Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew, consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors ScottyUrb, Bentliberal, wader, Oke, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir and jlms qkw, guest editors maggiejean and annetteboardman, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, and the environment.
This week's featured story comes from Space.com via LiveScience.
Where Will Doomed Russian Mars Probe Fall?
Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer
Date: 13 January 2012 Time: 06:25 PM ET
A huge hunk of Russian space junk is set to crash to Earth in the next few days, but nobody knows exactly when or where it's going to come down.
The 14.5-ton Mars probe Phobos-Grunt, which got stuck in Earth orbit shortly after its Nov. 8 launch, may re-enter the atmosphere at 11:22 a.m. EST (1622 GMT) on Sunday (Jan. 15), according to the latest estimate published today (Jan. 13) by Roscosmos, Russia's space agency.
If that projection is accurate, pieces of the failed spacecraft will splash into the Atlantic Ocean about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) south of Buenos Aires.
But that's a big if.
This is only one of several articles this week about space debris. Follow over the jump for the rest plus the other science, space, environment, and energy stories this past week.
Recent Science Diaries and Stories
Watch this space!
The Daily Bucket, Transients and Skulkers
by enhydra lutris
Understanding Biological Evolution
by Tim DeLaney
Young Homeless Woman Wins Prestigious Science Award: Gets a Home.
by NNadir
This week in science: Of maxima and minima
by DarkSyde
Looking Back at Apollo: Filled with Longing for a Great Human Adventure
by Troubadour
Slideshows/Videos
WDSU-TV: Archaeologists Dig In French Quarter
Excavation Under Way Before Museum Construction Begins
POSTED: 4:20 pm CST January 12, 2012
UPDATED: 5:54 pm CST January 12, 2012
NEW ORLEANS -- Dozens of archaeologists were digging up history Thursday in the French Quarter.
It was a rare chance to dig into the past of everyday citizens of New Orleans.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
MSNBC: Homeless whiz kid and her family will get a new home
January 13, 2012
Samantha Garvey, the homeless student who was named a semifinalist in the Intel science competition, will move into a 3-bedroom home with her family. NBC’s Rehema Ellis has more.
LiveScience: Spinning Stars, Goofy Monkey Faces and More
Take a journey through this week's best science photos, from goofy monkey faces and a cutely named snake to fast spinning stars and a doomed satellite.
MSNBC: Video: View from grizzly bear’s perspective
January 12, 2012
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game fit brown bears with collar cameras, revealing new insights into their life in the wild.
MSNBC: Satellite shot of rolling river takes the prize
By Alan Boyle
The past year has produced stunning as well as scary pictures from space, including satellite views of the protests in Cairo, the damage done to Japan's tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear complex and New York's Ground Zero site 10 years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. But these weren't the pictures that won top honors from the DigitalGlobe commercial satellite venture and its Facebook fans. Instead, DigitalGlobe's top image of 2011 is a shot of the Rakaia River rolling like a ribbon through New Zealand's Canterbury Plains.
Astronomy/Space
MSNBC: Zoom in on the black hole next door
By Alan Boyle
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured the best view yet of the Andromeda Galaxy's nucleus — which is actually a double nucleus, thanks to the galaxy's supermassive black hole.
Andromeda is the nearest spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way, and the only galaxy outside our own that's visible to the naked eye. But it's not easy to see what's going on at the bright center of the spiral. Astronomer Tod Lauer of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory put together several exposures in blue and ultraviolet wavelengths from Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys to produce this ultra-sharp view.
MSNBC: How a black hole throws fastballs
By Alan Boyle
X-ray and radio observations have revealed how a black hole winds up and pitches fastballs made of ionized gas at a quarter of the speed of light. That's about 1.6 million times faster than the fastest fastball ever pitched on Earth.
The pitches were clocked during an outburst from the black hole system H1743-322 in mid-2009. using NASA's Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer and the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array. The binary system, 28,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius, consists of a normal star and a black hole that are gravitationally bound together. The black hole sucks material in a continuous stream from the star, drawing it down in a swirling disk.
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Some of the superheated material radiates away from the black hole's surroundings in two jets that point in opposite directions. Every once in a while, hot ionized gas bunches up into huge "bullets" that are wound up and flung out from the disk. RXTE and the VLBA spotted a couple of the bullets as they sped away in early June 2009.
MSNBC: Planet hunters amaze themselves
By Alan Boyle
Even the astronomers on the science team for NASA's Kepler planet-hunting mission are marveling at the new worlds they're finding.
There's certainly a lot to marvel at: Just this week, Kepler astronomers announced the discovery of not just one, but two binary-star systems that have at least one planet each, reviving visions of the double sunset on Luke Skywalker's home world in the "Star Wars" saga. Another group of scientists drew on data from Kepler to detect the three smallest exoplanets yet discovered, including one just about the size of Mars.
The revelations at the American Astronomical Society's winter meeting in Austin, Texas, demonstrated that the number and diversity of the planets being found beyond our own solar system is growing by leaps and bounds.
MSNBC: 160 billion planets in the Milky Way?!
By Alan Boyle
A statistical analysis based on a survey of millions of stars suggests that there's at least one planet for every star in the sky, and probably more. That would add up to 160 billion planets or so in the Milky Way.
"We conclude that stars are orbited by planets as a rule, rather than the exception," an international research team reports today in the journal Nature.
