New species of ancient flying reptile discovered

Finding comes from fossilized jaw discovered in the Dallas-Fort Worth area 

An ancient reptile with a 9-foot wingspan was soaring over the sea in what is now North Texas some 95 million years ago when — plop — it fell into the water and died.

mbThat paleo-death tale comes from a fossilized jaw that was discovered eedded in soft, powdery shale that had been exposed by excavation of a hillside next to a highway in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2006. 

Analysis of the jaw now suggests it belongs to a new-to-science genus and species of flying reptile or pterosaur, now called Aetodactylus halli after its discoverer Lance Hall, a member of the Dallas Paleontological Society who hunts fossils for a hobby. 

"I was scanning the exposure and noticed what at first I thought was a piece of oyster shell spanning across a small erosion valley," Hall said. "Only about an inch or two was exposed. I almost passed it up thinking it was oyster, but realized it was more tan-colored like bone. I started uncovering it and realized it was the jaw to something — but I had no idea what. It was upside down and when I turned over the snout portion it was nothing but a long row of teeth sockets, which was very exciting."

The jaw from an ancient flying reptile called A. halli would have contained 54 pointy teeth when the beast was alive some 95 million years ago.

Paleontologists later told Hall it was a pterosaur (a group of flying reptiles commonly referred to as pterodactyls) and an important find. Such "winged lizards," as their name suggests, are thought to have dominated the skies from more than 200 million years ago until the mass extinction event 65 million years ago that wiped them out along with most dinosaurs and many other plants and animals.

A. halli is also one of the youngest members of the pterosaur family Ornithocheiridae.

The mandible, which is about 15 inches (38 centimeters) long, originally contained 54 slender, pointed teeth, but only two remained in their sockets when discovered, according to paleontologist Timothy S. Myers of Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, who identified and named the animal.

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From the way the teeth were spaced, the researchers suspect the upper and lower teeth interlaced when the jaws were closed. Just the fact that this pterosaur had teeth was somewhat surprising as all North American pterosaurs were toothless from that time period, except for Coloborhynchus.

When A. halli was alive, much of Texas was cloaked by the Western Interior Seaway — the massive sea that split North America from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. On shore, the terrain was flat and dotted with flowering plants, according to paleobotanist Bonnie Jacobs, associate professor of Earth Sciences at SMU.

"There were still conifers and ferns as well, but mostly of the sort that had tiny needle leaves, like junipers," Jacobs said. "Sycamores and their relatives would have been among the flowering plants."

 

Revealing the truth about makeup

Cosmetics can have a ‘life-altering’ effect on your life

More than $40 billion is blown on cosmetics globally each year and hundreds of hours are spent applying creams, lotions and powders. Even with the recent downturn in the economy, makeup-addicts have simply turned to drugstores, instead of high-end boutiques, to snag their tonics, wands and face paints, according to a recent consumer report by Euromonitor International.

Some people treasure their makeup and can't imagine life without it. Others would argue all this time and money is wasted. But what does science say?

Biologists argue that cosmetics can play a significant role in how your life turns out.

While it is often said that love is blind, "physical attractiveness seems to be one of the most prominent factors, if not the most significant one, in human mate selection," said behavioral biologist Bernhard Fink of the University of Gottingen in Germany. And cosmetics enhance attractiveness in a quantifiable and real-world relevant way, Fink told LiveScience.

Cosmetics have also been shown to boost earning potential and perhaps even make a promotion more likely, according to a study in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology in 2006.

But before letting the woman behind the makeup counter pack up a duffel bag of "life-altering" products, you might wish to know which ones are worth the dollars and time.

If you are trying to look healthier, foundation and face powders may be most important. If masking your age is your priority, mascara and a little nose shading may be a better bet than wrinkle creams. And if luring in a lover is your goal, you may want to amplify sex-specific traits, such as lush lips or sultry eyes .

