Jean Boulet’s first helicopter flight was almost his last. It was September 21‚ 1947‚ and the 26-year-old Boulet was at the Camden‚ New Jersey‚ headquarters of Helicopter Air Transport‚ the world’s first commercial helicopter operator. He had earned an engineering degree from the École Polytechnique in Paris and had been a member of the French air force during World War II. After the liberation of France‚ the air force sent Boulet to the United States for fighter pilot training. He returned to France in 1946‚ but the war had ended and “there were many pilots and not enough planes‚” Boulet told the author in an interview in the 1980s. “I didn’t think there was too much of a future for someone who had not flown during the war‚ so I left the air force.”  Despite the glut of former military pilots on the market and his relative lack of experience in the air‚ Boulet remained determined to make flying his career. “I started looking for civilian flying jobs and received a proposal from SNCASE [Société Nationale des Constructions Aéronautique du Sud-Est] which was just beginning to develop helicopters‚” he said. “I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to do the job because I couldn’t fly helicopters‚ but they said nobody knew anything about flying them.”          SNCASE sent Boulet to Helicopter Air Transport‚ which also ran a training program for pilots‚ and that’s how he ended up in New Jersey and in the copilot seat of a Sikorsky S-51.  “The first day I saw a helicopter‚ I had my first ride and my first accident‚” Boulet recalled. “The instructor did not have a lot of experience‚ and at the end of the flight the helicopter started to rock back and forth very quickly. I thought he was doing a nice demonstration of the helicopter’s agility‚ but he had really lost control. We crashed‚ rolled over‚ the blades were broken‚ the aircraft was a mess‚ but luckily‚ we were only shaken up a little. This experience gave me a mistrust of this very strange flying machine.”  In June 1948 Boulet made the first post-World War II helicopter flight in France in a SNCASE SE-3101. Boulet ended up flying because the designated pilot weighed too much to get airborne. Despite this rather dramatic and nearly catastrophic introduction to the helicopter‚ Boulet would soon become the primary helicopter test pilot for SNCASE‚ which later became Sud Aviation and then the helicopter division of Aérospatiale. As these companies grew into one of the world’s leading helicopter manufacturers‚ Boulet was at the controls for test flights of the SE-3101‚ Alouette I‚ II and III‚ Frelon‚ Super Frelon‚ Lama and Puma helicopters. He helped define the role of helicopter test pilots in the development of new aircraft. “We suggest and request modifications and we decide the way a helicopter must be flown‚” he said. “We request things such as an increase in power‚ which we did for the Alouette II.”  Boulet also set the world’s record for helicopter altitude three times. His third record-setting altitude flight almost ended in disaster after the engine of his Lama flamed out during a descent through a thick layer of clouds. As he always did‚ Boulet managed to find a way to survive. After the crash landing in New Jersey‚ Boulet was able to fly 10 hours in another Helicopter Air Transport helicopter before the company went bankrupt and ceased operations. He completed his helicopter pilot training in Scotland and returned to France and SNCASE‚ which was ready to test fly its first helicopter‚ the SE-3101‚ in June 1948. The SE-3101 was an experimental helicopter designed by German aviation pioneer Henrich Focke of Focke-Wulf fame. An updated version of the Focke-Achgelis Fa 223‚ it had twin tail rotors‚ an uncovered fuselage and was powered by an 85-horsepower Mathis engine. After months of tie-down tests‚ the helicopter was ready for its first flight. Another pilot‚ who had experience with autogiros‚ was going to make the first test flight. He was a bit heavier than Boulet and the underpowered aircraft was unable to lift off the ground. “So‚ the manager told me to try because I was lighter‚” Boulet said. “I was young and thin and was able to take off and hold it off the ground.” This was “the first helicopter to be flown in France after the end of the war‚” said Charles Marchetti in Vertical Flight: The Age of the Helicopter‚ a book published by the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in 1984. Marchetti was a chief engineer and the Aérospatiale helicopter division general manager.  