I'm a huge horror fan, love dracula, love the lore.

Another great release in the long line of many recent films that I......didn't finish.

5 years ago, I failed to finish maybe 1 film a year, now, I struggle to finish one film a year. 1992's Bram Stoker's Drakula, this is not, not even close, not even relevant.

If you are reading this, and the others I posted, it's obvious, yes, I'm tired, I'm pissed, I'm jaded, "He's dead jim" it's all dead. I'm switching back to books, but like movies, they better be published before 2010 otherwise it's probably some "reimagined" or reinvisioned nonsense that isn't worth it's pages in toilet paper.

Watched this the other night, well watched is a bit generous.

First off, I love Jason Statham, he's got it all like any great 80's action star. He's handsome, charms your socks off and is truly got some skill.

That said, I just drifted off and had little to no interest in this, this franchise was barely passable on the first one and it is, to me, very distracting the sellout element with regard to the chinese buying into/out the long dead hollywood film industry.

I don't know who to feel bad for, the death of hollywood, or the idiots(chinese) that are massively buying into it at its decline/bottom.

Talk about dollar cost averaging down, I guess it's better than dumping millions into buying/building empty cities that will crumble down in 5 years.

Digging up the old movie reviews, because everyone loves to see them from the "ol days".

But that really isn't what this is....

So I watched the movie Kandahar, some Butler film about something blah blah, middle east whatever.

I'm blown away.........at all the people both on screen and behind it that wasted all their time on this garbage.

My god, what happened to movies, I used to be a huge movie guy, I built a home theater, spent thousands, because of the joy of good cinema(and tv) was an experience, it's an experience all right(in 2023). An experience in wasting time and getting pissed off.

Sure, 10 years ago, things weren't always peachy, 20, 30 or even 40 percent were duds, NOW, in 2023, I watch a tenth of the movies I used to and even out of that fraction, maybe one or two percent are worth the time.

I guess it's just another, in a long line of many, of the casualties of the destruction of the greatest county on earth by crap ideologies and the continual dumbing/averaging down of society to appease the absolute stupidest people in our society that 100 years ago would have walked face first into a mine shaft and died, justifiable, from stupidity and spared us all from their existence.

Quote:Amidst the ever-evolving landscape of maritime warfare, one unmanned underwater vehicle stands apart: the Orca, the world’s first Extra Large Unmanned Underwater Vehicle.

Silent and unstoppable, this state-of-the-art sea drone glides effortlessly through the water, driven by an advanced diesel-electric propulsion system. The vehicle possesses the unrivaled ability to embark on autonomous missions that span months, forever altering the course of naval operations.

As the culmination of years of innovation, research, and strategic vision, forging a formidable weapon that surpasses all that came before, the Orca's true power lies in its astonishing versatility.

By stealthily deploying mines, the Orca can create strategic choke points, disrupt enemy movements and alter the course of battle. The drone can also Infiltrate hostile territory, gathering vital intelligence with unmatched stealth and cutting-edge sensors, providing the upper hand to its commanders.

The Orca can even become a devastating force, as its payload bay, equipped with vertical launch systems, can allow it to unleash a relentless barrage of missiles upon surface and land targets.

As the dawn of a new era in undersea combat emerges, the United States Navy's Orca XLUUV stands at the forefront, poised to revolutionize the very fabric of maritime superiority.

