Life Survived Snowball Earth

Poster by the super-talented Chad Kerychuk and courtesy the Digital Dream Machine Blog. 'Superman' and 'The Fortress of Solitude' are ™ and © DC Comics.

It has been 2.3 billion years since Earth's atmosphere became infused with enough oxygen to support life as we know it. About the same time, the planet became encased in ice that some scientists speculate was more than a half-mile deep. That raises questions about whether complex life could have existed before "Snowball Earth" and survived, or if it first evolved when the snowball began to melt.

New research shows organisms called eukaryotes -- organisms of one or more complex cells that engage in sexual reproduction and are ancestors of the animal and plant species present today -- existed 50 million to 100 million years before that ice age and somehow did survive. The work also shows that the cyanobacteria, or blue-green bacteria, that put the oxygen in the atmosphere in the first place, apparently were pumping out oxygen for millions of years before that, and also survived Earth's glaciation. link

Captain America & The Avengers are ™ and © DC Comics

Ref: Biomarkers from Huronian oil-bearing fluid inclusions: An uncontaminated record of life before the Great Oxidation Event. 2006. A. Dutkiewicz et al. Geology 34: 437–440.

Flatland Spotted at Quantum Critical Point

Image Link

Scientists have discovered that at the abrupt lowest temperature transition at which barium copper silicate enters a new state-called the quantum critical point, the three-dimensional material "loses" a dimension to form a 'Flatland' (of sorts). Just as in the novella Flatland that posited a planar world, the spins strongly interact only in two dimensions. Effects from the third dimension are negligible.

Dimensional reduction at a quantum critical point. 2006. S. E. Sebastian et al. Nature 441: 617-620.

Mignola; Dali & Disney

MIGNOLA:

You can get this spiffy 30th anniversary poster for one buck (but act fast) from the Silver Snail Comic Shops in Toronto & Ottawa.

SILVER SNAIL COMICS

Dali + Disney = Destino

Devil Dinosaur: The Unseen Project

(CLICK ON ALL IMAGES TO ENLARGE)

Atomic Surgery is proud to present this gem from the "Great Idea Vaults" of Mark Schultz and Roger Petersen. Mark tells the story:

"Two or so years ago, illustrator, cartoonist and SubHuman comic artist Roger Petersen approached me with a pet project: he was in the mind to resurrect Jack Kirby's Devil Dinosaur--a much-beloved though short-lived Marvel comic from the mid-70's--and he asked me to put together a plot proposal to pitch at Marvel.

Roger had already had at his vision of Devil and Moonboy with gusto, completing the art on a beautiful seven page comic continuity, as well as a gorgeous painted cover image (complete with layout mock-up). We agreed that our relaunch should be aimed at a young audience--ideally, kids 6, 7, 8 who were theoretically just waiting for something cool to hook them on comics."

"The proposal I came up with, to the best of my recollection, suggested retelling ancient iconic myths (the flood, Atlantis...) as adventures that Devil and Moonboy actually experience. We thought it was a lot of age-appropriate fun (although maybe unintentionally Creationist friendly--hey, it's just a story, kids...), but, although encouraged to submit by an upper-echelon editor, never received a reply from Marvel. "





Art and Story © Roger Petersen. Devil Dinosaur © Marvel Comics

"Since then, Marvel has featured a revamped Devil Dinosaur under the auspices of another creator, so that pretty much puts a period at the end of our proposed version. Roger's spec continuity and his cover are probably all we'll ever see of his elegantly-designed vision."

Cyborg Brain A Reality

For the first time, scientists at the Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried near Munich have coupled living brain tissue to a chip equivalent to the chips that run computers.

The scientists in Martinsried developed a revolutionary noninvasive technique that enables them to record neural communication between thousands of nerve cells in the tissue of a brain slice with high spatial resolution. This technique involves culturing razor-thin slices of the hippocampus region on semiconductor chips.

A thin tissue slice of a rat hippocampus region (top) is cultivated on a semiconductor chip with 16.384 sensory transistors per square millimetre (center, dark coloured square). Following excitation the chip maps the electrical activity of the neurons (bottom), caused by activity of synapses (red: positive, blue: negative). copyright: Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry

REF: High-resolution multi-transistor array recording of electrical field potentials in cultured brain slices

Batman A-Go-Go

WATCH THE HULLABALOO DANCERS GO-GO-GO! TO THE BATMAN THEME:

For some good ol' 60's flavoured comic book stories pick up "Doc" Allred's solo "Solo" book from DC Comics at your favourite comic shop.

Fleet Street Scandal

Both the Cartoon Brew and Drawn! have posted on the work of Kevin Dart and Chris Turnham being sold through their new website, Fleet Street Scandal.

Highly recommended for the walls of the Atomic Surgery Theatres here at the Quatermass Research Institute.