Gods, Graves, Glyphs
Weekly Digest #188
Saturday, February 23, 2008
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Biology and Cryptobiology
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| Man descended from early aardvark |
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Posted by CobaltBlue
On News/Activism 01/21/2003 3:23:43 PM EST · 61 replies · 498+ views
UK Times online | January 21, 2003 | Mark Henderson, Science Correspondent
EVERY mammal, including Man, is descended from a creature that was genetically similar to the modern aardvark, scientists have found. The last common ancestor of the placental mammals lived about 100 million years ago and had a genetic profile that is closer to that of the African anteater than to any other species that survives today, according to new research. Detailed analysis of the chromosomes of several representative species -- including aardvarks, African and Asian elephants and human beings -- has revealed that the aardvark has the greatest number of features in common with other mammals. That suggests that it...
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Up to the Gills in Fish Stories
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| Blame 'inner fish' for bad body |
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Posted by Borges
On News/Activism 02/18/2008 5:23:25 PM EST · 91 replies
Chicago Tribune | 02/18/08 | William Mullen
Even before they are born, all people carry genetic baggage, genes that were useful to distant, non-human ancestors but are hopelessly outdated, even harmful, to humans as they live today. Chicago scientist Neil Shubin calls this inheritance our "inner fish." People hiccup, he explains, because of a design malfunction in a nervous system and breathing apparatus passed down from fish and tadpoles. Human males are vulnerable to hernias because of their awkward setup for toting around sperm-producing gonads, which developed in fish. "In a perfectly designed world -- one with no history -- we would not have to suffer everything...
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You're All Worthless and Weak
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| Ancient 'Out Of Africa' Migration Left Stamp On European Genetic Diversity |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/22/2008 2:13:14 PM EST · 15 replies
Science Daily | 2-22-2008 | Cornell University
Scientists compared more than 10,000 sequenced genes from 15 African-Americans and 20 European-Americans. The results suggest that European populations have proportionately more harmful variations, though it is unclear what effects these variations actually may have on the overall health of Europeans. (Credit: iStockphoto) ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2008) -- Human migration from Africa to Europe more than 30,000 years ago appears to have left a mark on the genes of Europeans today. A Cornell-led study, reported in the Feb. 21 issue of the journal Nature, compared more than 10,000 sequenced genes...
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White Genetically Weaker Than Blacks, Study Finds
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Posted by Sopater
On News/Activism 02/22/2008 2:13:54 PM EST · 133 replies
Fox News | Friday, February 22, 2008
White Americans are both genetically weaker and less diverse than their black compatriots, a Cornell University-led study finds. Researchers analyzed the genetic makeup of 20 Americans of European ancestry and 15 African-Americans. The Europeans showed much less variation among 10,000 tested genes than did the Africans, which was expected, but also that Europeans had many more possibly harmful mutations than did African, which was not.
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Neandertal / Neanderthal
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| 21st Century New York Meets Neanderthal Male |
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Posted by Junior
On General/Chat 01/20/2003 2:04:12 PM EST · 2 replies · 305+ views
Science - Reuters | 1-20-2003 | Grant McCool
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comfortable, coddled 21st century humans, meet Ice Age Neanderthal. The first complete skeleton of a Neanderthal, the prehistoric people who became extinct about 30,000 years ago, graces an American Museum of Natural History exhibition in New York on the mysteries of human origins. It features fossils and artifacts up to a million years old dug up in caves at two sites in northern Spain. "This really blew me away, I have to say," said Ian Tattersall, co-curator of "The First Europeans: Treasures from the Hills of Atapuerca" exhibition which opened last week and runs through April...
