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Tsukumo No. 24. (Laboratory of Physical Anthropology, Kyoto University) ================================================================================== The risk of death from an encounter with a shark may be grossly exaggerated in popular culture, but that's likely small consolation to a man who lived and died 3,000 years ago. His remains now represent the oldest known shark victim ever found. According to an analysis of his bones, the man had a particularly nasty meeting with one of the marine predators, in the Seto Inland Sea of the Japanese archipelago. Nearly 800 wounds scored his skeleton, none of which showed any signs of healing - suggesting, strongly, that...

An Australian teacher and fossil enthusiast stumbled upon the finding of a lifetime when he uncovered a set of fossilized 3-inch teeth from an extinct shark, known as the great jagged narrow-toothed shark or Carcharocles angustidens. Phillip Mullaly said that he couldn't believe what he saw, as he walked along Jan Juc, a beach town and well-known fossil site along Victoria’s Surf Coast in Australia. “I was walking along the beach looking for fossils, turned and saw this shining glint in a boulder and saw a quarter of the tooth exposed," Mullaly said in a statement. "I was immediately excited,...

Rumors to the contrary notwithstanding, the sun did indeed rise in the east this morning. Just like it did yesterday and like it will do tomorrow. Our faith in the regularity and predictability of the sun's appearance every morning mirrors the faith we should have in America. The USA has been around for 234 years - Constitutional government a bit less. Over that time, we have survived calamities worse than Obamacare - tragedies that shook the nation to its very foundation as Obamacare has done. But somehow, there were enough people who continued to have faith in America, in its...

Disturbed by troubling connections and unflattering publicity, John McCain has just purged several prominent Washington lobbyists from his presidential campaign. Surely his intentions are laudable, but if Sen. McCain is consistent in ridding his campaign of such compromised people, he will find himself riding lonesome on the Straight Talk Express. That's because nearly all of his advisers, fundraisers and top staffers have worked on K Street, starting with his campaign manager, Rick Davis, and his senior adviser and spokesman, Charles Black. From the beginning, the McCain team has been thoroughly infested with representatives of corporate special interests, from the campaign's...

WASHINGTON May 21, 2008, 11:25 pm ET Republican John McCain says same-sex couples should be allowed to enter into legal agreements for insurance and other purposes, but he opposes gay marriage and believes in "the unique status of marriage between and man and a woman." "And I know that we have a respectful disagreement on that issue," the likely Republican presidential nominee said in an interview to air Thursday on "The Ellen DeGeneres show."

When one of the Democratic Party's most astute strategists this week criticized John McCain for attacking Barack Obama's desire to engage Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, I asked what the Republican presidential candidate ought to talk about in this campaign. "Health care and the economy," he replied. That is a sure formula for Democratic victory, but it is one that McCain's campaign rejects. Obama embraced that formula once it became clear that he would best Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. He began pounding McCain for seeking the third term of George W. Bush. At the same time, Obama implores McCain...

THE NEW YORK OBSERVER will report tomorrow: 'Former 60 Minutes Wednesday executive editor Josh Howard has told colleagues that before he resigns, the 23-year CBS News veteran will demand that the network retract remarks by CBS president Leslie Moonves, correct its official story line and ultimately clear his name'... In the event of a lawsuit, Mr. Howard has told associates that he would like to see Moonves put under oath to talk about his own roles in the network's stubborn, hapless defense of the flawed segment on President Bush's National Guard service. Howard has also indicated to colleagues that he...