Thursday, August 28, 2014 3:45:24 AM
kozuh .. Creationism and evolution tackled head-on in science lessons | Guardian Investigations
Published on Jan 8, 2014
Creationism and evolution tackled head-on in science lessons
Subscribe to the Guardian HERE: http://bitly.com/UvkFpD
Are some science teachers failing their pupils by not confronting creationist arguments when they come up during lessons on evolution? In this film presented by science journalist Dr Adam Rutherford made to mark the 150th anniversary of Darwin's Origin of Species in 2009 Prof Michael Reiss from the Institute of Education, University of London, said many science teachers felt uncomfortable talking about religion, but that refusing to engage with pupils who had creationist views would be counterproductive (a viewpoint that would later get him into trouble). Dr Jeremy Pritchard at the University of Birmingham, and London's Natural History Museum, explain how they are trying to redress the balance
Click here for full Guardian article:
http://www.theguardian.com/science/video/2014/jan/07/creationism-evolution-science-lessons-video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr61zni_AxE
===
Oldest Living Tree Found in Sweden
James Owen in Stockholm, Sweden
for National Geographic News
April 14, 2008
The world's oldest known living tree, a conifer that first took root at the end of the last Ice Age, has been discovered in Sweden .. http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_sweden.html , researchers say.
The visible portion of the 13-foot-tall (4-meter-tall) "Christmas tree" isn't ancient, but its root system has been growing for 9,550 years, according to a team led by Leif Kullman, professor at Umeå University's department of ecology and environmental science in Sweden.
Discovered in 2004, the lone Norway spruce—of the species traditionally used to decorate European homes during Christmas—represents the planet's longest-lived identified plant, Kullman said.
The researchers found the shrubby mountain survivor at an altitude of 2,985 feet (910 meters) in Dalarna Province.
The tree's incredible longevity is largely due to its ability to clone itself, Kullman said.
The spruce's stems or trunks have a lifespan of around 600 years, "but as soon as a stem dies, a new one emerges from the same root stock," Kullman explained. "So the tree has a very long life expectancy."
Radiocarbon Dating
Bristlecone pines in the western United States are generally recognized as the world's oldest continuously standing trees.
The most ancient recorded, from California .. http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/states/state_california.html's White Mountains, is dated to around 5,000 years ago.
Bristlecone pines are aged by counting tree rings, which form annually within their trunks.
But in the case of the Norway spruce, ancient remnants of its roots were radiocarbon dated.
The study team also identified other ancient spruces in Sweden that were between 5,000 and 6,000 years old.
Page 2 of 2
Trees much older than 9,550 years would be impossible in Sweden, because ice sheets covered the country until the end of the last Ice Age around 11,000 years ago, Kullman noted.
The research forms part of an ongoing study into how and when trees colonized Scandinavia after it had thawed.
"Prior to our studies the general conception was that spruce migrated to this area about 2,000 years ago, so now you will have to rewrite the textbooks," Kullman said.
"Deglaciation seems to have occurred much earlier than generally thought," he added. "Perhaps the ice sheet during the Ice Age was much thinner than previously believed."
The tree study may also help shed light on how plants will respond to current climate change, Kullman said.
"We can see trees have an ability to migrate much faster than people had believed," he said.
(Related: "Arctic Redwood Fossils Are Clues to Ancient Climates" [March 26, 2002].)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/03/0326_020326_TVredwoods.html
In fact, global warming made the ancient mountain conifers easier for the study team to find.
"For many millennia they survived in the mountain tundra as low-growing shrubs perhaps less than a meter high," Kullman said. "Now they are growing up like mushrooms—you can see them quite readily."
Rising Timberline
But climate change could also swamp these living Ice Age relics, he warned.
The treeline has climbed up to 655 feet (200 meters) in altitude during the past century in the central Sweden study area, the team found.
"A great change in the landscape is going on," Kullman said. "Some lower mountains which were bare tundra less than a hundred years ago are totally covered by forest today."
Mountains tend to provide a refuge for the planet's most venerable trees because of reduced competition from neighbors and other plants and because the sparser vegetation around the timberline is less vulnerable to forest fires, Kullman said.
Another factor is reduced human impacts such as logging, said Tom Harlan of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona.
"Human activity lower down has demolished all sorts of things that could have been extremely old," he said.
Harlan says the newly dated Swedish spruce trees have "quite an extraordinary age."
"I have no great problems with them having a tree which has been growing there for more than 8,000 years," he said. "The date seems a little early but not out of line with other things we have seen."
For instance, Harlan noted, dead remains of Californian bristlecone pines dating to about 7,500 years ago have been found up to 500 feet (150 meters) higher in altitude than any living bristlecones.
"So there was a time period then when trees were pushing aggressively into areas they had not been in before," he said.
Other tree clones may have an even more ancient lineage than the Swedish spruces, he added.
Research suggests that stands of Huon pines on the Australian island of Tasmania possibly date back more than 10,000 years.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080414-oldest-tree.html
Feeling younger now?
===
15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense Jun 17, 2002 | By John Rennie
Opponents of evolution want to make a place for creationism by tearing down real science, but their arguments don't hold up
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/15-answers-to-creationist/
See also:
Why Life Originated (And Why it Continues)
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=66821790
Tornado Alley kozuh searches .. 2011 .. 2012 .. 2013 .. 2014 is evolving .. .. we are a considerate lot ..
"The Religious Right's Plot To Take Control Of Our Public Schools
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=73061973
Pat Robertson Warns Americans About Not Supporting Israel .. in this post also the very funny .. Lewis Black on Evolution ..
