Earthquake on Everest

On Saturday, the small country of Nepal, situated on the southern crest of the Himalayas, home to Mount Everest, quickly went from peaceful to chaotic. A7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the center of the country, devastating the capital of Kathmandu, wreaking havoc along the mountain countryside, and creating hellish condition for the climbers on Mount Everest. Conditions in the capital went from bad to worse, creating images that parallel the San Fransisco or the Japanese earthquakes. As for the climbers on the mountain, many are either missing or pronounced dead. Avalanches and rock falls welcomed the climbers after they'd survived the initial earthquake. As the aftershocks continue, the death toll climbs higher and higher.

Mount Everest, sitting at over 29,000 feet above sea level, is notorious for its year long blizzard conditions, lack of oxygen, and steepness of slope that accounts for the fear of climbing it. The majority of the climb to the summit rests in a valley surrounded by impossibly steep façades. These mountainous walls have lose rock and years' worth of snow waiting for something to push them down into the valley. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake can get the job done. I can only imagine how horrifying it must have been for those climbers both on the route and in the camps. Trying to outrun an avalanche gets you nowhere, literally. Not only that but to be trapped at the final camp without ropes below and enough oxygen to properly function, the suffering that the missing and injured climbers are going through at this moment is, without a doubt, terrifying.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/26/asia/nepal-earthquake/index.html

Dinosaurs were Bullied, Too

It's interesting how simple observations can become breakthrough theses quite rapidly. Such a thing has happened recently, when prehistoric Canadian dinosaurs were discovered to have travelled in packs, effectively bullying other, less socially important dinosaurs. This discovery was made in the most part by examining tracks made in ancient clay. While there were many different species' tracks, the tyrannosaurus prints were aligned. There wasn't just one set going across the landscape, there was an entire pack's worth of full grown adult predators, all evidently hunting together. Like wolves, these beasts would hunt in packs in order to be more effective in their hunt and increase their chance of survival. Almost like the pack of bullies in elementary school, these guys would terrorize anything they could get their claws on. As cool and scary as it sounds, understanding exactly how dinosaur gangs effectively operated makes the entire study more accurate. This is a detail that is hard to find in paleontology, but one ever so crucial to finding out exactly how certain dinosaurs lived. This new discovery puts us one step closer to understanding the dinosau. The tyrannosaurus travelled in packs, just one more reason not to mess with them, just for future reference.


http://www.livescience.com/46965-tyrannosaurs-were-pack-animals.html

Dinosaur Fight Club!

We all know that dinosaurs were basically the coolest creatures ever until us humans came along. But aside from their daily, stereotypical dinosaur stuff, including devouring plants, smaller dinosaurs, and sadly, our distant mammal relatives, they even fought, killed, and ate each other. Exciting, right!? Believe it or not, there is evidence to say that there was such thing as dinosaur cannibalism. In Alberta, Canada (tyrannosaurs seemed to really dig Canada for some reason), a particular dinosaur skull was found in 1994. Upon further examination of the bones, paleontologist made a startling discovery: the skull contained various healed injuries. Only these weren't "fell of a bike and wasn't wearing a helmet" injuries, there were wounds the size and shape of none other than tyrannosaur teeth. Given that the wounds healed, and at different extents, showed to researchers that these injuries were not the cause of death per say, but were periodical attacks from fellow tyrannosaurs. As if the top of the food chain couldn't get enough to eat?
Aside from the discovery of inter-species dinosaur duels, the research shows that even the top scientists and learners in all aspects of education and research can take even the smallest hint of evidence and plunge deeper into the topic to really rewrite history and even shape the future with their advancements. Even something as old (and as awesome) as dinosaurs can still teach lessons to researchers today.

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/weird-science/tyrannosaur-skull-reveals-signs-fierce-cannibal-battle-n338581

NEXT WEEK on ButlerBlog, did dinosaur gangs terrorize the prehistoric countryside? Yes, yes they did.