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The rediscovery of an ancient underground city in Turkey a few years ago was an exciting find—the very kind of exciting find that the internet eats up. The 5,000-year-old cave villa, found in the city of Nevşehir, is fairly huge, with approximately 3.5 miles of tunnels, and dozens of rooms making up churches, tombs, and other safe spaces. In comments to National Geographic, Nevşehir Mayor Hasan Ünver noted that there was a bit of a paper trail that went back hundreds of years, but not one that implied that there was an entire city in the area. "We found documents...

You didn't build that, someone else did. There aren’t’ too many devices that you can look at and instantly ‘get’ that they led to near-instantaneous changes in the way the world functions and behaves. Radios and TVs certainly did, as did the affordable automobile. We can toss in the microwave oven, the X-ray camera, and the personal computer as well. Most recently, the honor would have to go to the cell phone and, in particular, the iPhone. Apple’s baby is widely regarded as the most ubiquitous, and most forward-thinking, of the now borderline-essential cellular handsets. For better or worse, it’s...

For the past decade, a fossil human relative about the size of a toddler has loomed large in the story of our evolutionary history. This mysterious creature—found on the Indonesian island of Flores—has sparked a heated debate about its origins, including questions over its classification as a unique species. But now, a scattering of teeth and bone may at last unlock the mystery of the “hobbits,” also known as Homo floresiensis. The 700,000-year-old human remains are the first found outside Liang Bua cave, the site on Flores that yielded the original hobbit fossils. The much older samples show intriguing similarities...

A new research report appearing in the June 2016 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, opens up the possibility that small electrical currents might activate certain immune cells to jumpstart or speed wound healing. This discovery, made by a team of scientists from the United Kingdom, may be of particular interest to those with illnesses that may cause wounds to heal slowly or not at all. "In some instances, such as diabetes, the body's ability to heal is compromised and wounds can become infected. In instances where there is a lack of macrophages present, the application of 'synthetic' electric...

The nation cannot afford to simply put all of that critical intelligence gathering “on hold” for several years No matter which party wins the White House in November our next Commander in Chief will inherit a world far more unstable than at any point in recent history. From the rapid expansion of ISIS, to recent nuclear tests in North Korea, to the many problems in Afghanistan and Iraq, the very real threats to America and its allies have never been more evident. Roughly 150,000 U.S. troops are stationed in more than 150 countries around the world and they are the...

The world's historic effort to reduce carbon emissions is likely to be a costly if not quixotic endeavor, according to one expert, whose recently published research warns that decarbonizing the globe could have devastating consequences on the world's way of life. In a report published this week, the International Energy Agency issued a call for "concrete action" to match the ambitions of last year's landmark climate change agreement, which was recently ratified by nearly 200 countries. The energy watchdog said the transition to a low-carbon future would require "massive changes in the energy system" to prevent the globe's temperature from...

Jean-Baptiste Chevance senses that we’re closing in on our target. Paused in a jungle clearing in northwestern Cambodia, the French archaeologist studies his GPS and mops the sweat from his forehead with a bandanna. The temperature is pushing 95, and the equatorial sun beats down through the forest canopy. For two hours, Chevance, known to everyone as JB, has been leading me, along with a two-man Cambodian research team, on a grueling trek. We’ve ripped our arms and faces on six-foot shrubs studded with thorns, been savaged by red biting ants, and stumbled over vines that stretch at ankle height...

Volcanic activity worldwide 1 Jun 2016: Colima volcano, Bromo, Semeru, Dukono, Turrialba, Nyiragongo...

Radiocarbon dating of a prehistoric archeological site in Florida suggests that 14,550 years ago, hunter-gatherers, possibly accompanied by dogs, butchered or scavenged a mastodon next to a small pond. The findings, based on a four-year study of the Page-Ladson archaeological site in the Aucilla River, about 45 minutes from Tallahassee, Florida, provide a rare glimpse of the earliest human occupation in the southeastern United States, and offer clues to the timing of the disappearance of large animals like the mastodon and camel that roamed the American Southeast during the Late Pleistocene. Additionally, the artifacts at Page-Ladson highlight that much of...

