by Rutgers University

https://phys.org/news/2023-03-scientists-substance-life-earth.html

A team of Rutgers scientists dedicated to pinpointing the primordial origins of metabolism—a set of core chemical reactions that first powered life on Earth—has identified part of a protein that could provide scientists clues to detecting planets on the verge of producing life.

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The research, published in Science Advances, has important implications in the search for extraterrestrial life because it gives researchers a new clue to look for, said Vikas Nanda, a researcher at the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine (CABM) at Rutgers.

Based on laboratory studies, Rutgers scientists say one of the most likely chemical candidates that kickstarted life was a simple peptide with two nickel atoms they are calling “Nickelback” not because it has anything to do with the Canadian rock band, but because its backbone nitrogen atoms bond two critical nickel atoms. A peptide is a constituent of a protein made up of a few elemental building blocks known as amino acids.

“Scientists believe that sometime between 3.5 and 3.8 billion years ago there was a tipping point, something that kickstarted the change from prebiotic chemistry—molecules before life—to living, biological systems,” Nanda said. “We believe the change was sparked by a few small precursor proteins that performed key steps in an ancient metabolic reaction. And we think we’ve found one of these ‘pioneer peptides.'”

The scientists conducting the study are part of a Rutgers-led team called Evolution of Nanomachines in Geospheres and Microbial Ancestors (ENIGMA), which is part of the Astrobiology program at NASA. The researchers are seeking to understand how proteins evolved to become the predominant catalyst of life on Earth.

When scouring the universe with telescopes and probes for signs of past, present or emerging life, NASA scientists look for specific “biosignatures” known to be harbingers of life. Peptides like nickelback could become the latest biosignature employed by NASA to detect planets on the verge of producing life, Nanda said.

An original instigating chemical, the researchers reasoned, would need to be simple enough to be able to assemble spontaneously in a prebiotic soup. But it would have to be sufficiently chemically active to possess the potential to take energy from the environment to drive a biochemical process.

https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-0536483524803400&output=html&h=280&slotname=5350699939&adk=3784993980&adf=1857921027&pi=t.ma~as.5350699939&w=753&fwrn=4&fwrnh=100&lmt=1678649576&rafmt=1&format=753×280&url=https%3A%2F%2Fphys.org%2Fnews%2F2023-03-scientists-substance-life-earth.html&fwr=0&rpe=1&resp_fmts=3&wgl=1&uach=WyJXaW5kb3dzIiwiMTAuMC4wIiwieDg2IiwiIiwiMTExLjAuNTU2My42NCIsW10sZmFsc2UsbnVsbCwiNjQiLFtbIkdvb2dsZSBDaHJvbWUiLCIxMTEuMC41NTYzLjY0Il0sWyJOb3QoQTpCcmFuZCIsIjguMC4wLjAiXSxbIkNocm9taXVtIiwiMTExLjAuNTU2My42NCJdXSxmYWxzZV0.&dt=1678648279992&bpp=16&bdt=2597&idt=1312&shv=r20230308&mjsv=m202302280101&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3Db2fc4a006ee78be8-22f455e48bde004c%3AT%3D1677632096%3AS%3DALNI_MYVyUZH7DwY98MB7KHt4QKJ_1A9fQ&gpic=UID%3D00000954f3269730%3AT%3D1677632096%3ART%3D1678648279%3AS%3DALNI_MakGstX9gNkTGxwFvlpjTE9kgqMvg&prev_fmts=0x0%2C910x280%2C1122x504&nras=2&correlator=4763108470713&frm=20&pv=1&ga_vid=1655508627.1677632096&ga_sid=1678648281&ga_hid=1375628390&ga_fc=1&u_tz=-420&u_his=1&u_h=640&u_w=1139&u_ah=607&u_aw=1139&u_cd=24&u_sd=1.2&dmc=4&adx=263&ady=2665&biw=1122&bih=504&scr_x=0&scr_y=700&eid=44759926%2C44759875%2C44777877%2C44759842%2C31073016%2C31071755%2C31072787%2C31071266&oid=2&psts=AD37Y7vOKGfCXK8TJDVLp7iD6LFqEUFjjw3iRmmRztbjFIpc0i4hOJe0GxwuZ3sFOsuISYSGIxp4t75Kecti1zJQ&pvsid=2604368836831073&tmod=1633946266&uas=0&nvt=1&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.google.com%2F&fc=1920&brdim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C1139%2C0%2C1139%2C607%2C1139%2C504&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7CpEebr%7C&abl=CS&pfx=0&fu=128&bc=31&ifi=3&uci=a!3&btvi=1&fsb=1&xpc=soYjUfkXU8&p=https%3A//phys.org&dtd=M

To do so, the researchers adopted a “reductionist” approach: They started by examining existing contemporary proteins known to be associated with metabolic processes. Knowing the proteins were too complex to have emerged early on, they pared them down to their basic structure.

