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José, Costa Rica, Friday, Sept. 4, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 175
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 University of Wisconsin-Madison/David
Tenenbaum
This orchid is a
member of the genus Dendrobium,
which is native to
Asia and parts of the Pacific Ocean. Dendrobium translates as 'one who lives on trees.' Orchids
numbers credited to three waves
By the University of Wisconsin-Madison news
staff
Orchids, a fantastically complicated and diverse group of flowering plants, have long blended the exotic with the beautiful. Most species live on trees, often in remote, tropical mountains. Their flowers can be strange. One even flowers underground, and many species deceive their pollinators into thinking they are good to eat. Some are florist's staples, like phalaenopsis, the hot-pink and white flower that is easy to grow and easier to sell. Beyond the job of looking beautiful, only the vanilla orchids have any commercial role. The estimated 25,000 orchid species outnumber mammals, reptiles and birds combined. Previously, botanists have proposed more than a half dozen explanations for this diversity. Now, research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, published last week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, corroborates many of these explanations, but finds no evidence for other logical suggestions, such as that deceitful pollination. "It was surprising that many classic characteristics of orchids, the tiny, dust-like seeds, the role of fungi in triggering germination, the fused male-female flower parts that define the orchid flower, did not trigger the acceleration in species formation," says Thomas Givnish, a professor of botany and first author of the new study. To build a family tree for the orchids, the scientists sequenced genes in the green structures, called chloroplasts, in which plants transform solar energy into sugar. The researchers looked at chloroplasts from 39 species, strategically placed throughout the orchid family, then added genetic data on 150 more species. By tying their molecular family to fossils of known ages, Givnish and his colleagues created a branching structure that indicated how many million years ago each major group of orchids appeared. Then, based on the numbers of species known in each of these groups today, the researchers were able to calculate the rate of species diversification in each and test the many putative causes of the explosion in orchid species. They found that the factors that most greatly accelerated the formation of new species were life in extensive mountain ranges like the Andes and New Guinea Highlands; the evolution of epiphytism or life in the trees; pollination by orchid bees, moths, or butterflies; and origin of pollinia, packages of hundreds to thousands of pollen grains dispersed as a unit. Givnish and his colleagues found that initially, orchids speciated no more rapidly than their closest relatives, and at a slow rate relative to flowering plants as a whole. Then there were three waves of accelerated speciation beginning 60, 40 and 33 million years ago. Pollinia apparently sparked the first acceleration in speciation, Givnish says. The origin of epiphytism and the invasion in tropical mountains with a constant swirl of clouds and rain sparked the second, greater acceleration. The invasion of the Andes as they were being uplifted triggered the third and greatest acceleration. Interestingly, a surprising number of proposed explanations for orchid diversity failed the new test. Not even deceitful pollination present in about one-third of all orchid species was linked to accelerated speciation, Givnish said. "Orchids, almost alone among flowering plants, have a large number of species that lure pollinators by mimicking a mate, or a nesting site or food resources — 'lies all for the sake of love' — but such deceit seems to have played no role in accelerating the formation of new orchid species," he said. Chloroplasts were a useful source of DNA for the study, Givnish says. "There are thousands of chloroplasts per cell, and many loops of DNA per chloroplast, and the genome structure is quite stable." Mercedes Ames of the university's Department of Botany sequenced most of the chloroplast genomes. Looking at the orchids as a family, Givnish finds "not one spark for their extraordinary diversification, but many. Many hypotheses advanced by previous investigators proved to be correct, but some of the defining characteristics of orchids — their tiny seeds, their requirement for fungi to germinate, and their fused pistils and anthers — were not themselves responsible for the high rate of orchid speciation. Only later, when the orchids acquired pollinia, started to grow in trees, and then colonized the cloud forests along extensive mountain ranges in the tropics, did the orchids' unrivaled diversification begin."  University of Wisconsin-Madison/David
Tenenbaum
The genus Mormolyca is native to Central
America.Water cutoff
announced for Saturday
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
An estimated 165,000 residents of Escazú, Alajuelita. Santa Ana and Desamparados will be without water Saturday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m, according to the Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados, the state water company. The company said that its crews would be doing preventative maintenance on a pumping station. The company said that those who might be affected should store some water for use that day. A list of Escazú affected areas issued by the company included San Rafael and Bello Horizontes, Los Anonos, Trejos Montealegre and Escazú Centro. But San Antonio was not listed. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Sept. 4, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 175 | |
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| Thousands of prisoners face quick release to reduce
overcrowding |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica