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| Study: Neanderthals Grew Up Much Faster |
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Posted by El Conservador
On News/Activism 04/28/2004 5:11:51 PM EDT · 9 replies · 132+ views
Yahoo! News | April 28, 2004 | CHRIS KAHN
If you think your kids grow up fast, consider this: A new study suggests that Neanderthal children blazed through adolescence and on average reached adulthood at age 15. The finding bolsters the view that Neanderthals were a unique species separate from modern humans, since the time for humans to mature to adulthood grew longer over the course of their evolution, said paleontologist Fernando V. Ramirez Rozzi, who led the study. Rozzi, with the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, based his study on analysis of Neanderthal teeth. It will be published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. If...
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Helix, Make Mine a Double
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| Gene Studies Confirm "Out Of Africa" Theories |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/20/2008 5:42:03 PM EST · 22 replies
Yahoo News | 2-20-2008 | Maggie Fox
Two big genetic studies confirm theories that modern humans evolved in Africa and then migrated through Europe and Asia to reach the Pacific and Americas. The two studies also show that Africans have the most diverse DNA, and the fewest potentially harmful genetic mutations. One of the studies shows European-Americans have more small mutations, while the others show Native Americans, Polynesians and others who populated Australia and Oceania have more big genetic changes. The studies, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, paint...
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| Most Detailed Global Study Of (Human) Genetic Variation Completed |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/21/2008 4:50:58 PM EST · 37 replies
Science Daily | 2-12-2008 | University of Michigan.
A schematic of worldwide human genetic variation, with colors representing different genetic types. The figure illustrates the great amout of genetic variation in Africa. (Credit: Illustration by Martin Soave/University of Michigan) ScienceDaily (Feb. 21, 2008) -- University of Michigan scientists and their colleagues at the National Institute on Aging have produced the largest and most detailed worldwide study of human genetic variation, a treasure trove offering new insights into early migrations out of Africa and across the globe. Like astronomers who build ever-larger telescopes to peer deeper into space, population geneticists like U-M's...
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Africa
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| Deconstructing Olduvai |
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 02/21/2008 6:28:27 PM EST · 4 replies
AlphaGalileo | Thursday, February 14, 2008 | unattributed
The Olduvai Paleoanthropological and Paleoecological Project (TOPPP) in which the the Universidad Complutense de Madrid participated aims to expose the false presumptions made by previous studies which concluded that the first humans were scavengers... Dominguez-Rodrigo and his team have proved that what the other researchers interpreted as teeth marks made by carnivores on the fossils, are in reality biochemical marks with a very different origin, such as fungus and bacteria that were brought in to contact with the bones by the roots of plants that grew in the sediment in which they were buried... The new data also shows that...
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Epigraphy and Language
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| MIT: No easy answers in evolution of human language |
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Posted by decimon
On News/Activism 02/17/2008 10:01:56 AM EST · 127 replies
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | David Chandler, MIT News Office
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The evolution of human speech was far more complex than is implied by some recent attempts to link it to a specific gene, says Robert Berwick, professor of computational linguistics at MIT. Berwick will describe his ideas about language in a session at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on Sunday, Feb. 17. The session is called "Mind of a Toolmaker," and explores the use of evolutionary research in understanding human abilities. Some researchers in recent years have speculated that mutations in a gene called Foxp2 might have played a fundamental...
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Clovis First and Only
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| Genetic Study Ties Siberians To People In Americas |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/22/2008 9:51:51 AM EST · 35 replies
Yahoo News | 2-22-2008 | Will Dunham - Maggie Fox
People indigenous to Siberia have strong genetic links to native peoples in the Americas, according to a study further supporting the theory that humans first entered the Americas over a land bridge across the Bering Strait. Scientists at Stanford University in California combed through the genes of 938 people from 51 places, looking at 650,000 DNA locations in each person. The study, in the journal Science on Thursday, revealed similarities and differences among various populations. "This is the highest resolution...