The SE-3101 flew a total of about 20 hours over the next two years but did not go into production due to several stability and control problems. It was able to achieve “satisfactory” forward flight without too much instability or vibration‚ according to Marchetti‚ but “during hovering and approach or forward flight near the ground the instability of the aircraft became obvious.” Boulet examines the barograph from his Alouette II that confirmed he had broken Wester’s record by more than 2‚400 feet on June 6‚ 1955. The company’s first production helicopter was the SE-3130 Alouette II‚ which was also the first production helicopter with a gas-turbine engine instead of the more conventional piston-driven engine. The first flight took place on March 12‚ 1955‚ with Boulet at the controls. “[W]e had a few problems to solve‚ but we were able to solve them by working very hard because we knew we had to catch up with the American industry which had started production in 1944‚” he said. Eventually the company manufactured more than 1‚300 SE-3130s.  Boulet was SNCASE’s only test pilot in 1955‚ which was problematic. “The company said you cannot be the only one because if you are ill‚ we cannot fly‚” Boulet said. “So‚ we engaged more pilots‚ three or four in 1956 and 1957.” The number of test pilots grew over the next few decades. “When I was chief test pilot‚ I always had control and would not do things I did not think were safe‚” Boulet said. “And when the other pilots flew‚ I always signed the flight order. I only lost one pilot. He was doing a demo flight in Germany and ran into a cable. It was the only bad accident we had. We had some crashes‚ but not any other bad crashes.”  Boulet first attempted to break the helicopter altitude record on June 6‚ 1955‚ in the Alouette II‚ just three months after the aircraft’s first flight. The existing record was 24‚524 feet‚ set by U.S. Army warrant officer Billy Wester in a Sikorsky S-59.  The higher a helicopter ascends into the thin air at high altitudes‚ the more difficult it becomes for the engine to maintain power and the rotor blades to maintain lift. Yet Boulet said the flight‚ during which he reached a record 26‚932 feet‚ “was not very difficult.” This is an example of his modesty‚ as the flight was‚ in fact‚ quite difficult indeed.  He took off from the Buc airfield‚ about 10 miles southwest of Paris. “I just had to apply the pitch and climb‚” he said. “But there was a problem with cockpit icing and I couldn’t see too well. Then‚ when I started to descend‚ I had a flame-out and couldn’t restart the engine.” Boulet was forced to autorotate‚ a technique where the pilot disengages the main rotor from the engine so the blades can be rotated by aerodynamic forces only‚ without any mechanical assistance. Autorotation will slow a descent but won’t stop it. “There was a strong wind that took me very far from the field I took off from‚ but I was able to land.” Boulet’s record was broken in December 1957 when U.S. Army captain James Bowman reached 30‚335 feet in a Cessna YH-41 Seneca helicopter. One development that Boulet applauded was the Fenestron‚ which eliminated a safety hazard by enclosing the tail rotor of the Aérospatiale Gazelle. On June 13‚ 1958‚ Boulet began heading skyward in another Alouette II‚ determined to regain the helicopter altitude record for Sud Aviation and France. He climbed quickly when “suddenly I heard a loud bang and the engine stopped‚” he said. Once again‚ he had to autorotate. “When I landed‚ we discovered that the casing of the engine had broken completely in two.” Despite the broken engine‚ Boulet had reached 36‚027 feet and reclaimed the altitude record. In the meantime‚ SNCASE merged with SNCASO (Société Nationale des Constructions Aéronautique du Sud-Ouest) to form Sud Aviation‚ and Marchetti began designing the larger‚ seven-seat Alouette III. The helicopter made its first flight on February 28‚ 1959. Boulet was at the controls and flight engineer Robert Malus was also aboard. Marchetti reported that the new helicopter flew beautifully and that Boulet managed to land a fully loaded Alouette III on top of France’s Mont Blanc‚ an altitude of 15‚777 feet. “In November 1960‚ on the occasion of a presentation in India‚ he landed with a passenger and 250 kilograms (551 pounds) of cargo in the Himalayas at an altitude of 6‚004 meters (19‚698 feet). At that time‚ this was an unprecedented feat.” Sud Aviation’s next aircraft was the Frelon‚ which was the forerunner of the more successful SE321 Super Frelon. A long list of problems was discovered in the early test flights of the Frelon‚ Boulet reported. “This helicopter had three engines which was something very new for us and we had a lot of problems‚ with incidents on almost every test flight. Once we had a severe instability with the helicopter. I was just about to tell the crew to jump out‚ but then I was able to gain control at the very last minute.”  On another test flight‚ problems with faulty servocontrols almost caused a crash. “It was not possible to hold the stick because it was moving completely to the left‚ and I could not pull it back‚ no matter how hard I tried‚” Boulet said. “Finally‚ with the help of my copilot‚ I was able to pull the stick back and gain control. This was not a very fun test program‚ and the crew was always tense during test flights.”  