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Homo erectus may have been a sailor – and able to speak

From The Guardian by Nicola Davis

A new theory suggests that Homo erectus was able to create seagoing vessels – and must have used language to sail successfully

Language was necessary for the spread of toolmaking technology, as well as for boat-building and sailing, researchers suggest.
Illustration: Alamy Stock Photo

They had bodies similar to modern humans, could make tools, and were possibly the first to cook.
Now one expert is arguing that Homo erectus might have been a mariner – complete with sailing lingo.

Homo erectus first appeared in Africa more than 1.8m years ago and is thought to be the first archaic human to leave the continent.

H. erectus fossils have turned up not only in Southern Europe, but as far afield as China and Indonesia.
Some argue that the mysterious hominid Homo floresiensis, discovered on the island of Flores, could be descended from H.erectus – although others disagree.

“Oceans were never a barrier to the travels of Erectus.
He travelled all over the world, travelled to the island of Flores, across one of the greatest ocean currents in the world,” said Daniel Everett, professor of global studies at Bentley University, and author of How Language Began.
“They sailed to the island of Crete and various other islands.
It was intentional: they needed craft and they needed to take groups of twenty or so at least to get to those places.”

While Everett is not the first to raise the controversial possibility that H. erectus might have fashioned some sort of seagoing vessel, he believes that such capabilities mean that H.erectus must also have had another skill: language.

“Erectus needed language when they were sailing to the island of Flores.
They couldn’t have simply caught a ride on a floating log because then they would have been washed out to sea when they hit the current,” said Everett, presenting his thesis at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Austin.
“They needed to be able to paddle. And if they paddled they needed to be able to say ‘paddle there’ or ‘don’t paddle.’ You need communication with symbols not just grunts.”

A 540 thousand year-old art object shows that prehistoric upright walkers may have had quite a bit more going on upstairs that people give them credit for.

The engraving is at least 430000 years old, meaning it was done by the long-extinct Homo erectus, said the study.

The oldest man-made markings previously .

It is unknown when language emerged among hominids; some argue that it is a feature only of our own species, Homo sapiens, which suggests a timing of no earlier than 200,000 years ago.
But Everett believes it goes back further than that.

Everett says that H. erectus would have been unable to make the same range of sounds as we do, not least because they lacked the version of a gene necessary for speech and language to develop – known as FOXP2 – found in modern humans and Neanderthals, although it is not clear whether Neanderthals had language.
But he argues that as few as two sounds are needed for a language, and that it is likely H.erectus could make more than that.

“They had what it took to invent language – and language is not as hard as many linguists have led us to believe.
If you have symbols in a linear order then you have a grammar,” said Everett.
“Homo erectus spoke and invented the Model T Ford of language.
We speak the Tesla form, but their Model T form was not a proto-language it was a real language.”

“Everybody talks about Homo erectus as a stupid ape-like creature, which of course describes us just as well, and yet what I want to emphasise is that Erectus was the smartest creature that had ever walked the Earth,” he said.

The theory received mixed reactions from others.
Kevin Laland, professor of behavioural and evolutionary biology at the University of St Andrews, said he agreed with Everett.
“The important thing to recognise is that language did not appear in modern form all at once, but gradually evolved from a protoculture comprising just a handful of words with little grammatical structure.
Certainly, it is highly plausible that Homo erectus had a protolinguistic capability,” he said, adding that work by his own team hinted it was possible.
“Our experiment suggests that it would have been very difficult for knowledge of how to manufacture Homo erectus’s Acheulian stone tools to spread without a simple form of language.
The study also demonstrates that stone toolmaking would had created a selection pressure favouring increased linguistic capabilities,” he said.

But others say that there is little evidence that H.
erectus was a sophisticated seafarer, let alone had a language.
“I don’t accept that, for example, [Homo] erectus must have had boats to get to Flores,” said Chris Stringer, head of human origins at the Natural History Museum in London.
“Tsunamis could have moved early humans on rafts of vegetation.”

That said, Stringer notes that Homo heidelbergensis, another extinct relative of ours that lived between 700,000 and 300,000 years ago, might have been capable of some sort of chat.
“I think [Homo] heidelbergensis had a complex enough life to require speech, though not at the level of modern human language.
With [Homo] erectus, I’m not so sure,” said Stringer, adding that the ability of H. erectus to make and use tools is not, as some have argued, convincing evidence.
“Chimps and crows make and use tools without a human kind of language,” he said.

Google to map South Florida waterways in partnership with marine industry

Marine Industry Association of South Florida partners with Google Waterway View

From BizJournals

Tech giant Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is partnering with the Marine Industries Association of South Florida to create a water version of its popular Google Street View maps that would cover the region’s major waterways.