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Agriculture and Animal Husbandry
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| American Indians altered land long before Europeans |
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 02/21/2008 4:36:35 PM EST · 20 replies
Columbus Dispatch | Tuesday, February 19, 2008 | Bradley T. Lepper
University of Tennessee ecologists Paul and Hazel Delcourt argue in their new book, Prehistoric Native Americans and Ecological Change, that we have underestimated the varied impacts American Indians have had on the natural environment the past 15,000 years. Eastern North America, for example, was not a "virgin" forest when Europeans arrived 500 years ago. Native Americans altered and even managed the environment in many ways. The evidence comes from the testimony of early European pioneers as well as archaeological and paleoecological studies... The Delcourts' analysis of charcoal particles and pollen grains from the sediments from Cliff Palace Pond in...
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PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
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| Unseen World |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/21/2008 7:58:17 PM EST · 12 replies
The News-Enterprise | 2-20-2008 | Rachel Tolliver
George Crothers, director of the William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology and Office of State Archaeology, finishes collecting ash from torch remains for radiocarbon dating during a February trip into the cave in Hardin County. Local cave enthusiasts chart discovery of pristine formations, prehistoric Indians HARDIN COUNTY, KENTUCKY -- Mankind has always dreamed of discovering the unknown -- being the first to do something or arrive somewhere -- and from those quests leave a legacy that those who follow will envy. Such finds are rare....
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Mayans
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| Satellites Spot Lost Guatamala Mayan Temples |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/20/2008 10:28:52 PM EST · 24 replies
Reuters | 2-20-2008 | Mica Rosenberg - Catherine Bremer - David Wiessler
Ancient Mayan astronomers aligned their soaring temples with the stars and now modern archeologists have found the ruins of hidden cities in the Guatemalan jungle by peering down from space. Archeologists and NASA scientists began teaming up five years ago to search for clues about the mysterious collapse of the Mayan civilization that flourished in Central America and southern Mexico for 1,000 years. The work is paying off, says archeologist William Saturno, who recently discovered five sprawling sites with hundreds of buildings using a...
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Aztecs
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| Hernan Cortez - Conquerer of Mexico (Sunday History Read) |
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Posted by Hacksaw
On General/Chat 10/06/2002 12:01:39 PM EDT · 21 replies · 6,644+ views
www.hyperhistory.com | 10/06/02 | Not Listed
1485-1547 Cortez was the Spanish conquistador who conquered Mexico. Cortez was born in Spain. At the age of 19 he sailed for Hispaniola. With Diego Velazquez he conquered Cuba and settled there until 1518 when Velazquez appointed him to lead an expedition to Mexico. With his force of 700 men he landed on the coast of Mexico and founded the settlement of Veracruz. Cortez burned his ships behind him, thereby committing his entire force to survival through conquest. Cortez moved to Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), the capital of the powerful Aztec Indians. The Aztecs had conquered most of the surrounding tribes....
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Catastrophism and Astronomy
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| Lava Left It's Mark On Grand Canyon |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/18/2008 7:08:37 PM EST · 61 replies
ABC - Discovery News | 2-15-2008 | Larry O'Hanlon
Volcanic lava flows onced dammed the river that ran through the Grand Canyon (Source: iStockphoto) The Grand Canyon was not just carved by water. It has also been the scene of periodic wars between the Colorado River and volcanic eruptions that dammed the river, then burst. New airborne elevation survey data and radioisotope dating of Grand Canyon lava flows sheds new light on the battle between water and molten rocks there over the past 725,000 years. Over that time there have been no fewer than...
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Rock Around the Clock
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| Scientists solve mystery of origins of Burgess Shale |
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Posted by Renfield
On News/Activism 02/22/2008 5:27:37 PM EST · 21 replies
Vancouver Sun | 2-21-08 | Randy Boswell
It's been called the world's single greatest assemblage of primeval fossils - an accidental Canadian treasure that scientists literally stumbled upon 100 years ago in B.C.'s Rocky Mountains. The Burgess Shale fossil site in present-day Yoho National Park is a one-of-a-kind, 530-million-year-old time capsule containing the stunningly well-preserved remains of an entire undersea ecosystem from a crucial phase in the history of life - a lost world filled with dozens of bizarre creatures destined to become evolution's losers, but also with a primitive ancestor of the human race itself. Now, a team of British and Canadian scientists has solved the...
