Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew, consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors jlms qkw, Bentliberal, wader, Oke, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir and ScottyUrb, 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.
Between now and the end of the primary/caucus season, Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday will highlight the research stories from the public universities in each of the states having elections and caucuses during the week (or in the upcoming weeks if there is no primary or caucus that week). Tonight's edition features the science, space, environment, health, and energy stories from universities in the states of Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas (list from Politics1.com).
This week's featured stories come from Discovery News.
Discovery News: Did We Meet Martians 36 Years Ago?
Analysis by Ray Villard
Fri Jul 20, 2012 11:47 AM ET
As we count down to the much-anticipated landing of NASA's six-wheeled Mars Science Lab (MSL) on Aug. 5/6th, it's noteworthy that 36 years ago today mankind made the first successful touchdown on the Red Planet.
The nuclear-powered Viking 1 lander settled down in a burst of retrorocket fire on a smooth circular plain close to the great volcanic Tharsis Bulge on July 20, 1976. Four billion years ago this region may have been a water-filled bay on Mars.
...
Viking 1 was shutdown in 1982, but its legacy is as alive as ever today. Viking 1, and its sister robot, Viking 2, were the only two spacecraft ever dispatched to Mars with miniature onboard biological laboratories that performed the first in-situ experiments to find extraterrestrial life.
Though sending such a payload to what was then a largely unknown planet seemed premature, it does reflect NASA's aggressive spirit of exploration from the glory days of the 1960s and early 70s.
Discovery News: Nixon's Contingency Plan for a Failed Apollo 11
Analysis by Amy Shira Teitel
Sat Jul 21, 2012 05:02 AM ET
On July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin launched from the lunar surface and rejoined Michael Collins in orbit before the three men began their trip home.
Ascending from the lunar surface was one of the most important maneuvers on the mission; any problems could leave Aldrin and Armstrong stranded on the moon with no way home. It was a gruesome scenario, but not impossible. In the unlikely event this lunar disaster did happen, NASA had a plan in place.
More stories after the jump.
Recent Science Diaries and Stories
Watch this space!
We believe that Corporate Denial should not be a Fact of Life
by jamess
The Daily Bucket - berries in the Forest
by bwren
Pres. Obama: “those who have looked at the science of climate change are scared”
by A Siegel
Summer Learning or "Mom! I'm bored!"
by FloridaSNMOM
The Inoculation Project: Using Our Avatar
by belinda ridgewood
Slideshows/Videos
Imperial Valley Press: Dogs search for ancient remains on wind farm project site near Ocotillo
By ALEJANDRO DAVILA Staff Writer
11:45 p.m. PDT, July 17, 2012
OCOTILLO — As the rising sun bathed the desert where a controversial 112-wind-turbine project is being built, dog handler John Grebenkemper walked his forensic dog Tuesday morning hoping it would detect the scent of cremated ancient Native Americans.
“They only (find) human remains’ scent,” Grebenkemper said referring to forensic dogs like his, Keyle, which was trained with old bones and dried teeth to identify human remains at archaeological sites such as the ones thought to be abundant in the Ocotillo area.
Grebenkemper was just one of a team of dog handlers commissioned to find potential cremation sites in what is the latest effort to preserve sensitive areas throughout the construction of the Ocotillo Wind Express facility.
The project’s developers, Pattern Energy, agreed Tuesday afternoon to hold off construction near three of the project’s towers after a number of additional potential cremation sites were discovered, said a spokesman with one of the area tribes.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
University of Georgia on YouTube: Fighting Parasites the Sustainable Way
University of Georgia Professor Ray Kaplan describes how parasites in our animals are becoming resistant to the deworming drugs we use to kill them and what we must do to stop this alarming trend.
University of Georgia:
Overuse of deworming drugs led to widespread resistance among parasites
July 19, 2012
Athens, Ga. - A long forgotten foe is beginning to reemerge on pastures and meadows around the world, and farmers are finding that they have no way to combat it. Parasitic worms infecting cows, sheep, goats and horses are becoming resistant to the drugs used to kill them, and if changes are not made in how the few remaining drugs that still work are used, there may be no way left to fight the growing threat, according to Ray Kaplan, a University of Georgia professor in the department of infectious diseases.
Kaplan has studied drug-resistant parasites for years, and his findings recently published in the journal Veterinary Parasitology warn that the continued overuse of deworming drugs has the potential to create parasites that cannot be killed.
"We're already seeing the worst-case scenario playing out," Kaplan said. "In goats particularly, which have the worst problems with parasites and drug resistance, we quite frequently see farms that have parasite resistance to all de-wormers. Some of these farms reached the point where they no longer could control the effects of the parasites and decided to go out of business."
University of Georgia on YouTube: Preservation Field School
The College of Environment and Design offered a Preservation Field School over Maymester 2012. The course, led by Historic Preservation Program Head Dr. Mark Reinberger, gave an intensive introduction to historic preservation, site documentation, and hands-on conservation skills on Jekyll Island with visits to Cumberland, Fort Frederica, and Sapelo Islands.
University of North Carolina Medicine on YouTube: Oral Immunotherapy for Egg Allergies in Children
In a first of its kind study, research led by Dr. Wesley Burks, Chair of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, shows promise in the use of oral immunotherapy for the treatment of egg allergies in children. Dr. Burks will participate in a live Facebook chat about the study at 12:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday, July 24, 2012.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill:
UNC researchers discover promising new treatment for egg allergy
July 18, 2012
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Doctors currently have only one recommendation for people allergic to eggs: avoid eggs completely. But researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine recently found promise in doing just the opposite. Eating small amounts of egg every day for many months lowered the threshold for allergic reactions in 75 percent of egg-allergic children; 28 percent were able to incorporate egg into their regular diets after two years on the treatment.
