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Ancient Toba Mega-Eruption Not So Catastrophic
Washington (AFP) Jul 05, 2007 One of the biggest eruptions in Earth's history some 70,000 years ago, the Toba volcano in Indonesia, was not as much a world climate catastrophe as first thought, a study said Thursday. The Toba eruption, in northern Sumatra, was the strongest felt by the planet in the last two million years, said an international team of scientists. However, the hypothesis that it may have drastically cooled the Earth, killing off most of the human population living at the time, has only been supported by flimsy evidence, they said in a study published Thursday in Science magazine. A series of stone artifacts unearthed in southern India now suggest that local human populations remained in the region after the Toba eruption, the scientists said. The prehistoric tools were found in sedimentary layers sandwiching a layer of ash produced by the Toba eruption. The tools above were essentially at the same level of evolution as those below, the scientists said. The little difference between the two indicates that the impact of the Toba eruption was not as significant as earlier thought. The sophistication of the tools suggests they were made by modern humans rather than earlier relatives. The scientists said that while more research was needed, the finding could clarify some aspects of human migration during the time period. The team of scientists was led by Michael Petraglia of Britain's University of Cambridge, and included experts from Britain's University of Reading, the US Smithsonian Institution, India's Karnatak University, and Australia's University of Queensland and University of Wollongong.
Source: Agence France-Presse Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters When the Earth Quakes A world of storm and tempest
Waste Not Stay Hot Says Spanish Government With New Air Con Rules
Madrid (AFP) Jul 06, 2007The Spanish government led by example Friday on energy waste, ordering pubic buildings to stick to a minimum summer temperature of 24 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit). With much of Spain baking in rising summer temperatures that can surpass 40 degrees, the government is courting unpopularity by making people work under the restrictions. But Spanish First Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said she felt obliged to set the right example as air-conditioning units munch large amounts of electricity. |
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