Stonehenge: a new dawn
It is one of Britain's most popular tourist attractions, a Unesco World Heritage Site and a relic of utmost importance in unravelling our past. It serves as an icon of Britain, its trademark trilithons a visual shorthand for heritage, hippies and unknowable mystery. It has been immortalised by Constable, Wordsworth, Hardy and Vonnegut. Spinal Tap named a song after it and in the film Help!, the Beatles sang nearby. It's also a symbol of proprietorial greed...
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God as a Drug: The Rise of American Megachurches
American megachurches use stagecraft, sensory pageantry, charismatic leadership and an upbeat, unchallenging vision of Christianity to provide their congregants with a powerful emotional religious experience, according to research from the University of Washington.
"Membership in megachurches is one of the leading ways American Christians worship these days, so, therefore, these churches should be understood," said James Wellman, associate professor of American religion at the University of Washington. "Our study shows that -- contrary to public opinion that tends to pass off the megachurch movement as consumerist religion -- megachurches are doing a pretty effective job for their members. In fact, megachurch members speak eloquently of their spiritual growth."
"Membership in megachurches is one of the leading ways American Christians worship these days, so, therefore, these churches should be understood," said James Wellman, associate professor of American religion at the University of Washington. "Our study shows that -- contrary to public opinion that tends to pass off the megachurch movement as consumerist religion -- megachurches are doing a pretty effective job for their members. In fact, megachurch members speak eloquently of their spiritual growth."
Geology and Genesis: how Noah’s flood shaped ideas but not landscapes
While helping at a science outreach booth for a local county fair recently, I became engaged in exactly the joust I had hoped to avoid. A group of young Earth creationists who also had a booth—complete with a poster describing the coexistence of humans and dinosaurs—had landed missionaries on our shores.
I was presented with some remarkable ideas: the earliest fossil assemblages look no different from modern organisms; there was ample room on Noah’s Ark because all species present today are descended from about 8,000 “kinds” that were initially created; radiometric dating of materials has been proven not to work; rocks cannot fold (bend under pressure)—only soft sediment can; |   |
Drought lessons from Ancient Egypt
Using ancient pollen and charcoal recovered from sediments in Egypt’s Nile Delta researchers are revealing how natural physical events can alter history and perhaps give us an insight into the future.
“Humans have a long history of having to deal with climate change,” said Christopher Bernhardt, a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey. “Along with other research, this study geologically reveals that the evolution of societies is sometimes tied to climate variability at all scales – whether decadal or millennial.”.
“Humans have a long history of having to deal with climate change,” said Christopher Bernhardt, a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey. “Along with other research, this study geologically reveals that the evolution of societies is sometimes tied to climate variability at all scales – whether decadal or millennial.”.
Beekeeping in ancient Egypt and today
The Manchester Museum contains an intriguing object numbered 296. At 38cm long and 7.8cm in diameter, at first sight it looks like a thin pottery vessel, open at one end and with a small hole at the other. Were it not for the chance discovery of a dead bee inside (and traces of pollen), the function of this object may have gone unrecognised as an ancient Egyptian beehive.
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Researcher creates most powerful MASER ever with spare parts
Masers, which are to microwave radiation what lasers are to light, have been more or less ignored for many years, but an almost accidental discovery by a British physicist has brought the maser back into the limelight; Mark Oxborrow's new model is 100 million times more powerful than any created before.
The term MASER is actually an acronym, like LASER: Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (for laser, substitute "light" for "microwave"). Time, familiarity, and ease of pronunciation have made both into ordinary words, though in research documents they are both occasionally kept capitalized. Masers actually came first, but certain limitations prevented widespread use.
The term MASER is actually an acronym, like LASER: Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (for laser, substitute "light" for "microwave"). Time, familiarity, and ease of pronunciation have made both into ordinary words, though in research documents they are both occasionally kept capitalized. Masers actually came first, but certain limitations prevented widespread use.
Eyes in the Sky Spy on Threatened Jungles
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - In the two minutes it takes to read this story, an area the size of 60 football pitches will have been clear-cut by illegal loggers globally, according to Chatham House, an independent policy institute in London.
Catching the loggers and their bosses has long been a problem because of corruption, lax law enforcement and limited ability to detect the crime quickly.
Satellite monitoring is changing that. Powerful eyes in the sky and cheaper and more powerful data-crunching computers mean there will be no place to hide for palm oil, logging or mining firms that clear without permits or outside their concessions.
Catching the loggers and their bosses has long been a problem because of corruption, lax law enforcement and limited ability to detect the crime quickly.
Satellite monitoring is changing that. Powerful eyes in the sky and cheaper and more powerful data-crunching computers mean there will be no place to hide for palm oil, logging or mining firms that clear without permits or outside their concessions.
DNA tests tell trees from the wood; curb illegal logging
Unlike the Crime Scene Investigators from the popular TV series, these detectives are hired to look for evidence of rogue wood from stores increasingly worried about being duped by a global trade in illegal timber now worth billions.
They take wood samples into their lab and put them through DNA tests that can pinpoint the species and origin of a piece of timber. They also track timber and timber products from forest to shop to ensure clients' shipments are legal. |
Rare wildfires threaten Canadian polar bear habitat
Wildfires sparked by lightning near Canada's Hudson Bay are threatening the habitat of polar bears, encroaching on the old tree roots and frozen soil where females make their dens, a conservation expert on the big, white bears said on Thursday.