https://lists.youmaker.com/links/PA6bUpZ...oS5wA909uZ

Quote:Communist China's War-Ready Bioweapons, Biochemical Warfare, Neurostrike Capabilities
The necessity of generating American precision strike options
Researchers in protective suits work at a biopharmaceutical lab in Shenyang city, Liaoning Province, China, on June 9, 2020. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)
Commentary
Unconventional Weapons: Core Elements of the CCP’s Standard Order of Battle
 The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) views biological, biochemical, and information warfare as a core component of its asymmetric warfare strategy against the United States and its allies. They are part of the CCP’s standard order of battle, not an unconventional set of capabilities only to be used under extreme circumstances.
This represents a fundamental difference in strategic thinking regarding these domains in Beijing. This is not a hypothetical point. There was a sharp statistical increase in Chinese military activity in the South China Sea, East China Sea, Taiwan Straits, and along the Sino-Indian border during the most acute phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
However, the CCP’s weaponization of biology extends well beyond viruses (such as SARS-CoV-2), as well as beyond the scope and understanding of classical bioweapons. Its new landscape of bioweapons development includes the entire synthetic biology spectrum, from human genome editing of soldiers and genetic manipulation of bacteria to using human-computer interfaces to control entire populations. These research programs are not obscure "moonshots"; they are core strategic focus areas designed to be utilized over the near term and within current state strategic circumstances, such as in Taiwan.
Related Stories
China Has Infiltrated America’s Virus Labs to Feed Its Biowarfare Programs: Lawrence Sellin
7/7/2022

Any breakthrough in this dual-use research would provide unprecedented tools for the CCP to forcibly establish a new world order, which has been Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s lifelong goal.
For example, these capabilities can fit into the CCP’s anti-access/area denial strategy in the Indo-Pacific. Imagine genetically immunized People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops being inserted into a geography where a specific weaponized bacterial strain has been released prior to their entry to prepare the ground and eliminate points of resistance. Any remaining sources of resistance on the ground are then dealt with through neurobiological weaponry that instills intense fear and/or other forms of cognitive incoherence, resulting in inaction.
The net result of such a scenario would be the PLA establishing absolute control over a geography, such as Taiwan, while simultaneously blunting any American strategic options to intervene and physically insert personnel into the theater. This would effectively negate and render inert America’s overwhelming conventional superiority with very few (if any) near-term remedies. This scenario is based on known existing CCP research programs and what the clear strategic aims of those programs are.
SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 High-Risk Experiments at WIV: The Tip of a Massive Iceberg
As catastrophic as the release of the genetically engineered SARS-CoV-2 virus from either the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) or the Wuhan branch of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (which also has a live bat colony like WIV), the CCP has been conducting gain-of-function (GoF) and other high-risk research on a range of pathogens that are even more dangerous than the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
My team and I at the CCP BioThreats Initiative (CCP BTI) have recently published the world’s first and only multi-pathogen, multi-site, and multi-lingual strategic net assessment of the full spectrum of the CCP’s bioweapons programs.
The P4 laboratory on the campus of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on May 13, 2020. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)
Our investigations have surfaced multiple programs across Chinese cities—such as Beijing, Harbin, Kunming, and Wuhan—with each program having its own set of distinct international linkages. While these international linkages extend across countries—such as Holland, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Japan, and Singapore—the links to collaborators in the United States are by far the most extensive and strategic. Without critical American support in the key development phases, the CCP would not have the world-leading and now internally-powered bioweapons capabilities it has today.
Below are some of the bioweapons programs that we have surfaced:



[*]Institute Name: Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV)

Location: Wuhan, China
GoF/High-Risk Pathogen Research: Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H7N9, H5N1, and H1N1

[*]Institute Name: Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS)

Location: Beijing and Kunming, China
GoF/High-Risk Pathogen Research: SARS-CoV-2, Zika virus, MERS

[*]Institute Name: Academy of Military Medical Sciences

Location: Beijing, China
GoF/High-Risk Pathogen Research: Nipah/Henipah virus, SARS-CoV-2, African swine flu virus (ASFV)

[*]Institute Name: Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology (BIME)

Location: Beijing, China
GoF/High-Risk Pathogen Research: Nipah/Henipah virus, SARS-CoV-2, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV), hantavirus

[*]Institute Name: Research Institute of Chemical Defense (ICD), PLA Academy of Military Sciences

Location: Beijing, China
GoF/High-Risk Pathogen Research: Mustard gas, moth venom, and nanotechnology-driven long-range delivery systems