Sign of healthA uniform skin tone can be a sign of health, Fink said, and attempts to hide sacks of fatigue under your eyes or a distracting blemish could also win points in the health category. This likely explains the popularity of foundations, concealers and skin-care products among both men and women.

At over $13 billion dollars, foundation and similar makeup products formed the lion's share of the global color cosmetics market in 2008.

And the popularity of men's skin-care products is expected to continue growing in the United States no matter the economy, reported Euromonitor International in 2009.

Wrinkle realityWrinkles and fine lines might not be worth losing beauty sleep over. The geometry of your face will likely give away your age long before anyone notices crow's feet, researchers are finding.

One feature that skews face geometry lies right on center stage: the nose.

While most facial features finish growing shortly after adolescence, the nose (and ears) never gets the memo. A large schnoz in relation to the rest of the face is often a sign of an older person. Of course, ethnicity can also determine relative nose size.

But if you're not interested in growing old gracefully , using a contour brush to shrink your beak will likely have a bigger impact on your appearance than a hundred-dollar wrinkle cream.

The eyes have itStudies have shown that not only do the eyes see, they demand to be seen — a trait possibly unique to humans .

So you may be able to drown out the nose's announcement of your age, by amplifying the eyes. Large eyes, in particular, have long been associated with faces that look young, even "babyish."

Mascara is one popular way of making eyes seem voluminous.

Relative darkness of the skin area around the eyes also matters. Male faces tend to have relatively uniform shading, while the eye regions of women, even without makeup, tend to be significantly darker than the rest of the face, according to studies by Richard Russell at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.

"Increasing or decreasing this luminance difference will make a face more feminine or masculine, respectively, and hence, more or less attractive," explained Fink who was not involved in Russell's studies.

By augmenting this contrast, mascara, eyeliner and eye-shadow showcase femininity. So even if ancient Egyptian men did line their eyes with kohl (black-shaded cosmetic), eye makeup is not recommended for today's metrosexual man.

Lipstick, lip-liner and balmRussell found similar gender differences between the contrast of the lips and the rest of the face, with women naturally having darker mouths than men of the same skin tone. Lipstick enhances this difference, silently calling out, female here!

Despite the occasional popularity of Goth lipstick, classic crimson shades are — surprise, surprise — more objectively attractive. Red lips can signal healthy circulation and even sexual arousal — a message that grabs most men's attention. 

The shape of your kisser, something often redefined by lip-liners and their ilk, can also affect attractiveness. Lip symmetry is an important trait for both men and women, according to researcher Kendra Schmid and colleagues at the University of Nebraska.

Full lips, however, are more a woman's prerogative. Lush lips tend to develop under the influence of female hormones and could indicate fertility, explained Fink in a 2005 issue of the International Journal of Cosmetic Science. Balms and other lip products aim to create this look.

If you are now ready to throw out your makeup bag and just stick to your lip gloss, consider this: At least one study, published in the International Journal of Cosmetic Science in 2003, found that lipstick alone does nothing to increase attractiveness.

 

Furniture stores struggle to adapt

Businesses among worst-performing retailers last year

HIGH POINT, N.C. - Richard Sexton's small furniture store has survived the recession by focusing on online sales. Steve Travers, meanwhile, is still in business because he fired four employees and renegotiated his lease. And Tad Lanford is trying a no-frills approach to selling sofas.

For many like them, it's that or bust.

The cash cushions of the nation's furniture industry have been worn down by years of falling sales. Furniture stores were among the worst-performing types of retailers last year, with sales falling 11 percent, according to Sageworks Inc., which collects data on private companies.

About 10 percent of furniture retailers — most of them small family-run businesses — closed their doors for good last year, according to research firm IBIS World Inc.

"The time for having a 50-year business model has past," said Mary Frye, executive director of the Home Furnishings Independents Association, a Dallas-based trade group that caters to small owners.

Financially strapped consumers, tight credit, and higher manufacturing and shipping costs are forcing furniture retailers to change plans rapidly.

