Clash of Worlds : April 2017

Saturday, April 15, 2017

North Korea's Kim Il Sung Celebration

This CNN news report on North Korea highlights the military parade celebrating 105 years since the birth of Kim Il Sung the nation's founder. There has been much tension recently over North Korea's missile launches. This is nothing new considering other launches that occurred in 2006. The difference now is that Donald Trump has taken a more belligerent and even reckless approach. Donald Trump stated "that if China does not do something about North Korea, we will." The United States has been doing drills with the South Korean military adding to the possibility of war. CNN falsely presents this country as a threat to the world, when it is obvious that its military strength is not equivalent to the United States. While it is true that Kim Jung Un has launched more missiles than both his father and grandfather, it would take decades or more to build an arsenal that could match the United States. The US has invaded Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and has involvement in Yemen, Somalia, as well as airstrikes in Syria. North Korea has not currently invaded any nation. There are possible reasons why the US has become more hostile in regards to North Korea. Donald Trump could be attempting to distract attention away from his failed domestic policies and business ties to Russia. Harassing North Korea may be a way to indirectly threaten China. The other reason could be a desire to stop the inevitable decline in US power by aggressively disturbing international peace. The demonstration of violence is a desperate attempt to make the world submit to the will of one nation. These explanations are only speculative, but is clear that East Asia is becoming unstable.

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Ichthyostega

Ichthyostega was an early tetrapod that existed during the late Devonian. This was the first Devonian tetrapod to be discovered and added to the fossil record. This strange creature has been somewhat of a mystery. The examination of the remains show that it was able to hear better under water rather than land. The ear region seems to point to this claim, which may indicate ichthyostega spent most of its time in water. The vertebral column shows that it was capable of terrestrial locomotion. The evidence for land presence can also be seen in ribs, broad shoulders, and forearms. The hind limbs of this tetrapod were paddlelike in structure. The ichthyostega roamed the Earth 370 million years ago and fossils of this organism have only been found in eastern Greenland. Some paleontologists believe that ichthyostegids could have been around to the Carboniferous Period. Ichthyostega was only one meter long. The physical attributes of this Devonian organism contained traits from earlier aquatic vertebrates. It contained both a short snout and a preopercular bone, which can be found in fish. The preoperculer bone serves as a covering for the gills of fish. From this, it can deduced that Ichthyostega had no trouble being in the water for long periods of time.

It is believed that ichthyostega did not posses gills. If that is so another question emerges about this organism. There is debate to whether icthyostega was a land hunter or caught prey in water. There is a possibility that it could have done both. Hunting both on land and water would give it an advantage in terms of survival. The mixture of fish like and amphibian attributes makes ichthyostega one of the most fascinating animals of the Devonian. Scientists have attempted to seeing through computer models the transition from swimming to walking through computer modeling. Ichthyostega may not have walked like a salamander as previously thought. The quadrupedal concept for this type of tetrapod according to scientists at the University of Cambridge, London University, and the Royal Veterinary College . This demonstrates there is still much to be learned about the transition from land to water.