“It’s just what we had hoped for,” said Wesley Burks, MD, Curnen Distinguished Professor and Chair of the UNC Department of Pediatrics and the study’s lead author. “It’s what we anticipated based on earlier studies, but we weren’t sure it would happen. Almost a third of the children had a permanent change and were no longer egg-allergic.”
The study is published in the July 19, 2012 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
NASA Television on YouTube: Countdown to Curiosity on This Week @NASA
The most advanced robot ever sent to another world is nearing its destination, and NASA scientists and managers at a Headquarters news briefing called the Curiosity Rover mission the hardest one attempted in the history of robotic planetary exploration. Curiosity is scheduled to land on Mars in the early morning hours of August 6, Eastern. Also, J-2X Test; 'Chutes Assured; New Digs for Space Trio; Science Supporters; Space Sojourn; Enterprise Unveiled; Remembering Apollo 11; and more.
NASA Television on YouTube: ScienceCasts: A Taste of Solar Maximum
Solar maximum is still a year away. This month sky watchers got a taste of things to come when a powerful flare sparked Northern Lights over the United States as far south as Arkansas, Colorado and California.
Astronomy/Space
Weird Ancient Spiral Galaxy Discovered
Gravitational tugs from a small intruder galaxy is believed to be responsible for sculpting ancient galaxy's unusual spiral structure.
By Irene Klotz
Wed Jul 18, 2012 01:00 PM ET
Astronomers have discovered a three-armed spiral galaxy dating back nearly 11 billion years -- much older than similarly structured objects that are common in the modern universe.
The discovery was so jarring, scientists at first didn't believe their data.
"Our first thought was that we must have the wrong distance for the galaxy," lead researcher David Law, with the University of Toronto, told Discovery News.
"Then we thought perhaps it was the human brain playing tricks on us. If you look at enough blobby, weird-looking galaxies sooner or later, like a Rorschach blob test, you start to pick out patterns whether or not they're there," Law said.
Discovery News:
Exoplanet Neighbor is Smaller than Earth
Analysis by Irene Klotz
Wed Jul 18, 2012 03:14 PM ET
Astronomers believe they have found a planet about two-thirds the size of Earth orbiting a star 33 light-years away, a virtual neighbor in cosmic terms.
Don't pack your suitcase yet. The planet, known as UCF-1.01, is not very hospitable, with temperatures that exceed 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, a surface that may be volcanic or molten and little if any atmosphere.
It's not just a summer heat wave. For UCF-1.01, it's a way of life. The planet is located so close to its parent star, a red dwarf known as GJ 436, that it completes an orbit in 1.4 Earth days.
Discovery News: Pluto Now Has Five (Yes, Five) Moons
Analysis by Ian O'Neill
Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:39 PM ET
Pluto's neighborhood is getting crowded.
According to new observations by the Hubble Space Telescope, the dwarf planet isn't only accompanied by the moons Charon, Nix, Hydra and the not-so-glamorously-named "P4," it also has a fifth satellite, nicknamed, unsurprisingly, "P5."
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The continuing discoveries of small moons around Pluto is causing some concern for scientists with NASA's New Horizons mission that, in 2015, will make a flyby of the little world.
Discovery News has more discussion about this discovery, including
How Pluto Got Its Moons and
Not a Dwarf: Is Pluto a Binary Planet?
Space.com via Discovery News: Multinational Soyuz Docks with Space Station
American, Russian and Japanese astronauts are being welcomed aboard the orbiting outpost.
Content provided by Mike Wall, SPACE.com
Tue Jul 17, 2012 12:15 PM ET
Three astronauts arrived at the International Space Station early Tuesday (July 17) for a four-month stay, bringing the huge orbiting outpost back to its full complement of six spaceflyers.
The Soyuz space capsule carrying the three new crewmembers -- NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japanese spaceflyer Aki Hoshide -- docked with the station at 12:51 a.m. EDT Tuesday (0451 GMT) after a two-day flight. The Soyuz launched into orbit Saturday from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
"Everything is perfect," Malenchenko radioed Russia's Mission Control Center in Korolev, just outside Moscow. Video cameras on the exterior of the space station captured spectacular views of the Soyuz pulling up to the orbiting lab with the bright blue Earth in the background.
Evolution/Paleontology
Discovery News: How Vegetarian Dinosaurs Feasted
The super speedy eaters could efficiently remove leaves from branches before swallowing them whole.
By Jennifer Viegas
Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:58 AM ET
Plant-eating dinosaurs 150 million years ago were super speedy eaters and could efficiently remove leaves from branches before swallowing the greenery whole.
The research, published in the journal Naturwissenschaften, helps to explain how some of the largest animals on Earth managed to eat such amazing quantities of plants.
The study focused in particular on Diplodocus, which probably could have won speed eating contests today. This massive beast measured nearly 100 feet in length and weighed over 33,000 pounds.
Biodiversity
AgriLife Today: Global coffee researchers gather in London
Scientists agree on collaboration, coffee-variety sharing
July 19, 2012
LONDON — A cadre of scientists representing coffee-producing countries throughout the world recently gathered in London for a technical meeting on initial efforts to be conducted under the banner of World Coffee Research.
World Coffee Research is funded by the global coffee industry, guided by producers and implemented by coffee scientists around the world, said the program’s administrators. It is managed by the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture based in College Station, part of the Texas A&M University System.
