UO E-clips, Jan. 1-2

Diamonds Linked to Quick Cooling Eons Ago (The New York Times): At least once in Earth’s history, global warming ended quickly, and scientists have long wondered why. Now researchers are reporting that the abrupt cooling -- which took place about 12,900 years ago, just as the planet was emerging from an ice age -- may have been caused by one or more meteors that slammed into North America. … Douglas J. Kennett, a University of Oregon archaeologist who is the lead author of the Science paper, said no Clovis points or bones of the extinct animals had been found above the diamond layer. “It seems those two things synchronously end,” he said.

Scientists find signs of 13,000-year-old extinction event (Chicago Tribune): First an explosion as powerful as thousands of megatons of TNT rained meteorites down on North America. Then forest fires broke out across the continent, sending up a thick layer of soot and dust that blocked out the sun. A sudden ice age ensued, and some of the Earth's largest animals went extinct in a blink of geological time. … Now a team of scientists says it has found new evidence that a comet triggered a similar extinction much more recently: 13,000 years ago, when humans were around to witness the event and suffer its terrible consequences. … The scientists, led by University of Oregon anthropologist Douglas Kennett, say their report offers a "smoking bullet"-- proof that a comet set off the sudden 1,000-year freeze and wiped out the big animals of the era.

Diamond clues to beasts' demise (BBC): The controversial idea that space impacts may have wiped out woolly mammoths and early human settlers in North America has received new impetus. Nano-diamonds and other exotic impact materials have been unearthed in thin sediments, Science magazine reports. The age of these materials coincides with the start of a millennium-long climate cooling event known as the Younger Dryas -- some 13,000 years ago. … The bottom-most film contains charcoal and soot, thought to be associated with impact fires, said University of Oregon geo-archaeologist Doug Kennett, son of James Kennett and another author on the Science paper, who has studied sedimentary vegetation and charcoal records.

Comet swarm led to the demise of woolly mammoth (USA Today): A swarm of comets that smacked North America 12,900 years ago wiped out the wooly mammoth and early Native American cultures, according to a new soil study released Thursday. The report in the journal Science focuses on tiny "nanodiamonds," crystals tied to past comet impacts, at six sites across the continent in a soil layer dated to the start of a 1,300-year-long ice age. … "What we're reporting is consistent with a major cosmic impact that had major consequences for the environment and Earth's climate," says study leader Douglas Kennett of the University of Oregon in Eugene.

Gems Point to Comet as Answer to Ancient Riddle (Washington Post): Something dramatic happened about 12,900 years ago, and the continent of North America was never the same. A thriving culture of Paleo-Americans, known as the Clovis people, vanished seemingly overnight. Gone, too, were most of the largest animals: horses, camels, lions, mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed cats, ground sloths and giant armadillos. … Now the proponents of this apocalyptic scenario say they have found a new line of evidence: nanodiamonds. They say they have found these tiny structures across North America in sediments from 12,900 years ago, and they argue that the diamonds had to have been formed by a high-temperature, high-pressure event, such as a cometary impact. "This is a big idea," said Douglas J. Kennett, an archaeologist at the University of Oregon and the lead author of a paper on the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis published today in the journal Science.

Diamonds show comet struck North America, scientists say (Los Angeles Times): A discovery of microscopic diamonds a few feet beneath the surface of North America reveals that a comet caused a cataclysm of fire, flood and devastation nearly 13,000 years ago that extinguished mammoths and mastodons and dealt a blow to early civilization, scientists said Friday. The nanodiamonds, so small that they are barely visible in an electron microscope, are thought to be remnants of that comet, which would have hit about 65 million years after the much larger collision that wiped out the dinosaurs. … The researchers -- including James P. Kennett of UC Santa Barbara and Douglas J. Kennett of the University of Oregon -- had earlier discovered the thin layer of black soil containing iridium and other debris that they thought indicated a massive comet or meteor impact.

