Free Republic

CUATRO CIENEGAS, Mexico (Reuters) - With cobalt waters harboring eerie, coral-like formations, this archipelago of lakes in Mexico's searing Chihuahuan desert has always had an other-worldly appearance. Now top researchers at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration say the calcified clumps of primitive bacteria lurking in its pools could provide important clues in their search for extraterrestrial life. The network of 170 cactus-ringed lagoons around the town of Cuatro Cienegas have intrigued evolutionary biologists for decades because their fish, snail and turtle species rival the Galapagos Islands in their uniqueness. Scientists from NASA's Astrobiology Institute have begun studying the...

Police Seek Clues After Fetus Cut From Slain Woman's BodyAmber Alert Issued For Missing Fetus POSTED: 7:05 am EST December 17, 2004 UPDATED: 10:19 am EST December 17, 2004 SKIDMORE, Mo. -- A 23-year-old woman who was eight months pregnant was killed Thursday and the fetus was taken from her body, authorities said. Stinnett home in Skidmore, Mo. Sheriff's deputies were investigating the afternoon killing of the woman and they were searching for the baby, who they believed could have survived. Nodaway County Sheriff Bill Espey said, "Someone was wanting a baby awful bad." The sheriff issued an Amber Alert...

Saxon find brings clues to history December 11, 2004 00:01 A NUMBER of ancient artefacts discovered by a metal detecting enthusiast have given vital clues to Suffolk's history. Six gold and silver fragments discovered in a Witnesham field have given historians the chance to confirm details about life in Suffolk around 1,500 years ago. At a treasure trove inquest on Wednesday, Great Suffolk Coronor Dr Peter Dean confirmed the artefacts met the criteria for treasure. A treasure trove inquest is held when an object of at least 300 years old containing a substantial amount of silver or gold is found...

FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 21 - In one house hung a black banner with the words "One God and Jihad" and a distinctive yellow sun, terrifyingly familiar as the backdrop to videotaped beheadings by the group of that name. In another house there was a cage large enough to hold a human and a wall marked with Arabic writing and what appears to be a fingerprint in dried blood. Before the doors to these houses in Falluja were thrown open to two reporters on Sunday, soldiers and intelligence officers had already carried away other items from them, handcuffs, shackles, militant propaganda,...

Allah Pundit makes a compelling case that the author of the CBS memo surfs anti Bush websites.Why?Well, the memo includes the wrong acronym 'OETR.'People familiar with military technology suggest that the acronym the author of the memo meant to use was 'OER'--an abbreviation for 'Officer Effectiveness Report.'An anti Bush website (found courtesy of Google) called 'The AWOL Project' lists a bunch of related documents under the title, 'The OETR Scam.'Were sure it's just a concidence..

New book offers clues to male brainResearch, anecdotes address questions about male psyche These PET scans indicate that an emotional film sparked activity in the left amygdala of female brains, but in the right amygdala of male brains. The amygdala processes memories for emotions, but it's not clear whether the left-right split makes a difference. Updated: 6:22 p.m. ET Oct. 31, 2003LOS ANGELES - It’s the universal question on many women’s lips. “What could he be thinking?” she shrieks, or sighs or sulks at her husband, boyfriend or son. What is it with men and cars? Why doesn’t he notice...

Contact: Mark Shwartz mshwartz@stanford.edu 650-723-9296 Stanford University Volcanic soils yield new clues about the emergence of powerful chiefdoms in Hawaii When the first Europeans arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, they found a thriving, complex society organized into chiefdoms whose economies were based primarily on farming. On the islands of Kauai, O'ahu and Molokai, the principal crop was taro – a starchy plant grown in irrigated wetlands where the supply of water was usually abundant. But on Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii, the main staple was the sweet potato – a more labor-intensive crop planted in relatively...

Rat DNA clues to sea migration This carving shows Pacific rats on the face of a Polynesian ancestor Scientists have used DNA from rats to trace migration patterns of the ancestors of today's Polynesians. People are thought to have arrived in Polynesia, comprising the Pacific islands of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, by boat some 3,000 years ago. Rat data suggests the journey was more complex than the popular "Express Train" theory, which proposes a rapid dispersal of people from South Asia. Details appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Elizabeth Matisoo-Smith and Judith Robins from the University of...

FALLUJAH, Iraq, April 11 -- When the American troops entered the abandoned factory shed Sunday, they found a hastily abandoned campsite full of jumbled clothing and bedrolls, scattered sneakers and gym bags, broken eggs and dirty cooking pots. But there were other, less innocent objects half-hidden in the gloom. Sacks full of chemical-coated rocks. Leather belts stuffed with explosive putty, and one smeared with dried blood. Boxes of batteries with wires taped to them. A recipe for making bombs.

Researchers scour Cuban records for clues to Calusa By KRISTEN ZAMBO, klzambo@naplesnews.com March 14, 2004 After years of belief to the contrary, the once mighty Calusa Indians, who lived centuries ago in Southwest Florida, may not be extinct after all. Nicknamed "The Fierce Ones," the Calusa Indians lived in Southwest Florida from around A.D. 100 to the early 1700s, when they were believed to have been killed off by invading Native American tribes, Spanish soldiers and foreign diseases such as smallpox. Their largest settlement in Florida was on Pine Island at Pineland, now the site of the Randell Research Center,...

