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 Pigments found in 1.1bn-year-old rocks beneath the Sahara desert shed light on ‘major puzzle’ about early life

 Scientists have discovered what they say are the world’s oldest colours – and they are bright pink.

 The pigments were discovered after researchers crushed 1.1bn-year-old rocks found in a marine shale deposit, beneath the Sahara desert, in the Taoudeni basin in Mauritania, west Africa.

 “Of course you might say that everything has some colour,” said the senior lead researcher, Associate Prof Jochen Brocks from the Australian National University. “What we’ve found is the oldest biological colour.”

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 Brocks compared it to finding a 100m-year-old T rex bone. “It would also have a colour, it would be grey, or brown, but it would tell you nothing about what kind of skin colour a T rex had,” he said.

 “If you would now find preserved, fossilised skin of a T rex, so that skin still has the original colour of a T rex, say it’s blue or green, that would be amazing. That’s in principle what we’ve discovered … only 10 times older than the typical T rex.

 “And the molecules we’ve found were not from a large creature but microscopic organisms because animals didn’t exist at that time. That’s the amazing thing.”

 The colours were discovered by a Phd student, Nur Gueneli, who had crushed the rocks to a powder. She then extracted and analysed molecules of ancient organisms from the substance.

 Gueneli said the pigments were more than half a billion years older than previous discoveries.

 “The bright pink pigments are the molecular fossils of chlorophyll that were produced by ancient photosynthetic organisms inhabiting an ancient ocean that has long since vanished,” she said in a statement.

 The research, supported by Geoscience Australia, was led by ANU and conducted with scientists from the US and Japan.

 The rocks were sent to ANU from an oil company that was looking for oil underneath the rocks and sand of the Sahara desert about 10 years ago, Brocks said.

 “They drilled a hole several hundreds metres deep and they hit a deep, black, oily shale,” he said. “It turned out to be 1.1bn years old, which is absolutely incredible.”

 Brocks said when Gueneli, who is his student, had discovered the colours, he initially was in a state of disbelief.

 “I remember I heard this screaming in the lab,” he said. “She came running into my office and said, ‘look at this,’ and she had this bright pink stuff.

 “It turned out to be real pigment, 1.1bn years old.”

 Brocks added that the discovery was “not just the coolness of having old, pink stuff”, but also helped to solve a “very major puzzle about life” – why large, complex creatures appeared so late in the Earth’s history.

 While the Earth is about 4.6bn years old, Brocks said, animal-like creatures and other larger things like seaweed only emerged about 600m years ago.

 When the researchers had analysed the structure of the pink molecule, they were able to find what had produced them – tiny cyanobacteria.

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 “They had been at the bottom of the food chain,” he said. “In the modern ocean we have algae at the bottom of the food chain. Microscopic algae are still very small but they are still 1,000 times bigger than cyanobacteria.

 “And you need these larger particles as a food source for larger creatures to evolve. Looking at our molecules it became clear … there was no food source for larger creatures. It solves a very old question.”

 Asked how he felt when he realised they had discovered the world’s oldest colours, Brocks said: “My first thought was just ‘wow’. I was just awestruck that these molecules can survive for such a long time.

 “What I didn’t know was that these molecules could also solve a big scientific question.” ||||| About 10 years ago, an oil company dug up a marine shale deposit in the Taoudeni basin of the Sahara Desert. When scientists at the Australian National University dated the black, sedimentary rocks, the shale was shown to be over 1.1 billion years old — a striking discovery in itself. But within the rocks, they discovered something far rarer, and shockingly bright, within the black stone: Earth’s oldest biological colors found to date.

 Crushing the rocks into a powder released bright pink pigments, the remnants of ancient fossils trapped in the shale. In a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team writes these colors are 600 million years older than previous pigment discoveries. ANU researcher Nur Gueneli, Ph.D., explained in an accompanying statement that these pink pigments are the “molecular fossils of chlorophyll that were produced by ancient photosynthetic organisms inhabiting an ancient ocean that has long since vanished.”

 These pigmented, molecular fossils are technically known as porphyrins, a class of compounds that also include heme, which makes blood red. Co-author Amy Marilyn McKenna, Ph.D., explains to Inverse that these are “very unique molecules that have to be painstakingly assigned manually from the background oil signature, so if you are not careful, you would miss them.” At over half a billion years old, the new porphyrins, says the self-described “porphyrin junkie,” are the oldest porphyrins ever found.

 The ancient pigments confirm that billions of years ago, the ocean was dominated by tiny cyanobacteria, which are characterized by the ability to obtain their energy through photosynthesis, which requires chlorophyll. While we usually associate chlorophyll with green organisms, different subtypes of chlorophyll can have different colors; the type that these ancient bacteria carried ranged from blood red to deep purple but looked hot pink when the powdered fossils were diluted.

 The preeminence of cyanobacteria in the oceans helps explain why bigger animals didn’t exist a billion years ago. The emergence of large organisms, the scientists explain, is dependent on whether there is a supply of food available — and cyanobacteria didn’t make for good meals. Cyanobacteria also tended to create low-oxygen zones in the water (as they do today), which made it difficult for other forms of life to thrive.

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 Dr. Gueneli running the samples at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.

 “Although the shales contained eukaryotic microfossils, a lack of detected sterane fossil molecules that would indicate eukaryotic contribution to biomass suggests that algae may have played a minimal or insignificant role in the oceans around a billion years ago,” says McKenna. “These results suggest that a lack of large primary producers in the mid-Proterozoic oceans, along with low oxygen levels, may have hampered the development of animal life.”

 Algae, a much richer food source than cyanobacteria, began to spread through the oceans 650 million years ago, and the cyanobacterial oceans subsequently vanished. That allowed for life to evolve, consequently filling the planet with much more than just hot pink hues. ||||| The oceans of Earth’s middle age, 1.8–0.8 billion years ago, were devoid of animal-like life. According to one hypothesis, the emergence of large, active organisms was restrained by the limited supply of large food particles such as algae. Through the discovery of molecular fossils of the photopigment chlorophyll in 1.1-billion-year-old marine sedimentary rocks, we were able to quantify the abundance of different phototrophs. The nitrogen isotopic values of the fossil pigments showed that the oceans were dominated by cyanobacteria, while larger planktonic algae were scarce. This supports the hypothesis that small cells at the base of the food chain limited the flow of energy to higher trophic levels, potentially retarding the emergence of large and complex life.

 The average cell size of marine phytoplankton is critical for the flow of energy and nutrients from the base of the food web to higher trophic levels. Thus, the evolutionary succession of primary producers through Earth’s history is important for our understanding of the radiation of modern protists ∼800 million years ago and the emergence of eumetazoan animals ∼200 million years later. Currently, it is difficult to establish connections between primary production and the proliferation of large and complex organisms because the mid-Proterozoic (∼1,800–800 million years ago) rock record is nearly devoid of recognizable phytoplankton fossils. We report the discovery of intact porphyrins, the molecular fossils of chlorophylls, from 1,100-million-year-old marine black shales of the Taoudeni Basin (Mauritania), 600 million years older than previous findings. The porphyrin nitrogen isotopes (δ 15 N por = 5.6–10.2‰) are heavier than in younger sedimentary sequences, and the isotopic offset between sedimentary bulk nitrogen and porphyrins (ε por = −5.1 to −0.5‰) points to cyanobacteria as dominant primary producers. Based on fossil carotenoids, anoxygenic green (Chlorobiacea) and purple sulfur bacteria (Chromatiaceae) also contributed to photosynthate. The low ε por values, in combination with a lack of diagnostic eukaryotic steranes in the time interval of 1,600–1,000 million years ago, demonstrate that algae played an insignificant role in mid-Proterozoic oceans. The paucity of algae and the small cell size of bacterial phytoplankton may have curtailed the flow of energy to higher trophic levels, potentially contributing to a diminished evolutionary pace toward complex eukaryotic ecosystems and large and active organisms.

 The succession of primary producers in the oceans shaped marine ecology through Earth’s history (1). Primary producers form the base of the food web. Their cell size, elemental stoichiometry, and cell density influence the flow of energy and nutrients to higher trophic levels (2), presumably setting limits for ecosystem complexity. The composition of phytoplankton communities in Earth’s early oceans, including anoxygenic and oxygenic phototrophic bacteria and eukaryotic algae, may thus have set the pace for the emergence and radiation of different groups of filter feeders, grazers, and predators, including the proliferation of modern protists ∼800 Ma and the appearance of eumetazoan animals some 200 My later (1) (Fig. 1B).

 Temporal history of biomarker and fossil data. (A) Ratio of eukaryotic steranes over bacterial hopanes through time (details and references see text). Green circles, late Cryogenian to present data, including C 27 to C 29 steranes (cholestanes, ergostanes, and stigmastanes); red circles, Tonian to early Cryogenian steranes with a ∼100% cholestane predominance; and unfilled black circles, mid-Proterozoic biomarker assemblages, where hopanes are present but steranes are below detection limits. (B) First occurrences or radiations of organism groups and biomarkers (for data sources, see text). C, Cenozoic; Cr, Cryogenian; Ed, Ediacaran; M, Mesozoic; Neoprot., Neoproterozoic; P, Paleozoic; Tn, Tonian.

 Based on the fossil record, chlorophyll c (Chl c) algae, including dinoflagellates, coccolithophorids, and diatoms, were the major energy and carbon source in the oceans of the past ∼250 My (Fig. 1B). By contrast, Paleozoic (541–251 Ma) and Ediacaran (635–541 Ma) oceans were presumably dominated by primary endosymbiotic algae (Archaeplastida), encompassing the red (Rhodophyta) and green algae (Chlorophyta) (1). Deeper yet in time, reconstructing the succession of primary producers becomes challenging. Phytoplankton without a preservable cuticle or skeleton are rarely preserved in the body fossil record, and there are no uncontentious fossils of planktonic bacteria or algae in the pre-Ediacaran (3). However, biomarkers, the molecular fossils of biological lipids, can provide complementary information about primary producers. For example, hydrocarbon fossils of carotenoid pigments extracted from sedimentary rocks have been used to detect phototrophic green (Chlorobiaceae) and purple sulfur bacteria (PSB) (Chromatiaceae) in 1,640-My-old marine ecosystems (4, 5), while the concentration of eukaryotic steranes, relative to bacterial hopanes, may provide basic information about the ecological relevance of Precambrian algae (6). The relative abundance as well as diversity of steranes dramatically increased in the brief interlude between the Sturtian and Marinoan snowball Earth glaciations of 659–645 Ma, heralding the rise of planktonic algae as important primary producers in the oceans (Fig. 1A). Steranes in the time interval 645 to ∼500 Ma have a strong predominance of stigmastane (a structure with 29 carbon atoms, C 29 ), revealing Chlorophyta, a division of green algae, as dominant primary producers from the late Cryogenian to early Paleozoic (Fig. 1) (7, 8).