Test flights for the Super Frelon began in December 1962 and were a lot more successful than those for the Frelon. With Boulet at the controls‚ the Super Frelon set a new speed record for helicopters of 350 kilometers an hour (217.5 miles per hour). Boulet made his final record-setting flight on June 21‚ 1972‚ taking off from an airfield near Marseille in a Aérospatiale’s SA 315B Lama that had been stripped of all unnecessary equipment to save weight. To meet the French army’s new requirement for a medium-sized‚ all-weather helicopter‚ Sud Aviation began developing what would become the SA 330 Puma. The prototype made its first flight on April 15‚ 1965. As usual‚ Boulet was flying and‚ of course‚ there were problems‚ as there are in the initial test flights of almost every prototype aircraft. There were a lot of vibrations “that made it very unpleasant for the pilot and crew‚” Boulet said. It didn’t really make it harder to fly‚ but it was difficult to see the instruments because of all the shaking.”  Marchetti and his team solved the shaking problem by developing a suspension system that isolated the gearbox from the rest of the aircraft. It was called the “barbeque system” because the structure resembled a barbeque grill. Sud Aviation ended up manufacturing about 685 Puma helicopters.            In 1970 Sud-Aviation became Aérospatiale and in quick succession designed three new‚ single-turbine helicopters: the Gazelle‚ Écureuil and Dauphin. The Gazelle had two unique features: fiberglass rotor blades and the Fenestron design in which the anti-torque tail rotor was surrounded by a circle of material instead of being completely exposed. Boulet especially appreciated the Fenestron‚ which he referred to as “the fan-in-fin tail rotor.” “I had a bad experience at the beginning of the Alouette II test program‚” he said. “I was at the controls with the aircraft on the ground‚ and a man who was not noticed by the mechanics walked head-first into the tail rotor. It was horrible and there was blood everywhere and pieces everywhere. I was traumatized by this and lived in fear that it could happen again. Because of this‚ I loved the Fenestron and worked very hard to make it successful.”  Boulet was not as taken with the fiberglass rotor blades that had replaced the traditional metal blades‚ at least initially. “At high speed we had a lot of flutter‚ and this‚ of course‚ meant a lot of vibration‚” he said of the early test flights with the composite blades. “This [vibration] was so bad that I thought the helicopter was going to break into pieces. The stick was moving all over the cockpit‚ but happily‚ after a few seconds‚ I was able to recover with the help of the copilot.”  Aérospatiale’s SA 315B Lama was a redesigned and more powerful version of the Alouette II that was intended to fly at high altitudes and in hot temperatures for the Indian army. It was first manufactured in 1971 and Boulet decided this was the perfect helicopter in which to set a new altitude record. To make that possible‚ it was necessary to lighten the aircraft by removing all possible instruments‚ taking out the passenger seats and replacing the standard fuel tank with a smaller one. Engineers modified the turbine Turbomeca engine to increase power by about 6 percent. After Boulet started the engine‚ mechanics removed the battery and starter motor to further lighten the aircraft.   Boulet and the Lama leaped into the air on June 21‚ 1972‚ from an airfield near Marseille. Trouble started almost immediately. “During the climb‚ there were some clouds‚ but I was able to climb through a hole in them‚” he said. “But all the time I was worried about my descent.”  Boulet’s descent following his final altitude record was especially tense. After his engine failed he was forced to autorotate to a safe landing. He also lacked some instruments‚ which had been removed to save weight‚ as well as his generator and battery. Boulet was able to reach the stunning altitude of 40‚820 feet and smash the previous record of 36‚027 feet he had set in 1958. However‚ his worries on the way up proved prescient on the way down when Boulet couldn’t find the hole in the clouds for his descent. “My cockpit was completely frozen‚ and visibility was very bad. And also‚ there was some mist on the ground‚ which made it very hard to see the ground and tell how high up I was.”  As if these weren’t enough problems‚ as he began to descend through the clouds‚ his engine failed. Without the generator and battery‚ which had been removed‚ he had no way to restart the engine. This meant Boulet would have to perform the world’s highest and most dangerous autorotation‚ without the help of the horizon indicator and compass‚ which had also been removed. “So‚ I had to go through 13‚000 feet of clouds without instruments‚” Boulet said. “The only way for me not to go upside down was to watch for the brightness of the sun. I could barely see where the sun was by looking for the bright spot in the clouds‚ and I tried to keep this spot above me.”  