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=86753237
kozuh, lol, you gotta watch Lewis Black. Welcome back.
Published on Jan 8, 2014
Creationism and evolution tackled head-on in science lessons
Subscribe to the Guardian HERE: http://bitly.com/UvkFpD
Are some science teachers failing their pupils by not confronting creationist arguments when they come up during lessons on evolution? In this film presented by science journalist Dr Adam Rutherford made to mark the 150th anniversary of Darwin's Origin of Species in 2009 Prof Michael Reiss from the Institute of Education, University of London, said many science teachers felt uncomfortable talking about religion, but that refusing to engage with pupils who had creationist views would be counterproductive (a viewpoint that would later get him into trouble). Dr Jeremy Pritchard at the University of Birmingham, and London's Natural History Museum, explain how they are trying to redress the balance
Click here for full Guardian article:
http://www.theguardian.com/science/video/2014/jan/07/creationism-evolution-science-lessons-video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr61zni_AxE
===
Oldest Living Tree Found in Sweden
James Owen in Stockholm, Sweden
for National Geographic News
April 14, 2008
The world's oldest known living tree, a conifer that first took root at the end of the last Ice Age, has been discovered in Sweden .. http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_sweden.html , researchers say.
The visible portion of the 13-foot-tall (4-meter-tall) "Christmas tree" isn't ancient, but its root system has been growing for 9,550 years, according to a team led by Leif Kullman, professor at Umeå University's department of ecology and environmental science in Sweden.
Discovered in 2004, the lone Norway spruce—of the species traditionally used to decorate European homes during Christmas—represents the planet's longest-lived identified plant, Kullman said.
The researchers found the shrubby mountain survivor at an altitude of 2,985 feet (910 meters) in Dalarna Province.
The tree's incredible longevity is largely due to its ability to clone itself, Kullman said.
The spruce's stems or trunks have a lifespan of around 600 years, "but as soon as a stem dies, a new one emerges from the same root stock," Kullman explained. "So the tree has a very long life expectancy."
Radiocarbon Dating
Bristlecone pines in the western United States are generally recognized as the world's oldest continuously standing trees.
The most ancient recorded, from California .. http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/states/state_california.html's White Mountains, is dated to around 5,000 years ago.
Bristlecone pines are aged by counting tree rings, which form annually within their trunks.
But in the case of the Norway spruce, ancient remnants of its roots were radiocarbon dated.
The study team also identified other ancient spruces in Sweden that were between 5,000 and 6,000 years old.
Page 2 of 2
Trees much older than 9,550 years would be impossible in Sweden, because ice sheets covered the country until the end of the last Ice Age around 11,000 years ago, Kullman noted.
The research forms part of an ongoing study into how and when trees colonized Scandinavia after it had thawed.
"Prior to our studies the general conception was that spruce migrated to this area about 2,000 years ago, so now you will have to rewrite the textbooks," Kullman said.
"Deglaciation seems to have occurred much earlier than generally thought," he added. "Perhaps the ice sheet during the Ice Age was much thinner than previously believed."
The tree study may also help shed light on how plants will respond to current climate change, Kullman said.
"We can see trees have an ability to migrate much faster than people had believed," he said.
(Related: "Arctic Redwood Fossils Are Clues to Ancient Climates" [March 26, 2002].)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/03/0326_020326_TVredwoods.html
In fact, global warming made the ancient mountain conifers easier for the study team to find.
"For many millennia they survived in the mountain tundra as low-growing shrubs perhaps less than a meter high," Kullman said. "Now they are growing up like mushrooms—you can see them quite readily."
Rising Timberline
But climate change could also swamp these living Ice Age relics, he warned.
The treeline has climbed up to 655 feet (200 meters) in altitude during the past century in the central Sweden study area, the team found.
"A great change in the landscape is going on," Kullman said. "Some lower mountains which were bare tundra less than a hundred years ago are totally covered by forest today."
Mountains tend to provide a refuge for the planet's most venerable trees because of reduced competition from neighbors and other plants and because the sparser vegetation around the timberline is less vulnerable to forest fires, Kullman said.
Another factor is reduced human impacts such as logging, said Tom Harlan of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona.
"Human activity lower down has demolished all sorts of things that could have been extremely old," he said.
Harlan says the newly dated Swedish spruce trees have "quite an extraordinary age."
"I have no great problems with them having a tree which has been growing there for more than 8,000 years," he said. "The date seems a little early but not out of line with other things we have seen."
For instance, Harlan noted, dead remains of Californian bristlecone pines dating to about 7,500 years ago have been found up to 500 feet (150 meters) higher in altitude than any living bristlecones.
"So there was a time period then when trees were pushing aggressively into areas they had not been in before," he said.
Other tree clones may have an even more ancient lineage than the Swedish spruces, he added.
Research suggests that stands of Huon pines on the Australian island of Tasmania possibly date back more than 10,000 years.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080414-oldest-tree.html
Feeling younger now?
===
15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense Jun 17, 2002 | By John Rennie
Opponents of evolution want to make a place for creationism by tearing down real science, but their arguments don't hold up
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/15-answers-to-creationist/
See also:
Why Life Originated (And Why it Continues)
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=66821790
Tornado Alley kozuh searches .. 2011 .. 2012 .. 2013 .. 2014 is evolving .. .. we are a considerate lot ..
"The Religious Right's Plot To Take Control Of Our Public Schools
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=73061973
Pat Robertson Warns Americans About Not Supporting Israel .. in this post also the very funny .. Lewis Black on Evolution ..
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=86753237
kozuh, lol, you gotta watch Lewis Black. Welcome back.
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
Join the InvestorsHub Community
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
