Science & TechnologyS


Pharoah

700,000 yr old Qatar settlement may be oldest organised human community ever found


ANI
Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:21 UTC
Danish archaeologists have discovered a prehistoric settlement in Qatar, which they believe may be over 700,000 years old, making it the oldest organised human community ever found.

According to a report in The Peninsula, the archaeological team has uncovered the ancient settlement in the desert region of Qatar, which may confirm alternative theories on how early humans emigrated from the African continent.

Eight dwellings in the desert region of Qatar indicate that an early human species crossed what is now the Red Sea to leave their origins in Africa, according to the scientists.

Comment: Caveat Lector.

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Target

Almighty smash left record crater on mars

David Shiga
New Scientist Magazine
Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:06 UTC
EVERY scar tells a story, yet a huge gash on Mars has long proven very hard to read. Now a peek beneath the planet's surface reveals that the scar is the largest known impact structure in the solar system - gouged out by a collision that reshaped the Red Planet.
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Telescope

Galaxy map hints at fractal universe

Amanda Gefter
New Scientist Magazine
Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:35 UTC
Is the matter in the universe arranged in a fractal pattern? A new study of nearly a million galaxies suggests it is - though there are no well-accepted theories to explain why that would be so.

Fractal Universe?
©New Scientist
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Bulb

Laser Fluorescence Could Find Life On Mars


Science Daily
Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:08 UTC
A team of scientists from the United States and the United Kingdom has developed a technique using ultraviolet light to identify organic matter in soils that they say could be used to document the existence of life on Mars.

Image
©M. Storrie-Lombardi
Three examples of PAH ultraviolet fluorescence with anthracene (blue), pyrene (blue-green) and pyrelene (yellow). From left to right, the fluorescence is apparent on glass slides, on PAH-doped peridotite granular targets on glass slides, and on a rock sample of peridotite.

The researchers' proposed instrumentation could operate on any Mars lander or rover, they say, such as the current Phoenix mission or NASA's Mars Science Laboratory scheduled for launch in 2009 -- both of which are looking at habitability -- or the European Space Agency's ExoMars mission in 2013 that will look directly at the past or present existence of life on the red planet.

Their research was just published in the American Geophysical Union's journal, Geophysical Research Letters.
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Health

Human genome changes with age


Agence France-Presse
Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:26 UTC
WASHINGTON - Individual human genomes change throughout a person's life influenced by environmental or nutritional factors which may explain why illnesses such as cancer come with age, a study said Tuesday.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that the so-called epigenetic marks on the sequence of a person's DNA modify over the course of their life and the extent of such changes is similar among family members.
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Magnify

Missing Protein In Fragile X Syndrome Is Key To Transporting Signals Within Neurons


ScienceDaily
Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:39 UTC
Fragile X syndrome (FXS) robs the brain of a protein that plays a major role in the way neurons communicate and that is essential for brain development, learning and memory.
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Arrow Down

Flashback Solar Inactivity going on Longer than Normal


AccuWeather.com
Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:16 UTC


dead sun
©MDI
The sun is still showing that blank face

The current period of solar inactivity has now become unusually long in duration, according to some scientists at a recent international solar conference, which was held at Montana State University.
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Magnify

The mystery story of the Maya slowly reveals new twists

Dan Vergano
USA Today
Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:45 UTC
Don't tell Indiana Jones, but most archaeologists pack spades, not bullwhips, and big discoveries usually come after lots of digging, not looting. Maya discoveries in Mexico that are rewriting the history of this classic civilization, for example, are coming from years of careful digging, not looted idols.

Bolonchen Regional Archaeological Project
©Bolonchen Regional Archaeological Project
One of the exceptionally well preserved buildings discovered at Kiuic and mapped by George Bey's project. This building dates to the Late/Terminal Classic (A.D. 800-1000) and is part of the later major royal Palace discovered at the site.
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Alarm Clock

Flashback Does Maya calendar predict 2012 apocalypse?

G Jeffrey MacDonald
USA Today
Wed, 28 Mar 2007 18:58 UTC
With humanity coming up fast on 2012, publishers are helping readers gear up and count down to this mysterious - some even call it apocalyptic - date that ancient Mayan societies were anticipating thousands of years ago.

Unknown
©Unknown
The Maya Long Count

Comment: Dr. Susan Gillespie sounds as if she is on the right track. Eschatology is a serious study in several religious beliefs. Fundamentalist Born Again Christians believe they will be 'raptured' and taken up to heaven by Jesus where they will watch, from ring side seats, the torture and destruction of every living being on the face of the earth. Judaism thinks Yahweh will return to defeat the Gentiles and place them in a position as rulers of the world. Islam also sees their favorite, Jesus, returning to destroy all but Islamic nations and declare Islam as the one true religion.

All in all, it looks like we're doomed. Maybe we are, but for another reason.

Unknown
©Unknown



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Penis Pump

Scientists find childbirth wonder drug that can 'cure' shyness


Evening Standard
Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:52 UTC


shyness
©Evening Standard
Scientists found the drug could help shyness

It can turn anything from job interviews to the most routine of family gatherings into a sweat-inducing ordeal.

But a 'love drug' produced naturally by the body during sex and childbirth could offer hope to the millions of people blighted by shyness, scientists have said.

Investigators believe oxytocin - a natural hormone that assists childbirth and helps mothers bond with newborn babies - could become a wonder drug for overcoming shyness.

Comment: This article is based on the research in this article: Brain's 'trust machinery' identified

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