The estimate may sound amazing: Just a year ago, the world was wowed by the claim that at least half of the 100 billion or more stars in the Milky Way possessed planets, yielding a figure of 50 billion planets. The latest survey now suggests that there's an average of 1.6 planets per star system, which would work out to 160 billion. But perhaps the most amazing thing about the findings is ... astronomers don't find them amazing at all.
Space.com via MSNBC: Space station dodges debris from satellite crash
Orbital boost helps $100 billion outpost avoid softball-sized Iridium fragment
By Clara Moskowitz Assistant managing editor
updated 1/13/2012 12:56:59 PM ET
The International Space Station boosted its orbit Friday to avoid a potentially dangerous collision with a piece of space junk.
The orbiting laboratory, currently home to six astronauts from three countries, burned its thrusters at 11:10 a.m. ET, raising its orbit slightly to take it out of range of a piece of broken satellite that was due to pass between 0.6 and 15 miles (1 to 24 kilometers) of the station.
"At this point indications are that the debris avoidance maneuver was carried out as planned and carried out successfully," NASA commentator Pat Ryan said on NASA TV. "The crew members continued their work onboard while the burn happened this morning."
MSNBC: Night skies get a global checkup
By Alan Boyle
Citizen scientists around the world are being asked to watch the skies and report what they see as part of a years-long effort to monitor the effects of light pollution.
This year's "Globe at Night" project gets started on Saturday night. The job is simple: All you need to do is go outside and look for the constellation Orion, which is one of the easiest star patterns to find in the night sky. (It's the one with three stars in a row to represent Orion's "belt.") Fill in the blanks and click the choices listed on this Web app, then send in your observations over the Internet.
Globe at Night is designed to get students familiar with making sky observations, and to call attention to the problems created by excessive and/or inefficient artificial lighting at night. The issue should be of concern not just to astronomers, but to the wider public as well, Connie Walker of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory said during this week's American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin, Texas.
Universe Today via physorg.com: Should we terraform Mars?
By Paul Scott Anderson, Universe Today
January 2, 2012
As we continue to explore farther out into our solar system and beyond, the question of habitation or colonization inevitably comes up. Manned bases on the Moon or Mars for example, have long been a dream of many. There is a natural desire to explore as far as we can go, and also to extend humanity’s presence on a permanent or at least semi-permanent basis. In order to do this, however, it is necessary to adapt to different extreme environments. On the Moon for example, a colony must be self-sustaining and protect its inhabitants from the airless, harsh environment outside.
Evolution/Paleontology
LiveScience: Big Mean Dinosaur Had Stubby Little Arms and Fat Fingers
Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 11 January 2012 Time: 02:00 PM ET
A fearsome carnivorous dinosaur known for eating its own kind probably wasn't holding onto its meal as it ate: Its arms were far too short and stubby, a new fossil find suggests.
Majungasaurus crenatissimus was a 21-foot-long (6.4 meters) predator that was "pretty much the top dog" in what is now Madagascar 66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous Period, said Stony Brook University graduate student Sara Burch. Burch analyzed a recently discovered, nearly complete forelimb of this ancient animal, the first ever found preserved. In contrast to the dinosaur's bulky body, Burch found that its arms weren't even a foot (0.3 meters) long.
"When you get to the lower arm and the hand, it's really weird," Burch told LiveScience. "The lower arm is very short but thick, and the bones are pretty robust. So it's not necessarily a thin, wimpy arm, it's just very, very short."
LiveScience: Lemur-Like Toes Complicate Human Lineage
Jennifer Welsh, LiveScience Staff Writer
Date: 11 January 2012 Time: 09:37 AM ET
A 47-million-year-old primate may have been a fashionista of sorts, as new analysis of the fossil suggests it sported grooming claws.
Besides helping the primate rake through its fur, particularly in hard-to-reach spots, the grooming claw presents a puzzle of sorts for scientists studying the relationship between a group that includes humans, apes and monkeys, and the family that includes lemurs.
That's because the primate is the first extinct North American primate with a toe bone showing features associated with the presence of both nails and a grooming claw.
Traditionally, it's thought that primates with a toe attachment called a grooming claw were more closely related to lemurs, which are primates like us but are considered more primitive and part of a different family than great apes (including humans) and monkeys. In lemurs, the claw is located on the second toe.
Biodiversity
LiveScience via MSNBC: Bootylicious! Horse fly with bling named after Beyonce
Australian insect with golden butt reminded researcher of pop-music diva
By Jennifer Welsh
updated 1/13/2012 4:10:17 PM ET
Beyonce may be one of the biggest pop divas out there, but she isn't the only diva with that name. A previously unnamed species of horse fly with a glamorous golden rear end has been named Beyonce because it is the "all-time diva of flies," researchers say.
Bryan Lessard, a researcher from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, is responsible for officially describing the fly and naming it Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae, according to the Australian National Insect Collection.
Beyonce isn't the first celebrity to be honored with her own species. Traditionally named after scientists involved in their discovery, organisms have also been linked to the likes of Harrison Ford, Matt Groening (creator of "The Simpsons"), Mick Jagger and other celebrities, including a beetle named after Roy Orbison.
Hat/tip to
Dan Amira at New York Magazine's Daily Intel blog, which had the following to say about the discovery:
A scientist has named a species of horsefly after Beyonce. He says it's because the fly's "golden rear end" makes it the "all-time diva of flies," but we think it's just a trick to get blogs to write about horseflies. Well played, scientist.
