Free Republic

In what could be a sign of conservatives' newly-expanded influence over the House GOP, House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Mark Green won the top spot on the Homeland Security Committee over Republican star Rep. Dan Crenshaw.

The legendary "Sphinx" eventually found its counterpart version in archeological fossil. Chinese and American paleontologists found two distinct kinds of bone characteristics in the fossil of a sharp-mouthed mammal excavated in China's Liaoning province. The mammal's upper part makes people believe it was viviparous while its lower part looks like oviparous, reports Wen Hui Daily. The latest issue of the British magazine Nature reports the unprecedented discovery. The magazine editor as well as paleontologists marveled at the discovery and believed it might change the traditional theory on mammals evolution. Li Gang, one of the coauthors of the paper, said the...

Once dismissed, myths are winning new attention from geologists who find that they may encode valuable data about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and other stirrings of the earth SEATTLE, WASHINGTON--James Rasmussen, owner of a funky used-record store called Bud's Jazz, and Ruth Ludwin, a seismologist at the University of Washington, Seattle, make an unlikely professional team. Late last year, they were walking down the beach near the bustling Fauntleroy ferry dock, searching for a reddish sandstone boulder. Native American legends-Rasmussen belongs to the local Duwamish people-say the boulder is haunted by a'yahos, a spirit with the body of a serpent and...

A baby born with one eye in the middle of his forehead is not expected to survive more than a few days. Doctors believe the newborn boy is suffering from cyclopia - an unusual medical condition named after the one-eyed giants of Greek mythology - caused by radiation exposure in the womb. Cyclopia is one of the rarest forms of birth defects and children born with this condition often die shortly after birth.

Maybe it’s too soon for a pity party, but the profound changes in the size and prominence of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS) in the past 100 years has me worried. After Saturn’s rings, Jupiter’s big bloody eye is one of astronomy’s most iconic sights. This titanic hurricane-like storm has charmed earthlings since Giovanni Cassini first spotted it in the mid-1600s. Will our grandchildren turn their telescopes to Jove only to see a pale pink oval like so many others rolling around the planet’s South Tropical Zone? ,,, An inspired image prompted this sad train of thought. UK astrophotographer Damian...

In an interview with KNPR that aired this morning, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) revealed that an exercise injury he suffered on New Year’s Day may leave him blind in one eye. “I had a serious injury in my eye, there’s blood accumulation there, and we’re hoping that resolves itself,” he said. “As long as the blood is in the eye, it’s hard to see.” The 75-year-old Reid was exercising in his own home with resistance bands when one snapped, flying into his eye and knocking him backwards, breaking three ribs and suffering a concussion. Reid added that he...

Huge eyeball turns up in Pompano Beach Taking his usual morning stroll along the surf in Pompano Beach, Gino Covacci noticed a strange ball-like object at the high tide line. He kicked it over and found himself staring at the biggest eyeball he had ever seen. The blue, softball-sized orb he found Wednesday was a departure from the shells, cigarette butts and seaweed he usually sees. He put it in a plastic bag and put that in the refrigerator. "It was very, very fresh," he said Thursday. "It was still bleeding when I put it in the plastic bag." He...

In this world of Photoshop and online scams, it pays to have a hearty dose of skepticism at reports of something strange — including an albino fetal shark with one eye smack in the middle of its nose like a Cyclops. But the Cyclops shark, sliced from the belly of a pregnant mama dusky shark caught by a commercial fisherman in the Gulf of California earlier this summer, is by all reports the real thing. Shark researchers have examined the preserved creature and found that its single eye is made of functional optical tissue, they said last week. It's unlikely,...

snip - The child was diagnosed with a rare chromosomal disorder, known as cyclopia. She was born with a single eye in the center of her forehead, no nose and her brain fused into a single hemisphere. With such severe deformities, it was a miracle that the girl survived even a few minutes after delivery. Yet now, 11 days later, she has lived significantly longer than other cyclopean cases.-Snip

GRANBY, N.Y. -- The one-eyed, noseless kitten that inspired an international debate last year over whether it was a hoax is coming to a new museum of oddities in central New York. The museum founder, who believes in creationism, said the kitten is meant to launch another debate about how science and religion intersect. Cy, short for Cyclops, a kitten born with only one eye and no nose, is shown in this photo provided by its owner in Redmond, Oregon, on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2005. The kitten, a ragdoll breed, which died after living for one day, was one of...