The bioweapons research being done on Nipah virus is particularly problematic. Nipah already has an 80–85 percent lethality rate in nature and is highly pathogenic. In fact, this high pathogenicity is Nipah's key "weakness" in that it spreads so rapidly with a high degree of lethality that it "burns itself out" in a specific population due to over-mutation. Nipah has been clinically isolated in India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Singapore.
How does the CCP even have Nipah samples, and why is this dangerous virus being experimented on in CCP/PLA-run labs inside China?
CCP Neurostrike: AMMS Leads the Way
Unknown to many, the CCP and its PLA have established themselves as world leaders in the development of neurostrike weapons. These platforms directly attack, or even control, mammalian brains (including humans) with microwave/directed energy weapons via standalone platforms (for example, handheld guns) or the broader electromagnetic spectrum.
Neurostrike, as defined by professor Robert McCreight, refers to the engineered targeting of the warfighter and civilian brains using distinct non-kinetic technology to impair cognition, reduce situational awareness, inflict long-term neurological degradation, and fog normal cognitive functions.
The CCP views neurostrike and psychological warfare as a core component of its asymmetric warfare strategy against the United States and its allies in the Indo-Pacific.
However, the CCP’s weaponization of neuroscience extends well beyond the scope and understanding of classical microwave weapons. Its new landscape of neurostrike development includes using massively distributed human-computer interfaces to control entire populations as well as a range of weapons designed to cause cognitive damage.
In addition to playing a leading role in the CCP’s bioweapons programs, in August 2005, the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS) established and operationalized the ‘three major forces’ structure. This comprises the following:



[*]Strategic planning force for military combat medical preparations to address strategic scientific and technological problems.


[*]Specialized tactical force for counter-terrorism operations and public health emergency crisis response.


[*]Specialist technical unit for the PLA’s disease prevention and control activities.


AMMS was placed on the U.S. export control blacklist in December 2021, with its leading role in CCP neurostrike research serving as a key justification. Given the proscribed status of AMMS combined with its operational requirement to continue to clandestinely access leading Western research and technologies, it has become necessary to maintain a close monitoring function on this entire institution. As a central PLA component of the CCP neurostrike program, AMMS represents a complex network of still-overt, half-submerged, and outright subterranean global linkages that continue to "power" its most aggressive research and development programs.
CCP-Directed Synthetic Narcotics Trafficking: Low-Velocity, High-Impact, Precision-Guided Biochemical Warfare
Synthetic narcotics are a fundamentally different type of illicit industry compared to previous generations of "naturally-grown" narcotics, such as cocaine. Synthetic narcotics, namely fentanyl-laced heroin, are produced in pharmaceutical-grade manufacturing facilities under standardized industrial processes with associated supply chains and distribution channels. Synthetic narcotics traffickers are not dependent on jungle airstrips or remote unguarded shorelines to produce or move their product like previous cocaine traffickers, such as Pablo Escobar in Colombia or Félix Gallardo in Mexico. Synthetic narcotics is a fully industrialized illicit business with economies of scale, modern financial infrastructure, and continuously increasing efficiency gains.
A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chemist pours 2,500 packs of confirmed fentanyl onto a counter for testing at the DEA Northeast Regional Laboratory in New York on Oct. 8, 2019. (Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images)
However, despite the "professionalization" of this illicit industry, synthetic narcotics are not likely to be commercially viable even over the medium term. For example, fentanyl-laced heroin does not generate a stable population of consumers, given the high fatality rates of users. Users of many other naturally grown narcotics will purchase products for multiple years (or even a lifetime in some cases), thereby generating a stable and commercially viable illicit market. In the case of fentanyl-laced heroin, for example, the product is highly likely to kill or severely debilitate the user over a short timeframe. It is, therefore, unclear as to whether there is a purely commercial motive for the manufacturing and trafficking of these synthetic narcotics and whether there are hidden subsidies from CCP sources to maintain the market.
There is another unique feature of synthetic narcotics, and fentanyl-laced heroin in particular: This epidemic appears to be almost exclusively confined to the Five Eyes Alliance countries. These biochemical weapons are generating multiple public security risks across the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and their presence has also recently begun to increase in the United Kingdom. The United States and Canada are currently facing the most acute situations, while Australia and New Zealand are now beginning to witness exponential growth curves in overdose deaths.
Meanwhile, this degradation of public order and human misery is not witnessed on nearly the same scale in other major Western nations like Germany, France, or Italy. Why is this? Every other major natural narcotic (such as cocaine) is as readily available in Berlin or Paris as it is in London or Vancouver.
What is fundamentally different about the synthetic narcotics market that results in this anomalous distribution pattern?
CCP state sponsorship, organization, and strategic control. Synthetic narcotics are not a commercial market with the associated logic and incentive/disincentive structures. This is a strategic activity that is driven by hostile state intent. Our intelligence collection, analysis, and criminal investigative activities must recognize this fundamental difference and be configured around it.
CCP’s Nanoweapons Programs: War Without Borders
China's invisible arsenals encompass a wide array of advanced and covert weaponry developed using next-generation technologies, particularly nanotechnology platforms. These weapons are designed to be discreet, hard to detect, and capable of inflicting significant damage on adversaries while avoiding direct confrontation.
China's invisible arsenals encompass a range of advanced weaponry that are distinctly focused on providing the CCP with a range of asymmetric warfare options, including the delivery of biological, biochemical, and neurobiological weapons to target populations. These developments present enormous new challenges to global security that are without historical precedent in human history. Nanotechnology-enabled weapons utilize highly sophisticated nanomaterials to enhance performance, stealth capabilities, and overall attack efficacy in military applications.
Additionally, China's advancements in biotechnology raise concerns about potential dual-use applications, as there are fears they may be exploring genetically engineered pathogens for use in biological warfare while obfuscating the original point of origin. While the CCP’s attempts to obfuscate their own role in the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic were unsuccessful, nanotechnology delivery systems would make future investigations and determinations of specific attribution more challenging.
A technician places an array containing DNA information in a scanner at a Chinese genetics lab in Beijing on Aug. 22, 2018. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)
If the CCP had in its possession a stockpile of chemical warfare agents, coupled with advancements in nanotechnology, it would be able to develop advanced nano-enhanced stealth chemical weapons. Further, China's expertise in electromagnetic and cyberwarfare allows it to disrupt critical infrastructure and defense networks without direct military engagement, making traditional countermeasures obsolete and ineffective.
One of the most concerning aspects of China's invisible arsenals is their distributed and decentralized nature, as weapons may be concealed within civilian infrastructure, posing challenges for traditional intelligence and surveillance methods. This evolving landscape necessitates a deeper understanding and awareness of these threats to devise effective countermeasures and safeguard global security.
For example, researchers from the Hefei Institute of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, have made a "breakthrough" in DNA nanotechnology, developing a smart DNA molecular nanorobot model. This model innovatively proposes a non-linear gathering "siege" of biological targets, allowing for advanced signal amplification and intelligent targeted drug delivery. This technology has potential applications in biosensing, bioimaging, and drug delivery.
However, there are risks associated with this advancement. The ability of nanorobots to transport biological agents directly to target cells with deadly precision could be exploited by the PLA for harmful purposes. It could be used to deliver biological agents with precision, making it a potential threat in biological warfare. Additionally, the close collaboration between the Hefei Institute of Physical Science and the PLA raises concerns about potential dual-use applications of this technology for military purposes.
It is essential for the United States to closely monitor China's advancements in these areas and engage in open discussions to define the boundaries of what constitutes a chemical weapon, biological weapon, or any other type of invisible arsenal. By understanding and addressing these challenges, we can more effectively work to strengthen arms control regimes and maintain global security in the face of rapidly evolving threats. If the CCP refuses to engage in these discussions, that is also informational, and this refusal should lead to the generation of American precision targeting plans to eliminate these threats.
No Time to React: The Immediate Need for US Offensive Precision Targeting Options
All of these CCP programs have one commonality: They are zero-warning, rapid-strike weapons designed to shock and paralyze a target population(s) while seeking to obfuscate the point of origin of the attack itself.
The CCP tracked the specific impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the United States and its allies in a microscopic level of detail. The lesson that the CCP has concluded is that bioweapons, biochemical weapons, and neurostrike weapons present a range of immediately executable strike options for which the United States does not have an adequate response. This is especially true when these capabilities are paired with the CCP’s nanoweapons arsenal, some of which are specifically designed for long-range delivery.
In a contingency that is generated by one or more of these CCP weapons programs, traditional biodefense dissolves on first contact. A genetically modified Nipah virus that maintains (or even enhances) its lethality while enhancing its survivability in human populations and can be delivered through a nanoweapon would render our COVID-19-derived response options inert and ineffective. The CCP knows this and has made its next round of strategic investments accordingly.
However, all of these programs have one fundamental vulnerability: They all initially required international technical assistance to enable their formation and operationalization. Because of this, we know where they are, what they are doing, and who their key personnel are. It’s time for the United States to make involvement in these programs a hazardous affair, especially inside China.

