Ancient religions: Manichaeism

From Wikipedia:

“Manichaeism was one of the major ancient religions of Iranian origin. Though its organized form is mostly extinct today, a revival has been attempted under the name of Neo-Manichaeism. However, most of the writings of the founding prophet Mani (c. 210–276 CE) have been lost. Some scholars argue that its influence subtly continues in Western Christian thought via Saint Augustine of Hippo, who converted to Christianity from Manichaeism, which he passionately denounced in his writings.”Manichaeism originated in 3rd Century Babylon (a province of Persia at the time), and reached, over the span of the next ten centuries, from North Africa in the west, to China in the East…. As Manichaeism passed through time, location, and language, it also adapted new religious deities from the surrounding religions into the Manichaean scriptures. Thus, as the original Aramaic texts moved eastward and were translated into Iranian languages, the names of the Manichaean deities (or angels) were often transformed into the names of Zoroastrian yazatas. Thus Abbā dəRabbūṯā (“The Father of Greatness” – the highest Manichaean deity of Light), in Middle Persian texts might either be translated literally as pīd ī wuzurgīh, or substituted for by the name of the deity Zurwān. Likewise, the Manichaean primal figure Nāšā Qaḏmāyā “The Original Man” was rendered “Ohrmazd Bay”, after the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda. This development continued to Manichaeism’s ultimate meeting with Chinese Buddhism, where, for example, the original Aramaic “karia” (the “call” from the world of Light to those seeking rescue from the world of Darkness), becomes identified in the Chinese scriptures with Guan Yin (觀音, literally, “hearing sounds [of the world]“, the Bodhisattva of Compassion in Chinese Buddhism).

“Because Manichaeism is a faith that teaches dualism, in modern English the word “manichaean” has come to mean dualistic, presenting or viewing things in a “black and white” fashion.”

Earliest bird hatchlings show reptilian traits

In June of 1997, Allison Louis of the American Museum of Natural History reported:

The discovery of the earliest-known bird hatchling was announced today in the journal Science by an international team of scientists that includes Luis Chiappe, from the American Museum of Natural History, and Jose Sanz, from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. This extremely rare find provides unusual insight into the early evolution of birds and supports the idea that birds are in fact descended from dinosaurs.

Dating from the Lower Cretaceous, approximately 130 million years ago, the fossil was uncovered in the Spanish Pyrenees in the El Montsec range. The research team has determined that this bird hatchling falls between the very early Archaeopteryx (approximately 150 million years old) and the more modern fossil birds Hersperonis and Ichthyornis, both of which are approximately 85 million years old. No more than four inches long, the hatchling is believed to be a new bird species; it has been classified as an Enantiornithes (a member of a diverse group of birds that were capable of flight and that arose in the Cretaceous Period) and has not yet been scientifically named.

While discoveries during the last seven years have more than tripled the number of early bird species known to science, the understanding of the evolution of the modern bird skull has not advanced significantly since the first complete fossil bird skull was found a century ago. One of the most important aspects of this new finding is the unusually high level of preservation of the head and neck, which provides a wealth of new information about the skull anatomy of early birds, and, in particular, sheds insight into the skull of Archaeopteryx, the earliest bird ever discovered.

The primitive skull of this new hatchling contains teeth, which early birds shared with their reptile antecedents, but modern birds have since lost. In addition, openings surrounding the hatchling’s braincase are larger than those of modern birds, indicating that its skull muscles were very different from modern birds and were, like many primitive birds, almost fully reptilian. To accommodate this musculature, the hatchling’s brain would have been significantly smaller than that of modern birds.

In addition to the well-preserved skull, the neck and portions of the wings, shoulders, and sternum of this tiny hatchling have been preserved, as well as evidence of feathers. The shoulder and wing reveal advanced anatomical features, suggesting that this bird had a much better mastery of flight than Archaeopteryx. This also reinforces the idea that the development of flight took precedence over any other anatomical system in early bird evolution, and that birds retained a skull very similar to that of a meat-eating dinosaur even after they evolved a sophisticated flight capacity.

Friday cephalopod: Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni

This is just an excuse to post another picture of Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni. It had never been seen alive before.