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☆ DNA remnants found in fossil of 6 million year old turtle
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Researchers excavate the 6 million year old fossil remains of a sea turtle of the genus Lepidochelys near La Pina along the Caribbean coast of Panama in this handout photograph taken in 2015 and obtained by Reuters on September 28, 2023. Cadena said the only older vertebrate fossils than the newly described turtle to have been found with similar DNA remnants were of two dinosaurs - Tyrannosaurus, which lived about 66 million years ago, and Brachylophosaurus, which lived about 78 million years ago. Cadena said DNA remnants also have been reported in insects dating to tens of millions of years ago. The turtle is from the same genus - Lepidochelys - as two of the world's seven living species of sea turtles - the Kemp's ridley, the world's smallest sea turtle, and the olive ridley, Cadena said. "Each fossil, each fossil site has specific conditions of preservation that in some cases could have favored preservation of original biomolecular remains such as proteins and DNA," Cadena said.

Persons: Carlos de Gracia, today's Kemp's ridley, Edwin Cadena, Cadena, ridley, Kemp's ridley, Will Dunham, Elida Moreno, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Reuters, REUTERS Acquire, Universidad del Rosario, Smithsonian Tropical Research, Pacific, Thomson Locations: La Pina, Panama, Handout, Bogota, Gulf of Mexico, Washington

☆ Texas aquarium saves endangered sea turtles stunned by cold water events
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Evan Garcia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Evan GarciaCORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, June 8 (Reuters) - Endangered sea turtles and other marine wildlife have found refuge in a new coastal rescue center in Corpus Christi, Texas. Like other reptiles, sea turtles are limited in how much they can regulate and control their core body temperatures. The Kemp's ridley sea turtle is the smallest species of sea turtle and most critically endangered in the world, according to the National Park Service. Ullmer explained how cold-stunning events cause sea turtles' heart and respiratory rates to drop dangerously low, along with a dramatic slowdown of their metabolisms. Ullmer readied one of the rescue turtles to check for recurrence of abnormalities on the CT scan.

Persons: Carrie Ullmer, Evan Garcia CORPUS, ridley, Ullmer, they're, Ulmer, Giovanna Pena, Evan Garcia, Diane Craft, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Texas State, Corpus Christi Center, Wildlife, REUTERS, Evan Garcia CORPUS CHRISTI, Corpus Christi, National Park Service, Thomson Locations: Texas State Aquarium’s, Corpus Christi , Texas, Evan Garcia CORPUS CHRISTI , Texas, Texas State Aquarium's, United States, New England, South Texas, Gulf, Mexico, Laguna Madre

☆ Environmental groups sue U.S. over SpaceX launch license for Texas
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

May 1, (Reuters) - Conservation groups sued the Federal Aviation Administration on Monday, challenging its approval of expanded rocket launch operations by Elon Musk's SpaceX next to a national wildlife refuge in South Texas without requiring greater environmental study. SpaceX had vigorously opposed subjecting its Starbase to an EIS review, a process that typically takes years, even decades. The FAA granted its license following a far less thorough environmental assessment and a finding that SpaceX activities at Boca Chica pose "no significant impact" on the environment. The lawsuit challenges that finding as a violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. The lawsuit highlights a history of tension between environmentalists, who have sought to limit development at Boca Chica, and Musk, a hard-charging entrepreneur known for risk taking.

☆ FAA sued over SpaceX Starship launch program following April explosion
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The SpaceX Starship explodes after launch for a flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on April 20, 2023. The groups argue that the FAA should have conducted an in-depth environmental report, known as an environmental impact statement (EIS), before ever allowing SpaceX to move ahead with its Starship Super Heavy plans in Boca Chica. Later, "based on SpaceX's preference," the lawyers wrote, the federal agency settled on using "a considerably less thorough analysis," which enabled SpaceX to launch sooner. The exact impacts of the launch on the people, habitat and wildlife are still being evaluated by federal and state agencies, and other environmental researchers, alongside and independently from SpaceX. Boca Chica land and wildlife there, namely ocelots, are also sacred to the Carrizo-Comecrudo tribe of Texas.

☆ SpaceX Starship explosion ignited 3.5-acre fire and sent debris thousands of feet, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Debris litters the ground on April 22, 2023, after the SpaceX Starship liftedoff on April 20 for a flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. Fish and Wildlife Service disclosed new details on Wednesday about the aftermath of last week's SpaceX Starship Super Heavy launch and mid-air explosion, including that a "3.5-acre fire started south of the pad site on Boca Chica State Park land," following the test flight. In the agency's e-mailed statement, a spokesperson for the Fish and Wildlife Service said that following the launch and mid-air explosion, "Cameron County closed Boca Chica Beach and State Highway 4 for 48 hours due to launch pad safety concerns." The road closures prevented FWS staff from "accessing refuge-owned and managed land" until mid-morning on April 22, the agency confirmed. Elon Musk's defense contractor designed its Starship Super Heavy with the ambition of taking people and supplies on a Mars mission one day.

☆ SpaceX Starship explosion spread particulate matter for miles
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Of primary concern is the large amount of sand- and ash-like particulate matter and heavier debris kicked up by the launch. Images captured during the test flight show that the SpaceX launch pad also exploded, with concrete chunks from it flying in multiple directions leaving behind a giant crater underneath. That would translate to a one-square-mile debris field, with debris emanating about three-quarters of a mile away from the site, he said, referencing SpaceX environmental site assessment documents that are public record. Health concernsThe impacts of particulate emissions from the SpaceX launch won't be understood until samples are evaluated and the debris field measured comprehensively. Margolis and Cortez both noted that roads had been damaged, with gates and cordons closed immediately following the SpaceX Starship test flight.

☆ 'If it blows up, it's cool': The far-out philosophy that explains why Elon Musk won't let a few baby sea turtles stop SpaceX's quest to get to Mars
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-05 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +25 min

In the case of Elon Musk v. Charismatic Megafauna, the agency intends to publish its final report in late April. Musk went on: "Either explicitly or implicitly some people seem to think that humans are a blight on the Earth's surface. Musk is talking about existential risk, the idea that something — an asteroid, a rogue artificial intelligence — might kill every human on Earth. And if you assume that future human minds will "mainly be implemented in computational hardware instead of biological neuronal wetware," as Bostrom does, you end up with a mind-boggling 1054 human lives. Musk has made the defense of "future life" his mission.

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