After sequences of experiments, researchers concluded the best candidate was Nickelback. The peptide is made of 13 amino acids and binds two nickel ions.

Nickel, they reasoned, was an abundant metal in early oceans. When bound to the peptide, the nickel atoms become potent catalysts, attracting additional protons and electrons and producing hydrogen gas. Hydrogen, the researchers reasoned, was also more abundant on early Earth and would have been a critical source of energy to power metabolism.

“This is important because, while there are many theories about the origins of life, there are very few actual laboratory tests of these ideas,” Nanda said. “This work shows that, not only are simple protein metabolic enzymes possible, but that they are very stable and very active—making them a plausible starting point for life.”

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https://idfg.idaho.gov/article/slow-down-stay-alert-and-give-wildlife-brake-you-drive-winter

Friday, March 10, 2023 – 1:15 PM MST

With more snow in the higher elevations, big game herds throughout the state migrate to lower elevation winter ranges and cross Idaho’s highways and roads.

Winter is already tough for deer, elk and other big game animals, and being near busy roads and highways can be deadly, so drivers are asked to keep a sharp eye out and avoid costly and potentially dangerous collisions. 

Collisions between vehicles and wildlife are not only dangerous, they are expensive. Hitting a deer or an elk often results in thousands of dollars in vehicle damage, not to mention a preventable loss of wildlife.

The following are precautions to help reduce your chances of an animal collision:

• Big-game animals are especially active at dawn, dusk and at night. Motorists should drive extra cautious during these times.
• Slow down. Driving more slowly increases reaction time and reduces the chance of a collision.
• Always wear your seat belt. This won’t prevent a collision, but it can save your life depending upon the severity of the accident.
• Scan ahead and watch for movement, especially near the fog line and side of the road. When driving at night, watch for shining eyes in headlights.
• If you see one animal cross the road, slow down immediately and look for more to follow.
• Pay extra attention in areas posted with wildlife crossing signs. They are there for good reason.
• Using high beams can help you spot wildlife, but be considerate of other drivers when using them.
• Don’t Tailgate. Always keep a safe distance between you and the car in front of you to avoid any unnecessary accidents. If that driver brakes suddenly for an animal in the road, you won’t be able to react in enough time.
• Don’t swerve and risk losing control of your vehicle. Try to brake as much as possible and stay on the roadway. The most serious crashes occur when drivers lose control of their vehicles trying to avoid an animal. It is usually safer to strike the animal than another object such as a tree or another vehicle.

Of course, some accidents are unavoidable. Motorists should report any injury collision to the public safety dispatcher by calling 911, which will send officers to the scene. If possible, move your vehicle to a safe place and alert on-coming traffic with your emergency flashers until law enforcement authorities arrive.

Drivers who come across a dead animal on the side of the road are encouraged to report the roadkill on Idaho Fish and Game’s website. The information collected on wildlife collisions helps identify high-risk areas and possible solutions to make highways safer.  

People may also recover and keep certain game animals killed by accidental auto collisions. You have 24 hours to notify Fish and Game if you salvage an animal, and 72 hours to obtain a salvage permit. For more information on Fish and Game’s roadkill and salvage webpage, including reporting requirements and a list of species legal to salvage, refer to or contact your nearest Fish and Game office.

Friday, March 10th 2023, 8:20 am

By: Tess Maune
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https://www.news9.com/story/640b3ebc01fc9b0d96b648d6/bill-to-open-velvet-buck-season-in-oklahoma-passes-through-the-state-senate

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TULSA, Okla. –

A bill to open a “velvet buck” season in Oklahoma has passed through the state senate this week and is now headed to the house of representatives for consideration.

Senate Bill 910 aims to create a nine-day archery season for bucks in velvet that would start the Saturday morning prior to the last weekend of August and go to the Sunday evening of the last weekend of August.

Velvet is a living tissue that covers antlers when they grow back in the spring and summer. The velvet is full of blood vessels that supply the growing antlers with nutrients. Wildlife experts say antlers appear larger in their late-season velvet. Then as fall approaches, antler growth stops, antlers harden, and bucks begin to shed velvet. In Oklahoma, that typically happens from late August through September.