LiveScience: Small Claims: Big Debate Over Tiniest Creature Title
Wynne Parry, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 13 January 2012 Time: 08:23 AM ET
Sitting end to end, two recently discovered frogs couldn't straddle a dime. Still, one scientist contends these diminutive creatures aren't record setting. Instead, he champions a tiny male fish for the title of smallest vertebrate, or animal with a backbone.
The contenders: A tropical frog Paedophryne amanuensis, which averages just 0.30 inches (7.7 millimeters) long, was given the "smallest vertebrate" title this week when news broke of its discovery Wednesday (Jan. 12). However, a male angler fish (Photocorynus spiniceps), which lives as a parasite on the angler-fish female and can measure as much as 0.03 in. (0.8 mm) less than the smallest of these tiny frogs, deserves the title, according to Ted Pietsch, curator of fishes at the Burke Museum at the University of Washington.
Turns out there's more than one way to measure a vertebrate, with the tiny frog's measurements referring to the average of mature individuals while the angler fish's size refers to the smallest individual of the species.
The smallest of the newly identified frog species measures 0.28 in. (7.0 mm) from the tip of its snout to its anus, or vent. The smallest of the parasitic male angler fish Pietsch described in 2005 measures 0.24 inches (6.2 millimeters) from snout to tail fin.
Life's Little Mysteries via MSNBC: So how do those dainty rhino feet support their huge bodies?
Scientists find that 'the peak pressures aren't that different from human feet'
By Natalie Wolchover
updated 1/12/2012 2:03:33 PM ET
How do rhinos' dainty little pigeon-toed feet support their portly bodies?
A group of veterinary scientists in the United Kingdom are on the case. By coaxing three white rhinos to walk back and forth across a "pressure pad," a floor mat embedded with thousands of pressure sensors, the researchers are collecting data on how much force the beasts exert on different parts of their feet as they walk.
A rhinoceros can weigh as much as 8,000 pounds (3,600 kilograms), yet somehow, their feet manage to take all those tons in stride. Initial results show that, with each step, their toes feel peak pressures of 75 pounds per square inch (psi), and the pads of their feet, 15 psi. That's not so much.
LiveScience via MSNBC: New lemur climbs out of hiding in Madagascar
'We know what it looks like, but we can't tell you much about its behaviors'
By Jennifer Welsh
updated 1/12/2012 12:29:10 PM ET
Living in the rain forests of Madagascar is a newly discovered wonder of ecological diversity: A lemur that has been hiding out in the middle of about a dozen other lemur species.
The new lemur is about the size of a hamster, which makes it slightly larger than the others in the area, and it likely lives off an omnivorous diet in the trees, scientists report. It has relatively small ears and a longish tail. The little primate, which weighs in at 2 to 2.5 ounces (about 60 or 70 grams), is nocturnal and sticks to the lowland areas of the rain forest.
"We haven't been able to collect any other data on it," study researcher Ute Radespiel of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, in Germany, told LiveScience. "We know what it looks like, but we can't tell you much about its behaviors."
Biotechnology/Health
MyHealthNewsDaily via MSNBC: Study: 1 in 900 sex acts spreads HIV
By Rachael Rettner
MyHealthNewsDaily
A heterosexual person infected with HIV will transmit the virus to their partner once in every 900 times the couple has unprotected sex, according to a new study conducted in Africa.
However, the exact number of sexual acts that are needed to transmit the virus can vary tremendously depending on the amount of the virus in the infected person's blood, said study researcher James Hughes, of the University of Washington in Seattle.
In fact, the amount of virus in the blood is the single most important factor in determining whether HIV is passed between sexual partners, the study found. For every tenfold increase in the concentration, there is about a threefold increase in the risk of transmission during a single sexual act.
MSNBC: Homicide no longer a top cause of death in U.S.
By JoNel Aleccia
For the first time in 45 years, homicide dropped out of the top 15 causes of death in the United States in 2010, according to a new government analysis of mortality trends.
Crime rates have been falling for decades, fueled by a range of social, demographic and law enforcement factors, but the just-released death figures from the National Center for Health Statistics underscore the decline.
“No one will believe you when you say assault is where it was in the 1960s,” said Gary LaFree, director of the department of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Maryland. “Homicide started to rise in 1963 and peaked in 1975.”
The 4.3 percent drop in assault deaths last year was part of a larger good-news trend that saw a slight increase in U.S. life expectancy -- now 78.7 years -- and declines in the age-adjusted death rates for seven of the 15 leading causes of mortality, including heart disease and cancer, according to preliminary figures.
MSNBC: Will knowing your DNA motivate you to lose weight?
By Art Caplan, Ph.D.
The claim by Ion Torrent on Tuesday that a reasonably affordable machine capable of mapping an individual’s complete genetic makeup for $1,000 will be ready by the end of the year has technology geeks in a tizzy.
The $1,000 genome has been hotly sought ever since a crude map of the human genome was first published in 2001. The Carlsbad, Calif. biotech company, part of Life Technologies, will sell its device to research labs and medical clinics for $99,000 to $149,000, compared to the current price of about $750,000 for existing sequencers, Reuters reported on its website Tuesday. According to Reuters, a doctor will be able to sequence a patient’s entire genome for $1,000, compared to the current rate of $3,000 just to test for breast cancer gene mutations, for example. And the company says its new machine can complete the genome analysis within a day, rather than the two months previously needed.
It's widely believed this type of genetic analysis will revolutionize medicine, that patients will learn their risk profile for potential diseases by having their DNA read right in the doctor's office. Drugs and vaccines will be designed to fit our genes, in order to maximize efficacy and minimize any side-effects. Newborn babies would have someone peek at their genes so parents could take steps to prevent genetic risks from becoming realities.