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Climate
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| Polar creatures squeaked through last ice age ( Invasion of the killer crabs ) |
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Posted by george76
On News/Activism 02/18/2008 11:59:01 PM EST · 26 replies
Nature | 18 February 2008 | Alexandra Witze
The creatures living in Antarctic oceans are accustomed to being cold. But even they barely survived the extra-frigid temperatures of the last ice age... At the peak of the last ice age, around 18,000 years ago, seals, birds and other polar animals would have had to eke out an existence around a few clearings -- called polynyas -- in the sea ice... The small openings would have served as year-round oases for algae to grow and form the basis of a food chain supporting fish, birds, seals and whales. At that time, the permanent sea ice that rings Antarctica would...
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| Mysterious Creatures Found in Antarctica |
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Posted by Squidpup
On News/Activism 02/19/2008 7:17:01 PM EST · 50 replies
Brietbart.com | February 19, 2008 | AP
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Scientists investigating the icy waters of Antarctica said Tuesday they have collected mysterious creatures including giant sea spiders and huge worms in the murky depths. Australian experts taking part in an international program to take a census of marine life in the ocean at the far south of the world collected specimens from up to 6,500 feet beneath the surface, and said many may never have been seen before. Some of the animals far under the sea grow to unusually large sizes, a phenomenon called gigantism that scientists still do not fully understand. "Gigantism is very...
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Navigation
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| How Ancient Trade Changed The World |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/19/2008 6:20:32 PM EST · 19 replies
Live Science | 2-19-2008 | Heather Whipps
You've got the gold I need for my necklace and I've got the silk you need for your robe. What to do? Nowadays, if you need something, you go to the closest mall, shell out a few bucks and head home. Thousands of years ago, the process wasn't nearly as simple. If you or someone in your town didn't grow it, herd it or make it, you needed to abandon that desire or else travel for it, sometimes over great distances. For...
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Egypt
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| Tamil Brahmi script in Egypt |
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Posted by BGHater
On News/Activism 12/03/2007 10:47:12 AM EST · 11 replies
Hindu.com | 21 Nov 2007 | Hindu.com
CHENNAI: A broken storage jar with inscriptions in Tamil Brahmi script has been excavated at Quseir-al-Qadim, an ancient port with a Roman settlement on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. This Tamil Brahmi script has been dated to first century B.C. One expert described this as an "exciting discovery." The same inscription is incised twice on the opposite sides of the jar. The inscription reads paanai oRi, that is, pot (suspended) in a rope net. An archaeological team belonging to the University of Southampton in the U.K., comprising Prof. D. Peacock and Dr. L. Blue, who recently re-opened excavations at...
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| Tamil Brahmi Script In Egypt |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 12/03/2007 5:33:18 PM EST · 6 replies
The Hindu
Photo: Dr. Roberta Tomber, British Museum significant pointer: Potsherd with Tamil Brahmi inscription, circa first century B.C., found in Egypt. CHENNAI: A broken storage jar with inscriptions in Tamil Brahmi script has been excavated at Quseir-al-Qadim, an ancient port with a Roman settlement on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. This Tamil Brahmi script has been dated to first century B.C. One expert described this as an "exciting discovery." The same inscription is incised twice on the opposite sides of the jar. The inscription reads...
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Asia
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| Saving Ancient Angkor From Modern Doomsday |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/18/2008 7:15:25 PM EST · 7 replies
SFGate
Siem Reap, Cambodia -- By destroying vast tracts of forest to enlarge their farm land, inhabitants of the wondrous city of Angkor lit the fuse to an ecological time bomb that spelled doom for what was once the world's largest urban area. So believe archaeologists engaged in groundbreaking research into the ancient civilization of Angkor. And they are warning that history could repeat itself through reckless, headlong pursuit of dollars from tourists flocking to see Angkor's...
