A British television series called Wild Pacific is resurrecting the claim that the huge statues on Easter Island were created (or influenced) by extraterrestrials.
According to one news story, the show asks,"Did extraterrestrials visit Earth, as... the TV series Wild Pacific speculates? Who built the giant stone Moai of Easter Island that’s been called 'a solemn reminder of a fallen alien civilization?' These and other questions... can never be fully answered, states Wild Pacific narrator Mike Rowe." The idea that extraterrestrials visited ancient civilizations has been around for decades, a theory most prominently promoted by Erich von Daniken 
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Adult Killer Whales Need Their Mamas, Too
Despite their fierce name, killer whales are really mama’s boys. For good reason: A study of almost 600 orcas, also known as killer whales, shows that having mom nearby significantly increases a son’s chances for survival. For the killer whale moms, too, more than just motherly love is at work: An innate drive to ensure she has as many descendants as possible may compel her to look out for her adult young. The evolutionary benefit of keeping watch over her descendants may help explain why female killer whales, like humans and pilot whale females, live decades past their reproductive prime.
The idea that mothers live much longer than needed for reproduction in order to help their children have more children dates back almost 50 years. Studies in hunter-gatherer and other societies show that having an older female around improves the survival of her descendents, including the grandchildren. Some researchers even argue that evolution favors menopause and a prolonged postreproductive lifespan — but that idea is controversial. |  |
Just 100 cod left in North Sea
A survey of catches at European ports has found that fishermen did not catch a single cod over the age of 13 last year.
The findings raise concerns for future stocks of cod, which become more fertile as they age. The fish can live as long as 25 years and grow to 6ft. Researchers warned a lower life expectancy meant a lower birth rate and a faster decline. |  |
More questions after 40ft whale washes up at Arbroath
Gareth Norman, area co-ordinator with British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), has questioned why so many whales are getting into difficulty and becoming stranded on the east coast.
Earlier this month, 17 whales, including three calves, died after a 27-strong pod beached on rocks between Pittenweem and Anstruther. A second group of 24 pilot whales, thought to be from the same pod, was spotted in shallow water near Cellardyke but they later dispersed. Attempts to rescue a minke whale, caught in netting off the Angus coast, near the Bell Rock Lighthouse, also ended in failure on the same weekend. |  |
Decoding the Black Death: Anthropologist Finds Clues in Medieval Skeletons
Each time Sharon DeWitte takes a 3-foot by 1-foot archival box off the shelf at the Museum of London she hopes it will be heavy.
"Heavy means you know you have a relatively complete skeleton," said DeWitte, an anthropologist at the University of South Carolina who has spent summers examining hundreds of Medieval skeletons, each time shedding new light on the dark subject of the Black Death. |  |
How African herders rid the planet of a disease
Out in the bush, scientists should be humble and bow to the greater knowledge of locals. A paper out today tells the story of how rinderpest - a cattle plague that brought down empires and caused some of Africa's worst famines - was finally eradicated, in May last year.
According to Jeffrey Mariner of Tufts University in North Grafton, Maryland - one of the key players in the eradication - it was achieved by using the expertise of local cattle herders rather than the floundering efforts of outsiders. He and his colleagues advocate applying this "barefoot" strategy to other animal diseases. |  |
Subconscious cues might help you heal faster
DOES root canal surgery feel more painful because you can hear the dentist's drill? That is one implication of new research suggesting that sounds, sights and smells can subtly alter our response to treatment, in a way akin to the placebo effect. The finding reinforces the idea that much of our behaviour may be the result of our minds responding subconsciously to cues that are reminders of past experiences.
The placebo effect occurs when people with a medical condition appear to get better after receiving a treatment containing no active ingredients - for example, sugar pills - or even after a chat with a kindly doctor. It is thought to work because recipients have, over their lifetime, become conditioned to feel better when they take a pill or see their doctor. |  |
Will computers or humans fly airliners in formation?
One day "intelligent" passenger aircraft will cruise across oceans in low-drag, energy-saving formations, like flocks of geese. So said European plane-maker Airbus at its annual technology look-ahead conference last night. It's a striking idea that media outlets lapped up.