The nation's prison administrators are continuing with a plan to release some 5,000 convicts to ease overcrowding. The released individuals will either serve the rest of their sentence in their home or they will be residients of a shelter where they sleep every night. Some will be able to find jobs. The project is far from certain. There is opposition growing to the plan. The nation's prisons for men are overcrowded, in part because of jailings for failing to pay child support and because the court system is slow. Some individuals have been jailed before trial for 19 months or more. The female prison is not overcrowded but it is at capacity. |
A high
percentage of the inmates are there because of drug crimes. Many of the female inmates are jailed because they were caught smuggling drugs into their male partners or friends. Prison officials have said that those who are released will be inmates who do not pose a threat to society, and they are in the process of creating lists of those who are to be released. Most of the country's prisons resemble zoos with more than one person assigned to a bed. Expats who have been put in prison have complained about conditions in letters and articles in A.M. Costa Rica. |
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Fire fighter dreams Youngsters and even some oldsters who harbor the desire to be a fire fighter can exercise their fantasy at the Museo de Jade. The 150 years of the Cuerpo de Bomberos de Costa Rica are on display including some hands-on displays as demonstrated by the children to the right. The exposition runs until Oct. 31. It includes some antique fire vehicles. |
 Cuerpo de Bomberos de Costa Rica photo
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| Men on motorcycles assassinate taxi driver in latest
contract killing |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Gunmen on motorcycles cut down a taxi driver in an afternoon assassination on a heavily traveled street in Barrio México. The dead taxi driver was identified by the last name of Martínez. His fare, believed to be a foreign tourist, was not hurt. The location was just five blocks north of the Hospital del Niños. |
The Judicial
Investigating Organization said that the driver had
just pulled up to a stop sign about 1:20 p.m. when teams of two men on
two motorcycles appeared and fired on him multiple times. The man
died
at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds. There was no attempt to rob the victim, who was 51 years old. He became the latest in a wave of what appears to be contract killings in the metro area. |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Sept. 4, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 175 | |||||
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| Ancient activity by Maya still affecting the environment,
research says |
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By the University of Texas news staff
Evidence from the tropical lowlands of Central America reveals how Maya activity more than 2,000 years ago not only contributed to the decline of their environment but continues to influence today’s environmental conditions, according to researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. Synthesizing old and new data, researchers were the first to show the full extent of the Mayacene as a microcosm of the early anthropocene, a period when human activity began greatly affecting environmental conditions. “Most popular sources talk about the anthropocene and human impacts on climate since the Industrial Revolution, but we are looking at a deeper history,” said lead author Tim Beach, a professor of geography and the environment. “Though it has no doubt accelerated in the last century, humans’ impact on the environment has been going on a lot longer.” By looking at Maya impacts on climate, vegetation, hydrology and lithosphere from 3,000 to 1,000 years ago, researchers propose that the Maya’s advanced urban and rural infrastructure altered ecosystems within globally important tropical forests. The researchers identified six stratigraphic markers — or golden spikes — that indicate a time of large-scale change, including: Maya clay rocks; unique soil sequences; carbon isotope ratios; widespread chemical enrichment; building remains and landscape modifications; and signs of Maya-induced climate change. “These spikes give us insight into how and why Mayas interacted with their environment, as well as the scope of their activity,” said Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach, co-author and chairwoman of the Department of Geography and the Environment. Maya clay and soil sequences indicated erosion, human land-use changes and periods of instability. Soil profiles near wetlands revealed heightened carbon isotope ratios due to agriculture and corn production, and researchers noted a three- to four-fold increase in phosphorus throughout Maya-age sediments. However, the most visual indication of human impact was found in building material remains and landscape modifications. Researchers believe that these clues reveal how the Maya used water management to adapt to climate change. |
 University of Texas/ Tim Beach
Professors Tim Beach and
Sheryl Luzzader-Beach in the tropical lowlands of Central America. “In studying the wetland systems, we were surprised to find a combination of human and natural contributions,” Professor Luzzadder-Beach said. “Geochemical changes indicated that some wetlands were natural, while others were built landscapes used to grow crops away from the large population.” The changes are both good and bad, researchers said. “Historically, it’s common for people to talk about the bad that happened with past environmental changes, such as erosion and climate change from deforestation,” Beach said. “But we can learn a lot from how Maya altered their environment to create vast field systems to grow more crops and respond to rising sea levels.” While some studies suggest that deforestation and other land use contributed to warming and drying of the regional climate by the Classic Period (1700-1100 years ago), many existing forests are still influenced by Maya activities, with many structures, terraces and wetlands still existing today, researchers said. “This work speaks to the deep history and complexity of human interactions with nature, and in a part of the world where we still have little knowledge about the natural environment,” Beach said. The study “Ancient Maya impacts on the Earth’s surface: An Early Anthropocene analog?” was a collaboration between geography and the environment and anthropology researchers. It will be published in the Quaternary Science Reviews this month. |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Sept. 4, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 175 | |||||||
