The new Netflix action thriller film "How it Ends" imagines how a sudden
collapse could happen in the modern U.S., likely triggered by a
mysterious geological apocalypse🌋
Field of Science
-
-
Change of address1 year ago in Variety of Life
-
Change of address1 year ago in Catalogue of Organisms
-
-
Earth Day: Pogo and our responsibility1 year ago in Doc Madhattan
Showing posts with label GeoMovies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GeoMovies. Show all posts
Ernst Haeckel, Evolution and Japanese Anime
Ernst Haeckel, German naturalist and artist,
was born February 16, 1834. He was one of the first biologists to
accept the theory of evolution and created phylogenetic trees to show
the relationships of various animals (including humans).
It´s curious to
note that one of Haeckel´s drawings features also in the 1995 anime „Ghost in the Shell“, when the puppet master - a sentient A.I. - discusses evolution as descent with modification:
“A copy is just an identical image. There is the possibility that a single virus could destroy an entire set of systems and copies do not give rise to variety and originality. Life perpetuates itself through diversity and this includes the ability to sacrifice itself when necessary. Cells repeat the process of degeneration and regeneration until one day they die, obliterating an entire set of memory and information. Only genes remain. Why continually repeat this cycle? Simply to survive by avoiding the weaknesses of an unchanging system.”
“A copy is just an identical image. There is the possibility that a single virus could destroy an entire set of systems and copies do not give rise to variety and originality. Life perpetuates itself through diversity and this includes the ability to sacrifice itself when necessary. Cells repeat the process of degeneration and regeneration until one day they die, obliterating an entire set of memory and information. Only genes remain. Why continually repeat this cycle? Simply to survive by avoiding the weaknesses of an unchanging system.”
Ghost in the Shell, the final battle in the museum.
At the Earth's Core
Some days ago the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program announced a new record of the scientific vessel "Chikyu" (Japanese for "Earth") - the at this time deepest (scientific) borehole with 2.300 meter depth below the seafloor was completed in the 1.180 meter deep sea of the Shimokita-Peninsula. The longest rig ever done from board of the Chikyu was 7.740 meter long, however in the open sea the greatest problem is not the water, but drilling into the ground.
Since old times people - especially geologists - were interested to know about the interior of Earth. The Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) imagined an allegoric center of the Earth: a frozen wasteland, not reached by the divine light, where Lucifer is entrapped in eternal ice.
Since old times people - especially geologists - were interested to know about the interior of Earth. The Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) imagined an allegoric center of the Earth: a frozen wasteland, not reached by the divine light, where Lucifer is entrapped in eternal ice.
Fig.1. Illustration to Dante's "The Divine Comedy" from the "Codice Urbinate Latino 365" (1480) showing the frozen center of Earth.
Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828 - 1905) was a French author who pioneered the science-fiction genre with novels like "From the Earth to the Moon" (1865), "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" (1870), "Around the World in Eighty Days" (1873) and most remarkable for geologists "A Journey to the Center of the Earth" (1864).
Many of the "predictions" of Verne became reality a century later, humans walked on the moon, submarines can travel under the sea and travels around the world are maybe quite a bit expensive, but possible in a shorter time then imagined by Verne.
Still one vision of Verne remains a sci-fi dream - the direct study of earth´s interior...
"Gentleman, the truth is that all our theories are just that, theories. None of us has the least idea of how the earth was really formed. Because the distance between the earths crust and its core is over 6.500 kilometres, and no men has ever descended to a depth of more than 3 miles. So it's obvious, we will never have a glimmer of true knowledge, until we are able to reach a depth of at least a 100 leagues.
- What's your opinion Professor Lindenbrook?
- Well gentlemen, at one point at least I agree with Professor Christophe, the materials of the geologists are not charts, chalk and chatter, but the earth itself. We should never know the truth, until we are able to make that journey, and see for ourselves."
Dialogue from the Spanish movie "The Fabulous Journey to the Center of the Earth" / "Where Time Began" (1976).
Verne based his imaginary voyage on a more scientific ground than previous authors. In his novel Verne uses the hollow conduit of the Icelandic volcano Snæfellsjökull to venture inside earth, an idea supported by the geologic models of volcanoes proposed at the time - a single or a series of magma chamber(s) with conduits connecting them to the surface. Geologists assumed that during an eruption the magma reservoir becomes empty and large voids and caverns were left behind.
Fig.2. This geological section, published in the book by German professor of geophysics August Sieberg "Einführung in die Erdbeben- und Vulkankunde Süditaliens" (1914), shows the anatomy of a stratovolcano, with a main conduit, various lateral dikes and a large sill connected to the magma reservoir. In contrast to the sketch, the conduits for magma are in reality only a few meter wide - too small for humans to travel into the Center of the Earth.
Verne's vision was adapted and made popular in the wonderful U.S. movie of 1959 "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and was reused in the mediocre "At The Earth´s Core" (1976, however this movie was based on the novel "At the Earth's Core* by Edgar Rice Burroughs, published in 1914), where even a civilization exists inside earth.
Trailer of the "Journey to the Center of the Earth" adaption of 1959 by Charles Brackett and based on the novel by Jules Verne.
Curious to note that the professor’s name in the original novel was Otto Lidenbrock, a German. In the movie it was changed to Oliver Lindenbrook, a Scotsman. The name of his assistant Axel was also changed into Alec. This was done as tribute to the famous Scottish geologists of the 19th century, like Lyell and Hutton.
In fact the deepest boreholes in the real world stopped at more than 12 kilometer - however that's just 0,2% of earth´s radius.
In May 1970, to celebrate the birthday of Lenin, the former Soviet Union initiated the secret project "SG-3" on the Kola-Peninsula. The drilling project planned to study the Mohorovičić discontinuity, situated at 15 kilometer below the surface of the continents. The project was continued until 1989, when technical and especially financial problems, stopped the drill at 12.261 meter forever.
The United States initiated a similar ambitious project, but decided to drill the thinner oceanic crust (5-10 kilometer thick). Project Mohole started in 1961 and was abandoned in 1966, after recovering 170 meter long cores from the ocean floor in 3.500 meter depth. Modern commercial boreholes reach depths of 2.000-3.000 meter.
