Paleontologists are examining a "huge" fossil find in Southern California, comprising 1,500 bone fragments from animals that lived up to 1.4 million years ago.
The discovery included bones belonging to a giant cat that was the ancestor of the sabre-toothed tiger, ground sloths the size of modern-day grizzly bears, camels and other species.
Science & Technology
Of the many indignities international students endure, accent discrimination may be the most mortifying, in part because it is still widely accepted in our society. Like skin color or attire, accent is a characteristic we routinely use to identify someone as unfamiliar or foreign. But while most people understand that discrimination based on visual appearance is wrong, bias against foreign speech patterns is not universally recognized as a form of prejudice. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on national origin, but is mum on the subject of accent bias. Moreover, employers who deny jobs to non-native speakers can protect themselves by arguing that a foreign accent impairs communication skills essential to the workplace.
Ever meet a kindergartener who seemed naturally compassionate and cared about others' feelings? Who was cooperative and didn't demand his own way? Chances are, his parents held, carried and cuddled him a lot; he most likely was breastfed; he probably routinely slept with his parents; and he likely was encouraged to play outdoors with other children, according to new research findings from the Univ. of Notre Dame.
© USA Today
Stumpy but strong, the Neanderthals disappear from the European fossil record by about 30,000 years ago, replaced about that time by modern-looking humans. In the upcoming October Current Anthropology journal, researchers led by Liubov Golovanova of Russia's ANO Laboratory of Prehistory in St. Petersburg report that volcanic dust deposits in a cave in the Caucasus point to an ecological catastrophe wiping out our Neanderthal cousins, not warfare or competition for food.
© AA photo
'Their arms were tied behind their backs, indicating that they may have been killed or sacrificed,' says the leader of the excavation.
'Their arms were tied behind their backs, indicating that they may have been killed or sacrificed,' says the leader of the excavation.
The five bodies, reportedly belonging to two adults and three children aged between 3 and 5, were found at the Aktopraklık mound.
"Their arms were tied behind their backs, indicating that they may have been killed or sacrificed," said Associate Professor Necmi Karul, head of the prehistory department at Istanbul University's literature faculty and leader of the excavation.
© Getty Images
The genocide occurred as a result of conflict between different Anasazi Ancestral Puebloan ethnic groups.
The genocide occurred as a result of conflict between different Anasazi Ancestral Puebloan ethnic groups.
Crushed leg bones, battered skulls and other mutilated human remains are likely all that's left of a Native American population destroyed by genocide that took place circa 800 A.D., suggests a new study.
The paper, accepted for publication in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, describes the single largest deposit to date of mutilated and processed human remains in the American Southwest.
The entire assemblage comprises 14,882 human skeletal fragments, as well as the mutilated remains of dogs and other animals killed at the massacre site -- Sacred Ridge, southwest of Durango, Colo.
© Europlanet Media Centre
Day time brightness temperature map of the Moon from China’s first first lunar probe Chang’E-1 at 37 GHz. False-colour image.
Day time brightness temperature map of the Moon from China’s first first lunar probe Chang’E-1 at 37 GHz. False-colour image.
These exciting new results are being presented by Dr. Yong-Chun Zheng and Dr. Kwing L. Chan at the European Planetary Science Congress in Rome.
Chang'E-1 (CE-1) is China's first scientific mission to explore planetary bodies beyond Earth. The stereo camera, one of the eight science instruments on board the spacecraft, has produced a state-of the-art global image of the Moon with unprecedented image quality and positioning precision. The Solar Wind Ion Detector (SWID) has discovered the acceleration of scattered solar wind protons close to the lunar polar terminator. And now, the Lunar Microwave Radiometer (MRM) made it possible, for the first time, to globally map the Moon in microwave frequencies.
Mandatory sale to boost broadband
The European Commission has proposed requiring member countries to sell off TV frequencies by 2013, and allow wireless broadband elsewhere by 2012.
The proposal is based on Europe's commitment to broadband for all by 2013, and 30Mb/s by 2020. It serves to prod countries lagging behind on that schedule, which could be backed up with fines if the European Parliament agrees. Those countries, and everyone else, will have to deregulate 900MHz and 1800MHz and sell off 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz by 2012. They'll also have to get shot of the old TV frequencies at 800MHz (the digital dividend) by January 1 2013.
