From mouse to elephant in 24 million generations

Within as little as 24 million generations, mammals can evolve from the size of a mouse to the size of an elephant, a new study estimates.

This calculation is based on the most rapid increase in size seen in the fossil record after a mass extinction wiped out their much larger competitors, the dinosaurs. They also found animals can shrink more than 10 times as fast as they can grow to giant sizes.

"What we wanted to know is how quickly could they evolve from these tiny, scampering mammals to the behemoths of the land we see now," Alistair Evans, the lead study researcher and an evolutionary biologist at Monash University in Australia, wrote in an email to LiveScience. "It's a classic story of taking advantage of a new opportunity ? the vacant landscape devoid of dinosaurs."

At the end of the Cretaceous Period, about the time the dinosaurs disappeared, mammals were small ? the largest ones appear to have been rodentlike creatures about the size of rabbits, weighing about 6.6 pounds (3 kilograms).

Within about 40 million years, the largest living mammal ever to live had emerged: the Indricotherium.

Related to horses and rhinos, the tusked, tree-leaf-eating Indricotherium is estimated to have weighed as much as 33,000 pounds (15,000 kilograms), according Evans.

Evans and his colleagues looked at size changes within 28 groups of mammals, called orders of mammals, on four continents and all ocean basins. They found a discrepancy between the rate of change within species and the rate of change within higher level groups that include many species, such as orders. Within species, change happens more quickly, but these rates do not last for long.

If they did, the team calculates that mammals could go from mouse-size to elephant-size in 200,000 generations. However, the fossil record demonstrates large-scale changes don't happen this quickly, according to Evans.

While mammals got steadily bigger after the dinosaurs disappeared, the rates at which they did so varied among the groups.

The fastest group was the cetaceans, or aquatic mammals, such as whales and dolphins, which became bigger at about twice the rate of land-dwelling mammals. Cetaceans' ancestors were originally land-dwelling, and the switch to water most likely encouraged them to grow rapidly, since they no longer needed to support their own weight and because large size helps prevent the loss of body heat in water, according to Evans.

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    4. From mouse to elephant in 24 million generations

The largest primate ? the group to which humans belong ? was Gigantopithecus blacki, an extinct ape that weighed about 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms). As impressive as that might look, primates showed the slowest rate of size increase of any group; Evans is not sure what's behind the slow rate.

"There seems to be some intrinsic maximum rate that each order evolves at, which may have something to do with the basic construction or physiology of each group," he wrote. "So it may be really hard to be built like a primate and get very big."

Things can get smaller much faster than they can get big, they also found. Mammals can shrink at more than 10 times the rate at which they get bigger, and among animals living in isolated environments, primarily on islands, the decrease in size can be even more rapid.

For example, dwarf elephants that once inhabited islands in the Mediterranean Sea weighed about 220 pounds (100 kilograms). They are believed to be descended from larger European elephants, weighing 100 times as much, which lived on mainland Europe. This decrease happened in less than 800,000 years, much faster than any rate of increase over the last 70 million years, Evans said.

The research was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

You can follow LiveScience? senior writer Wynne Parry on Twitter @Wynne_Parry. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46197362/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Apple?s Off-The-Charts iPhone And iPad Sales

Apple Quarter AsymcoSometimes you have to see things to truly appreciate their magnitude. Apple's latest quarter was so massive that MG had to write two posts about it: $46 billion in revenues, 37 million iPhones sold, 15 million iPads. The chart above, which comes from Francesco Schwartz, using data from Apple and Asymco (see a fully interactive version here), shows how unusual this quarter was for Apple.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/_BqaTKfcgyg/

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Hands on with Taglists for iPhone and iPad

Taglists is an iPhone and iPad app that lets you create and share playlists made up of music, videos, and photos that can be streamed for free by you and

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/LWnNkRtr3IA/story01.htm

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Occupy Super Bowl 2012: Protesters In Indianapolis March Before Giants Take On Patriots

INDIANAPOLIS -- A mix of union members and Occupy protesters from across Indiana marched through Super Bowl Village on Saturday in opposition to the state's proposed right-to-work legislation.