 Preceding the Cryogenian rise of planktonic algae, the oldest clearly indigenous eukaryotic steranes appear in the geological record ∼900–800 Ma, albeit in low concentrations relative to bacterial biomarkers (7, 8). These Tonian (1,000–720 Ma) steranes display a primordial distribution with a nearly 100% predominance of cholestane (C 27 , red circles in Fig. 1A), which may be related to the activity of rhodophytes (9) or heterotrophic eukaryotes (8).

 Going yet further back in time into the mid-Proterozoic (1,800–800 Ma), evidence for algae becomes scarce. Based on molecular clocks, the last common ancestor of all algae originated broadly between 1,900 and 1,400 Ma (10, 11), predating the oldest unambiguous fossil of a eukaryotic phototroph, the ∼1,050 Ma (12) benthic red alga Bangiomorpha (13) (Fig. 1B). However, clearly indigenous biomarkers for algae have not yet been found in sedimentary rocks >900 Ma despite preservation of bacterial hopanes (Fig. 1). Whether this lack of steranes is caused by preferential degradation of algal organic matter (14) or reflects genuine paucity of eukaryotic phototrophs, remains unresolved.

 Here, we present an approach to gauge the activity of bacterial and eukaryotic primary producers in the Precambrian. Based on Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS), we identify geoporphyrins in 1,100-My-old black shales. Porphyrins are the molecular fossils of (bacterio)chlorophylls. Their nitrogen isotopic composition can provide quantitative information about dominant phototrophs in past ecosystems (15). Some groups of phototrophs possess a characteristic offset (ε por ) between the nitrogen isotopic composition of the whole cell and chlorophylls, independent of the nitrogen source (15), and under suitable conditions this isotopic offset is largely unaffected by degradation processes in the water column and bottom sediments (16). Therefore, the nitrogen isotopic composition of porphyrins in sediments and sedimentary rocks may preserve information about primary producers present in an ancient environment, largely independent of physical and chemical conditions such as food source and diagenesis.

 Eleven black shales studied for their molecular content ( Table 1 and SI Appendix, Table S1 ) come from the En Nesoar and Touirist formations of the 1,100 Ma El Mreïti Group ( 17 ) deposited on an epicratonic platform of the Taoudeni Basin on the West African Craton ( 18 ). The black shales, with a carbon content of up to 32%, accumulated beneath anoxic ferruginous and occasionally sulfidic waters ( 19 ) during maximal flooding of the craton in a quiet subwave base environment possibly protected by offshore stromatolite reefs ( 18 ). The black shales contain micrometer-thin laminae of organic matter and pyritized filamentous sheaths that are interpreted as benthic microbial communities, presumably of heterotrophic and/or chemosynthetic microorganisms thriving beneath anoxic waters ( 19 ), and irregularly shaped, discrete or bedding-parallel accumulations of organic particles typical of planktonic debris ( SI Appendix, SI Geology and Samples ).

 For the richest sample (#13), it was possible to measure the carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of six isolated and purified Ni-porphyrins ( SI Appendix, Fig. S3G ). Based on molecular masses for isolated compounds determined by HPLC–atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI)–MS, purified porphyrins correspond to C 28 to C 31 Etio and C 30 and C 32 DPEP structures ( Table 2 ). Measured C/N ratios of the purified porphyrins (C/N = 12.7–22.1) were higher than predicted stoichiometries (C/N = 7.0–8.0; Table 2 ), which suggests that isolates still contained other nonporphyrin compounds that were carried over across multiple steps of chromatographic purification ( SI Appendix, Fig. S4 ). However, the APCI mass spectra of the isolated fractions ( SI Appendix, Fig. S3 A–F ) all show relatively clean molecular ions diagnostic for individual Ni-porphyrins and only minor foreign masses. This indicates that the contaminants are poorly ionized by APCI and likely represent hydrocarbons. The presence of nonporphyrinic nitrogen-containing compounds is unlikely in these fractions due to their higher polarity relative to porphyrins and absence of significant signals in the APCI mass spectra (see SI Appendix, SI Methods for a detailed discussion about avoidance of artifacts and contaminants). The δ 15 N por values measured for six porphyrins ranged between 5.6‰ and 10.2‰, with corresponding values of ε por between −0.5 and −5.1‰ ( Table 2 ).

 Identification of Ni- and VO-porphyrins by FT-ICR MS. (A) Isoabundance-contoured plots of double-bond equivalents (DBEs) versus carbon number for the N 4 58 Ni class (08-EOM and 13-Ni) and the N 4 O 1 V 1 class (13-VO). (B) DBE distributions for Ni- and VO-porphyrins in samples 08-EOM, 13-VO, and 13-Ni. Normalized abundances are reported for each sample. Note that M +o and [M + H] + ions can be distinguished by their integer versus half-integer calculated DBE values.

 Geoporphyrins were identified using reversed-phase HPLC-UV/Vis and atmospheric pressure photoionization coupled to FT-ICR MS at 9.4 tesla. Based on HPLC coinjection with porphyrin standards and comparison with reference material ( 24 , 25 ) ( SI Appendix, Fig. S2 ), the most abundant porphyrins are nickel Etio porphyrins ( 1 ), C 30 to C 32 deoxophylloerythroetioporphyrins (DPEP, 2a–f ), C 31 and C 32 butano ( 3a-b ), and C 34 diDPEP ( 4a ) porphyrins, as well as tentatively identified vanadyl (VO) C 30 -C 32 DPEP ( 2a,b,f ) (structure numbers are defined in Fig. 3 ). FT-ICR MS isoabundance-contoured plots confirm C 29 to C 32 DPEP ( 2 ) and C 29 to C 31 Etio ( 1 ) as the most abundant Ni-porphyrins, and C 32 DPEP and C 30 Etio as the highest concentrated VO-porphyrin ( Fig. 4 ). Also identified were Ni- and VO-based di-DPEP ( 4 , 5 , and/or 6 ), rhodo-Etio ( 7 ), and rhodo-DPEP ( 8 ) ( 26 ). Each of these compound classes occurs as homologous series across a wide carbon number distribution with more than 40 carbon atoms ( Fig. 4A ) due to side-chain length variation off core structural motifs. Although these side-chain elongated porphyrins may include bacteriochlorophyll (BChl)-derived structures ( 27 ), sample limitation prevented characterization of precise alkyl side-chain configurations ( SI Appendix, SI Additional Details on Biomarker Identification and Interpretation ).

 All El Mreïti Group shales yielded pentacyclic terpanes, including αβ-hopanes with 27–35 carbon atoms as well as gammacerane ( Fig. 2A ). A complete series of C 31 to C 36 2α-methylhopanes was also present in low concentrations. The 2α-methylhopane index, defined as the abundance of C 31 2α-methylhopane relative to C 30 αβ-hopane, was low, ranging between 0.35 and 0.77%. Although hopanes were well above detection limits, C 26 to C 30 steranes were not detected in any sample ( Table 1 and SI Appendix, Fig. S1 ), consistent with a previous study on Atar Group shales that also failed to detect steranes ( 23 ). Based on determination of detection limits, the maximum level of steranes that may be present beneath the noise is extremely low. The ratio of maximum hypothetical C 27 steranes relative to C 27–35 hopanes (S/H max ) falls into the range of 0.0002–0.0014 (average, 0.00065; n = 11; Table 1 ). The El Mreïti Group shales were also devoid of the saturated carotenoid derivatives lycopane, β-carotane and γ-carotane. However, two of the most dominant biomarker classes in the aromatic hydrocarbon fraction were C 13 to C 27 2,3,6-trimethyl aryl isoprenoids (2,3,6-AI) and C 13 to C 30 2,3,4-trimethyl aryl isoprenoids (2,3,4-AI) ( Fig. 2B ), the degradation products of aromatic carotenoids.

 Potential contaminants introduced in the laboratory were monitored using comprehensive accumulatory system blanks, and compounds that may have permeated into rock samples were quantified and eliminated by comparing the concentration of individual hydrocarbons in the exterior and interior portions of the rock ( 20 ⇓ – 22 ). All compounds reported here are demonstrably indigenous ( SI Appendix, SI Syngeneity Assessment ).