MSNBC: Smoking pot doesn't hurt lung capacity, study shows
By Kimberly Hayes Taylor
Periodically smoking marijuana doesn't appear to hurt lung capacity, the largest study ever conducted on pot smokers has found.
Even though most marijuana smokers tend to inhale deeply and hold the smoke in for as long as they can before exhaling, the lung capacity didn't deteriorate even among those who smoked a joint a day for seven years or once a week for 20 years, according to the study published Tuesday in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association.
MyHealthNewsDaily via MSNBC: 17 percent of U.S. adults binge drink
By MyHealthNewsDaily Staff
About 17 percent of U.S. adults, or 38 million people, say they binge drink, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Binge drinking is defined as consuming four or more drinks for women, and five or more drinks for men, on one occasion.
Binge drinkers reported an average of four episodes a month, each consisting of eight drinks at most, according to the report, which is based on data gathered during a 2010 survey.
The biggest group of binge drinkers are young adults, with about 28 percent of people between ages 18 and 24 reporting binge drinking. Men are twice as likely as women to say they binge drink.
A 2009 survey showed that about 15 percent of U.S. adults binge drink. The apparent uptick in prevalence is likely due to the polling of more people with cellphones in the current report, the researchers said.
MSNBC: Plans set for 'Tricorder' contest
By Alan Boyle
Qualcomm and the X Prize Foundation have laid out a $10 million plan to spur the development of medical diagnosis devices like the ones seen on "Star Trek" science-fiction shows — not by the 23rd century, but by mid-2015.
The Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize is the latest multimillion-dollar competition designed to serve as an incentive for technological breakthroughs, following in the footsteps of X Prizes for private-sector spaceflight, ultra-efficient automobiles. low-cost genome sequencing and robotic moon missions.
"There is a generation of exponentially growing technologies ... that are coming together to empower us to make real the 'Star Trek' technology of a medical tricorder," Peter Diamandis, the X Prize Foundation's CEO, told me today.
Climate/Environment
MSNBC: Cold winters tied to Arctic summers, study says
By Miguel Llanos, msnbc.com
Remember New York City's 2011 blizzard? Or Florida's 2010 hard freeze? Blame them on the summer.
According to a new study, those are the type of extreme cold events in the northern hemisphere's winter that appear tied to warmer Arctic summers.
It's certainly counterintuitive, the authors acknowledge, and that could be why climate models haven't picked up on the trend identified in the study: The warmer Arctic, along with melting sea ice, create more moisture in the Arctic and that typically leads to more snowfall across northern Eurasia in October -- a key factor in this entire dynamic. That extra snowfall, in turn, alters what's known as the Arctic Oscillation, sending cold blasts down south.
Discovery News via MSNBC: Birds flying faster than ever, thanks to climate change
Study of Southern Ocean albatross shows they're also gaining weight, improving breeding
By Jennifer Viegas
updated 1/12/2012 4:13:14 PM ET
Wind speeds over the Southern Ocean have been increasing over the past three decades and those stronger winds are boosting birds in the area to faster flying speeds, according to new research.
The wind speed shift is linked to climate change in the study, which was published in the latest issue of Science. The impact, at least for now, is a boon for certain birds. It shortens the length of their foraging trips, improves their breeding success and is even causing birds to gain more than two pounds in weight.
The scientists focused their study on the wandering albatross, a bird that spends most of its life in flight, touching down on land mostly just to find food or to breed. The windy Crozet islands in the Southern Ocean have been home to one population of such albatrosses for ages. The researchers believe that other birds, such as petrels, have been affected by the wind changes too.
Geology
Our Amazing Planet via MSNBC: Seafloor surveys shed light on deadly 2010 Haiti earthquake
Researchers find temblor generated vast landslides, driving large amounts of earth into sea
By Charles Q. Choi
OurAmazingPlanet
updated 1/13/2012 3:22:40 PM ET
Marine evidence from the deadly 2010 Haiti earthquake is shedding light on how it happened, and could help assess the risk this and other areas face, researchers say.
The catastrophic magnitude-7.0 temblor struck two years ago yesterday, on Jan. 12, 2010. It killed more than 200,000 people and left more than 1.5 million homeless, with damage estimated at $8 billion.
As destructive as the quake proved, it barely ruptured the surface of the island. This has made it difficult to study and understand what further risks the area might face. Even the faults involved remain unclear — the most likely culprit would seem to be the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault, a "strike-slip" fault at the boundary between the North America and Caribbean tectonic plates, where huge slabs of earth grind past each other far below the surface. However, other, previously unknown faults have been implicated as well.
KING-TV: Lost at sea: Japan's tsunami debris is scattering
By Eric Wilkinson, King 5 News
SEATTLE -- Curtis Ebbesmeyer is a detective of sorts, tracking the aftermath of a devastating disaster along the Washington coast.
Last March's tsunami in Japan killed 20,000 people. A debris field 1,000 miles wide and 2,000 miles long was captured on satellite making its way westward. Some of it has begun washing up on Washington beaches and at least four buoys have come ashore from Cape Flattery off Neah Bay to Ocean Shores.
But that massive debris field has now disappeared from view. So, where did it go?
"It's sort of like the little mosquitoes we don't see buzzing around but when you're camping you know when they bite you. It's out there," said Ebbesmeyer.
Psychology/Behavior
Life's Little Mysteries via MSNBC: What if humans could be made twice as intelligent?