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| Pope Francis not enamored by U.S., observers conclude By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
He is the first American pope but hails from a different part of the Americas. And people who follow him closely say Pope Francis is not a firm believer in the global leadership of the United States, which he will visit this month. “I’ve read most of the things he’s ever written and said,” said Austen Ivereigh, author of a biography of Francis, “and he’s never really mentioned the United States. So for him, the United States is not the center of the world.” “He’s got astronomic approval ratings and is a media icon,” wrote Cruxnow.com Vatican watcher John Allen, Jr., “but there are also unmistakable signals that he sees the United States as part of the problem as much as the solution.” In his 78 years, the Argentine-born Jorge Bergoglio has never set foot in the United States. But while his esteem for it may be less than that of his predecessors, the fiercely anti-communist John Paul II or even the conservative Benedict XVI, some of the key themes of his papacy do touch on America’s place in the world, especially its economic primacy. Francis has, in the words of Allen, a “clear preference for the peripheries of the world as opposed to its perceived centers.” During a trip this year to South America, Francis visited three of the continent’s poorest countries. In Bolivia, he called unbridled capitalism “the dung of the devil.” His encyclical on climate change, issued last May, has been criticized here for rejecting market-based solutions and putting the onus for overcoming global warming on wealthy nations. He has drawn attention to the plight of migrants, such that many Hispanic Americans hope he will counter the anti-immigrant sentiment that has entered mainstream political discourse by way of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Some of his anti-capitalist rhetoric has provoked a rebuke from economic conservatives, including U.S. Catholics. In July, on his way home from Latin America, the pope said he would study what his U.S. critics had to say before this trip. Nevertheless, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, said the pope is not likely to wade into political issues while he is in the U.S. “It’s a pastoral visit. He is coming as a spiritual leader, as a shepherd of souls,” Wuerl said in an interview. “Whatever we hear from him has to be heard and seen through that lens, that he has come not to talk politics, not to talk public policy, but to talk about the values that come out of the Gospel message.” Wuerl, however, does expect Francis will appeal to both sides “to work together to address the needs of our brothers and sisters, especially the less fortunate.” The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, said the pope is confronting both the political right and the left with the reality of their policies. “That makes some people squirm,” he said. Kurtz played down Francis’ recent drop in opinion polls, noting that his current 59 percent favorability rating is comparable to Pope Benedict’s just before his U.S. visit in 2008. The Sept. 22 to 27 visit will take Francis to Washington, New York and Philadelphia. He will meet President Barack Obama at the White House and be the first pontiff to address the U.S. Congress. A speech before the U.N. General Assembly is also scheduled. As was the case on his other overseas trips, Francis’ itinerary will alternate between powerful institutions and places of poverty and marginalization, such as a homeless shelter and a prison. The visit will culminate in Philadelphia, an archdiocese that was once a bastion of American Catholicism and that has been plagued by scandal in the last decade. According to bishopaccountability.org, 136 priests have been suspended in the diocese because of allegations of sexual misconduct. Francis will also be well aware of the thinning pews at churches across the country. The Pew Research Center estimates that four out of 10 American adults who were born Catholic no longer identify with the religion. Ivereigh, the biographer, said that while the pope may not be awestruck by the United States, he does have a natural affinity with the country because his native Argentina is also a nation of immigrants and Francis himself, whose parents were Italian, could just as easily have been born in the U.S. “He knows what the anxieties and the pastoral needs of this country are, and I think he will address them,” Ivereigh said. Canonize of Junipero Serra irks some Native Americans By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Pope Francis will canonize an 18th century missionary to Spanish California during a papal visit to the United States this month. But, some Native Americans have criticized the elevation to sainthood of the missionary priest, Junipero Serra. Sept. 23, in Washington D.C., Pope Francis will complete the process of recognizing Serra as a saint. The founder of the Spanish colonial system of California missions, Serra is a towering figure for Andrew Galvan, curator of Mission Dolores museum in San Francisco. Galvan is an American Indian, and one of his 18th century ancestors was baptized and is buried at this mission. He has complaints about the mission system, but has admired Serra since the 1970s. "I have worked along with the friars] since that time promoting Father Serra's cause,” he said. Galvan's cousin, Vincent Medina, also works at Mission Dolores museum and says that Serra should not be canonized. “It's documented that he wanted the Indian languages suppressed. It's documented that he sent for whips for Indian people to be whipped,” he said. Medina says the Spanish brought disease and cultural destruction. At the Carmel Mission on the California coast, where Serra worked and is buried, he is remembered as a vigorous defender of native peoples against their Spanish