 Discussion

 Bulk Nitrogen Isotopes. The bulk-rock nitrogen isotopic composition (δ15N bulk ) of the En Nesoar and Touirist Formation shales falls into the narrow range of 4.2–6.1‰ (n = 11, average = 5.1‰, Table 1) and is slightly higher than those of the Mesoproterozoic Belt Basin (−1.1–5.2‰) (28). Although δ15N bulk of organic-rich shales, such as those studied here with total organic carbon (TOC) between 2.1 and 31.7%, commonly closely reflect the nitrogen isotopic composition of primary bulk organic matter (29), two factors must be considered before interpreting the data: first, the contribution of inorganic nitrogen to δ15N bulk values, and second, isotopic fractionation effects associated with diagenesis and heterotrophic reworking of photosynthate. Although inorganic nitrogen sources are usually negligible in organic matter-rich samples (16), the El Mreïti Group shales may contain up to 0.1% inorganic nitrogen (see intercept on N bulk axis in SI Appendix, Fig. S5) (30). However, it is plausible that the conversion of smectite to illite during burial diagenesis of the clay-rich samples yielded substitution of potassium by ammonium (e.g., ref. 31). As the ammonium would have largely derived from the decomposition of organic matter, and as the substitution process is not coupled to major isotopic fractionation (32), δ15N bulk probably largely reflects the nitrogen isotopic composition of the organic matter. This is further confirmed by the absence of a correlation between TOC and δ15N bulk . Secondary processes in the water column or bottom sediment may alter the original N-isotopic composition of the primary organic matter. In modern environments, aerobic heterotrophic reworking of primary organic matter in marine regions with low organic carbon flux and high oxygen exposure times increases δ15N bulk by +3 to +5‰ (33). However, δ15N bulk values of high TOC sediments do not have such positive isotopic offsets and faithfully record the N-isotopic composition of primary producers (29). Conversely, in anaerobic waters, δ15N bulk may decrease by 3‰ under laboratory conditions, and a depletion of 1.2‰ has been observed in anoxic sediments of Lake Lugano (34). However, in two large modern anoxic marine basins, the Black Sea and the Cariaco Trench, no negative N-isotopic offsets were observed (35, 36). Moreover, a study of Black Sea sediments found that the isotopic difference between δ15N bulk and δ15N por faithfully records ε por of phytoplankton (16). Thus, δ15N bulk of modern organic-rich shales likely reflect δ15N of contemporaneous phytoplankton. Our data extend the record of ε por , the offset between δ15N bulk and δ15N por , by nearly 1 Gy. Problems associated with the extrapolation of nitrogen isotopic information over such immense periods of time, into an eon with potentially different degradation processes, are discussed in detail in SI Appendix, SI Taphonomic Biases. However, even taking possible nonuniformitarian processes into account, it is likely that ε por of highly organic-rich Proterozoic shales, such as those studied here, reflect the nitrogen isotopic composition of primary biomass. Moreover, even large alterations of δ15N bulk in the range of −3‰ to +10‰ would not impact our conclusions.

 Porphyrin Nitrogen Isotopes (δ15N por ). The measured δ15N values of porphyrins (δ15N por ) range between +5.6‰ and +10.2‰ and are at the isotopically heavy end of data observed in modern and Phanerozoic (541 Ga to present) aquatic systems (Fig. 5). Geoporphyrins are believed to reflect the nitrogen isotopic composition of the precursor chlorophylls (δ15N Chl ). For example, the isotopic offset between total organic matter and porphyrins remains largely constant during burial (16), and demetallation and metal-complex formation during chlorophyll diagenesis have commonly very little effect on nitrogen isotopic fractionation (37). Thus, the isotopic composition of the Mesoproterozoic geoporphyrins likely represent δ15N of the precursor (bacterio)chlorophylls (SI Appendix, SI Taphonomic Biases). Fig. 5. δ15N values of chlorophylls and porphyrin derivatives from Touirist Formation sample 13-Ni (pink stars), the water column and sediments of various modern water bodies, and Phanerozoic sediments. Lakes, freshwater lakes (compiled from refs. 37, 48, 52, and 75). BPhe, bacteriopheophytin; Phe, pheophytin; PPhe, pyropheophytin.

 Hydrocarbon Biomarker Evidence for Primary Producers. Carotenoid derivatives of the 2,3,4- and 2,3,6-AI series are present in all El Mreïti Group shales (Fig. 2B). 2,3,4-AI may be derived from the biological carotenoid derivatives okenane, renieratane, and renierapurpurane, which are all diagnostic for PSB of the family Chromatiaceae (4). The 2,3,6-AI series is most commonly derived from aromatic carotenoids with the cholorobactane, isorenieratane, and/or β-isorenieratane skeletons found in green sulfur bacteria (GSB) (Chlorobiaceae). As 2,3,4- and 2,3,6-AI are abundant in all Taoudeni bitumens, PSB and GSB probably played an important ecological role. While both families produce BChl a (54), some PSB also produce BChl b (55) and GSB additionally synthesize BChl c, d, or e (SI Appendix, Table S2). These BChls would all have contributed to the porphyrin pool of the extracts. However, their impact remains uncertain because ε por is unknown for GSB, and only a single value is available from a lacustrine PSB species (ε por = +5.8‰) (11). The ratio of eukaryotic steranes over bacterial hopanes (S/H) is a first-order estimate for the relative contribution of eukaryotic to bacterial biomass to sediments. Although hopanes were abundant in the black shales of the El Mreïti Group, steranes remained beneath detection limits. Quantification of background noise shows that steranes, if present, fall below S/H = 0.0002–0.0014 (Table 1), which is one to two orders of magnitude lower than the Tonian average (1,000–720 Ma; S/H = 0.06 ± 0.10), and two to four orders of magnitude lower than typical Ediacaran to Phanerozoic values (635 Ma to present; average S/H = 0.75 ± 1.1) (Fig. 1A) (8). Most molecular clocks estimate the origin of the last common ancestor of all extant eukaryotes (LECA) >1,400 Ma (e.g., ref. 10). LECA possessed all enzymes required to biosynthesize most modern common sterols (56). Thus, the absence of steranes in 1,100 Ma El Mreïti Group shales must be related to preferential heterotrophic degradation of sterols or to an ecological insignificance (or absence) of crown group eukaryotes, particularly eukaryotic algae, during deposition of the black shales. According to the “mat-seal” hypothesis, biomarkers from planktonic algae are generally underrepresented in pre-Ediacaran bitumens due to strong heterotrophic reworking of algal debris on the surface of oxygen-producing, shallow-water microbial mats (14). However, this mechanism cannot apply to the black shales of the Touirist Formation, which formed during maximum flooding of the West African Craton beneath relatively deep, anoxic waters (19). Alternatively, sterols may have suffered severe recycling as planktonic algal debris sank slowly through the water column (14). However, the preservation of cyanobacterial porphyrins also excludes this mechanism. Senescent picoplanktonic cyanobacterial cells sink considerably slower than larger algal cells (57), causing preferential degradation of cyanobacterial over algal porphyrins, a process observed in the modern Black Sea (16). Such preferential degradation of slower sinking bacterial biomass would have elevated, not attenuated, the sterane/hopane ratio. Most importantly, however, porphyrins are degradation sensitive, and their mere existence demonstrates that photosynthetic organic matter suffered little degradation during deposition of the El Mreïti Group shales. Therefore, the lack of detectable steranes is not likely related to severe and selective degradation of algal biomass, but presumably reflects primary paucity of sterol-producing eukaryotes (for further discussion, see SI Appendix, SI Taphonomic Biases). ||||| Earth's oldest biological colour discovered in rocks beneath Sahara Desert

 Updated

 The discovery of the world's oldest biological colour could help explain why it took 4 billion years for animal life to form on Earth.

 International research led by the Australian National University (ANU) has resulted in the discovery of a 1.1-billion-year-old colour — the oldest in geological record.

 It is more than 500 million years older than previous pigment discoveries and was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

 The molecular fossils were originally green, but range from blood red to deep purple in their concentrated form, and are bright pink when diluted.

 They were extracted from rocks that were discovered buried deep beneath the Sahara Desert in Africa and were taken from marine black shales of the Taoudeni Basin in Mauritania.

 The rocks were crushed in powder before extracting molecules from them with organic solvents to produce oil.

 The oil they found was pink.

 How can this be the world's oldest colour?

 Everything has a colour and colours go back to the beginning of time.

 What these researchers have found is the oldest physical colour — a biological pigment. It is a molecule that had a biological colour more than a billion years ago and still has one today.\

 One of the researchers said it was like finding dinosaur fossils that still kept the colour of the animal.

 "Imagine you would find fossilised dinosaur skin that after 100 million years was still iridescent green or blue," Jochen Brocks, an earth scientist at ANU, said.

 "Then you really would have a colour and that's what we found — only that the molecules that we found are 10 times older than a T-Rex would have been."

 How did this affect evolution?

 Earth is 4.543 billion years old, but complex life forms did not form on the planet until 600 million years ago.

 So why did it take 4 billion years for larger organisms to appear?

 At first, scientists thought it had to do with a lack of oxygen, but it turns out that may not be the case.

 "The pigments that we found tell us a different story — they tell us that we are probably lacking food," Associate Professor Brocks said.

 Analysis of the pigments confirmed that tiny cyanobacteria used to dominate the base of the food chains in the oceans.

 "These pink pigments, their exact structure and composition tells us there was an efficient energy food source missing at the base of the food web," he said.

 The limited supply of larger food particles is likely the reason it took so long for larger creatures to emerge.

 But when the ocean disappeared around 650 million years ago, algae, which is a much richer food source for bigger organisms, was able to spread faster.

 "[It provided] the burst of energy needed for the evolution of complex ecosystems, where large animals, including humans, could thrive on Earth," he said.

 Topics: earth-sciences, science-and-technology, australia, canberra-2600, act

 First posted

Summary: – Billion-year-old rocks pulled from deep below the Sahara Desert have revealed the earliest colored molecules found on Earth. They aren't black, brown, or even green. Instead, think pink. Nur Gueneli of Australian National University was examining molecules from crushed rocks discovered a decade ago by an oil company drilling into a marine shale deposit beneath Mauritania's Taoudeni Basin when she extracted a pink pigment. "I heard this screaming in the lab," then Gueneli came running with "this bright pink stuff," fellow researcher Jochen Brocks tells the Guardian. "It turned out to be real pigment, 1.1 billion years old." At least 500 million years older than other biological colors discovered, the pigment came from molecular fossils of chlorophyll, produced by tiny cyanobacteria that lived in ancient oceans, per a release. Imagine finding "fossilized dinosaur skin that after 100 million years was still iridescent green or blue," says Brocks, whose research was published in PNAS, per ABC Australia. "That's what we found" except the molecules "are 10 times older than a T-Rex would have been." Chlorophyll is generally associated with green organisms, but different subtypes carry different colors, explains Inverse. In this case, the bacteria range from blood red to deep purple, and appear pink when diluted with water. "The cyanobacterial oceans started to vanish about 650 million years ago, when algae (much bigger than cyanobacteria) began to rapidly spread to provide the burst of energy needed for the evolution of complex ecosystems, where large animals, including humans, could thrive on Earth," says Brocks. (This is the first new blue in 200 years.)


NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tribune Media are surging before the opening bell on reports that 21st Century Fox and Blackstone may make a joint takeover bid for the Chicago TV station operator.