“This marks the first time coffee researchers from a variety of origin countries have agreed to collaborate on a series of projects to evaluate the world’s elite Arabica material in different environments,” said Dr. Tim Schilling, World Coffee Research program executive director and a research scientist with the Borlaug Institute.
Schilling said during their meeting in London, scientists comprising the Technical Advisory Committee for the program also began plans for a global program to collect, catalog, and preserve coffee varieties from around the world.
AgriLife Today: Cricket invasion hits parts of East and Central Texas
July 16, 2012
DALLAS – The current cricket invasion many are experiencing in parts of East and Central Texas isn’t particularly unusual, but the timing is, said a Texas AgriLife Extension Service entomologist.
Dr. Michael Merchant, AgriLife Extension urban entomologist at Dallas, said he’s had a number of reports from Central and East Texas folks concerned with the high number of crickets they’re seeing this year.
Crickets are invading much of East Texas earlier than normal. Texas AgriLife Extension entomologists say early warm temperatures and recent rains triggered the cricket flight.
“I attribute this to early warm temperatures and recent rains that serve as a trigger for cricket flights,” Merchant said. “This is the earliest cricket infestation that I can recall though. We usually have cricket swarms following our late summer and fall rains.”
North Carolina State University: Rodent Robbers Good Guys in Rainforest?
July 16, 2012
There’s no honor among thieves when it comes to rodent robbers—which turns out to be a good thing for tropical trees that depend on animals to spread their seeds.
Results of a yearlong study in Panama, published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of July 16, suggest that thieving rodents helped the black palm tree survive by taking over the seed-spreading role of the mighty mastodon and other extinct elephant-like creatures that are thought to have eaten these large seeds.
“The question is how this tree managed to survive for 10,000 years if its seed dispersers are extinct,” says Roland Kays, a zoologist with North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. “There’s always been this mystery of how does this tree survive, and now we have a possible answer for it.”
The study showed that agoutis, rainforest rodents that hoard seeds like squirrels, repeatedly stole from their neighbors’ underground seed caches. All that pilfering moved some black palm seeds far enough from the mother tree to create favorable conditions for germination.
Biotechnology/Health
Georgia Tech: Musical Glove Improves Sensation, Mobility for People with Spinal Cord Injury
July 17, 2012
Georgia Tech researchers have created a wireless, musical glove that may improve sensation and motor skills for people with paralyzing spinal cord injury (SCI).
The gadget was successfully used by individuals with limited feeling or movement in their hands due to tetraplegia. These individuals had sustained their injury more than a year before the study, a time frame when most rehab patients see very little improvement for the remainder of their lives. Remarkably, the device was primarily used while the participants were going about their daily routines.
The device is called Mobile Music Touch (MMT). The glove, which looks like a workout glove with a small box on the back, is used with a piano keyboard and vibrates a person’s fingers to indicate which keys to play. While learning to play the instrument, several people with SCI experienced improved sensation in their fingers.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: Get off the couch!
July 16, 2012
The average American may expend as little energy as a person who sleeps 24 hours a day by the year 2020, following a worldwide trend of decreasing activity.
That's one prediction from UNC-Chapel Hill researchers whose study found a global decline in activity levels. They foresee a continuing decrease in activity worldwide. When viewed in the context of physical activity levels throughout human evolution, the global decline in the past few decades is particularly abrupt.
Faculty members Barry Popkin and Shu Wen Ng conducted the study. They used extensive data from the 1960s onward to determine how people around the world spend their time and how they move in their daily lives. The resulting publication, “Time use and physical activity: a shift away from movement across the globe,” will be published in the August issue of Obesity Reviews.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: Study finds 75 percent of Chinese adults at risk for diabetes or heart disease
July 20, 2012
More than three-quarters of Chinese adults have at least one risk factor for type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease, reveals new data in a long-term study done by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and published this week in Obesity. Rates of hypertension, diabetes and triglycerides are particularly high, even in the young and trim.
While the risks are highest among overweight adults, 33 percent of those who aren’t overweight also have at least one cardiometabolic risk factor. Cardiometabolic risk is a cluster of factors that are good indicators of a patient’s overall likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Adults at a healthy weight are less likely to be screened for these factors.
“The fact that high levels of risk were present even in non-overweight adults is highly concerning, given the societal and economic costs of these diseases,” said Penny Gordon-Larsen, Ph.D., associate professor of nutrition at Gillings School of Global Public Health and the study’s principal investigator. “Rates of risk increase dramatically with age, even in the non-overweight adults. Of even greater concern is the fact that we see these high levels of risk in individuals living across the entire country – in rural and urban areas.”
Climate/Environment
AgriLife Today: What’s really killing Texas trees?
Expert: Drought is only part of the story
July 20, 2012
OVERTON – Although drought is often the cause, trees can die for other reasons besides lack of soil moisture, said Dr. Eric Taylor, Texas AgriLife Extension Service forestry specialist, Overton.
“Drought is the primary contributor to tree kill, but it may not be exactly the way you might be thinking,” Taylor said. “You may find this hard to believe, but relatively few trees likely died directly from dehydration in 2011. Instead, the 2011 drought severely weakened mature trees, making them susceptible to opportunistic pathogens like hypoxylon canker and insects like pine bark engraver beetles.”
He said that in most instances, the trees that died in 2011 were already stressed from a number of pre-existing environmental factors such as overcrowding, growing on the wrong site, age, soil compaction, trenching or inappropriate use of herbicides. If not for these factors, a large proportion of the trees that died might have recovered from the drought.