conquerors. Archaeologist Ruben Mendoza of California State University, Monterey Bay, has come to admire him. He has studied Serra for 20 years and started as a critic. “Being of Native American ancestry myself, Yaqui Indian, I don't give a pass to colonialism," he said. "On the other hand, when you look at the life of Serra very specifically, you will see that he is not only a man of his time, but he was well ahead of his time in that he was an advocate for native peoples.” Leaders of the Fernandeno Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, near Los Angeles, like many other native spokesmen, say Serra hurt indigenous peoples, although some Catholic tribal members have defended Serra. Tribal chairman Rudy Ortega, Jr., says the church's move will backfire. “The indigenous people of California, all the Mission Indians of California, are going to read more about it, they're going to study harder, they're going to find more research and they're going to learn, and they're going to expose more of the truth," he said. Francis has apologized for the church's treatment of native peoples, but says some inside the church were their champions, and that Father Serra, as a man of heroic virtue, will be acknowledged as a saint. Planned Parenthood funding critical issue in U.S. Congress By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Members of Congress, heading back to Washington after their August recess, will have just a few days in which to pass legislation that will keep the government funded after a current measure expires Oct. 1. With some Republicans saying they want to use the spending bill to defund Planned Parenthood, another budget showdown may be in the works. The last time a budget battle between the major parties triggered a government shutdown, the fight was over Democratic President Barack Obama’s sweeping health care reform law, which Republicans bitterly opposed. That partial shutdown lasted 13 days. This time, the issue that has many Republican lawmakers and voters upset is the release of several undercover videos showing some Planned Parenthood employees talking about providing aborted fetal tissue for medical research. The controversy is compounded by the 2016 presidential race, which is already underway, said budget analyst Stan Collender, executive vice president of public relations firm Qorvis MSLGROUP in Washington and a contributor to Forbes magazine. “It is a particular problem in the Senate, where you have got four Republican candidates running for president, all of whom are vying for the anti-Planned Parenthood vote in the Republican primaries, all of whom are saying they are not voting for any continuing resolution if it includes funding,” he said. One of those candidates is Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. Speaking on the One America Network, he said Republicans have majorities in both houses of Congress, and "in my view, we should act like it, and we should stand together and say we are going to fund the entire federal government, but we're not going to fund the ongoing murder and the sale of the body parts of unborn children.” Planned Parenthood strongly denies that it profits from the sale of donated fetal tissue. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Republicans have “been down this path before" and get blamed no matter what the issue. He pledged that "we are not doing government shutdowns, and we are not threatening to default on the national debt.” Obama has already appealed to Congress, saying that when lawmakers return, "they should prevent a shutdown, pass a responsible budget and prove that this is a country that looks forward.” But Collender is skeptical that cooler heads will prevail. “You have got to remember, in American politics now, compromising on issues like Planned Parenthood is the equivalent of and considered collaborating with the enemy,” he said. Collender said that on an emotional issue like Planned Parenthood and abortion, it will take every bit of leadership House and Senate leaders can muster to prevent another government shutdown. Chinese are cracking down on online Internet comments By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Chinese police authorities are punishing nearly 200 people for their online activities in a renewed effort to limit what can be said on the Internet. As first reported by the official Xinhua service, China’s ministry of public security said in a statement Sunday that 197 individuals were targeted in the special campaign for allegedly posting rumors on the Web that "caused panic, misled the public and resulted in disorders in stock market or society." Authorities targeted several specific topic areas in identifying those who were punished, citing inflated death tolls following last month’s chemical explosions in Tianjin and a report that a Beijing resident committed suicide following China’s recent stock market slump. An estimated 145 people were reportedly killed in the explosions. The ministry also said some were targeted for spreading seditious rumors related to China’s staged events marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Beijing hosted a large military parade and ceremony Thursday to mark the event. Authorities did not specify the nature of the punishments except to say that 165 online accounts had been shuttered. The crackdown is just the latest manifestation of a long-term effort by Beijing to limit online criticisms of the government and censor Web sites it finds objectionable. This February, China moved to block access to a number of VPN servers, angering both free-speech activists and some business leaders. VPNs, or virtual private networks, are used to bypass Internet censorship and filtering. In recent years, VPNs have proven very popular in China, not just among free speech activists but with many firms conducting international business from China. Last year, which marked the 25th anniversary of the massacre by Chinese military forces at Tiananmen Square, also saw significant efforts to limit speech and block hundreds of Web sites. More U.S. college students said to prefer marijuana By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
