Adventure Ausrama Blog

The research shows that super-archaic humans migrated from Africa to Eurasia two million years ago (note: Homo erectus is classed as human) . There is nothing special about them. Super-archaic is just a name given to them. Hominins are the line that resulted in us, from the time when the divergence from chimpanzee and bonobo occurred. Super-archaics had a long time out of Africa alone. Well we think that is the case. Much later, between 400,000 and 300,000 years ago another ancient human moved from Africa. Those who went to Europe evolved into Neanderthals, while those moving into Asia became Denisovans. Our ancestors who remained in Africa became Homo sapiens, us. There is a lot of debate and disagreement about when we left Africa. Theories range from 200,000 years ago or even earlier to 60,000 before the present. But it is thought that the early leavers died out - not yet fully proven. When Homo-sapiens met Neanderthals and Denisovans interbreeding took place. However...

Three years ago a fossil was found at st Bathams in New Zealand. The record books now have to be rewritten. It seems the fossil is an ancestor of the Kiwi and it indicates that it was related to the Australian emu. This undermines the premise that the kiwi is a solely New Zealand bird. After all it is the national symbol. You see, the emu relative could fly and it flew to New Zealand. It was a tiny bird compared to the kiwi. The enormous egg that kiwis lay evolved. It was not "handed-down" by the giant Moa. Eggs began to get larger in birds during the Miocene. The theory that the kiwi originated in Australia was commonly held before this fossil find. It was believed to have got to New Zealand when the country was joined to Australia on Gondwanaland, but his view has been put to rest. Most New Zealand birds got bigger over time. This was not unusual. The kiwi evolved from the earlier tiny ancestor. Discovery of this 20 million year old fossil was pure ...

Australia is a very old continent. It seems the ancestors of Tyrannosaurus rex lived here. A hip bone has been found that dates to 110 million years ago which is 40 million years before T.rex roamed elsewhere on earth. Until now it was believed that T.rex only lived on northern continents. Many of the things stated as fact by scientists are indeed just matters of faith until they are "proven" otherwise. Scientists argue about when dinosaurs developed feathers and why. They claim that birds today are direct descendants from dinosaurs. This is like saying humans are descended from dinosaurs. Much evidence points to birds having a line of descent completely separate from dinosaurs. The same rings true with the Hobbit people of Flores Island. Some scientists will not accept that people different from humans survived until 18,000 years ago alongside humans. Neanderthals lived until 50,000 years ago, so why not another type of human? Science is much like religion. What is just ...

During the Middle-Late Pleistocene, one million to 10,000 years ago, more than 50 species of animal disappeared, the last to do so 46.4 thousand years from the present. The reason for the demise of the giant creatures is hotly debated. Some scientists claim that the spread of Man across the globe was the cause. This is suspect, however, because there were so few of them. Killing the odd animal would not have made a significant impact. Many believe that the end date for megafauna is incorrect. As stated above, the theory that humans killed them off by definition means that people and animals lived side-by-side for a considerable time. Evidence in Australia certainly points to this - 13 species of large animals were here on human arrival. Moreover, the people mainly relied on subsistence strategies for food. Their weapons were not very efficient. A boomerang is highly inaccurate and the range of a spear is limited. Megafauna died out over a long period of time, not all at a s...

A fossil find in Victoria, Australia, throws light on the origin of baleen whales. The artifact is 25 million years old. It is the 45 cm long skull of Mammalodon colliveri . Information about it has remained open since its discovery in 1932. Though it had teeth it spent its time sucking mud in the search for prey on the seafloor. A short, blunt snout made this possible. This type of feeding led to the filter method of modern whales. The baleen whale was only three meters long, a far cry from the monsters that followed. Its ancestors though were also very large. Other fossils have been found in Torquay , Victoria, notably Janjucetus hunderi which was unique to the area. This region is believed to be the cradle of tiny whales. Some form of isolation must have occurred for this to happen. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia http://www.technorati.com/blogs/ http://adventure--australi...

New findings on Alzheimer's have been released in Australia. The build up of beta-amyloid plaque is thought to be the main cause of Alzheimer's and it is also responsible for cognitive decline over the long term. The presence of plaque in the brain enables diagnosis of Alzheimer's even in people who show no immediate symptoms. This was announced by Dr Christopher Rowe, professor of nuclear medicine at Melbourme's Austin Hospital. A patient can now know years in advance that he/she will develop Alzheimer's. Whether this is a good thing is debatable, though it does give time for a person to get their things in order. Depression could be the result of making such an emotive discovery. Eighteen million people suffer from Alzheimer's worldwide. With the large segment of the population moving into the elderly group this is expected to reach 34 million by 2025. A new drug to fight plaque has been approved in the US. Hopefully, a medication can be found that ...

If an asteroid hadn't collided with the Earth 65 million years ago we would not be here today. Reptiles would still probably rule the world and apes would never have evolved. There was so much devastation after the impact that only small animals survived - very small mammals. These small creatures only came out into the open to take over the world when it was safe after the dinosaurs had gone. Mankind's development actually depended on the dinosaurs existence. Small animals evolved to give birth to live young so dinosaurs could not eat their eggs. Even giving milk to their young was to avoid the danger from dinosaurs. Becoming warm blooded allowed them to hunt at night which dinosaurs could not do. After the dust had settle it was a virtual paradise for mammals. The sun came out and they basked in it. A niche for large animals was vacant so mammals grew large and were successful. The climate changed and trees disappeared. Large mammals grazed happily until an intelligent a...

A fly is a fly and a mosquito is a, well, mosquito right? The difference isn't as distinct as that. A CSIRO research team has reached the conclusion that in evolutionary terms they are very close. They are both on the same main evolutionary branch: flies splitting of this line 175 million years ago, mosquitoes 50 million years. Flies make up a tenth of all animal species on Earth. There are 152,000 fly species in total. Flies are very interesting having three evolutionary attempts at flying until evolving with the flying method of today. Earth has had very different climates in the past. Despite dramatic changes flies survived. They can consume any nutrient rich substance available. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia http://www.technorati.com/blogs/http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Science

The Melbourne Storm Rugby League team has been found to be giving its players money in "brown paper bags". Some of these players are being paid several million dollars a year. It is virtually impossible for a player to get such payments and not know they are illegal under the league system. As you would expect, some people involved with the club have said that payments beyond the cap limits are rife throughout the league. This is probably the case. If The Storm can have two sets of books, so can any other club. Boards of other teams have said they are reviewing club finances. If they do find something will they be honest and tell the league administrators? They have a great deal to lose if they do. To win championships rugby clubs need to retain top players each season. To do this requires a large amount of money. League administrators have identified just over $700,000 in overpayment. When you consider there are more than a dozen players on the pay list, its seems a very sma...