The tail of a 99-million-year-old dinosaur, including bones, soft tissue, and even feathers, has been found preserved in amber, according to a report published today in the journal Current Biology.
A micro-CT scan of the delicate feathers that cover the dinosaur tail. Image: Lida Xing.
While individual dinosaur-era feathers have been found in amber, and evidence for feathered dinosaurs is captured in fossil impressions, this is the first time that scientists are able to clearly associate well-preserved feathers with a dinosaur, and in turn gain a better understanding of the evolution and structure of dinosaur feathers.
We clearly need a new Jurassic Park movie featuring cute feathery dinosaurs.
A reconstruction of a small coelurosaur Credit: Chung-tat Cheung
I noticed that one of my herkimer diamonds has a moving water bubble inside, called enhydro. Also there’s anthraxolite moving along with it, so amazing to look at! Can’t believe it’s about 400 million old water, wow. I love how gemstones never fail to amaze me, there’s always so much going on if you just look close enough.
In a never-before-seen phenomenon, a fish commandeered the body of a jellyfish for protection. Although it is common for fish to swim through jellyfish tentacles to avoid predators, this particular defense mechanism has never been seen before.
“I came across this fish (presumably a juvenile trevally) while snorkeling along Double Reef on Guam in 2013. The fish swam in and out of the crown of the jellyfish multiple times over the course of several minutes. The fish was able to steer the jellyfish as it swam inside, often turning away from me as I followed. It has been postulated that the fish is using the jellyfish as a shield to protect itself as it swims in open waters.”
Dreadlocks are a kind of lock pattern for hair that is very curly. A lock pattern is where the hair twists around and “locks” together.
Black people pretty much exclusively have the tightness of curl needed for a dreadlock pattern, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other lock pattern hairstyles (such as a peyot, the sidelocks worn by various Jewish groups).
So like “Goldilocks” was named after how her hair took a “lock pattern”, but those locks would be comparatively loose.
This is hair with a looser curl in a lock pattern
Hair with a tighter curl in a lock pattern (Dreadlocks)
Straight hair that has been matted
What’s the difference between the last two?
► Dreadlocks are twisted together neatly, mats are tangled in knots.
► Dreadlocks are healthy hair that can be washed, mats are damaged and often non washable without risking mold.
► Dreads take effort and skill to apply, mats are the product of active destruction and neglect of hair.
► Dreads can be removed. Mats require cutting and shaving.
Now from a cultural standpoint, it’s also shit. Dreadlocks are a symbol on many different levels of Black culture, unity, and resistance to white assimilation. To take them is an act of furthering white assimilation and an act of casual racism.
Especially given that tropes about white hippies with “dreadlocks” have affected how people react to black people with dreadlocks.
So from a practical standpoint we can’t and from an ethical standpoint we shouldn’t.
if you have nonblack friends with dreads you are being complicit
In the days since an apparent victory, the Standing Rock camp has been battered by an oncoming snowstorm — and conditions are now dire.
Heavy snow and wind batters the sides of tipis and tents, forcing the Standing Rock resistance indoors.
The roads have shut down going in and out of Oceti Sakowin Camp.
The media are clearing out, packing up satellite trucks and heading home.
Meanwhile, the police haven’t pulled back from the front lines, and the Dakota Access Pipeline company has no intention of leaving either.
“It’s a distraction,” Oceti Sakowin Camp volunteer Ethan Braughton said in an interview. “If they were leaving, they’d take the razor wire and all their vehicles, but they’re still continuing to get the drill pad ready. They’re not going anywhere, they just want us to leave.”
Many of the Lakota Sioux have permanently settled at Standing Rock and they’re not leaving, vowing to see this fight through.
PLEASE keep in mind that this is a common tactic, and one that may be being used here!
The media will report a “win,” and everyone celebrates and becomes complacent. A lot of people think the fight is over, and lose interest. And that’s when the people still left at Standing Rock, alone and with people no longer watching as they were, will be thrown to the wolves.
So please, PLEASE continue to watch this! There will probably be a fight over the permit, and the Water Protectors will need us more than ever! Winter is basically here, and this would be a bad time to think things are over.
Just keep in mind this could potentially be a strategic move to get people to lose interest in this cause! Just because Obama denied the permit doesn’t mean it’s over!
This is fucking insane! People being UNARMED still face such violent treatment by the police. Ofc the media called the peaceful protest a RIOT but people have to know the truth. Indigenous people were brutally attacked by the law enforcement today.
It’s an army VS unarmed people who only want to protect their land, water and legacy.
I will not keep silent. Let us stop ND Police from further violence & abuses in Standing Rock!!!
The material has been hand dyed with turmeric, tea and onions skins. Then hand printed with lino cuts to represent the larvae, workers, drones and the single queen bee. The quilt was then then pieced, quilted and bound by hand.
The bees are arranged in a rough imitation of the structure of a hive: the queen is surrounded by workers, each drone and larvae are attended by their own workers, while others form a circle to represent a “bee dance” and some stand guard at the entrance to the hive.