Not only will this create a detailed visual map covering 143 nautical miles along the Intracoastal Waterway and Biscayne Bay from the Palm Beach County line in Jupiter through Ocean Reef in Key Largo, it will provide the opportunity for nearby businesses to reach customers on their boats.

"This is an incredible opportunity to add another tool to the toolkit of the marine industry in South Florida, which employs 136,000 people and produces an annual economic impact of $11.5 billion,” said Phil Purcell, CEO and president of MIASF.
“Just as Google Street View is a valuable instrument and a trusted way for businesses to connect with customers, Waterway View has the potential to be the most exciting new resource for the boating lifestyle, connecting boaters with restaurants, marinas, fuel docks, service and sales centers, and all the other resources they may need.”

The Google Waterway View should launch as a mobile app by June when the mapping is completed. A web browser version will be available sooner.
Businesses will be able to buy a listing to be promoted on the map, or provide a 360-degree view inside their business.
MIASF will work with local businesses that want to utilize the new maps with Google.

Drivers on the roads can now use mapping programs to find gas stations or restaurants, so this service would provide the same aid to boaters.
That’s especially helpful because the waterways don’t have as many signs advertising the locations of businesses as roads do.

“Florida leads the country in boat registrations and its waterways are used by locals and tourists every day of the year,” said Google Virtual Reality partner, Jim Hilker.
"This will be a very useful platform for experienced boaters, newcomers, and tourists looking to access the many locations available to them by water.”

MarineMax and Boat Owners Warehouse are providing the boats that will transport the Google cameras through South Florida’s waterways.
In addition to the Intracoastal Waterway and Biscayne Bay, the map will cover some adjoining rivers, inlets and commercial canals.
“The goal of this initiative is to increase awareness on the waterways, said Chuck Cashman, chief revenue officer for MarineMax.
“Boaters can plan a day out on the water in advance through a visual familiarization of local boating hotspots and boating-friendly businesses.”

Links :

• Curbed Miami : Google’s creating a Street View-like program for boaters in South Florida

Blue Planet gives super-rich their new toys – submersibles

Learn what it takes to make Blue Planet II aboard the Alucia Premiere – Earth Lab

From The Guardian by Rupert Neate

World’s ultra-rich are buying subs for up to £30m to indulge in deep ocean exploring

Anew toy has surfaced on the must-have list of leisure options for the world’s billionaire class: private submersibles they can use to explore the oceans – or even use as James Bond-style means of escape if their superyacht should come under attack.

Doing a David Attenborough – Triton submersibles in deep waters off Lyford Cay, Bahamas.
Photograph: Nick Verola

The global super-rich last year bought about 30 submersibles – with price tags of up to £30m – according to manufacturer Triton.
These private submarines are known as submersibles because they are not independently powered, instead relying on batteries that have to be recharged by a support vessel.

Louise Harrison, Triton’s European sales director, said in recent months the BBC’s Blue Planet series, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, had led to a “huge spike” in demand from wealthy buyers wanting to explore the deep and get up close to coral reefs, stingrays and whales.

There is a growing number of super-rich, she said, who want more than to merely luxuriate in their good fortune.
“The super-rich aren’t happy to sit on the back of their yachts with a G&T anymore.
The modern ones and the young ones want to go to Antarctica and the Galápagos Islands,” she said.
“They want to see what’s beneath the surface as well as what’s on top.
They have seen Blue Planet, and they want to get down there and see it for themselves.”

Harrison told hundreds of delegates attending the Superyacht Investor conference in London this week that submersible manufacturers had their best year in 2017, as there has been “definitive change in direction among owners to use their superyachts for new experiences”.
“The industry sold 25-30 submersibles last year,” she said.
“It may not sound like a lot but they are priced at a minimum of £1m and up to £30m.
It is a lot of money.”

The Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson, the Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and the US hedge fund manger Ray Dalio are among billionaires who have already splashed out on underwater vessels.
Indeed, one may not be enough: Dalio said he was so “wild about ocean exploration” that he bought two submersibles, which were used in the filming of the second series of Blue Planet.
“The underwater world is much larger than the above-water world, has more unidentified species than the above-water world, is essential to our wellbeing, is incredibly interesting and valuable, and is mostly unexplored,” said Dalio, the world’s 90th richest person with a $14.6bn (£10.3bn) fortune.
“For those reasons, and for the thrill of it, I am wild about ocean exploration.
I explore the ocean personally while tagging along with great ocean scientists and explorers, and I financially support ocean exploration that goes on way beyond me – including sharing these thrills with the public through various media outlets and museum exhibits.”

Dalio’s submersibles – named Nadir and Deep Rover – are based on his $50m expedition-focused superyacht, Alucia.