The 30Mb/s won't all be wireless, but it is supposed to reach every EU citizen, so it seems likely some of it will have to be radio. The EC also reckons we need a coordinating body to ensure compatibility between countries to enable roaming and to create an economy of scale for manufacturers.
The European Commission has proposed requiring member countries to sell off TV frequencies by 2013, and allow wireless broadband elsewhere by 2012.
The proposal is based on Europe's commitment to broadband for all by 2013, and 30Mb/s by 2020. It serves to prod countries lagging behind on that schedule, which could be backed up with fines if the European Parliament agrees. Those countries, and everyone else, will have to deregulate 900MHz and 1800MHz and sell off 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz by 2012. They'll also have to get shot of the old TV frequencies at 800MHz (the digital dividend) by January 1 2013.
The 30Mb/s won't all be wireless, but it is supposed to reach every EU citizen, so it seems likely some of it will have to be radio. The EC also reckons we need a coordinating body to ensure compatibility between countries to enable roaming and to create an economy of scale for manufacturers.
So far no threat to destroy world if demands not met
Budget cuts are forcing international science alliance CERN to postpone upgrades to the most potent particle-punisher currently operated by the human race - the subterranean Large Hadron Collider (LHC) outside Geneva. CERN has also been compelled to temporarily shut down other accelerators, and has seen "protests" from boffins and support staff threatened by the cuts.
"The plan... is firmly science-driven," said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer in a statement issued on Friday. "It reduces spending on research and consolidation through careful and responsible adjustment of the pace originally foreseen in a way that does not compromise the future research programme unduly. The reductions will be painful, but in the current financial environment, they are fair."
Budget cuts are forcing international science alliance CERN to postpone upgrades to the most potent particle-punisher currently operated by the human race - the subterranean Large Hadron Collider (LHC) outside Geneva. CERN has also been compelled to temporarily shut down other accelerators, and has seen "protests" from boffins and support staff threatened by the cuts.
"The plan... is firmly science-driven," said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer in a statement issued on Friday. "It reduces spending on research and consolidation through careful and responsible adjustment of the pace originally foreseen in a way that does not compromise the future research programme unduly. The reductions will be painful, but in the current financial environment, they are fair."
Anakin Skywalker? Big girls' blouse
Topflight engineers based in Newcastle have hit upon a radical plan for warning of volcanic eruptions. They intend to build a heatproof sensor unit which can be dropped into a volcano's caldera and wirelessly transmit data to monitoring stations despite being possibly immersed in molten rock.
"At the moment we have no way of accurately monitoring the situation inside a volcano and in fact most data collection actually goes on post-eruption. With an estimated 500 million people living in the shadow of a volcano this is clearly not ideal," explains Dr Alton Horsfall of Newcastle uni's Centre for Extreme Environment Technology.
"We still have some way to go but using silicon carbide technology we hope to develop a wireless communication system that could accurately collect and transmit chemical data from the very depths of a volcano."
The Newcastle boffins say their silicon-carbide electronics would be used to measure small changes in the levels of certain gases within the caldera - for instance the dioxides of sulphur and carbon - so providing early warning of possible eruptions.
Topflight engineers based in Newcastle have hit upon a radical plan for warning of volcanic eruptions. They intend to build a heatproof sensor unit which can be dropped into a volcano's caldera and wirelessly transmit data to monitoring stations despite being possibly immersed in molten rock.
"At the moment we have no way of accurately monitoring the situation inside a volcano and in fact most data collection actually goes on post-eruption. With an estimated 500 million people living in the shadow of a volcano this is clearly not ideal," explains Dr Alton Horsfall of Newcastle uni's Centre for Extreme Environment Technology.
"We still have some way to go but using silicon carbide technology we hope to develop a wireless communication system that could accurately collect and transmit chemical data from the very depths of a volcano."
The Newcastle boffins say their silicon-carbide electronics would be used to measure small changes in the levels of certain gases within the caldera - for instance the dioxides of sulphur and carbon - so providing early warning of possible eruptions.