Sen. Blake “Cowboy” Stephens, a lifelong hunter, told News On 6 he authored the bill to give hunters another nine days of deer season, to add more opportunity for hunters and to create another revenue stream.

“I can remember the first deer I harvested, and passing down that tradition to my children,” Stephens said. “With this legislation, I hope even more fellow Oklahomans can make memories and share these traditions with their own families and be a part of history when our state hosts its first velvet buck season.”

The legislation says hunters would need a hunting license, velvet buck permit or stamp to hunt in the velvet buck season.

Sen. Stephens said there would be a set number of permits, established by the Oklahoma Wildlife Commission, and hunters would have to pay, then draw out for a velvet buck permit. The cost of a permit would also be established by the commission, Stephens said.

Although it’s not specified in the bill, Sen. Stephens said the velvet buck season would only be open on private land. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation said about 30% of hunters rely on public land for hunting. Sen. Stephens said there would be opportunity to expand and open it to public land in years to come.

The bill says any hunters could only harvest one velvet buck per season and that buck would count against regular season’s two-buck limit. That means hunters would still only get two buck tags per deer season.

Only a few states have seasons dedicated hunting velvet bucks, although hunting season opens early enough in a handful states, like Kansas, that some bucks are still in velvet.

“Oklahoma’s tourism industry would greatly benefit from introducing a velvet buck season as only a few states offer this season,” Stephens said. “Hunters from across the country will be looking to travel to our state to take part in the first season and many thereafter.”

Still Stephens says Oklahomans would have priority with 90% of all velvet buck permits going to Oklahoma resident hunters.

News On 6 reached out to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation regarding the legislation.

“We are working closely with legislators every day to provide them the information they need to make decisions on this bill and others,” Communications & Education Assistant Chief Micah Holmes said. “Oklahoma is one of the best states in the nation for deer hunting and we all share a goal to keep it that way. Our strategy is to provide as much hunting opportunity as possible while maintaining healthy wildlife populations and our biologists will continue to examine season and bag limit changes like these so we can make science-based recommendations.”

The House of Representatives will now consider Senate Bill 910.

If it becomes law, the Oklahoma Wildlife Commission would establish regulations and the velvet buck season likely would not go into effect until the 2024-2025 deer season.

By NIC COURY and STEFANIE DAZIO31 minutes ago

https://apnews.com/article/california-atmospheric-river-storm-2677c9eeb138f2a672a2596ef4b1563e

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A man rides his bicycle through floodwaters in Watsonville, Calif., Saturday, March 11, 2023. Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared emergencies in 34 counties in recent weeks, and the Biden administration approved a presidential disaster declaration for some on Friday morning, a move that will bring more federal assistance. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California agricultural community famous for its strawberry crop was forced to evacuate early Saturday after the Pajaro River’s levee was breached by flooding from a new atmospheric river that pummeled the state.

Across the Central Coast’s Monterey County, more than 8,500 people were under evacuation orders and warnings Saturday, including roughly 1,700 residents — many of them Latino farmworkers — from the unincorporated community of Pajaro.

Officials said the Pajaro River’s levee breach is about 100 feet (30.48 meters) wide. Crews had gone door to door Friday afternoon to urge residents to leave before the rains came but some stayed and had to be pulled from floodwaters early Saturday.

First responders and the California National Guard rescued more than 50 people overnight. One video showed a member of the Guard helping a driver out of a car trapped by water up to their waists.

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“We were hoping to avoid and prevent this situation, but the worst case scenario has arrived with the Pajaro River overtopping and levee breaching at about midnight,” wrote Luis Alejo, chair of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, on Twitter.

Alejo called the flooding “massive,” saying the damage will take months to repair.

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The Pajaro River separates the counties of Santa Cruz and Monterey in the area that flooded Saturday.

Officials had been working along the levee in the hopes of shoring it up when it was breached around midnight Friday into Saturday. Crews began working to fix the levee around daybreak Saturday as residents slept in evacuation centers.

The Pajaro Valley is a coastal agricultural area known for growing strawberries, apples, cauliflower, broccoli and artichokes. National brands like Driscoll’s Strawberries and Martinelli’s are headquartered in the region.

In 1995, the Pajaro River’s levees broke, submerging 2,500 acres (1,011 hectares) of farmland and the community of Pajaro. Two peopled died and the flooding caused nearly $100 million in damage. A state law, passed last year, advanced state funds for a levee project. It was scheduled to start construction in 2024.

