Newsdesk Archive
Wastewater streaming out of our households contains nearly 20 percent more potential energy than previously believed, a new study has found.If confirmed, the results could spur efforts to extract methane, hydrogen and other fuels from this largely untapped resource."Given the huge amount of wastewater globally and the potential energy stored within it, it is important that this potential energy should be determined," Elizabeth Heidrich and her colleagues at Newcastle University in Britain report in the latest issue of Environmental Science and Technology.
Since 1880, the obelisk known as Cleopatra's Needle has stood in New York's Central Park, but a letter from the secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities indicates that this may change if the monument is not taken better care of.Recently, Zahi Hawass, the aforementioned secretary general and archaeologist, wrote to the Central Park Conservancy and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to inform them that if steps are not taken to protect the obelisk, it would be removed.
He rocks. He rolls. He sucks. He kicks. He tongues. He handles. He flips. He touches. There's not a single item in this living room that 9 month old Charles-Edward (aka Edward) doesn't explore (for a while I thought he'd ignore the chair in the upper left corner, but no...).Edward (son of Quebec City journalist/photographer Francis Vachon) is a rolling demonstration of what the neuroscientists call "synaptic exuberance." You can't see what's happening in his brain, but he is forming ten, twenty thousand new connections every second. Watch him go.
One of the most well-known celestial objects still has some tricks up its sleeve, according to a new discovery of surprising gamma-ray flares coming from the famous Crab Nebula.The Crab, long-considered such a steady celestial light that it was used to calibrate other sources, has now had three flare-ups where it brightened significantly in the gamma-ray range for a few days, astronomers report.
Physicists who train their thoughts on the sun have long been perplexed by why its outer atmosphere is millions of degrees hotter than the surface. While theories abound, no direct observations have been made of the mysterious processes that heat the sun's atmosphere ... until now.With the help of some state-of-the-art technology, a team of scientists thinks it has discovered an important piece of the puzzle. The results of the new study suggest that the scorching heat of the solar atmosphere is continuously replenished by jets of plasma that scream upward from the surface of the sun at supersonic speeds.
A flightless bird with wings like martial arts weapons once thrashed its foes on what's now Jamaica, a new study says.Dubbed Xenicibis, the prehistoric bird wielded its unusual wings like nunchucks, or nunchakus, swinging its upper arms so that thick, curved hand bones hinged at the wrist would deliver punishing blows.The weapon-like wings are so unique that study co-author Nicholas Longrich of Yale University at first assumed the odd limbs were evidence of a deformity.
Follow-up cruises in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was plugged found that microorganisms consumed all of the excess methane, reducing levels to background within about four months of the start of the spill, according to findings published today."It was remarkable," said John Kessler of Texas A&M University in College Station, lead author of the study, in Science. "We had gone out there assuming that there would be plenty of methane still there and the fact was that it was all gone.
The new year invariably inspires reflections on the passage of time -- in my case, I've been pondering the 600-year history of the Prague Astronomical Clock (or Prague Orloj), mounted on the southern wall of Prague's Old Town Hall in the Czech Republic.It's an impressively complicated timepiece. There is an astronomical dial -- essentially a mechanical astrolabe -- showing the position of the sun and the moon; an hourly "Walk of the Apostles" featuring moving statues of the 12 apostles; and a calendar dial showing the months.There are also four carved wooden figures that are set in motion each hour, representing Vanity, Greed, Death, and Blasphemy (the Infidel). And yes, there's an iPhone/iPad app for that -- three, in fact, all based on the Prague Orloj.
Not many people would use the word "transparent" to describe cement. But transparent cement made its debut at the Italian Pavilion during the World Expo last year in Shanghai, and its qualities are pretty remarkable.The complete process has not been revealed by manufacturer Italcementi, but the technology is based on a matrix of cement embedded with resins that are designed to allow a certain amount of light through without compromising the material's integrity.
Humans began to wear clothing 170,000 years ago, concludes a new study that suggests our ancestors first put on clothes after the second-to-last Ice Age, when being nude must have been too cool for comfort.The evidence comes from seemingly very unfashionable lice, since scientists tracked when head lice evolved into clothing/body lice around 170,000 years ago. So lice have been with us since the world's first clothes were made.The study, published in this month's Molecular Biology and Evolution journal, explains how DNA sequencing of the parasites was used to calculate when clothing lice first began to genetically diverge from human head lice
The Brisbane River has broken its banks amid dire predictions of the biggest floods to hit Queensland's capital since 1974.The weather bureau says the river is expected to reach major flood levels tomorrow afternoon and rise further on Thursday.It is believed 9,000 homes will be inundated as floodwaters race towards the city.Some areas have received up to 150 millimetres of rain in three hours.
TEHRAN -- A team of archaeologists working on Bam riverside in Kerman Province have recently unearthed ruins of a large ancient site, which are believed to belong to a 5000-year-old civilization.The site was discovered while excavating for a construction project in the Khajeh Askar region near the city of Bam, team director Nader Alidadi-Soleimani told the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency on Tuesday.
