your lifestyle and start pursuinganti-cancer activities such as juicing, walking in the sun, avoiding toxicsynthetic chemicals and so on. And those things should be pursued whether youhave cancer or not!

This is why I never get screened for any disease. I'm in my 40's, and Ifollow a very healthy lifestyle. I eat massive quantities of anti-cancersuperfoods and I completely avoid (to the best of my ability) syntheticchemicals in foods, personal care products, gardening and so on. Why would Ieven need to get screened for cancer in the first place? There's no valid reasonfor it.

Cancer isn't something that strikes you like a bolt of lightning, folks. It'ssomething your body can grow over decades until it becomes noticeable-- and it only grows cancer tumors if you let it. The easiest way to stopgrowing cancer it to boost your vitamin D levels to 70 - 90, eat lots offresh sprouts, drink fresh juices, get exercise and avoid cancer-causingchemicals. Get plenty of sleep, avoid excessive stress and eat superfoods suchas berries (which are loaded with anti-cancer nutrients). And stop eatingrefined sugars, too, because cancer tumors just love sugar.

It's not a difficult recipe. And when truly followed, it will reduceyour risk of cancer to nearly zero. Of course, a stray piece of plutonium fromFukushima could still get inhaled into your lungs and cause cancer, but even inthat case, antioxidants help protect you from radiation damage, greatlyreducing your risk of cancer even from nuclear fallout radiation.

Nutrition and lifestyle is the answer here, not useless disease screeningquackery. Don't fall for the bogus PSA screening and mammography tests. Theyare designed to scare you into becoming a high-profit cancer patient. They donothing to improve your health, and they may in fact harm you. Prostate canceris not a very aggressive cancer in most cases. It can be easily andreliable reversed with the help of any competent naturopathicphysician, herbalist or natural medicine practitioner.

Learn nore:

http://www.naturalnews.com/031950_prostate_cancer_screening.html#ixzz1IfTgTdSz

Rare Fossil Find

Today we celebrate another fossildiscovery that appears to be extraordinary. We believe it is a three dimensional ankylosaur protected by a casing ofharder rock.  Most likely it sankdirectly into the ooze and was quickly fossilized.   Theexistence of tendons alone suggests that we may be even able to trace softtissue forms.

One takes luck wherever one findsit and this is a very lucky find that is worth following as it is likely athrove of new knowledge.

The same mechanisms that preservemarine fossils went to work on this particular LAND critter.  We will not be finding many of these.

Rare fossil find

Oilsands worker uncovers 'earliest, most complete' dinosaur in Alberta

POSTMEDIA NEWS MARCH 27, 2011

http://www.theprovince.com/technology/Rare+fossil+find/4511129/story.html?id=4511129

A series of unlikely events over a span of 113 million years hasresulted in the discovery of what may be the oldest dinosaur remains in Alberta's history.

On Monday afternoon, a shovel operator at a Suncor oilsands mine sitenoticed what looked like brown discs in the black rock on a small cliff he wasexcavating. Per Suncor's policy, operator Shawn Funk shut off his machinery andreported that he'd found something unusual.

"It was really like finding a needle in a haystack," saidSuncor spokeswoman Lanette Lundquist.

The area remained closed to work while Suncor took pictures of thecurious find and sent them to the Royal Tyrrell Museumin Drumheller.

There, Don Henderson, the curator of dinosaurs, thought it could be theremains of a marine reptile, not an uncommon find in an area that used to beunderwater.

He thought he could see a fossilized flipper. On Tuesday, Henderson andanother Tyrrell employee travelled to the site, 50 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.

"After about 10 minutes, we realized it was somethingdifferent," Hendersonsaid. "We did a high-five."

Henderson realized the brown discs were thecross-section of a dinosaur's ribs. He could see bits of backbone, the edge ofa leg and tendons thick as broom handles, all encased and protected by amass of minerals and other material.