About 75 marchers weaved through packed crowds at the pre-game street fair in downtown Indianapolis in the first of what could be several such protests before the big game Feb. 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium. The protesters chanted "Occupy the Super Bowl" and carried signs that read "Fight the Lie" and "Workers United Will Prevail."

Saturday was the second straight day of right-to-work protests in the Super Bowl Village. About 40 people picketed the opening of a zip line in the Village. The 800-foot zip line allows participants to clip onto a wire about 100 feet off the ground and glide almost two blocks.

Most onlookers stared in silence as the protesters walked past them, but some like Jason Leibowitz of Jamestown were upset about their outing being interrupted. "There's a place and a time for this," Leibowitz said. "This isn't it."

Organizers of the march say the protests will likely continue if Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signs the divisive bill into law this week.

Supporters of the legislation, mostly Republicans, insist the measure helps create a pro-business climate that attracts employers and increases jobs. Opponents say the measure only leads to lower wages and poorer quality jobs.

Before Saturday's march, Occupy Purdue organizer Tithi Bhattacharya, a professor at Purdue University, led a rally in front of the Statehouse that included union workers, Occupy protesters, two representatives and a state senator among the speakers.

Most emphasized that while the right-to-work legislation appears likely to pass following Wednesday's House vote approving the bill, that doesn't mean an end to protests.

"If the governor signs, I want to shame him out of this state," said Heath Hensley of Occupy Anderson. "He doesn't want us screwing up this Super Bowl."

State Senator Jean Breaux, D-Indianapolis, called the bill evidence that Republican legislators are not in touch with the needs of working-class voters. "If you voted Republican in the past, stop," Breaux said.

Hensley, Breaux and other speakers urged protesters to convince their friends and family members to vote out anyone who decided in favor of the bill.

Another Statehouse protest is planned for Monday's Senate hearing on the bill, and Bhattacharya said that if the bill passes, there will be plenty of angry people who may keep protesting through game day.

The Super Bowl between the New York Giants and New England Patriots is expected to draw more than 150,000 visitors to Indianapolis.

"Upsetting the Super Bowl ? I couldn't care less," protester Lou Feldman of Lafayette said. "This is about my life and my family. Maybe it will make some people notice."

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/28/occupy-super-bowl-2012-protest-indianapolis-village-union_n_1239214.html

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British police arrest 5 in tabloid bribery probe

A news camera films the offices of News International company headquarters in London, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. British police on Saturday arrested four people, including a police officer, on suspicion of corruption as part of an ongoing investigation into police bribery by the now defunct News of the World tabloid newspaper, and the police said the arrests were made as a result of information provided by Murdoch's News Corp., and officers were searching the east London headquarters of the media mogul's British newspapers for evidence. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

A news camera films the offices of News International company headquarters in London, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. British police on Saturday arrested four people, including a police officer, on suspicion of corruption as part of an ongoing investigation into police bribery by the now defunct News of the World tabloid newspaper, and the police said the arrests were made as a result of information provided by Murdoch's News Corp., and officers were searching the east London headquarters of the media mogul's British newspapers for evidence. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

The offices of News International company headquarters in London, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. British police on Saturday arrested four people, including a police officer, on suspicion of corruption as part of an ongoing investigation into police bribery by the now defunct News of the World tabloid newspaper, and the police said the arrests were made as a result of information provided by Murdoch's News Corp., and officers were searching the east London headquarters of the media mogul's British newspapers for evidence. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

A traffic warden writes a ticket outside the offices of News International company headquarters in London, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. British police on Saturday arrested four people, including a police officer, on suspicion of corruption as part of an ongoing investigation into police bribery by the now defunct News of the World tabloid newspaper, and the police said the arrests were made as a result of information provided by Murdoch's News Corp., and officers were searching the east London headquarters of the media mogul's British newspapers for evidence. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