Neuroscientist foresees more solutions to global ills, but little change in social skills
By Natalie Wolchover
You might someday be much, much smarter than you are now. At least that's the hope of neuroscientists focused on understanding the basis of intelligence.
They have discovered that the brains of people with high IQs tend to be highly integrated, with neural paths connecting distant brain regions, while less intelligent people's brains build simpler, shorter routes. But no one knows why some brains construct much longer-range connections than others.
"When the brain mechanisms that underlie intelligence are understood, it is theoretically possible that those mechanisms can be tweaked to increase IQ," said Richard Haier, a neuroscientist and professor emeritus at the University of California at Irvine who studies intelligence. For the first time in human history, he said, "the concept that intelligence can be increased is reasonable."
MSNBC: Republican voters know GOP when they see it
By Cari Nierenberg
Appearance has always mattered in politics. But a new study might have Republican candidates working extra hard to look more, well, Republican, whatever that might mean.
That’s because new research finds that political facial stereotypes may help Republican candidates get more votes.
Before we get too far, no, social scientists haven't identified a particular Republican look. They haven't sussed out the exact haircut, facial expression or tilt of jaw that might signal someone is a winner for the GOP.
What they have done is to determine that looking more stereotypically Republican seems to help candidates get more votes from people who lean politically toward the right, according to a study in the latest issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.
The study found that left-leaning people don't rely on political facial stereotypes as much. Democratic voters, for instance, tend to be much less influenced by how liberal- or conservative-looking a candidate seems, the research suggests.
MSNBC: All that stress is shrinking your brain, new study finds
By Rita Rubin
Everyone knows stress can cause headaches and sleepless nights. But a new study suggests it can actually shrink your brain.
We’re not talking run-of-the-mill stressors here, like a looming deadline or a missed bus.
“These are bad things happening, like a relationship breakup, loss of a loved one, being held at gunpoint,” says Yale neurobiologist Rajita Sinha, senior author of the new report.
Simply feeling stressed-out was not linked to gray matter shrinkage. But feeling stressed-out combined with a history of stressful life events was. In particular, stress was linked to markedly less gray matter than expected in a part of the prefrontal cortex that regulates emotion and self-control, not to mention blood pressure and blood sugar.
Archeology/Anthropology
Khaleej Times (UAE): Stories of yore ?on view
Lily B. Libo-on
14 January 2012
Evidence of an ancient culture in the Arabian Peninsula that dates back to over 120,000 years of human migration has found its way from Sharjah’s 18 archaeological excavation sites to the emirate’s Archaeology Museum. The collections in this museum cover the history of Sharjah since 7000 years ago till the advent of Islam in the 7th century AD. All artifacts uncovered in the emirate by different archaeological missions or by locals demonstrate its glorious past.
Several unique artifacts rewrite world history. Among them is the remains of the head of a stone axe, discovered in Al Faya Mountain in Sharjah dating back to more than 120,000 years. This artifact has changed scientists’ understanding of the modern history of human migration from Africa to the world through the Arabian Peninsula.
Ivory combs, discovered in Tell Abraq’s site in Sharjah dating back to more than 4000 years come next. The combs, which are decorated with circles, were buried with their owners to indicate their value to them. It is believed that this ivory belongs to the Indian Subcontinent, which indicates the marine activity of the people of Sharjah in the ancient times. A 3000-year-old saddled camel figurine made of burnt clay was found in Muweilah’s site. It is considered an evidence of the domestication of the camel in the Iron Age.
Reuters: Fishy find shows humans skilled anglers 42,000 years ago
By Tan Ee Lyn
HONG KONG | Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:35am EST
Fish hooks and fishbones dating back 42,000 years found in a cave in East Timor suggest that humans were capable of skilled, deep-sea fishing 30,000 years earlier than previously thought, researchers in Australia and Japan said on Friday.
The artefacts -- nearly 39,000 fishbones and three fish hooks -- were found in a limestone cave in Jerimalai in East Timor, 50 metres (165 feet) above sea level, said Sue O'Connor from the Australian National University's department of archaeology and natural history.
"There was never any hint of (what) maritime technology people might have had in terms of fishing gear 40,000 years ago," O'Connor, the study's lead author, told Reuters by telephone from Canberra.
"(This study showed) you got ability to make hooks, you are using lines on those hooks. If you can make fibre lines, you can make nets, you are probably using those fibres on your boats."
The York Press (UK): Archaeologists get £1m funding boost to carry out research at Stone Age Star Carr site
ARCHAEOLOGISTS have secured more than £1 million in funding to delve deeper into the history of Britain’s earliest surviving house discovered in North Yorkshire, writes Daniel Birch.
A team of archaeologists from the universities of York and Manchester helped unearth the house at Star Carr, a Stone Age site, near Scarborough, in 2010.
The wooden house, which is 3.5 metres wide, predates the house previously thought to be Britain's oldest house in Howick,by at least 500 years.
The Star Carr structure dates back to 9,000 BC when hunter-gatherers lived in Britain and the research team unearthed the circular building next to an ancient lake at the site.
The Daily Telegraph (UK): Roman helmet turns history on its head
Every school child used to learn how the British defended their land during the Roman Conquest.
By Anita Singh
But the discovery of a 2,000-year-old Roman helmet beneath a Leicestershire hillside suggests a different story. Rather than repel the invaders, some Britons fought in the Roman ranks.
The ornate helmet was awarded to high-ranking cavalry officers and was found at the burial site of a British tribal leader. According to experts, it transforms our understanding of the Roman Conquest.