Bibliography:
CARLSON, D.H.; PLUMMER, C.C. & HAMMERSLEY, L. (2009): Physical Geology - Earth Revealed. McGraw-Hill Publ, 9th ed.: 645
SCHICK, R. (2002): The Little Book of Earthquakes and Volcanoes. Springer/Copernicus Books, New York: 164
Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828 - 1905) was a French author who pioneered the science-fiction genre with novels like "From the Earth to the Moon" (1865), "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" (1870), "Around the World in Eighty Days" (1873) and most remarkable for geologists "A Journey to the Center of the Earth" (1864).
Many of the "predictions" of Verne became reality a century later, humans walked on the moon, submarines can travel under the sea and travels around the world are maybe quite a bit expensive, but possible in a shorter time then imagined by Verne.
Still one vision of Verne remains a sci-fi dream - the direct study of earth´s interior...
"Gentleman, the truth is that all our theories are just that, theories. None of us has the least idea of how the earth was really formed. Because the distance between the earths crust and its core is over 6.500 kilometres, and no men has ever descended to a depth of more than 3 miles. So it's obvious, we will never have a glimmer of true knowledge, until we are able to reach a depth of at least a 100 leagues.
- What's your opinion Professor Lindenbrook?
- Well gentlemen, at one point at least I agree with Professor Christophe, the materials of the geologists are not charts, chalk and chatter, but the earth itself. We should never know the truth, until we are able to make that journey, and see for ourselves."
Dialogue from the Spanish movie "The Fabulous Journey to the Center of the Earth" / "Where Time Began" (1976).
Verne based his imaginary voyage on a more scientific ground than previous authors. In his novel Verne uses the hollow conduit of the Icelandic volcano Snæfellsjökull to venture inside earth, an idea supported by the geologic models of volcanoes proposed at the time - a single or a series of magma chamber(s) with conduits connecting them to the surface. Geologists assumed that during an eruption the magma reservoir becomes empty and large voids and caverns were left behind.
Verne's vision was adapted and made popular in the wonderful U.S. movie of 1959 "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and was reused in the mediocre "At The Earth´s Core" (1976, however this movie was based on the novel "At the Earth's Core* by Edgar Rice Burroughs, published in 1914), where even a civilization exists inside earth.
Trailer of the "Journey to the Center of the Earth" adaption of 1959 by Charles Brackett and based on the novel by Jules Verne.
Curious to note that the professor’s name in the original novel was Otto Lidenbrock, a German. In the movie it was changed to Oliver Lindenbrook, a Scotsman. The name of his assistant Axel was also changed into Alec. This was done as tribute to the famous Scottish geologists of the 19th century, like Lyell and Hutton.
Trailer of the "Journey to the Center of the Earth" adaption of 1959 by Charles Brackett based on the novel by Jules Verne, see here for Georneys Geo-movie critic.
Curious to note that the professor’s name in the original novel was Otto Lidenbrock, a German. In the movie it was changed to Oliver Lindenbrook, a Scotchman. The name of his assistant Axel was also changed into Alec. This was done because of historical hindsight, as 19th-century Scots had become known as the best field geologists, (remember Hutton and Lyell) with Germans preferring lab-bound geology in the 19th/20th century. - See more at: http://historyofgeology.fieldofscience.com/2011/02/journey-to-center-of-earth.html#sthash.SXOcEOz1.dpuf
Curious to note that the professor’s name in the original novel was Otto Lidenbrock, a German. In the movie it was changed to Oliver Lindenbrook, a Scotchman. The name of his assistant Axel was also changed into Alec. This was done because of historical hindsight, as 19th-century Scots had become known as the best field geologists, (remember Hutton and Lyell) with Germans preferring lab-bound geology in the 19th/20th century. - See more at: http://historyofgeology.fieldofscience.com/2011/02/journey-to-center-of-earth.html#sthash.SXOcEOz1.dpuf
Trailer of the "Journey to the Center of the Earth" adaption of 1959 by Charles Brackett based on the novel by Jules Verne, see here for Georneys Geo-movie critic.
Curious to note that the professor’s name in the original novel was Otto Lidenbrock, a German. In the movie it was changed to Oliver Lindenbrook, a Scotchman. The name of his assistant Axel was also changed into Alec. This was done because of historical hindsight, as 19th-century Scots had become known as the best field geologists, (remember Hutton and Lyell) with Germans preferring lab-bound geology in the 19th/20th century. - See more at: http://historyofgeology.fieldofscience.com/2011/02/journey-to-center-of-earth.html#sthash.SXOcEOz1.dpuf
Curious to note that the professor’s name in the original novel was Otto Lidenbrock, a German. In the movie it was changed to Oliver Lindenbrook, a Scotchman. The name of his assistant Axel was also changed into Alec. This was done because of historical hindsight, as 19th-century Scots had become known as the best field geologists, (remember Hutton and Lyell) with Germans preferring lab-bound geology in the 19th/20th century. - See more at: http://historyofgeology.fieldofscience.com/2011/02/journey-to-center-of-earth.html#sthash.SXOcEOz1.dpuf
Trailer of the "Journey to the Center of the Earth" adaption of 1959 by Charles Brackett based on the novel by Jules Verne, see here for Georneys Geo-movie critic.
Curious to note that the professor’s name in the original novel was Otto Lidenbrock, a German. In the movie it was changed to Oliver Lindenbrook, a Scotchman. The name of his assistant Axel was also changed into Alec. This was done because of historical hindsight, as 19th-century Scots had become known as the best field geologists, (remember Hutton and Lyell) with Germans preferring lab-bound geology in the 19th/20th century. - See more at: http://historyofgeology.fieldofscience.com/2011/02/journey-to-center-of-earth.html#sthash.SXOcEOz1.dpuf
Curious to note that the professor’s name in the original novel was Otto Lidenbrock, a German. In the movie it was changed to Oliver Lindenbrook, a Scotchman. The name of his assistant Axel was also changed into Alec. This was done because of historical hindsight, as 19th-century Scots had become known as the best field geologists, (remember Hutton and Lyell) with Germans preferring lab-bound geology in the 19th/20th century. - See more at: http://historyofgeology.fieldofscience.com/2011/02/journey-to-center-of-earth.html#sthash.SXOcEOz1.dpuf
Trailer of the "Journey to the Center of the Earth" adaption of 1959 by Charles Brackett based on the novel by Jules Verne, see here for Georneys Geo-movie critic.
Curious to note that the professor’s name in the original novel was Otto Lidenbrock, a German. In the movie it was changed to Oliver Lindenbrook, a Scotchman. The name of his assistant Axel was also changed into Alec. This was done because of historical hindsight, as 19th-century Scots had become known as the best field geologists, (remember Hutton and Lyell) with Germans preferring lab-bound geology in the 19th/20th century. - See more at: http://historyofgeology.fieldofscience.com/2011/02/journey-to-center-of-earth.html#sthash.SXOcEOz1.dpuf
Curious to note that the professor’s name in the original novel was Otto Lidenbrock, a German. In the movie it was changed to Oliver Lindenbrook, a Scotchman. The name of his assistant Axel was also changed into Alec. This was done because of historical hindsight, as 19th-century Scots had become known as the best field geologists, (remember Hutton and Lyell) with Germans preferring lab-bound geology in the 19th/20th century. - See more at: http://historyofgeology.fieldofscience.com/2011/02/journey-to-center-of-earth.html#sthash.SXOcEOz1.dpuf
Trailer of the "Journey to the Center of the Earth" adaption of 1959 by Charles Brackett based on the novel by Jules Verne, see here for Georneys Geo-movie critic.
Curious to note that the professor’s name in the original novel was Otto Lidenbrock, a German. In the movie it was changed to Oliver Lindenbrook, a Scotchman. The name of his assistant Axel was also changed into Alec. This was done because of historical hindsight, as 19th-century Scots had become known as the best field geologists, (remember Hutton and Lyell) with Germans preferring lab-bound geology in the 19th/20th century. - See more at: http://historyofgeology.fieldofscience.com/2011/02/journey-to-center-of-earth.html#sthash.SXOcEOz1.dpuf
Also the first movie featuring "Superman" touches the subject of a deep-earth civilisation. In "Superman and the Mole Men" (1951) the Mole Men invade earth's surface from the deepest oil well of the world (more than 6 miles/ 9 kilometer deep !).Curious to note that the professor’s name in the original novel was Otto Lidenbrock, a German. In the movie it was changed to Oliver Lindenbrook, a Scotchman. The name of his assistant Axel was also changed into Alec. This was done because of historical hindsight, as 19th-century Scots had become known as the best field geologists, (remember Hutton and Lyell) with Germans preferring lab-bound geology in the 19th/20th century. - See more at: http://historyofgeology.fieldofscience.com/2011/02/journey-to-center-of-earth.html#sthash.SXOcEOz1.dpuf
In fact the deepest boreholes in the real world stopped at more than 12 kilometer - however that's just 0,2% of earth´s radius.
In May 1970, to celebrate the birthday of Lenin, the former Soviet Union initiated the secret project "SG-3" on the Kola-Peninsula. The drilling project planned to study the Mohorovičić discontinuity, situated at 15 kilometer below the surface of the continents. The project was continued until 1989, when technical and especially financial problems, stopped the drill at 12.261 meter forever.
The United States initiated a similar ambitious project, but decided to drill the thinner oceanic crust (5-10 kilometer thick). Project Mohole started in 1961 and was abandoned in 1966, after recovering 170 meter long cores from the ocean floor in 3.500 meter depth. Modern commercial boreholes reach depths of 2.000-3.000 meter.
Bibliography:
CARLSON, D.H.; PLUMMER, C.C. & HAMMERSLEY, L. (2009): Physical Geology - Earth Revealed. McGraw-Hill Publ, 9th ed.: 645
SCHICK, R. (2002): The Little Book of Earthquakes and Volcanoes. Springer/Copernicus Books, New York: 164
The End of the Mayan World
According to the popcorn-movie "2012" (2009) the end of the world will come due increased solar activity that will overheat earth and cause catastrophic volcanic and tectonic storms on December 21, 2012. This premise is so dumb that even NASA declared "2012" as the most "absurd science-fiction movie" of all times, not only because the science is so bad, but the movie exploits also the fear mongering story of the supposed end of the Mayan calendar, first proposed by artist and author José Argüelles in 1987. Almost all of the supposed end of the world tale is nonsense, the various proposed mechanism to explain the destruction of the planet, like solar eruptions, pole shift or the impact of an invisible planet, are unrealistic, as it is unrealistic to claim that the end of a arbitrary time period has any significance for earth.
Fig.1. The goddess Chakchell, with her terrifying snake headdress, is flooding earth with the waters coming from the jar of the gods. She is helped in this task by the dark god of the underworld, with an owl as symbol of his power, and the divine crocodile - even the holy hieroglyphs are crying and the world will soon drown (after the "Codex Dresdensis", ca. 1200-1250, plate 47 "The flood").
However in the last years the Maya Civilization arouse the interest not only of crackpots, but also serious historians and even climate scientists. This ancient society possessed advanced knowledge of astronomy, mathematics and architecture, but 1.200 years ago (750-950 A.D.) the various city-states on the Yucatan peninsula suffered a sudden collapse. Various hypotheses tried to explain this demise: internal warfare, foreign invasions, diseases, overpopulation in combination with environmental degradation and climate change.
The Yucatan peninsula is characterized by a heterogenic spatial distribution of precipitation and seasonal droughts, especially during the beginning of the year (January- May). The climate is influenced by the position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), wind systems that shift position due the seasons and bring moisture to the land. The Maya had to deal with these variations and in response build large artificial reservoirs. The limestone of the Yucatan peninsula is highly permeable and the groundwater is almost inaccessible, if not by naturally occurring caves or cenotes, and there are virtually no rivers.