Texas A&M: Heat Waves Can Be Killers
July 18, 2012
Q: There’s been a series of heat waves hitting much of the U.S. in recent weeks. Which heat waves have been the worst killers in the United States?
A: There’s no doubt that heat waves can cause a lot of fatalities, says weather expert Brent McRoberts of Texas A&M University. “In the last two months, more than 8,000 heat records have broken across the U.S. and so far this year, at least 76 deaths have occurred from the heat,” he notes. “The great Dust Bowl period of the 1930s covered more than 50 million acres, but the death count is really not known. In 1955, an eight-day heat wave killed 946 people in Los Angeles and in 1972, a 14-day heat wave killed 891 in New York City. By far, the worst heat wave occurred in 1980. During that summer, an estimated 10,000 people were killed nationwide and heat damages totaled $50 billion. The 1980 summer death toll far exceeded the annual national average of about 400 deaths that are attributed to heat.”
Q: What are some recent killer heat waves?
A: “In 1988, an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 people died from a summer heat wave in the central and eastern United States, and in 1995 more than 700 people died in Chicago,” McRoberts explains. “In 1999, a heat wave that gripped most of the U.S. killed more than 500 people. In 2003, one of history’s worst heat waves occurred in Europe when more than 35,000 people died. France was especially hit hard, and more than 14,000 French deaths were reported during the month of August.”
Geology/Geophysics
Texas A&M: Texas A&M atmospheric scientist receives national award
Andrew Dessler is first among atmospheric scientists to receive new AGU award.
July 16, 2012
The American Geophysical Union (AGU) has named Dr. Andrew Dessler, professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University, as recipient of an inaugural award. The Atmospheric Sciences Section Ascent Award recognizes Dessler's excellence as a leader and researcher in atmospheric sciences. AGU established the award to honor up to four early to mid-career outstanding atmospheric scientists. AGU cites Dessler in particular for "his creative and incisive studies of the influences of water and clouds in the climate system."
Dr. Gerald North, an AGU Fellow and professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, nominated Dessler for the award. "The Ascent Award is for research excellence, but I believe other things enter such as Andy's books and his great communications skills and accomplishments. He also happens to be a great teacher and mentor," North said.
Psychology/Behavior
University of Georgia: UGA study finds firms’ tax rates are tied to CEOs’ politics
July 17, 2012
Athens, Ga. - Companies run by CEOs who vote Republican tend to pay more in taxes than companies run by CEOs who vote Democratic, according to new research co-authored by a professor in the University of Georgia Terry College of Business.
The difference in paid taxes-statistics show that Republican-led companies pay about 2 percent more in effective tax rates-can be traced to psychological differences in the makeup of the CEOs, said Scott Graffin, a Terry College management professor who co-authored the study with three researchers from the University of Arizona business school.
"A person's political affiliation is a good proxy of a couple of psychological conditions: One is their tolerance for ambiguity, the other is whether they're risk-seeking or risk-averse," Graffin said. "People who lean Republican tend to be less tolerant of ambiguity and more risk-averse, while people who lean Democratic tend to be more risk-seeking and more comfortable with ambiguity."
These personal factors trickle through an organization, affecting how decisions at many levels are made, Graffin said. Because Republican CEOs are more risk-averse, accountants under them tend to promote risk-averse strategies.
...
The findings may seem counterintuitive, Graffin said, because Republicans tend to be anti-tax and Democrats tend to be in favor of more corporate taxes. But while Republican-leaning CEOs may be anti-tax, they're also risk-averse, meaning they're less likely to try certain tax-evasion strategies.
No wonder Republicans complain about taxes; they're too inflexible and cautious to do something about them on their own.
Archeology/Anthropology
National Geographic: Surprise Human-Ancestor Find—Key Fossils Hidden in Lab Rock
Single tooth tipped researchers off to a bonanza right under their noses.
Ker Than
for National Geographic News
Published July 12, 2012
Last month a prehistoric tooth protruding from a boulder tipped off researchers to hidden evolutionary treasure: remarkably complete human-ancestor fossils trapped in a rock that had been sitting in their lab for years.
Scans later showed that the rock contains two-million-year-old fossils that will "almost certainly" make one Australopithecus sediba specimen "the most complete early human ancestor skeleton ever discovered," anthropologist Lee Berger said in a statement Thursday.
The bones are nearly invisible from the outside, and were discovered only after a technician noticed the small tooth in the three-foot-wide (meter-wide) rock, which was retrieved from a South African cave in 2008 and brought to a lab at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
The tooth turned out to be just the tip of the fossil iceberg.
The Daily Telegraph (UK): Neanderthals' macho image may be wrong
Neanderthals have traditionally been seen as a race of macho hunters but in reality they spent much of their time carrying out domestic chores, a study has found.
By Nick Collins, Science Correspondent
10:00PM BST 18 Jul 2012
The primitive men, who became extinct about 30,000 years ago after human ancestors arrived in Europe from Africa, were presumed to have spent most of their time hunting prey.
But a new study suggests that their daily lives were in fact much more mundane, with tedious tasks like processing animal skins to make clothing accounting for several hours of each day.
Researchers from Cambridge University came to their conclusion after studying possible causes for the overdevelopment of the right arm bones which is common among Neanderthal skeletons.
Nature (UK): Neanderthals ate their greens
Tooth analysis shows that european hominins roasted vegetables and may have used medicinal plants.
Matt Kaplan
18 July 2012
Neanderthals have long been viewed as meat-eaters. The vision of them as inflexible carnivores has even been used to suggest that they went extinct around 25,000 years ago as a result of food scarcity, whereas omnivorous humans were able to survive. But evidence is mounting that plants were important to Neanderthal diets — and now a study reveals that those plants were roasted, and may have been used medicinally.