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Japan
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| Researchers Enter Imperial Tomb (Japan) |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/22/2008 5:04:21 PM EST · 9 replies
Daily Yomiuri Online | 2-23-2008 | Yomiuri Shimbun
The Japanese Archaeological Association and 15 other academic bodies inspected Gosashi tomb, the burial place of Empress Jingu, in Nara for the first time on Friday. The inspection came after the Imperial Household Agency granted a request by the academic bodies dating back to 1976 to inspect the tombs of emperors and other Imperial family members. Experts hope the move will lead to a full-scale investigation of Imperial tombs and the opening of the burial chambers to the public. The Empress Jingu's tomb has a 270-meter keyhole-shaped tomb mound, built between the late...
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Stone Age Fancies
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| Jewelry And Makeup In Ancient Persia |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/18/2008 7:01:10 PM EST · 10 replies
Press TV | 2-17-2008 | Hedieh Ghavidel
Archaeological finds in Iran show that women and men applied makeup and arrayed themselves with ornaments approximately 10,000 years ago, a trend which began from religious convictions rather than mere beautification motivations. Archaeologists have discovered various instruments of make-up and ornamental items in the Burnt City, which date back to the third millennium BCE. The caves of the Bakhtiari region, where the first hunter-gatherers settled at the end of the ice age, have yielded not only stone tools, daggers and grindstones but also...
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Elam, Persia, Parthia, Iran
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| Excavations In Iran Unravel Mystery Of 'Red Snake' |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/19/2008 6:02:57 PM EST · 34 replies
Science Daily | 2-19-2008 | University of Edinburgh.
New discoveries unearthed at an ancient frontier wall in Iran provide compelling evidence that the Persians matched the Romans for military might and engineering prowess. The 'Great Wall of Gorgan'in north-eastern Iran, a barrier of awesome scale and sophistication, including over 30 military forts, an aqueduct, and water channels along its route, is being explored by an international team of archaeologists from Iran and the Universities of Edinburgh and Durham. This vast Wall-also known as the 'Red Snake'-is more than 1000 years older than the Great Wall...
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India
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| Pre-Mauryan Lion Head Discovered |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/20/2008 5:22:43 PM EST · 19 replies
The Times Of India | 2-19-2008 | Pranava K Chaudhary
PATNA: Archaeologists are baffled by the discovery of a pre-Mauryan period lion head made of stone from the dry bed of the Ganga at Collectorate Ghat here on Monday evening. This was made possible as the river has changed its course in recent years exposing its dry bed. According to an expert, the one-and-half-foot stone artefact is similar to those of Greek sculpture. Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) superintending archaeologist (Patna Circle) P K Mishra admitted that the lion head, in all likelihood, could symbolize the Mauryan royal...
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| Ancient city discovered in India |
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Posted by BGHater
On News/Activism 02/22/2008 2:35:47 PM EST · 19 replies
BBC | 18 Feb 2008 | Sandeep Sahu
Eighteen stone pillars have been excavated (Pics: Sanjib Mukherjee) Indian archaeologists say they have found remains which point to the existence of a city which flourished 2,500 years ago in eastern India.The remains have been discovered at Sisupalgarh near Bhubaneswar, capital of the eastern state of Orissa. Researchers say the items found during the excavation point to a highly developed urban settlement. The population of the city could have been in the region of 20,000 to 25,000, the archaeologists claim. The excavations include 18 stone pillars, pottery, terracotta ornaments and bangles, finger rings, ear spools and pendants made of...
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Greece
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| Ancient Town 'Sevtopolis', Submerged On A Lake Bottom To Be Reconstructed |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/18/2008 2:01:52 PM EST · 24 replies
News.bg | 2-18-2008 | Kristalina Ilieva
Association "Preserve the Bulgarian' starts action for the realizing of "Sevtopolis' project. At first the organizators will collect subscription list throughout the whole country, the projects author and major architect Jeko Tilev announced. Sevtopolis or the City of Tracian King Sevt III is capital of the Odyisian state in the end of IV - beginning of III century before Christ. It was found and observed in 1948 - 1954 by the construction works of Koprinka dam like and...