It was in these cenotes that geologists of the University of Florida collected sediment cores and discovered in the isotope variations of shells a pronounced drought period between 800 and 1000 A.D., coincident with the collapse of Classic Maya civilization. A even more detailed reconstruction of the climate of the region was possibly by the research done on sediments from the Cariaco Basin, a basin with limited deep water mixing and anoxic conditions on the ground (and therefore perfect sedimentation conditions) offshore Venezuela. Depending from the position of the ITCZ fossil-rich or clastic-rich layers are deposited, so by studying and counting these layers the former variation of the ITCZ and the amount of precipitation can be estimated.
Also this record shows a climate shift and cyclic multi-year droughts from 910 to 760 A.D.
According to the proposed scenario a population at the margin of environmental sustainability experienced repeated droughts and a demise of agricultural production. The various city-states, chronically involved in wars for power and sacrifice victims, consumed the last reserves in a desperate struggle for survive.
However like in the case of Easter Island considering both evidence from natural sciences and historical and cultural circumstances the scenario could become more complicated. The Mayan Civilization was characterized by religious violence and war was less aimed to destroy the enemy than to catch (and sacrifice) the political elite. This society had also survived previous droughts or phases of increased soil erosion, when in A.D. 550-830 the population reached high densities. The power became concentrated in few city-states, which struggled for power and replaced small military expeditions with great wars. The crumbling central government could no longer guarantee the safety of peasants, when the society was further weakened by climate changes.
However in the last years the Maya Civilization arouse the interest not only of crackpots, but also serious historians and even climate scientists. This ancient society possessed advanced knowledge of astronomy, mathematics and architecture, but 1.200 years ago (750-950 A.D.) the various city-states on the Yucatan peninsula suffered a sudden collapse. Various hypotheses tried to explain this demise: internal warfare, foreign invasions, diseases, overpopulation in combination with environmental degradation and climate change.
The Yucatan peninsula is characterized by a heterogenic spatial distribution of precipitation and seasonal droughts, especially during the beginning of the year (January- May). The climate is influenced by the position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), wind systems that shift position due the seasons and bring moisture to the land. The Maya had to deal with these variations and in response build large artificial reservoirs. The limestone of the Yucatan peninsula is highly permeable and the groundwater is almost inaccessible, if not by naturally occurring caves or cenotes, and there are virtually no rivers.
It was in these cenotes that geologists of the University of Florida collected sediment cores and discovered in the isotope variations of shells a pronounced drought period between 800 and 1000 A.D., coincident with the collapse of Classic Maya civilization. A even more detailed reconstruction of the climate of the region was possibly by the research done on sediments from the Cariaco Basin, a basin with limited deep water mixing and anoxic conditions on the ground (and therefore perfect sedimentation conditions) offshore Venezuela. Depending from the position of the ITCZ fossil-rich or clastic-rich layers are deposited, so by studying and counting these layers the former variation of the ITCZ and the amount of precipitation can be estimated.
Also this record shows a climate shift and cyclic multi-year droughts from 910 to 760 A.D.
According to the proposed scenario a population at the margin of environmental sustainability experienced repeated droughts and a demise of agricultural production. The various city-states, chronically involved in wars for power and sacrifice victims, consumed the last reserves in a desperate struggle for survive.
However like in the case of Easter Island considering both evidence from natural sciences and historical and cultural circumstances the scenario could become more complicated. The Mayan Civilization was characterized by religious violence and war was less aimed to destroy the enemy than to catch (and sacrifice) the political elite. This society had also survived previous droughts or phases of increased soil erosion, when in A.D. 550-830 the population reached high densities. The power became concentrated in few city-states, which struggled for power and replaced small military expeditions with great wars. The crumbling central government could no longer guarantee the safety of peasants, when the society was further weakened by climate changes.
In the end the city-states were replaced by a most decentralized kind of society, whit the descendants still living today.
Bibliography:
ANSELMETTI, F.S.; HODELL, D.A.; ARIZTEGUI, D.; BRENNER, M. & ROSENMEIER, M.F. (2007): Quantification of soil erosion rates related to ancient Maya deforestation. Geology Vol. 35(10): 915-918
GILL, R.B. (2000): The Great Maya Droughts - Water, Life, and Death. Univ. New Mexico Press: 464
PETERON, L.C. & HAUG, G.H. (2005): Climate and the Collapse of Maya Civilization. American Scientist, Vol. 93: 322-329
Bibliography:
ANSELMETTI, F.S.; HODELL, D.A.; ARIZTEGUI, D.; BRENNER, M. & ROSENMEIER, M.F. (2007): Quantification of soil erosion rates related to ancient Maya deforestation. Geology Vol. 35(10): 915-918
GILL, R.B. (2000): The Great Maya Droughts - Water, Life, and Death. Univ. New Mexico Press: 464
PETERON, L.C. & HAUG, G.H. (2005): Climate and the Collapse of Maya Civilization. American Scientist, Vol. 93: 322-329
It Came From the Ice!
“I am forced into speech because men of science have refused to follow my advice without knowing why. It is altogether against my will that I tell my reasons for opposing this contemplated invasion of the antarctic - with its vast fossil hunt and its wholesale boring and melting of the ancient ice caps. And I am the more reluctant because my warning may be in vain.”
"At the Mountains of Madness" (1931/1936) by H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937)
One of the most classic monster of movies is without doubt the "mummy", mostly of Egyptian origin and with human shape (despite the fact that thousands of Egyptian mummies of various animals are known). Still today we are fascinated by the effort put into the preservation of a body, the ultimate victory above decay, corruption and finally death himself.
But there are not only artificial mummies, nature offers various methods to create "natural mummies". Corpses can be preserved in bog deposits - to acid for decomposing organism - or tar pits - to poorly oxygenated - or permafrost - to cold for an effective decomposition of organic matter.
Natural mummies discovered in permafrost of ice age mammals offers a broad spectrum for research: taxonomic relations and dispersal history can be studied trough the ancient DNA, the structure of soft tissue can be observed in detail, paleo diet can be inferred by the gut contents and faeces, on some carcasses the circumstances of death can be observed - some animals show injuries, pathological deformations or tissue changes and parasites.
In the Siberian permafrost the best preserved specimens are those of mammoths, especially young and small individuals like the 40.000 years old mammoth calfs "Dima" (discovered in 1977) and "Lyuba" (2007); one of the oldest specimens is the 50.000 years old male "Khroma" (2009).