The finding comes from the El Sidrón Cave in northern Spain, where the roughly 50,000-year-old skeletal remains of at least 13 Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) have been discovered. Many of these individuals had calcified layers of plaque on their teeth. Karen Hardy, an anthropologist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain, wondered whether it might be possible to use this plaque to take a closer look at the Neanderthal menu.
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Akko’s ancient harbor exposed
The harbor is considered the largest and most important in the country in the Hellenistic period.
July 17, 2012
In archaeological excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting at the foot of Akko’s southern seawall, installations were exposed that belong to a harbor that was operating in the city already in the Hellenistic period (third-second centuries BCE) and was the most important port in Israel at that time.
The finds were discovered during the course of archaeological excavations being carried out as part of the seawall conservation project undertaken by the Old Akko Development Company and underwritten by the Israel Lands Administration.
The first evidence indicating the possible existence of this quay was in 2009 when a section of pavement was discovered comprised of large kurkar flagstones dressed in a technique reminiscent of the Phoenician style that is characteristic of installations found in a marine environment. This pavement, which was discovered underwater, raised many questions amongst archaeologists. Besides the theory that this is a quay, some suggested this was the floor of a large building.
The Guardian (UK): An olive stone from 150BC links pre-Roman Britain to today's pizzeria
Archaeologists have unearthed a charred stone that suggests the Mediterranean diet came to these islands during the Iron Age
Maev Kennedy
Iron Age Britons were importing olives from the Mediterranean a century before the Romans arrived with their exotic tastes in food, say archaeologists who have discovered a single olive stone from an excavation of an Iron Age well at at Silchester in Hampshire.
The stone came from a layer securely dated to the first century BC, making it the earliest ever found in Britain – but since nobody ever went to the trouble of importing one olive, there must be more, rotted beyond recognition or still buried.
Sofia Globe (Bulgaria): Archaeology: Golden medallions from Roman era found in village near Bulgaria’s Bourgas
Posted Jul 17 2012 by The Sofia Globe staff in Bulgaria,
Golden medallions featuring inscriptions and images found in a gravesite dating to the Roman era in Debelt, a village in the region of Bourgas on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, have been identified by archaeologists as being from the second century CE.
According to archaeologists, the graves are those of veterans of the eighth legion of Augustus. They are in the western part of the ancient Roman colony of Deultum, according to a report on July 17 2012 by public broadcaster Bulgarian National Television.
Today the gravesite is next to a street in the latter-day village of Debelt. Deultum, in its time, was known as “Little Rome in Thrace”, the report said.
The find was made by accident while people were pouring concrete for construction. The vibration of the concrete mixer caused the surface to crack and a tomb was found.
LiveScience: Three Kingdoms' Tomb Holding Warrior Discovered
Owen Jarus, LiveScience Contributor
Date: 17 July 2012 Time: 12:19 AM ET
About 1,800 years ago, at a time when China was breaking apart into three warring kingdoms, a warrior was laid to rest.
Buried in a tomb with domed roofs, along with his wife, he was about 45 years old when he died. Their skeletal remains were found inside two wooden coffins that had rotted away. Archaeologists don't know their names but, based on the tomb design and grave goods, they believe he was a general who had served one or more of the country's warring lords, perhaps Cao Cao and his son Cao Pi.
His tomb was discovered in Xiangyang, a city that, in the time of the Three Kingdoms, was of great strategic importance. Rescue excavations started in October 2008 and now the discovery is detailed in the most recent edition of the journal Chinese Archaeology. (The report had appeared earlier, in Chinese, in the journal Wenwu.)
Agence France Presse via Melbourne Herald-Sun (Australia): Archeologists uncover 1600-year-old Mayan temple
From: AFP
A TEMPLE built 1600 years ago to honour a Mayan king by streaming sunlight around his tomb is being excavated in the dense forests of Guatemala.
"The sun was a key element of Maya rulership," lead archeologist Stephen Houston explained in announcing the discovery by the joint Guatemalan and American team that has been excavating the El Zotz site since 2006.
"It's something that rises every day and penetrates into all nooks and crannies, just as royal power presumably would," said Houston, a professor at Brown University, Rhode Island.
"This building is one that celebrates this close linkage between the king and this most powerful and dominant of celestial presences."
LiveScience: Sustainable Tech Saw Ancient Maya Through Drought
Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 16 July 2012 Time: 03:00 PM ET
For four months out of every year in the ancient Mayan city of Tikal, the skies dried up and no rain fell. Nevertheless, this metropolis in what is now Guatemala became a bustling hub of as many as 80,000 residents by A.D. 700. Now, researchers have found that the residents of Tikal hung on to their civilization for more than 1,000 years thanks to a surprisingly sustainable system of water delivery.
The water needs of Tikal were met by a series of paved reservoirs that held rainwater during the 8-month-long wet season for use during dry periods, archeologists report Monday (July 16) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This early plumbing system was surprisingly resilient, seeing the city through times of both plenty and drought.
Agence France Presse via Yahoo! News Australia: Ancient pre-Inca tomb found in northern Peru
AFP July 14, 2012, 8:00 am
LIMA (AFP) - Archeologists said Friday they have discovered a tomb about 1,200 years old, from the pre-Inca Sican era, in northern Peru.
Human remains and jewelry were found July 4 along with the tomb, likely that of a member of the aristocracy of the Sican or Lambayeque elite, head researcher Carlos Wester La Torre told AFP.
