"Life will bring you through"

"You ought to thank God, perhaps. How do you know? Perhaps God is saving you for something. But keep a good heart and have less fear! Are you afraid of the great expiation before you? No, it would be shameful to be afraid of it. Since you have taken such a step, you must harden your heart. There is justice in it. You must fulfill the demands of justice. I know that you don’t believe it, but indeed, life will bring you through. You will live it down in time. What you need now is fresh air, fresh air, fresh air!"

"Nothing in this world is harder than speaking the truth, nothing easier than flattery."

"But that is the beginning of a new story – the story of the gradual renewal of a man, the story of his gradual regeneration, of his passing from one world into another, of his initiation into a new unknown life. That might be the subject of a new story, but our present story is ended."

- Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

Picture by: Zeena Al Towayya

Antarctica Was Once Home To Rainforest, Say Scientists!

Scientists drilling off the coast of Antarctica made a startling discovery recently that could hold clues to the Earth's future -- especially if climate change keeps warming the planet.

According to a study published in the journal Nature, the frozen continent was home to a "near-tropical" rainforest 52 million years ago, when temperatures measured about 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

The sediment found in the Antarctic seabed may be more relevant during a summer when drought, record heat andviolent storms are being connected toclimate change trends.

"It shows that if we go through periods of higher CO2 in the atmosphere it's very likely that there will be dramatic changes on these very important areas of the globe where ice currently exists," study participant Kevin Welsh told AFP. The Australian scientist was on the 2010 expedition that brought up fossil-rich sediment from Wilkes Land on the east coast of Antarctica. "If we were to lose a lot of ice from Antarctica then we're going to see a dramatic change in sea level all around the planet," he said.

Even a small rise in sea levels could swamp major coastal cities from New York to Hong Kong.

University of Glasgow scientist James Bendle said in the London Evening Standardthat the sediment samples "are the first detailed evidence we have of what was happening on the Antarctic during this vitally important time."

Noting that the drilling expedition worked through "freezing temperatures, huge ocean swells, calving glaciers, snow-covered mountains and icebergs," Bendle said, "It's amazing to imagine a time-traveler, arriving at the same coastline in the early Eocene, could paddle in pleasantly warm waters lapping at a lush forest."

The study found that sediment cores were studded with pollen from two different environments much warmer than present-day Antarctica. There was evidence of palms, ferns and other trees typical of warm, lowland rainforests like that of Madagascar. There were also samples from beech trees and conifers of the kind found in mountain forest regions.

Scientists involved in the study warned that Antarctica could become ice-free again. Already, rising levels of carbon dioxide, or greenhouse gases, and other environmental factors have led to reports of melting ice and regional warming.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/antarctica-was-once-a-rai_n_1733597.html

Pictures by: Zeena Al-Towayya