"At the Mountains of Madness" (1931/1936) by H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937)
One of the most classic monster of movies is without doubt the "mummy", mostly of Egyptian origin and with human shape (despite the fact that thousands of Egyptian mummies of various animals are known). Still today we are fascinated by the effort put into the preservation of a body, the ultimate victory above decay, corruption and finally death himself.
But there are not only artificial mummies, nature offers various methods to create "natural mummies". Corpses can be preserved in bog deposits - to acid for decomposing organism - or tar pits - to poorly oxygenated - or permafrost - to cold for an effective decomposition of organic matter.
Natural mummies discovered in permafrost of ice age mammals offers a broad spectrum for research: taxonomic relations and dispersal history can be studied trough the ancient DNA, the structure of soft tissue can be observed in detail, paleo diet can be inferred by the gut contents and faeces, on some carcasses the circumstances of death can be observed - some animals show injuries, pathological deformations or tissue changes and parasites.
In the Siberian permafrost the best preserved specimens are those of mammoths, especially young and small individuals like the 40.000 years old mammoth calfs "Dima" (discovered in 1977) and "Lyuba" (2007); one of the oldest specimens is the 50.000 years old male "Khroma" (2009).
The carcass of Khroma, partially eaten by modern scavengers, was discovered in July 2009 by a local hunter on the banks of the river Khroma. A preliminary study showed that in the carcass fossil germs were preserved, most probably anthracis, which can cause anthrax and black lung disease. To prevent any possible contamination of involved researchers it was decided to sterilize the specimen. The still frozen carcass was therefore bombarded with a massive dose of Gamma-rays in a laboratory in Grenoble.
Bacteria can theoretically survive long periods when frozen. In 2007 an international research team announced the discovery of 500.000 years old bacteria with intact and active DNA-sequence in samples of permafrost.
The scenario of a still living pathogen or parasite inside a frozen and preserved body of an ice age mammal is also the main storyline of a TV-horror-production of 2009, named appropriately "The Thaw" (strangely the title for the German release is the exact opposite - "Frozen"). In a remote region of the Canadian tundra a carcass of mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius?) is discovered in a melting glacier.
(P.S. prehistoric monsters entrapped in ice have a long tradition - see for example "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" in 1953, "Godzilla" in 1954 and "Dinosaurus!" in 1960)
This is a common misconception, the natural mummies discovered until now were preserved all in permafrost soil, which contains local ice lenses of secondary genesis. This ice maybe plays an important role in the desiccation and preservation of the carcass, as moisture migrates from the body to the ice.
Anyway - the warming of the Canadian Arctic due anthropogenic climate change not only releases dead mammoths from the melting underground, but also a deadly and living pathogen - a parasite in from of an arthropod (a - bug - as noobs call it) that needs body heat. To survive inside its host the parasite weakens the immune system (as some real parasites do) - this behaviour would finally cause the death of the host, if the flesh-eating bugs (arthropods) didn't also multiply so fast that they eat their victim from inside.
The movie uses a environmental cause (the disease is released due the warming of the planet caused by our actions) as premise, most of it is however clearly inspired (or copied) from the movie "The Thing" (1982), even if there the parasite - first hiding and then exactly copying its host- is an alien lifeform.
The Thaw doesn't really explain the origin of the parasite, but it seems almost certain that it is of terrestrial origin and also so deadly that it caused the extinction of the entire Pleistocene megafauna. The idea of an unidentified hyperdisease killing animals was proposed in 1997 after the first epidemics of Ebola in 1976-1979 and 1994-1996. Main vector of the presumed pathogen was Homo sapiens, infecting mammoths and other large mammals during his travels around Siberia and North America. In 2006 a research on the pathological malformations of bones from American Mastodon (Mammut americanum) and bison bones suggested that the animals suffered from an infection of tuberculosis. A relatively large number of geographically and temporal separated individuals showed those malformations.
A recent example how dangerous pathogens can be for an isolated population was observed on the Christmas Islands in the Indian Ocean. In 1899 human colonization and introduced black rats (Rattus rattus) brought a unicellular parasitic protist (Trypanosoma) onto the islands. The endemic rat species (Rattus macleari) was not immune against the introduced parasite and the population suffered a rapid decline - in 1904 the species was considered extinct. However this is an example on a very confined space, involving a single species - it remains unclear how a single pathogen could wipe out so many species in such a short time on almost the entire planet.
Last but not least: a strange movie combines somehow The Thing with mammoths. In the TV-horror "Mammoth" (2006) an alien lifeform assimilates a partially frozen woolly mammoth exposed in a museum. The mammoth-alien-zombie goes on a rampage - killing people by adsorbing their life energy... until stopped by the Men in Black...Bibliography:
JOHNSON, S.S. et al. (2007): Ancient bacteria show evidence of DNA repair. PNAS Vol. 104 (36): 14401-14405
ROTHSCHILD, B.M. & LAUB, R. (2006): Hyperdisease in the late Pleistocene: validation of an early 20th century hypothesis. Naturwissenschaften 93:557-564
WYATT, K.B.; CAMPOS, P.F.; GILBERT, M.T.P.; KOLOKOTRONIS, S.-O.; HYNES, W.H., et al. (2008): Historical Mammal Extinction on Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) Correlates with Introduced Infectious Disease. PLoS ONE 3(11): 1-9
Dinosaurs enter the Atomic Age
Monsters in monster movies - they are the antagonist of our hero, the threat to society, the key element of the movie - we despise and love them at the same time.
The monster movie can be created by human folly - an experiment gone wrong, the destruction or the violation of an isolated habitat - or on purpose as a biological weapon.
The monsters can came from space: actively searching habitable planets or hosts for its lifecycle or it was brought back as sample or unwillingly from a space mission.
This last origin can be mixed or being replaced by the explanation that the monsters came from a different time period, usually the past - trough a time warp or surviving entrapped in ice, mud or on a lost island.
All these different births of monsters reflect the technology and the fear by society of this technology at the time. A classic example of this correlation is the decade of 1950 to 1960. "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" is considered the first movie to introduce the atomic bomb as possibility to create monsters - that will go wild.