A gold earflap, a silver-plated crown, and some 120 silver and copper ornaments that served as emblems of power, along with 116 pieces of pottery and seashells were found in the tomb.
Santa Barbara Independent: Small Dig, Big Discovery
Chumash Jaw Bone Found Under Vets Center
By Nick Welsh
Thursday, July 19, 2012
The past and future recently collided in the dirt five feet beneath Santa Barbara’s Veterans Memorial Building on Cabrillo Boulevard, where the jaw bone and finger of a Chumash Indian were discovered as well as a host of other Chumash artifacts estimated to be “hundreds and hundreds of years old.” The shock waves of this discovery — perhaps the most significant find in downtown Santa Barbara since archeologist John P. Harrington dug up Burton Mound in 1927 — could well knock out of consideration long-simmering plans to erect a three-story museum in the courtyard behind the vets building honoring Santa Barbara’s servicemen and women who fought in all foreign wars since World War I.
The archeological work took place this June as a precautionary step before the County of Santa Barbara — which owns the building — installed the shaft for a new elevator. That area along the waterfront was once the site of Syuxtun, a major Chumash community for about 1,000 years with about 500 people in its prime, so UCSB archeologist and anthropology professor Lynn Gamble was hired to ensure no significant historical remains would be disturbed. Gamble, overseeing a team of UCSB students, dug three holes about five feet deep. The UCSB crew dug up 397 shell and glass beads, nine arrow tips, 27 fish hooks, a few bead drills, many stone tools, a bone hairpiece, and the bones of countless fish, sea mammals, and even a giant whale vertebra that Gamble suggested might have been used as a stool.
But when Gamble’s team stumbled on what was clearly a human mandible, she said the Chumash on-site monitor was immediately notified and the exploration brought to a halt. The human bones were quickly reburied and no tests done to determine the age. With that discovery, county officials abandoned their plans to build the elevator. Instead, they’re now considering installing a one-seat motorized lift along the stairs.
St. Louis Beacon: Archaeological team uncovers ancient suburb, makes way for redevelopment
In Health & Science
By Molly Duffy, Beacon intern
8:09 am on Wed, 07.18.12
Driving between Metro East and St. Louis should be easier once the Mississippi River Bridge project is finished, but accessibility to the modern city could lead to the further destruction of an ancient one.
The new bridge, which has been under construction since 2008, will reach Illinois in the East St. Louis area, former home to an ancient Mississippian society, part of the vast Cahokian culture. Before breaking ground, the Illinois Department of Transportation sent the Illinois State Archaeological Study to excavate the area. Dr. Joseph Galloy, ISAS American Bottom Survey division coordinator, said they excavated a massive piece of Greater Cahokia, most of which used to be a residential area.
Though the MRB project was the cause of the excavation, Galloy said the ripple effects of the project could bring about the loss of other pieces of history. There are very few limitations on what private land owners can do with their land, and with sites adjacent to the new interstate for sale, that could mean destruction of undiscovered Mississippian artifacts and archaeological features.
Potomac Local: 1783 Courthouse Unearthed in Stafford
REDEVELOPING STAFFORD'S COURTHOUSE AREA
By URIAH KISER
July 13, 2012 - PotomacLocal.com
STAFFORD, Va. – A historical dig has uncovered Stafford’s original courthouse built in 1783.
What appears to be the foundation of the old courthouse, which was torn down in 1910, has been unearthed at the steps of where today’s courthouse stands. Traces of mortar, brick fragments, creamware and pearlware – what George Washington and Civil War soldiers ate of off, respectively – have also been unearthed at the site, feet from where thousands of commuters travel at the intersection of U.S. 1 and Va. 630 (Courthouse Road).
The five-week dig is about to wrap up, and comes prior to the start of a larger effort to transform Stafford’s courthouse area into a more pedestrian-friendly downtown.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman, who sent in the above articles.
Physics
North Carolina State University: Researchers Almost Double Light Efficiency in LC Projectors
July 16, 2012
Researchers from North Carolina State University and ImagineOptix Corporation have developed new technology to convert unpolarized light into polarized light, which makes projectors that use liquid crystal (LC) technology almost twice as energy efficient. The new technology has resulted in smaller, lower cost and more efficient projectors, meaning longer battery life and significantly lower levels of heat.
All LC projectors – used from classrooms to conference rooms – utilize polarized light. But efficient light sources – such as light-emitting diodes, or LEDs – produce unpolarized light. As a result, the light generated by LEDs has to be converted into polarized light before it can be used.
The most common method of polarizing light involves passing the unpolarized light through a polarizing filter. But this process wastes more than 50 percent of the originally generated light, with the bulk of the “lost” light being turned into heat – which is a major reason that projectors get hot and have noisy cooling fans.
But the new technology developed at NC State allows approximately 90 percent of the unpolarized light to be polarized and, therefore, used by the projector.
Chemistry
University of Georgia: UGA researchers develop rapid diagnostic test for pathogens, contaminants
July 19, 2012
Athens, Ga. - Using nanoscale materials, researchers at the University of Georgia have developed a single-step method to rapidly and accurately detect viruses, bacteria and chemical contaminants.
In a series of studies, the scientists were able to detect compounds such as lactic acid and the protein albumin in highly diluted samples and in mixtures that included dyes and other chemicals. Their results suggest that the same system could be used to detect pathogens and contaminants in biological mixtures such as food, blood, saliva and urine.
"The results are unambiguous and quickly give you a high degree of specificity," said senior author Yiping Zhao, professor of physics in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and director of the university's Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center.
