Summer Solstice and Our Wobbly World
On a clear night in the Northern Hemisphere, look up at the sky and, over a period of hours, you'll notice the stars rising in the east and setting in the west ... all except one, Polaris, the Pole Star.
It has the unique responsibility of marking, to within a few fractions of a degree, the north celestial pole. This grand title is the point in the sky toward which the Earth's axis of rotation is directed. |  |
New Indo-European Language Discovered
A linguistics researcher at the Macquarie University in Australia has discovered that the language, known as Burushaski, which is spoken by about 90,000 people who reside in a remote area of Pakistan, is Indo-European in origin.
Prof Ilija Casule’s discovery, which has now been verified by a number of the world’s top linguists, has excited linguistics experts around the world. An entire issue of the eminent international linguistics journal the Journal of Indo-European Studies is devoted to a discussion of his findings later this month. |  |
Julian Assange: Ecuadorean embassy extends 'generous welcome' to WikiLeaks founder
Julian Assange is in 'good spirits' and has received a 'generous and welcoming' reception from the Ecuadorean embassy where he is seeking asylum, a friend said today.
The WikiLeaks founder is currently holed up at the embassy in talks with his lawyers in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden on sex crime allegations.
However Scotland Yard said Assange had breached his bail conditions by entering the embassy and he faces being re-arrested.
The WikiLeaks founder is currently holed up at the embassy in talks with his lawyers in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden on sex crime allegations.
However Scotland Yard said Assange had breached his bail conditions by entering the embassy and he faces being re-arrested.
Nano-pesticides: Solution or threat for a cleaner and greener agriculture?
Research is urgently needed to evaluate the risks and benefits of nano-pesticides to human and environmental health. Melanie Kah and Thilo Hofmann from the Department of Environmental Geosciences of the University of Vienna recently performed an extensive analysis of this emerging field of research. The results were published June 6th in the internationally recognized journal Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology. The study presents the current scientific state of art on nano-pesticides and identifies direction priorities for future research.
Pesticides hit bumblebee reproduction
Scientists already knew that neonicotinoid pesticides, which affect insects' nervous systems, can alter bee behaviour, putting these vital pollinators, already threatened by habitat loss and disease, further at risk.
This new piece of research shows that bumblebees with diets contaminated with levels of neonicotinoid pesticide typically found in the environment produce up to a third fewer offspring. |  |
Talisman of Ancient Googly-Eyed God Discovered
A newly identified googly-eyed artifact may have been used by the ancient Egyptians to magically protect children and pregnant mothers from evil forces.
Made of faience, a delicate material that contains silica, the pale-green talisman of sorts dates to sometime in the first millennium B.C. It shows the dwarf god Bes with his tongue sticking out, eyes googly, wearing a crown of feathers. A hole at the top of the face was likely used to suspend it like a bell, while a second hole, used to hold the bell clapper, was apparently drilled into it in antiquity. |  |
I want to know where love is
Montreal, June 20, 2012 – Thanks to modern science, we know that love lives in the brain, not in the heart. But where in the brain is it – and is it in the same place as sexual desire? A recent international study is the first to draw an exact map of these intimately linked feelings.
Mass Hysteria Confirmed in New York School
A bizarre illness affecting nearly 20 students at a Western New York Junior-Senior High school now has an official diagnosis: mass hysteria.
The students, almost all of them girls, and mostly friends, began experiencing involuntary jerks and tics. Sometimes their limbs, neck or face would suddenly spasm; other times they would twitch, grunt, or shout. It was strange and troubling behavior, made all the more scary because it had no clear cause. |  |
Old Mars Spacecraft May Recover from Glitch at Red Planet
An old NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mars is a step closer to recovering from the malfunction of a small but vital part that keeps it pointed at the Red Planet, NASA officials say.
NASA engineers are testing a spare reaction wheel aboard the 11-year-old Mars Odyssey spacecraft in the hope of restoring the aging probe to active duty after more than a week of down time. The move comes after the spacecraft slipped into a protective "safe mode" when another reaction wheel seized up last week. |  |
The Dry Ice 'Snowflakes' of Mars
Everyone seems to ponder the lyrics of Train's song "Drops of Jupiter," so perhaps it's about time a songwriter includes the "Snowflakes of Mars" in their next ballad. MIT scientists might even be able to add prose to the lyrics by describing their study into the very alien snow that falls from Red Planet skies.
After collecting the vast quantities of data gathered by orbiting Mars spacecraft, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology team has uncovered some rather interesting facts about Martian snow. But before you start dreaming about snowball fights and reindeer grazing on the slopes of Olympus Mons, think again -- this snow is like nothing we can ever experience on Earth. |  |