Using every bit of the experience he had gained over the years‚ Boulet managed to keep his helicopter upright. After he broke through the clouds‚ the warmer air below melted the ice from his cockpit and windshield so Boulet was finally able to see where he and the Lama were going. He landed safely after a descent of about 25 minutes.  This was Boulet’s third and final helicopter altitude record‚ and it has yet to be broken.  Boulet remained Aérospatiale’s chief test pilot until he retired in 1975‚ ending one of the most illustrious careers of any helicopter or fixed-wing test pilot. “The rest of us were like members of the orchestra‚ which Boulet was the star soloist who could take your breath away‚” said Claude Picard‚ a helicopter pilot and a member of Aérospatiale’s public relations department. “I loved my job; it was the only thing I wanted to be doing‚ and I did everything possible to reduce the risks‚” Boulet said‚ adding that there were times when he was frightened. “I remember a few times when I was scared‚ especially in the days of the Frelon. I put on some warm clothes because when you are scared‚ you are shivering.” There were also a few perks available to the chief test pilot that helped compensate for the occasional terror. Boulet said that he often flew a helicopter he was testing to his nearby home to have lunch with his wife. And‚ from time to time‚ he was able to “borrow” a helicopter for a weekend of skiing. “This was because in France at that time we had very liberal civil aviation regulations and you could go anywhere provided you had permission of the owner‚” he said.  In the years after he retired‚ Boulet kept busy skiing‚ lecturing and writing. He also wrote History of the Helicopter as Told by Its Pioneers 1907-1956‚ which he published in 1984. Boulet died on February 13‚ 2011. He was 90. 

Jon Stewart paid tribute to his dog‚ Dipper‚ who passed away on February 25. The emotional tribute then helped raise $35K for an animal shelter.

Van Jones: Europe Will Become Hellscape Under Trump

Child Support for Unborn Children Granted by Kentucky Senate Bill

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the major health challenges facing humankind today. Recent years have seen the development of the most promising drug treatments we’ve ever seen‚ as well as trials of innovative therapies and tests. But debates around what actually causes the disease continue to rage in the background. Into this fray steps a new theory‚ in which an intricate dance between two proteins could‚ the authors suggest‚ indicate a “mechanical basis” of Alzheimer’s disease.The study has just been posted as a preprint‚ and so has not yet undergone external peer review. In their paper‚ the international team of authors detail the experimental process that led them to develop a six-pronged hypothesis for how a protein called talin‚ through its interactions with a key Alzheimer’s protein called amyloid precursor protein (APP)‚ could be a vital mediator in the development of the disease – and‚ crucially‚ how it might be possible to target this system with drugs.We spoke to senior author Dr Ben Goult‚ Professor of Mechanistic Cell Biology at the University of Liverpool‚ about the new work. Goult’s history with the talin protein goes back several years. In 2021‚ he put forward a novel view for how memories may be stored in the brain called the MeshCODE theory. Taking advantage of a talin molecule’s ability to switch between two stable shapes‚ the theory suggests that memories could be encoded physically like a mechanical computer uses binary switches‚ with one talin shape acting as the “0” and the other as the “1”.    Since then‚ a series of experimental findings has led Goult and the team to believe that talin may not just be involved in writing memory into the brain‚ but could also play a role in its loss during the development of Alzheimer’s.“The key steps on the way were […] showing experimentally that talin does bind APP [and] when we modelled APP to scale‚” Goult told IFLScience. “If you look at this video we made‚ it’s all drawn to scale using full-length proteins‚ and you can see immediately what is going on.”  With these results in hand‚ Goult quickly contacted Dr Julien Chapuis at the Institut Pasteur de Lille‚ France. Chapuis' team had been systematically assessing different proteins’ effects on APP‚ but had excluded talin from their published research as it had not met their cut-off criteria.“But when you look at the data‚ talin has just about the biggest effect on APP processing out of all proteins!” Goult told IFLScience.“So combined with our work on talin as a memory molecule and the MeshCODE‚ I realised this was all starting to fit together‚ then I started to write this new paper. As it all started to fit together it was really amazing‚ and seeing the genetic data and the biochemical data all fit together made the last couple of months of writing this incredibly exciting.”The authors suggest that APP proteins could exist in a mesh that mechanically connects the two sides of a synapse‚ the gap between two neurons across which nerve impulses must pass. Correct processing of APP is vital to maintain the synchronicity of the synapse‚ but this can go wrong‚ ultimately leading to Alzheimer’s through corruption of the binary code we talked about earlier – the MeshCODE of talin “1s” and “0s”. As this collapse spreads throughout brain networks‚ so Alzheimer’s disease spreads through the brain. “This study provides a new idea for what APP might be doing in healthy neuronal functioning. And that when this goes wrong you get defects in mechanical homeostasis‚ and this can lead to problems‚” Goult told IFLScience. The theory also fits with our current‚ evolving understanding of Alzheimer’s pathology‚ and the role of the plaques of misfolded amyloid-β protein – caused by incorrect processing of APP – that are seen in the brains of sufferers.“But I think it also identifies a number of possible new ways to treat Alzheimer’s or at least to diagnose it earlier‚” Goult added. To be totally clear‚ this is all still in the realm of the theoretical. But Goult and colleagues suggest that “rigorous experimental validation and refinement of these hypotheses” should be the next step – something they’re already working on in the lab‚ with hopes for animal experiments in the near future.This also ties in with the crucial‚ sixth part of the hypothesis: that it might be possible to repurpose existing drugs to help slow the spread of Alzheimer’s. Focal adhesions (FAs) are large globs of protein that connect machinery inside a cell to the outside environment. Previous genetic data suggest a link between the stability of FAs and the stability of APP at the synapse. But we already have some drugs that are known to stabilize FAs – they’re often used in cancer treatment. Could these also have the same effect on APP in the brain‚ restabilizing the APP mechanical mesh and preventing the breakdown that leads to Alzheimer’s?  It’s a tantalizing thought‚ and something Goult and colleagues are very keen to explore further. Goult’s journey with talin has already been paved with some surprises‚ and we can now add this bold new theory to that list.“It’s [really] cool working on the individual proteins and how they work‚ look and interact as it can lead to completely new ideas that scale through all the levels of explanation from complexes to synapse to neurons to a whole brain‚” Goult told IFLScience.“With a bit of luck this new data and the hypotheses that arise from it can accelerate new ways to treat this disease.”The preprint‚ which is yet to undergo external peer review‚ is available at bioRxiv. 

Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park is bursting at the seams with natural delights. From rolling hills and deep river valleys to the world’s longest known cave system and a surprising number of sharks‚ the UNESCO World Heritage Site has much to offer.Located in south-central Kentucky‚ the park spans over 52‚000 acres (21‚000 hectares)‚ primarily in Edmonson County. Perhaps its most famous feature is the colossal cave system that extends for hundreds of miles beneath the woodlands – it’s not named Mammoth Cave for nothing.The five-level cave system is the longest in the world‚ with 686 kilometers (426 miles) explored so far‚ and new caves continually being discovered. Stalactites and stalagmites inside Mammoth Cave.Image credit: NPS image‚ Public DomainNearly every type of cave formation is known within the site‚ which shows off 100 million years of cave-forming action. The complex network of caverns and passages features huge chambers‚ vertical shafts‚ stalagmites and stalactites‚ stunning gypsum flowers‚ delicate gypsum needles‚ and rare mirabilite flowers. No other cave system in the world is known to offer such a variety of sulfate minerals.The caves are carved out of limestone‚ topped with a layer of sandstone and shale. As the sandstone layer leaks‚ surface water seeps into the limestone‚ eroding it and creating a labyrinthine network of caves.The historic entrance to Mammoth Cave has been used by people for 5‚000 years.Image credit: NPS image‚ Public DomainThey are home to a rich array of cave-dwelling flora and fauna‚ with more than 130 species found within them. This includes‚ believe it or not‚ ancient sharks – over 100 individual shark specimens have been found within the caves.Sharks lived in the area around 330 million years ago‚ when much of the Mississippi River valley was submerged underwater. Thanks to the protection the caves offer from the elements‚ fossils‚ such as those of sharks‚ tend to be well preserved.As well as the cave system‚ the national park is home to part of the Green River Valley‚ and the rolling hills of south-central Kentucky. Visitors can get stuck into all kinds of activities‚ including hiking‚ biking‚ camping‚ horseback riding‚ fishing‚ and kayaking. You can even explore up to 16 kilometers (10 miles) of the caves as part of a tour.Officially dedicated as a national park in 1941‚ Mammoth Cave became a World Heritage Site in 1981 and an International Biosphere Reserve in 1990.

