In recent years, various research teams have uncovered evidence that several kinds of biological and geological events occur in regular cycles of similar lengths.

For example, a prior study ofdiscovered the diversity of all these species over the past 540 million years apparently grew and shrank in cycles, one of which was about 62 million years and the other 140 million years long. Other research has uncovered signs of a 140-million-year cycle in long-term fluctuations in global climate, a 59-million-year cycle in sea-level changes and a 56-million-year cycle in how much sediment gets deposited in North America.

" seems to have a pulse," said Michael Rampino, a geologist at New York University who studied prior research to try to find a connection among these cycles.

Mantle plume cycles

If the 60-million- and 140-million-year biodiversity cycles are real, that makes them much longer than the well-known cycles of fluctuations in Earth's orbit and tilt, which are on the order of millennia. So instead of turning to space for the drivers behind the biodiversity cycles, Rampino and his colleagues looked within the planet itself. One phenomenon they're investigating is jets of magma that rise from Earth's depths to penetrate overlying material like a blowtorch. []

Past research suggests mantle plumes are powerful enough to cause the changes seen in these cycles. For instance, the plumes may play a role in the formation of island chains, such as the Hawaiian Islands. There are signs they also triggered episodes of even more massive volcanic activity, such as one that (1.5 million square kilometers) at the Deccan Plateau region (now part of modern-day India) about 65 million years ago, coinciding with the .

Now, Rampino and his team suggest mantle plumes might generate these areas of massive volcanic eruptions known as large igneous provinces in regular patterns and, in turn, drive biological and geological cycles.

"Most people thought or think that mantle plumes would be sort of random in time," Rampino told OurAmazingPlanet. "This work suggests these plumes are coming up on a regular schedule."

Cycle causes

Other scientists at Carleton University in Ottawa analyzed eruptions from large igneous provinces over the past 250 million years. They found evidence of eruption cycles around the globe with lengths of 62 million and 140 million years, as well as one 35 million years long, especially in the last 135 million years. []

"I was quite surprised to find this very clear indication of these regular changes in geological data," Rampino said. "These regular pulsations are probably due to mantle plumes."

As to why these plumes might recur in a cyclical manner, the mantle-plume researchers suspect these jets arise from instabilities in the layer of rock just above the boundary between the Earth's core and mantle layer. These instabilities may reach critical thresholds and cause plumes every 50 million to 100 million years, depending on how long it takes buoyant rock to amass in the lower mantle and become unstable enough to rise.

The cycles might also be caused by the way thecan dive or subduct under one another. This leads to cold matter accumulating underground, potentially triggering regular avalanches of material from the upper mantle into the lower mantle which might, in turn, cause matter from the hot, deep mantle to flow upward and set off volcanic eruptions.

Another possibility is that these cycles are rooted in supercontinents such as Pangaea, in which all of Earth's continents were joined as one landmass. A number of different research teams have suggested that supercontinents can act like blankets over the mantle, causing heat to build up, thus leading to hotspots and massive eruptions to occur. This would suggest that supercontinents carry the seeds of their own destruction.

Future research needs to determine whether these volcanic cycles are, indeed, real or at least not find evidence to disprove them as well as model how mantle plumes are generated. "Scientists who model what's going on inside the Earth using computer models should see if they can produce the same pulsations we see in the geological record," Rampino said.

Rampino added that although sea level is currently rising and climate is getting warmer, "this has nothing to do with the Earth's internal cycles, which are on a much, much longer time scale."

Rampino and his colleague Andreas Prokoph, ofCarleton University in Ottawa, Canada, detailed their findings in the March 19 issue of the journal Eos.

Follow OurAmazingPlanet, and . Original article at LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.

MARINA DI ASCEA, Italy (Reuters) - Luca Paolini timed his effort perfectly to win the third stage of the Giro d'Italia and snatch the overall leader's pink jersey at the end of an eventful ride on Monday.

Paolini, whose Katusha team were a late inclusion in the race after they won a place on the World Tour (elite) following an appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), attacked in the final descent of the 222-km trek from Sorrento.

