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In February of 2013, skywatchers around the world turned their attention toward asteroid 2012 DA14, a cosmic rock about 150 feet (50 meters) in diameter that was going to fly closer to Earth than the spacecraft that bring us satellite TV. Little did they realize as they prepared for the once-in-several-decades event that another bit of celestial debris was hurtling toward Earth, with a more direct heading. On Feb. 15, 2013, the Chelyabinsk meteor, a roughly 62-foot (19 meter)-diameter asteroid exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, as it entered Earth's atmosphere at a shallow angle. The blast shattered windows...

A pair of mathematicians from Australia and France have devised an alternative way to multiply numbers together, while solving an algorithmic puzzle that has perplexed some of the greatest math minds for almost half a century. For most of us, the way we multiply relatively small numbers is by remembering our times tables – an incredibly handy aid first pioneered by the Babylonians some 4,000 years ago. But what if the numbers get bigger? Well, if the figures get unwieldy – and assuming we don't have a calculator or computer, of course – most of us would then turn to...

HICAGO — "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett gave detailed instructions to two brothers who helped him stage a racist, anti-gay attack on himself, including giving them specific slurs to yell, telling them to shout "MAGA country" and pointing out a surveillance camera that he thought would record the beating, a prosecutor said Thursday. Police said Smollett planned the hoax because he was unhappy with his salary and wanted to promote his career. Before the attack, he also sent a letter that threatened him to the Chicago studio where "Empire" is shot, police said. Smollett, who is black and gay, turned himself...

Viking sagas describe the ritual execution of blood eagle, in which victims were kept alive while their backs were sliced open so that their ribs, lungs, and intestines could be pulled out into the shape of bloody wings. PinterestA blood eagle execution. The Vikings didn’t come into towns walking on moonbeams and rainbows. If their sagas are to be believed, the Vikings cruelly tortured their enemies in the name of their god Odin as they conquered territory. If the suggestion of a blood eagle was even uttered, one left town and never looked back. Viking sagas define blood eagle as...

Pumice as a Time Witness Technische Universität WienJune 23,2008 Three different pumice samples A chemist of Vienna University of Technology demonstrates how chemical fingerprints of volcanic eruptions and numerous pumice lump finds from archaeological excavations illustrate relations between individual advanced civilisations in the Eastern Mediterranean. Thanks to his tests and to the provenancing of the respective pumice samples to partially far-reaching volcanic eruptions, it became possible to redefine a piece of cultural history from the second millenium B.C. Vienna (TU). During the Bronze Age, between the years 3000 and 1000 B.C., the Mediterranean was already intensely populated. Each individual culture,...

A state court judge is set to toss out California's new process for executing condemned inmates. State prison officials revised the lethal injection process in May. A federal judge temporarily halted executions in the state after finding that prison officials were inadequately trained and equipped to administer the three-drug cocktail during executions. Marin County Superior Court Judge Lynn O'Malley Taylor says prison officials bungled when they failed to treat the revised execution method as a new state regulation. That would have required public comment and the approval of the Office of Administrative Law. Taylor's ruling is tentative. Government lawyers will...

Source: Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Date: September 11, 2007 New Method Can Reveal Ancestry Of All Genes Across Many Different Genomes Science Daily — The wheels of evolution turn on genetic innovation -- new genes with new functions appear, allowing organisms to grow and adapt in new ways. But deciphering the history of how and when various genes appeared, for any organism, has been a difficult and largely intractable task. A scanning electron micrograph of one of the seventeen fungal species analyzed in the study. (Credit: Image courtesy / Janice Carr, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Now a team...

Thursday, August 02, 2007 The Rhythm Mystery Revealed posted by Jeffrey Tucker At last, at last, I'm pleased to announce that there is a source for understanding the old-style Solesmes approach to rhythm: The Rhythm of Plainsong by Dom Gajard (1943). This marvelous book strikes me as the best overall defense of the Mocquereau approach to the rhythm of Gregorian chant, with Gajard clearly explaining, in non-technical terms, what is historical, what is deduced from musical understanding, and what is pure speculation. He makes an amazingly persuasive case! Indeed, it strikes me that he settles the issue, and I'm...