Fans of ancient animals may have heard the term “living fossil” used to describe creatures that have taken a relaxed approach to evolution‚ remaining seemingly unchanged for millions of years. Now‚ new research into gars is the first to uncover a mechanism that can explain why some animals get left behind. In some living fossils‚ evolution really does occur at a drastically slower rate‚ and it means they can create viable hybrids with other species – even when they haven't shared a common ancestor since dinosaurs walked the Earth.The study dove into the curious world of gars‚ a group of fish so famously old that even Charles Darwin mentions these living fossils in the Origin Of Species. What they lack in speciation they make up for in curious hybrids‚ having the oldest known parental split between two separated groups that can still reproduce to create fertile offspring.What is a living fossil?A living fossil is considered to be an animal alive today whose characteristics‚ or phenotype‚ reflect those of a species known only from the fossil record. It was a term coined by Charles Darwin in 1859‚ but one that’s been used in varied and unclear contexts ever since. Now‚ a new paper has come to the rescue to demystify some of the conversation around living fossils‚ including why they occur in nature.What are gars?The toothy ancestors of gars were grinning through the waters of the Jurassic period around 150 million years ago when dinosaurs were enjoying their pre-Chicxulub era. They’re considered primitive fishes‚ belonging to the family Lepisosteidae which contains the only surviving members of the Ginglymodi – a group of ray-finned fish including gars and their extinct relatives.Living fossils? Yes they gar.Gars’ old-school status landed them as the subject of research into why living fossils exist in nature‚ revealing that these ancient ray-finned fishes have remained largely unchanged for tens of millions of years. Not only do they fit the definition of living fossil‚ but they have the slowest rate of molecular evolution seen among all jawed vertebrates.This would be equivalent to a chimpanzee producing fertile offspring with a kangaroo‚ a whale with a wombat‚ or an ostrich with a blackbird! Absolutely nutty!Chase BrownsteinThere are seven species alive today‚ all of which – structurally speaking – look near-identical to their fossilized families. Around 100 million years ago‚ one of the two major lineages of gars diverged from their ancient ancestors‚ a fact that becomes all the more curious when you find out who they’re reproducing with.“[Thomas Near] had read reports that gars could hybridize across generic (genus-level) splits‚” said study lead Chase Brownstein at Yale University to IFLScience. “We ended up showing that the split between the two living genera of gars happened about ~106 million years ago.""That's nearly 40 million years before Tyrannosaurus rex appeared on the scene! Yet‚ we show that these two gar genera are still producing viable and fertile hybrids in the wild. This would be equivalent to a chimpanzee producing fertile offspring with a kangaroo‚ a whale with a wombat‚ or an ostrich with a blackbird! Absolutely nutty!”Hybrids discovered between the Alligator Gar and Longnose Gar represent the offspring of genetically isolated groups whose last common ancestor existed 100 million years ago‚ making it the oldest identified parental split across animals‚ plants‚ and fungi. These hybrids are rare‚ but not unheard of – and by a stroke of sweet serendipity‚ one of co-author Solomon David’s graduate students‚ Kati Wright‚ actually caught one the same week as the study’s publication. Behold‚ the Alligator x Longnose GarImage credit: Kati WrightA genetic explanation as to why gars can reproduce so far out of their apparent dating pool followed the analysis of a dataset of 1‚105 exons — the coding region of DNA — from a sample of over 400 jawed vertebrates. It showed that gars evolve up to three orders of magnitude slower than any other major group of vertebrates‚ meaning they can have a much older common ancestor and still produce viable offspring compared to species whose rate of genetic mutation is higher.“Our paper shows that living fossils aren’t simply strange accidents of history but provide a fundamental demonstration of the evolutionary process in nature‚” Brownstein said in a statement. “It shows that analyzing patterns in living fossils’ evolutionary history might have implications for our own story. It not only helps us better understand the planet’s biodiversity‚ but potentially could one day be applied to medical research and improve human health.”Gars’ slow rate of genetic mutation may have held them back from achieving species richness‚ but they’ve done a lot with their marathon run on our planet.                   “Gars have been around for over 150 million years‚ while they have slow overall rates of evolution‚ they have adapted well to their environments over time‚” Solomon David‚ of GarLab glory‚ told IFLScience. “They breathe air‚ they have toxic eggs‚ and armored scales. They can even live in saltwater for extended periods.” “Our previous research has shown they can (relatively) rapidly adapt to different climates at different latitudes (Spotted Gars adapting to the Great Lakes region in 8‚000 years). They are the ultimate survivors‚ but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be taking measures to conserve these and other ecosystems in the face of climate change.” The next question on the team's tongues is whether super-efficient DNA repair that enables them to correct mutations has helped gars for the last 100+ million years. Finding out will likely entail transgenic experiments using model vertebrate systems‚ such as zebrafish‚ and toxicological experiments to measure the efficacy of gar DNA repair‚ so watch this space!The study is published in the journal Evolution.

A Donald Trump Super Tuesday victory parade meant that it was time to for CNN's Van Jones to go full apocalypse. On Wednesday‚ in the aftermath of Nikki Haley's withdrawal from the 2024 presidential primary race‚ anchor Jim Acosta asked Jones how Joe Biden could earn the votes from Haley supporters and donors. That provided the opportunity for Jones to conjure up images of "Russian tanks rolling through Europe" if Trump returns to the White House. Here is Van Jones channeling his inner fearmonger:   JIM ACOSTA: And — and Van‚ what does President Biden need to do at this point to earn those Nikki Haley’s supporters‚ bring them into the fold? We saw the Biden campaign putting out a statement for President Biden‚ almost immediately after Nikki Haley walked off that stage in South Carolina. What do you think? VAN JONES: I think he needs to — to talk to her donors and her supporters and say‚ if you want to a year from now‚ watch Russian tanks rolling through Europe‚ then‚ you know‚ endorse Donald Trump and get on that bandwagon. But understand‚ you’re going to wake up one morning and you’re going to see horror across Europe‚ you’re going to have American soldiers‚ sailors‚ having to go over there and do something that we could have done with dollars we have to do with — with blood. If you want to continue to see the country being divided and unable to — to govern itself and treat itself well‚ get on that Trump train. But you got a place over here. Now‚ he also‚ I think‚ needs to make a stronger case for what he is going to do to keep the economy moving in a good direction for people who go in grocery stores and can’t pay for their groceries. He says he’s going to sic the DoJ and the FTC on these grocers‚ these corporate grocers that are ripping off Americans‚ he needs to lean into that for the voters. But for the  people like us who care about a democracy around the world‚ they have a binary choice‚ we’re out of NATO and Russia is running over Europe‚ or you stand with Joe Biden. If this sounds like a familiar refrain from Van Jones on the subject of Trump that could be because he went down this apocalyptic road before such as in October 2017 when Jones suggested that Trump was "willing" to have Americans die "to get his way." So don't be too surprised to hear of more Van Jones visions of Trump-inspired doom as we approach this year's election in November.

Often‚ homesteading and survivalism can be defined by the simple fact that you have your own access to medical tools‚ energy‚ and food. The post Survival Chemistry: Crafting and Storing Essential Solutions appeared first on Survivopedia.

While initially conquering Baldur's Gate 3's seemingly endless hours of content seemed like a pipe dream‚ it's just over seven months since Larian's titanic RPG was unleashed into the wild‚ and a whole lot of you have already completed it - multiple times. While every playthrough is different (unless you're me‚ who can never fully commit to being pure evil)‚ you may be looking for a brief vacation from Faerûn - and Zoria: Age of Shattering is exactly what you need. Continue reading If you’ve finished Baldur’s Gate 3‚ this new RPG is what you need MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Games like Baldur's Gate 3‚ Best fantasy games‚ Best turn-based RPGs