By Andrew Aloia BBC Sport Last updated on 11 October 2021 11 October 2021 . From the section Football Watson was a trailblazer who helped transform how football was played There are two murals of black footballers facing one another across an alleyway in Glasgow. One helped shape football as we know it, the other is Pele. Andrew Watson captained Scotland to a 6-1 win over England on his debut in 1881. He was a pioneer, the world's first black international, but for more than a century the significance of his achievements went unrecognised. Research conducted over the past three decades has left us with some biographical details: a man descended of slaves and of those who enslaved them, born in Guyana, raised to become an English gentleman and famed as one of Scottish football's first icons. And yet today, 100 years on from his death aged 64, Watson remains something of an enigma, the picture built around him a fractured one. His grainy, faded, sepia image evokes many differen
Get link
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
The oldest animal life on Earth was discovered in Canada: 890 million years old
A Canadian paleontologist may have found the earliest evidence of life on Earth — and it’s much older than we thought.
a. and b. show the fossils that Turner believes show evidence of sponge life; compared with the spongin skeleton of a modern sponge, shown in c. Image credit: Turner, 2021, Nature CC by 4.0
Life as we know it took a pretty funky turn around 541 million years ago. That’s when a period called the Cambrian emerged, and with it, the so-called Cambrian explosion ushered in practically all major groups of animals. It lasted for about 25 million years and resulted in the divergence of life as we know it.
Before the Cambrian explosion, life on Earth was simple and small. It was composed either of individual cells, or of microscopic, multicellular organisms — or at least so we thought.
ADVERTISEMENT
Scientists have found some evidence of animal life existing before the Cambrian. In particular, some sponges (immobile aquatic animals) seem to have emerged before the Cambrian. But how long before it?
According to a recent study, the first sponges emerged a whopping 350 million years before the Cambrian — or 890 million years ago.
“If I’m right, animals emerged long, long before the first appearance of traditional animal fossils,” study author Elizabeth Turner told Nature. “That would mean there’s a deep back history of animals that just didn’t get preserved very well.”
The fossils discovered by Turner, from a remote area of northwestern Canada accessible only by helicopter, resemble some modern sponges known as keratose demosponges. The researchers dated the layer of rocks in which the sponge fossils were found, a solid analysis tool that leaves little room for question regarding the fossils’ age. The identification as sponges also seems pretty clear.
ADVERTISEMENT
“This organic skeleton is very characteristic [of sponge fossils],” explained geobiologist Joachim Reitner, who reviewed Turner’s study ahead of publication. “[T]here are not known comparable structures.”
But a finding that would force us to reconsider the evolution of life on Earth won’t happen easily, and Turner’s peers are rightfully raising all sorts of questions regarding the fossils. Some point out that the findings may not be fossils at all (but rather other structures), while others are focusing on another question: if life emerged a few hundred million years before the Cambrian, why haven’t we found any fossils of it until this?
Ultimately, if the finding is confirmed, it will help us understand the evolution of life on Earth.
“We are animals,” Turner said. “And we have a big brain, and we’re capable of wondering about stuff, and we wonder how we came to be.
“What happened before, and what was it like? How did it begin?” she said. “This is really digging into that. I’m shaking up the apple cart.”
Andrei's background is in geophysics, and he's been fascinated by it ever since he was a child. Feeling that there is a gap between scientists and the general audience, he started ZME Science -- and the results are what you see today.
We can still avoid breaking the 1.5ºC climate change barrier, says IPCC scientist -- but we need to act *now*
anthonymaw
Curbing greenhouse gas emissions isn't simple because the culprit is all humanity's population and continued socio-economic development. Anyone who has studied chemistry and physics understands that the entire modern technological world is made possible by unlimited consumption of energy mainly from hydrocarbon combustion from fossil sources. Controversially the biggest cause of the problem is capitalism and technology. People in upper and middle classes enjoy leisure travel, luxury goods and meat-eating. All technology is predicated upon a society that supports engineers and scientists research and development lives instead of working on farms. The global supply chain for the manufacture of technology products, mainly from China, further requires fossil-fuel transportation infrastructure. There is just NO WAY anyone in the developed world will go back to low carbon emission subsistence agrarian living. The upcoming Climate Conference in Scotland is also hypocrisy since the scientist and journalist attendees will all fly there by burning enormous quantities of highly refined fossil-petroleum based jet fuel.
Top Comment
Top Comment
1
It's totally our fault: Humans "unequivocally" causing global warming
anthonymaw
An example of an effective 20% reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions was seen in March and April 2020 when much of the world locked-down due to COVID. Most transportation, manufacturing and economies around the world were virtually halted, mainly in the developed nations who were/are the biggest GHG emitters. Electric cars, solar roofs and wind turbines aren't gonna change much.
Top Comment
Top Comment
Permanent hearing loss may not be so permanent after all -- in mice, for now
Ruth S
I wonder if this will help people who are born deaf? How wonderful that would be.
Top Comment
Top Comment
Oldest example of applied geometry found in 3,700-year-old Babylonian clay tablet
Ruth S
Oh dear, you lost me at Trig.
Top Comment
Top Comment
Puppies understand human gestures from an early age with no training unlike wolf pups
Ruth S
Fascinating! Now I'll never get any weeding done, I'll be Moon struck contemplating my cauliflowers.
Top Comment
Top Comment
1
Gruesome horde of thousands of animal bones leftovers from hyenas, including those from humans, found in Saudi Arabia
Ruth S
Ok, call me weird, but I've always wanted a hyena as a pet. I like the inane way they titter. However I don't think they are tamable, and certainly not to be trusted being crepuscular and all that.
By Andrew Aloia BBC Sport Last updated on 11 October 2021 11 October 2021 . From the section Football Watson was a trailblazer who helped transform how football was played There are two murals of black footballers facing one another across an alleyway in Glasgow. One helped shape football as we know it, the other is Pele. Andrew Watson captained Scotland to a 6-1 win over England on his debut in 1881. He was a pioneer, the world's first black international, but for more than a century the significance of his achievements went unrecognised. Research conducted over the past three decades has left us with some biographical details: a man descended of slaves and of those who enslaved them, born in Guyana, raised to become an English gentleman and famed as one of Scottish football's first icons. And yet today, 100 years on from his death aged 64, Watson remains something of an enigma, the picture built around him a fractured one. His grainy, faded, sepia image evokes many differen
Academic rigour, journalistic flair COVID-19 Arts + Culture Business + Economy Education Environment + Energy Health + Medicine Politics Science + Technology In French Artist illustration of an exoplanet. dottedhippo/iStock via Getty Images Are there any planets outside of our solar system? July 19, 2021 2.06pm SAST Author Jean-Luc Margot Professor of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles Disclosure statement Jean-Luc Margot receives funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, and philanthropists. Partners University of California provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation US. The Conversation is funded by the National Research Foundation, eight universities, including the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Rhodes University, Stellenbosch University and the Universities of Cape Town, Johannesburg, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Pretoria, and South Africa. It is hosted by the
There are a lot of people, but the oceans are very big. Rosley Majid/EyeEm via Getty Images If everyone on Earth sat in the ocean at once, how much would sea level rise? March 29, 2021 2.07pm SAST Author Tony E. Wong Assistant Professor of Mathematical Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology Disclosure statement Tony E. Wong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Partners Rochester Institute of Technology provides funding as a member of The Conversation US. The Conversation is funded by the National Research Foundation, eight universities, including the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Rhodes University, Stellenbosch University and the Universities of Cape Town, Johannesburg, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Pretoria, and South Africa. It is hosted by the Universities of the Witwatersrand and Western Cape, the African
Comments
Post a Comment