[/url]
Ryan Clarke
Author
[url=https://www.theepochtimes.com/author/ryan-clarke]

Ryan Clarke is a senior fellow at the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore. His career has spanned leadership positions in defense and intelligence technology companies, investment banking, biodefense, strategic assessments, emergency response, and law enforcement. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge.

i say somebody needs to have a real serious sit down talk with these libtard nut jobs (infer your own opinion of that comment). i must also say they did have\ one or two positions they support that i agreed with, even with their spin on it. now as far as i'm concerned the aclu is nothing a bunch of sorry ass woke libtards.

this sh@@ is fucked up, first this piece of shit shouldn't have been sentenced to 55 years, he should have had his balls cut off and slowly strangled himself, so he could have experienced the pain and fear, and of castration Indiana does have a death sentence.

here is the case history from his appeal,

Quote:Richardson married Linda Mason in September 2001.   Mason had a daughter, F.L., from a previous relationship.   On the morning of September 12, 2001, Mason went to work and left eleven-month-old F.L. in Richardson's care.   At approximately 4:30 or 5:00 that afternoon, friends of Richardson, Andrew Buttrum and his fiancée, stopped by to visit.   Instead of inviting his guests inside, as he usually did when they visited, Richardson told them that F.L. was sleeping, so the three of them sat down outside.   Buttrum thought that Richardson was acting strangely and noted that loud music was playing inside the house despite Richardson's claim that F.L. was asleep.   Buttrum and his fiancée also observed that Richardson had a fresh, bleeding tattoo of F.L.'s name on his arm.   Buttrum and his fiancée left after approximately twenty minutes.

At approximately 6:45 p.m. that evening, Richardson went to a neighbor's apartment and called 911 to report that F.L. was unconscious.   Emergency personnel arrived and transported F.L. to the hospital.   When Evansville Police Officer Jeffery Hales arrived at the scene, he approached Richardson, who was standing outside.   Officer Hales asked Richardson what had happened to the child, and Richardson explained that he had put F.L. down for a nap and when he checked on her sometime later, he observed vomit coming out of her mouth and called for help.   F.L. was resuscitated, but died at the hospital.

Jonathan C. RICHARDSON, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.  No. 82A04-0211-CR-536.

Quote:The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing the Indiana Department of Corrections on behalf of a transgender inmate, Jonathan C. Richardson, also known as Autumn Cordellionè, who was convicted of strangling his 11-month-old stepdaughter to death in 2001.

Quote:"At that point, another officer checked Richardson's booking sheet and advised Lieutenant Spence that Richardson was incarcerated for reckless homicide," court records state. "When Lieutenant Spence relayed that information to Richardson, he stated ‘well all I know is I killed the little f---ing bitch.’"

Love him or hate him Trump has and is being step up and screwed in every which way the deep state can concoct..