“How did it get there? The simple answer is that it was worn on the head of a Briton,” said Dr J D Hill, head of research at the British Museum.
“The old view is 'Romans bad, Britons good’. This discovery muddies the waters. You can’t overestimate the shock and surprise when it was first found.
The Southern Reporter (UK): Hobby historian claims King Arthur in Yarrow grave
Published on Saturday 7 January 2012 15:55
AN Edinburgh hobby historian is claiming the Yarrow Stone marks the grave of King Arthur, writes Sally Gillespie.
Self-styled literary archaeologist Damian Bullen says academic consensus has the Liberalis Stone as the burial ground of two Christian princes of the fifth to sixth centuries AD. And one of those he believes was King Arthur.
Mr Bullen, 35, said: “When we strip away the mediaeval romancing of our legendary king, we are left with genuine nuggets of historicity. One of them is the stone at Yarrow which I am convinced is his grave marker.”
It has been reported that the famous regent died with Medrawt (said to be his nephew Mordred) during “the strife of Camlann”. Camlann means “crooked glen” which Mr Bullen says is “a perfect match” for the river bends in the Yarrow Valley near the Liberalis Sonte.
The Daily Mail (UK): Medieval fishing village discovered in Outer Hebrides by island boatman
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 7:50 PM on 12th January 2012
A medieval fishing village is believed to have been found in the Outer Hebrides after a tip-off from an islander.
The site is among potential new historic finds made along the islands’ coasts following information from members of the public.
Archaeologists said they were told about the village after bumping into local man JJ MacDonald. The possible fishing station was discovered near Loch Euport, on North Uist.
The project team said on Ordnance Survey maps the area is called Havn, the Norse word for harbour.
Last year, fishermen, beachcombers, divers and islanders in the Hebrides were asked for information on where archaeologists might find ancient sites along shorelines.
BBC: Potential medieval village among Western Isles 'finds'
By Steven McKenzie BBC Scotland Highlands and Islands reporter
Archaeologists' chance encounter with an islander has led them to the site of a possible medieval fishing village on the Western Isles.
The site is among potential new historic finds made along the islands' coasts following tip offs from members of the public.
Archaeologists said they were told about the village after bumping into local man JJ MacDonald.
A diver also alerted the experts to 5,000-year-old pottery from a loch.
The Irish Times: Builder digs archaeology as way to put down roots in Peru
TOM HENNIGAN in Lima
FOR A builder with plans ready to leap off his architect’s drawing board the last call you probably want is from someone telling you there has been an important historical find on your site.
But in 2006 that was exactly the news John Reynolds received from a Peruvian archaeologist digging on land he was poised to turn into residential and holiday properties along the upmarket Pacific coastal region known as Asia, an hour’s drive south of the capital Lima.
For the native of Cloonacool in Co Sligo, the call was the start of months of delays and cost overruns. But it was also the moment when he announced his arrival as a serious player in Peru’s property market.
Reynolds had hired the archaeologist to certify that the site of his first development in the South American country was free of anything of historical interest, as required by Peruvian law.
“Everyone told me it would just be a formality. The area used to be cotton fields so I was confident there was going to be nothing there,” he says. “But then they dug these pits and started finding bodies. The archaeologists call to congratulate you but for us it was like . . . panic!”
The Marlborough Express (NZ) via Stuff (NZ): Archaeologist studies Sounds cottage
RACHEL YOUNG
An historic cottage in the Marlborough Sounds is getting a makeover, thanks to the Historic Places Trust.
Trust staff, as well as several companies, are helping with the multi-stage process of conservation work on the Robin Hood Bay cob cottage.
The whaler's cottage, which was built in the 1840s, was home to Captain George Covel Jackson and his wife, Clara James, who settled the bay in 1848.
In 1885, it was sold to Henry Stace, who farmed the land and ran a boarding school. The cottage was used as part of the school facilities.
The Daily Mail (UK): Explorers find wreckage of British submarine 70 years after she struck a mine off the Malta coast
- HMS Olympus sunk after striking a mine in May 1942, killing 89 sailors
- The submarine's whereabouts had been a mystery ever since
- Team of explorers locates wreck using sonar to survey the seabed
By Graham Smith
Last updated at 12:41 PM on 12th January 2012
A team of explorers has discovered the wreck of a British submarine that sunk off the Maltese coast during the Second World War.
HMS Olympus struck a mine in the early hours of 8 May, 1942 shortly after she left Malta Harbour under the cover of darkness.
Nearly 90 men perished in what was one of the worst naval disasters of the war. Only nine of the vessel's 98 crew members survived after swimming seven miles back to shore in cold water.
The Conversation (Australia): Googling the past: how I uncovered prehistoric remains from my office
9 January 2012, 6.30am AEST
Archaeology is the study of the remains of the past but has long been predatory on the sciences and their ever-growing technologies. I was brought up as a student in 1970s Britain, when we learned of the wonderful revelations to be made through aerial viewing of almost any human landscape.
Today we have moved on to add, first, satellite imagery to our arsenal, and now the astonishing virtual globes any one of us can use to explore many of the most remote and difficult places in the world. This was never clearer to me than during the past two years, when I began finding thousands of prehistoric sites in the Middle East … from my desk in Perth, Australia, using Google Earth.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman, who sent in the above articles.
Reuters via MSNBC: Complete Civil War submarine unveiled for first time
Protective truss lifted from the H.L. Hunley after a decade of preservation work
updated 1/12/2012 11:09:01 PM ET
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Confederate Civil War vessel H.L. Hunley, the world's first successful combat submarine, was unveiled in full and unobstructed for the first time on Thursday, capping a decade of careful preservation.
