Archive for the ‘Science’ category

Palaeontology Predictions for the Year Ahead

Palaeontology Predictions for 2012

With 2012 already upon us it is time for those of us brave enough to attempt to foresee the future to stick our heads above the parapet and have a go at predicting some of the news stories and articles featuring dinosaurs, fossils and prehistoric animals that will appear in the media in the coming twelve months.

At the start of each year just for a bit of fun, we have had a go at trying to predict what might happen in palaeontology and other Earth Science fields in the year ahead. We have to admit to very mixed results when we review what we said at the end of the year. However, fortune favours the brave as they say, so having put our heads together this is what we have come up with.

Earth Science and Palaeontology Predictions for 2012

1). New Tyrannosaurid to be discovered in China

With the amount of field work going on in China at the moment, it is almost certain that a number of new dinosaur species will be discovered, however, we have suggested that a new member of the Tyrannosaur family will come to light, perhaps a Chinese version of the large Late Cretaceous Theropods that roamed North America. Perhaps another huge Tyrannosaurus from somewhere such as the Shandong Province.

2). Fossil Found in an Unusual Place

With Iguanodon fossils turning up in Sunderland, museum fossil material regarded as “rubbish” turning out to be a new species of dinosaur it is amazing where fossils can be found. We predict that there will be a news story on such an unusual discovery. An Allosaurus in an allotment, that would be unlikely, but perhaps somewhere, a strange-shaped stone in a rockery or on a garden path might turn out to be something rather special.

3). Dinosaurs and the Olympics

With the London Games due to start in a little over 200 days or so, we expect there to be lots of media outlets piggy-backing news and press releases around the Olympics. Natural History Museums and such like will not be exempt from all this as we get closer and closer to the start of the Summer games. Expect lots of news stories with an “Olympic feel”.

4). A High Profile Trial and Conviction for Damage to an SSSI

Incidents where important fossil locations have been damaged due to the activities of unscrupulous collectors will no doubt increase again in 2012, but we predict that the authorities will fight back and there will be news of a conviction in the UK resulting from vandalism from a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest).

5). Landslip at Lyme Regis (Jurassic Coast – UK)

With the cliffs at Lyme Regis (Dorset, England) becoming more and more dangerous we predict that 2012 will see another major land slip on this stretch of the English coast. High tides and high winds will combine to further weaken the rock strata and a significant land slip will result.

6). Up, Up and Away with the Discovery of a New Pterosaur Genus

2012 is the year of the Dragon in the Chinese calendar, and we suspect that another winged creature will hit the headlines over the coming year. It is likely that a new species of Pterosaur will come to light, perhaps from the Santana Formation of Brazil, or from the South East of Asia, or even Australia.

7). Advancing Techniques Yield New Data Concerning Dinosaur Skin

Increased use of high-tech. facilities once the sole property of NASA and other high-tech agencies will permit palaeontologists to make more amazing discoveries. High resolution electron microscopy or advanced tomographic systems linked to super efficient computer imagery software will reveal more secrets about ancient animals, perhaps even some further information about dinosaur skin and its potential colour.

8). Land of the Giants – New Titanosaur Discovery in Gondwanaland

Last but not least, our eighth and final prediction deals with the largest terrestrial animals that ever lived. It is likely that in a part of the world that once made up the southern continent of Gondwanaland, scientists will unearth the fragmentary fossilised bones of a new type of Titanosaur (long-necked dinosaur). May be something to rival the “super heavyweights” of Argentina and Africa.

Well that’s it, it only remains to review what we have said in twelve months time or so, to see how right (or how wrong) we were.

Posted in Science

Tags:

Culture and education

Education enhances the ability of intellectual growth. It provides the enlightenment of personal uplift and the ways to understand life on higher perspective. Most of the people in developing countries are struggling to achieve the levels of basic needs such as food, housing and cloths yet they do not afford to educate themselves and their children as a reality. Ignorance is a curse and we find a majority of people in developing countries fighting against this dilemma. The culture of reading and writing is beyond their reach. They value the materialism or something that can uplift their prestige like bikes, cell phones and similar things. They don’t try to form educational culture and spend their time in watching television and playing snookers.