Texas A&M: New measurement method for thin films helping to advance promising technology
July 19, 2012
The dog days of summer can quickly transform a car’s interior into an oven, but imagine an automobile with high-tech windows that block out the heat, keeping its interior cool to the touch. Lutkenhaus
Such a product might be a step closer to reality thanks to research by Jodie Lutkenhaus, a chemical engineering professor at Texas A&M University whose work with thin-film coatings is helping advance the promising technology.
Specifically, Lutkenhaus has developed a new method for measuring the miniscule, physical changes of thin-film coatings in response to shifts in temperature. The method, which she says achieves new levels of accuracy and reliability, is detailed in the scientific journal ACS Nano.
Energy
University of Texas at Austin: Study Determines Theoretical Energy Benefits and Potential of Algae Fuels
July 19, 2012
AUSTIN, Texas — It's theoretically possible to produce about 500 times as much energy from algae fuels as is needed to grow the fuels, according to a new study by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.
However, limited by existing technology, the researchers found in a separate study that their algae growing facility is getting out about one-five hundredth as much energy as it currently puts in to grow the fuels.
Robert Hebner in the algae facility at UT Austin.
"The search for cost-effective biofuels is one of the noble endeavors of our time, and these papers shed insight on where the boundaries are in algae research," said Robert Hebner, a professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering and director of the Center for Electromechanics. "One of the responsibilities of a top research university is to discover and explain what the boundaries are so we can innovate within those boundaries or create ways to expand them."
Science, Space, Environment, Energy, and Health Policy
Duluth News Tribune: Thousands of archaeological artifacts returned to Bois Forte
Bois Forte Band of Chippewa elder Ron Geshick was witness to history Monday when more than 7,000 archaeology finds from the Nett Lake village were returned to the band from the Minnesota Historical Society.
By: Mike Creger, Duluth News Tribune
Bois Forte Band of Chippewa elder Ron Geshick was witness to history Monday when more than 7,000 archaeology finds from the Nett Lake village were returned to the band from the Minnesota Historical Society.
“I felt a real connection to the artifacts,” Geshick said of the boxes at the Bois Forte Heritage Museum at the Fortune Bay Resort on Lake Vermilion. “For me, it was really touching.”
In 1948, University of Minnesota archaeologist Lloyd Wilford led a dig at the Nett Lake village, which still exists today as the center of the Bois Forte operations.
The Macon County News: Japanese Consulate retrieves WWII artifact
Written by Davin Eldridge - Staff Writer
Thursday, 19 July 2012
The skull seemed a daunting thing, amid the trove of worldly antiquities, fine jewelry, rare gems and ancient fossils. It was an austere war relic, and for more than half a century it loomed in the vast collection of Franklin’s Ruby City Gem and Mineral museum.
From temple to temple, crossing the tip of the skull, grim words were written in black.
“Made in Japan. Tried in the Solomons and Found Wanting.”
The words were, supposedly, written by a U.S. Marine gunner C.N. Baumand, signed 1942. The hand-drawn mark of the U.S. Marine symbol adorned the center of the message.
SwissInfo.ch (Switzerland): Closing in on the archaeological underworld
by Michèle Laird, swissinfo.ch
Switzerland has been cleaning up its free ports after a 1995 scandal on its home turf triggered a probe into looted antiquities. Globally, the fight to disrupt such criminal activity is stepping up with a Web experiment to share information.
Museums the world over still display archaeological treasures that sometimes are not legally theirs. While governments wrangle over their rightful ownership, looters continue to plunder sites to feed a prospering black-market.
Now, an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times is trying to set up “WikiLoot”, a way of crowd-sourcing information on looted antiquities via the Web. “We want to make it impossible to turn a blind eye,” Jason Felch told swissinfo.ch.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: UNC research guides improvements to floodplain management planning
July 17, 2012
A comprehensive evaluation by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will help communities develop better floodplain management plans and reduce flood insurance premiums.
Based on the UNC study, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will implement changes that its National Flood Insurance Program will use to rate communities’ preparedness in 2013.
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Findings of the study showed that plans submitted by communities to FEMA are weak to moderate in strength, vary widely in their ability to be monitored, and are poorly coordinated with other local planning policies, like land use planning and investment programs.
AgriLife Today: Extension expert: China shipping more food products to U.S.
Food safety a growing concern
July 20, 2012
WESLACO – The trends are stark and unmistakable: over the last 10 years fruit and vegetable imports from other countries to the United States have increased sharply with no letup in sight, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Imports to the U.S. of Chinese produce, shown here at an open market in Beijing, are increasing dramatically, increasing concerns about food safety. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Luis Ribera)
As of 2010, almost half of the fresh fruit and one-fourth of the vegetables consumed in the U.S. were imported, according to Dr. Luis Ribera, an agricultural economist at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Weslaco.
Most came from North and South America, but an increasing number of fresh fruit imports are coming from China, Ribera said.
“China is now the fourth largest importer of fresh vegetables to this country,” he said. “That’s a concern, especially when you consider the well-publicized problems we had in the past with contaminated Chinese dog food, milk and baby food.”
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As food-borne illness outbreaks grab headlines, food safety is drawing the attention of lawmakers, according to Dr. Juan Anciso, a Texas AgriLife Extension Service horticulturist and food safety expert.
AgriLife Today: National association to advocate for research funding of animal sciences
July 20, 2012
COLLEGE STATION – A group of university department heads from across the nation have come together to establish an association focused on advocating increased federal investment in animal science.
The National Association for the Advancement of Animal Science is comprised of representatives from animal, dairy and poultry science departments from colleges and universities across the U.S. who are dedicated to improving overall federal funding for animal agricultural research.