Evacuations ordered as storm pummels California

More than 9,000 California residents were under evacuation orders Friday as a new atmospheric river brought heavy rain, thunderstorms and strong winds, swelling rivers and creeks and flooding several major highways during the morning commute. (March 10)

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This week’s storm marked the state’s 10th atmospheric river of the winter, storms that have brought enormous amounts of rain and snow to the state and helped lessen the drought conditions that had dragged on for three years. State reservoirs that had dipped to strikingly low levels are now well above the average for this time of year, prompting state officials to release water from dams to assist with flood control and make room for even more rain.

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Across the state on Saturday, Californians contended with drenching rains and rising water levels in the atmospheric river’s aftermath. In Tulare County, the sheriff ordered residents who live near the Tule River to evacuate, while people near the Poso Creek in Kern County were under an evacuation warning. The National Weather Service’s meteorologists issued flood warnings and advisories, begging motorists to stay off deluged roadways.

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Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared emergencies in 34 counties in recent weeks, and the Biden administration approved a presidential disaster declaration for some on Friday morning, a move that will bring more federal assistance.

The atmospheric river, known as a “Pineapple Express” because it brought warm subtropical moisture across the Pacific from near Hawaii, was melting lower parts of the huge snowpack built in California’s mountains.

Snow levels in the Sierra Nevada, which provides about a third of the state’s water supply, are more than 180% of the April 1 average, when it is historically at its peak. Officials reported 32 inches (81 centimeters) of snow had fallen by Saturday morning at the Mount Rose ski resort on the edge of Reno, Nevada.

The snowpack at high elevations is so massive it was expected to be able to absorb the rain, but snow below 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) could start to melt, potentially contributing to flooding, forecasters said.

State transportation officials said Friday they removed so much snow from the roadways in February that it would be enough to fill the iconic Rose Bowl 100 times.

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Lake Oroville — one of the most important reservoirs in the state and home to the nation’s tallest dam — has so much water that officials on Friday opened the dam’s spillways for the first time since April 2019. The reservoir’s water has risen 180 feet (54.8 meters) since Dec. 1. Of the state’s 17 major reservoirs, seven are still below their historical averages this year.

State water managers were also grappling with the best way to use the storms to help emerge from a severe drought. On Friday, Newsom signed an executive order making it easier for farmers and water agencies to use floodwater to refill underground aquifers. Groundwater provides on average about 41% of the state’s supply each year. But many of these underground basins have been overdrawn in recent years.

Forecasters warned that mountain travel could be difficult to impossible during the latest storm. At high elevations, the storm was predicted to dump heavy snow, as much as 8 feet (2.4 meters) over several days.

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Thinking Like a Chicken Podcast
News & Views!

Photo of “spent” hens in a poultry slaughter market by Unparalleled Suffering Photography.

https://upc-online.org/podcasts/230310_do_chickens_mind_seeing_other_chickens_killed.html

Absurd as it may sound to anyone familiar with chickens, some people, including one high-profile animal pontificator who shall be nameless, have claimed based on false and unquestioned assertions, that chickens do not mind seeing and hearing other chickens being slaughtered in their presence. This would include seeing one or more members of their flock being tortured by humans or harmed by a natural predator such as a hawk or a fox. In this podcast episode I address the question of traumatic empathy in chickens. Please join me.

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Thinking Like a Chicken Overview

Transcript

Do Chickens Mind Seeing Other Chickens Killed in Their Presence?

Hello, and thank you for joining me today. I’m Karen Davis, the founder and president of United Poultry Concerns, a nonprofit organization that promotes compassion and respect for chickens, turkeys, ducks, and other domesticated birds.

Today I want to speak to you about whether chickens are bothered by seeing other chickens harmed in their presence, including being killed.

A fellow activist once asked me if I believed chickens don’t mind watching and hearing other chickens being killed in their presence. He asked because a farmer had told him they don’t mind. Was this true?

Lest anyone think that chickens don’t mind hearing and seeing other chickens die violently in front of them, or be grabbed by a predator or otherwise traumatized, nothing could be further from the truth. As a chicken sanctuary director for more than three decades, I’ve seen the effect on chickens of a hawk or a fox and the terror those predators inspire in the birds, including the aftermath of trauma.

I learned the hard way back in the early days of keeping a few rescued chickens in an unfenced yard. (Those naïve days are long gone, and our 12,000 square-foot sanctuary is now fully predator-proof.) One of our chickens back then, named Ethel Murmur, was in the yard one Saturday afternoon, next to the porch with her friend Bertha, when a fox stole Bertha, and left her dead in the woods.