"This thing is in a giant lump, about 85 per cent of it is stillin the hill," he said.

"This is a perfectly preserved three dimensional fossil. This isthe earliest, most complete find in Alberta.This might be the best one so far."

Henderson believes the bones belong to an ankylosaur, an armouredherbivore covered in plates and spikes, with "wimpy little teeth."

When alive, it was roughly five metres long and two metres wide.

On average, dinosaurs found in Albertaare 65 million to 75 million years old, while this find is likely 113million years old, Hendersonsaid.

The location and structure of the find are highly unlikely. Forstarters, an ankylosaur was a terrestrial animal -this one ended up in an areathat was 150 km from any land at the time of its death. The dinosaur likelydied and was swept to sea before sinking.

The remains likely began to fossilize within days or even hours,forming a "bombproof" protective crust that lasted until Funkuncovered it.

Henderson praised Funk, who had just toured the Tyrrell last week, forhis caution. A massive shovel like Funk uses could easily destroy a fossilwithout anyone ever knowing, Hendersonsaid.

"This was just a series of very unlikely events," Henderson said.

Lundquist said the area of the Suncor site will remain closed until allof the fossil is excavated. A meeting will be held Monday to determine the bestway to do that. Once those parts have come loose, they will be taken toDrumheller on a flatbed truck.

The bulk of the fossil is sticking out from the side of a 3.5-metrecliff. Workers will sift through the rubble below for any smaller pieces.

"This crust is very good to protect the fossil, but it will be verydifficult to prepare over the next two to three years. It's worth it, though,for what we'll learn," Hendersonsaid.

Such a complete skeleton of an ankylosaur has never been found before;it's expected to provide new scientific information as it is uncovered by tinypneumatic drills and air-driven tools. That work will have to be careful, Henderson said, becausethe encasing material is harder than the bones themselves.

Read more:

http://www.theprovince.com/technology/Rare+fossil+find/4511129/story.html#ixzz1HqONQA4j

Brachiosaurus Like a Vacuum Cleaner

The only thing missing here ismention of the likelihood that these critters operated in swamps where theirmass was supported by water in the first place.  Young ones could well have been quiteambulatory, but once settled into a home swamp with ready access to water weeds,movement becomes a luxury.

This critter was not a grasseater and that pretty well restricts it to the swamps.  Obviously, the neck also floated as wellallowing the creature to vacuum out its immediate locale before moving on.

Curiously, traditions from Australiaconform to this model of behavior.  Those following this blog understand the importance of the Australasian biome.

Brachiosaurus and other dinosaurs like a vacuum cleaner

March 24, 2011 byDeborah Braconnier 

Brachiosaurus. Image credit: Wikia

(PhysOrg.com) -- In a recent study published in Biology Letters,Professor Graeme Ruxton from the University of Glasgow and Dr. David Wilkinsonfrom Liverpool John Moores University use mathematics and a comparison to theold 1950s style vacuum cleaners to explain the benefits of the very long necksseen in dinosaurs like the Brachiosaurus.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-brachiosaurus-dinosaurs-vacuum-cleaner.html

Dinosaurs like the Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus, who roamed theEarth from 200 hundred million years ago to their extinction 65 million yearsago, had extremely heavy bodies and very long necks. Debate between thescientific communities has been going on for years as to just why their neckswere so long and what its purpose was.

Many believed that these long necks would have been used to forage forhigh, hard to reach foliage, similar to that of a giraffe. However, otherpaleontologists believe that in order for these dinosaurs to raise theirnecks up high, the blood pressure required to get blood to the brain would havebeen too much to be feasible.

Looking at the basic body design of these dinosaurs, the team ofresearchers could best describe them as like the old style vacuum cleaners ofthe 1950s. With a large and cumbersome cylindrical body and a long reachinghose with a vacuum head, these vacuums worked in a similar manner to what theybelieve the dinosaurs did.