American college students are using marijuana more than tobacco for the first time. Surveys on marijuana use among college students show that 5.9 percent use it nearly every day, or at least 20 times in the past 30 days. It’s the highest rate since 1980, up from 3.5 percent in 2007. Only 5 percent of college students reported using tobacco daily. Not only is frequent use of marijuana up, but students are also experimenting more with the drug. Some 21 percent of college students reported having used marijuana once or more in the previous 30 days, up from 17 percent in 2006. Those reporting having used marijuana in the past year was 34 percent, up from 30 percent in 2006. However, the rates appear to have leveled off since 2014, said researchers with the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future study which conducted the surveys. "It's clear that for the past seven or eight years there has been an increase in marijuana use among the nation's college students," said Lloyd Johnston, the principal investigator of the study in a statement. "And this largely parallels an increase we have been seeing among high school seniors." Johnston said the main driver for the increased use of marijuana is the perception that it is not as dangerous as tobacco. In 2006, 55 percent of 19- to 22-year-old high school graduates said regular use of marijuana was dangerous. That number plummeted to 35 percent in 2014. “There has been a substantial drop in the number who see it as dangerous to be a heavy pot user,” Johnston said, adding that this perception is probably a result of increased legalization efforts for both medical and recreational marijuana use. It is now legal to use marijuana for recreational purposes in four U.S. states and three U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C. Twelve other states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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Police cite
larger number of moto deaths
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Since the first of January 100 persons have died while traveling on a motorcycle, according to the Policía de Tránsito. The total is 22 more than last year, according to the report. By contrast, only 44 automobile passengers died during the same period, the traffic police said. Some 25 persons on bicycles died, too, the report added. During the month of August, there were 15 motorcycle deaths, which represented 44 percent of all traffic deaths in that month, the police said. The Consejo de Seguridad Vial has launched a media campaign in which those using motorcycles are warned that there is no protection for their body as there would be in an automobile. The chassis is the body, the campaign warns. Expats might be tempted to conclude that the behavior of motorcyclists in traffic is the cause of the raising death toll. However, this might not be correct. Motorcycle operators certainly take many chances in metro area traffic. They weave, they cut off other vehicles. They ride down the center lane or between lanes of traffic. However, a check of reports of motorcycle deaths shows that the bulk seems to happen at night in rural areas during some kind of competition. There are many solitary deaths of motorcycle operators who simply run off the road or crash into a wall or tree. A smaller number died in collisions of two motorcycles, which may have been the result of playing chicken. The traffic police say that a major cause of motorcycle deaths is excessive speed. That appears to be consistent with operators running off the road or into objects. There probably also is an alcohol factor in some weekend deaths. Monday is a holiday in United States By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Monday is Labor Day in the United States, the traditional end of summer celebrated with cookouts or a last run to the beach. In Costa Rica, the day signals the start of reservations for high season when the north wind chills many U.S. citizens. This also is another three-day weekend for the U.S. Embassy because the day is a national holiday. Costa Ricans celebrate International Labor Day May 1. Decree proposed on assisted reproduction By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The executive branch is proposing a decree to authorize assisted reproduction that would comply with a 2012 ruling by the Interamerican Court of Human Rights. In vitro fertilization, as it is known, has been sought by a handful of couples through the public health system, and the issue has been controversial because some lawmakers oppose the concept on principle. The proposed decree is being submitted to the Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social and the Colegio de Médicos for comments. The proposal is detailed and permits assisted fertilization between a couple and also by donation. The Ministerio de Salud would be empowered to provide oversight. The proposed decree would prohibit cloning, genetic selection, genetic alteration, and destruction of viable eggs. A measure to do the same things is bogged down in the legislature. The decree was advanced to present in a session of the Interamerican Court. |
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| From Page 7: Internet giants join forces for video project By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Seven leading Internet companies have teamed up to create the next generation of technology for distributing media. The Alliance for Open Media's founding companies are Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, Cisco, Intel and Mozilla, many of which have been developing their own software for encoding and decoding high quality video streams for the web. The alliance brings together “technology and expertise to meet growing Internet demand for the highest-quality video, audio, imagery and streaming across devices of all kinds and for users worldwide,” the Alliance said in a statement. The Alliance is initially focusing on a next-generation video format that is interoperable and open, consistent and capable for real time video delivery. The Alliance emphasized the importance of a new codec, a computer program capable of compressing and decompressing digital data, that is free and flexible to use for both commercial and non-commercial content, including user-generated content, for individuals and organizations. |