The offices of News International company headquarters in London, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. British police on Saturday arrested four people, including a police officer, on suspicion of corruption as part of an ongoing investigation into police bribery by the now defunct News of the World tabloid newspaper, and the police said the arrests were made as a result of information provided by Murdoch's News Corp., and officers were searching the east London headquarters of the media mogul's British newspapers for evidence. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

The offices of News International company headquarters in London, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. British police on Saturday arrested four people, including a police officer, on suspicion of corruption as part of an ongoing investigation into police bribery by the now defunct News of the World tabloid newspaper, and the police said the arrests were made as a result of information provided by Murdoch's News Corp., and officers were searching the east London headquarters of the media mogul's British newspapers for evidence. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

(AP) ? The criminal investigation into British tabloid skullduggery turned full force on a second Rupert Murdoch publication Saturday, with the arrest of four current and former journalists from The Sun on suspicion of bribing police.

A serving police officer was also held, and authorities searched the newspaper's offices as part an investigation into illegal payments for information.

The arrests spread the scandal over tabloid wrongdoing ? which has already shut down one Murdoch paper, the News of the World ? to Britain's best-selling newspaper.

London police said two men aged 48 and one aged 56 were arrested on suspicion of corruption early in the morning at homes in and around London. A 42-year-old man was detained later at a London police station.

Murdoch's News Corp. confirmed that all four were current or former Sun employees. The BBC and other British media identified them as former managing editor Graham Dudman, former deputy editor Fergus Shanahan, current head of news Chris Pharo and crime editor Mike Sullivan.

A fifth man, a 29-year-old police officer, was arrested at the London station where he works.

Officers searched the men's homes and the east London headquarters of the media mogul's British newspapers for evidence.

The investigation into whether reporters illegally paid police for information is running parallel to a police inquiry into phone hacking by Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World.

Police said Saturday's arrests were made based on information provided by the Management and Standards Committee of Murdoch's News Corp., the internal body tasked with rooting out wrongdoing.

News Corp. said it was cooperating with police.

"News Corporation made a commitment last summer that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be repeated," it said in a statement.

In an email to staff after the arrests, Tom Mockridge ? chief executive of Murdoch's British operation, News International ? said the internal investigation into wrongdoing at The Sun "is well advanced."

"News International is confronting past mistakes and is making fundamental changes about how we operate which are essential for our business," Mockridge said.

"Despite this very difficult news, we are determined that News International will emerge a stronger and more trusted organization," he added.

Thirteen people have now been arrested in the bribery probe, though none has yet been charged. They include Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of Murdoch's News International; ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson ? who is also Prime Minister David Cameron's former communications chief; and journalists from the News of the World and The Sun.

Two of the London police force's top officers resigned in the wake of the revelation last July that the News of the World had eavesdropped on the cell phone voicemail messages of celebrities, athletes, politicians and even an abducted teenager in its quest for stories.

Murdoch shut down the 168-year-old tabloid amid a wave of public revulsion, and the scandal has triggered a continuing public inquiry into media ethics and the relationship between the press, police and politicians.

An earlier police investigation failed to find evidence that hacking went beyond one reporter and a private investigator, who were both jailed in 2007 for eavesdropping on the phones of royal staff.

But News Corp. has now acknowledged it was much more widespread.

Last week the company agreed to pay damages to 37 hacking victims, including actor Jude Law, soccer star Ashley Cole and British politician John Prescott.

The furor that consumed the News of the World continues to rattle other parts of Murdoch's media empire.

As well as investigating phone hacking and allegations that journalists paid police for information, detectives are looking into claims of computer hacking by Murdoch papers.

News Corp. has admitted that the News of the World hacked the emails as well as the phone of Chris Shipman, the son of serial killer Harold Shipman. And The Times of London has acknowledged that a former reporter tried to intercept emails to unmask an anonymous blogger.