 The bid would apparently be an attempt to keep Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., which is also rumored to be pursuing Tribune, from snatching up Tribune's stakes in Food Network, WGN cable network and some local TV stations. Blackstone, a private equity firm, is said to be putting cash toward the offer, while Fox would contribute some of its stations, according to the reports.

 Tribune and 21st Century Fox Inc. both declined to comment Monday. Blackstone didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

 Shares of Tribune Media Co. jumped $1.94, or 5.3 percent, to $38.50 before the market opened. ||||| Tribune Media Co. , which is in the midst of a merger with Sinclair, said Thursday it had net income of $141.2 million, or $1.60 a share, in the first quarter, after a loss of $85.6 million, or 99 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 51 cents, ahead of the 11 cents FactSet consensus. revenue rose to $443.6 million from $439.9 million, below the FactSet consensus of $457 million. Chief Executive Peter Kern said growth in re-transmission and carriage fee revenues offset headwinds in advertising and the company's limited exposure to Olympics and Super Bowl advertising. "While we expect to generate the majority of our political advertising revenue in the second half of the year, the momentum of political spending we saw in the first quarter is very encouraging," he said. Shares were not yet active premarket, but are down 10% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 12%.

 by Ciara Linnane ||||| 21st Century Fox Inc., the media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, is teaming with Blackstone Group LP to make an offer to acquire TV-station owner Tribune Media Co., rivaling a planned bid by Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., people familiar with the situation said.

 The all-cash bid would be funded by Blackstone while Fox would contribute its TV stations to the joint venture that would acquire Tribune, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. The two sides are in talks about a deal ahead of a deadline this week for final bids. No agreement has been reached and talks may still fall apart.

 Fox has been approached in recent weeks about backing an alternative to a takeover by Sinclair, which has been looking to acquire Chicago-based Tribune for a price said to be in the high-$30s a share.

 Shares of Tribune rose as much as 9 percent to $39.86 in New York, the biggest intraday advance in two months. Sinclair fell as much as 1.3 percent, while Fox slipped 0.4 percent.

 A combination of Tribune and Sinclair, two of the country’s biggest TV station owners, would give Sinclair a stronger negotiating hand with Fox about how to split fees from cable providers. Yet Fox has a say in Tribune’s destiny because it has to consent to the transfer of the company’s affiliate agreements to a new owner, people familiar with the situation said previously.

 Fox Said Approached to Thwart Possible Tribune-Sinclair Deal

 Sinclair has been looking to finalize a deal by the time Tribune reports first-quarter earnings, which it’s slated to do during the week of May 8. Tribune Media has a market capitalization of about $3.2 billion.

 Mergers of TV-station owners like Sinclair, Tribune and Fox was made easier last month when the FCC restored a rule that allows TV station groups to count just half of their coverage area for UHF (Ultra High Frequency) stations to comply with a 39 percent nationwide cap set by Congress.

 The FCC’s vote reversed a 2016 decision by the agency during the Obama administration. New Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican, criticized the earlier action because it effectively tightened ownership limits without considering whether to raise the national cap.

 The issue is a relic of days when UHF stations -- broadcasting on channels 14 and higher -- used signals that didn’t reach as far as stations assigned lower-numbered channels. That disappeared with the switch to digital TV in 2009.

 Tribune said April 20 that the action was “a welcome step towards creating a more level playing field for all local broadcasters in their relationships with television networks, satellite operators, cable providers, and streaming video services.”

Summary: – One of the nation's largest television broadcasting companies may have competing suitors: Today's media scuttlebutt centers around Tribune Media and its 42 TV stations. Reports say Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox and the private equity firm Blackstone are readying a bid for the company, with Blackstone ponying up cash and Fox kicking some of its own stations into the joint venture. The AP reports the bid would apparently be an attempt to keep Sinclair Broadcast Group, which is also rumored to be pursuing Tribune, from snatching up Tribune's stakes in Food Network, WGN cable network, and the local stations. Bloomberg reports Sinclair had been looking at offering something in the neighborhood of the high-$30s per share. Sinclair has 173 local television stations in 81 markets, and CNN Money notes that if its bid is successful it would be in violation of current FCC rules in that it would reach more than 40% of the US television market. But Variety sets the stage: Sinclair's move is "part of another wave of broadcast TV station mergers expected now that the FCC is on a course to loosen ownership restrictions." It also calls Fox's rumored move an "offensive" one, as if Sinclair were to be successful, its control over Fox affiliates would swell to 28%. Tribune shares were up 9% to nearly $40 at the open.


'I didn't know I was having a baby until I was about to give birth': Size six student, 22, found out she was 38 WEEKS pregnant on trip of a lifetime - then had baby boy Mason two weeks later

 Kate Hudson, 22, was on the trip of a lifetime to Europe with her girlfriends

 She saw a doctor after feeling ill and was told she was 33 weeks pregnant, despite not showing any symptoms

 The size 6 uni student flew back to Australia the next day and was then told her baby was actually overdue

 She had to be induced and gave birth to baby Mason only ten days after first being given the news

 Kate Hudson, 22, was in Europe on the trip of a lifetime.

 She was mid-way through a journalism degree, and had worked hard as a retail assistant for two years to save enough money to head off on a grand adventure with girlfriends.

 Kate was enjoying the high life of a tourist- exercising, jumping off cliffs, riding bikes, drinking alcohol and eating anything she wanted. She travelled through London, Paris, Croatia, Prague and Barcelona.

 Seven weeks into her trip, she started noticing that her body was acting differently. She took a pregnancy test, and she was shocked to discover it was positive.

 Scroll down for video

 Kate Hudson, 22, had no idea she was 36 weeks pregnant when this photo was taken on her holiday in Europe

 'I had absolutely no real clear symptoms. I was still getting regular periods. I wasn’t nauseous, no morning sickness, little weight gain, so it seemed silly to think I would be pregnant,' Kate said

 Travelling alone and in Barcelona, Kate immediately called her boyfriend of 18 months, Aaron, in a fluster.

 'I immediately rang and told Aaron, and although he was shocked, he was supportive and said that we could work around it, and if not, that we'd have months to prepare for having a baby,' Kate told Daily Mail Australia.

 He calmed her down and told her to head to a doctor to double check.

 While she was reasonably anxious, Kate comforted herself with the thought that if by some small chance she was pregnant, she couldn't be more than a month or two along.

 'I had absolutely no real clear symptoms. I was still getting regular periods. I wasn’t nauseous, no morning sickness, little weight gain, so it seemed silly to think I would be pregnant,' Kate told The Young Mummy.

 The doctor had some different news to share with her. Not only was Kate definitely pregnant, but she was 33 weeks pregnant and well into her third trimester.

 'I totally freaked out. I thought she said 13 weeks – not 33!' Kate said.

 'I rang mum and she was so shocked. We could get over the fact that I was pregnant, but the fact I was told that I was 33 weeks was so hard to comprehend.'

 'No way was I ready to have a baby. I’m only 22. No job, and no money. And no time to prepare.'

 'It was so hard being away from Aaron and we really struggled being away from each other.'

 By this time, she was in Prague. Dealing with doctors in a foreign country all alone, she knew she had to get home.

 This was easier said than done, as airlines require a certificate of permission for women travelling when they are in their third trimester. The obstetrician she visited in Prague said that she would have to give birth to the baby in Europe.

 However Kate, a size 6 even at 33 weeks and showing no sign of a baby bump, decided to risk it and fly home the very next day.

 'The baby was coming and coming fast, so I just had to prepare and get back home,' Kate said.

 'When I called my mum, she said that's it, we're getting you home.'

 It was on that flight home that Kate felt the baby kick inside her for the first time, and realised that the situation she was in was very real.

 The proud father: Kate's partner Aaron with their newborn son Mason

 Mason was born at 6.5 pounds after a four hour labour, which Kate said was easier than she'd anticipated

 Baby Mason lying on the stomach of his dad Aaron, a carpenter from Melbourne

 When Kate arrived back in Australia, her mum took her for a further examination to find out details she wasn't given overseas.

 It was at this appointment that Kate was given even more shocking news. She wasn't 33 weeks pregnant, but 38 weeks, almost full term.

 'I was scared because I didn’t know if the baby was healthy,' Kate said.

 'I was also scared about the future. Being a mum is daunting. I had no money since I had just came back from overseas. Where will we live, how will we pay for stuff? I didn’t know all too much about babies.'

 Kate was told by the doctor that she had a tilted-back uterus, which explained why she didn't look like she was pregnant.

 She was still shocked that she had experienced no symptoms, and couldn't understand how it had happened to her.

 'Any belly I had I thought was just a food baby from all the eating I’d done in Europe over two months.'

 'I had thought about kids, and Aaron and I had spoken about it, but we we’re thinking it would be in a few years time… another 3-5 years time.'

 Kate said she and Aaron were reluctant to tell people about being pregnant, scared that they would be criticised for not picking up on the pregnancy sooner.

 'I had thought about kids, and Aaron and I had spoken about it, but we we’re thinking it would be in a few years time… another 3-5 years time,' Kate said

 'When he came out it was surreal, and that skin on skin contact is exactly like everyone says. It's then that you realise that you've made this beautiful human being,' Kate said

 However, Kate said that people were overwhelmingly supportive and excited, though everyone was shocked.

 'I was scared to post on social media about him because I didn’t want to be judged,' she said.

 'In the back of my mind I was scared of how people were going to react. I thought they'd be like, oh Kate, you were in Europe two seconds ago.'

 Kate said she was concerned people might think that she was trying to hide that she was pregnant.

 'It was overwhelming trying to explain it to people, and I still haven't told the full story to everyone because it's such a long process.

 'People just couldn't believe it, it's a pretty interesting story.'

 Kate's friends and family all pitched in and helped her and Aaron buy all the essentials, making sure they had all the material necessities to look after their baby- who they found out during a scan was a boy.

 'That's when we started getting excited, ' she said.

 There was still one more surprise in store for Kate. When she had further testing the doctors gave her the news that she wasn't 38 weeks pregnant- Kate's baby was actually overdue and had to be induced immediately.

 Little Mason arrived after a relatively straightforward birth, weighing 6.5 pounds, which Kate said was easier than she had been expecting.

 'He slipped out in the end,' she laughed.

 'When he came out it was surreal, and that skin on skin contact is exactly like everyone says. It's then that you realise that you've made this beautiful human being.'