Quote:Report: Raffensperger Testimony Supports Trump Defense in Georgia Case
723 [/url] Brynn Anderson/AP Photo
[url=https://www.breitbart.com/author/joel-b-pollak/]Joel B. Pollak
31 Aug 20233,387

4:15

Testimony this week in federal court by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reportedly contradicted claims that former President Donald Trump insisted he violate his oath of office by fabricating enough votes to win the state.
As Breitbart News has long noted, the media have misrepresented the January 2021 phone call between Trump and Raffensperger, quoting Trump as telling Raffensperger that he should “find” the votes necessary for him to win. In fact, Trump said “I just want to find” the votes, referring to his own state of mind. Moreover, the context was that Trump believed he actually had won the state of Georgia, and the votes simply had not been properly counted yet.
Raffensperger took the stand in a federal court in the Northern District of Georgia as part of a hearing on a motion by former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who is one of Trump’s 18 co-defendants in the criminal case in Fulton County, Georgia. Meadows argued that the case should be removed to federal court, because he was just working for the president, and therefore cannot be tried in state court under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.
Meadows stunned many observers by testifying in his own defense. Raffensperger was subpoenaed to testify by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. According to George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley, Raffensperger testified that the call, while “extraordinary,” was a “settlement negotiation” in the context of an argument over whether to pursue another recount of votes — not a demand to make up new votes.
Turley wrote:

Quote:The call was misrepresented by the [Washington] Post and the transcript later showed that Trump was not simply demanding that votes be added to the count but rather asking for another recount or continued investigation. Again, I disagreed with that position but the words about the finding of 11,780 votes was in reference to what he was seeking in a continued investigation. Critics were enraged by the suggestion that Trump was making the case for a recount as opposed to just demanding the addition of votes to the tally or fraudulent findings.
Raffensperger described the call in the same terms. He correctly described the call as “extraordinary” in a president personally seeking such an investigation, particularly after the completion of the earlier recount. That is manifestly true. However, he also acknowledged that this was a “settlement negotiation.”
So what was the subject of the settlement talks? Another recount or further investigation. The very thing that critics this week were apoplectic about in the coverage. That does not mean that Trump had grounds for the demand. Trump’s participation in the call was extraordinary and his demands were equally so. However, the reference to the vote deficit in demanding continued investigation was a predictable argument in such a settlement negotiation. As I previously stated, I have covered such challenges for years as a legal analyst for CBS, NBC, BBC, and Fox. Unsupported legal claims may be sanctionable in court, but they have not been treated as crimes.

If Meadows succeeds in his bid to have the case removed to federal court, other defendants will do the same, and may ague that the charges should be dismissed because of the Supremacy Clause and on other grounds. However, Raffebsperger’s testimony could also be used to dismiss at least some of the Fulton County indictments, particularly regarding “Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Officer,” in reference to the phone call with Raffensperger.

Quote:Early ancestral bottleneck could've spelled the end for modern human
by Chinese Academy of Sciences (August 31, 2023)

How a new method of inferring ancient population size revealed a severe bottleneck in the human population which almost wiped out the chance for humanity as we know it today.

An unexplained gap in the African/Eurasian fossil record may now be explained thanks to a team of researchers from China, Italy and the United States.

Using a novel method called FitCoal (fast infinitesimal time coalescent process), the researchers were able to accurately determine demographic inferences by using modern-day human genomic sequences from 3,154 individuals. Researchers published their findings online in the journal Science.

These findings indicate that early human ancestors went through a prolonged, severe bottleneck in which approximately 1,280 breeding individuals were able to sustain a population for about 117,000 years. While this research has illuminated some aspects of early to middle Pleistocene ancestors, there are many more questions to be answered since uncovering this information.

A large amount of genomic sequences were analyzed in this study. However, "the fact that FitCoal can detect the ancient severe bottleneck with even a few sequences represents a breakthrough," says senior author Yun-Xin Fu, a theoretical population geneticist at University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

The results determined using FitCoal to calculate the likelihood for present-day genome sequences found that early human ancestors experienced extreme loss of life and therefore, loss of genetic diversity.

