Free Republic

Rome is one of the most famous cities in history. But it did not rise in an empty land. Before empire, before marble, before the Roman world takes over the map, central Italy is already crowded with graves, hilltop communities, powerful neighbors, painted tombs, and cities of the dead. This episode explores the older world that shaped Rome before Rome shaped the Mediterranean. This map-based history documentary covers early Rome and central Italy from 800 to 500 BC, including Villanovan culture, hut urns, Veii, Tarquinia, Cerveteri, Pyrgi, Pontecagnano, and the growth of Rome in the 6th century BC. Using archaeology,...

Earth's mysterious 'humming' vibration has surged for more than a week, prompting reports from some people who say the phenomenon is disrupting their sleep and causing ringing in their ears. Known as the Schumann Resonance, this natural vibration is often described as the Earth's 'heartbeat,' a steady electromagnetic rhythm generated by lightning bouncing between the planet's surface and the ionosphere, which sits roughly 30 to 600 miles above the surface in the atmosphere. Space weather monitoring app MeteoAgent reported an intense surge in Schumann Resonance readings starting on Monday, labeling them 'high' and potentially disruptive. However, experts cautioned that such...

Explanation: On flight day 6 (April 6) the Artemis II mission achieved a historic lunar flyby. Rounding the lunar far side, the deep space maneuver marked humanity's first venture to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The Orion spacecraft Integrity reached a maximum distance of nearly 407,000 kilometers, and the Artemis II crew, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, set the record for the farthest distance from Earth traveled by any human since the Apollo 13 crew in 1970. From behind the Moon on flight day 6, a solar array wing camera recorded this space...

A former Yolo County Sheriff’s Office lieutenant is one of five people charged with murder following a fireworks warehouse explosion that killed seven workers in the rural Northern California community of Esparto last summer, authorities said. Samuel Machado is accused of illegally having 1 million pounds of fireworks on his property at the time of the blast and using his law enforcement position to shield the illicit operation from scrutiny for years, according to the Yolo County district attorney’s office. Machado was placed on administrative leave following the violent July 1 explosion, which was felt by residents up to 20...

Eating a high-quality plant-rich diet that includes whole grains, vegetables, and fruits may prevent cognitive impairment — even when people start that diet in their late 50s and 60s, according to a new study. "It's never too late to start eating healthy to lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias," said senior author Unhee Lim, a professor of population sciences at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center in Honolulu, in an email. Older adults who cut many unhealthy foods from their diet over a decade had a 11% lower risk of Alzheimer's and dementia when compared with adults...

WASHINGTON — The FAA is seeking out gamers to become air-traffic controllers. A video released by the federal Department of Transportation on Friday targeted the video-game enthusiasts as part of the government’s hiring surge aimed at adding close to 9,000 more air-traffic controllers by 2028. The video asks the gamers whether they’re “up for the challenge” of becoming an ATC but cautions that the job isn’t just a “game” — it’s a “career. “You’ll keep millions of people safe every day,” the video says, while touting average salaries of up to $155,000 by your third year on the job. The...

In 2001, in southeastern Iran, the Halil Roud river shifted its course, revealing traces of an unknown civilization long buried beneath the sands of the Iranian plateau. The inhabitants of the Jiroft region were the first to clandestinely extract a vast number of ancient artifacts dated to the 3rd millennium BC: carved vases, symbolic figures, and ritual objects. This priceless treasure fueled international smuggling circuits before Iranian authorities launched a rescue operation. This documentary follows archaeologists in their investigation of this forgotten civilization and explores the fascinating hypothesis: could this city be Aratta, the mythical metropolis mentioned in the oldest...

Petition states: We call on Congress to repeal the 1986 law that shields vaccine manufacturers from civil liability and to restore the right of Americans to hold corporations accountable in court for negligent harm.

Explanation: Some 60 million light-years away in the southerly constellation Corvus, two large galaxies are colliding. Stars in the two galaxies, cataloged as NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, very rarely collide in the course of the ponderous cataclysm that lasts for hundreds of millions of years. But the galaxies' large clouds of molecular gas and dust often do, triggering furious episodes of star formation near the center of the cosmic wreckage. Spanning over 50 thousand light-years, this stunning telescopic frame also reveals new star clusters and matter flung far from the scene of the accident by gravitational tidal forces. The...

A simple experiment in a child’s swimming pool allows you to visualize the angular momentum of rotating waves. Beautifully done.