BHUJ: In a remarkable finding, officials of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have recovered a number of artifacts belonging to Harappan era from Khirsara (Netra-Gadhwali) in Nakhatrana taluka of Kutch district during an ongoing excavation.
Scientists are planning an attempt to extract DNA from the 'hobbit' Homo floresiensis, the 1-metre-tall extinct distant relative of modern humans that was unearthed in Indonesia, following a study that suggests problems in standard sampling methods in ancient-DNA research could have thwarted previous efforts.This year, geneticists at the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) at the University of Adelaide hope to recover DNA from a roughly 18,000-year-old H. floresiensis tooth, which was excavated in 2009 from the Liang Bua site on the Indonesian island of Flores.
Austrian officials plan to exhume a mass grave near a psychiatric hospital that could contain victims of the Nazis' so-called euthanasia program.Officials in the western Austrian city of Hall told UPI that they will begin digging in March, when the ground thaws. The process could take two years.The Irish Times reported that construction workers at the hospital, about 6 miles east of Innsbruck, found 220 decomposed bodies while they were excavating the site for a new building.
A giant bluefin tuna fetched a record 32.49 million yen, or nearly $396,000, in Tokyo on Wednesday, in the first auction of the year at the world's largest wholesale fish market.The price for the 754-pound (342-kilogram) tuna beat the previous record set in 2001 when a 445-pound (202-kilogram) fish sold for 20.2 million yen, a spokesman for Tsukiji market said.."It was an exceptionally large fish," said the official, Yutaka Hasegawa. "But we were all surprised by the price
He was a 21-year-old with the mind of a child who was kidnapped, killed, and buried in secret nearly four decades ago.Friday, Peter Wilson was finally laid to rest in his native west Belfast. Authorities discovered his remains last month and identified them this week.
We're several dozen feet beneath Berlin, in a low-ceilinged concrete lair. The walls are marked with phosphorescent arrows, still glowing after more than 60 years, that point the way through heavy, gas-tight steel doors to other rooms in this warren of underground bunkers.This was where the residents of a working-class Berlin neighborhood sought refuge during the air raids of 1945. The floors are strewn with rusty ammunition, guns, old boots, helmets, rations, military cots - items that offer vivid testament to wartime Berlin. Here it's easy to imagine the bombs thudding overhead, the city erupting in flames, families huddled together, praying for safety. Suddenly the stories that old Berliners tell about traumatic experiences during the allied air raids of World War II come to life.
NASA has never been an exclamation-point outfit. The folks who work there may do extraordinary things, but they tend to talk about them in the dry and uninflected tones of the engineers they are.So it was something of a departure last week when, after an unmanned version of what may well be the next spacecraft that will carry American astronauts into orbit took off from Cape Canaveral and returned home safely, the first official dispatch read simply: "SPLASHDOWN!!!" Unfamiliar too was how the announcement was made: it was a tweet.
Thousands of dead turtle doves rained down on roofs and cars in an Italian town in the latest in a growing spate of mass animal deaths across the globe.Residents in Faenza described the birds falling to the ground like 'little Christmas balls' with strange blue stains on their beaks.Initial tests on up to 8,000 of the doves indicated that the blue stain could have been caused by poisoning or hypoxia.A witness emailed MINA: 'We have no idea why this happened all of a sudden.'The doves just started falling one-by-one then in groups of 10s and 20s.
The planet's northern magnetic pole is drifting slowly but steadily towards Russia -- and it's throwing off planes in Florida.Tampa International Airport was forced to readjust its runways Thursday to account for the movement of the Earth's magnetic fields, information that pilots rely upon to navigate planes. Thanks to the fluctuations in the force, the airport has closed its primary runway until Jan. 13 to change taxiway signs to account for the shift, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
EXAMINERDead birds, dead fish update: Did overeating cause Italy turtle dove deaths?The ongoing reports of dead birds and fish is continuing to make headlines in the UK and around the world.On Monday, the Daily Mail quoted an expert who believes that the 1,000 turtle doves that fell from the sky in Italy were killed as a result of overeating.
Don't think of this as another sign of the apocalypse, but Earth's magnetic north pole has been shifting enough that Tampa's airport has to repaint the numbers on its runways.Tampa International Airport in Florida has closed its primary runway until Jan. 13 to change the numeric designations at each end, as well as the signage on taxiways leading to the runway. The Tampa Tribune said the runway had been designated 18R/36L, indicating its alignment along the 180-degree approach from the north and the 360-degree approach from the south. Now the numbers are being revised to read 19R/1L (190 degrees and 10 degrees).Two other runways will be closed later this month for a similar signage change, the Tribune reported.
Our own sun might represent the best communications device around, if only we could harness its power, scientists say.If the sun's gravity could be used to create a giant telescope, people could send and receive intensely magnified signals that could allow us to call an alien civilization, some researchers propose.According to Einstein's general relativity, the sun's behemoth mass warps space-time around it, which actually bends light rays passing by like a giant lens. If a detector was placed at the right focal distance to collect the light, the resulting image would be extremely magnified.