The monster movie can be created by human folly - an experiment gone wrong, the destruction or the violation of an isolated habitat - or on purpose as a biological weapon.
The monsters can came from space: actively searching habitable planets or hosts for its lifecycle or it was brought back as sample or unwillingly from a space mission.
This last origin can be mixed or being replaced by the explanation that the monsters came from a different time period, usually the past - trough a time warp or surviving entrapped in ice, mud or on a lost island.
All these different births of monsters reflect the technology and the fear by society of this technology at the time. A classic example of this correlation is the decade of 1950 to 1960. "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" is considered the first movie to introduce the atomic bomb as possibility to create monsters - that will go wild.
 |
| Fig.1. The "Rhedosaurus" - first evil dinosaur-star? |
The movie was produced by the small independent company "Mutual Pictures", Warner Brothers recognized the potential and released it in 1953, 8 years after the first U.S. atomic bombs and 4 years after the first Soviet atomic test, just at the beginning of the arm race between the two superpowers. First test previously of 1948 and released footage of the test sites at the lagoons of Bikini had already showed to the public the devastating effects of the heat and the radiation of an atomic blast on living animals - the movie is based on and also exploits this fear.
In the movie during "Operation Experiment" (how inventive by the scriptwriters...) an atomic bomb will be detonated in the atmosphere over the Arctic, the producers used real footage of real nuclear blasts- a common trick to save costs, but maybe also to emphasize the "reality" of the story. The movie introduces the classic scientists and their pseudoscientific techno-babble, an element that will become standard until modern movies.
"20,000 Fathoms" is also one of the first movies to introduce animals/dinosaurs as the main monster - breaking with the tradition of human-like creatures of the early 20th century - and inspire an entire bunch of later movies that will explain the origin of the monsters from misuse of radioactive radiation or contamination of harmless organisms.
The "Rhedosaurus" is awakened by the nuclear blast from the arctic ice and goes on to terrorize and destroy entire cities, the military and all the weapons can´t apparently stop it.
In the movie during "Operation Experiment" (how inventive by the scriptwriters...) an atomic bomb will be detonated in the atmosphere over the Arctic, the producers used real footage of real nuclear blasts- a common trick to save costs, but maybe also to emphasize the "reality" of the story. The movie introduces the classic scientists and their pseudoscientific techno-babble, an element that will become standard until modern movies.
"20,000 Fathoms" is also one of the first movies to introduce animals/dinosaurs as the main monster - breaking with the tradition of human-like creatures of the early 20th century - and inspire an entire bunch of later movies that will explain the origin of the monsters from misuse of radioactive radiation or contamination of harmless organisms.
The "Rhedosaurus" is awakened by the nuclear blast from the arctic ice and goes on to terrorize and destroy entire cities, the military and all the weapons can´t apparently stop it.
 |
| Fig.2. Timeline of nuclear test and important movies of the monster genre, note the decade 1950-1960. "The Valley of Gwangi" in 1969 is considered an effort to revitalize the - at the time - dying genre, by introducing western elements in a classic monster story. |
Strangely it is a nuclear scientist that will solve the problem - displaying the contradictory relationship of society to the atomic energy at the time - it causes problems but also can solve them. However this somehow positive message of "20,000 Fathoms" will go lost in subsequent movies, when the monsters created by the atom will only cause havoc and suffering.
Video: Footage of the animal tests codenamed "Plumbbob" (1957) - WARNING Graphic Content!
Bibliography:
EVANS, J.A. (1998): Celluloid Mushroom Clouds - Hollywood and the Atomic Bomb. Critical Studies in Communication and in the Cultural Industries; Westview Press: 212
Five million years of terror: Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
I
n many science-fiction films the adversary or monster is inspired by prehistoric creatures, dinosaurs are the most popular, but sometimes also mammals and their "derivatives" play a role. The classic monster movie has a quite predictable storyline: men enter and find a place not intended to be explored, awaken so the monster, the scientist explains what it is (even to those who are watching the film) and in the end the hero and we discover how to kill it ...
The animal, and especially a "primitive" creature, is used in movies as a powerful symbol for our subconscious emotions and irrational behaviour, it represents the most primitive instincts of survival - nourishment and sexual reproduction - that are in modern men controlled (maybe even suppressed) by rationality and society.
"Quatermass and the Pit" was in origin a black and white science-fiction/horror TV-serial broadcasted in 1958 and 1959. The story based on a script by Nigel Kneale was later adapted by the British Hammer Film Productions (a company notoriously known for its B-movies) to a movie with same title (1967). Curiously in the U.S. the film was released under the title "Five Million Years to Earth" and in Germany "Das grüne Blut der Dämonen" ("The green blood of the demons", probably influenced by one autopsy scene).
The movie story follows on a first glance only loosely the classic monster story and uses an intriguing variation of the monster as symbol of primitive behaviour.
During construction works in London bones and skulls were uncovered, the anthropologist Dr. Roney discovers the fossils are of a particular breed of primate, much older than all the genera previously known to science.
Meanwhile the archaeological survey is interrupted by what appears to be the discovery of an unknown bomb-rocket of World War II, strangely embedded in the same geological strata as the fossils. The army is informed and General Breen seeks the aid of rocket scientist professor Quatermass. He will soon discover the terrible truth: the supposed rocket is an alien spacecraft. The hypothesis presented by the scientists: 5 millions of years ago a superior race of Martian insects tried to create a race of slaves from primitive monkeys, bursting the evolution of mankind. But before the aliens succeeded in their plan they annihilated themselves in a terrible eugenic war in a distant past.
In fact the reconstruction, based on the fossils and modelled in an extraordinary short time interval by Dr. Roney, shows a giant monkey with a big head, the classic missing link between man and animal (even Piltdown man is mentioned in the technobabble of some scenes of the TV-serial) in accordance to the classic "ladder of evolution" of man. The reconstruction with a large brain resembles also a bit to much modern humans, according to the real fossil record five million years the genus Australopithecus would be a more realistic approach, a bipedal primate with not to unusual characteristics in cranial volume.
