The Inside Story of a Controversial New Text About Jesus
According to a top religion scholar, this 1,600-year-old text fragment suggests that some early Christians believed Jesus was married—possibly to Mary Magdalene
Harvard researcher Karen King today unveiled an ancient papyrus fragment with the phrase, “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife.’” The text also mentions “Mary,” arguably a reference to Mary Magdalene. The announcement at a religious studies conference in Rome is sure to send shock waves through the Christian world. The Smithsonian Channel will premiere a special documentary about the discovery on September 30 at 8 p.m. ET. And Smithsonian magazine reporter Ariel Sabar has been covering the story behind the scenes for weeks, tracing King’s steps from when a suspicious e-mail hit her in-box to the nerve-racking moment when she thought the entire presentation would fall apart. |  |
Did a Pacific Ocean meteor trigger the Ice Age?
When a huge meteor collided with Earth about 2.5 million years ago in the southern Pacific Ocean it not only likely generated a massive tsunami but also may have plunged the world into the Ice Ages, a new study suggests.
A team of Australian researchers says that because the Eltanin meteor – which was up to two kilometres across - crashed into deep water, most scientists have not adequately considered either its potential for immediate catastrophic impacts on coastlines around the Pacific rim or its capacity to destabilise the entire planet's climate system. |  |
First Ever Etruscan Pyramids Found in Italy
The first ever Etruscan pyramids have been located underneath a wine cellar in the city of Orvieto in central Italy, according to a team of U.S. and Italian archaeologists.
Carved into the rock of the tufa plateau --a sedimentary area that is a result of volcanic activity -- on which the city stands, the subterranean structures were largely filled. Only the top-most modern layer was visible. "Within this upper section, which had been modified in modern times and was used as a wine cellar, we noticed a series of ancient stairs carved into the wall. They were clearly of Etruscan construction," David B. George of the Department of Classics at Saint Anselm, told Discovery News. |  |
The Earth can sing! Listen to its 'chorus'
It turns out the Earth can speak — in the form of chirps and whistles caused by radio waves audible to the human ear, and emitted by the Earth's magnetosphere. It's called a "chorus," or "dawn chorus."
Scientists have known about the phenomenon for some time, as it can be picked up just by using radio receivers. It's most easily picked up in the mornings and that — combined with the signature chirping noise — is what earned it the nickname of the "dawn chorus." What causes it? These audible radio waves are emitted by energetic particles within the magnetosphere, a phenomenon that surrounds any planet or moon with an intrinsic magnetic field, like Earth. These particles affect (and are affected by) the radiation belts that also surround the planet, creating the unique noises. |  |
Study finds tumors in rats fed on Monsanto's GM corn
In a study that prompted criticism from other experts, French scientists said on Wednesday that rats fed on Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) corn or exposed to its top-selling weedkiller suffered tumors and multiple organ damage.
Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen and colleagues said ra]ts fed on a diet containing NK603 - a seed variety made tolerant to dousings of Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller - or given water with Roundup at levels permitted in the United States, died earlier than those on a standard diet.
Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen and colleagues said ra]ts fed on a diet containing NK603 - a seed variety made tolerant to dousings of Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller - or given water with Roundup at levels permitted in the United States, died earlier than those on a standard diet.
Race Is On as Ice Melt Reveals Arctic Treasures
NUUK, Greenland — With Arctic ice melting at record pace, the world’s superpowers are increasingly jockeying for political influence and economic position in outposts like this one, previously regarded as barren wastelands.
At stake are the Arctic’s abundant supplies of oil, gas and minerals that are, thanks to climate change, becoming newly accessible along with increasingly navigable polar shipping shortcuts. This year, China has become a far more aggressive player in this frigid field, experts say, provoking alarm among Western powers. While the United States, Russia and several nations of the European Union have Arctic territory, China has none, and as a result, has been deploying its wealth and diplomatic clout to secure toeholds in the region. |  |
Subsea Ravine Leaks Present a New Headache for Carbon Capture in North Sea
LONDON (Reuters) - Companies looking to store polluting carbon under the sea will have to pay more for tougher seabed screening, after geologists discovered a three-kilometre long fracture near Norway's pioneering subsea carbon storage project in the North Sea.
Storing carbon under the sea is part of Britain's ambitious plan to cut climate warming emissions by retrieving CO2 from polluting power plants which is then pumped into depleted offshore oil and gas fields.
Storing carbon under the sea is part of Britain's ambitious plan to cut climate warming emissions by retrieving CO2 from polluting power plants which is then pumped into depleted offshore oil and gas fields.
How much carbon is released into the atmosphere by thawing permafrost?
One of the most worrisome unknowns about climate change is the behavior of positive feedbacks that amplify warming. The ultimate fear is that we could cross tipping points, where the warming gains a momentum of its own that would continue for a time even if human emissions were drastically reduced.