Dr. Russell Cross, head of the department of animal science at Texas A&M University, serves as president of the association.
“Federal funding for research, education and extension in the animal sciences has remained stagnant over the last 30 years, both in terms of real dollars invested and as a percentage of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s overall investment in science,” Cross said.
Georgia Tech: NSF Selects Georgia Tech to Expand its Innovation Corps
Program helps researchers commercialize technology
July 18, 2012
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that the Georgia Institute of Technology will be a founding network node for its Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program, which aims to develop scientific and engineering discoveries into useful technologies, products and processes.
The I-Corps program connects NSF-funded scientific research with the technological, entrepreneurial and business communities to help create a stronger innovation ecosystem that couples scientific discovery with technology development and societal needs. Leveraging experience and guidance from established entrepreneurs and a targeted curriculum, I-Corps attendees learn to identify valuable product opportunities that can emerge from academic research.
Beyond Georgia Tech, the NSF will also establish an I-Corps network node at the University of Michigan. By adding these two institutions to its I-Corps program – which began at Stanford University – the NSF will replicate the I-Corps curriculum across the country and begin creating a national network to identify emerging technology concepts that have potential to transition into economically viable products.
Georgia Tech: PCAST Report Urges Domestic Manufacturing Investment and Innovation
July 18, 2012
A new report released yesterday by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) urges building on progress to date for improving domestic manufacturing competitiveness and encouraging companies to invest in the United States.
The PCAST report is a product of its Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Steering Committee, whose membership includes leading manufacturing experts from industry and academia.
“Research universities play a critical role in helping to ensure that more young people are aware of and prepared for careers in science and engineering, and in partnering with industry and government to move innovations quickly to the manufacturing floor,” said G. P. “Bud” Peterson, president of Georgia Tech and AMP steering committee member. “We look forward to even greater collaboration as we work to strengthen America’s economy and create jobs.”
Science Education
University of Georgia: UGA researcher honored for life sciences research
July 20, 2012
Athens, Ga. - University of Georgia Distinguished Research Professor Daniel Colley has been awarded the 2012 Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation Distinguished Life Sciences Scientist Award for his research in tropical medicine and parasitology. Colley has focused for more than 40 years on the immunology of schistosomiasis, a debilitating chronic worm disease that affects 240 million people worldwide, most in the developing world.
Colley, a professor of microbiology, is director of the UGA Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, a center for research and education in parasitic and other global infectious diseases that is comprised of 19 investigators from eight UGA departments.
The Life Sciences Awards, supported by a partnership of the foundation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are made annually to recognize Americans who exemplify excellence in life sciences. Awards this year also were given to an educator and two high school students working in the field of life sciences.
University of North Carolina, Charlotte: College of Education Leading State's Teacher Retention Efforts
July 19, 2012
With 50 percent of new teachers leaving the profession within the first five years, teacher retention is important to lawmakers and school district and college administrators nationwide.
UNC Charlotte’s College of Education has been chosen by the UNC General Administration as one of four institutions to host a new program designed to improve teacher retention statewide. The N.C. New Teacher Support Program will benefit teachers from select, high-need schools across the state by placing experienced teachers in classrooms as coaches.
Program administrator Amanda Macon, director of the Office of Teacher Education Advising, Licensure and Recruitment, explained that UNC Charlotte’s College of Education has prioritized early teacher success and retention both through the "Race to the Top" initiative and the college-administered “First Three” program, which offers professional support for teachers in their first three years of service.
University of Houston: UH Students Building Solar-Powered Classroom for Alief Community Garden
July 16, 2012
It all started with some inspiration and seeds. Now, a community garden in Houston’s Alief area is bringing neighbors together to plant and harvest vegetables. Still, the hot Texas sun presents challenges during the long hours required to make this garden thrive.
Alief gardeners soon will have it made in the shade. The University of Houston’s Graduate Design/Build Studio (GDBS) is contributing a new outdoor classroom to the garden’s site. This steel, solar-powered shade structure will provide community members with a place to cool off, as well as a perfect space for educational demonstrations on planting, cooking, vegetables and other topics. The garden and classroom site are located across the street from Youngblood Intermediate School (at Beechnut Street and Dairy View Lane) on property owned by Alief Independent School District. Once completed, the school can use the classroom for outdoor activities.
The structure is scheduled to be completed by early August.
Science Writing and Reporting
University of Texas at Austin: University of Texas at Austin Olympics Experts
July 17, 2012
AUSTIN, Texas — University of Texas at Austin experts are available to discuss a range of topics related to the London Olympics, from the physical performance of elite athletes to the organization and management of a large-scale international sports event.
Science is Cool
Der Spiegel (Germany): Uplifting Discovery Austrian Archaeologists Find Medieval Bras
For years, people have believed that the wonder of cupped bras were a 20th-century invention. But archaeologists excavating a castle in Austria have discovered four bras dating back some 600 years. The bodice-busting find could change the history of women's intimate apparel.
Though the first brassieres went into mass production roughly a century ago, thereby ushering in the rapid decline of the corset, no one can say for sure when bras were really invented. But archaeologists from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, have found something that could set the estimated date back by centuries.
Russia Today: Mona Lisa's remains found in Florence?
Published: 18 July, 2012, 18:16
Scientists claim that they might have found the skeleton of the woman who posed for Leonardo Da Vinci’s most famous painting.
Most art historians agree that Lisa del Giocondo was the woman who inspired Da Vinci to create his iconic work.
Now the archaeologists working in Florence are pretty convinced they have found the remains of the lady, merchant Francesco del Giocondo’s wife Lisa Gherardini.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.