"No one alive has ever seen the Hunley complete. We're going to see it today," engineer John King said as a crane at a Charleston conservation laboratory slowly lifted a massive steel truss covering the top of the submarine.
About 20 engineers and scientists applauded as they caught the first glimpse of the intact 42-foot-long (13-meter-long) narrow iron cylinder, which was raised from the ocean floor near Charleston more than a decade ago. The public will see the same view, but in a water tank to keep it from rusting.
Physics
MSNBC: British mystery: Oxford professor's death a 'tragic accident,' not murder, wife says
By msnbc.com staff and news services
LONDON -- The wife of a world-renowned Oxford University astrophysicist says his mysterious death at the home of a fellow academic was a “tragic accident,” not murder.
Professor Steven Rawlings, 50, was found dead Wednesday night at the home of his longtime friend, Devinder Sivia. Sivia, 49, is a mathematics lecturer at Saint John's, one of the 38 colleges that make up Oxford.
Police arrested Sivia on suspicion of murder but he was released Friday on bail after an autopsy proved inconclusive.
Chemistry
LiveScience via MSNBC: How mysterious molecules may help cool Earth
By Joseph Castro, LiveScience Staff Writer
updated 1/12/2012 2:50:06 PM ET
Elusive molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere may be helping to cool the planet more efficiently than scientists previously thought, a new study suggests.
They are called Criegee intermediates, or Criegee biradicals (named after the German chemist Rudolf Criegee), and are short-lived molecules that form in the Earth’s atmosphere when ozone reacts with alkenes (a family of organic compounds). While scientists have known about the intermediates for decades, they haven't been able to directly measure how the molecules react with other atmospheric compounds, such as the pollutants nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, until now.
Researchers used a new method to create Criegee intermediates in the lab, and then reacted them with several atmospheric compounds. They found that the reactions with the pollutants could produce aerosols, tiny particles that reflect solar radiation back into space, much more quickly than previously assumed.
Energy
LiveScience via MSNBC: New tool reduces bat fatalities at turbine wind farms
Interactive device uses bat calls and local conditions to cut deaths but stay productive
By Remy Melina
updated 1/13/2012 2:37:09 PM ET
Researchers have developed an interactive tool that uses bat calls and local environmental conditions to help wind farms reduce bat fatalities while still running efficiently.
Bat activity depends on the time of year and a number of environmental factors, such as wind direction and speed, moon phase and air temperature, according to researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station. The new tool allows users to visualize the probability of bat presence based on changes in date and weather conditions.
Previous research has shown that changing the operations of turbines can reduce the number of bat fatalities at wind-energy facilities.
MSNBC: Sunflowers inspire improved solar power plant
By John Roach
The well-tuned geometry of the florets on the face of the sunflower head has inspired an improved layout for mirrors used to concentrate sunlight and generate electricity, according to new research.
The sunflower-inspired layout could reduce the footprint of concentrating solar power (CSP) plants by about 20 percent, which could be a boon for a technology that's limited, in part, by its massive land requirements.
Science, Space, Environment, and Energy Policy
Mayo News (Ireland): Archaeologist objects to Achill-henge
Edwin McGreal
As Mayo County Council prepare to make their decision this week on whether the controversial Achill-henge development on a hilltop in Pollagh should be classed as an exempted development, an Achill-based archaeologist has spoken out against the structure.
Theresa McDonald is the Managing Director of the renowned Achill Archaeological Field School and a leading member of the Achill Historial and Archaeological Society, this week she outlined her objections to the Stonehenge-esque structure built at Pollagh in November by controversial developer Joe McNamara.
“We’re worried that there is an archeological site, mostly prehistoric, less than half a kilometre from the site,” she told The Mayo News. “It is mostly covered by bog, as are a lot of sites in Ireland. There was also an old railway line from Slieve Mor going through the site of the so-called ‘henge’ to Purteen Harbour, that’s gone now because of the unauthorised development.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
MSNBC: Ban on new mining near Grand Canyon finalized
By msnbc.com staff and news services
The Obama administration on Monday announced a 20-year ban on new mining on federal lands near Grand Canyon National Park, saying the move would allow current mining to continue while officials monitor potential impacts.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar made the announcement after an area covering 1 million acres had been opened up under the Bush administration, mostly for uranium mining.
"The withdrawal maintains the pace of hardrock mining, particularly uranium, near the Grand Canyon," Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey said in a statement, "but also gives the department a chance to monitor the impacts associated with uranium mining in this area. It preserves the ability of future decision-makers to make thoughtful decisions about managing this area of national environmental and cultural significance based on the best information available."
MSNBC: EPA reach too far? Justices hear case of interest to big business, Ron Paul
By msnbc.com staff and news services
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments in a case that sounds small but could have huge implications for property owners, corporations and federal regulations.
Some of the justices were clearly critical of the Environmental Protection Agency, calling its actions in the case heavy handed.
The justices were considering whether to let an Idaho couple challenge an EPA order identifying their 0.63-acre lot as "protected wetlands."
Justice Samuel Alito called the EPA's actions "outrageous." Justice Antonin Scalia noted the "high-handedness of the agency" in dealing with private property. Chief Justice John Roberts said that the EPA's contention that the couple's land is wetlands, something the couple disagrees with, would never be put to a test under current procedure.
The justices will rule by summer.