Tiny diamonds share geologic record with massive extinction (Register-Guard): A controversial theory linking the extinction of mammoths to an ancient comet strike is gaining some shine from the discovery of a special kind of diamond found glittering in a super-powerful microscope. University of Oregon archaeologist Doug Kennett, a leading proponent of the theory, said the diamonds are extremely small -- a few billionths of a meter across. Because of their size they are known as nanodiamonds and are believed to be formed in the intense heat and pressure of a meteor or comet impact. “Nano-bling, as we like to call them,” Kennett said of the diamond discovery.

'Giant comet strike' on America caused extinction of ancient civilization (Times of London): An entire civilisation that suddenly vanished off the face of the earth 12,900 years ago — along with several species of prehistoric animals — may have been made extinct because of a devastating comet strike. The extinction of the Clovis people, a culture of Paleo-Americans, has long been blamed on the planet's emergence from the Ice Age. Now, however, it has emerged that one of the biggest calamities man has ever faced may have been caused by an apocalyptic strike by a comet, which broke into giant fragments, smashing into Earth. Researchers from the University of Oregon say that they have found nanodiamonds scattered throughout North America in sediments, dating from the era that this extinction took place.

Did a Comet Hit Earth 12,000 Years Ago? (Scientific American): Roughly 12,900 years ago, massive global cooling kicked in abruptly, along with the end of the line for some 35 different mammal species, including the mammoth, as well as the so-called Clovis culture of prehistoric North Americans. Various theories have been proposed for the die-off, ranging from abrupt climate change to overhunting once humans were let loose on the wilds of North America. But now nanodiamonds found in the sediments from this time period point to an alternative: a massive explosion or explosions by a fragmentary comet, similar to but even larger than the Tunguska event of 1908 in Siberia. …"Very strong impact indicators are found in the sediments directly above, and often shrouding in the case of Murray Springs, the remains of these animals and the people who were hunting them," says archaeologist and study co-author Doug Kennett of the University of Oregon in Eugene, the son in the father-son team helping to advance the new impact theory.

LTD adds late-night service in university area to address safety risks (Register-Guard): Lane Transit District late-night buses will serve the University of Oregon starting Monday, as students and the administration team up to try to address safety concerns and crowded shuttles. The service will provide connections between the university and the Kinsrow area east of Autzen Stadium, through additional trips by Route 79x. Buses will depart from the university every half hour beginning at 10:30 p.m., with the last departure at 2 a.m. The service runs Monday through Saturday through the end of the university session in mid-June, courtesy of the Associated Students of the University of Oregon and the administration, the district said. The service was prompted by concerns for student safety and overloads on the university’s shuttle services.

Climate Change Poses Big Risks for Rogue River Basin (Salem Statesman Journal, guest commentary by Bob Doppelt): The recent snow and cold weather make it difficult to think about climate change. But, the climate is changing, global mean temperatures are rising, and Oregon is already feeling the effects. We must begin to prepare for the consequences. Even if global greenhouse gas emissions are rapidly cut, the world is committed to between a 1°F to 3°F temperature increase by mid century. This is due to excessive emissions already released into the atmosphere and those we are committed to due to our energy infrastructure. What will this mean for Oregon? My program at the University of Oregon is seeking to answer this question. We started by assessing the impacts of climate change in the Rogue River Basin.

The Debt Trap: Colleges Profit as Banks Market Credit Cards to Students (The New York Times): When Ryan T. Muneio was tailgating with his parents at a Michigan State football game this fall, he noticed a big tent emblazoned with a Bank of America logo. Inside, bank representatives were offering free T-shirts and other merchandise to those who applied for credit cards and other banking products. … Hundreds of colleges have contracts with lenders. But at a time of rising concern about student debt -- and overall consumer debt -- the arrangements have sounded alarm bells, and some student groups are starting to push back. … Abigail D. Molina, a second-year law student at the University of Oregon, applied in 2007 for a Chase Visa offered at a tent outside a football game. In exchange, she received a blanket. … In 1994, when she was an undergraduate at the university, she applied for a card at a booth on campus and then accumulated about $30,000 in debt, almost all of it on the card. In 2001 she filed for bankruptcy. Looking back, she said it was “shockingly easy” to get the card, even as a first-year student.