An oil company has confirmed it has been successful in drilling for oil in a corner of ancient woodland in West Sussex.Northern Petroleum began drilling at Markwells Wood in the South Downs in November.The firm said it would now carry out further tests to determine the site's potential.Derek Musgrove, the managing director of Northern Petroleum, said the results so far had been encouraging.
He stood about 2.4m tall, earned his living from street shows and died at 22.Now researchers have found that Charles Byrne, the most famous giant in medical history, sprang from a mutant gene that first appeared 1500 years ago and is still causing excessive growth in families in the same area of Northern Ireland where he was born.The current "race of giants" is concentrated in a small area, but researchers requested its location not be disclosed to protect residents from curious onlookers.
Later today you are going to do something, something you don't know about yet.Yet somehow, it's already happened. Somehow, it's already affected you.Huh.
Astronomers over the past decade have made remarkable progress in the study of extrasolar planets; over 500 distant worlds are now confirmed. Meanwhile, as this active research community continues to discover and characterize more planets and planetary systems, another group of scientists has been asking the question, "Where do these planets come from in the first place?".
A research team from ETH Zurich, PSI, and Caltech demonstrates the stable, efficient and rapid generation of solar fuels. They apply a thermochemical cycle based on ceria redox reactions to thermochemically split water and CO2 using a novel solar cavity-receiver reactor under concentrated solar radiation. Their remarkable findings are reported in the latest issue of Science.
When you are a public relations disaster like Neanderthal man, there are certain deep seated prejudices that even the slickest spin doctor might struggle to overcome. However recent research has shown that there is so many things we don't know about Neanderthal man.When you are a public relations disaster like Neanderthal man, there are certain deep seated prejudices that even the slickest spin doctor might struggle to overcome.Being extinct for about 30,000 years does not help. Nor does the reality that your name is a byword for brutish, if not downright thuggish, behaviour that typically manifests itself in a cartoon in which you are shown as a knuckle-dragging cave man wearing little more than a woolly mammoth skin, carrying a massive club and dragging Mrs Neanderthal around by her hair.
Why humans shed emotional tears has long been a biological puzzle. A new study suggests one intriguing possibility, at least for why women cry: The odor of their tears may send an unconscious signal to men to "back off."For, according to the study's findings, when men get a whiff of a woman's tears, their testosterone levels fall dramatically and their ability to become sexually aroused is also dampened.
Shankaranarayanan Akkithiripadu teaches his 8-year old grandson, Shankar, to memorize and chant thousands of verses of Sanskrit rhythmic incantations from the ancient holy Hindu scripture, the Rig Veda, in the same manner that it has been taught for over three millennia.
Maybe the Mayans were on to something?That's surely what students of the famed Mayan 2012 prophecy for the end of the world had to be thinking with the news of recent eerie wildlife die-offs in Arkansas. Just as the calendar nudged a year closer to that fateful date, birds began falling from the sky in Arkansas and a massive fish kill occurred some 125 miles to the west.
More than 30 years after NASA's Viking landers found no evidence for organic materials on Mars, scientists say a new experiment on Mars-like soil shows Viking did, in fact, hit pay dirt.The new study was prompted by the August 2008 discovery of powerful oxygen-busting compounds known as perchlorates at the landing site of another Mars probe called Phoenix.Scientists repeated a key Viking experiment using perchlorate-enhanced soil from Chile's Atacama Desert, which is considered one of the driest and most Mars-like places on Earth, and found telltale fingerprints of combusted organics -- the same chemicals Viking scientists dismissed as contaminants from Earth.
Hail, lightning and gales came through the state's eastern region this summer thanks to scientist-puppetmasters.As part of a secret program to control the weather in the Middle East, scientists working for the United Arab Emirates government artificially created rain where rain is generally nowhere to be found. The $11 million project, which began in July, put steel lampshade-looking ionizers in the desert to produce charged particles. The negatively charged ions rose with the hot air, attracting dust. Moisture then condensed around the dust and eventually produced a rain cloud. A bunch of rain clouds.
THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I SYSTEMNew research by an international team of scholars shows early human colonization of Eastern Polynesia took place much faster and more recently than previously established.The team of scholars describe their discoveries in a December 27 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition article (www.pnas.org) titled "High-precision radiocarbon dating shows recent and rapid colonization of East Polynesia." The study is co-authored by UH Mānoa professor of anthropology and director of the UH Mānoa Honors Program, Terry Hunt; team leader and paleoecologist Janet Wilmshurst of Landcare Research in Lincoln, New Zealand; Carl Lipo, associate professor of anthropology at California State University, Long Beach; and Atholl Anderson, professor of prehistory, archaeology and natural history at Australia National University's College of Asia and the Pacific in Canberra.