Warming to its theme, Airbus added that emissions could be cut by using a superfast ground vehicle to catapult future aircraft into the air, so that it reaches cruising speed and altitude faster. And it could land with the engines switched off, in a long, controlled "free glide" to the runway. But how will this stuff actually work? With computers, of course. "Highly intelligent aircraft would be able to self organise and select the most efficient and environmentally friendly routes," says Airbus. |  |
Crowdfunding boosts spacey ideas
Michael Laine was just looking for $8,000 to restart the LiftPort Group and put it on a path toward someday building a space elevator on the moon — but with a few days left to go on his Kickstarter campaign, the venture has attracted nearly $70,000 and counting. Which actually poses a challenge: What will he do with all that money?
"I've got to tell you the honest truth: I am tired," Laine told me today. "This campaign has taken me places I didn't expect. ... Now we've been burning the midnight oil trying to figure out what's next."
"I've got to tell you the honest truth: I am tired," Laine told me today. "This campaign has taken me places I didn't expect. ... Now we've been burning the midnight oil trying to figure out what's next."
Armadillo's first space trip may speed commercial dream
On Saturday morning a tall white tube called Stig is scheduled to leap off of a launch pad in New Mexico and make for the edge of space. If the experimental rocket reaches its planned altitude of 100 kilometres - considered the boundary of space - it will be the first space flight for 12-year-old company Armadillo Aerospace of Texas.
It will also be only the second of the original crowd of 19 space start-ups that vied to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize, eventually won by Scaled Composites in 2004, and widely credited with sparking the commercial space race. A successful launch will also be a powerful sign that a genuine diversity of operators is emerging, which has long been the promise of commercial space flight.
It will also be only the second of the original crowd of 19 space start-ups that vied to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize, eventually won by Scaled Composites in 2004, and widely credited with sparking the commercial space race. A successful launch will also be a powerful sign that a genuine diversity of operators is emerging, which has long been the promise of commercial space flight.
Stellar makeup impacts habitable zone evolution
A star's internal chemistry can doom a planet's life long before the star itself dies.
The search for potentially habitable planets involves discussion of what is sometimes referred to as the Goldilocks Zone – the relatively thin band in a solar system in which conditions on a planet can support life. Astrobiologists and planetary scientists agree that a planet's distance from its parent star is of paramount importance for creating those optimum conditions – like Goldilocks' porridge, it has to be just right. |  |
Designer creates solar powered oven to cheaply freshen salt water
Designer Gabriele Diamanti has created a solar oven he calls the Eliodomestico (household-sun); its purpose is to boil saltwater to produce clean drinking water for people in places where such water is difficult or impossible to obtain. What's unique about the Eliodomestico is that it's been designed in such a way as to be easily built by local people, rather than elsewhere and shipped in. This way, the profits from making and selling the oven remain local.
Diamanti says he came up with the idea for the Eliodomestico while visiting friends working for non-governmental agencies (NGOs) in third world countries, trying to help those in need. |  |
Unified theory of dark matter, dark energy, altering Einstein field equations
A pair of mathematicians—one from Indiana University and the other from Sichuan University in China—have proposed a unified theory of dark matter and dark energy that alters Einstein's equations describing the fundamentals of gravity.
Shouhong Wang, a professor in the IU College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Mathematics, and Tian Ma, a professor at Sichuan University, suggest the law of energy and momentum conservation in spacetime is valid only when normal matter, dark matter and dark energy are all taken into account. For normal matter alone, energy and momentum are no longer conserved, they argue. |  |
First Temple-Era Reservoir Found in Jerusalem
Archaeologists have found an ancient water reservoir in Jerusalem that may have been used by pilgrims coming to the Temple Mount, the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced.
The IAA said the cistern could have held 66,000 gallons (250 cubic meters) of water; it likely dates back to the era of the First Temple, which, according to the Hebrew Bible, was constructed by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. and then destroyed 400 years later. Israeli archaeologists believe the reservoir served the general public in the ancient city, but say its location hints at a role in the religious life of Jerusalem. |  |
Hover Vehicle Being Tested For All-Terrain Use
The lack of hovercrafts in this day and age is often lamented in the tech community. But now Aeroflex, a high-tech company based in California, is testing an aerial vehicle that uses two ducted rotors to hover above the ground. Mark De Roche, founder of Aeroflex, describes the vehicle by saying, "Think of it as lowering the threshold of flight, down to the domain of ATV's."
A couple of decades ago, the design for this "hover bike" ran into trouble because of stability issues. Aeroflex may have fixed that with a mechanical system that lets the vehicle react to leaning movements from the driver to correct balance. |  |
Race to save Alaskan Arctic archaeology
A recently discovered 500-year-old Alaskan settlement is rapidly disappearing into the Bering Sea.