<p>The man was found wrapped in a tarp, floating gently in the Sudbury River. His killing was a mystery, and so was his identity. There was just one clue: the letters "PK" tattooed on his right shoulder.</p> <p>For nearly a year, the Framingham case grew colder and colder. Then last spring, Bobby Lingoes happened across a description of the dead man and his tattoo. Lingoes posted the details on the Doe Network, a website for volunteers like him who search for missing people in their spare time.</p>

Source: Brigham Young University Released: Fri 09-Jan-2004, 17:30 ET Mesoamerican Relic Provides New Clues to Mysterious Ancient Writing System A previously unknown ancient mask from southern Mexico contains an inscription that shows the language used there prior to the Maya civilization remains undecipherable, according to a new study by Stephen Houston and Michael Coe. Newswise — A previously unknown ancient mask from southern Mexico contains an inscription that shows the language used there prior to the Maya civilization remains undecipherable, according to a new study by Brigham Young University archeologist Stephen Houston and Yale University professor emeritus Michael Coe. Translating...

Viking queen may be exhumed for clues to killing Sun 7 December, 2003 05:17 By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - The grave of a mysterious Viking queen may hold the key to a 1,200 year-old case of suspected ritual killing, and scientists are planning to unearth her bones to find out. She is one of two women whose fate has been a riddle ever since their bones were found in 1904 in a 22 metre (72 feet) longboat buried at Oseberg in south Norway, its oaken form preserved miraculously, with even its menacing, curling prow intact. No one even knows...

LONDON (Reuters) - Cyber investigators are scouring the World Wide Web for clues on any future suicide bomb attacks, deploying satellites and other high-tech wizardry to hone in on suspicious Web surfing activity. Intelligence officials had warned some kind of attack would occur in Saudi Arabia before Sunday's suicide bomb blast in Riyadh after finding evidence on anonymous postings on Arabic Web sites and other forms of Internet chatter. The strike killed at least 18 people and wounded 120 others. "The Internet is a very useful open source for investigators. But as with any unattributable piece of information, tips must...

Source: Ohio State University Date: 2003-11-07 Ice Cores May Yield Clues To 5,000-year-old Mystery COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The latest expeditions to ice caps in the high, tropical Peruvian Andes Mountains by Ohio State University scientists may shed light on a mysterious global climate change they believe occurred more than 5,000 years ago. They hope that ice cores retrieved from two tropical ice caps there, as well as ancient plants retrieved from beneath the retreating glaciers, may contain clues that could link ancient events that changed daily life in South America, Europe and Asia. Something happened 5,200 years ago that was...

DUBAI (Reuters) - Two Arab-language newspapers placed Saddam Hussein and his son Qusay in Baghdad last week on the day U.S. tanks drove to the heart of the capital and Iraqis toppled a massive statue, symbolically ending his 24-year rule. Al-Jazeera on Thursday showed what was thought to be Saddam's hastily-abandoned last abode in Baghdad. A half-filled glass of water and a stained cup stood on a desk next to crudely sketched military plans in an office where Jazeera said the Iraqi leader taped messages entreating his people to fight U.S. invaders. A suitcase was left next to an unmade...

<p>SPACE CENTER, Houston -- Investigators into the space shuttle disaster still believe important clues might be found in west Texas and points even farther West -- even though no debris has yet been found.</p> <p>The reason for their faith in the absence of evidence is a wealth of credible photographs, video recordings and eyewitness reports from California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. More than 1,500 photographs and videos of Columbia's re-entry have poured in to NASA.</p>

<p>NASA investigative teams were headed Tuesday for San Jose and other West Coast locations where new reports of possible shuttle debris could provide crucial information about what caused Columbia to break apart on its descent Saturday morning.</p> <p>Just hours after more than 10,000 mourners gathered to honor Columbia's fallen crew, NASA officials said the newly discovered debris could show the spacecraft started breaking up over California -- possibly earlier than was previously believed.</p>

Myths Studied for Tsunami CluesUniversity of Washington Scientist Probes Indian Myth for Tsunami Clues S E A T T L E, Aug. 12 — When scientists figured out that sea water drowned groves of tall trees up and down the coast of Washington state the same year a tsunami hit Japan, they theorized that a massive earthquake in the Pacific most likely triggered both events. Based on Japanese records, scientists were able to pinpoint a date Jan. 26, 1700 and estimate that the rupture of a long stretch of sea floor had caused a magnitude 9 quake, which would be...

Clues to missing pagodas found AKSHAYA MUKUL TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SATURDAY, JULY 06, 2002 11:49:09 PM ] NEW DELHI: Submerged structures found off the coast of Mahabalipuram in the Bay of Bengal could well solve the mystery of seven pagodas dating back to the Pallava Period (7th Century AD). The Archaeological Survey of India’s Underwater Archaeology Wing (UAW) has discovered three walls and a number of carved architectural members of ancient temples running north to south and east to west. Also found are seven big submerged rocks 500 metres off shore. According to UAW in-charge Alok Tripathi, who undertook...