It's 1988. Workers building a road in Mt. Vernon, Ind. damage an ancient burial mound, causing a treasure trove of silver and copper to pour from the ground. A bulldozer operator decides to grab some of the treasure. He ends up in prison for looting.It sounds like the plot of an Indiana Jones film, only it's not a movie. The treasure belonged to a mysterious and advanced culture that flourished in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. nearly 2,000 years ago. Because it predates the written record, this prehistoric culture doesn't have a Native American name but in the 1800s, archaeologists dubbed it the Hopewell Tradition.
The recommended level of fluoride in U.S. drinking water supplies should be lowered to prevent dental problems, according to a joint announcement today by officials from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).The HHS is recommending that water supplies contain 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water, replacing the current recommended range of 0.7 to 1.2 milligrams.
Ask someone to name their favourite fossils and the chances are they will point to the ammonites.These coiled remains of ancient squid-like creatures are in every child's rock collection.The animals were a big success, filling the oceans for 350 million years before going extinct with the dinosaurs.Now, exquisite X-ray images featured in Science magazine are providing new insights on how the ammonites lived and perhaps also on why they died out.
The ruins of the ancient city of Babylon lay unprotected during the Iraq war. Now archaeologists have returned to the site for the first time since 2003.Lisa Ackerman is an excavator working on the Mesopotamia project. Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live, she says the site has had "nearly a decade of neglect."Ackerman tells presenter Rhod Sharp about the vastness of the historic buildings; "When you look at pictures of the Ishtar Temple or the Processional Way, the walls are metres thick.
Britain has just gone through its coldest December since nationwide records began 100 years ago, the Met Office said on Wednesday.The country shivered as temperatures averaged minus 1 degree Celsius, well below the long-term average of 4.2 degrees, and colder than the previous record for the month of 0.1 degrees hit in 1981.
Machu Picchu, the picturesque ancient mountain-top remains known the world over, still excites the imagination of archaeologists and the public to this day. But who really built this ancient wonder, and why? What were these people like? What did they believe? Who were their leaders and what are the stories behind them? There are few answers to these questions. Archaeologists have been attempting to find these answers through new investigations and excavations.
Engineering professors at McGill University have constructed a new type of wheel, designed for the moon but inspired by the humble beanbag chair. These wheels allow a rover to climb objects taller than the wheel's diameter, as well as functioning as impressive shock absorbers for traversing difficult terrain--great news for those disgusted with the slow pace of the "pave the moon" movement.
While 2010 saw many historic successes in spaceflight and space science, plenty of things went wrong, too.For example, several rockets failed to deliver their scientific payloads, Japan's Venus probe Akatsuki missed the planet entirely, and a NASA balloon crashed spectacularly in the Australian desert, destroying its telescope payload and smashing into a parked car.
A Medieval crucifix that was discovered by a Metal Detector may find a permanent home in Dorset, UK.At an inquest at County Hall in Dorchester, West Dorset coroner Michael Johnston said the artefact was found by John Sharp in a ploughed field at farmland near Winterborne Kingston in January this year.Mr Johnston said that Mr Sharp, from Parkstone, found the silver and gold crucifix six inches below the ground using a metal detector.
Irish state papers, which have just been released, have cast further light into the destruction of the well-preserved Viking city found in Dublin in the early 1980sThe then Taoiseach Charles Haughey was advised to order fast-tracked excavations of Viking Dublin at Wood Quay to resolve the long-running dispute over its redevelopment.A Government briefing memo urged archaeological digs be speeded up and spread across the entire site as a means of selling the project to opponents, including former president Mary Robinson.
For decades, geologists have known that Vietnam is home to some of the world's most spectacular caves, many of them largely unexplored. Now husband-and-wife cavers have documented perhaps the world's largest: Hang Son Doong, big enough in places to accommodate a New York City block of skyscrapers.The cave in the Annamite Mountains contains a river and jungle (its name translates to "mountain river cave") and even its own thin clouds, and its end remains out of sight. It's part of a network of about 150 caves in central Vietnam near the Laotian border.
US biotech company Advanced Cell Technology said Monday it was cleared by government regulators to start its second trial using human embryonic stem cells to treat blindness, this time in older people.The trial will examine the therapy's ability to safely treat people with a condition known as dry age-related macular degeneration, the most common form of irreversible vision loss in people over age 60.
An isolated community near the Black Sea coast in a remote part of north-eastern Turkey has been found to speak a Greek dialect that is remarkably close to the extinct language of ancient Greece.As few as 5,000 people speak the dialect but linguists believe that it is the closest, living language to ancient Greek and could provide an unprecedented insight into the language of Socrates and Plato and how it evolved.
Burial chambers of Urartian King Argishti and his family in the western wing of the ancient castle in the eastern province of Van was opened for the first time.The Anatolia news agency took photographs and video of the burial chambers which were closed to visitors.