The exquisitely preserved frozen site provides a spectacular insight into the Yup'ik Eskimo culture. Researchers from the University of Aberdeen are using isotope analyses on recovered Eskimo hair to investigate how humans adapted to rapid climate change in the Arctic village. The research was discussed at the British Science Festival. |  |
Delhi slaps blanket ban on plastic bags
NEW DELHI: After a false start three years ago, Delhi may finally be on the road to being free of plastic bags. The Delhi cabinet on Tuesday approved imposition of a blanket ban on use, storage, sale and manufacture of plastic bags in the city.
The new ban, more comprehensive and better thought out, will supersede the earlier notification issued in January 2009 that prohibited only the use, storage and sale of plastic bags in commercial areas.
"There will be no leniency in implementing the blanket ban and crackdown on violators will be more aggressive this time," chief minister Sheila Dikshit said.
The new ban, more comprehensive and better thought out, will supersede the earlier notification issued in January 2009 that prohibited only the use, storage and sale of plastic bags in commercial areas.
"There will be no leniency in implementing the blanket ban and crackdown on violators will be more aggressive this time," chief minister Sheila Dikshit said.
Bird loss has island overrun with spiders
An abundance of spiders on Guam is the result of the loss of forest birds caused by an invasive snake that decimated the avian population, researchers say.
Biologists from Rice University, the University of Washington and the University of Guam found the loss of bird species has left the Pacific island's jungles with as many as 40 times more spiders than found on nearby islands like Saipan. "You can't walk through the jungles on Guam without a stick in your hand to knock down the spiderwebs," Rice researcher Haldre Rogers said. |  |
How to print 3D microstructures in seconds
Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a novel technology that can fabricate, in mere seconds, microscale three dimensional (3D) structures out of soft, biocompatible hydrogels.
Near term, the technology could lead to better systems for growing and studying cells, including stem cells, in the laboratory. Long-term, the goal is to be able to print biological tissues for regenerative medicine. For example, in the future, doctors may repair the damage caused by heart attack by replacing it with tissue that rolled off of a printer. |  |
The most stable laser in the world
A laser with a frequency stability so far unequalled: This is the result of a research cooperation of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) within the scope of the Excellence Cluster QUEST (Centre for Quantum Engineering and Space-Time Research) with colleagues from the American NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)/JILA. Their development, about which they report in the scientific journal "Nature Photonics", is important for optical spectroscopy with highest resolution, e.g. of ultra-cold atoms. But, above all, an even more stable interrogation laser is now available for use in optical atomic clocks.
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LEGO® helps save ancient Egyptian mummy case
Thanks to an ambitious conservation project, the ancient Egyptian cartonnage mummy case of Hor, a little-known treasure of the Fitzwilliam Museum, is now on display after years in obscurity.
The conservation of the mummy case was undertaken with the assistance of the University’s Department of Engineering, who helped construct clever frames to support the delicate case during conservation and a new display mount with internal supports using LEGO®. The mummy case was found in the Ramesseum at Thebes by Quibell in the Ramesseum in 1896. |  |
Giant Viruses Rewrite History of Life on Earth
The study of giant viruses, described in a paper in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology, may reshape the universal family tree, adding a fourth major branch to the three that most scientists agree represent the fundamental domains of life.
The researchers used a relatively new method to peer into the distant past. Rather than comparing genetic sequences, which are unstable and change rapidly over time, they looked for evidence of past events in the three-dimensional, structural domains of proteins. |  |
Archaeologists Discover Germany’s Oldest Roman Military Camp
An archaeological team from the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz has discovered the precise location of the oldest Roman military fortification known to date in Germany – in the vicinity of Hermeskeil, a small town some 30 km southeast of Trier in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
This discovery sheds new light on the Roman conquest of Gaul. The camp was built during Julius Caesars’ Gallic War in the late 50s BCE. Nearby lies a late Celtic settlement with monumental fortifications known as the ‘Hunnenring’ or ‘Circle of the Huns,’... |  |
The astronomical unit gets fixed
Without fanfare, astronomers have redefined one of the most important distances in the Solar System. The astronomical unit (au) — the rough distance from the Earth to the Sun — has been transformed from a confusing calculation into a single number. The new standard, adopted in August by unanimous vote at the International Astronomical Union's meeting in Beijing, China, is now 149,597,870,700 metres — no more, no less.
The effect on our planet’s inhabitants will be limited. The Earth will continue to twirl around the Sun, and in the Northern Hemisphere, autumn will soon arrive. |  |
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