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Is Indy Chasing A Fake?


Science Daily
Sat, 24 May 2008 23:34 UTC
As Indiana Jones races against time to find an ancient crystal skull in his new movie adventure, he should perhaps take a moment to check its authenticity.

New research suggests that two well-known crystal skulls, in the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, did not, after all, come from ancient Mexico. Academics now believe the British skull was made in 19th century Europe and the American one even more recently.

crystal skulls
©British Museum
Two well-known crystal skulls, in the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, did not, after all, come from ancient Mexico.
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Frog

New Family Of Gecko Discovered


Science Daily
Sat, 24 May 2008 23:14 UTC
Researchers at the University of Minnesota's Bell Museum of Natural History and Pennsylvania's Villanova University have discovered a new family of gecko, the charismatic large-eyed lizard popularized by car insurance commercials.

tropical gecko
©Unknown
The new family of gecko consists of 103 species found in semiarid and tropical regions of North Africa, the Middle East, North and South America and the Caribbean. Shown above: a tropical gecko and member of the genus Tarentola -- one of eight genera that make up the new family.
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Telescope

US probe to make perilous landing on Martian arctic


Space Daily
Sat, 24 May 2008 21:39 UTC
The historically less-than-50 percent odds of success loomed heavily as NASA scientists readied Saturday for the landing of the 420-million-dollar Phoenix spacecraft near Mar's frigid north pole.

"I'm a little nervous on the inside. ... This is not an easy thing to do," said Phoenix scientist Peter Smith of the landing planned for late Sunday.

"There's a lot of uncertainties left. ... Mars is always there to throw those uncertainties at us," added Doug McCuistion, Mars Exploration Program Director, of what NASA calls "the scariest seven minutes of the mission" -- the period of hyper-deceleration and descent onto the Red Planet.
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Bulb

Canyons on Mars formed by 'megafloods'


The Telegraph
Thu, 22 May 2008 11:19 UTC
Martian canyons may have been sculpted by "megafloods" that took place on the red planet more than three billion years ago, writes Roger Highfield.

There is abundant evidence for Mars being warm and wet in the past but today it appears relatively dry, with water ice confined to the planet's polar caps.

Now new evidence of Martian floods in the distant past has come from a study of a canyon in Idaho, America, that from space looks like a blue snake.

Idaho's Box Canyon is similar to canyons on Mars and may shake up our view of how water shaped the landscape on the Red Planet, reports a study in the journal Science.

Image
©ASU
High-resolution topographic map of Box Canyon, Idaho. Image courtesy of Michael P. Lamb
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Network

Orkney Islanders have Siberian relatives

Roger Highfield
Telegraph
Fri, 23 May 2008 07:18 UTC
Orkney Islanders are more closely related to people in Siberia and in Pakistan than those in Africa and the near East, according to a novel method to chart human migrations.
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Magnify

Oil Palm Genome Mapped for Modification


SustainableBusiness.com
Thu, 22 May 2008 06:57 UTC
Researchers have completed a first draft map of the genome for the oil palm, a breakthrough they say could lead to improvements in crop yield of the plant which has recently come into high demand as a source of oil for food products and biodiesel.
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Calculator

New statistical method reveals surprises about our ancestry

Mary Kohut
EurekAlert
Thu, 22 May 2008 06:54 UTC
A statistical approach to studying genetic variation promises to shed new light on the history of human migration.
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Bulb

Scientists discover deepest microbial life ever to be found beneath the sea floor


London Mercury
Fri, 23 May 2008 05:30 UTC
London -- Scientists have found microbes in a 111-million-year-old rock buried 1.6 kilometres below the sea floor, a discovery that marks the deepest living cells ever to be found beneath the sea floor.

According to a report in Nature News, this finding beats the old record of the presence of microbial life - 842 metres below the sea floor.
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Telescope

Jupiter gets new freckle

Maggie Fox
News Daily
Fri, 23 May 2008 18:03 UTC
Jupiter has a new freckle -- a third red spot much smaller than the well-known Great Red Spot and a newer one dubbed Red Spot Jr., scientists said on Thursday.

The new spot arose from a white oval-shaped storm, and its change to a red color indicates that the storm is swirling up high into the Jovian atmosphere, the international team of planetary scientists said.
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Einstein

Mathematicians Reveal Secrets Of The Ancient And Universal Art Of Symmetry


Science Daily
Fri, 23 May 2008 17:55 UTC
Humans have used symmetrical patterns for thousands of years in both functional and decorative ways. Now, a new book by three mathematicians offers both math experts and enthusiasts a new way to understand symmetry and a fresh way to see the world.

Image
©Chaim Goodman-Strauss
Flower image designed by mathematician Chaim Goodman-Strauss, University of Arkansas.

In The Symmetries of Things, eminent Princeton mathematician John H. Conway teams up with Chaim Goodman-Strauss of the University of Arkansas and Heidi Burgiel of Bridgewater State College to present a comprehensive mathematical theory of symmetry in a richly illustrated volume. The book is designed to speak to those with an interest in math, artists, working mathematicians and researchers.
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