Australian Cadel Evans and defending champion Ryder Hesjedal of Canada finished second and third respectively, taking precious time bonuses.

"I raced today as if it were a one-day classic," Paolini told reporters.

"I suffered in the last climb but I knew there was a descent afterwards so I did not give up. We will now enjoy the pink jersey and will try to keep it as long as we can."

Pre-race favorites Bradley Wiggins of Britain and Italian Vincenzo Nibali finished safe in the lead chase group.

Italian Michele Scarponi, a potential race winner, crashed in the descent and lost one minute while Hesjedal rode in a surprisingly aggressive fashion for a defending champion.

The Canadian climber, who gave his Garmin-Sharp team their maiden Grand Tour title last year, put his rivals under pressure with repeated attacks in the final climb and descent.

"I felt there was an opportunity today. You can get something out of it everyday," Hesjedal told reporters.

"It's better to be up front."

Paolini, a one-day race specialist, was the strongest on the day and chose the right moment to surge away from the lead group that had formed after one of Hesjedal's numerous attacks.

Riding his first Giro at 36, Paolini, who won the Het Nieuwsblad one-day race in February, barely looked back and crossed the finish line 16 seconds ahead of the chasing group.

Paolini leads the overall standings by 17 seconds heading into Tuesday's fourth stage, a 244-km hilly ride between Policastro Bussentino and Serra San Bruno.

Bradley Wiggins is in second for Team Sky and his Colombian team mate Rigoberto Uran is third, also 17 seconds back, while Nibali is fifth 31 seconds off the pace.

Hesjedal, whose Garmin-Sharp team produced a below-par performance in Sunday's team time trial, lies seventh, 34 seconds behind Paolini.

Evans, who is 12th overall, eight seconds further adrift, was just happy he stayed out of trouble.

"I was just looking to avoid trouble like the problems Michele Scarponi had after the two Blanco riders crashed in front of him," the 2011 Tour de France winner said.

"Like everything that counts for the race, we prepare for it as best as we can."

(Writing by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who take the epilepsy drug valproate during pregnancy are three times more likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder, suggests new research based on close to 700,000 babies born in Denmark.

Previous studies have found more birth defects and lower intelligence among children of mothers who took valproate, but the new work represents the "strongest evidence to date" of a link between the drug and autism, according to an editorial published with the study on Tuesday.

The results don't prove the generic drug, also sold as valproic acid, causes autism. But researchers were able to account for a number of underlying factors - such as the age and health of the mothers and the babies' fathers - that make the study more convincing, Christopher Stodgell said.

"This finding isn't necessarily a brand new finding, but it's an important finding in that (researchers studied) really a much larger population, and they also looked at some other underlying drivers," said Stodgell, who studies the origins of autism at the University of Rochester Medical Center but wasn't involved in the new research.

Women "need to be very diligent about what the effects are if they're taking valproic acid," he told Reuters Health.

About one in 88 children has an autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those conditions range from autism itself to less disabling ones such as Asperger's syndrome.

For the new study, researchers tracked 656,000 kids born in Denmark between 1996 and 2006. Using a large prescription drug database, they found that just under 6,600 of the mothers of those children had epilepsy and 508 women took valproate while pregnant.

By 2010, 4.4 percent of the kids whose mothers had taken valproate during pregnancy were diagnosed with any ASD, including 2.5 percent with autism.

In contrast, 1.5 percent of all babies in the study had an ASD and 0.5 percent had autism, the study team reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Mothers' underlying epilepsy didn't fully explain the link, according to Jakob Christensen from Aarhus University and his colleagues. In addition, autism rates were higher among children of women who used valproate during pregnancy than those who had previously used the drug but stopped before conceiving.

CONSIDER RISKS, BENEFITS

"Valproate is an effective drug, but it appears that it is being prescribed for women of childbearing potential at a rate that does not fully consider the ratio of benefits to risks," wrote Dr. Kimford Meador and David Loring from Emory University in Atlanta, in a linked editorial.

Valproate could affect maturation of a fetus's brain, Christensen suggested, including the signal-sending neurotransmitters.