Gov. Schwarzenegger, eager to see his proposed transportation plan carried out quickly, is turning to an approach to construction that proved disastrous for Riverside County. The governor is pushing for the state to embrace the "design-build" method that typically enables contractors to finish projects quicker by handling both design and construction. The traditional construction model calls for an architect to design the project and a contractor to build it, which takes longer. Riverside County used design-build to construct a complex of courthouses, jail cells and a juvenile hall near Murrieta. The Southwest Justice Center was expected to cost about $50...

Note: This article may seem pedantic, but it is aimed at those who are not “insiders” on the history of the Middle East.I keep hearing the phrase, “It’s their land,” regarding Palestinian claims to Israel. Terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad publicly assert that their aims are to reclaim every inch of Israel as part of a proposed Palestinian homeland. Unfortunately, these ownership claims are echoed by “activist” groups like the International Solidarity Movement and the Palestine Solidarity Movement, both with throngs of naïve followers on U.S. and European college campuses. The followers are too eager to take these...

Gutenberg Printing Method Questioned By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News Nov. 12, 2004 — Johannes Gutenberg may be wrongly credited with producing the first Western book printed in movable type, according to an Italian researcher. Presenting his findings in a mock trial of Gutenberg at the recent Festival of Science in Genoa, Bruno Fabbiani, an expert in printing who teaches at Turin Polytechnic, said the 15th-century German printer used stamps rather than the movable type he is said to have invented between 1452 and 1455.Overlapping Letters in the Gutenberg Bible Gutenberg and His Bible Gutenberg (c.1397-1468), whose real name was Johannes...

<p>A team of archaeological scientists in the United States and Germany say they have developed a technique to accurately determine the age of stone tools and artifacts between 50,000 and 100,000 years old, a period that has proved particularly tricky to map with other methods.</p>

The phenomenon that leads to "virgin births" in some species looks like a promising source of embryonic stem cells. Researchers are on the brink of obtaining human stem cells this way for the first time, and animal experiments suggest such cells are indistinguishable from normal stem cells. In parthenogenesis, an unfertilised egg keeps two sets of chromosomes and begins developing as if it had been fertilised. Some insects and reptiles can reproduce this way but even though an electric or chemical stimulus can induce parthenogenesis in mammals, the resulting embryos die after a few days And that, according to its...

Experimental 'Coffee Cocktail' Tested As Way To Limit Stroke Damage DALLAS, April 11 ? An experimental drug delivering the potency of two cups of strong coffee and a mixed drink has been shown to limit stroke-induced brain damage in animals. Now, this agent has been demonstrated to be safe in a small pilot study of ischemic stroke patients reported in today?s rapid access issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. This safety study is a crucial prelude to testing the effectiveness of the combination in patients. In previous studies in rats, the size of brain damage was reduced...

LONDON (Reuters) - A new screening technique being developed by scientists in England may help turn the tables on breast cancer by identifying tumors far earlier. Breast cancer is one of the biggest killers of women across the world, accounting for more than 43,000 deaths a year in the United States and 13,000 in Britain alone. As with all cancers, early detection is key to enhanced survival rates. Currently mammograms can only detect tumors when they have grown to between 10 and 12 millimeters across, but New Scientist magazine reported that a technique being developed at University College London can...

      First the bad news.Because we have sinned we are born separated from God.  Without intervention, we are ineligible for Heaven.  This applies to the entire human race.  You are not alone.Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"Romans 3:10 says, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:"Romans 6:23a "For the wages of sin is death;"Revelation 21:8 "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire...

JULY 19, 2002 Bizarre study trick proves fatal BANGKOK - A university student here has been found dead after a bizarre study method which involved looping a belt around his neck and fixing it to a door handle went tragically wrong. Eak Chongsawatwattana's mother said the belt kept him awake while he was studying, a trick he had learnt from other university students. If he nodded off, the jerk of the belt would wake him up. 'I warned him many times not to do this, but he just didn't listen. Now he's dead,' she said. Eak, 21, was reportedly found...