The Egyptian vulture population of the Canary Islands was established following the arrival of the first human settlers who brought livestock to the islands. A genetic comparison of Iberian and Canarian birds, published in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology, found that the Egyptian vulture population in the Canary Islands was likely established around 2500 years ago -- around the same time as humans began to colonise the islands.Rosa Agudo worked with a team of researchers from the Doñana Biological Station, Seville, Spain, to investigate genetic and morphological changes between 143 Iberian birds and 242 from Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands. She said, "We found that the island vultures are significantly heavier and larger than those from Iberia. The establishment of this insular population took place some 2500 years ago, matching the date of human colonization. Our results suggest that human activity can trigger divergent evolution and that this process may take place on a relatively brief time scale.
Humankind's oldest known ancestor probably lived in fear of several large sabretooth cats that roamed the same ancient lakeside habitat in Africa.Palaeontologists have identified two new sabretooth species among fossils unearthed at Toros Menalla in Chad.In 2001, a team unearthed remains of a seven million-year-old human-like creature - or hominid - known as "Toumai" at the central African site.Its discoverers argue that Toumai is the oldest hominid known to science.
When it comes to brain size, bigger doesn't always mean better. As humans continue to evolve, scientists say our brains are actually getting smaller.The downsizing of human brains is an evolutionary fact that took science writer Kathleen McAuliffe by surprise.
LONDON: British defence scientists have developed what they claim is a revolutionary new gadget which can help soldiers pinpoint the exact position of enemy snipers 1,000 yards away.A team at Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Wiltshire has developed the tiny computerized "sniper spotter" which would be trialled this month with the Parachute Regiment in war-ravaged Afghanistan, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
Sex, booze and strange animal tricks: You had to know the 2011 Weird Science Awards would hit on those themes. After all, past award winners have included scientists' successful quest to reattach rabbit penises, a 2,700-year-old marijuana stash and glow-in-the-dark kitties. This year, msnbc.com users were asked to select the weirdest stories from a list of 30 nominees. Click ahead to count down the top 10 selections, plus some bonus picks.
As folks here on Earth mark the start of another year, two NASA robots a world away are creeping up on a big milestone of their own: seven years on the surface of Mars.The golf-cart-size rover Spirit landed on Mars on Jan. 4, 2004. Its twin, Opportunity, hit the planet's red dirt three weeks later, on Jan. 25. The rovers were originally supposed to tool around the Martian surface for a mere 90 days, looking for evidence of the planet's past water activity, but both have far outlasted their warranties.
Imagine the commute of the future: "The Jetsons," or more "Blade Runner"?Will family sedans crisscross in blue skies, or will machines crawl past craggy skylines in perpetual night?Such visions are staples of the entertainment business but deservedly scarce in universities, government and industry. None have the crystal ball that shows which future technologies and behaviors -- some of which would surely astonish today's city slicker -- have become routine.
Human embryonic stem cells have inspired hope and loathing in almost equal measure. Next year hESCs could prove their worth, thanks to trials of two very different treatments.HESCs are unique in their ability to form all 200 tissues of the human body. In principle, cells derived from them could regenerate almost any tissue or organ. But because they come from embryos that are later destroyed, their use is controversial. To pacify the opposition the stem cells need to live up to expectation.
Why drag yourself to work through rush-hour traffic when you can stay at home and send a remote-controlled robot instead?Firms in the US and Japan are already selling robot avatars that allow office workers to be in two places at once. So 2011 could be the year when many of us find ourselves sitting across the desk from an electronic colleague.Californian company Willow Garage is developing a so-called telepresence robot called Texai, while Anybots, also in California, recently launched the QB office bot.
Thousands of blackbirds fell from the sky dead on New Year's Eve, shocking residents of central Arkansas. Speculation mounted quickly as to possible causes for such large numbers of birds to fall from the sky, and AP reported several carcasses were sent to be tested in government labs:Wildlife experts are trying to solve an apocalyptic-type mystery: Why did nearly 3,000 red-winged blackbirds tumble from the Arkansas sky on New Year's Eve?
Birds dropping dead from the skies and rivers flowing with tens of thousands of dead fish sounds like a cheesy Hollywood movie about the Apocalypse. Or the ravings of a Revelation-obsessed street preacher.But residents of several US states are coping with the reality of mystery mass wildlife deaths, which have left officials scratching their heads and jumpy members of the public joking (nervously) about the end of the world.Today it emerged that about 500 red-winged blackbirds and starlings had been found dead in Louisiana. Their tiny corpses littered a short stretch of highway near the city of Labarre after apparently falling dead from the sky.
A Princeton University researcher has identified the owner of a New Testament papyrus that dates to the time of Constantine the Great.Constantine was the Roman emperor who allowed Christians to practice freely, ending hundreds of years of persecution. His decision led people throughout the empire to convert and disseminate the New Testament.Now, thanks to this new discovery, we know the story of one of these Christians.
Syria (Sweida) - Six archaeological tombs and antique finds dating back to the Byzantine and Roman eras were unearthed by Sweida's excavation mission at the site of Imtan in South of Syria.Head of the mission Hussein Zen-Eddein said the tombs and finds uncovered belong to a family cemetery, adding that they contain clay lanterns and bronze bracelets and earrings.
