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Scientists confirm Flores Man 'hobbits' found in Indonesia not direct relatives of modern humans


Science Daily
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 15:45 UTC
Ancient hobbits
The most comprehensive study on the bones of Homo floresiensis, a species of tiny human discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, has found that they most likely evolved from an ancestor in Africa and not from Homo erectus as has been widely believed.

The study by The Australian National University (ANU) found Homo floresiensis, dubbed "the hobbits" due to their small stature, were most likely a sister species of Homo habilis -- one of the earliest known species of human found in Africa 1.75 million years ago.

Data from the study concluded there was no evidence for the popular theory that Homo floresiensis evolved from the much larger Homo erectus, the only other early hominid known to have lived in the region with fossils discovered on the Indonesian mainland of Java.

Study leader Dr Debbie Argue of the ANU School of Archaeology & Anthropology, said the results should help put to rest a debate that has been hotly contested ever since Homo floresiensis was discovered.

"The analyses show that on the family tree, Homo floresiensis was likely a sister species of Homo habilis. It means these two shared a common ancestor," Dr Argue said.
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Footprints

Ancient reptile tracks in the Pyrenees may point to a new type of footprint


PhysOrg
Wed, 19 Apr 2017 15:05 UTC
Reptile tracks in the Pyrenees
© All figures and photographic images will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution LicenseA large set of tracks made by archosauromorphs in the Pyrenees mountain range may include a new type of footprint made by reptiles that lived 247 million years ago, according to a study published April 19, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Eudald Mujal from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues.
A large set of tracks made by archosauromorphs in the Pyrenees mountain range may include a new type of footprint made by reptiles that lived 247 million years ago, according to a study published April 19, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Eudald Mujal from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues.

The Permian mass extinction resulted in the loss of 90 percent of species. The environmental and climactic conditions hindered the recovery of vertebrate species following this devastating event.

To investigate which vertebrates lived during beginning of the Mesozoic Era, which followed the Permian extinction, Mujal and colleagues examined trace fossils of vertebrates in the Pyrenees mountains in Catalonia from approximately 247 to 248 million years ago. The researchers made 3D models and created silicone molds of these ephemeral fossils, enabling them to preserve the fossils in scientific collections.

The researchers identified that most tracks were made by archosauromorphs, the ancestors of crocodiles and dinosaurs. The majority were small, about half a meter in length, although a few specimens were longer than three meters. The researchers also identified a new footprint, Prorotodactylus mesaxonichnus, and the new fossil evidence from the Pyrenean tracks suggests that at least the Pyrenean Prorotodactylus genus is related to archosauromorphs, rather than being a dinosauromorph as previously thought from other records.
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Sherlock

Brilliant Russian scholars unlock secret of mysterious Voynich manuscript - CIA, NSA, others tried and failed

Eleonora Goldman
Russia Beyond The Headlines
Thu, 20 Apr 2017 14:09 UTC
Voynich manuscript
© Global Look PressThe manuscript is an illustrated medieval codex written by an unknown author between 1404 and 1438.
Experts previously thought it impossible to decipher the medieval text

Mathematicians at the RAS Institute of Applied Mathematics concluded that the Voynich manuscript was written in two languages, except for the vowels, reported RIA Novosti.

The manuscript, which is kept at Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, is an illustrated medieval codex written by an unknown author possibly in northern Italy between 1404 and 1438.

Researchers have been trying to decipher its bizarre script for 600 years, but the text has beguiled even the brightest minds. The manuscript bears the name of the antiquarian book dealer and former anti-Tsarist Polish revolutionary, Wilfrid Voynich (1865-1930), who rediscovered the artifact in 1912 in Villa Mondragone outside of Rome, which was then used as a Jesuit college.
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Calendar

24 years Ago Today: Chemical Weapons Used by US Government to Kill Women and Children in Waco, Texas

Jack Burns
Free Thought Project
Wed, 19 Apr 2017 21:57 UTC
chemical weapons
Americans are up in arms over the alleged gas attack in Syria. Although there was no investigation, and many high-profile individuals have called it a sham, the US has pinned the blame on Syrian president Bashar Al Assad. So, we thought it would be a good idea to remind our fellow Americans of an occasion where the federal government got away with gassing its own people, an action which, consequently, led to the deaths of 86 men, women, and children. It all came to a violent end 24 years ago today, in Texas.