"The gap in the African and Eurasian fossil records can be explained by this bottleneck in the Early Stone Age as chronologically. It coincides with this proposed time period of significant loss of fossil evidence," says senior author Giorgio Manzi, an anthropologist at Sapienza University of Rome.

Reasons suggested for this downturn in human ancestral population are mostly climatic: glaciation events around this time lead to changes in temperatures, severe droughts, and loss of other species, potentially used as food sources for ancestral humans.



An estimated 65.85% of current genetic diversity may have been lost due to this bottleneck in the early to middle Pleistocene era, and the prolonged period of minimal numbers of breeding individuals threatened humanity as we know it today.

However, this bottleneck seems to have contributed to a speciation event where two ancestral chromosomes may have converged to form what is currently known as chromosome 2 in modern humans. With this information, the last common ancestor has potentially been uncovered for the Denisovans, Neanderthals, and modern humans (Homo sapiens).

We all know that once a question is answered, more questions arise.

"The novel finding opens a new field in human evolution because it evokes many questions, such as the places where these individuals lived, how they overcame the catastrophic climate changes, and whether natural selection during the bottleneck has accelerated the evolution of human brain," says senior author Yi-Hsuan Pan, an evolutionary and functional genomics at East China Normal University (ECNU).

Now that there is reason to believe an ancestral struggle occurred between 930,000 and 813,000 years ago, researchers can continue digging to find answers to these questions and reveal how such a small population persisted in assumably tricky and dangerous conditions. The control of fire, as well as the climate shifting to be more hospitable for human life, could have contributed to a later rapid population increase around 813,000 years ago.

"These findings are just the start. Future goals with this knowledge aim to paint a more complete picture of human evolution during this Early to Middle Pleistocene transition period, which will in turn continue to unravel the mystery that is early human ancestry and evolution," says senior author LI Haipeng, a theoretical population geneticist and computational biologist at Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SINH-CAS).

This research was jointly led by Li Haipeng at SINH-CAS and Yi-Hsuan Pan at ECNU. Their collaborators, Fabio Di Vincenzo at the University of Florence, Giogio Manzi at Sapienza University of Rome, and Yun-Xin Fu at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, have made important contribution to the findings.

The research was first-authored by Hu Wangjie and Hao Ziqian who used to be students/interns at SINH-CAS and ECNU. They are currently affiliated with Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, respectively. Du Pengyuan at SINH-CAS, and Cui Jialong at ECNU also contributed to this research.

I just had to look that one up...





Dictionary of Dictionaries



Latin to English



WordSense



Greek Query


1082 Pirola, one of nearly 6,000 known carbonaceous asteroids named after the plant, the Pyrola genus!

Osiris must be back. Still looking for his missing piece. LOL.

So, Dick Covid to...


Laughter: The New Symbol of the Far-Right

Well, if that's the new symbol, I'm gonna wear it like a tattoo.

Oooh, this is gonna smart!

Quote:Human and ape ancestors arose in Europe, not in Africa, controversial study claims

A newly described fossil suggests that the ancestor of humans and apes arose in Europe, not in Africa.



'An ape fossil found in Turkey may controversially suggest that the ancestors of African apes and humans
first evolved in Europe before migrating to Africa, a research team says in a new study. The proposal breaks
with the conventional view that hominines -the group that includes humans, the African apes (chimps,
bonobos and gorillas) and their fossil ancestors -originated exclusively in Africa.

However, the discovery of several hominine fossils in Europe and Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) has already
led some researchers to argue that hominines first evolved in Europe. This view suggests that hominines
later dispersed into Africa between 7 million and 9 million years ago.

tudy co-senior author David Begun, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Toronto, clarified that they are
talking about the common ancestor of hominines, and not about the human lineage after it diverged from
the ancestors of chimpanzees and bonobos, our closest living relatives.

"Since that divergence, most of human evolutionary history has occurred in Africa," Begun told Live Science.
"It is also most likely that the chimpanzee and human lineages diverged from each other in Africa."