 'Mason’s here and I’m going to try to be the best parent I can be for him,' Kate said

 'It's an amazing feeling knowing that you can create someone so perfect. We're definitely happy and wouldn't change it for the world, knowing what we do now,' Kate said

 'Aaron and I looked at each other, we were amazed. Even after two weeks we were still quite shocked and getting used to the fact were parents.'

 The 22-year-old went from being an independent young woman travelling the globe, to a first-time mum in only a week and a half, which she still finds hard to process.

 'I'm so very lucky to have the support of my friends and family. It's been a huge adjustment to realise that I have a child, but Mason is such a good and calm baby.'

 Kate and her partner Aaron are now living with Kate's parents and have started thinking about what the future will hold for their family.

 'Thinking about the future is scary,' said Kate.

 'I need to figure out what's best. Should I work or go to back to university? We want to move out and need to be thinking about money.'

 Kate said that she is now having to consider things she never anticipated having to think about, even six months ago.

 'At 22 you wouldn't think you’d be going off to buy a house, or thinking about what school districts are the best,'

 'We've had to start thinking about what to expect in years to come instead of thinking in the short term.'

 The young mum said that she is learning to just roll with her new role and to make the most of her life with Mason.

 'I have a beautiful healthy baby boy, my relationship with Aaron is stronger than ever, although it’s more work than it’s ever been, trying to find ‘us time’, so I can’t complain too much,' Kate told The Young Mummy.

 Mason is growing well, and is now rolling on his stomach and loves giggling, said Kate.

 'I’ve just gotta’ roll with it and make the most of it.'

 It's been a long, but surprisingly quick journey to motherhood for Kate, who said that people are still shocked when she tells them the story.

 'Even now when I tell people they are like ‘how?'

 For now, Kate said she is loving being a mother to her 'little miracle' Mason, and while she is still coming to terms with her new life, she is determined to be there for him no matter what.

 'Mason’s here and I’m going to try to be the best parent I can be for him.'

 Kate said that she is so happy with the way her life has turned out, even though it was unexpected. ||||| As you eagerly imagine your baby, no doubt you picture your little one snuggled up in your womb, sucking his thumb or resting his chin against his hand. But if you’re among the 20 percent of women who has a tilted or retroverted uterus, you need to slightly adjust that picture so your baby is reclining backwards.

 What does it mean when you have a tilted uterus?

 Before becoming pregnant and in the early weeks of pregnancy, your uterus sits between two bones: your sacrum (the large bone in the middle of your pelvis, at the base of your spine) and the pubic symphysis (a pelvic joint located above your vulva). Most uteruses develop leaning forwards towards your navel. But if you have a retroverted uterus, also known as a tilted or retroflexed uterus, it has naturally grown with a backwards tilt towards your spine.

 This condition is not an abnormality or a medical problem — physicians simply refer to it as a “normal anatomical variance” (it’s comparable to having a second toe that’s longer than your first). Many women who have a tilted uterus aren’t even aware of it, and it has no impact on the health of your baby.

 Can I get pregnant if I have a tilted uterus?

 A tilted uterus has absolutely no impact on your ability to conceive or how fast you'll get pregnant. In fact, very few anatomical characteristics would impact your ability to become pregnant (those issues could include scar tissue in your uterus, which can be the result of a previous pelvic infection, or scar tissue around your fallopian tubes).

 What are the symptoms of a tilted uterus?

 You won’t notice any symptoms of a tilted uterus before you get pregnant. However there are few symptoms you may observe in the first trimester of pregnancy:

 Back pain. It’s possible that it can cause more back pain, though that’s a common symptom in every pregnancy.

 It’s possible that it can cause more back pain, though that’s a common symptom in every pregnancy. Difficulty emptying your bladder. Some doctors say that in very rare cases, if your growing uterus is tilted very far backwards during pregnancy it could push against your bladder, making it difficult to empty. You may find relief by taking a tip from your uterus: lean backwards when you’re peeing, which can shift your uterus off your bladder and relieve any pressure. (If you’re still extremely uncomfortable or have a very hard time going, your practitioner may be able to manipulate your uterus manually to make it easier for you to go.)

 Some doctors say that in very rare cases, if your growing uterus is tilted very far backwards during pregnancy it could push against your bladder, making it difficult to empty. You may find relief by taking a tip from your uterus: lean backwards when you’re peeing, which can shift your uterus off your bladder and relieve any pressure. (If you’re still extremely uncomfortable or have a very hard time going, your practitioner may be able to manipulate your uterus manually to make it easier for you to go.) A harder time locating your baby. There’s a small chance your doctor may have trouble finding your baby with a transabdominal ultrasound, the type where the wand is moved over your abdomen. This simply means your little one is a bit farther away from those trying to get a peek at him — but it’s not a problem. Instead, your doctor may use a transvaginal ultrasound (inserting an ultrasound wand through the upper part of your vagina) to get a better look.

 The good news: Any negative impact of a tilted uterus will go away by the second trimester of pregnancy without you doing a thing. As your baby grows in the first trimester, your uterus expands in the pelvic cavity — but by 12 weeks to 13 weeks, your uterus pops up out of your pelvis and into your abdomen to accommodate your growing baby. At this point, a retroverted uterus nearly always rights itself upwards.

 Are there any risk factors during pregnancy?

 If you find you’re having trouble emptying your bladder in the first trimester, you can be at risk for a urinary tract infection (UTI), since the urine pools in one place and becomes an easy target for bacteria. So watch out for other UTI symptoms, including pain or a burning feeling while urinating, or pressure or pain low in your stomach — and make sure to let your doctor know so she treat you with pregnancy-safe antibiotics.

 How will my tilted uterus affect my birth?

 While some women wonder if having a tilted uterus can cause childbirth complications or result in a C-section, it's highly unlikely: After the first trimester, your uterus will have grown so large that it won't be tilted one way or another. In very rare circumstances, a tilted uterus may cause back labor, difficulty during delivery or an incarcerated uterus (when your uterus becomes trapped in your pelvis instead of popping up into your abdomen as it grows) — however the chances of any of these issues occurring is extremely small.

 What happens to my uterus after I give birth?

 After you give birth, the position your uterus settles into will depend on several factors, including how much your ligaments have stretched during pregnancy or how much weight you gained (added weight puts pressure on your uterus and can affect its postpartum position). But even if your uterus returns to its retroverted position, it will most likely have no impact on you or your future pregnancies.

 MORE ON PREGNANCY AND SYMPTOMS ||||| “I totally freaked out. I thought she said 13 weeks – not 33! No way was I ready to have a baby. I’m only 22. No job, and no money. And no time to prepare. I was so scared for how Aaron would react. He was so supportive, but with me being in Prague and him in Melbourne it was so hard. We needed to comfort each other. He sort of freaked out thinking ‘how will I support you both?’ but to everyone else he put on a brave face. We just had to roll with it. The baby was coming and coming fast, so I just had to prepare and get back home. I didn’t have time to process it until the flight home, where I basically cried for the 22 hours” – Kate.

 Except it was after that flight, and visiting the Royal Women’s hospital for scans, Kate & Aaron found out that their baby was in fact 38 weeks along. This baby was coming very fast.

 Kate Hudson was your average 22 year old. She had completed two years of university where she studied media (where I originally met her) and then deferred when the travel bug set in. She then worked for two years in retail in order to scrape together enough money to take off to Europe – what a dream! Her boyfriend of 18 months – Aaron – worked as a carpenter and was staying in Melbourne as Kate took off with girlfriends.

 Kate departed with not a care in the world. Despite knowing she would have zero money on her return and in need of a job – who cares when you’re about to have the trip of a lifetime? When you’re young and you’ve worked so hard? That’s what you’re supposed to do in your early 20’s isn’t it? London, Paris, Prague, Croatia … the list was endless and Kate was going to tick them all off.

 And tick them off she did. Little did she know, her son was also ticking them off with her.

 Now anyone who has been pregnant or understands the strict guidelines you’re given once you find out you’re with child will have a million questions for Kate, just like I did.

 Did you not put on weight?

 But you’re SO tiny?

 Didn’t you feel sick?

 Didn’t your period stop?

 But you were drinking alcohol? And eating all the wrong food?

 Hadn’t you felt a kick?

 WHERE was your bump?

 How were you allowed to fly home?

 The list is endless, and to be honest, I don’t think Kate even has the answers to all of them. It – understandably – has been a complete whirlwind past few months where one minute she’s sipping on cocktails on the other side of the world, and 2 weeks later she’s a mother changing nappies? It’s just so hard to comprehend how such a young girl – let alone anyone – could possibly cope with the transition. I’ve always said that I don’t think you are EVER ready to have a baby, no matter how much you prepare. And in Kate’s situation, having less than a couple of weeks to prepare – it’s just too hard to fathom for me. Yet, upon meeting Kate for a coffee just the other day, she is a complete natural and seems so at peace with what has happened to her life.

 “I had absolutely no real clear symptoms. I was still getting regular periods. I wasn’t nauseous, no morning sickness, little weight gain, so it seemed silly to think I would be pregnant. All I had leading up to it was constipation, and I went from a C-cup to a D-cup.”

 “I was still on the pill up until June and since I was going overseas and not seeing my boyfriend for 2 months (so no sex) I thought it would be a good idea to give my body a rest. So in June when I didn’t bleed, I thought “that’s ok, I’ve just got off the pill, it’s my body is adjusting.”

 “Then in July I didn’t get it either. I was in Barcelona on my own and that’s when I started to get a little scared, since I hadn’t seen my boyfriend (slept with) in 7 weeks, I thought I could be more than 7 weeks pregnant. So I freaked myself out. Didn’t help being alone half way across the world. I bought a pregnancy test and took it in San Sebastián. Positive. I immediately rang and told Aaron, and although he was shocked, he was supportive thinking we’d still have options. I wasn’t showing at all and had no symptoms, so we assumed it would be early days. It took me a week to book in to an obstertritians since I was on the go travelling, and it was then in Prague that the doctor told me I was 33 weeks pregnant.

 Kate spoke to me of her initial reaction. The sense of shock I felt upon finding out that I was pregnant was a nice whack in the face for me, yet I cannot possibly imagine being half way across the world, on my own, and being told I am in my third trimester in a foreign country.

