Bringing Back the Mammoth

     Hello all!!!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  I certainly think I did, as I lovingly eye my new camping gear 😀 For tonight’s slight late blog post is a slightly controversial topic that I found pretty interesting; The cloning of a woolly mammoth.  Many scientists believe that with a good enough DNA sample, a mammoth could be cloned from that DNA and be brought to life not too far in the future. My first thought is “Wow! That’s fantastic!”, but I’d be a little worried that governments would keep them all locked up and make them nothing but rare zoo decorations. Regardless, the idea of humans restoring a species that we caused to go extinct is a wonderful prospect. Humans have a habit of taking from nature and giving nothing back, so this could open up all sorts of possibilities 🙂

( photo: 

Brett Neilson)

      Recently, a mammoth carcass discovered in Siberia has the best chance to be cloned. Discovered in the ice, the carcass was surprisingly well preserved. In previous mammoth discoveries, the bodies are not well preserved, with the blood being reduced to powder and no intact DNA for a cloning. The Siberian mammoth, nicknamed “Buttercup”, was actually (forgive the term) oozing blood during the excavation. Insung Hwang, a cloning scientist at the SOOAM Biotech Research Center, said “This is definitely one of the best samples people have ever found”. 

     Another plan for bring back the woolly mammoth is to take parts of their DNA that include the fur and unique features, and add them to an elephant’s DNA. Instead of creating a completely authentic extinct species, it would use a genetic copy-and-paste tool called CRISPR to create a hybrid between a woolly mammoth and an regular Asian elephant. Very similar to the plot of the most recent Jurassic World movie, it would make the animal not 100% a woolly mammoth, but would be so close that it likely wouldn’t make much difference.

     While it seems we will soon be able to bring back extinct species, many are skeptical if we should. A religious view is that bringing life falls under the domain of their god, and that science should stay away from the subject all together. Another view is that if we allow genetic splicing to advance far enough to create an extinct species, then what is to stop governments from creating dangerous hybrids or do the same experiments on humans?  As for me personally, I think bringing back extinct animals is a brilliant idea, assuming that the new addition to the animal kingdom will not upset the current food chain too much. It would be an amazing thing to see a woolly mammoth brought back into our world, and I hope more steps are taken to protect the animals to prevent an extinction of an animal  like the mammoth again.

     Let me know what you think! Do you like the idea of restoring an extinct species or do you think we should leave things as they are?  Talk to ya next week!

~Emrys

Cecil, Misguided Hunters, and The War on Sanity

image: Sean Delonas

     With a picture like this to open the article and an ill-conceived headline (“Africa’s Future? Go Now, Before It’s Too Late”) on the cover of the December 2015-January 2016 addition of Petersen’s Hunting magazine, I definitely had to pick it up and read the article.

     David Hart wrote the article to make the argument that, in order to practice healthy sustainability practices for endangered species in Africa’s current economical state, hunters must hunt so that trophy fees and other astronomical extortions go to African landowners and communities.  Hart claims it is incentive to practice sound conservation. Blaze says it’s a lack of respect for our planet and it’s inhabitants.  

     Let’s get a little deeper into the problem: I watched a Ted Talk where Mikkel Legarth explained how the lion hunting ban in Botswana “killed the lions”. He spoke in detail how his trip to the country allowed him to learn first hand how cattle farmers in the area grew to view lions as pests, and they were free to kill the lions that trespassed onto their lands with no limits. This directly ties in to what David Hart’s addition to the Petersen’s Hunting publication stated about conservation: “Hunting is an economic trade. It works best in Africa where the landholder or community owns the wildlife. They receive money for an animal in the form of a trophy fee, so they have an interest in protecting it.”

     A fart on Petersen’s, and a fart on short sighted Legarth, who was apparently ignorant to a very nifty solution created by Richard Turere (Wild Knights salutes him).  At the age of 11, Richard invented “Lion Lights”, which he originally powered with a solar panel.  The flashing light repels lions and other wildlife including elephants so effectively that he’s been involved in installing them in many communities in Kenya and received a scholarship to the Brookehouse International School in Kenya for his achievements.

     I know this is a fraction of the problem. They are still poachers and other lesser problems like subsistence killings in Africa. Poaching is an inexcusable offense, but supporting yourself from your kills is not malicious. With education, hunters supporting themselves and their families could make better choices when finding food for their family.  So for the poachers and other malicious offenses against African wildlife, we need smart, deliberate solutions.  If an 11-year-old can solve a huge part of the problem while harboring ill will for lions who killed off his father’s livestock, then any one of you reading this article can come up with logically sound ideas based in your good will.