News Corp. is preparing to launch a new Sunday newspaper ? likely called the Sunday Sun ? to replace the News of the World.

___

Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://twitter.com/JillLawless

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-28-EU-Britain-Phone-Hacking/id-2813b6667b934649878d382d4910a8c6

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Merle Haggard returns to Calif. home to recuperate

FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2007 photo, singer Merle Haggard is photographed at his ranch at Palo Cedro, Calif., A concert promoter says country music legend Merle Haggard was hospitalized with an undisclosed illness this week in central Georgia. Promoter Mike Blackwell tells The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that a Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, concert in Columbus, Ga., has been canceled. He said the 74-year-old Haggard was hospitalized in Macon because of an illness. Tour manager Frank Mull says that Tuesday night's show at the Macon City Auditorium was abruptly canceled, seven minutes before it was to start. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2007 photo, singer Merle Haggard is photographed at his ranch at Palo Cedro, Calif., A concert promoter says country music legend Merle Haggard was hospitalized with an undisclosed illness this week in central Georgia. Promoter Mike Blackwell tells The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that a Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, concert in Columbus, Ga., has been canceled. He said the 74-year-old Haggard was hospitalized in Macon because of an illness. Tour manager Frank Mull says that Tuesday night's show at the Macon City Auditorium was abruptly canceled, seven minutes before it was to start. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? Country music legend Merle Haggard has returned home to northern California to recuperate from multiple illnesses.

Haggard had been hospitalized in Macon, Ga., for about a week with double pneumonia. While there, doctors discovered three stomach ulcers and eight polyps in his colon.

At one point, the 74-year-old checked himself out of the hospital to return to Redding, Calif., by tour bus. But he returned a few hours later after deciding the trip would be too taxing.

The "Okie from Muskogee" singer was diagnosed with lung cancer a few years ago, but recovered after part of his lung was removed.

It's unclear how Haggard's recent health issues will affect his touring schedule. His website shows him playing next on Feb. 28 in Tucson, Ariz.

___

Online:

http://www.merlehaggard.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-26-People-Merle%20Haggard/id-16c1026ff5b746baa2bf051556d1cedd

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GTA III for Android hits 1.3, brings Liberty City to the Transformer Prime

Select iOS and Android devices have had the ability to terrorize Liberty City while on-the-go since December, but sadly those with Transformer Primes thus far have been left out of all that fun. Luckily, an update to the game ends that double standard, enabling Rockstar's classic to run on ASUS' tablet and Medion Lifetabs everywhere. It doesn't just bring expanded hardware support to the table though, as amongst other "technical fixes," the release also heralds new video display settings, Immersion haptics support and the capability of installing the game on a SD card. And fans of tactility, know that controls on the Xperia Play have been reworked, and it now boasts full support for GameStop's wireless controller. Still here? You shouldn't be -- grab the update in the source link below.

GTA III for Android hits 1.3, brings Liberty City to the Transformer Prime originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceRockstar Games, Android Market  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/26/gta-iii-for-android-hits-1-3-brings-liberty-city-to-the-transfo/

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EU, IMF press Greece on reforms before aid flows (Reuters)

ATHENS (Reuters) ? The European Union and IMF want Greece to push through more budget cuts and implement a series of long-agreed austerity reforms before they agree on a new bailout the country needs to avert bankruptcy, a report obtained by Reuters shows.

All eyes have been on Athens' tortuous debt swap talks with its private creditors over the past week, but Greece also needs to convince its euro zone partners and the International Monetary Fund to release a 130-billion euro package if it is to avoid a chaotic default.

Athens' partners have grown increasingly exasperated with its repeated fiscal slippages and delays on reforms and want to see progress before they wrap up Greece's second multi-billion euro bailout in three years.

The EU, IMF and ECB lenders - known as the troika - have drawn up a report this week which includes a list of measures they want to see enacted by Athens.

Top of the list is passing a supplementary budget with more cuts to reach fiscal targets in 2012. The troika suggests large spending cuts in defense and health spending as well as cutting redundant state entities. The document does not specify the amount of cuts needed.