Our source material comes from the FBI's own vault, which contains two files on the case against Vernon Howell, also known as David Koresh. Koresh was the leader of the "Branch Davidians Seventh Day Adventists." According to the FBI case file, Koresh was believed to have been holding people against their will at his compound in Waco, Texas, potentially guilty of "involuntary servitude and slavery" charges.

In 1992, Child Protective Services (CPS) was called in to investigate the accusations. After a thorough investigation, CPS concluded no one was being held at the compound against their will, nor any child abuse, and the federal prosecutor, who reviewed the report, saw no reason to prosecute Koresh. On October 16th, 1992, the FBI closed the case against Koresh and the allegations he was abusing children and holding his followers against their will.

Comment: The high crimes, hypocrisy and rank lies of the U.S. government are stomach churning: and what about the other horrific weapons of death the US has unleashed on innocents - are they any less despicable than chemical weapons?

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Fire

Dragons of Siberia: Scientists reveal mythical creature also had a place in Russian folklore


Sputnik
Wed, 19 Apr 2017 17:06 UTC
dragon images siberia
© Andrey Borodovsky / sbras.info
The legendary dragon was long thought to be mostly a feature Chinese and other Asian countries' folklore, but Russian scientists have found pictures of these mythical creatures on the ancient belt-plaques found in South Siberia, suggesting that dragons once inhabited Russia (or at least Russia's imagination).

Detailed research of bronze belt-plaques, which were found back in 1970 in South Siberia as part of the so-called 'Lyus Cache', have given researchers reason to believe that dragons had a unique role to play in Russia's own myths and legends, the Science of Siberia magazine of the Siberian department of Russia's Academy of Sciences reports on Tuesday.

Dragons depicted on the belt-plaques are shown in motion, as if curling spirally, as opposed to the traditional Chinese dragon which is often shown moving in a zigzag fashion.
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Archaeology

Egyptian archaeologists make major discovery in a centuries-old tomb near Luxor


Sputnik
Wed, 19 Apr 2017 14:09 UTC
statues discovered Draa Abul Nagaa necropolis egypt
© AFPThe tomb was discovered in the Draa Abul Nagaa necropolis
More than 1,000 statues were found by Egyptian archaeologists in a 3,500-year-old tomb near Luxor, along with colorful wooden coffins and several mummies.

In a Tuesday statement the country's Antiquities Ministry reported that the treasures were found in the Draa Abul Nagaa necropolis near the Valley of the Kings, where royalty like Tutankhamun and Hathshepsut are buried, and that they belonged to a judge named Userhat.

During the 21st Dynasty about 3,000 years ago, the tomb was reopened so that small carved figurines called ushabti could be put in place to assist the nobleman in the afterlife, as was the custom, and to protect him against tomb robbers.
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Info

Dental fillings discovered in 13,000-year-old skeleton

Megan Cannon
Live Science
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 10:56 UTC
Ancient Dental Fillings
© Stefano BenazziArchaeologists discovered a 13,000-year-old skeleton with two front teeth that have big holes in the surface that reach down to the tooth's pulp chamber.
You might wince at the sight of your dentist holding an electric drill over your mouth. But, you can be thankful she's not using a stone tool instead.

That is what the most advanced dental care looked like thousands of years ago. By studying teeth at archaeological sites, scientists think that prehistoric humans came up with a variety of resourceful solutions to dental problems: people drilled out cavities, sealed crown fractures with beeswax, used toothpicks to relieve inflamed gums and extracted rotten teeth.

Now, researchers report that they've discovered what is perhaps the oldest known example of tooth-filling at an ice age site in Italy.

Archaeologists unearthed the skeletal remains of a person who lived about 13,000 years ago at Riparo Fredian, near Lucca in northern Italy. The person's two front teeth (or upper central incisors) both had big holes in the surface that reach down to the tooth's pulp chamber.

Researchers recently analyzed horizontal striations inside the tooth holes, and concluded that these scratch marks were most likely produced by the scraping and twisting of a hand-held tool. This ice age person was probably in pain from necrotic or infected tooth pulp inside the teeth; seeking relief, they might have intentionally scooped out the decayed tissue, enlarging their cavities in the process, according to the study published online March 27 in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
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Arrow Down

Why North Korea hates America

Russ Winter
The New Nationalist
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 03:00 UTC
Korean War
© The New Nationalist
When one knows the hidden history about the massive targeting of North Korean civilians with so-called strategic bombing, it's easier to understand the hate from that country and see that it's not manufactured. It's rooted in a fact-based narrative. By the time the Korean War ended on July 27, 1953, B-29s alone had flown over 21,000 sorties, dropping nearly 600,000 tons of bombs. Fighter aircraft flew thousands of additional sorties over North Korea.

After China entered the war in late 1950, the United States switched to targeting civilians in much the same manner as conducted over Germany and Japan during WWII. Gen. Douglas MacArthur designated cities and villages in North Korea as "main bombing targets" and permitted the use of incendiary bombs.

Time MAgazine
© The New Nationalist
The bombing of Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, was conducted as part of a sustained U.S. Air Force aerial bombardment campaign. By the time of the armistice, 75 percent of Pyongyang was destroyed as part of a broader U.S. bombing effort throughout the country. It cost the lives of nearly 3 million North Koreans (mostly civilians) by the time the war ended.

The campaign was conducted by the blood thirsty Air Force Gen. Curtis LeMay, head of the Strategic Air Command, who also has the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians on his hands from WWII.

LeMay bragged, "Over a period of three years or so, we killed off — what — 20 percent of the population during the Korean War".

Dean Rusk, a supporter of the war and later secretary of state, said the United States bombed "everything that moved in North Korea, every brick standing on top of another."

After running low on urban targets, U.S. bombers destroyed hydroelectric and irrigation dams in the latter stages of the war, flooding farmland and destroying crops.

This means that virtually every person living in North Korea today has siblings, parents, grandparents or great grandparents that perished in this total war. It is a real stretch to gaslight Koreans as "crazy" or "irrational" given this reality. It is also the height of ignorance to not understand North Korea's need for powerful retaliatory weapons.
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Arrow Down

WWII 'allies knew of Holocaust years before' finding concentration camps


RT
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 18:58 UTC
Holocaust victims
© Mike Segar/Reuters A woman stands near an exhibit of photographs of victims of the Holocaust, New York, January 27, 2016.
Tens of thousands of war crime files documenting early evidence of the Holocaust, which were smuggled out of eastern Germany at the height of World War II, are finally being made available to the public for the first time.

The documents, some of which date back to 1943, were gathered by the United Nations War Crimes Commission over six decades ago and were previously sealed to all but a few with special permission.

The files, which will be made available by the London-based Wiener Library with an online-searchable catalog on April 21, provide evidence that the allied forces were aware of the large-scale murders of Jews as early as December 1942, the Independent reports.

The files include "extraordinarily detailed" accounts of victims inside the concentration camps where millions of Jews were gassed, according to the Guardian.

However, despite this knowledge, the allied governments did little to aid those at risk.
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Treasure Chest

Gordon Cooper found sunken treasure from space and kept it secret until his deathbed

Oriana Schwindt
Vice News
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 17:11 UTC
astronaut Gordon Cooper
Original Mercury 7 astronaut Gordon Cooper was supposed to be looking for nuclear launch sites on his record-breaking Faith 7 flight in 1963. He did his duty over the course of those 22 revolutions around the earth, clicking away on a camera that kept getting loose in zero gravity, barely able to move for 34 hours.

But he also kept getting anomalous readings from his equipment, pinging him for objects that were definitely not nuclear sites. The keen-eyed astronaut couldn't help but put two and two together: metallic hulks beneath the sea, along the same routes used by Spanish traders? It had to be sunken treasure.

Cooper splashed down into the Pacific after that record-breaking flight, but he never told anyone — not NASA, not the Department of Defense — about what he'd seen. But he did take notes, scribbled down in the cramped capsule only a bit bigger than himself.
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