- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,122,625
Donald Trump is expected to appear in court Tuesday for his arraignment, multiple sources tell CNN. Follow live updâ€twitter.com/i/web/status/1…7k
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,122,625
Donald Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in an indictment from a Manhattan grand jury, sourâ€twitter.com/i/web/status/1…PB
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,122,625
A Utah jury has found Gwyneth Paltrow not liable in a 2016 ski collision case cnn.it/3M5aVas
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,122,625
Defense attorney says Donald Trump will likely be arraigned early next week as the former president releases a defiâ€twitter.com/i/web/status/1…cG
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,122,625
A verdict has been reached in a Utah trial over a 2016 ski collision involving Gwyneth Paltrow cnn.it/3Zp4j9X
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,122,625
A grand jury in Manhattan has voted to indict Donald Trump, sources say – the first time in American history that atwitter.com/i/web/status/1…5pwF
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,122,625
Finland's bid to join NATO clears its last major hurdle, winning unanimous approval from Turkey's parliament afterâ€twitter.com/i/web/status/1…Kn
CNN POLITICS ON FACEBOOK » | CNN POLITICS ON TWITTER »
Scientists: New amphibian family augurs more India discoveries
Scientists have found what they say is a new family of legless amphibians in Northeast India - animals they say may have diverged from similar vertebrates in Africa when the land masses separated tens of millions of years ago.
The find, the scientists say, might foreshadow other discoveries in Northeast India and might help show the area played a more important evolutionary role than previously thought.
The creatures are part of an order of limbless, soil-dwelling amphibians called caecilians - not to be confused with snakes, which are reptiles. Caecilians were previously known to consist of nine families in Asia, Africa and South America.
But different bone structures in the head distinguish this apparent 10th family, and DNA testing links the creatures not to other caecilians in India, but to caecilians that are exclusively from Africa, the scientists report this week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London.
The new family has been dubbed Chikilidae by the scientists from India, Belgium and the United Kingdom, including lead author Rachunliu Kamei, who was pursuing her doctorate at University of Delhi. The team found them during what it believes is the first caecilian survey in Northeast India, digging at 238 sites from 2006 to 2010.
“It’s an amazing thing to find a new family, especially vertebrates, in this day in age,” Global Wildlife Conservation president Don Church, who was not part of the team but knows Kamei and the team’s other scientists, told CNN on Thursday. “Birds, reptiles and amphibians really were thought to have been well worked out at the family level.”
The burrowing amphibians “exhibit an intriguing and highly specialized reproductive behavior,” the team’s leader, University of Delhi professor Sathyabhama Das Biju, told The Times of India.
“The mother builds underground nests for her eggs, guards her egg-clutch by coiling around them until the embryos hatch after 2-3 months,” he told The Times of India. “The eggs undergo direct development - they feed on the yolk reserves and come out as miniature adults.”
Residents of the area had mistaken the amphibians for snakes, the Indian news outlet reported.
Chikilidae’s link to the African caecilians, and its divergence and survival in Northeast India during the subcontinent’s isolation before it joined with Asia, suggests the area had long-term ecological stability. That suggests it might have more life endemic to that region than is currently recognized, the scientists say in the report.
Scientists traditionally have viewed Northeast India as just a passageway where flora and fauna moved between biodiversity hotspots in Southeast Asia and a different part of India, Church said.
“Now, with a study like this, we realize that this part of the world is important not just for the movement of plants and animals between the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia, but an important area for evolution in its own right,” Church said.
“This discovery begs the question: What else has happened up there in terms of evolution of life in Northeast India?” he added.
Geographically distinct Northeast India has not been studied well, and many other undocumented creatures and flora may await there, according to the team. The region is almost cut off from the rest of India, nearly surrounded by Bangladesh, Myanmar and China.
Time, they say, is of the essence.
“Further explorations and conservation actions are urgent because the region’s biodiversity is generally under high threat from the growing resident human population and rapid deforestation,” the scientists say in their report.
On Twitter
On Twitter
@cnnbrk on Twitter
hahaha you all make me laugh. Proof of God?.... why it's all around you
What is all around me is proof of the Flying Spaghetti Monster ... may his blessed noddles rest upon you.
I worship myself.
Proof of God? Surely God could do better than this?
@me – "why it's all around you"
Thanks for defining your man made god as an "it". There is no proof it was a male, female or a combination of both or something else.
Why do these know-nothing creationist ignoramus' always come to these articles and post their nonsense?
If their faith was that strong there would be no need to argue.
Faith does not equal Fact. I will leave your faith alone if you don't argue against fact.
FAITH DOES NOT EQUAL FACT???? hey you!! FACTS are the products of FAITH. When you believe (faith), you get results that become facts. "faith is the ASSURANCE of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
TRUTH, I have no interest in other's opinions unless they share my own.
Soooooo.......if I believe with all of my heart and soul that the tree in my backyard will start to sprout money instead of leaves....if I put all my faith into it...it will become fact?
Cool.
Them thangs is from the far side of Mars. Theys sent here to see if theys could exist before the real invasion. Them preppers on cable TV are right–stock food, water, gasoline and arm youselfs now.