     This isn’t just about conservation of lions or elephants or any wildlife anywhere in the world.  This is about a mindset that needs to die. Treating our world like a free-for-all looting party doesn’t progress or add to the world. In fact, it takes away from something that the thieving individual can enjoy too. How many places of almost supernatural beauty have been ruined in pursuit of a fleeting financial or personal gain? How many species have died out as a result of irresponsible hunting habits? Why do some think they own the land or own the animals on our planet when it’s obvious that paper deeds are decomposable, files are corruptible, and Darwinism takes care of obsolete beings and, in this case, mindsets.

     -Blaze

P.S.

image:Chen Hualin

     I’m just going to leave this Lion Tree budding with cuddly fruit.

The Christmas Demon: Krampus

     Greetings and happy holidays everyone!  Apologies for being a day late on my blog post, didn’t have any internet yesterday. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and enjoys every chilly moment of it. Without further ado, today’s blog post is about the infamous Christmas Devil known as Krampus!!!

(photo art from 1900s card that says, “Greetings from the Krampus”)

   The Krampus is a horned, anthropomorphic figure in Austro-Bavarian Folklore who was paired alongside Saint Nicholas as a darker counterpart to our favorite jolly fellow. Where Saint Nicholas would reward children who behaved well with gifts or treats, Krampus would find the children who misbehaved and leave them coal or sticks and in some darker stories, even kidnap them and take the children to hell. Sounds very Puritan.

     His appearance is that of a black satyr, with long curved horns, black fur, and cloven feet. Often depicted with a very long and pointed tongue and razor sharp teeth, with chains around his feet and neck and a bundle of birch branches to hit children with on his back.

   These days, Krampus is a popular icon, with festivals such as Krampushnacht, when people dress as Krampus and run through the streets chasing children. Krampus has become less of a sinister icon and more of the bad cop to Santa’s good cop.   Many similarities in character can be found in the Grinch, a famous children’s character in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”.

That’s all for now, let me know what you think!  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

~Emrys

Giant 200-year-old Salamander!

     A piece of extremely compelling and current news came to the world from a fisherman who discovered a Cryptobranchidae believed to be over 200 years old!  Given the usual 50-80 year lifespan of most of it’s species, this one has been moved to a research facility for study and ”protection”.  This particular Cryptobranchidae, a Chinese giant salamander, is 4.5 feet in length and weighs over 100 pounds! 

     This is the largest known species of amphibian on our planet today, but the population has suffered dramatic declines due to over hunting.  Lucky for us, action is being taken to protect their habitats and provide education for the rest of us carnivores. 

     Now can somebody PLEASE go search for the Megalania?!

     -Blaze

     P.S.  It lived over 200 years IN ITS NATURAL HABITAT, will it continue to thrive in a research facility?!

     -Blaze and Emrys

To the Hyperloop!

illustration by htt/jumpstartfund/omegabyte

     If you know anything about Elon Musk’s ideas, you know he’s a guy dead set on progress and pushing the limits.  You probably have heard of the Tesla vehicle and you may have even heard about SpaceX and their plans for launching reusable rockets to avoid costly and harmful byproducts and waste, but have you heard about the Hyperloop?

     The Hyperloop is Elon Musk’s concept for a “fifth mode of transportation” that travels at an average speed of 598 miles per hour with a top speed of 760 miles per hour. According to my Google search while writing this, the speed of sound is 767.269 miles per hour, so compared to the speed of the proposed Hyperloop designs, that’s stupendous!  This high speed travel would happen in pressurized capsules inside a steel tube with a partial vacuum maintained through the length of the trip. The capsules will ride on an air cushion driven by linear induction motors and air compressors, thus eliminating rolling resistance and creating a ride that sounds legendary in theory.

     Since Elon Musk has made this one of the largest open source projects in the world, many people have begun to add their own thoughts and design ideas to the growing fascination and race to completion. Currently, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc. is planning to do tests in the Nevada Desert starting as soon as early 2016, so this will all soon be old news. With any hope, we will be able to get from Los Angeles to The Big Apple in a matter of hours if not less after the technology makes advancements and goes public with a full system in the United States, which is Elon’s goal by 2020.