In contrast to a classic monster movie in Quatermass and the Pit the discovered fossils remain however dead - there is no physical reanimation and a rampage of classic ape-men trough London. But the discovery of the ancient spaceship has started by telepathic influence also a self-destruction program in the genes of the descendants of the first ape-men - We are the monsters! By following the most primitive instinct and survival of the strongest humans begin to kill each other, like the Martian million years ago.
The movie also cites and shows in form of the war that destroyed the aliens the dangers of a worldwide nuclear threat and armament - a common topic in monster movies of the sixties and seventies. Interesting the decision to gave the Martian the aspect of locusts (but the comparison of the sorcerer of Les Trois Frères is farfetched), maybe to represent the human behaviour of colonizing and overexploiting new land ?
Quatermass and the Pit is not the classic monster movie of the sixties. The first half builds up suspense and then it develops from a science-fiction story to a ghost-horror movie, even with the classic demonic possession scene. The Martian technology is capable to control human minds, taking from us our personality transforming us in a single mob - also the attacks comes from the most unsuspected side, the common people on the street.
It's surely one of the better and more serious Hammer films.
The idea that life on earth, especially the rise of man, can be explained by the intervention of aliens is still used in science fiction today (a recent example is the film "Mission to Mars" in 2000) - ironically that some authors copied this idea even for their pseudo-serious books about Paleoseti in recent years.
n many science-fiction films the adversary or monster is inspired by prehistoric creatures, dinosaurs are the most popular, but sometimes also mammals and their "derivatives" play a role. The classic monster movie has a quite predictable storyline: men enter and find a place not intended to be explored, awaken so the monster, the scientist explains what it is (even to those who are watching the film) and in the end the hero and we discover how to kill it ...The animal, and especially a "primitive" creature, is used in movies as a powerful symbol for our subconscious emotions and irrational behaviour, it represents the most primitive instincts of survival - nourishment and sexual reproduction - that are in modern men controlled (maybe even suppressed) by rationality and society.
"Quatermass and the Pit" was in origin a black and white science-fiction/horror TV-serial broadcasted in 1958 and 1959. The story based on a script by Nigel Kneale was later adapted by the British Hammer Film Productions (a company notoriously known for its B-movies) to a movie with same title (1967). Curiously in the U.S. the film was released under the title "Five Million Years to Earth" and in Germany "Das grüne Blut der Dämonen" ("The green blood of the demons", probably influenced by one autopsy scene).
The movie story follows on a first glance only loosely the classic monster story and uses an intriguing variation of the monster as symbol of primitive behaviour.
During construction works in London bones and skulls were uncovered, the anthropologist Dr. Roney discovers the fossils are of a particular breed of primate, much older than all the genera previously known to science.
Meanwhile the archaeological survey is interrupted by what appears to be the discovery of an unknown bomb-rocket of World War II, strangely embedded in the same geological strata as the fossils. The army is informed and General Breen seeks the aid of rocket scientist professor Quatermass. He will soon discover the terrible truth: the supposed rocket is an alien spacecraft. The hypothesis presented by the scientists: 5 millions of years ago a superior race of Martian insects tried to create a race of slaves from primitive monkeys, bursting the evolution of mankind. But before the aliens succeeded in their plan they annihilated themselves in a terrible eugenic war in a distant past.
In fact the reconstruction, based on the fossils and modelled in an extraordinary short time interval by Dr. Roney, shows a giant monkey with a big head, the classic missing link between man and animal (even Piltdown man is mentioned in the technobabble of some scenes of the TV-serial) in accordance to the classic "ladder of evolution" of man. The reconstruction with a large brain resembles also a bit to much modern humans, according to the real fossil record five million years the genus Australopithecus would be a more realistic approach, a bipedal primate with not to unusual characteristics in cranial volume.
In contrast to a classic monster movie in Quatermass and the Pit the discovered fossils remain however dead - there is no physical reanimation and a rampage of classic ape-men trough London. But the discovery of the ancient spaceship has started by telepathic influence also a self-destruction program in the genes of the descendants of the first ape-men - We are the monsters! By following the most primitive instinct and survival of the strongest humans begin to kill each other, like the Martian million years ago.
The movie also cites and shows in form of the war that destroyed the aliens the dangers of a worldwide nuclear threat and armament - a common topic in monster movies of the sixties and seventies. Interesting the decision to gave the Martian the aspect of locusts (but the comparison of the sorcerer of Les Trois Frères is farfetched), maybe to represent the human behaviour of colonizing and overexploiting new land ?
Quatermass and the Pit is not the classic monster movie of the sixties. The first half builds up suspense and then it develops from a science-fiction story to a ghost-horror movie, even with the classic demonic possession scene. The Martian technology is capable to control human minds, taking from us our personality transforming us in a single mob - also the attacks comes from the most unsuspected side, the common people on the street.
It's surely one of the better and more serious Hammer films.
The idea that life on earth, especially the rise of man, can be explained by the intervention of aliens is still used in science fiction today (a recent example is the film "Mission to Mars" in 2000) - ironically that some authors copied this idea even for their pseudo-serious books about Paleoseti in recent years.
15 September, 1914: Gertie the wonderfully trained Dinosaurus
September 15. 1914, the short movie Gertie the Dinosaur, the first dinosaur to appear in a movie, was notified for copyright.Gertie the dinosaur, also Gertie the trained dinosaur, is a movie with a animated segment by the American cartoonist Winsor McCay and produced in 1914.
McCay was inspired to create Gertie, considered today one the first classic animation figures and the first dinosaur to appear in a movie, in 1912 by a series of drawings depicting prehistoric animals commissioned by the American Historical Association.
However, even in 1905 in the comic adventure of McCay's "Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend" a "Brontosaurus" skeleton is shown.
McCay presented the short animation part, consisting of 10.000 single hand drawn photograms, of the trained dinosaur the first time in February 8. 1914 as part of his show in the Palace Theatre of Chicago. The show was a great success, and McCay performed it in various cities of the East of the U.S. Later in the year he had the opportunity to produce a version of the show for the cinema, with added scenes caricaturing the production of the animated part. Finally the 12 minutes long movie of Gertie the Dinosaur was announced and released on November 14. 1914.
Figure from Wikipedia.
