How Stomach Bacteria Can Trace Prehistoric Events

A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin and the University of Cork in Ireland discovered a new genetic strain of Helicobacter pylori (Hp) in people inhabiting Australia and some parts of the Pacific region. By tracing back in time, they verified that this vast area was populated by two completely different groups of early humans.

Two different forms of the stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori show that the human settlement of Australia and the Pacific islands was undertaken from different routes.

via www.mpg.de

Chinese Labour is Getting more Expensive

China's economic success has been built on cheap labour. The country’s migrant workforce is the world’s largest. At $0.81 an hour, the cost of Chinese workers is just 2.7% that of their American counterparts. But a spate of strikes has hit the country’s factories, and Chinese labour is getting dearer. Unit labour costs have risen more often than not in the past five years.

via www.economist.com

Earthquake hazard map of the highest danger zones in the U.S

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) national seismic-hazard map, earthquake hazards exist throughout the United States. USGS national and regional seismic-hazard maps forecast the amount of shaking expected over specified time periods. Many parts of the Central and Eastern United States have moderate to high long-term hazard, even though they have not experienced recent large quakes. Successive updates of USGS seismic-hazard maps are used to revise building codes and are also widely used by structural engineers and government agencies. The next generation of such maps will provide time-dependent probabilities that take into account the effects of prior quake occurrence on future earthquake likelihood.

via pubs.usgs.gov