MSNBCYou won't have to take the Bible literally to be swept away by a full-size replica of Noah's ark, says the creationist ministry intent on building one in Kentucky with state aid.Nor will you have to be a true believer to work at the 800-acre park near Williamstown, about 65 miles northeast of Louisville and roughly midway between Lexington, Ky., and Cincinnati, just off Interstate 75.
Gonzalo Rubio spends his days reading dead languages that haven't been spoken for thousands of years. An assyriologist at Pennsylvania State University, Rubio studies the world's very first written languages, Sumerian and Akkadian, which were used in ancient Mesopotamia (an area covering modern-day Iraq).
An abundance of rodents from prehistoric Africa can tell us a lot about conditions and environments influencing human evolution, researchers say.Paleontologist Alisa J. Winkler at Southern Methodist University says fossils of rodents, one of the most common mammals in Africa for the past 50 million years, can corroborate evidence from geology and plant and other animal fossils about the ancient environments where our human ancestors and other prehistoric mammals evolved, ScienceDaily.com reported Wednesday.
This is part three and the final part in the series of Aztec Blood rituals with blood sacrifice using examples of information sourced from various Mexican Codices and other documents and will include some Aztec creation myths and religious doctrine to hypothesise the true meaning and belief behind the Aztec people's constant need for ritualistic blood sacrifices.
ARCHAEOLOGY IN NORTH AMERICA, as popularized by the popular press, visual media and tourist industry, tends to focus on a few specific areas; The Four Corners Region and its cliff dwellings, pueblos and prehistoric roadways, the Mississippian Period in the Southeast with its large villages and massive pyramidal temple mounds, and the age of European contact. Few have extolled the achievements of what archaeologists call the great "Woodland Period", and more particularly the Middle Woodland. Though it has been left out of the limelight, the Middle Woodland Period of the southeastern United States has nevertheless added a very important chapter to the prehistory of native americans on the North American continent.
Climate change is altering diets and lifestyles among Inuit people, according to a scientist who has studied the human face of global warming in the Arctic.Barry Smit, a professor at the University of Guelph, Canada, has spent five years leading research projects into how melting ice and changes in wildlife habits are impacting the lives and livelihoods of far northern communities.
Researchers have reported in the Journal of Human Evolution that the long held belief that the Neanderthal nose was a result of adaptations to extreme cold may not be all it seems.Many of the morphological features of Homo neanderthalensis, including the reputed large size of its paranasal sinuses, have been interpreted as adaptations to extreme cold, as some Neanderthals lived in Europe during glacial periods.
A handful of ancient human remains from Israel garnered a huge burst of media coverage this week, as claims that the finds could "rewrite the history of human evolution" were quickly followed by a backlash from the blogosphere.Many of the initial reports were based on a Tel Aviv University press release about a paper published in The American Journal of Physical Anthropology1 by Israeli and Spanish scientists. The paper detailed the discovery, in Qesem Cave near Tel Aviv, of eight human teeth dating to between 200,000 and 400,000 years ago. This makes them among the oldest significant early human remains found anywhere in southwest Asia.
Fossils of a new species of ancient crocodile cousin have been found in limestone once destined for Italian kitchen countertops, a new study says.The fossils were originally discovered in a limestone quarry in Ferrara, Italy, in 1955 after workers sliced a huge block into four slabs and found the bones trapped inside."When the owner noticed the bones, he decided to save" the slabs, said study co-author Federico Fanti, a geologist at the Museo Geologico Giovanni Capellini in Italy.
An influx of invasive species can stop the dominant natural process of new species formation and trigger mass extinction events, according to research results published today in the journal PLoS ONE.The study of the collapse of Earth's marine life 378 to 375 million years ago suggests that the planet's current ecosystems, which are struggling with biodiversity loss, could meet a similar fate.
Chemists at the University at Buffalo have synthesized a new class of photosensitizing dyes that greatly increase the efficiency of light-driven systems that produce two kinds of green energy: Solar electricity and clean-burning hydrogen fuel.On a commercial scale, these advancements could form the basis of cost-effective technologies to power everything from household appliances to hydrogen vehicles.
A recent discovery by a University of Florida geologist may lend support to the theory that one of the defining moments of evolution may not have occurred as currently thought.While studying the ancient microcontinents that make up the geography of central Kazakhstan in Asia, geological sciences professor Joe Meert and colleagues uncovered evidence that multi-cellular organisms may have evolved 100 million years earlier than previously thought, well before the Cambrian Era. His findings are published online today in the journal Gondwana Research.
The family of Frank Buckles, the nation's lone living veteran of World War I, hopes he makes it to his 110th birthday about a month from now, despite troubling signs he is on the decline.Buckles, who was born February 1, 1901, is thought to be the world's oldest living war veteran. Buckles has slowed down considerably in just the past two months, according to his daughter Susannah Buckles Flanagan, who lives with him at the family home near Charles Town, in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. A family friend who visited two weeks ago says he is awake just a few hours a day.