A really bad movie: Yor - The Hunter from the Future (1983)
It's Friday, and what better way to pass a rainy evening by watching a good movie (or not?).Yor: "The blood of your enemies makes you stronger! Drink!"
Pak: "Urgh...I'd rather stay weak!"
YOR - The Hunter from the Future (1983) is a film produced by the Italian company "Daimant Film" under the supervision of the noted B-movie director Antonio Margheriti, and Reb Brown plays the main character called Yor "He's the man!"
Of all the trash films, this masterpiece is surely one of the best of the worst examples, as the film appears in the list of the 100 most terrible movies according to John Wilson, founder of the prestigious "Golden Rapsberry" price.
Here every detail is designed to be trash: the plot is simply stupid, the characters are childish, the costumes are ridiculous, the special effects are pathetic and even the soundtrack (mp3 3.4 MB), contributed by Guido & Maurizio De Angeli, has a trashy charm.
(Warning SPOILER ALERT!) The film begins introducing, as the music suggest, Yor, running through the desert of the Turkish region of Kappadokia. The introduction song can also be regarded as the summary of the entire intellectual content of the movie: Yor is a blond caveman who main occupations are fighting dinosaurs, armed only with a stone axe, and a Dimetrodon (notable the only starring in a movie as I know), killing people and destroying civilizations.
But back to the plot: Yor encounters two other cavemen, the standard caveman Pak and the beautiful Kala, busy hunting a prehistoric pig (with spines attached to it with glue). Suddenly a kind of triceratops attacks, which is promptly killed by Yor, a scene with lots and lots of blood and gore. The combat ends appropriately by Yor drinking the blood of his prey.
Fig.1. No comment.
Of all the trash films, this masterpiece is surely one of the best of the worst examples, as the film appears in the list of the 100 most terrible movies according to John Wilson, founder of the prestigious "Golden Rapsberry" price.
Here every detail is designed to be trash: the plot is simply stupid, the characters are childish, the costumes are ridiculous, the special effects are pathetic and even the soundtrack (mp3 3.4 MB), contributed by Guido & Maurizio De Angeli, has a trashy charm.
(Warning SPOILER ALERT!) The film begins introducing, as the music suggest, Yor, running through the desert of the Turkish region of Kappadokia. The introduction song can also be regarded as the summary of the entire intellectual content of the movie: Yor is a blond caveman who main occupations are fighting dinosaurs, armed only with a stone axe, and a Dimetrodon (notable the only starring in a movie as I know), killing people and destroying civilizations.
But back to the plot: Yor encounters two other cavemen, the standard caveman Pak and the beautiful Kala, busy hunting a prehistoric pig (with spines attached to it with glue). Suddenly a kind of triceratops attacks, which is promptly killed by Yor, a scene with lots and lots of blood and gore. The combat ends appropriately by Yor drinking the blood of his prey.
Fig.1. No comment.To thank Yor, Kala and Pak invite him in their village, which is promptly attacked by blue-skinned ape-men trying to kidnap all the women. Yor sets off to find the hideout of the aggressors and after a short encounter with some mummies discovers the cave. The problem now remains how to reach the cave entrance at the top of a cliff. No problem for Yor - with bow and arrow he kills quickly a pterosaur -thing or giant bat (I'm not sure what it should represent), whose carcass is used by Yor to glide into the cave, kicking the guard unconscious, and with the background choir singing "He's the man!" (Seeing is believing mpg 2.5 MB).
Fig.2. Did they even try?
Yor finally enters the cave, kills everyone and everything and returns to a fishing village (after saving his beloved Kala), where he suddenly is told about the secret of a mysterious island in the middle of the sea.
Here the plot changes completely; the peaceful village is suddenly attacked by death -rays. Yor gets onto the island, ruled by a mad dictator with an army of robots that need the genetic material of Yor to procreate. Here he will solve the terrible secret of the resurrected dinosaurs and creatures of the Permian age, and the secret that brought to life the mutant ape-men...
If the plot seems even more confusing and inconsistent as by "Lost", the explanation is simple, the original adventures of Yor were a miniseries of four episodes produced for the Italian television. After the first broadcast the series has been cut into a 90 minute long film for the big screen. There is no considerable difference regarding the plot between the TV version (extremely rare to find on videotape) and the more common movie version - both are illogical, but in the uncensored version the fights between Yor and the prehistoric creatures last longer and there is even more blood and gore!
Conclusion, the film deserves the "fame" that he has won since his "birth" and the end is (Spoiler Warning!) , naturally, trash:
"Yor returns to the primitive tribes on the mainland. He is determined to use his superior knowledge to prevent them making the same mistakes as their forefathers. Will he succeed?"
Online Ressources:
Images found on Cool Cinema Trash
The video and music can be also downloaded on BadMovies
Fig.2. Did they even try?Yor finally enters the cave, kills everyone and everything and returns to a fishing village (after saving his beloved Kala), where he suddenly is told about the secret of a mysterious island in the middle of the sea.
Here the plot changes completely; the peaceful village is suddenly attacked by death -rays. Yor gets onto the island, ruled by a mad dictator with an army of robots that need the genetic material of Yor to procreate. Here he will solve the terrible secret of the resurrected dinosaurs and creatures of the Permian age, and the secret that brought to life the mutant ape-men...
If the plot seems even more confusing and inconsistent as by "Lost", the explanation is simple, the original adventures of Yor were a miniseries of four episodes produced for the Italian television. After the first broadcast the series has been cut into a 90 minute long film for the big screen. There is no considerable difference regarding the plot between the TV version (extremely rare to find on videotape) and the more common movie version - both are illogical, but in the uncensored version the fights between Yor and the prehistoric creatures last longer and there is even more blood and gore!
Conclusion, the film deserves the "fame" that he has won since his "birth" and the end is (Spoiler Warning!) , naturally, trash:
"Yor returns to the primitive tribes on the mainland. He is determined to use his superior knowledge to prevent them making the same mistakes as their forefathers. Will he succeed?"
YOR - The Hunter from the Future (TV Trailer, 1983)
Online Ressources:
Images found on Cool Cinema Trash
The video and music can be also downloaded on BadMovies
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)