Ancient 'Cyclops' wall collapsesExperts study rubble in central Italian town of Amelia (ANSA) - Amelia, January 18 - Part of a massive wall started in around 600 BC around the central Italian town of Amelia collapsed on Wednesday morning for reasons still unclear . The so-called Polygonal walls around Amelia are famous not only for their age but also their size. Built out of huge polygonal stones, they are 8-10 metres high and about 3.5 metres thick . The 20-metre section of wall which collapsed was undergoing restoration work in recent weeks although activity had been suspended for a few...

By Gail Mitchell LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Following a suicide attempt, R&B singer Houston has gouged out his eye while on an overseas performance junket.   A brief statement was released Wednesday by his Capitol Records label, saying only, "Our thoughts and prayers are with Houston during this tragic time." According to sources, the singer first attempted to jump out of a London hotel window last Thursday. Prevented from doing so by his security staff, Houston was locked in his room, at which time the injury occurred. No additional details as to his current condition or whereabouts have been disclosed....

The tusk, several teeth, and some bones of a Deinotherium giganteum, which, loosely translated means really huge terrible beast, have been found on the Greek island Crete. A distant relative to today's elephants, the giant mammal stood 15 feet (4.6 meters) tall at the shoulder, and had tusks that were 4.5 feet (1.3 meters) long. It was one of the largest mammals ever to walk the face of the Earth... To paleontologists today, the large hole in the center of the skull suggests a pronounced trunk. To the ancient Greeks, Deinotherium skulls could well be the foundation for their...

Judge Seeks Answers On Convicted Eye-Gouger's Release Hearing For Campbell Scheduled For Monday POSTED: 10:30 a.m. EDT June 26, 2003 UPDATED: 10:31 a.m. EDT June 26, 2003 HOUSTON -- A state district judge wants answers on why a man who gouged his girlfriend's eyes with a steak knife was released from supervision without the court's permission. Judge Debbie Mantooth Stricklin has scheduled a hearing Monday in the case of Nathan Dale Campbell (pictured, left), who was released from a state hospital to a San Antonio boarding house where he was then returned to the street. Until the hearing, Campbell...

Cyclops Myth Spurred by One-Eyed Fossils? Hillary Mayell for National Geographic News February 5, 2003 Ever wonder where our worst nightmares come from? For the ancient Greeks, it may have been the fossils of giant prehistoric animals. The tusk, several teeth, and some bones of a Deinotherium giganteum, which, loosely translated means really huge terrible beast, have been found on the Greek island Crete. A distant relative to today's elephants, the giant mammal stood 15 feet (4.6 meters) tall at the shoulder, and had tusks that were 4.5 feet (1.3 meters) long. It was one of the largest mammals ever...

<p>Skull of an elephant. The animal's European ancestors had similar anatomies.</p> <p>IRAKLIO, Greece (AP) -- Researchers on the southern Greek island of Crete have unearthed the fossilized tusk, teeth and bones of a Deinotherium Gigantisimum, a fearsome elephant-like creature that might have given rise to ancient legends of one-eyed cyclops monsters.</p>

<p>IRAKLIO, Greece (AP) -- Researchers on the southern Greek island of Crete have unearthed the fossilized tusk, teeth and bones of a Deinotherium Gigantisimum, a fearsome elephant-like creature that might have given rise to ancient legends of one-eyed cyclops monsters.</p>