Free Republic

It may be the most bizarre claim about the Loch Ness monster yet – that she is an ‘algae-based creature’. That is the conclusion filmmakers have come to after using an innovative testing method following a sighting during the biggest hunt for Nessie in 50 years. On the August bank holiday, hundreds of volunteers descended on the loch to help track down the elusive beast once and for all. Among that number were Matty Wiles, 49 and Aga Balinska, 42. Before the official search kicked off, the pair went for an early morning swim at 6.30am, and saw two humps...

Scientists discovered the oldest known DNA and used it to reveal what life was like 2 million years ago in the northern tip of Greenland...With animal fossils hard to come by, the researchers extracted environmental DNA, also known as eDNA, from soil samples..."I wouldn't have, in a million years, expected to find mastodons in northern Greenland," said Love Dalen, a researcher in evolutionary genomics at Stockholm University...

At least 50 million Americans are under flash flood watch Friday morning as Tropical Storm Elsa traverses the East Coast, unleashing torrential rains and tropical force winds. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), as of 0500 ET, Elsa was about 5 miles east of Atlantic City, New Jersey. As Elsa moves near Long Island and southern and coastal New England today, heavy rainfall could lead to considerable flash and urban flooding. Tropical storm conditions should continue along portions of the mid-Atlantic coast early this morning. Tropical storm conditions are expected in portions of the southern New England states and...

LONDON (Reuters) - A global team of scientists plans to scour the icy depths of Loch Ness next month using environmental DNA (eDNA) in an experiment that may discover whether Scotland’s fabled monster really does, or did, exist. The use of eDNA sampling is already well established as a tool for monitoring marine life like whales and sharks. Whenever a creature moves through its environment, it leaves behind tiny fragments of DNA from skin, scales, feathers, fur, faeces and urine. “This DNA can be captured, sequenced and then used to identify that creature by comparing the sequence obtained to large...

SHELBYVILLE, Ind. (Nov. 27) — Edna Parker, who became the world’s oldest person more than a year ago, has died at age 115. UCLA gerontologist Dr. Stephen Coles said Parker’s great-nephew notified him that Parker died Wednesday at a nursing home in Shelbyville. She was 115 years, 220 days old, said Robert Young, a senior consultant for gerontology for Guinness World Records. Parker was born April 20, 1893, in central Indiana’s Morgan County and had been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest person since the 2007 death in Japan of Yone Minagawa, who was four months her...

SHELBYVILLE, Ind. - Edna Parker, who once taught in a two-room schoolhouse and became the world's oldest person more than a year ago, has died at age 115. UCLA gerontologist Dr. Stephen Coles said Parker's great nephew notified him that Parker passed away Wednesday at a nursing home in Shelbyville. She was 115 years, 220 days old, said Robert Young, a senior consultant for gerontology for Guinness World Records. Parker was born April 20, 1893 in central Indiana's Morgan County and had been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest person since the Aug. 14, 2007, death in...

“Remembering Edna” (Isaiah 43:1-3a, 25; Psalm 25:6-7; Hebrews 10:12-23; Luke 23:33-34a, 39-46; 24:1-8)It’s funny, sometimes, what we remember--and what we don’t remember. Oftentimes that’s the case with how we remember someone who has just died. Because the events leading up to that person’s death are so recent and so vivid, that may be what we tend to focus on. Or we think about that person only as they were in their last few months or their last couple of years. But really, there’s a whole lifetime of memories of that person we can be thinking about. Take our dear friend...

Boy Seeks Ransom for Dog Missing Since Halloween Saturday, December 08, 2007 Lassie, come home.After his beloved beagle mix, Edna, disappeared on Halloween night, Bill Whiting did what any dog owner might: He offered a reward in posted fliers around the neighborhood and anxiously waited for a call, MyFoxPhilly.com reports. When the phone rang, however, the news was not what he was expecting. "He said, ‘Mister, I got your dog. You don't believe it? You want me to hurt it so you can hear?’ I pleaded with them not to hurt the dog," Whiting said of the caller, one of...

A Washington-based pro-family group says the Democrat-led House has cast aside the free-exercise clause of the First Amendment with its passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) (HR 3685). On Wednesday the House voted 235-184 (see roll call vote) in favor of legislation that would prohibit employment discrimination based on "actual or perceived" sexual orientation. Due to a lack of support, openly homosexual Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) withdrew an amendment that would have extended special protections to trans-gendered people and cross-dressers. Matt Barber, policy director for cultural issues at Concerned Women for America (CWA), argues the bill threatens the religious...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 — Visitors to Gay.com can sign up to find the perfect dating partner, advice on sex and how-to articles on same-sex marriage and parenting. Over the course of at least two days in August, they may well also have seen banner advertisements about the Republican presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, according to an analysis of campaign Web advertising provided by the Nielsen Online, AdRelevance, monitoring service. At least 32,000 times over those two days, users clicking on the site got a Romney ad like one saying “Mitt Romney for President — Join Team...

"Weather Disaster of Historic Proportions" Could Strike as Early as This Year... The northeast U.S. coast could be the target of a major hurricane, perhaps as early as this season, according to research announced today by the AccuWeather... Hurricane Center. "The Northeast is staring down the barrel of a gun," said Joe Bastardi, Chief Forecaster... "The Northeast coast is long overdue for a powerful hurricane...not a question of if but when." ... "If you examine past weather cycles that have occurred in the Atlantic, you will see patterns of storms," added Ken Reeves, Expert Senior Meteorologist and Director of Forecasting...

Jackson County's DA Has Convicted 28 Black People on Drug Charges Via Manufactured Evidence and Railroaded Trials. Now a Small-Town Exile, Her Family, and a Few Neighbors Are Fighting Back Frederick "Rick" Patterson was born in the small Southeast Texas city of Edna, seat of Jackson Co. and just north of Port Lavaca, in 1954, the same year the rural community earned its first moment in the national spotlight. That January, the U.S. Supreme Court heard an appeal brought by convicted murderer Pete Hernandez, an agricultural worker in Edna, who argued that Jackson Co. prosecutors denied his right to equal...