The EU and IMF are also pressing Greece to adopt a much-delayed reform of supplementary pensions, ensure that a plan to replace only 1 out of 5 civil servants leaving the workforce is enacted and want Greece to finalize the opening up of its many closed professions such as lawyers and pharmacists, which they have been demanding for years, the document shows.

They also want the Bank of Greece to complete its assessment of Greek banks' capital shortfall and they expect the government to enact legslation to improve wage flexibility and further liberalize product and service markets, the document says.

The list of measures is not final and could change after discussions with the Greek authorities, the document says.

Government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said the government would try to negotiate some of the points on the list but repeated that Athens needed the bailout loan to stay afloat.

Asked if Greece would default without the aid, he told Skai TV: "It's obvious, if we don't get the loan, how are we going to find the money?"

But he added: "This is not what we will finally pass, we should keep that in mind. It's a list by the troika that opens up all those issues ... Some of them are past obligations, some are up for negotiation."

Talks with EU, IMF and ECB inspectors on the new bailout program are expected to go well into next week, sources close to the talks say, with slow process so far on fleshing out reforms required by the lenders on areas such as cutting the public sector workforce and making wage rules in the public and private sector more flexible.

Looming elections are distracting senior Greek officials and politicians from enacting the unpopular austerity reforms.

Greece's co-ruling conservative New Democracy party wants snap elections as a new bailout deal is clinched and no later than April 8.

Greece and its private creditors made progress on Thursday in talks on restructuring its debt, both sides said, and they will continue negotiating on Friday with the aim of sealing an agreement within a few days. There was no set time yet for Friday's meetings.

(Reporting by Ingrid Melander, editing by Mike Peacock)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/bs_nm/us_greece

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Cops: Fla. man arrested for gruesome Conn. slaying (AP)

LYNN HAVEN, Fla. ? A Florida man has been arrested for allegedly hacking to death a Connecticut man and eating the victim's eye and part of his brain, police said Wednesday.

Tyree Lincoln Smith, 35, was arrested Tuesday night on a Connecticut warrant for murder, according to police in Lynn Haven, Fla.

A property inspector discovered the body of Angel L. Gonzalez on Friday on the third floor of an abandoned home in Bridgeport, Conn., according to that city's police department. A medical examiner determined that the cause of death was blunt head trauma and ruled Gonzalez's death a homicide.

On Monday a cousin of Smith's in Connecticut contacted the Bridgeport police about Gonzalez's death. She told detectives that Smith had arrived at her house Dec. 15 and said he wanted to "get blood on his hands" before going to a park and then to the abandoned home, where he used to live, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

The next day, Smith returned to the cousin's house with blood on his pants, hands and an axe, the affidavit said. Smith's cousin said he told her that he was sleeping on a porch at the abandoned home when we was awakened by a Hispanic man and invited inside. Then Smith described beating the man's face and head with the axe and collecting one of his eyes, a piece of his skull some of his brain matter, which he consumed in a nearby cemetery, the affidavit said.

The cousin told detectives she called Smith's mother, who notified police on Dec. 16 that they may want to check the abandoned home and that her son had "mental issues," the affidavit said.

Smith had left Connecticut for Florida on Friday on a Greyhound Bus, the cousin told detectives. Police and Smith's relatives reached Smith by telephone, and in a recorded call Smith admitted that he had been at the abandoned house and that he told a relative that he had killed the man, according to the affidavit.

Federal, state and local law enforcement officers took Smith into custody at an apartment Tuesday night without incident, Lynn Haven police said.

It was not immediately clear whether Smith had an attorney.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_us/us_brain_eating_fugitive

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It's Official: Google Is Evil Now [Google]

In a privacy policy shift, Google announced today that it will begin tracking users universally across all its services—Gmail, Search, YouTube and moreand sharing data on user activity across all of them. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/w6s-Otq-aEo/its-official-google-is-evil-now

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