Pre-Clovis Americans
A new discovery of coprolites in Oregon pushes back the earliest known human population in North America to fourteen thousand years ago:
The petrified poop — coprolites to scientists — is yielding a look at the diet of these ancient Americans, Jenkins said.
While the analysis is not yet complete, he said there are bones of squirrels, [...]
Higg Out
In Geneva, they’re trying to find…everything:
Scientists at CERN, Europe’s atom-smashing laboratory, are preparing for the greatest experiment in the history of particle physics which could unveil a sub-atomic component, the Higgs Boson, which is so tantalising that it has been called “the God Particle”…
The “Higgs,” named after a British physicist, Peter Higgs, who first [...]
I See You
New telescope to see new things:
“The amount of time and work that was put into this project to reach the point where we are today is immense,” said LBT Director Richard Green. “To see the telescope operational with both mirrors is a great feeling.”
The $120m (£60m) telescope uses two mirrors in tandem to maximise [...]
The Earth Is Doomed
Scientists agree:
But don’t blow your savings on an Apocalypse Party just yet, for astronomers say the planet’s demise is 7.6 billion years away.
The unusual calculations appear in the British open-access journal Astrophysics (on http://uk.arxiv.org/).
Robert Smith, emeritus reader in astronomy at the University of Sussex, southern England, previously calculated that as the Sun runs out of [...]
Al Gore Shares Nobel Peace Prize
Just announced:
The Nobel Peace Prize committee on Friday turned its sights on the battle against climate change by giving the 2007 award to former US vice president Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Gore has reinvented himself as a climate warrior since failing in his bid to become US president in 2000. [...]
Abstinence-Only Drivers Education
Go read this brilliant comic strip now.
White House Ordered to Release Warming Report
The Bush Administration stonewalls, but only on days ending in “y”. They’ll ignore this ruling, too, or have it overruled by their tame Supreme Court.
U.S. District Court Judge Saundra Armstrong ruled that the Bush administration had violated a 1990 law when it failed to meet deadlines for an updated U.S. climate change research plan [...]
But With Government Backing I Could Make It Very Silly
Cornell University scientists have modeled human walking and running strides mathematically:
Manoj Srinavasan and Andy Ruina, researchers in applied mechanics at New York’s Cornell University, drew up a geometrical model of human walking and running.
They found that, in essence, each leg is a “telescoping actuator” that can change its length.
In walking, the body vaults forwards in [...]
Old Hat?
A German archaeologist claims to have evidence of settlements among Homo erectus, four hundred thousand years ago:
Professor Ziegert claims that the thousands of blades, scrapers, hand axes and other tools found at sites such as Budrinna, on the shore of the extinct Lake Fezzan in southwest Libya, and at Melka Konture, along the River [...]
The Stanford Prison Experiment
In 1971, Dr. Phil Zimbardo began an experimental simulation of prison life, one that went horribly awry within days but still offers unique insight into the psychological effects of incarceration on both prisoners and guards. His slide show documents the unraveling as the student prisoners, guards and even their families fall alarmingly into their assigned [...]
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