You people you want prove that God exist, take a good look at yourselves and tell me if you are not amazed at this wonderfull masterpiece. We did not evolve from nothing we were created for a purpose.
Excellent post!!!
Should an obviously knowledgeable and insightful comment. However, please be sure not to anger the Flying Spaghetti Monster with your comments. For it is the most blessed on high; may his noodles rest upon you.
Actually, I was created by my mom and dad. But thanks for playing.
Did I mention that my mother is also my sister?
Your post is utter and complete nonsense. Purpose, just like god(s), is a man-made idea used to explain the world and our place in it. Purpose does not exist outside of the sphere of human beings. The ability to attribute "purpose" is an evolutionary tool used by human beings to push themselves to survive in places they otherwise wouldn't be able to. It is an adaptive trait for survival–nothing more, nothing less. It is just like human beings' false ideas about beginnings and endings. Beginnings and endings represent human sensory-perception relative to forms (the evolved, systemically-determined arrangements, patterns, and interactions of the elemental substances, matter and energy, within the field of space-time) and events. The elemental substances of the Universe (matter and energy) themselves are eternal, as proven by the Thermodynamic Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy. Life being an inherent state of matter and energy that is expressed given the right conditions is an exciting proposition that we should celebrate. Our current form may not be eternal, but we should be happy knowing that we are the eternal stuff of stars and the cosmos and likely to be part of something else that is alive in the future. We are a part of the Whole of Reality (otherwise known as What Is, Nature, or the Universe). That should be enough.
I've got to wonder what purpose God had in mind when he created these....
What you mean by these...?
The subject of this article.
A person needs more faith to believe in evolution than God.
Yeah, but they won't admit it!!! They like to pretend that their worldview isn't based on faith!!!!!
You were asleep in science class huh? The thing about science is that it is true whether you believe it or not ... it is base on facts .... not faith ... You are deeply ignorant of what science actually is ... so sad ...
Use of !!!!! does not make your point any more clearer. It just make them look as if you're not too sure of what your posting.
No, Evolution is pretty much a fact. Lots of proof. Don't need faith. I do believe in god also though
Science is not a belief system. Science is based on observable, repeatable facts. I can tell you that trees lose their leaves in the fall as the temperatures get colder and days, shorter. We can test this and observed what happens. It does not require an act of faith to see that trees lose their leaves when it is colder and shorter days.
Same goes for evolution. There are many observable, testable facts that all lead to one simple conclusion. It requires no belief system or faith to see that it is happening.
I don't believe in Gravity because "it is only a Theory." I also don't believe in Newton's Third Law. But I do believe in magic angels with pink wings because those are totally real.
Bottom line, I am a small man with an equally small capacity to accept things I cannot see or touch.
"A person needs more faith to believe in evolution than God." So you don't need faith to believe in God? That's not really what the Bible says, honey. It says "I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet."
I love it when they get so desperate they spoof my screen name. I win! I made you back down! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It's also an admission that you have to cheat to make your silly point.
Seven exclamation points: the sure sign of an insane mind.
Umm yeah, I believe this is called an earthworm.
An earthworm...with a skull and backbone!
How'd you like to have those things crawling around in your intestines?
You all are missing the point. Please note the following quote near the end of the article:
“This discovery begs the question: What else has happened up there in terms of evolution of life in Northeast India?” he added."
The discovery did not "beg" any question. Perhaps he meant that the discovery POSED or SUGGESTS the question. "Begging the question" is the name given to a certain type of logical fallacy and does NOT mean that a question is posed or suggested.
tens of millions of years ago ???
didnt god show up just a few thousand years ago and create, well everything....
least that's what religious leaders want us to believe.........
You believed the scientist because he attended harvard but religious leader you don't. Science told us that this is the reason that man is sick then few years later they come back saying another....
the statement in Genesis:1:1 states that in the beginning Gods created the heavens and the earth. That statement is true no matter how old the earth is. No time was mentioned here.
Maggie, someone counted the generations in the "begats" and decided they were actual history. Therefore the Earth had to be very young. That's just wilful misunderstanding of the text IMHO. Maybe 'HerpDerp will have something to say about it when he comes along behind me and imitates me again?
Then again, i eat boogers.
Aren't you the evolved one...lol.
Ahh ... it's my evil twin "LETGetReal". Typical tactic of the ignorant. Attempt to disparage the speaker in order to dismiss the facts
Then again, my political party does the same to it's opposition.
Mankind as a whole is doomed when interesting reads become topic of religious debate... we live and we die.. period. does religion control when we are born or die..? No...and the term "development/modernization" should not be necessarily considered favorable.
Never go against a Caecilian when death is on the line! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha...
Finally, something we can all agree on.
I'll make you an offer you can't refuse, or you'll find one of these in your bed.
They may start praying to these now!!!
Some guy said they were evidence of God, so maybe they will grant three wishes.
Stephen Hawking is my God.
I think "LetGetReal" has become my new acolyte. Isn't it cute? He wants to BE me?
Why is a new scientific discovery lead to a religious debate.......