     For more info on this, fortune.com has a short video on their website with two of the guys working on the dream here:
     http://fortune.com/2015/12/09/elon-musk-hyperloop-nevada/

     -Blaze

Artifact Series: The Spirit Phone

     Greetings and Salivations!!!!!!!   Tonight’s addition to the artifact series will be an oddball compared to the others; The Spirit Phone!  Most of you likely haven’t heard of it, but I’m sure you will all know its creator ;D 

     Thomas Edison worked on this device during the last decade of his life. In multiple essays, Edison had pondered over how a spirit could exist after death. He had many theories, some of which were disproved as biology advanced over the years. He believed that spirits consisted of “life units” that would break apart and become something new, and that all things were made of these life units.

     Edison wrote in one of his essays, “For my part, I am inclined to believe that our personality hereafter will be able to affect matter. If this reasoning be correct, then, if we can evolve an instrument so delicate as to be affected, or moved, or manipulated – whichever term you want to use – by our personality as it survives in the next life, such an instrument, when made available, ought to record something. I have been at work for sometime building an apparatus to see if it is possible for personalities which have left this earth to communicate with us.”

    This device was in progress up until Thomas Edison died, supposedly unfinished.  Yet some sources believe that not only did Edison finish the Spirit Phone, but actually used it during a few gatherings of his friends.

    Interestingly, Thomas Edison’s last words after waking briefly from his comatose state before his death, “

It’s very beautiful over there!”  

    Thoughts? Let me know what you think of this addition to the Artifact Series, and if you have anything you would like to see, just let me know!  Til next week friends 😀

~Emrys

Go Barefoot!

     According to a report in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health, walking barefoot on our wonderful planet has more health benefits than you may have imagined. 

     "It is an established, though not widely appreciated fact, that the Earth’s surface possesses a limitless and continuously renewed supply of free or mobile electrons.

… Mounting evidence suggests that the Earth’s negative potential can create a stable internal bioelectrical environment for the normal functioning of all body systems. Moreover, oscillations of the intensity of the Earth’s potential may be important for setting the biological clocks regulating diurnal body rhythms, such as cortisol secretion.“

    Go take a walk! 

    – Blaze

Artifact Series: The Fountain of Youth

      Good day everyone! Today’s addition to the Artifact series will be the fabled Fountain of Youth! Probably one of the more prominent of the artifacts to appear in pop culture. I was torn about adding this one to the artifact series because I couldn’t decide if it should be described as an object or a location. Regardless, the topic is fascinating to me, and I wanted to share it! 😀  

photo: 

The Fountain of Youth, 1546 painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

     The Fountain of Youth is a mythical spring that can supposedly restore the youth of anyone who drinks from the fountain or bathes in its waters. Variations of the spring have appeared throughout many of the indigenous people of the Caribbean. Some natives have said it to be located north of the Bahamas, and others have said it was located in the Gulf of Honduras.

     Now I firmly believe something like this is possible, but I would like to bring up a common myth I found while researching the fountain. One of the most common names associated with the search for the fountain is a Spanish Explorer and ex Governor of Puerto Rico, Juan Ponce de León. Ponce was eventually removed from governship (is that a word?) after a power struggle and was granted a contract in 1512 by the king at the time, to explore and settle a a land called Bimini.

     Ponce actually ended up discovering Florida and returned a few years later to settle the land, thought he met his end at a native’s arrow. So far, after reading through Ponce’s letters and various documents from that time, no reference to the fountain was made until after Ponce de León’s death in 1521.  

     Surprisingly, legends very similar to this turn up all over history, dating back as far as the 4th century. Alexander the Great supposedly came across a “healing river” quite similar in description to the fountain during his travels. As cool as that is, I was actually more surprised to read that to reach this river, Alexander the Great had to cross a “Land of Darkness”, a place of perpetual night.

     Stories like this interest me so much. It’s easy for a myth or legend to pop up in a single location and be written off as superstition, but when the same thing continues to pop up in other cultures throughout history, it makes you wonder if such an amazing thing really exists. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed and I’ll definitely post on this again once I’ve discovered the fountain for myself!

~Emrys

Build your dream!

image: Patrick Riebe

     This laser gun, ladies and gents, was made at home by a guy who makes his living being an awesome nerd.  Patrick Riebe lost his job and decided to make his passion a full time gig. He gets commissioned to make all sorts of interesting and dangerous toys from around the globe. (My inner Disney villain is rubbing his palms together and chuckling throatily).

     In an interview with motherboard.vice.com, Riebe said, “I want to prove to myself and to people on Youtube what’s possible: that you can actually build these things at home all by yourself with some patience and practice.”  I think we can all take something from this on a deeper level: If you are passionate about something, go do it! Go build your laser gun.

-Blaze

Patrick Riebe’s youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOJj3c5ZpquHRA1OBJj5rUw