The submersible ‘Nadir’ used by Blue Planet II team to film the Deep episode.

It was one of many subs used to film the series.

Photograph: Luis Lamar

The Nadir is a Triton 3300/3 model capable of diving to a depth of 1,000 metres with a pilot and two passengers on board and sells for about $3m depending on fixtures and fittings.
“Yes, it’s a lot of money,” Harrison said.
“But do you want to go diving in a cheap submersible?”

Harrison said the growth in submersibles had been driven by a rapid improvement in acrylic technology, which means they can be fitted with large clear bubble domes, giving a 360-degree views of the ocean.
“When you’re underwater the acrylic sort of disappears and you feel like you are actually in the ocean.
It’s a bit dreamlike when you’re down there,” she said.
“The acrylic is the expensive bit, as the technology has only recently got so advanced that you can go that deep.
It is very, very expensive stuff – you don’t want to scratch it.”
Harrison said most customers say they are interested in buying submersibles for exploration, but some have also inquired about using them as “panic rooms or escape vessels”.

M/Y Legend has recently completed a submarine expedition in Antarctica, during which the C-Explorer 3 private submarine was extensivley used to explore the deep waters of the South Pole.

Triton’s biggest competitor, Holland’s U-Boat Worx, has designed an ultra-lightweight submersible model specifically for superyachts.
Its Super Yacht Sub Three is piloted from the rear so the passengers can get the best view of the ocean from the front of the bubble dome.
The company said: “This submarine is aimed at the yacht market ...
[it] delivers both performance and luxury.”

Luxury carmaker Aston Martin has joined forces with Triton Submarines to make a stylish submersible.

Triton, which is based in Florida, has partnered with British luxury car group Aston Martin to work on a new $4m three-man submersible codenamed Project Neptune.
The subs, which are expected to hit the market later this year, will dive to 1,650ft and have a top speed of 3.5 miles an hour.
Marek Reichman, Aston Martin’s chief creative officer, said the company had decided to expand into submersibles following interest expressed by its richest customers.
“Those superyacht people, what they want to experience is changing,” he said.
“It’s no longer about just having a launch or having your tender.
It’s about having some other way of entertaining your guests.”

Links :

• GeoGarage blog : Underwater aeroplanes: the new toy for the super ... 

New maps show the utterly massive imprint of fishing on the world’s oceans

 Fishing activity by vessels broadcasting AIS

photo : Global Fishing Watch

From Washington Post by Chris Mooney and Brady Dennis

Humans are now fishing at least 55 percent of the world’s oceans — an area four times larger than the area occupied by humanity’s onshore agriculture.

That startling statistic is among the findings of a unique, high-tech collaboration that is providing a massive amount of new data about global fishing operations.
The results, published Thursday in the journal Science, offer a powerful glimpse of the problem of overfishing on the hard-to-regulate high seas.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 31.4 percent of global fish stocks were overfished or fished unsustainably, as of 2013, while another 58.1 percent were “fully fished.”

 Global footprint of fisheries

Thursday’s findings relied on data from Global Fishing Watch, a collaboration encompassing Oceana, SkyTruth and Google.
Researchers compiled billions of data points from tracking systems that the International Maritime Organization requires for about 70,000 fishing vessels.

The result was a picture of fishing that the study, led by David Kroodsma of Global Fishing Watch, says “has never been directly quantified.”
Because of data limitations, the percentage of the oceans fished could be as high as 73 percent, the study said.

The Dynamics of the Global Fiching Fleet - interactive- 

“Fishing is happening almost everywhere and all the time,” said Jackie Savitz, chief policy officer for the advocacy group Oceana.
“I think people don’t really have a sense of how heavily fished our oceans are and how intensely they are fished.”
She said the intensity of global fishing documented by Thursday’s study is far greater than researchers have been able to track in the past.
“That means we’re putting more pressure on fish populations,” Savitz said, noting that increased fishing also means more inadvertent catching of other species, such as sea turtles.
“That means there’s more pressure on our oceans than we thought.”

There was particularly intense fishing off the southeastern coast of South America, the eastern coast of China, western Africa, and all around Europe and the Mediterranean, the research found.
The North Atlantic, far northeastern Pacific, Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean were far more devoid of fishing.

Here’s one image of the fishing pattern off the coasts of the northeastern United States/Canada and UK/France :

While Thursday’s study itself doesn’t delve into what areas are being overfished around the world, Savitz said experts have long documented overfishing in many places.
But she said the latest data helps illustrate that “the tragedy of the commons is very much at place in the oceans,” and that it underscores the need for a more thoughtful global approach to regulating fisheries.