Women who may become pregnant "certainly should discuss with their doctor if there are alternative treatments that would be reasonable," he told Reuters Health.

For those with certain syndromes or generalized epilepsy, there aren't necessarily other good options. Stopping valproate in that case isn't a good idea, Christensen said.

"It's also a risk if you have seizures, both for the mother and the unborn child. (Stopping medication) is not a thing that you take lightly," he said.

"Even those that are exposed to this drug, there's still a good chance - more than a 95-percent chance - that their child will never develop signs of autism."

The study didn't take into account whether women drank during pregnancy, or if they took folic acid - which has been tied to a lower risk of some birth defects.

Christensen said there are steps pregnant women on valproate can take to lower any risks to their baby, such as using the lowest possible dose and dividing it up during the day.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/JjFzqx Journal of the American Medical Association, online April 23, 2013.

The Red Sox were due to play the Kansas City Royals in a Major League Baseball game at Fenway Park, while the Bruins were down to host the Pittsburgh Penguins in the National Hockey League at TD Garden.

"Tonight's Red Sox game at Fenway Park scheduled for 7:10 pm has been postponed to support efforts of law enforcement officers," the Rex Sox announced on their Twitter account.

"We're going to do like everybody else," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "We're just waiting it out and seeing what happens.

"They're not opening the ballpark right now until the situation is resolved."

There was no immediate decision on when the Red Sox would reorganize their game but the NHL tentatively rescheduled the Bruins-Penguins game to Saturday afternoon.

The Penguins were supposed to play Buffalo on Saturday night but that game was moved to April 23.

It was the second time this week that the Bruins rescheduled a game. They were due to play the Ottawa Senators on Monday but moved it to April 28 after the bombing earlier in the day that killed three people and injured 176.

The Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers also had their National Basketball Association game on Tuesday cancelled.

The game was not rescheduled because the result would have had no impact on the seedings for the NBA playoffs, starting Saturday. The Celtics will open their postseason against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Saturday's National Women's Soccer League game in Boston was also rescheduled while the NewYork Red Bulls announced they would honor the Boston marathon victims before Saturday's game against New England Revolution.

The father-in-law of New England goalkeeper Matt Reis was seriously injured in Monday's blasts.

The normally traffic-clogged streets of Boston were eerily quiet on Friday as the search for an ethnic Chechen suspected in the bombings intensified.

Public transport was suspended, air space was restricted and famous universities, including Harvard and MIT, were closed after police ordered residents to remain at home.

"It's pretty scary," Royals reliever Tim Collins said.

"I've never been part of anything like this and, obviously, there are tons of people affected by it but you just have to wait and, hopefully, they get the guy."

(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto; Editing by Julian Linden)

The Austrian parachutist known as "Fearless Felix" reached 843.6 mph, according to the official numbers released Monday. That's equivalent to Mach 1.25, or 1.25 times the speed of sound.

His top speed initially was estimated last October at 834 mph, or Mach 1.24.

Either way, he became the first human to break the sound barrier with only his body. He wore a pressurized suit and jumped from a capsule hoisted by a giant helium balloon over New Mexico.

Baumgartner was supersonic for a half-minute "quite remarkable," according to Brian Utley, the official record-keeping official who was present for the Oct. 14 feat. His heart rate remained below 185 beats a minute, and his breathing was fairly steady.

The leap was from an altitude of 127,852 feet. That's 248 feet lower than original estimates.

"He jumped from a little bit lower, but he actually went a little bit faster, which was pretty exciting," said Art Thompson, technical project director for the Red Bull-sponsored project.

"It's fun for us to see reaching Mach speeds and proving out a lot of the safety systems," Thompson said in a phone interview from his aerospace company in Lancaster, Calif.

Thompson said everything pretty much unfolded as anticipated, with no surprises in the final report. The updated records were provided by Utley, official observer for the National Aeronautic Association's contest and records board. Utley was in Roswell, N.M., for Baumgartner's grand finale jump.

In the foreword of the 71-page report, Baumgartner said he never imagined how many people would share in his dream to make a supersonic free fall from so high.