While these vacuums were generally placed in the center of a room andthe long hose extension used to vacuum and reach places without having to movethe central body, so did the dinosaurs. With their large bodies, the long necksallowed the dinosaurs to forage over more ground without having to expendenergy by moving their bodies.

Using mathematics to prove their theory, the researchers determinedthat the ideal neck length would have been around nine meters long. By keepingtheir body in one location and using their neck to forage, they were able tocut their energy output by as much as 80 percent.

More information: The energetics of low browsing in sauropods, BiologyLetters, Published online before print March 23, 2011, doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0116

Pre Clovis Site In Texas

The reality of this work is thatwe now have a site in which the Clovis occupation has a two thousand yearprehistory in which a non Clovis tool kit wasused.  At the least human occupation inthe Americascan now be firmly placed two thousand years earlier based on direct evidence.

 That should end that debate.

I would like to see a geneticstudy done of the Indian populations of the Americasto determine the level of genetic variation as compared to Asia.  We need to determine now small a population couldhave made the actual leap and if we can determine waves of contribution.  I am likely asking for the impossible but weshould think about it.

Paleo-Indians settled North Americaearlier than thought: study

March 24, 2011

These are some of the artifacts from the 15,500-year-old horizon.Credit: [Image courtesy of Michael R. Waters]

New discoveries at a Central Texas archaeological site by a TexasA&M University-led research team prove that people lived in the region farearlier – as much as 2,500 years earlier – than previously believed, rewritingwhat anthropologists know about when the first inhabitants arrived in NorthAmerica. That pushes the arrival date back to about 15,500 years ago.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-paleo-indians-north-america-earlier-thought.html

Michael Waters, director of Texas A&M's Center for the Study ofFirst Americans, along with researchers from Baylor University, the Universityof Illinois-Chicago, the University of Minnesota, and Texas State University,have found the oldest archaeological evidence for human occupation in Texas andNorth America at the Debra L.Friedkin site, located about 40 miles northwest ofAustin. Their work is published in the current issue of Science magazine.

Waters says that buried in deposits next to a small spring-fed streamis a record of human occupation spanning the last 15,500 years. Near thesurface is the record of the Late Prehistoric and Archaic occupants of theregion. Buried deeper in the soil are layers with Folsom and Clovis occupationsgoing back 12,000 to 13,000 years ago.

"But the kicker was the discovery of nearly 16,000 artifacts belowthe Clovis horizon that dated to 15,500 yearsago," Waters notes.

"Most of these are chipping debris from the making andresharpening of tools, but over 50 are tools. There are bifacial artifacts thattell us they were making projectile points and knives at the site," Waterssays. There are expediently made tools and blades that were used for cuttingand scraping."

Multiple studies have shown that the site is undisturbed and that theartifacts are in place and over 60 "luminescence dates" show thatearly people arrived at the site by 15,500 years ago, Waters explains.Luminescence dating technique is a method used to date the sediment surroundingthe artifacts. It dates the last time the sediment was exposed to sunlight.

For more than 80 years, it has been argued that the Clovis people werethe first to enter the Americas,Waters says. He goes on to say that over the last few decades, there have beenseveral credible sites which date older than Clovis found in North America --specifically in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Oregon.

"However, this evidence is not very robust," Waters observes.

"What is special about the Debra L. Friedkin site is that it hasthe largest number of artifacts dating to the pre-Clovis time period, thatthese artifacts show an array of different technologies, and that theseartifacts date to a very early time.

"This discovery challenges us to re-think the early colonizationof the Americas.There's no doubt these tools and weapons are human-made and they date to about15,500 years ago, making them the oldest artifacts found both in Texas and North America."

Waters has been working at the site since 2006, and analysis of theartifacts collected from the site is ongoing. Waters says, "These studieswill help us figure out where these people came from, how they adapted to thenew environments they encountered, and understand the origins of later groupslike Clovis."

Provided by Texas A&M University(news : web