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Rome and Italy
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| Unique Roman Amphitheatre Slumbers Beneath Sofia Downtown |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/20/2008 5:36:35 PM EST · 6 replies
International News BG | 2-19-2008
Serdica - an ancient names of Sofia, was a military, economic and culture centre in the Roman Empire. And while local culture tourism is redirected to Perperikon and other spots dispersed all over this country, a mystic town slumbers beneath Sofia downtown, told from Standart. The excavations under the medieval St. Sofia church started in the 1940s. There is a huge Roman necropolis under the church with dozens of tombs stretching under the building of the National Assembly. Archaeologists and historians reckon the remnants from...
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Alemanni Left
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| Exhibition: How Barbarian Loot Wound Up In The Rhine (German) |
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Posted by pierrem15
On News/Activism 02/17/2008 10:55:29 PM EST · 34 replies
Die WElt | 02/15/2008 | Peter Ditmar
Exihibition in Bonn concerning loot plundered from Gaul by the Alemanni found in the Rhine (more than 1000 objects). This event is dated fairly exactly to the mid-third century by Roman records of a great defeat of Germans trying to get back to Germany after plundering Gaul. Apparently the Roman Army caught them in mid-stream, burdened with plunder. Bet it sucked to be them that day.Story in German.
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Numismatism
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| Metal detecting pensioner finds Wales' oldest coin |
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Posted by DeaconBenjamin
On News/Activism 02/20/2008 6:46:01 PM EST · 27 replies
Evening Leader | 20 February 2008 8:49 AM
A METAL detecting enthusiast has unearthed a Roman coin thought to be one of the oldest ever found in Wales. Retired butcher Roy Page, 69, of Coedpoeth, found the detailed 2,000-year-old coin on a farm near St Asaph when he went on a search there with the Mold-based Historical Search Society. Roy handed the tiny silver coin to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, who identified it as dating from the second century BC. It is believed to have been brought over some time after the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD, or during earlier visits in the first century BC....
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Scotland Yet
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| Ancient Burials Reveal Foreign Links In Prehistoric Scotland |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/20/2008 10:43:25 PM EST · 8 replies
24 Hour Museum | 2-19-2008 | Richard Moss
Site plan, showing in red the features excavated in 2005. © AOC Archaeology Group Recent analysis of 4,000-year-old pots recovered during an excavation of two graves at Upper Largie, near Kilmartin in Argyll and Bute, has provided exciting evidence linking prehistoric Scotland with the Netherlands. Analysis of the pots by Alison Sheridan, of National Museums Scotland, has revealed early international-style Beakers of the type found around the lower Rhine, which is the modern-day Netherlands and a strange hybrid of styles that suggest Irish and Yorkshire influences. "These finds...
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British Isles
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| Mary Queen of Scots death warrant bought |
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Posted by BlackVeil
On General/Chat 02/20/2008 7:37:02 PM EST · 15 replies
Catholic News | February 21, 2008 | anon
The warrant which authorised the execution of Mary Queen of Scots has been bought by the Church of England for $150,00. Mary, the Catholic queen, who claimed both the Scottish and English crowns, was executed in 1587 on the order of her Protestant cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Dressed in scarlet, a Catholic colour of martyrdom, with her pet dog hidden among her skirts, legend has it that it took two blows of the executioner's axe to kill her. Reuters reports the warrant, a copy of the lost original, was purchased from a California auction house by the Lambeth Palace Library....
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Middle Ages and Renaissance
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| Ireland's Blarney Stone may be baloney: study [surprised?] |
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 02/21/2008 4:48:58 PM EST · 19 replies
Yahoo! | Wednesday, February 20, 2008 | AFP
The authenticity of the Blarney Stone, kissed by about 400,000 tourists a year, has been questioned by Mark Samuel, an archaeologist and architectural historian, and Kate Hamlyn in a new book... the authors say the present stone only came into use in 1888 -- for health and safety reasons. Up until then, those wishing to place their lips on the stone had to be dangled from the castle by two people holding their ankles. Today those wishing to ensure they will never be tongue tied lie on their back and, holding on to an iron railing, lean backwards from the...