Archaeologists have unearthed a stone tablet from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.The tablet, measuring 71 centimeters high, was discovered at the Tianchi Scenic Zone in the Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang in October, said Yu Zhiyong, chief of the cultural relics and archaeological institute of Xinjiang.
Two rare early 1600s letters expressing Spanish King Phillip III's fears about the new English settlement at Jamestown have been given to Colonial Williamsburg by a best-selling crime writer.Patricia Cornwell, whose interest in the Jamestown Rediscovery archaeological project dates back more than a decade, acquired the historic letters several years ago at the New York auction of an old Spanish family archive..
WASHINGTON: Sure, we have heard of solar powered heaters and calculators, even plans for a Japanese space station to get its energy from solar power. Now prepare yourself for an entirely new 'solar power' pants.
The Food and Drug Administration has just approved a vaccine that helps protect against anal cancer in men and women by targeting the human papillomavirus (HPV). About 90 percent of anal cancers are believed to be caused by HPV, and the vaccination also helps prevent cancer of the cervix, vagina, vulva, penis, and throat, as well as the development of genital warts.This cancer vaccine is a genuine medical breakthrough -- yet few people have received the HPV vaccine. Despite strong recommendations by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only about one in 10 young adult American women have been vaccinated against HPV.
AROUND AD 1000, Gerbert of Aurillac served a brief stint as pope. He was not an especially distinguished pontiff and he didn't reign for very long, yet he is of perennial interest to both academic and popular historians. Why?The answer can be found in books such as John William Draper's 1874 History of the Conflict between Religion and Science. In it, Draper characterised the Middle Ages as an era of faith, a time when everyone thought that the Earth was flat. Draper may have been forgotten, but his narrative lives on. And that is what makes Gerbert of Aurillac so fascinating. At a time supposedly devoid of science, here is a medieval pope who was highly proficient in mathematics and astronomy.
WE HUMANS have a unique talent for contaminating pristine environments. We put millions of tonnes of pollutants into the atmosphere every year. We poison our soils, lakes, rivers and streams with chemical and radioactive waste. We spill oil into our seas. We fill the Pacific and Atlantic oceans with islands of plastic garbage visible from space. Is it any surprise that we are also contaminating pristine celestial bodies with bacterial spores?Spacefaring nations have been sending unsterilised spacecraft to the moon, Mars, Jupiter, comets and asteroids for over 40 years. It has been estimated that about one trillion microbial spores from spacecraft are now scattered around Mars (Advances in Space Research, vol 35, p 1648). Yet the search for life in our solar system has barely begun.
A 1972 book which predicts what life would be like in 2010 has been reprinted after attracting a cult following, but how hard is it to tell the future?Geoffrey Hoyle is often asked why he predicted everybody would be wearing jumpsuits by 2010. He envisioned a world where everybody worked a three-day week and had their electric cars delivered in tubes of liquid.
OFFSHORE wind farms could help reveal the ancient secrets of East Yorkshire, UK. Archaeologists believe plans to connect a network of huge wind farms in the North Sea to an existing sub-station in Cottingham offer the chance to unearth dozens of previously unknown settlements.The Creyke Beck sub-station will be the connection point to the National Grid for up to 1,700 wind turbines expected to constructed in a 3,500 square-mile area of sea on the Dogger Bank.
The Book of Revelation says the biblical fortress of Armageddon will be the site of an apocalyptic battle between good and evil at the end of time. Scientists believe it could also be the place where time begins -- at least for archaeology.In a groundbreaking new project, scholars are using the rich archaeological remains that soar more than 50 feet above the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel to synchronize the clocks of the ancient world and create the first definitive calendar of human history.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) Thursday signed into law a bill that decriminalizes the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana. The bill reduces simple possession from a misdemeanor to an infraction.Currently, small-time pot possession is "semi-decriminalized" in California. There is no possible jail sentence and a maximum $100 fine. But because possession is a misdemeanor, people caught with pot are "arrested," even if that means only they are served a notice to appear, and they must appear before a court.That has happened to more than a half million Californians in the last decade, and more than 60,000 last year alone. Every one of them required a court appearance, complete with judge and prosecutor. That costs the cash-strapped state money it desperately needsh.
A new study has found that an influx of invasive species can hinder the natural evolution of new species and trigger mass extinction events.Scientists at Ohio University studied the collapse of Earth's marine life 378 to 375 million years ago and found that the planet's current ecosystems, which are struggling with biodiversity loss, could meet a similar fate.
We know that birds evolved from dinosaurs around 150 million years ago, but we still don't know how birds first gained the ability to fly. But a part of the bird brain that controls flight could solve this evolutionary riddle.Towards the rear of birds' brains is the flocculus, a substructure of the cerebellum that handles visual and balance information during flight, making it possible for birds to know where other objects are located while they're flying and avoid any midair crashes. According to Stig Walsh of National Museums Scotland, tracking the size and shape of the flocculus throughout birds' evolutionary history could reveal when birds first gained the ability to fly.