Some 52 million people watched You Tube's live stream of the exploit.

The scientific and engineering experts who helped bring him back alive "broke boundaries in their own fields just as surely as I broke the sound barrier," Baumgartner wrote.

Baumgartner shattered the previous record for a free fall plunge, made by Joe Kittinger, an Air Force officer, in 1960. Kittinger did not quite reach supersonic speed during his jump from 19.5 miles up.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter Inc and Peoplebrowsr Inc, a social media analytics firm, reached a settlement that would allow Peoplebrowsr to continue to buy Twitter's data until the end of 2013, the two companies announced Thursday.

Beginning next year, Peoplebrowsr will have to purchase access to the full "firehose" of 400 million daily tweets through one of Twitter's authorized data resellers, according to the settlement's terms.

Peoplebrowsr, based in San Francisco, sifts through Twitter and resells social media "intelligence" to clients that include media organizations and the U.S. Department of Defense.

The legal dispute between the two companies flared last late year, when Twitter, which has been ramping up its operations as it approaches a widely anticipated initial public offering, began to exercise greater control over its content.

Although Twitter contends that individual users retain intellectual ownership over their tweets, the company has moved aggressively to block some firms from profiting off of its data.

Peoplebrowsr had been purchasing data from Twitter directly, rather than through a reseller, on a month-to-month basis before Twitter sought to end the arrangement last July.

Peoplebrowsr Chief Executive Andrew Grill said the settlement gave Peoplebrowsr the eight months it needed to "technically and commercially" figure out how to continue providing the same kind of analytical services.

"We got out of this settlement what we needed," he said.

Financial details of the settlement were not disclosed.

Twitter said in a statement: "We're pleased to have this matter dismissed with prejudice, and look forward to PeopleBrowsr's transition by the end of the year off of the Firehose to join the ecosystem of developers utilizing Twitter data via our reseller partnerships."

(Reporting by Gerry Shih; Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)

He was given an enormous blue and white cake, and savored a glass of wine and a sip of Bucanero, Cuba's domestic beer. Marrero smiled as his family applauded and smothered him in hugs.

In addition to his longevity, the former Washington Senator has much to celebrate this year. After a long wait, he finally received a $20,000 payout from Major League Baseball, granted to old-timers who played between 1947 and 1979.

The money had been held up since 2011 due to issues surrounding the 51-year-old U.S. embargo on Cuba, which prohibits most bank transfers to the Communist-run island. But the funds finally arrived in two parts, one at the end of last year, and the second a few months ago, according to Marrero's family.

Steve Rogers, a former Expos pitcher who is now an official at the Major League Baseball Players Association, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the funds were delivered to Marrero by hand, and with Washington's approval.

"Everything that he was entitled to has now been delivered to him. We found a way to get the funds to him," he said. "It was personally delivered and it was all sanctioned by the Treasury Department."

Rogers, who has followed Marrero's case closely, said it was an honor to be a part of the effort to get him the money he deserved.

"The oldest living major leaguer," Rogers marveled. "You tip your cap and say, you were from a different era but you played the same game. It is special to be a part of his life."

Marrero's family has used some of the money to buy him a new ventilator and bed, as well as wine, ham, cigars, juice and other delicacies that would be outside his budget, said Marrero's grandson, Rogelio. Like most Cuban pensioners, Marrero receives less than $20 from the state each month.

"My grandfather was always very particular about what he would eat," Rogelio said Wednesday as relatives prepared for the birthday. "Thanks to this we can buy him peach juice, which is his favorite."

These days, Marrero is hard of hearing, blind, and has considerable trouble speaking. He spends much of the day sleeping or listening to Cuban ballgames on the radio.

But he still perks up when asked about his glory days, demonstrating how to throw a slider and reminiscing about long ago confrontations with Ted Williams and other big league legends.

"All the batters were the same to me," Marrero said when asked about his long-ago rivals. "But I had more trouble with the lefties."

When he heard the name Larry Doby the Hall of Fame Cleveland Indian center fielder who was the first black player to play in the American League Marrero's face contorted in mock frustration.