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| Doubts Over Blarney Stone Talked Down |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/21/2008 9:01:19 PM EST · 15 replies
The Telegraph (UK) | 2-21-2008 | Tom Peterkin
The custodians of the Blarney Stone yesterday disputed claims that pilgrims have been romancing the wrong stone. Kissing the Blarney stone For centuries, travellers including Winston Churchill and Sir Walter Scott, have gone to Blarney Castle, Co Cork, in the hope that the supposed magical properties of the ancient stone will bestow on them the gift of the gab. But a book launched last night raised questions about the authenticity of the lump of bluestone built into the castle battlements, which attracts 400,000 tourists...
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God Save the Queen
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| Abbey Body Identified As Gay Lover Of Edward II |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/17/2008 9:44:21 PM EST · 122 replies
The Telegraph (UK) | 2-18-2008 | Laura Clout
A mutilated body found in an abbey graveyard has been identified as that of a notorious medieval villain rumoured to have been the gay lover of Edward II. The remains, which bear the hallmarks of having been hanged, drawn and quartered, are thought to be those of Sir Hugh Despenser the Younger, who was executed as a traitor in 1326. Sir Hugh was executed after Edward II [above] was deposed from the throne in 1326 Sir Hugh had been favourite of Edward II...
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Early America
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| George Washington Finished First |
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Posted by posterchild
On News/Activism 02/18/2008 6:16:14 PM EST · 55 replies
Investor's Business Daily | Feb 15th, 2008 | Cord Cooper
It was August 1781, and George Washington learned British Gen. Charles Cornwallis had occupied Yorktown, Va., with 9,500 troops. Cornwallis' soldiers were exhausted and in a defensive stance. For more than six years, the British had mostly been on the offensive in the Revolutionary War. Their sudden defensive posture showed they were starting to weaken. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington saw potential for victory. His plan: surround Cornwallis' troops on land and prevent their escape by sea with the help of the French navy. The surprise attack would be the greatest risk of Washington's military career. If he...
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World War Eleven
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| Battle of the Bulge Memories, Emotions Live On |
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Posted by SandRat
On VetsCoR 12/21/2007 6:20:49 PM EST · 6 replies
American Forces Press Service | Ray Johnson
BASTOGNE, Belgium, Dec. 21, 2007 -- Standing next to the killing field where he once found himself face-down in the snow surrounded by the dead and dying, Ted Paluch said his return wasn't as emotional as it once was, especially having visited three other times. Emotions begin to overcome Malmedy massacre survivor Ted Paluch after he presented a wreath to remember 84 U.S. soldiers executed in World War II. To Paluch's right is Fabien Steffese, curator of the Baugneze 44 Historical Center, which recounts the tragedy. Photo by Ray Johnson††(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. His resiliency and...
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Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles
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| Scientists reactivate immune |
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Posted by Red Badger
On General/Chat 02/22/2008 9:50:51 AM EST · 5 replies
www.physorg.com | 02/21/2008 | Staff
Scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology (GIVI) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have found that therapy can be used to stimulate the production of vital immune cells, called "T- cells," in adults with HIV infection. HIV disease destroys T-cells, leading to collapse of the immune system and severe infection. The thymus gland, which produces T-cells, gradually loses function over time (a process called "involution") and becomes mostly inactive during adulthood. Because the thymus gland does not function well in adults, it is difficult for HIV-infected adults to make new T-cells. Thus, therapies that stimulate...