 “I totally freaked out! I rang mum and she was so shocked. We could get over the fact that I was pregnant, but the fact I was told that I was 33 weeks was so hard to comprehend.”

 One of the first things that came to my mind when hearing the story was knowing that Kate had to travel internationally so late into her pregnancy, and it was a huge fear of hers as she sat in the doctor’s office in Prague. Airlines need a letter of approval from your Doc if you are to fly that late into your pregnancy, and when finding out that the doctor had in fact declined this and instructed Kate not to fly home to Australia, the thought of giving birth to her baby in Europe was petrifying. Again, as I’m writing this, my heart is beating as I try to imagine sitting in that doctor’s being told this. What a ridiculously huge reality to have to face alone.

 Kate made the decision – as I think most of us would in that situation – to fly home the next day. Hey, she wasn’t showing any sign of a baby bump let alone an 8.5month sized bump so why wouldn’t she flee home to her family and boyfriend? There was no possible way the flight staff would know, and the fact that a man sitting near her on the plane tried to get a little too chatty with her indicates that there was absolutely no sign that she was expecting in the coming weeks. After crying for what she says was the entire 22-hour flight home, she did gain one positive from the trip – it was on the plane she first felt her baby kick. It was then she said that it really sunk in…she had a baby inside of her.

 As the story continues, so does the shocking news. Upon arriving home and having scans at the Royal Women’s, Kate was told the baby was in fact 38 weeks along. She was going to be a mother even sooner than she thought.

 “I was scared because I didn’t know if the baby was healthy. Obviously having not known for so long, I was exercising heaps, jumping off cliffs, riding bikes, drinking alcohol and eating anything & everything. The baby’s health was both mine and Aaron’s main concern.”

 “I was also scared about the future. Being a mum is daunting. I had no money since I had just came back from overseas. Where will we live, how will we pay for stuff? I didn’t know all too much about babies.”

 “I had thought about kids, and Aaron and I had spoken about it, but we we’re thinking it would be in a few years time… another 3-5 years time.”

 Both Kate & Aaron told family & their closest friends straight away. Imagine that phonecall off one of your best friends? “Hey, I’m pregnant! They baby is due in 10 days!” You can imagine how many what the fuck?‘s they both got.

 They waited until all testing was complete on the Tuesday before announcing it to the world on the following Sunday. Kate said most people thought that they were joking. It wasn’t until she had the baby that Thursday that people had to believe them – little Mason was the proof!

 “People just couldn’t believe it. I would tell them the story, then they would understand, but still it’s a pretty unbelievable story especially for someone my size.”

 “I was scared to post on social media about him because I didn’t want to be judged. Everyone had such happy and supportive responses, but in the back of my mind I was really concerned with how I would be perceived. Mostly because I was young and the first of my friends to have a kid.”

 “Even now when I tell people they are like ‘how?? but you had no symptoms??'”

 Doctor’s told Kate she had a tilted-back uterus and that the baby was sitting high up in her diaphragm, therefore making it hard to tell that she was pregnant. Now I can vouch for Kate & how tiny she is, and knowing that I myself showed a baby bump at a very early 10 weeks pregnant, it really is unbelievable.

 “Any belly I had I thought was just a food baby from all the eating I’d done in Europe over two months.”

 Kate ended up having to be induced at the Women’s as although original testing had shown her baby to be healthy with correct size organs and a good blood flow, her placenta decreased over her three visits that week meaning bub wasn’t getting enough nutrients. Oh, and you guessed it! The re-testing also confirmed that Kate wasn’t 38 weeks, she was now OVERDUE and therefore needed to get the baby out asap.

 After having gel put in at 3.15pm, Mason arrived at 9.53pm in what Kate describes as a “much easier labour than expected.” Hey, somethings gotta give considering what she’d been through!

 On life now, Kate is understandably still majorly adjusting to her new role as mum.

 “It’s hard to get my head around it, even now he’s 8 weeks old. I wake up in the morning and sometimes forget that I have a baby. It’s a huge change and very overwhelming. I didn’t have the 8 or so months to prepare, so everything has been test and go.”

 “I honestly don’t know if I’m doing it right or wrong. But he’s a happy baby and gaining weight, so I must be doing something right.”

 Like previously mentioned, after sitting with Kate the other day – I’d say she’s a natural. She was glowing and didn’t wipe the smile off of her face as she kept looking down at her beautiful boy. As I sat – often speechless – listening to her story, I continually asked how she coped, as having known I was pregnant since 5 weeks I still took the entire 9 months (and still to this day) to come to terms with what I was going through.

 “I have a beautiful healthy baby boy, my relationship with Aaron is stronger than ever (although it’s more work than it’s ever been, trying to find ‘us time’) so I can’t complain too much. I’ve just gotta’ roll with it and make the most of it. Mason’s here and I’m going to try to be the best parent I can be for him. Am I scared for the future? Yes.”

 Kate – you should be so very proud of yourself. Being a mother is the hardest job in the world, and you’ve had to take that role on with no choice in the matter. Not once did I hear you complain about it though – you’ve chosen to see Mason as the true blessing & miracle he is. You’re attitude towards what has happened to you is a true reflection of your character and those traits will make you a wonderful mother to Mason, now and in the future. Both you and Aaron are admirable in more ways than one. Thank-you for letting me share your story. ||||| Melbourne woman gives birth only a few days after finding out she was pregnant

 A MELBOURNE woman thought she was growing a “food baby” during her dream European adventure.

 But Kate Hudson, 22, was pregnant.

 And within days, the media student went from seeing the sights of Prague to giving birth at the Royal Women’s Hospital back home in Melbourne.

 “I had absolutely no clear symptoms. I was still getting regular periods,” Ms Hudson said.

 “I wasn’t nauseous, no morning sickness, little weight gain, so it seemed silly to think I would be pregnant.”

 Ms Hudson toldThe Young Mummy she didn’t even have a bump.

 “Any belly I had I thought was just a food baby from all the eating I’d done in Europe over two months,” she said.

 Seven weeks after leaving her boyfriend, she felt strange in the beachside Spanish city of San Sebastian, and took a pregnancy test that turned out to be positive.

 She continued travelling, thinking the pregnancy was new, but then an obstetrician in Prague told her she was 33 weeks along.

 “I was scared because I didn’t know if the baby was healthy,” Ms Hudson said.

 “Obviously having not known for so long, I was exercising heaps, jumping off cliffs, riding bikes, drinking alcohol and eating anything and everything.”

 She quickly boarded a flight for Melbourne in late August and “basically cried for the 22 hours”, while she felt her baby kick for the first time.

 But there was another surprise when she got home — Ms Hudson was actually 38 weeks along.

 “People just couldn’t believe it. I would tell them the story, then they would understand, but still it’s a pretty unbelievable story especially for someone my size,” she told The Young Mummy.

 Within days, she had given birth to her son Mason.

 Doctors told her she had a tilted uterus, which meant the pregnancy was not obvious.

 “It’s hard to get my head around it, even now he’s eight weeks old,” Ms Hudson said.

 “I wake up in the morning and sometimes forget that I have a baby. It’s a huge change and very overwhelming. I didn’t have the eight or so months to prepare.”

 “I honestly don’t know if I’m doing it right or wrong. But he’s a happy baby and gaining weight, so I must be doing something right.”

 “I have a beautiful healthy baby boy ... So I can’t complain too much. I’ve just gotta roll with it and make the most of it.”

 tom.minear@news.com.au

Summary: – Kate Hudson, 22, had been traveling through Europe for a while, so it didn't seem strange that she'd gained a little weight. "Any belly I had I thought was just a food baby from all the eating I’d done in Europe over two months," the Australian woman says. But in Spain, she felt a little odd and took a pregnancy test; it came back positive, the Herald Sun reports. She figured she must have recently gotten pregnant and traveled on, but she then found out from an obstetrician in Prague in late August that she was 33 weeks along. She quickly returned home to Melbourne, only to find she was actually 38 weeks along (or possibly more, as re-testing indicated she was overdue). Days later, she had a healthy baby boy, Mason—which was a relief, considering the circumstances. "Obviously, having not known for so long, I was exercising heaps, jumping off cliffs, riding bikes, drinking alcohol, and eating anything and everything," she says. "I had absolutely no real clear symptoms," Hudson tells The Young Mummy blog. "I was still getting regular periods. I wasn't nauseous, no morning sickness, little weight gain." (She was still a size 6 when she flew home, the Daily Mail reports.) It wasn't until just after she started her trip—since her boyfriend wasn't coming along, she went off birth control while overseas—that she stopped getting her period and started to suspect they'd gotten pregnant just before she left. Even after getting the positive pregnancy test, "I wasn't showing at all and had no symptoms," she says. In fact, it wasn't until her flight home that she felt her baby kick for the first time. So how is this possible? Doctors told Hudson she had a tilted uterus and Mason was sitting high in her diaphragm, so it wasn't obvious that she was expecting. As WhatToExpect.com explains, a tilted or "retroverted" uterus leans backward toward your spine instead of forward toward your navel, and it can also sometimes mean that "your doctor may have trouble finding your baby with a transabdominal ultrasound" because the baby's "a bit farther away from those trying to get a peek at him." (This woman had even less time—mere hours—to prepare for giving birth.)


is putting money where is mouth is — literally.

 Following his impressive 5-medal run at this year’s London Olympics, the 28-year-old is attempting to trademark his personal catchphrase, “Jeah!” The American swimmer has already filed the copyright documents for the word — which he says means something “good” — to be used on a plethora of branded merchandised including workout DVDs, t-shirts and hats, his rep confirms to Celebuzz.

 However, Lochte is not the only celeb to have tried to copyright his own catchphrase.

 Fellow athletes such as Bengals wide receiver Terrell Owens and former Giants defensive end Michael Strahan have all successfully trademarked their signature saying.

 In fact, copyrighting catchphrases has even spread to Hollywood: Celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe trademarked “I die” — which is commonly used on her reality show The Rachel Zoe Project — while The Apprentice’s Donald Trump famously tried (but failed) to trademark his show’s closer, “You’re Fired.”