“What we need to do is, both within countries and internationally, put in place sustainable fishery management policies,” Savitz said.
“Unless we get policies in place to protect fishery sustainability, what we’re essentially doing is undermining our food security.”

The study found that ships from just five nations accounted for more than 85 percent of global fishing — Spain, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and China.
China’s fishing footprint was by far the largest, however, based on data for the year 2016.
(The study used data from 2012 through 2016.)

This graph shows the number of fishing hours by flag state in 2016.

(Global Fishing Watch)

One leading fisheries scientist said that while the study’s methodology is novel, overall it reaffirms an existing picture of how much the oceans are being fished.

“The results are remarkably consistent with the catch data that have been traditionally employed to measure fishing effort,” said Jeremy Jackson, a marine sciences expert at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, by email.
“Ditto the fact that China, Spain, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea take 85 percent of it all on the high seas. Still, it’s good to see the strong confirmation, and of course it’s unsustainable without massive restrictions in effort.”

Daniel Pauly, a prominent expert on global fisheries and a professor at the University of British Columbia, added that Thursday’s study “adds a new dimension to the scientists’ and fisheries manager’s tool kit, a very effective one.”
“It can be seen as one of the first instances of high-tech being turned against illegal fishing (until now, it was the pirates who used it),” he wrote in an email from Hong Kong.
“What is new is that the [Global Fishing Watch] enables civil society to use satellites to monitor the activity of fishing vessels, and thus to fight against illegal fishing and to increase transparency.”

Global Fishing Watch uses data broadcast from ships at sea to map more than 60,000 industrial-sized fishing vessels.

In 2017, nano-satellite data from Spire increased resolution by nearly doubling the data in the platform.

In addition, Pauly said, the data help make a case that all fishing vessels — not only the large commercial ones operating far offshore — should be satellite-monitored.
“The next thing is thus to pressure the International Maritime Organization to close the loophole they have for smaller, coastal fishing vessels, which do not need to have [electronic tracking systems].”

The technology used by Global Fishing Watch to conduct the study relies on public broadcast data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS), which uses satellite and land-based receivers to track the movement of ships over time.
Not all fishing vessels willingly broadcast their location, of course — particularly those intent on breaking the law — and vessels can switch off their trackers, potentially hindering the usefulness of the technology.

But the United States and other countries already require vessels of a certain size to use the locator system, partly as a safety measure to avoid collisions at sea.
Global Fishing Watch allows users to access that information to track specific vessels over time.

This map shows fishing by trawlers, which drag fishing nets behind them.

They dominate fishing in coastal areas, such as fisheries near Europe and China

This map shows activity of fishing vessels that use drifting longlines.

They roamed the high seas, especially in tropical latitudes

The new satellite technologies are one part of a broader, ongoing international push to reduce overfishing in the oceans and cut back on illegal fishing.
One 2014 study found that between 20 and 32 percent of fish imported to the United States were caught illegally.

“The problem is just gigantic,” then-Secretary of State John F. Kerry told The Washington Post in an interview in 2016.
“A third of the world’s fisheries are overfished, and the ones that aren’t overfished are at max, with more and more demand. …
It’s an ecosystem that requires sustainability to survive, and we’re not treating it in a sustainable fashion.”

Despite the huge scale of the effort, the fishing captured in the study represented only 1.2 percent of all the calories produced for humans to eat, the study found.
However, as the Food and Agriculture Organization notes, these are particularly beneficial calories, because fish provide amino acids, fats, vitamins and other key nutrients and help prevent cardiovascular illnesses.

Thursday’s study also shed light on the sheer scale of global fishing, noting that in 2016 alone, the ships that were tracked spent 40 million hours at sea and traveled 460 million kilometers — “equivalent to traveling to the Moon and back 600 times.”

Links :

• NPR : New Maps Reveal Global Fishing's 'Vast Scope Of Exploitation Of The Ocean'
• National Geographic : Industrial Fishing Occupies a Third of the Planet
• The Guardian : Half of world's oceans now fished industrially, maps reveal
• ScienceMag :  Fishermen are harvesting more than half of the world’s oceans / New mapping shows just how much fishing impacts the world’s seas
• Standford : Stanford researchers use satellites to map global fishing footprint
• Reuters Graphics : Casting a wider net, How fishing fleets comb the ocean 
• Leonardo Di Caprio : View from space reveals extent of fishing on global ocean
• GeoGarage blog : Our oceans are in crisis. Here's how technology ... /Big brother at sea / Fighting illegal fishing with Big Data / An ingenious use of big data helped expose a ... /Getting serious about overfishing/ Global Fishing Watch lets you track 35000 fishing ... / How satellite technology is helping to fight illegal ... /Google's global fishing watch is using 'manipulated ... / The plan to map illegal fishing from Space /