From a reader: “I'm a little confused about where you are going with Genesis... Can you give me some hint of where you are going and the purpose of all of this?” Response: My concern is that Genesis be understood at the deepest possible level since the material there is foundational to the whole canon. Genesis should not be forced into a modern mold. We should make the effort to understand what this material meant to the archaic peoples for whom this divine revelation was sacred. One of the best ways to do this is to apply the tools of...

Drive-By Post: Remember those death panels? Well, they are here. I can speak from experience. Patients are being denied services based on the dictates of the state. It's called "prior authorization".

Notes to Stephen Hawking's Personal Diary -- May 28, 2016 This Trump guy is utterly dangerous to the scientific community. Doesn't he understand that you can't teach the average working stiff anything about science and the way the world really works? I've spent decades writing books and lecturing to show that science can only be understood by professionals and academics who are paid a good salary to stare out into space and wonder about things that have zero relationship to life on Earth. And to protect that glorious profession -- keep it funded -- we've groomed our Ph. D's...

US scientists have found what it could be key for the future of the country’s ailing coal industry as they detected that ashes from local operations, particularly those around the Appalachian region, are very rich in rare earth elements. Researchers from North Carolina-based Duke University analyzed coal ashes from coal-fired power plants throughout the US, including those in the largest coal-producing regions: the Appalachian Mountains; southern and western Illinois; and the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana. One of the team main conclusions was that coal waste generated by the Appalachian coal operations was the richest in rare earth...

A warning siren bellowed through the concrete bunker of a top-secret Naval facility where U.S. military engineers prepared to demonstrate a weapon for which there is little defense. Officials huddled at a video screen for a first look at a deadly new supergun that can fire a 25-pound projectile through seven steel plates and leave a 5-inch hole. The weapon is called a railgun and requires neither gunpowder nor explosive. It is powered by electromagnetic rails that accelerate a hardened projectile to staggering velocity—a battlefield meteorite with the power to one day transform military strategy, say supporters, and keep the...

Climate Change, global warming or whatever the politically appropriate name of the day may be, let’s look at some of the claims our left-wing, media doom-sayers are directing at low information voters about the coming environmental Armageddon. 1. The earth is getting hotter! According to satellite data there has been no warming in over 17 years 2. The polar ice caps are melting! One picture of a polar bear on a small piece of ice has been used for ten years now. In reality, the polar bears are thriving and the ice cap is 10% bigger than in 2010. 3....

Researchers at MIT are seeking to redesign concrete — the most widely used human-made material in the world — by following nature’s blueprints. In a paper published online in the journal Construction and Building Materials, the team contrasts cement paste — concrete’s binding ingredient — with the structure and properties of natural materials such as bones, shells, and deep-sea sponges. As the researchers observed, these biological materials are exceptionally strong and durable, thanks in part to their precise assembly of structures at multiple length scales, from the molecular to the macro, or visible, level. From their observations, the team, led...

It’d be easy to miss the unobtrusive brown door to Joon Yun’s second floor office, tucked away next to a dry cleaners and a hair salon in downtown Palo Alto, California. But the address itself speaks loud enough. Four-hundred-seventy University Avenue is located in the heart of a neighborhood that holds a special place in the lore of Silicon Valley start-up culture. A few minutes’ walk away are the early homes of PayPal, Facebook, and Google. Yet the early ambitions of these famous companies are modest when compared to the ideas I’ve come to discuss with Yun. I’ve been led...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.wfaa.com/news/health/utsa-researchers-close-to-using-3d-printer-to-print-organs/186674319

Two months ago Attorney General Loretta Lynch admitted during congressional testimony that Justice Department attorneys were looking into punishment for the fossil fuel industry and certain individuals, including academics and researchers. Their crime? Rejection or denial of climate change and therefore being opposed to President Obama's agenda on the issue. Today, five Republican Senators have sent a letter to Lynch reminding her that in America, we don't have thought police and the Justice Department doesn't have the power or authority to punish an entire industry because the people in it they think differently than the progressives in charge of the...

Israeli 3D printer firm Nano Dimension has successfully lab-tested a 3D bioprinter for stem cells, paving the way for the potential printing of large tissues and organs, the company said on Wednesday. While 3D printers are used already to create stem cells for research, Nano Dimension said the trial, conducted with Israeli biotech firm Accellta Ltd, showed its adapted printer could make large volumes of high resolution cells quickly....