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Faith and Philosophy
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| Noah's Ark nestled on Mount Ararat |
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Posted by 2ndDivisionVet
On News/Activism 02/17/2008 8:05:48 PM EST · 279 replies
The Peninsula | January 19, 2008 | Satish Kanady
Dogubayazit (Turkey's Iran-Armenian Border) ï For the first time in the seven decade-long history of the search for the legendary Noah's Ark, a Turkish-Hong Kong exploration team on Tuesday came out with "material evidence", to prove that the Ark was nestled on Mount Ararat, Turkey's highest mountain peak bordering Iran and Armenia. A panel of experts, comprising Turkish authorities, veteran mountaineers, archaeologists, geologists and members of Hong Kong-based Noah's Ark Ministries International, also displayed an almost one-metre-long peice of petrified wood before the media and specially invited international experts. The experts claimed it to be a part of a long...
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Oh So Mysterioso
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| A Lead On The Ark Of The Covenant |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/22/2008 5:35:00 PM EST · 56 replies
Time Magazine | 2-21-2008 | DAVID VAN BIEMA
The Ark of the Covenant is carried into the Temple When last we saw the lost Ark of the Covenant in action, it had been dug up by Indiana Jones in Egypt and ark-napped by Nazis, whom the Ark proceeded to incinerate amidst a tempest of terrifying apparitions. But according to Tudor Parfitt, a real life scholar-adventurer, Raiders of the Lost Ark had it wrong, and the Ark is actually nowhere near Egypt. In fact, Parfitt claims he has traced it (or a replacement container...
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Australia and the Pacific
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| Human Culture Subject To Natural Selection, Stanford Study Shows |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/19/2008 4:00:23 PM EST · 29 replies
Eureka Alert | 2-19-2008 | Deborah S. Rogers - Stanford
The process of natural selection can act on human culture as well as on genes, a new study finds. Scientists at Stanford University have shown for the first time that cultural traits affecting survival and reproduction evolve at a different rate than other cultural attributes. Speeded or slowed rates of evolution typically indicate the action of natural selection in analyses of the human genome. This study of cultural evolution, which compares the rates of change for structural and decorative Polynesian canoe-design traits, is...
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Ancient Autopsies
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| Giant prehistoric Frog Hints At Ancient Land Link |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/18/2008 7:36:49 PM EST · 18 replies
New Scientist | 2-18-2008 | Rowan Hooper
An artist's impression of Beelzebufo shows it facing a modern-day Mantidactylus guttulatus, the largest living Malagasy frog (Image: Luci Betti-Nash) The discovery of a giant frog fossil has opened a rift among researchers over when an ancient land bridge closed. Discovery of the fossil in Madagascar supports the controversial view that South America and Madagascar were linked until 80 million years ago - far more recently than previously thought. The frog, dubbed Beelzebufo, resembles the family of horned toads that are now unique...
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Paleontology
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| Missing Link Feather Fossils Found In France |
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/21/2008 9:17:58 PM EST · 37 replies
The Telegraph (UK) | 2-20-2008 | Roger Highfield
Primitive feathers that represent a key missing link in their evolution have been found, fossilised in 100-million-year-old amber from France. The fossils mark a step towards the shape of modern feathers As long as scientists have studied birds, they have puzzled over that most intricate of avian features - the feather. Because it is a marvellous feat of biological engineering, it has been siezed on by creationists trying to find evidence of designs that lie beyond the abilities of evolution. Scientists themselves have...
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Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
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| Sneak peek at Darwin's crab haul |
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Posted by decimon
On General/Chat 02/22/2008 9:32:51 AM EST · 6 replies
BBC | February 22, 2008 | Unknown
A rarely-seen collection of crabs from Charles Darwin's voyage aboard HMS Beagle has been given a new lease of life on the web. The University of Oxford has released images of specimens held in its museum collections that have been digitised for an online Darwin database. The crustaceans changed hands several times after Darwin's return to Britain, before fading into obscurity. They were then rescued by Oxford University's Museum of Natural History. Charles Darwin developed an interest in natural history while studying divinity at the University of Cambridge and was subsequently accepted as the naturalist on an expedition aboard the...
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end of digest #188 20080223
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