"My grandfather has never forgotten how Doby hit three home runs against him in a single day," explained Rogelio. "He always says Doby was the guy who hit the best against him."

At 5-foot-5 and 158 pounds, Marrero relied on guile to get batters out, compiling a 39-40 record and a 3.67 ERA in five seasons with the Senators from 1950 to 1954.

"Connie Marrero had a windup that looked like a cross between a windmill gone berserk and a mallard duck trying to fly backwards," former big league star Felipe Alou once said of the diminutive Cuban, according to a biography of Marrero by the Society for American Baseball Research.

Marrero was born on April 25, 1911 in the small town of Sagua la Grande in the central Cuban province of Villa Clara, and he took his time getting into organized ball.

He played in amateur and semi-pro events in the early 1930s, raising eyebrows with his vicious curve and slider. In 1938, he joined a Cienfuegos team that was sponsored by a local men's clothing store, and which was about to become part of a budding Cuban league.

By the time he reached the big leagues, Marrero was already 39, an age when most other players have long since retired. But he made the most of his opportunity, even being named to the 1951 All-Star team.

After his stint in the big leagues, Marrero came back to Cuba, ending his career with the Havana Sugar Kings in 1957. Two years later, Fidel Castro's rebels swept into power. Marrero became a coach and roving instructor, working well into his 80s.

Even at 102, he continues to be interested in baseball and counts himself a fan of Cienfuegos, the team which is leading the Cuban league at the moment.

But Marrero's true love is his great-granddaughter Sandra.

When the 12-year-old returned home from school on Wednesday, the day before the birthday, Marrero reached out to take her hand and kiss it.

"Sandra, Sandra," he repeated as she leaned down to embrace him.

___

Associated Press writer Paul Haven contributed to this report.

___

Follow Anne-Marie Garcia on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AnneMarie279

INDIO, California (Reuters) - Grammy-winning French indie rock band Phoenix headlined the Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival on Saturday, bringing R&B singer R. Kelly as their special guest on stage amid rumors that French electro duo Daft Punk would join them.

Phoenix's lead singer Thomas Mars, Deck d'Arcy, Laurent Brancowitz and Christian Mazzalai, played a selection of old and new songs against the star-lit backdrop of the festival, held in the desert in Indio, California.

The band, which is due to release its album "Bankrupt!" on April 22, sang new songs "Entertainment" and "The Real Thing". It also serenaded the crowd with favorites from its last album, "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix", such as "Lisztomania" and "Fences".

Kelly's appearance came as a surprise to an audience expecting to see Daft Punk after a teaser music video by the electronic group was played at the start of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' set on Friday.

He joined Phoenix for a mash-up of his hit single "Ignition" with Phoenix's hit "1901".

This is the third time Phoenix has performed at Coachella and its first time headlining the annual three-day event.

"Our vision of Coachella is that you can never be medium. It's either fantastic or a big catastrophe, we don't like medium things. For us, it's always been an extreme experience. The first time we played was our worst show ever, and the second time was one of our best shows ever, it's either a huge failure or success," Mazzalai told Reuters ahead of the band's set.

After the success of the 2009 album "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix", which spawned hits such as "1901" and won a Grammy for best alternative music album, Phoenix returned to the studio to record "Bankrupt!".

"We have the album of our dreams and there was no compromising at all. In three years, we grew up and we have a different vision, but we're still the same with having total freedom," Mazzalai said.

"Bankrupt!" was inspired by the idea of "starting from scratch with a clean slate" and led the band to explore new ideas and themes, he said.

DJS GET COACHELLA DANCING

Los Angeles indie electro-rock group The Postal Service warmed up the crowd ahead of The xx and Phoenix's headline slot.

The group, led by Death Cab For A Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard, set a mellow and dream-like vibe as darkness fell over the festival grounds.

British indie pop band The xx pumped up the tempo with tracks such as "Islands" and featured special guest Solange Knowles, sister of singer Beyonce, performing a cover of Aaliyah's "Hot Like Fire."

"It really is a dream come true to be playing the main stage," lead singer Romy Madley-Croft said to the crowd.