 We also find some families who have realized the importance of education and they are struggling against the consequences of high expenditures falling upon them to educate their children all the way. They don’t lead an ideal life rather they have to work hard day and night to pay the cost of knowledge. Still this deal is a good deal to develop the future of any individual and provides him a way to settle respectably in this world.

The common habit of reading can be adopted as daily routine work enabling the children to learn better living methodology and educational dignity. The importance of any human being is due to the knowledge he has acquired and the skills he has achieved in his life. This is a common phenomenon and it equally works around the globe. The personality growth is possible only due to better learning and acquiring of fruitful skills along with positivistic attitude. We can decide to get ourselves educated at any stage and if we adopts the culture of reading and writing in our lives, we will definitely exalt ourselves and will enjoy a better placement in life.

Posted in Science

Tags:

Life Transitions

A detailed and very interesting research about the problems of classifying, analyzing and coping with life transitions in our life, was written by Lawrence Brammer, Ph.D., who is Professor Emeritus of Counselor Education at the University of Washington in Seattle. This work was published by the Educational Resource Information Center. In his research L. Brammer introduces the concept of life transitions and presents the most common types of such transitions. After that he addresses to three theoretical models of life transitions, which are supported by tips on counseling them. And in the end of the article the author presents some attitudes and skills necessary for successful coping with changes and life transitions.

The author defines transition as a sudden and fundamental life change, which brings certain disconnection with the past. He classifies the transitions as positive and negative (painful and tragic) in respect to human reaction, as voluntary and involuntary by human factor of the cause, and as on-time and off-time transitions by expectations. Also, he defines developmental, social and political changes among the transitions. According to this research, there are three ways of human perception of life transitions. These approaches are based on the developments of other specialists in this field. The first approach was suggested by Bridges (1980), who offered using metaphors from classic literature when describing life transitions.  Counseling approach in such case can be focused on encouraging people to look for some meaningful metaphors when managing with their life transitions.

The second concept is called Social Interaction Model, which was created by Schlossberg (1984). This specialist offers to consider social and personal characteristics of an individual when coping with life transitions, like age, maturity, sensibility to stresses, etc. According to this model, the counseling approach will concentrate on analyzing the impact of transition on the person and looking for the inner and outer resources, which would help the person to cope with the situation.

The third model is called Predictable Overlapping Stages, which was created by the author himself, using the works of Kubler-Ross, Parkes and Hopson. This model presents the development of human perception of hard life transitions, like sudden death of a close person, etc. The author states that there are some stages, which any person experiences when coping with a hard life transition. Firstly, there are initial feelings of confusion, discomfort and shock, followed by the stages of denial and fantasy, then very long process of mood stabilization comes, which is accompanied with depressions, mood disorders, and then one or another level or recovery comes. Counseling in this case is also focused on determination, on which stage the person is now.

In the end of the research there are some concepts about coping attitude and skills, which are mostly based on the developments in psychological literature. The author states that coping with life transitions is self-initiated problem solving, which requires development of proper and satisfactory coping resource. Also, the author offers some directions, which can be effective for creating the concept of recovery when coping with life transitions. Those are: creating support networks, cognitive reframing, analyzing personal stress responses, etc. This research is very interesting; it reveals some theoretical information about view on life transitions and the ways of coping with them. The author suggests studying the problem more thoroughly, and in the conclusion he directs the readers into the most important field of studying life transitions: learning more about particular human personalities, about ourselves and our surrounding.

Maybe the only disadvantage of this research is the absence of more practical information on coping with life transitions. Other numerous researches introduce mental (acknowledging the problem, looking for some positive sides, fighting with anxiety and depressions, etc.) and physical (doing exercises, interacting with other people, paying attention on nutrition, etc) tips, which can be very helpful in our daily activity when managing with transitions. Besides, the majority of life transitions are connected with stresses, so coping with life transitions frequently becomes coping with stress. It is also important point, which had to receive more attention from the author of this research. But in any way, the work of Laurence Brammer is very useful, especially for students and specialists, who are interested in studying the perception of life transitions and stresses by human psychology.

Posted in Science

Tags: