"Lieken" <darth.gantz@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1160864241.926713.289180@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

http://www.cnn. com/2006/ TECH/science/ 10/11/extinction .mammals.
reut/index. htm
l
<http://www.cnn. com/2006/ TECH/science/ 10/11/extinction .mammals.
reut/index. ht
ml>

Earth wobbles linked to extinctions
POSTED: 2:49 p.m. EDT, October 11, 2006

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Wobbles or variations in the Earth's orbit
and
tilt are associated with extinctions of rodent and mammalian species,
Dutch
scientists said on Wednesday.

They're wrong. It's Jesus.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"Lieken" <darth.gantz@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1160864241.926713.289180@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

http://www.cnn. com/2006/ TECH/science/ 10/11/extinction .mammals.
reut/index. htm
l
<http://www.cnn. com/2006/ TECH/science/ 10/11/extinction .mammals.
reut/index. ht
ml>

Earth wobbles linked to extinctions
POSTED: 2:49 p.m. EDT, October 11, 2006

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Wobbles or variations in the Earth's orbit
and
tilt are associated with extinctions of rodent and mammalian species,
Dutch
scientists said on Wednesday.

They're wrong. It's Jesus.

Lieken wrote:

http://www.cnn. com/2006/ TECH/science/ 10/11/extinction .mammals.
reut/index. htm
l
<http://www.cnn. com/2006/ TECH/science/ 10/11/extinction .mammals.
reut/index. ht
ml>

Earth wobbles linked to extinctions
POSTED: 2:49 p.m. EDT, October 11, 2006

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Wobbles or variations in the Earth's orbit
and
tilt are associated with extinctions of rodent and mammalian species,
Dutch
scientists said on Wednesday.

They studied rodent fossil records in central Spain dating back 22
million
years and found that the rise and fall of mammal species was linked to
changes in the Earth's behavior which caused cooling periods.

"Extinctions in rodent species occur in pulses which are spaced by
intervals
controlled by astronomical variations and their effects on climate
change,"
Dr Jan van Dam, of the Utrecht University in the Netherlands, said.

The researchers found two cycles corresponding to the disappearance of
rodent species. One lasts 2.4 million years and is linked to variations
in
the Earth's orbit. The other is a 1.2 million year cycle relating to
shifts
in the tilt on the Earth on its axis.

The cycles are associated with lower temperatures, changes in
precipitation,
habitats, vegetation and food availability which are the main factors
influencing the extinction peaks, the study published in the journal
Nature
said.

"Rodents are very sensitive to seasonal changes because they have such
a
short lifespan," said Van Dam, adding that they represent one of the
best
mammal fossil records.

At the moment, the Earth is at the beginning of a cycle but the
planet's
climate system has changed so much in the past 3 million years that it
is
difficult to predict what will happen in the future.

"The environment is responsible to what happens to species," said Van
Dam.
"Biological factors are secondary, according to our results."


Ian Sample, science correspondent
Thursday October 12, 2006
The Guardian

Scientists have named a prime suspect in the mysterious case of the
missing mammals. The reason history is littered with suspiciously
regular extinctions is all down to the Earth's wobbly orbit,
according to research published today.
Apart from mass extinctions caused by asteroids thumping into the
planet and other cataclysmic natural events, records reveal that
mammal species die out anyway, usually 2.5m years after they first
emerge. Archaeologists have struggled to explain it, with some
blaming competition with neighbouring creatures and others suspecting
dramatic swings in climate.

After examining the remains of 80,000 fossilised teeth from 132
different rodents that span a 22 million-year period, Jan van Dam at
Utrecht University in the Netherlands believes he has the answer.

He conducted detailed analyses of the fossil fragments, which were
excavated from four pristine sites throughout Spain, to work out when
each species emerged and when they became extinct. The study, which
focused on rodents because they are easily identified from their
dental remains, included fossils of squirrels, mice, beavers, voles
and hamster-like rodents, dating to between 24.5m and 2.5m years ago
and only a few of which survive today.

Dr van Dam correlated the results with natural cycles in the Earth's
orbit and found that every 2.4m years there was a flurry of both
mammal extinctions and new species. The extinctions coincided with a
cycle that sees the Earth's orbit vary from almost perfectly circular
to elliptical. Another cycle of extinctions and emerging species
overlapped with changes in the tilt of the Earth's axis, which occur
every 1m years. The axis today stands at 23 degrees to the vertical.

Writing in the journal Nature today, Dr van Dam says that when the
Earth is in a very circular orbit the climate is less changeable, and
summer heat will be less extreme. The more mild weather encourages
glaciers to grow down from the poles, and causes a drop in ocean
levels and changes to rainfall. "The ice expansion affects the global
climate via atmospheric and oceanic currents," Dr van Dam said.

The climatic upheaval put pressure on mammals by wiping out food
sources and fragmenting their habitats. For some species, the change
in climate is enough to wipe them out, while others, by being forced
to live in smaller, isolated communities, are likely to become new
species, Dr van Dam claims. The evidence that the planet's wobbly
orbit is to blame for mammals' 2.5m-year lifespan is "a crucial
missing piece in the puzzle", said Dr van Dam.

http://www.guardian .co.uk/science/ story/0,, 1920051,00. html

According to this article we only have 2mya to get things right!! After
that, we're toast.
OR if you subcribe to the Homo Erectus = Homo Sapiens/ one species
theory, we may only have a coupla' hundred thousand years.
-spizzy