Free Republic

Genetic analysis of plant species has long pointed to the lowlands of southwest Amazonia as a key region in the early history of plant domestication in the Americas, but systematic archaeological evidence to support this has been rare. The new evidence comes from recently-exposed layers of the Teotonio archaeological site, which has been described by researchers as a "microcosm of human occupation of the Upper Madeira [River]" because it preserves a nearly continuous record of human cultures going back approximately 9,000 years. In this study, Watling and colleagues analyzed the remains of seeds, phytoliths, and other plant materials in the...

Tue Nov 11, 4:50 PM ET Billed as the world's most pierced woman, Elaine Davidson, who has 1,093 piercings, from Brazil and resident in Edinburgh, and the man with the world's longest tongue, at 9.6cms from top lip protrusion point, Stephen Taylor from Coventry, England, pose at London's Tate Britain gallery to celebrate the book of Guinness World Records 100th millionth copy in print, Tuesday Nov. 11, 2003.(AP Photo/PA, Fiona Hanson)