The Occurrences, References and Projected Attitudes About LGBT Lifestyles in Children\u27s Media: A Content Analysis of Animated Films

This study included a selection of 5 top-grossing animated children\u27s films looking for hints, references and projected attitudes about LGBT lifestyles. I hypothesized that there would be no out-right gay characters whatsoever, but only hints or strong hints to, and that they would be exemplified through gender transgressions, intense same-sex interactions, and contain a focus on male masculinity. Furthermore, I hypothesized that all categories would be used primarily for humor. Results held true with these predictions where all categories were used for humor 83% of the time, with a focus on male characters. The results also support the noted increase of positive portrayals and hints from the 2000\u27s on, and that this trend is now spreading into programming geared towards younger age groups; albeit in the background and with such subtlety that LGBT lifestyles seem to remain unrealistic to identifying children in the audience. Finally, a new ideal of masculine and feminine expression in protagonist main characters has arisen, giving hope for more inclusion in future years of animated films

The oldest known snakes from the Middle Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous provide insights on snake evolution

The previous oldest known fossil snakes date from ∼100 million year old sediments (Upper Cretaceous) and are both morphologically and phylogenetically diverse, indicating that snakes underwent a much earlier origin and adaptive radiation. We report here on snake fossils that extend the record backwards in time by an additional ∼70 million years (Middle Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous). These ancient snakes share features with fossil and modern snakes (for example, recurved teeth with labial and lingual carinae, long toothed suborbital ramus of maxillae) and with lizards (for example, pronounced subdental shelf/gutter). The paleobiogeography of these early snakes is diverse and complex, suggesting that snakes had undergone habitat differentiation and geographic radiation by the mid-Jurassic. Phylogenetic analysis of squamates recovers these early snakes in a basal polytomy with other fossil and modern snakes, where Najash rionegrina is sister to this clade. Ingroup analysis finds them in a basal position to all other snakes including Najash.Fil: Caldwell, Michael Wayne. University of Alberta; CanadáFil: Nydam, Randall L.. Department Of Anatomy, Midwestern University, Glendale; Estados UnidosFil: Palci, Alessandro. South Australian Museum. Earth Sciences Section; AustraliaFil: Apesteguía, Sebastián. Fundación de Historia Natural Félix de Azara; Argentina. Universidad Maimónides. Área de Investigaciones Biomédicas y Biotecnológicas. Centro de Estudios Biomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y de Diagnóstico; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Dark-matter electric and magnetic dipole moments

We consider the consequences of a neutral dark-matter particle with a nonzero electric and/or magnetic dipole moment. Theoretical constraints, as well as constraints from direct searches, precision tests of the standard-model, the cosmic microwave background and matter power spectra, and cosmic gamma rays, are included. We find that a relatively light particle with mass between an MeV and a few GeV and an electric or magnetic dipole as large as ~3 x 10 to the -16 e cm (roughly 1.6 x 10 to the -5 μB) satisfies all experimental and observational bounds. Some of the remaining parameter space may be probed with forthcoming more sensitive direct searches and with the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope