Science & Technology

Oetzi the Iceman May Have Been Ceremonially Buried

Nick Squires
The Telegraph, UK
Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:25 UTC

The prehistoric hunter known as Oetzi the Iceman may have been ceremonially buried on a high Alpine pass rather than killed there in a deadly ambush, experts say.

Researchers believe they have found evidence which shows that Oetzi, named after the Oetz Valley in which he was found, died lower down the valley, probably violently, but was then carried up to the 10,500ft high pass for a ceremonial burial.

The new theory suggests that he may have been an important figure in his tribe or village, possibly a chieftain.

After being frozen in ice for 5,300 years, Oetzi's remains, along with a treasure trove of prehistoric artefacts, were found in a remarkable state of preservation by two German hikers in 1991, close to the modern day border between Italy and Austria.

Scientists have long believed that the Stone Age tribesman was attacked as he trekked over the mountains.

Earthquake Dating Confused by Sea Shells

Adele Rackley
Planet Earth Online
Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:25 UTC

Coastal earthquakes that cause the earth to shift are often dated by the remains of marine creatures that are exposed and killed when the ground lifts out of the sea.

But scientists have discovered that one commonly used shell can produce apparent dates thousands of years older than the event that exposed them.

In AD365 a huge earthquake tilted the whole western end of the Greek island of Crete, exposing up to 10m of previously submerged land along the south and west coasts.

The event was well documented so we can be sure of its date. And it left exposed a ring, like a tide-mark, made from algae that concreted - or set - at sea level when the quake happened. The next ring down is at current sea level, so we know that this ground was lifted up in a single event.

But when a team of scientists from the universities of Cambridge and Oxford dated the remains of two different creatures exposed by the quake they came out with widely differing results.

Electric Car Designed by Students Reaches Record 307 Miles Per Hour

Paul Foy
The Associated Press
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:00 UTC

The Buckeye Bullet, an electric car built by students

A team of Ohio State University students that set out to build the fastest electric car on the planet is heading home with a broken clutch and a big grin.

The Buckeye Bullet was clocked on Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats at speeds averaging 307 mph, which could set a new record if it is verified by the governing body of motorsports. The old record for an electric car was 246 mph.

"We've been at this for 16 years now and have our newest lithium-ion powered vehicle out," team manager David Cooke said by cell phone from the salt flats, about 100 miles west of Salt Lake City. "Our vehicle was capable of going much faster."

King Tut's Family Secrets

Zahi Hawass
National Geographic
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:50 UTC

DNA evidence reveals the truth about the boy king's parents and new clues to his untimely death.

Mummies capture our imaginations and our hearts. Full of secrets and magic, they were once people who lived and loved, just as we do today.

I believe we should honor these ancient dead and let them rest in peace.

There are some secrets of the pharaohs, however, that can be revealed only by studying their mummies. By carrying out CT scans of King Tutankhamun's mummy, we were able in 2005 to show that he did not die from a blow to the head, as many people believed. Our analysis revealed that a hole in the back of his skull had been made during the mummification process. The study also showed that Tutankhamun died when he was only 19 - perhaps soon after he suffered a fracture to his left leg. But there are mysteries surrounding Tutankhamun that even a CT scanner cannot reveal. Now we have probed even deeper into his mummy and returned with extraordinary revelations about his life, his birth, and his death.

NASA/NOAA Study Finds El Niños are Growing Stronger

Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:47 UTC

Pasadena, Calif. - A relatively new type of El Niño, which has its warmest waters in the central-equatorial Pacific Ocean, rather than in the eastern-equatorial Pacific, is becoming more common and progressively stronger, according to a new study by NASA and NOAA. The research may improve our understanding of the relationship between El Niños and climate change, and has potentially significant implications for long-term weather forecasting.

Lead author Tong Lee of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and Michael McPhaden of NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, measured changes in El Niño intensity since 1982. They analyzed NOAA satellite observations of sea surface temperature, checked against and blended with directly-measured ocean temperature data. The strength of each El Niño was gauged by how much its sea surface temperatures deviated from the average. They found the intensity of El Niños in the central Pacific has nearly doubled, with the most intense event occurring in 2009-10.

Edmonton crews find dinosaur bones deep under the city

Frank Landry
Toronto Sun
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:38 UTC

When Aaron Krywiak took a job with the city's drainage department, he never imagined he'd be digging up 70 million-year-old dinosaur remains.

But that's what he and work partner Ryley Paul unearthed earlier this month, when they were jack-hammering out a sewer tunnel nine storeys below the ground in west Edmonton.

"We were just digging, doing our jobs, and we found some rocks a couple of weeks ago and we just figured they were interesting looking rocks," Krywiak, 21, said Monday

NASA prepares for asteroid rendezvous

Space Daily
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:31 UTC

NASA is getting ready for its Dawn spacecraft's encounter with a giant asteroid, set to happen in less than a year, the agency said.

Dawn will conduct a detailed study as it spends a year circling the asteroid Vesta, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit a body in the solar system's asteroid belt, SPACE.com reported Tuesday.

Software Predicts Criminal Behavior

Eric Bland
American Broadcasting Company
Sun, 22 Aug 2010 14:31 UTC

Program Helps Law Enforcement Determine Who Is Most Likely to Commit Crime

New crime prediction software being rolled out in the nation's capital should reduce not only the murder rate, but the rate of many other crimes as well.

Developed by Richard Berk, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, the software is already used in Baltimore and Philadelphia to predict which individuals on probation or parole are most likely to murder and to be murdered.

In his latest version, the one being implemented in D.C., Berk goes even further, identifying the individuals most likely to commit crimes other than murder.

The ABCs of E-Reading

Geoffrey A. Fowler and Marie C. Baca
The Wall Street Journal
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:19 UTC

New Devices Are Changing Habits. People Are Reading More, Even While in a Kayak

People who buy e-readers tend to spend more time than ever with their nose in a book, preliminary research shows.

A study of 1,200 e-reader owners by Marketing and Research Resources Inc. found that 40% said they now read more than they did with print books. Of those surveyed, 58% said they read about the same as before while 2% said they read less than before. And 55% of the respondents in the May study, paid for by e-reader maker Sony Corp., thought they'd use the device to read even more books in the future. The study looked at owners of three devices: Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle, Apple Inc.'s iPad and the Sony Reader.

While e-readers are still a niche product just beginning to spread beyond early adopters, these new reading experiences are a big departure from the direction U.S. reading habits have been heading. A 2007 study by the National Endowment for the Arts caused a furor when it reported Americans are spending less time reading books. About half of all Americans ages 18 to 24 read no books for pleasure, it found.

Woolly Mammoth Tusks Found in Sea on Show in Dorchester

BBC News
Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:57 UTC

A pair of 20,000-year-old woolly mammoth tusks trawled up from the bottom of the North Sea are going on display at a Dorset museum.

They form the centerpiece of a display on mammoths at the Dinosaur Museum in Dorchester.

Their tusks could grow to 5m (16ft) but only 1.5m (5ft) sections are on show.

At the time the animal died the North Sea did not exist and the area was low-lying grassland connecting the British Isles to the continent.

When the North Sea formed at the end of the last ice age, the tusks became buried in the thin layers of sand at the bottom of the shallow southern part of it.

They remained there for thousands of years and eventually tidal currents and dredging released the fossilized remains, which were caught in the fishing nets of a trawler earlier this year.

Set up a vaccine clinic in your front yard this Halloween [Link]

Tsidkenu

.. .. 2031? Hope this Comet "BB" hits on the 1st anniversary of Agenda 2030 during their annual vaxx parade

Jibrish

Were I in the U.S., and those three monkeys were my choices for leader, I would vote DeSantis because he appears to be the lesser of three evils....

Baybars

RT's goin' after a protected species? Of course not.

Jibrish

Gee guys, this story is cheerful, not. Hard to know what the sequel is, as "No further information will be released until.." sheriff officials...

Jibrish

Science & Technology

Oetzi the Iceman May Have Been Ceremonially Buried

Earthquake Dating Confused by Sea Shells

Electric Car Designed by Students Reaches Record 307 Miles Per Hour

King Tut's Family Secrets

NASA/NOAA Study Finds El Niños are Growing Stronger

Edmonton crews find dinosaur bones deep under the city

NASA prepares for asteroid rendezvous

Software Predicts Criminal Behavior

The ABCs of E-Reading

Woolly Mammoth Tusks Found in Sea on Show in Dorchester

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