As Australia wakes up to the Iran War reality we still need fossil fuel, King Charles chooses now to push his climate obsession. The letter from King Charles; ... Bad timing Charlie. Greens have been noticeably pulling back their usual Net Zero rhetoric in the last few weeks, in the face of Aussie fury at wholly inadequate preparation for Iran war fuel shortages. People are asking questions like whether political Net Zero obsession led to our refineries being closed, forcing our green Prime Minister to try to defend his non-existent record of keeping refineries open. The obvious question, will the...

Famous space quotes One small step for man , one giant leap for mankind. Neil Armstrong Shitters broke Artemis crew

In 1938, a statue was discovered at Pompeii, subsequently known as "The Pompeii Lakshmi". It is a sycretistic statue, combining elements of the Roman Venus, and the Hindu Lakshmi, and is our main evidence for aspects of Hinduism, or at least Hindu deities, in the Roman world. Hinduism in the Roman Empire: A Quick Overview | 2:41 The Historian's Craft | 132K subscribers | 10,254 views | April 6, 2026

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed revenge in a fiery message in which he urged Arab neighbors to turn their backs on the Western nations. “Everyone must know that, God willing, we will certainly not let go of the criminal aggressors who attacked our country. We will definitely seek compensation for every damage inflicted, as well as blood money for the martyrs and compensation for the wounded of this war," read the message marking the 40th day since Ali Khamenei’s death, Iran International reported. Addressing his supporters, Khamenei said: “It should not be assumed that announcing an intention to negotiate...

Competitors for California’s governorship are ramping up their attacks on leading Democratic candidate Eric Swalwell after claims this week that the congressman had inappropriate conduct with younger women in his office and working on his campaigns. Lower-polling candidates are hoping to use the allegations to gain traction. One of them, former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, reportedly sought out a media outlet to elaborate on his new attacks against Swalwell. On social media last night, Villaraigosa, a Democrat, accused Swalwell of ducking an event by the CalAsian Chamber of Commerce to avoid answering questions about the allegations. “If you want...

A NASA scientist mysteriously died without any cause of death listed or autopsy — sparking questions about whether he was part of a pattern of deaths tied to the US space and nuclear program. Michael Hicks, who worked on a myriad of NASA space science missions, died in July 2023 at the age of 59 and worked at California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from 1998 to 2022. He assisted on the DART Project, the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking Project, the Dawn Mission, and the NASA Deep Space 1 Mission. It is unclear if there’s any foul play linked to Hicks’...

Explanation: As the crew of Artemis II travelled towards the Moon this week, Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) was expected to have its closest approach to the Sun on Monday. At this point, comet and Sun would be closer than half the distance separating the Earth and Moon. The comet did not survive; the featured video was made with 40 hours of data and shows the comet plunging toward the Sun, like a moth to a flame. Observing the comet so close to our bright star requires a coronagraph, an instrument that blocks the Sun and is used for studies of...

Men will be barred from using parts of an on-campus gym at the University of Southern California under a new initiative to make women and non-binary gym-goers feel more comfortable while working out. The Student Assembly for Gender Empowerment (SAGE) pushed for the new rules in partnership with the Lyon Center, a recreational facility controlled by the university. SAGE describes itself as a “programming assembly and intersectional feminist organization under the student government, committed to uplifting all voices oppressed by the patriarchy.” The plan excludes men from working out in portions of the Robinson Room at the Lyon Center on...

In New York State, the annual budget is due by April 1. Here we are on April 7, and no budget has yet emerged. Word is that the Governor and legislative leaders are hidden away behind closed doors hammering out the details. Word also is that somewhere in this “budget” process, the seemingly unrelated matter of the deadlines of the Climate Act (for starters, 70% of electricity from “renewables” by 2030) are about to get extended. When the Climate Act (officially “Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act,” or CLCPA) was enacted back in 2019, the deadlines, beginning in 2030, seemed...

Science in Poland reports that several shipwrecks have been found off the coast of Libya, near a shallow rock formation at the ancient Greek port of Ptolemais. The city was founded by Egypt's Ptolemaic Dynasty between the late fourth and third centuries B.C., and remained an active port until the seventh century A.D. "This is a place where disasters must have occurred periodically," said Piotr Jaworski of the University of Warsaw. He and Bartosz Kontny were conducting an underwater survey when they saw the 300-foot-long stretch of shipwrecks. "Over the centuries, the level of the Mediterranean Sea has risen slightly,...