Science Education
The Universe, Brigham Young University: Tabernacle excavation gives BYU students real world experience
Provo's first tabernacle predated the current structure by years
January 11, 2012
Archaeological digs are usually associated with remote corners of the world, but the construction of the new LDS temple in Provo is providing BYU students with on-the-job experience in their own backyard.
When the Provo Tabernacle was built, it was constructed south of Provo’s first tabernacle or so-called Old Meetinghouse. According to historical accounts, the building was opened in 1861, but not dedicated until 1867 when the exterior plaster was completed. These two houses of worship existed side by side for nearly 40 years before the northern tabernacle was bulldozed in 1919.
Almost 100 years later, as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints prepares to build a temple after a fire devastated the Tabernacle in December 2010, and now there is a unique opportunity to remember and care for some of the Church’s cultural heritage.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
NPR: Physicists Seek To Lose The Lecture As Teaching Tool
The lecture is one of the oldest forms of education there is.
"Before printing someone would read the books to everybody who would copy them down," says Joe Redish, a physics professor at the University of Maryland.
But lecturing has never been an effective teaching technique and now that information is everywhere, some say it's a waste of time. Indeed, physicists have the data to prove it.
Science Writing and Reporting
Scientific American: ScienceOnline2012 – the Unconference, the Community
By Bora Zivkovic
January 8, 2012
For many years people who attend conferences – including scientific conferences – noticed something interesting: the best discussions were those that occurred outside of lecture halls. Conversations that happened in the hallways, at the hotel bar, on a bus going to see a local attraction, or, if you are lucky with the location, on the beach, were informative, exciting and useful. This is where real information got exchanged, where younger members learned the “lore” and “tacit knowledge” from their elders in the field, where people started real connections, even friendships, where plans got hatched to start new collaborative projects, and more.
Experienced conference-goers can rarely be found in the actual conference rooms, or, if that would sometimes happen, they could be seen dozing off in the back row, or amusing themselves with the technology of the day (doodling on their notepad, later laptops, later iPhones/iPads). The speakers would prepare slideshows, the student presenters would all dress up and then sweat, the organizers would do their best to promote the sessions, only to see the rooms half-empty because everyone is having much more productive conversations out in the hallway.
So, some smart people a few years back decide to do something about this. Why not scratch most or all of the boring lecturing from the program, and instead move the hallway discussions into the conference rooms? Thus, the Unconference format was born.
Science is Cool
Space.com via MSNBC: New film details how a dad, then son, launched into space
'Man on a Mission' tells story of astronaut Owen Garriott and gamer son Richard Garriott
By Tariq Malik
updated 1/13/2012 6:22:21 PM ET
NEW YORK — Richard Garriott is not your ordinary nerd.
Yes, he is a self-proclaimed space fan and develops computer games for a living. But he's also the millionaire founder of the "Ultima Online" computer game franchise, uses a robot to telecommute between New York and his Austin office, and is one of the few people ever to pay $30 million for a cosmic trip to the International Space Station.
And there's one more thing: Richard Garriott is the son of Owen Garriott, a former NASA astronaut who flew on the U.S. Skylab station and space shuttle. He is the first American second-generation spaceflyer ever to follow a parent off the planet.
It's that combination of spaceflight and computer games that comes through in "Man on a Mission," a new documentary that launched into theaters Friday across the United States. The film, directed by veteran documentary director Mike Woolf, chronicles Garriott's 2008 flight to the International Space Station.
Space.com via MSNBC: Why first sci-fi movie filmed in space is staying underground
NASA has yet to give approval to picture made by game designer who paid to fly in 2008
By Mike Wall
updated 1/13/2012 5:14:27 PM ET
A new documentary about space tourist Richard Garriott's flight to the International Space Station is hitting theaters now, but the sci-fi movie he made aboard the orbiting lab remains under wraps.
"Man on a Mission," which opened Friday, chronicles Garriott's journey to the station in October 2008, a trip that cost him $30 million of his own money. While up there, the video-game designer made a playful eight-minute film called "Apogee of Fear," with some standout acting assistance from a Russian cosmonaut and two NASA astronauts.
"Apogee of Fear" is the first science-fiction movie ever made in space, Garriott said, and he would like to let the public see it. There has been some demand, with the Smithsonian Institution even asking to put the film in its permanent archives because of its historical value.
But NASA hasn't given the necessary go-ahead, according to Garriott.
Space.com via MSNBC: Orbital debris threat crashes into theaters in 'Space Junk 3D'
Filmmaker uses eye-popping special effects to raise awareness of dangers above
By Tariq Malik
updated 1/13/2012 1:54:41 PM ET
Space may be the final frontier, but it's also turning into a big junkyard.
With bits of rockets, satellites and other leftovers from more than 50 years of spaceflight surrounding the Earth for thousands of miles in all directions, the space junk problem is more than just academic. And a new film, " Space Junk 3D," is opening Friday in IMAX and 2D digital theaters to spread awareness of the orbital debris threat to the public.
Directed by veteran filmmaker Melissa Butts, who also helmed the films "3D Sun" and "Mars 3D," the new movie uses eye-popping special effects and two pivotal events in space junk history — an unprecedented anti-satellite test by China and the 2009 crash between satellites from the United States and Russia — to illustrate the growing danger of orbital debris.
The message couldn't come at a more appropriate time. In the last four months, two huge old satellites — both more than 20 years old — have fallen from space in uncontrolled death plunges. A third spacecraft, Russia's failed Mars probe Phobos-Grunt, is poised to make its own fall to Earth in the next few days.