And that means finding new ways of reaching customers, fierce negotiations with landlords, and making gut-wrenching decisions about staffing.

In Concord, N.C., Richard Sexton says online sales now account for 90 percent of the $5 million in yearly sales for his store, Carolina Rustica.

Three of Sexton's employees are devoted to designing photos and text on his Website so it looks just right for the 4,000 or more potential buyers he said visit it daily. Many are pushed there by online ads Sexton places with Google that pop up when a shopper enters certain keywords in their Internet search, and Sexton never cut the $400,000 a year he spends on online marketing.

"We're just trying to grow the marketplace. I need to be better than the guy down the street to survive," he said.

And even that wasn't enough. He cut his own salary and laid off three employees while losing money in 2007 and 2008.

One thing is working in the industry's favor. Landlords also are reeling from the spike in business bankruptcies and are willing to wheel and deal to keep tenants.

In Rehoboth Beach, Del., Steve Travers moved his business, Seaside Interiors & Window Designs, from a 6,000-square-foot showroom into another almost twice that size and still cut his rent by about half.

He had seven employees before the recession, when his sales hit $2 million a year, but is now down to three workers and doubts revenue will reach $1 million this year.

"I guess we haven't adapted too well. We're struggling," Travers said.

Some retailers are trying a new business model.

Ashley Furniture, which has a nationwide network of licensed stores, is expanding what sales vice president Kerry Lebensburger calls the "Costco of furniture stores."

Beginning late last year, the company rolled out what it calls Furnish 123, where every sofa or dining room set is one price — $399 — and a sample is always in stock. That's accomplished by stacking more than two dozen combinations of sofas on racks rising up to the ceiling like a warehouse.

The stores are less than half the size of traditional stores, so that also helps cut down on rent, taxes, insurance, heating and cooling costs.

Tad Lanford is a believer. He owns Ashley Furniture Homestores in San Angelo, Abilene, and Wichita Falls, Texas. He's planning to open three of the Furnish 123 stores in West Texas, including one inside his current Wichita Falls store.

"You are able to operate for a lower margin," Lanford said. "You're dealing with the same amount of product that you would have in a 15,000-square-foot furniture store, so the consumer still has a lot of choice in it."

 

'Green' exercise quickly 'boosts mental health'

Just five minutes of exercise in a "green space" such as a park can boost mental health, researchers claim.

There is growing evidence that combining activities such as walking or cycling with nature boosts well-being.

In the latest analysis, UK researchers looked at evidence from 1,250 people in 10 studies and found fast improvements in mood and self-esteem.

The study in the Environmental Science and Technology journal suggested the strongest impact was on young people.

The research looked at many different outdoor activities including walking, gardening, cycling, fishing, boating, horse-riding and farming in locations such as a park, garden or nature trail.

The biggest effect was seen within just five minutes.

With longer periods of time exercising in a green environment, the positive effects were clearly apparent but were of a smaller magnitude, the study found.

Looking at men and women of different ages, the researchers found the health changes - physical and mental - were particularly strong in the young and the mentally-ill.

Green and blue

A bigger effect was seen with exercise in an area that also contained water - such as a lake or river.

Study leader Jules Pretty, a researcher at the University of Essex, said those who were generally inactive, or stressed, or with mental illness would probably benefit the most from "green exercise".

"Employers, for example, could encourage staff in stressful workplaces to take a short walk at lunchtime in the nearest park to improve mental health."

He also said exercise programmes outdoors could benefit youth offenders.

"A challenge for policy makers is that policy recommendations on physical activity are easily stated but rarely adopted widely."

Paul Farmer, chief executive of mental health charity Mind, said the research is yet further evidence that even a short period of green exercise can provide a low cost and drug-free therapy to help improve mental wellbeing.

"It's important that people experiencing depression can be given the option of a range of treatments, and we would like to see all doctors considering exercise as a treatment where appropriate."

Mind runs a grant scheme for local environmental projects to help people with mental illness get involved in outdoor activities.