Hanover, Dec 30 (DPA) An 18th century Burmese letter, made of almost pure gold and decorated with rubies, has been deciphered by researchers in Germany, a Hanover library head announced Thursday.The 'golden letter', written by Burmese King Alaungphaya in the year 1756 to England's King George II, lay in the vaults of Hanover's Leibniz library for 250 years, as nobody could read its contents.
Ancient sea scorpions included the largest and arguably most frightening bug-like creatures known to have lived on Earth, but despite their fearsome claws, these giants might actually have been creampuffs, scientists think.Sea scorpions, known as pterygotid eurypterids, were arthropods, a group that includes insects and crabs. Though not actually scorpions, many of the animals had tails ending in spikes, hence the name.
Archaeologists from Bangalore discover maps near Hampi; unlike modern maps that rely on technology, ancient man banked on his eyesight and memory.Satellite technologies have made the task of locating places easily, thanks to GPS or global positioning systems.However, a team of researchers from Bangalore have unearthed maps in Karnataka that date back to 1500-2000 BC.
HANGZHOU, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese archeological workers have discovered ruins of an ancient workshop that combines processing of jade and stone objects in east China's Zhejiang Province.The ruins, dating back to 5,000-6,000 years ago, are located in Fangjiazhou at Panlian Village of Yaolin Township, Tonglu County.
Thousands of artifacts dating back to prehistoric age and the Sa Huynh Culture (a culture in central and southern Vietnam that flourished between 1,000 BCE and 200 CE) excavated from Con Rang and Con Dai archaeological sites are stored in a dilapidated warehouse belonging to the Thua ThienHue Museum of History and Revolution. "Local researchers just focus on the Nguyen Dynasty, forgetting and ignoring other periods, including the prehistoric age," researcher Ho Tan Phan said.
During the summer solstice, a chunk of white rock in a manmade chamber on the edge of a reservoir in Madison (Connecticut, USA) is illuminated by sunlight in the shape of a dagger. In another part of town, a 7-acre parcel is filled with stone walls that align during the solstices with rocks in the shape of snakes, white quartz boulders, prayer seats and assorted cairns.
A roughly 1,000-year-old Maya sarcophagus, vestiges of an extinct tribe, the oldest tomb in Mesoamerica, dinosaur fossils and human remains dating from the early 8th century are some of the most noteworthy archaeological finds made in Mexico during 2010.
Artezian lies close to the Azov Sea in the Crimean Peninsula of Southeastern Ukraine, a picturesque region of steppe grasslands, winding rivers, springs and reservoirs, abundant in fish and wild birds. Here, for over 20 years, a Russo-Crimean archaeological expedition has been excavating the fortified settlement of Artezian along with a team of international volunteers.
Fish may have once swum across the Sahara, a finding that could shed light on how humanity made its way out of Africa, researchers said.The cradle of humanity lies south of the Sahara, which begs the question as to how our species made its way past it. The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world, and would seem a major barrier for any humans striving to migrate off the continent.
The Lost Civilizations of North America, a DVD released this summer, explores an archaeological debate surrounding prehistoric Americans.The 63-minute DVD presents the possibility that they interacted with ancient Old World civilizations such as those in Egypt and Rome.The DVD was crowned Best Multicultural Documentary by the International Cherokee Film Festival and was featured prominently in a TV segment by Fox News host Glenn Beck.
The discovery of a single amphora, or clay jar, found in the ancient fortress of Tel Qudadi in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv could indicate both that the fortress itself is much younger than previously thought, and that trade between the area and Greek city states were much more common.Writing in the journals Palestine Exploration Quarterly and BABESH: Annual Papers on Mediterranean Archaeology, archaeologists from Tel Aviv University say their work shows the fortress was not from the 10th century B.C.E. at the time of King Solomon, as was previously believed. Instead, it appears to date from the late 8th or early 7th centuries B.C.E.
Monday 17 January 2011 - 7.00 PM to 8.30 PMEvery day scientists learn more and more about humanity and our past, often turning up new evidence that challenges the accepted views and received wisdom of long-established orthodoxy. Graham Hancock is widely recognised as an unconventional thinker who raises controversial questions about humanity and its history, and his public lectures and television appearances, including Quest For The Lost Civilisation, have promoted his ideas before audiences of tens of millions. Tonight Graham will talk about revelations from his book Supernatural: Meeting the Ancient Teachers of Mankind. In his talk he will outline how less than 50,000 years ago mankind had no art, no religion, no sophisticated symbolism, no innovative thinking. Then, in a dramatic and electrifying change - described by scientists as 'the greatest riddle in human history' - all the skills and qualities that we value most highly in ourselves appeared already fully formed, as though bestowed on us by hidden powers. Graham will discuss this mysterious before-and-after moment in a bid to discover the truth about the influences that gave birth to the modern human mind.