While rock acts dominated the Coachella line-up this year, festival organizers made sure to include dance acts to stick with their tradition of providing a stage for the growing influence of electronic dance music.

Baauer, the 23-year-old DJ behind viral YouTube hit "Harlem Shake", performed early on Saturday and made the crowd wait until the end to hear his hit song.

"Harlem Shake" has led to a trend in which people make videos of themselves standing still during the first part of the song before breaking into wild, energetic dancing.

Italian DJ Benny Benassi was one of the highlights at the Coachella dance tent, with the crowd spilling out as they reveled in his dance-floor tracks. British dance act Hot Chip kept the party going with crowd-pleasers including "Over and Over" and "Ready For The Floor".

Rapper 2 Chainz, one of the few R&B and hip hop acts at Coachella this year, performed as did British electro-folk musician Bat for Lashes.

British folk artist Ben Howard played a soft set of songs from his "Every Kingdom" album, while the Dropkick Murphys got the audience dancing with their crowd-rousing Irish rock tracks including "Rose Tattoo".

(Additional reporting by Mario Anzuoni; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Gwyneth Paltrow is throwing a little shade (all in good fun) toward her "Iron Man 3" co-star, Robert Downey Jr.

The actress spilled some secrets about just how difficult it is to suit up in Tony Stark's butt-kicking armor suit.

"It's quite cumbersome, but not so bad. I thought it was going to be terrible because in the first two movies Robert would put on the suit and start sweating, he'd have a nervous breakdown and would meditate and cry. He was in hell," Gwyneth said during an appearance on this week's "Graham Norton Show."

But how did the GOOP guru, who plays Pepper Potts in the latest Marvel movie, feel about the physicality needed to wear the suit?

"So, I was like, 'Wow, I'd better start mentally preparing myself for the suit,' and I put it on and was like, 'This guy is a wimp, it's really not that bad,'" she continued.

"Iron Man 3" opens on May 3.

-- Jesse Spero

Copyright 2013 by . All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Blood Testing for Harrington's Former Patients

In aprovided by the Tulsa Health Department on Tuesday, it was reported that more than 2,500 people have received free blood testing through that county's agencies, nearly 60 more through the Oklahoma City-County Health Department and nearly 600 others through 30 other various county health departments, bringing the.

Situation updates yesterday by both the Oklahoma State Department of Health and Tulsa Health Department revealed that of the total tested thus far, 57 people have tested positively for hepatitis C, three have tested positively for hepatitis B, and at least one person has tested positively for HIV -- all conditions that are blood-borne.

Confidential, personal notifications have begun to be made to those who tested positive and further investigation into the origins of the positive test results will begin, as is routine for any positive results of such testing, explained, director of the Tulsa Health Department.explained that questions and investigations will help to determine whether the positive tests were as a result of exposure through Harrington's actions or another method and the public will be updated as further information is available.

Dentist Waives Hearing

Harrington, the dentist whose practices are at the center of this public health dilemma, was scheduled for a hearing Friday with the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry for possible suspension of his dental license. Through his attorney, Harrington notified the board that he waived today's hearing, reported, and is now scheduled for an Aug. 16 hearing for possible revocation of his license.

Harrington voluntarily surrendered his credentials to officials March 20, and both his Tulsa and Owasso offices are closed.

Free Blood Testing Continues

For current and former patients living in the Tulsa area, free blood testing continues to be offered at the North Regional Health and Wellness Center. While walk-ins are taken, it is advised to call the Center at 918-595-4380 to schedule an appointment for testing to minimize wait time.

Current and former patients of Harrington living elsewhere in the state should contact their local county health department for testing availability.

A Patient Information hotline, 918-595-4500, is available for questions or concerns. Both English- and Spanish-speaking representatives are available Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. through 5 p.m.

Bottom Line

It is too early in the blood testing process to determine how many, if any, of the people who have tested positive for blood-borne diseases acquired them through unsanitary dental practices or were exposed in another way. In the meantime, current and former patients of Harrington should continue to avail themselves of the free blood testing.