 Just four months after the birth of their baby daughter, hip-hop couple Beyonce and Jay-Z even filed documents to trademark their newborn’s name, Blue Ivy, for future use.

 Who else is trying to copyright their own words? Launch the gallery — above — to find out. ||||| Ryan Lochte Jeah! Copyright Battle Looming with Compton Rapper

 Ryan Lochte -- Jeah! Copyright Battle Looming with Compton Rapper

 EXCLUSIVE

 U.S. Olympic heromight have an unexpected speed bump on his way to trademarking the phrase "Jeah!" in the form of 90s rap star MC Eiht, who claims the phrase was his long before it was Lochte's.Eiht tells TMZ he coined the phrase back in 1988 and is insulted to hear Lochte is trying to claim it as his own now. Eiht tells us, "Why try and trademark something his ass didn’t even create? I am mad that he isn’t giving me proper recognition for taking my saying. He is just disrespectful."The Compton's Most Wanted rapper tells TMZ he's not so much concerned about the money as he is the "respect and the truth."Eiht says he plans on sending a cease and desist letter urging Lochte to stop using his phrase.Lochte's manager tells us, "Ryan has been using JEAH for years," adding, "This is the first I have heard of this claim by MC Eiht." ||||| More Ryan Lochte news! In addition to becoming an actor, Ryan has just filed the paperwork to trademark his annoying catchphrase, “Jeah!” which he says means something “good.” According to an interview he did a few years back, he appropriated the word from the rapper Young Jeezy, who said “Chea!”

 According to TMZ, the Olympian plans to brand every product imaginable, from swimsuits to water bottles, with his catchphrase. In fact, he’s already selling some of these items on his website. Who knows, maybe there are “Jeah!” grills in his future. If his trademark gets approved, he’s gonna make bank. Because everyone wants “Jeah!” branded merchandise, right? That Lochte’s one smart cookie. Click on through to see some more catchphrases that celebs trademarked … or at least attempted to. [TMZ] [Photo: WENN]

Summary: – Ryan Lochte is trying to trademark his catchphrase, "Jeah!"—but he may have some problems, because TMZ reports that '90s rapper MC Eiht claims he's been using the word since 1988, and plans to send the Olympic swimmer a cease and desist letter. Maybe Lochte can get some advice from these 17 other celebrities, all of whom at least attempted to snag trademarks. From Celebuzz and The Frisky: Beyonce and Jay-Z: They want to trademark "Blue Ivy Carter NYC" so they can sell a line of baby products bearing their daughter's name. How sweet. Paris Hilton: Upset when Hallmark used her catchphrase "That's hot!" in a greeting card, Hilton was able to get it trademarked. Then she got tired of it and tried using "That's huge!", but for some reason that one never quite caught on. Charlie Sheen: He tried to trademark all 22 of his catchphrases, including, of course, "Duh, winning." Jeremy Lin: The NBA star tried to trademark "Linsanity," but three entrepreneurs had already applied for the same thing. Donald Trump: He was turned down from trademarking "You're fired!" because it sounded too much like a board game called "You're Hired." Click for the full list from The Frisky, which includes a current battle over the phrase "Yuuup!" Or check out Celebuzz's list, which includes a bunch of sports figures and even more Jersey Shore stars.


NASA says it's the second-most watched clock in the world, behind the Big Ben clock in London. It's the Kennedy Space Center countdown clock, familiar in hundreds of launch pictures, and on Monday, it was removed.

 Images: Best spots to see KSC rocket launches On a clear day and especially at night, rocket launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center can be seen from hundreds of miles away in the Central Florida area. Those looking for something more up-close can go to these areas of the Space Coast that offer public access. More

 Watch this report

 The clock first made its appearance in the heady days of Apollo, for Apollo 12 in November 1969. It was there for all six other moon launches and all 135 space shuttle launches.

 Central Floridians watched the clock through a lot of suspenseful moments and a lot of weather delays.

 "To keep it going, or [use] parts which we have to make ourselves, is just not practical," said George Diller, NASA public information specialist.

 The clock has 336 light bulbs. You could call Bruce Hodge the clock-master. Hodge has changed every last one of those bulbs multiple times.

 "Run through the numbers; make sure they all work," he said. "Do that for every launch."

 Hodge supervised the removal of the old countdown clock. He's kept it running for 40 of its 45 years.

 Also see: Leon County deputy shot, killed in house fire ambush north of Tallahassee

 A new clock, looking just like the old one but with fancy graphics and electronics will be in place for next week's big Orion test launch.

 The old icon is on its way to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

 Related: Best spots to see KSC rocket launches ||||| NASA retires iconic KSC countdown clock Posted: Monday, November 24, 2014 5:22 PM EST Updated: Monday, January 19, 2015 5:22 PM EST

 It outlasted decades of American spacecraft, from Apollo to Skylab to the space shuttle. But now, the historic countdown clock at Kennedy Space Center is itself headed for retirement.

 For 40 years, the clock has been a silent witness to history -- well, almost silent. Up close, you could hear the quaint whirs and clunks of the analog 1960s technology hidden behind its faded blue facade.

 Those digital-style numbers were actually made up of dozens of 40-watt incandescent bulbs. The clock's internal systems required fans to cool the motors through all those hot Florida days, while the frequent summertime lightning storms also took a toll on the clock's circuits.

 Throw in the inescapable corrosion from all that salty sea air, and the clock -- as iconic as it was -- just became too much to keep up.

 "The clock is old. It's taken a lot of maintenance to keep it going," NASA spokesman George Diller explained. "It was getting to be very labor-intensive and we're not able to continue to maintain it for every launch."

 The clock dates back to Apollo 12 in 1969. Along with the flagpole next to it, it's part of the Complex 39 Press Site, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. But even when the clock wasn't ticking, time was marching on.

 Kennedy Space Center and nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station are filled with historic items that played crucial roles in the space race before being abandoned or scrapped. It's par for the course at a working spaceport.

 Launch Complex 39 -- where the Apollo moon missions and space shuttle flights left the earth -- is being rebuilt for giant new rockets, both public and private. And the hangars that used to house the shuttles are being refitted for new spacecraft, like the Air Force's robotic mini-shuttle and Boeing's manned capsule.

 When America's next generation of spacecraft blasts off in December, NASA officials hope a new clock will be in place for the countdown. The agency is adding a modern video display board -- similar to what you'd see at a stadium -- that can do more than just tick.

 But Diller said the agency is mindful of not disrupting that classic last-few-seconds-of-the-countdown view too much.

 "At a distance, you'll be hard-pressed to see the difference," he insisted.

 The old clock, meanwhile, won't go completely dark. Workers hauled it away in three sections Monday but the plan is to refurbish it and move it down the road to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, where space shuttle Atlantis now lives as a museum piece.

 Best-case scenario, according to Diller, would be for the clock to eventually be hooked back up to the space center's timing circuits, allowing it to continue to count down for launches from its new location.

 If all goes well, the giant numbers that counted down for missions to the moon decades ago may -- one day -- count down the seconds towards a mission to Mars. ||||| The clock first made its appearance in the heady days of Apollo, for Apollo 12 in November 1969. (Source: WESH/CNN)

 KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL (WESH/CNN) - A piece of space history was retired on Tuesday.

 NASA is sending the Apollo countdown clock to the space museum.

 Bruce Hodge, the clockmaster, supervised the removal of the old countdown clock that he's kept running for 40 of its 45 years.

 The clock first made its appearance in the heady days of Apollo, for Apollo 12 in November 1969. It was there for all six other moon launches and all 135 space shuttle launches. People watched that clock through a lot of suspenseful moments and a lot of weather delays.

 "To keep it going, or parts which we have to make ourselves is just not practical," said George Diller, NASA Public Information Specialist)

 The numerals are made of old fashioned 40-watt light bulbs similar to the kind once used in refrigerators. There are 336 of those bulbs.

 Hodge changed every last one of those bulbs multiple times, "run through the numbers, make sure they all work short of the countdown. Do that for every launch. Make sure they all work."

 A new clock, looking just like the old one but with fancy graphics and electronics, will be in place for next week's big Orion test launch. The old icon is on its way to the Kennedy Space Center visitor complex.

 Copyright 2014 WESH via CNN. All rights reserved.

Summary: – After London's Big Ben, NASA says its Kennedy Space Center countdown clock was the world's most watched. Not anymore: It was taken down yesterday, WESH reports. The clock, with 336 40-watt light bulbs, has been around since November 1969, when it ticked away the seconds until the launch of Apollo 12, WCSC reports. But all those hundreds of bulbs have to be changed from time to time, and the clock requires checking before "every launch," says the man who has been in charge of the device for all but five of its 45 years. Its motors are kept cool with fans, its electronics have weathered storms, and it was corroded by salty air, MyFox Tampa Bay reports. These days, "to keep it going, or (use) parts which we have to make ourselves, is just not practical," a NASA rep says. Fortunately, the replacement version looks the same as its predecessor, just with modernized electronics. The old clock will make its new home at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, WESH notes, while the new one will be ready for an Orion launch next week.


April 23, 2014 11:47 PM

 GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) – A school in Greeley is asking parents to be more vigilant after a 10-year-old boy admitted to selling marijuana to other students on the playground and another student came to school with a marijuana edible candy bar.

 Both incidents happened in one week.

 School officials are now asking parents to pay attention to where they are keeping their recreational marijuana after the fourth graders brought the items to Monfort Elementary School in Greeley.

 John Gates, director of safety for Weld County School District 6, said there were four students involved — three boys and a girl. The students were all 10.

 Gates said the students faced tough discipline but not suspension or expulsion but would not provide specific details on their punishment.

 One boy admitted to taking a small bite of the candy bar but he didn’t get sick, and a medical exam showed he didn’t suffer any harmful side effects.

 Gates said the boys told them they got the pot from home. That marijuana appears to have been legally purchased by adults. The grandparents in two families apparently made the purchases. No charges are expected to be filed.

 On Monday a student who was not involved told school officials about the pot selling on the playground and the next day a student tried to trade an edible for some of the student’s marijuana.

 “It was the simple fact that we had adults that didn’t secure their marijuana,” Gates said of the grandparents, urging adults to take care with the drug. “That sure is concerning because this would have never happened had the marijuana not been so accessible to two 10-year-old boys.”

 Monfort Elementary School principal Jennifer Sheldon sent home a letter to parents on Tuesday stating that even though it’s easier for adults to get marijuana, children potentially have greater access.

 A portion of that letter reads: “We urge all parents, grandparents and anyone who cares for children to treat marijuana as you would prescription drugs, alcohol or even firearms. This drug is potentially lethal to children, and should always be kept under lock and key, away from young people.”

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 Colorado Marijuana Holiday Saves Shoppers, Growers Big Bucks ||||| It's Legal to Sell Pot in Colorado, But Not If You're in 4th Grade

 DENVER - Two Colorado fourth graders were busted for selling marijuana at their elementary school, prompting officials today to urge adults to keep their weed locked away from kids.

 School officials said a 10-year-old fourth grade boy brought a small quantity of leafy marijuana to Monfort Elementary School in Greeley, Colorado, on Monday.

 "He sold it to three other fourth graders on the school playground, which resulted in a profit to the young man of $11," John Gates, director of safety and security for the Greeley-Evans School District, told ABC News.

 The next day, Gates said one of the three young buyers brought a marijuana edible to school and gave it to the boy who sold the pot on Monday. That boy took a bite, but did not suffer any ill effects, Gates said.

 Both boys apparently got the weed from relatives, according to Gates.

 "Both of these kids took the marijuana without the consent of their grandparents," said Gates.

 Gates said the four students involved will be suspended for a "significant" number of days, but declined to say exactly how long the punishment would be. Initially police were called, but officials have determined the incident will not he handled as a criminal matter, he said.

 "We hope to send a good message here without ruining anybody's lives. The message we really want to get out here to the adults is, 'for crying out loud, secure it,'" Gates said.

 Adults 21 and older have been able to buy recreational marijuana legally in Colorado since Jan. 1.

 In a letter sent home to parents, Monfort Elementary School Principal Jennifer Sheldon said no student was injured.

 "We know that many adults have greater access to marijuana since the change in the drug's legal status in Colorado," Sheldon wrote. "We urge all parents, grandparents and anyone who cares for children to treat marijuana as you would prescription drugs, alcohol or even firearms. This drug is potentially lethal to children, and should always be kept under lock and key, away from young people."

 The side effects of edible marijuana - which can be far more potent than smoking a joint - have been raising new concerns after two recent deaths in Colorado. In one, a 19-year old college student died when he jumped off a hotel balcony after eating a marijuana-laced cookie. In the second, Richard Kirk, 47, was charged with shooting and killing his wife while she called 9-1-1, telling police her husband had consumed pot-infused candy.

 Colorado's legislature is currently considering new safety regulations for marijuana edibles, including bills requiring stronger warning labels and lowering the amount of THC permitted in food.

 The Associated Press contributed to this report

Summary: – A pair of enterprising fourth-graders in Colorado got caught dealing marijuana pilfered from home at their elementary school, reports ABC News. Officials at the school in Greeley originally got police involved, but they've decided to handle it internally with suspensions and with a message to grown-ups: "For crying out loud, secure it," asks the school district's security chief. Authorities say one boy stole (legally bought) marijuana from his grandparents and sold it to three young buyers at his school, netting himself $11 in the process. The next day, one of those buyers brought in a marijuana candy bar and tried to swap it for some of the leafy stuff, reports CBS Local. "It was the simple fact that we had adults that didn’t secure their marijuana," says the school official. "That sure is concerning because this would have never happened had the marijuana not been so accessible to two 10-year-old boys." The two other buyers, also 10, face suspensions, too.


WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has turned away appeals from the National Rifle Association which complained about resistance by governments and judges to the high court's recent seminal rulings declaring that Americans have a constitutional right to own a gun.

 The justices on Monday let stand rulings that upheld a federal law that prevents young adults ages 18-20 from purchasing a handgun or ammunition from a licensed federal firearms dealer and a Texas regulation that prohibits most 18-to-20 year olds from carrying a handgun outside the home.

 The NRA said the laws make it difficult, if not impossible, for young adults to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

 The court did not comment in denying the appeals. ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will not block Virginia from retrying an accused drug dealer, whose earlier capital murder conviction was set aside because of misconduct by prosecutors.

 The justices on Monday rejected an appeal by Justin Wolfe, who said the prosecutors' misdeeds were so serious that they precluded a fair second trial.

 A federal judge agreed with Wolfe and had ordered his immediate release, but the federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., said the new trial could be held fairly.

 Wolfe was sent to death row in 2002 for a drug-related murder, but his original conviction and sentence were overturned. ||||| A general view of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington December 3, 2013. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Monday declined to wade into the politically volatile issue of gun control by leaving intact three court rulings rejecting challenges to federal and state laws.

 The court’s decision not to hear the cases represented a loss for gun rights advocates, including the National Rifle Association, which was behind two of the challenges.

 The first case involved a challenge by the NRA to a Texas law that prevents 18-20 year olds from carrying handguns in public. It also raised the broader question of whether there is a broad right under the Second Amendment to bear arms in public.

 The second NRA case was a challenge to several federal laws and regulations, dating back to 1968, that make it illegal for firearms dealers to sell guns or ammunition to anyone under 21.

 The third case was on the narrow question of whether consumers have the legal right to challenge laws that regulate the sale of firearms. The challenge to a federal law that restricts the interstate transport of guns, and a related Virginia law, were filed by several District of Columbia residents who wished to obtain guns via neighboring Virginia.

 The court has yet to decide whether there is a right to carry guns in public, a question left unanswered in its two most recent gun-related decisions.

 In the 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller case, the court held that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guaranteed an individual right to bear arms. Two years later in McDonald v. City of Chicago, the court held that the earlier ruling applied to the states. ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is squaring off at the Supreme Court with industry groups and Republican-led states over a small but important program aimed at limiting power-plant and factory emissions of gases blamed for global warming.

 FILE - This Oct. 15, 2013, file photo shows the Supreme Court in Washington the day the court's justices said they would be reviewing whether or not the Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its... (Associated Press)

 The justices are hearing arguments Monday in a challenge to a regulation that forces companies that want to expand industrial facilities or build new ones that would increase overall pollution to evaluate ways to reduce the carbon they release. Carbon dioxide is the chief greenhouse gas.

 The case comes to the court as President Barack Obama is stepping up his use of executive authority to act on environmental and other matters when Congress doesn't, or won't. Opponents of the Environmental Protection Agency's program at issue call it a power grab of historic proportions.

 Republicans have objected strenuously to the administration's decision to push ahead with the regulations after Congress failed to pass climate legislation, and after the administration of President George W. Bush resisted such steps. Both sides agree that it would have been better to deal with climate change through legislation.

 In 2012, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that the EPA was "unambiguously correct" in using existing federal law to address global warming.

 Monday's case, for which the court has expanded argument time to 90 minutes from the usual 60, stems from the high court's 2007 ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, which said the agency has the authority under the Clean Air Act to limit emissions of greenhouse gases from vehicles.

 Two years later, with Obama in office, the EPA concluded that the release of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases endangered human health and welfare. The administration used that finding to extend its regulatory reach beyond automobiles and develop national standards for large stationary sources. Of those, electric plants are the largest source of emissions.

 The administration has proposed first-time national standards for new power plants and expects to propose regulations for existing plants this summer. It will then move on to other large stationary sources such as factories.

 In the meantime, the only way EPA can compel companies to address global warming pollution is through a permitting program that requires them to analyze the best available technologies to reduce carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas.

 The utility industry, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and 13 states led by Texas are asking the court to rule that the EPA overstepped its authority by trying to regulate greenhouse gas emissions through the permitting program.

 The EPA's actions "represent one of the boldest seizures of legislative authority by an executive agency in history," Peter Keisler, representing the American Chemistry Council among two dozen manufacturing and industry groups that want the court to throw out the rule, said in court papers.

 In addition to environmental groups, New York, California, Illinois and a dozen other states are supporting the administration, along with the American Thoracic Society, which filed a brief detailing the health costs of climate change.

 Also in support of the regulation is Calpine Corp., which operates natural gas and geothermal power plants around the nation. Calpine said it has gone through the permitting program six times and found it "neither overly burdensome nor unworkable."

 Looking at the same program, the Chamber of Commerce said it "may be the costliest, most intrusive regulatory program the nation has yet seen."

 ___

 Follow Mark Sherman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/shermancourt ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will not disturb the criminal conviction of a New York man whose underground poker game ran afoul of a federal anti-gambling law.

 The justices on Monday rejected an appeal from Lawrence DiCristina, who said his twice-a-week games of Texas Hold 'em should not be covered by the federal Illegal Gambling Businesses Act. DiCristina said the law targets games of chance, like lotteries, slot machines and dice, but not poker, which is a game of skill.

 Bridge and Scrabble players weighed in on DiCristina's behalf, worrying they could be targeted under a federal appeals court's expansive interpretation of the law.

 At least three justices, Elena Kagan, Antonin Scalia and Sonia Sotomayor, like to play poker.

Summary: – In a blow to the NRA, the Supreme Court has opted not to hear a trio of cases challenging federal and state gun laws. Two involved NRA-backed challenges to laws limiting gun rights for people under 21, Reuters reports. One of those was a Texas law banning 18- to 20-year-olds from publicly carrying guns; the other addressed decades-old laws against gun sales to those under 21. A third case involved consumers' ability to challenge gun-sale laws. The high court didn't offer comment on its rejection of the cases, the AP notes. In other court news: Justices rejected an alleged drug lord's appeal against a Virginia retrial for capital murder. Justin Wolfe's initial conviction was overturned due to prosecutorial misconduct. Nor will justices hear an appeal by a man who was convicted under federal gambling laws. Lawrence DiCristina of New York says the laws cover only games of chance, whereas the game his underground group plays—poker—is about skill. So what is the court hearing? Arguments are taking place today over an Obama administration rule on pollution. The EPA requires companies developing pollution-boosting industrial sites to assess their carbon output. The Chamber of Commerce, which is challenging the measure along with some GOP-run states, says it "may be the costliest, most intrusive regulatory program the nation has yet seen." Several other states, as well as environmental groups, are backing the White House.