Before this happened, Ethel Murmur was so vigorous and loud that we named her after the famous Broadway singer Ethel Merman on account of her imposing character, her ample physique, and her big voice. Afterward, Ethel Murmur was never the same. She stopped making a joyful noise, she stopped yelling for attention, and could hardly walk anymore. Her whole body shriveled, and she died a week later. Although she herself had not been attacked, she had watched the attack on her friend, and could not recover.

Another situation arose one morning when I put our brown hen, Alexandra, outside with her bantam rooster companion, Josie. It was a spring day, and the kitchen door was open. Suddenly, Alexandra ran shrieking through the door into the house, jumped up on a table, and could not calm down. I cried, “Alexandra, what happened?” Panic stricken, I ran outside. Josie was nowhere. Once again – a fox. Once again, heartache.

As for chickens not minding watching members of their flock being killed by a farmer, a man once told me how a small flock of chickens he and some others were keeping on a commune he belonged to at the time were slaughtered in front of each other by a member of their group. Three hens and a rooster who were previously friendly with these people fled the scene. They disappeared for more than two weeks, before reappearing, timidly, and never again trustingly. Their behavior following the slaughter was totally altered, the man sadly said.

In nature, chicken parents will confront a predator by first pushing their chicks into foliage for safety behind themselves. Puffing out their feathers and spreading their wings wide, they will charge the predator while sounding alarm calls. One May day, when a pair of our hens and roosters produced an unexpected family, the tiny chicks squeezed through the wire fence to the other side, then peeped piteously at being stuck there. Shrieking and dashing about, unable to reach her chicks, the frantic mother hen instinctively flew straight up into my face when I approached her. (I quickly rescued all five chicks, and we covered the openings safely.)

When questioning the emotional complexity of farmed animals, we need to remember that a farmed animal is essentially a natural animal in captivity. A chicken’s physical environment and bodily deformations, imposed by exploiters, retain the fundamental instincts, sensitivities, emotions and intelligence of a bird whose evolutionary home is the tropical forest. Like their wild cousins of the tropics, domesticated chickens, perceiving a predator in their yard, will typically react with a loud clamor, and they will hide themselves among the trees and bushes for protection.

Chickens in a state of abnormal, chronic fear and severe, inescapable captivity tend by contrast to become very still and quiet, evincing what psychologists call learned helplessness – that is, behavior exhibited by individuals enduring repeated, traumatizing treatment beyond their control, even if their senses are on high alert. They may develop a condition of muscular immobility produced by their intense fear at being helpless, and knowing they are going to die.

I am confident that chickens are empathic creatures who are capable of experiencing not only the imminence of their own death, but the emotional tones of dread and dying in others trapped in a violent setting such as a slaughterhouse, a live poultry market, or a cockfighting ring. They sense, in these places, when they themselves and their companions are in immediate danger, as shown by their ready response to danger in a diversity of settings.

The day after Josie, our little rooster, was grabbed by a fox in front of Alexandra our hen, I was filled with grief and guilt. “Why oh why did I let them outside yesterday morning unprotected?” I berated myself. I sat on the floor and could not stop crying. Here, then, came big white billowy Sonia, a hen whom we’d rescued with Josie and other chickens from a filthy shed in back of a shiny farmers market in Virginia, here Sonia came across the living room floor. She rested her head against me and began softly purring, over and over. My sadness deepened with love for this gentle being, who maybe knew or did not know why I was crying, but who sensed my sadness and rose from where she was sitting to plod across the floor to comfort me in this moment of empathy that we shared, together in this tragic world.

I hope you have found today’s podcast informative and inspiring on behalf of chickens and that you will share it with your social media network. Thank you very much for joining me today, and, please join me for the next podcast episode of Thinking Like a Chicken – News & Views! And have a wonderful day.

KAREN DAVIS, PhD is the President and Founder of United Poultry Concerns, a nonprofit organization that promotes the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl including a sanctuary for chickens in Virginia. Inducted into the National Animal Rights Hall of Fame for Outstanding Contributions to Animal Liberation, Karen is the author of numerous books, essays, articles and campaigns. Her latest book is For the Birds: From Exploitation to Liberation: Essays on Chickens, Turkeys, and Other Domesticated Fowl published by Lantern Publications & Media.

Karen with Rainbow the rooster
Photo by Unparalleled Suffering Photography

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