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Agriculture in Syria started with a bang 12,800 years ago as a fragmented comet slammed into the Earth's atmosphere. The explosion and subsequent environmental changes forced hunter-gatherers in the prehistoric settlement of Abu Hureyra to adopt agricultural practices to boost their chances for survival. That's the assertion made by an international group of scientists in one of four related research papers, all appearing in the journal Science Open: Airbursts and Cratering Impacts. The papers are the latest results in the investigation of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis, the idea that an anomalous cooling of the Earth almost 13 millennia ago...

Research led by Nicolas Bazan, MD, Ph.D. suggests that age-related macular degeneration (AMD) decreases an essential fatty acid, preventing the formation of a class of protective molecules and reducing repair potential. The discovery may also open new therapeutic avenues for AMD. The study shows that AMD decreases peripheral retinal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) 22:6 in rod photoreceptor cells, limiting the elongation of fatty acids to form very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLC-PUFAs). VLC-PUFAs are precursors of elovanoids, bioactive chemical messengers made from omega-3 very- long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. Elovanoids, discovered by the Bazan lab, have been shown to restore the structure and...

The IRS official chosen to lead the new "centralized office" featuring the nearly 87,000 new employees funded in President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act was involved in the agency's targeting of conservative groups that opposed Barack Obama's reelection in 2012. Nikole Flax served as the chief of staff for then acting IRS Commissioner Stephen Miller, who was fired amid a cover-up of the scandal. When Republican lawmakers sought communications related to the scandal in an investigation, Flax's emails were among those the agency claimed were lost in a computer hard-drive crash. The IRS, the lawmakers charged, was attempting to "cover up...

In a new analysis of thousands of teeth from ancient skeletons buried at a site near Naples, Italy, archaeologists have discovered that people were using their mouths to help with their work -- occupations that likely involved processing hemp into string and fabric. We all use our teeth as tools -- to open bottles, hold pieces of paper, or even smoke a pipe. When we do this, we open ourselves up to the possibility of cracking our teeth but also create microscopic grooves and injuries to the enamel surface. Since teeth don't remodel like bones do, these tiny insults remain...

Full title: Lois Lerner and Fellow IRS Official Announced Targeting At 2010 Conference The Same Month Their Emails Went Missing Ex-Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official Lois Lerner spoke at a 2010 government conference where Lerner’s underling Nikole Flax announced the new IRS program scrutinizing groups applying for tax-exempt status. Both Lerner and Flax experienced “computer crashes” that led to the permanent deletion of their emails, according to the IRS, which said it cannot hand over their emails to congressional investigators on two House committees. Both Lerner and Flax briefed fellow government bureaucrats on the new targeting at the conference, where...

A diet of flaxseed shows protective effects against radiation in animal models66.87.6.32 PHILADELPHIA - Flax has been part of human history for well over 30,000 years, used for weaving cloth, feeding people and animals, and even making paint. Now, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have discovered that it might have a new use for the 21st century: protecting healthy tissues and organs from the harmful effects of radiation. In a study just published in BMC Cancer, researchers found that a diet of flaxseed given to mice not only protects lung tissues before exposure...

A Full House For Disaster There is an old saying that "the Devil is in the details." Here, we suspect, the Devil was the dealer. SynopsisThree kindred errors in understanding or assigning Responsibility: Education, Public Safety & Welfare. Two kindred errors in the comprehension of Causation: Denial of nature as cause for success or failure & observed aspects of comparative group dynamics; & a trivialization of human sexuality. A Poker Hand From Hell There have probably been no truly new ideas in the field of human group dynamics in the past thousand years. Social "innovation" consists largely in a rephrasing...

You may remember this Boston Herald article from last month about the woman Nora Flax, who gave an interview in 1989 to Boston Woman magazine, telling about her affair with a married US senator, who is believed by many to be John Kerry. This is a reproduction of the original article: THE POLITICS OF PASSION A U.S. Senator’s Mistress Tells How Her Powerful Love Was Destroyed By His Love Of Power Boston Woman February 1989 By Martin S. Goldman Two years ago, Nora Flax (an assumed name) was the lover, confidante, and best friend of a prominent United States senator,...