Polar bears are more typically threatened by the melting of sea ice, which they use as platforms for hunting seals, their main prey. But those who live near Hudson Bay spend their summers resting up on shore when the bay thaws, living in dens dug in the frozen soil among the roots of stunted spruce trees.
Polar bears are more typically threatened by the melting of sea ice, which they use as platforms for hunting seals, their main prey. But those who live near Hudson Bay spend their summers resting up on shore when the bay thaws, living in dens dug in the frozen soil among the roots of stunted spruce trees.
Microbes maketh man
POLITICAL revolutionaries turn the world upside down. Scientific ones more often turn it inside out. And that, almost literally, is happening to the idea of what, biologically speaking, a human being is.
The traditional view is that a human body is a collection of 10 trillion cells which are themselves the products of 23,000 genes. If the revolutionaries are correct, these numbers... |  |
New bird discovered in Colombia imperiled by hydroelectric project
In a little-known dry forest in Colombia, scientists have discovered a new species of bird: the Antioquia wren (Thryophilus sernai). First seen in 2010, scientists photographed the new wren and recorded its vocalizations, from which they determined that the wren was brand new to science, according to a new paper in Auk.
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Nutrients can protect coral reefs
Careful balancing of water nutrients could help protect coral reefs from the effects of ocean warming, research suggests.
High water temperatures can lead to "bleaching" that often results in the destruction and death of coral. Around the world, mass bleaching has already had a devastating impact on coral reef ecosystems. Bleaching is caused by the loss of symbiotic algae, called zooxanthellae, that live within the coral and supply it with energy. |  |
Sea Serpent Spotted In Norway Lake, Witnesses Say
They're calling it a sea serpent, but whatever it is that raised its head and humps in a Norwegian lake, the eyewitnesses are holding fast to their story.
Three men on a trip to Lake Hornindalsvatnet saw something strange break the surface of the lake on Aug. 1. "We saw what we saw, no doubt about it," Andreas Solvik told NRK.no. |  |
August 20 2012
How Long Until We Learn Animal Languages?
Koko the gorilla can comprehend roughly 2,000 words of spoken English. She doesn't have a vocal tract suitable for responding verbally, so the 40-year-old ape signs her thoughts using a modified form of American Sign Language. Counting her native gorilla tongue, she is, therefore, trilingual.
And she doesn't just talk about food. Over the 28 years that gorilla researcher Penny Patterson has worked with Koko, the ape has expressed a whole range of emotions associated with humans, Patterson says, including happiness, sadness, love, grief and embarrassment. |  |
Amelia Earhart investigators find 'interesting debris field'
A team from The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) carried out an extensive underwater survey off the western end of the tiny Pacific atoll of Nikumaroro, which was formerly a British colony known as Gardener Island, in July.
Using an array of underwater technology, including multi-beam sonar used by the US Navy to construct underwater maps, TIGHAR had hoped that their seventh trip to the island where they believe Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, crash-landed and subsequently died, would bear immediate fruit. |  |
Camouflage bendy robot changes colour for disguise
A robot that can change colour to either blend in with or stand out from its surroundings has been created by scientists.
The machine, designed by researchers at Harvard University, was inspired by the camouflage skills of sea creatures such as octopuses, cuttlefish and squid. Like these cephalopods, the robot has a soft, rubbery body and can move with flexibility. The study is published in the journal Science. |  |
Nasa's Curiosity rover zaps Mars rock called Coronation
Nasa's Curiosity rover has zapped its first Martian rock.
The robot fired its ChemCam laser at a tennis-ball-sized stone lying about 2.5m away on the ground. The brief but powerful burst of light from the instrument vapourised the surface of the rock, revealing details of its basic chemistry. This was just target practice for ChemCam, proving it is ready to begin the serious business of investigating the geology of the Red Planet. |  |
Airpod, the Car That Runs on Air
With gas prices rising and the massive drought making ethanol a tough sell as a gas alternative, India's Tata Motors has hit on the perfect time to debut the Airpod, a small urban vehicle that, as its name suggests, runs on air. If you don't know much about how regular cars use fuel, natural gas or, alternatively, hydrogen is compressed in a pressurized tank, hence the 'pssf' sound when you unscrew the gas cap. Now think about air rifles.
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Penny-Sized Engine Developed That Can Move Satellites
An extremely small penny-sized rocket thruster has been developed to power the smallest satellites in space, replacing the bulky and heavy engines currently in use.
The device was designed by Paulo Lozano, an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. It shows little resemblance to the bulky satellite engines in use today, which are composed of many valves, pipes and heavy propellant tanks. In contrast the new design is “a flat, compact square — much like a computer chip — covered with 500 microscopic tips that, when stimulated with voltage, emit tiny beams of ions. |  |
Excavation reveals ancient hair fashion
Archaeologists conducting excavations in the northwestern province of Çanakkale’s Ayvacýk district have discovered hairpins thought to be over two millennia old, proving that ancient societies also had a pronounced desire to “look good,” according to researchers.
“The hairpins show us that there was a high demand for them in ancient times. Maybe their existence shows us that there was a small atelier for hair pin production here,” said Professor Nurettin Arslan of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, the head of the excavations, adding that women of the age placed great importance in being well-groomed and stylish. |  |
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