In the new study, the researchers analyzed a newly identified ape fossil from the 8.7 million-year-old site
of Çorakyerler in central Anatolia. They dubbed the species Anadoluvius turkae. "Anadolu" is the modern
Turkish word for Anatolia, and "turk" refers to Turkey.

The fossil suggests that A. turkae likely weighed about 110 to 130 pounds (50 to 60 kilograms), or about
the weight of a large male chimpanzee. Based on the fossils of other animals found alongside it -such as
giraffes, warthogs, rhinos, antelope, zebras, elephants, porcupines and hyenas -as well as other geological
evidence, the researchers suggest that the newfound ape lived in a dry forest, more like where the early
humans in Africa may have dwelled, rather than in the forest settings of modern great apes.

A. turkae's powerful jaws and large, thickly enameled teeth suggest that it may have dined on hard or tough
foods such as roots, so A. turkae likely spent a great deal of time on the ground.

In the new study, the scientists focused on a well-preserved partial skull uncovered at the site in 2015. This
fossil includes most of the facial structure and the front part of the braincase, the area where the brain sat
-features that helped the team calculate evolutionary relationships. "I was able to reconstruct and see for the
first time the face of an ancestor of ours no one had ever seen before," Begun said.

The researchers suggest that A. turkae and other fossil apes from nearby areas, such as Ouranopithecus in
Greece and Turkey and Graecopithecus in Bulgaria, formed a group of early hominines. This may, in turn,
suggest that the earliest hominines arose in Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. Specifically, the team
contends that ancient Balkan and Anatolian apes evolved from ancestors in Western and Central Europe.

Evolutionary questions
One question these findings raise is why, if hominines arose in Europe, they are no longer there, except for
recently arrived humans, and why ancient hominines did not also disperse into Asia, Begun said. "Evolution
is not very predictable," Begun said. "It happens as a series of unrelated and random events interact. We can
assume that the conditions were not right for apes to move into Asia from the eastern Mediterranean in the
late Miocene, but they were right for a dispersal into Africa."

As for why "we do not find African apes in Europe today, species go extinct all the time," Begun said.

Begun also cautioned that he did not want this research misinterpreted or misused to suggest that Eurasia
was somehow of primary importance in human evolution. Instead, "we need to know where the common
ancestor of African apes and humans evolved so that we can begin to understand the circumstances of
this evolution," he said. "Between 14 million and 7 million years ago, the areas in which apes were found
in Europe, Asia and Africa were different ecologically, just as many regions in these continents differ today.
Knowing the ecological conditions in which our ancestors evolved is critical to understanding our origins."



A different take
This new discovery "expands our understanding of a group that appears closely related to living African
apes and humans," Christopher Gilbert, a paleoanthropologist at Hunter College of City University of New
York who did not participate in this study, told Live Science.

However, Gilbert noted that recent comprehensive analyses of fossil great apes and early hominins -the
group that includes humans and the extinct species more closely related to humans than any other animal
-do not support the argument that hominines originated in Europe.

"Many other experts investigating the evolutionary relationships of fossil and living great apes using more
modern methods and including more [groups] find that many of the European apes branched off before
orangutans, making them likely distant relatives of living African great apes and humans," Gilbert said.

"Furthermore, these more comprehensive analyses suggest that apes like Anadoluvius are just as likely
or more likely to be recent immigrants to the Mediterranean from Africa rather than migrating back into
Africa," Gilbert added.

Fossil hominines like A. turkae aren't found in Africa largely because "we have a poor African fossil record
in general during this time," Gilbert said. "I am reminded of the old paleontological axiom -'absence of
evidence is not evidence of absence.'" However, Begun argued that an absence of hominine fossils in
Africa was telling and supported the idea that hominines originated elsewhere.

In any case, both Begun and Gilbert noted that future fieldwork in Africa and Eurasia looking for fossil
apes would potentially help clarify this matter. The scientists detailed their findings Aug. 23 in the
journal Communications Biology...'

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