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☆ When Masters of Black-and-White Spin the Color Wheel
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Arthur Lubow | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

His black-and-white picture of Big Tex, the cowboy effigy that hovers over the State Fair of Texas in Dallas, shows a motley assortment of Texans sitting and cavorting beneath the absurd figure. In the color variant, much of the space is taken up by a blank blue sky and the visitors are indistinct, so that the comedy is drained. In the color image, probably taken an instant later, the man is looking at the camera, the woman’s expression has changed, and the impact is diffused by the photographer’s own obscuring shadow and a distracting crowd of passers-by. The previously published “White Sands National Monument, New Mexico,” 1964, transposes Winogrand’s fascination with alienated and isolated Americans into a beautiful blue-and-white image. And some of his very early Coney Island photographs, taken in the ’50s, use color to convey the tender vulnerability of sand-streaked flesh.

Persons: Big Tex, Coney Organizations: State Fair of, Texans, Zoo Locations: State Fair of Texas, Dallas, Zoo , New York, Sands, New Mexico

☆ 20,000-year-old footprints show humans have been in the Americas longer than previously thought, scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-09 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In 2021, researchers dated ancient human footprints in New Mexico to at least 20,000 years ago. New data bolsters the evidence for the original date, among the earliest for humans in the Americas. AdvertisementAdvertisementIn White Sands National Park, New Mexico, mingled among tracks of mammoths, ground sloths, and other ancient animals, researchers found human footprints. The footprints — and other recent evidence — push back the date of human arrival by thousands of years. They radiocarbon dated pollen grains from conifer plants in the area.

Persons: —, Kathleen Springer, Sally Reynolds, Jeff Pigati, Bente Philippsen, Loren Davis Organizations: Service, Sands, US Geological Survey, Washington, National Parks Service, Geological Survey, Science, Springer, Oregon State University, NPR Locations: New Mexico, Americas, , New Mexico, White

☆ How ancient footprints rewrote a chapter of early human history
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-07 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

And for scientists, preserved footprints can lead to unexpected journeys into the past that rewrite history. National Park ServiceWhen the discovery of 61 fossilized human footprints found in New Mexico’s White Sands National Park was first announced in 2021, the ancient find changed the timeline of early humans living in the Americas. That’s why the footprints represent such a crucial missing chapter in human history. Across the universePlanetlike objects were spotted in a new image of the Orion Nebula taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA/ESA/CSAAstronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to peer inside the glowing Orion Nebula and found something completely unexpected: pairs of planetlike objects.

Persons: we’ve, Trailblazers, Katalin Karikó, Drew Weissman’s, James Webb, ”, Samuel G, Pearson, Webb, Edward Marshall, Christopher Columbus, —, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, Park Service, Sands, James Webb Space Telescope, NASA, ESA, CSA, Telescope, European Space Agency, Comedy, CNN Space, Science Locations: New, Americas, North America, China, Redonda, Flora Redonda, Caribbean, Indonesia

☆ Scientists say they’ve confirmed evidence that humans arrived in the Americas far earlier than previously thought
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

This date dramatically pushed back the timeline of humans’ history in the Americas, the last landmass to be settled by prehistoric people. National Park ServiceHowever, some archaeologists questioned the age of the footprints established by those initial findings. Human footprints infilled with white gypsum sand at White Sands National Park. A trench at the study site with David Bustos, White Sands National Park's resource program manager, in the foreground. Nor, despite advances in genetic evidence, is it clear whether one or many populations of early modern humans made the long journey.

Persons: ”, Kathleen Springer, “, David Bustos, Jeff Pigati, there’s, Bente, Jennifer Raff Organizations: CNN, Service, Science, Sands, Park Service, Geological Survey, White Sands, Norwegian University of Science, Technology, North, University of Kansas Locations: what’s, New Mexico, Americas, Tularosa, White Sands, North America, Asia, New York City, Cincinnati, Des Moines , Iowa, Alaska

The estimated age of the footprints was first reported in Science in 2021, but some researchers raised concerns about the dates. It uses two entirely different materials found at the site, ancient conifer pollen and quartz grains. The new study isolated about 75,000 grains of pure pollen from the same sedimentary layer that contained the footprints. “Dating pollen is arduous and nail-biting,” said Kathleen Springer, a research geologist at the United States Geological Survey and a co-author of the new paper. Ancient footprints of any kind — left by humans or megafauna like big cats and dire wolves — can provide archaeologists with a snapshot of a moment in time, recording how people or animals walked or limped along and whether they crossed paths.

Persons: ”, Thomas Urban, Thomas Stafford, “, Kathleen Springer, Jennifer Raff Organizations: White Sands National, Cornell University, United States Geological Survey, University of Kansas, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: New Mexico, Americas, White Sands, Science, Russia, Alaska, Albuquerque , New Mexico, Brazil

☆ New tests confirm antiquity of ancient human footprints in New Mexico
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A 2021 study by these researchers also dated the footprints, based on tiny plant seeds embedded in the sediment alongside them, to about 21,000 to 23,000 years ago. This paper is that corroborative exercise," added study co-lead author Kathleen Springer, also a USGS research geologist in Denver. Scientists believe our species entered North America from Asia by trekking across a land bridge that once connected Siberia to Alaska. The researchers also used optically stimulated luminescence dating to determine the age of quartz grains within the footprint-bearing sediments. "And just like today, if anyone walks in a similar setting, their footprints are preserved if they are covered with another layer of sediment," Springer added.

Persons: Jeff Pigati, Kathleen Springer, sapiens, Matthew Bennett, Bennett, Pigati, Springer, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Sands, U.S . Geological Survey, Scientists, North America, Bournemouth University, Thomson Locations: North America, New Mexico, Illinois, Denver, Africa, Asia, Siberia, Alaska, North, England

☆ The Day the Sun Rose Twice: A Tour of Atomic New Mexico
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Nina Burleigh | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

About an hour southeast of the Trinity Site, I reached Three Rivers Petroglyph site, the largest rock art site in the Southwest. Around 600 years ago, the Jornada Mogollon people etched 21,000 images of flora and fauna, people and crypto-beasts into the basaltic rubble along the foothills of the Sacramento. Alamogordo is 15 minutes east of the White Sands National Park, 275 square miles of gypsum dunes that form one of the world’s most breathtaking natural wonders. The park is open to camping and hiking for a $25 fee. After a breakfast of Hatch green chile eggs (a word to the wise: pack the Pepcid), I drove an hour west on U.S. 70 to the White Sands Missile Range Museum, just inside the gate to White Sands Missile Range.

Organizations: White, cumulus, Trinity, White Sands, Missile, Museum Locations: Alamogordo, New Mexico, Sacramento, Rivers, Mexico, U.S

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