The shrinking ice and snow cover in the Arctic is one example—white, reflective areas are being replaced by dark land or water that absorbs much more radiation from the Sun. That's a positive feedback on its own but it could also trigger a separate one: the massive store of carbon in Arctic permafrost could become vulnerable as the region thaws. |  |
Drought in Poland Reveals 400-Year-Old Sunken Treasures
WARSAW (Reuters) - A huge cargo of elaborate marble stonework that sank to the bottom of Poland's Vistula river four centuries ago has re-appeared after a drought and record-low water levels revealed the masonry lying in the mud on the river bed.
Archaeologists believe the stonework was part of a trove which 17th-century Swedish invaders looted from Poland's rulers and loaded onto barges to transport home, only for the booty to go to the bottom when the vessels sank.
Archaeologists believe the stonework was part of a trove which 17th-century Swedish invaders looted from Poland's rulers and loaded onto barges to transport home, only for the booty to go to the bottom when the vessels sank.
New Study Shows Clovis-Age Impact Theory is Still Possible
A disregard for three critical protocols, including sorting samples by size, explains why a group challenging the theory of a North American meteor impact event some 12,900 years ago, failed to find iron and silica rich magnetic particles in the sites they investigated.
This is the finding of an independent interdisciplinary team of scientists published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Not separating samples of the materials into like-sized groupings made for an avoidable layer of difficulty, said co-author Edward K. Vogel, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon.
This is the finding of an independent interdisciplinary team of scientists published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Not separating samples of the materials into like-sized groupings made for an avoidable layer of difficulty, said co-author Edward K. Vogel, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon.
Genetics and Climate Reconstructions Track Spread of Modern Humans
By integrating genetics with high resolution historical climate reconstructions, scientists have been able to predict the timing and routes taken by modern humans during their expansion out of Africa.
Their research reveals that the spread of humans out of Africa was dictated by climate, with their entry into Europe possibly delayed by competition with Neanderthals. The research is published in the journal PNAS.
Dr Anders Eriksson, from the University of Cambridge, the lead author of the paper said: “By combining extensive genetic information with climate and vegetation models, we were able to build the most detailed reconstruction of human history so far.”.
Their research reveals that the spread of humans out of Africa was dictated by climate, with their entry into Europe possibly delayed by competition with Neanderthals. The research is published in the journal PNAS.
Dr Anders Eriksson, from the University of Cambridge, the lead author of the paper said: “By combining extensive genetic information with climate and vegetation models, we were able to build the most detailed reconstruction of human history so far.”.
Energy Efficiency Doesn’t Explain Human Walking?
Why hominids evolved upright walking is one of the biggest questions in human evolution. One school of thought suggests that bipedalism was the most energetically efficient way for our ancestors to travel as grasslands expanded and forests shrank across Africa some five million to seven million years ago. A new study in the Journal of Human Evolution challenges that claim, concluding that the efficiency of human walking and running is not so different from other mammals.
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Badger culls are crazy (says scientist who recommended them)
A renowned scientist whose work has been cited by the Government to justify its plan to cull badgers has called the scheme "crazy".
The intervention from Lord Krebs, who led a nine-year study into the effect of badger culling on rates of tuberculosis in cattle, came as the Environment Minister, Owen Paterson, said he wanted to see the scheme rolled out beyond two pilot areas.
"I would go down the vaccination and biosecurity route rather than this crazy scheme that may deliver very small advantage," he said.
The intervention from Lord Krebs, who led a nine-year study into the effect of badger culling on rates of tuberculosis in cattle, came as the Environment Minister, Owen Paterson, said he wanted to see the scheme rolled out beyond two pilot areas.
"I would go down the vaccination and biosecurity route rather than this crazy scheme that may deliver very small advantage," he said.
How Dogs Fight Cancer
If, like me, you have dog that can sense when you are feeling particularly indebted, you might want to make sure he or she isn’t in the room when you read this.
Because now their species is becoming a key weapon in fighting human diseases, particularly cancer.
“Dogs live side-by-side in our environments with us,” notes Elaine Ostrander, genetics researcher for the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health. “They drink the same water, they breathe the same air, they’re exposed to the same pesticides and they often eat some of the same food.”
Because now their species is becoming a key weapon in fighting human diseases, particularly cancer.
“Dogs live side-by-side in our environments with us,” notes Elaine Ostrander, genetics researcher for the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health. “They drink the same water, they breathe the same air, they’re exposed to the same pesticides and they often eat some of the same food.”
Detecting sexual selection in extinct animals is difficult, but not impossible
Last week I was at a palaeontology conference up in Oxford and so my blogging time was rather reduced. I do want to cover both the contents of the meeting itself, and the importance that such meetings have in the process of scientific research. However that will have to go onto the backburner just a little as first of all I want to talk about a paper that came out last week that I had a hand in. It's on the subject of sexual selection in the fossil record and how we might detect evidence of its operation.
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Mysterious Martian spheres baffle NASA researchers
A strange picture of odd, spherical rock formations on Mars from NASA's Opportunity rover has scientists scratching their heads over what exactly they're looking at.
The new Mars photo by Opportunity shows a close-up of a rock outcrop called Kirkwood covered in blister-like bumps that mission scientists can't yet explain. At first blush, the formations appear similar to so-called Martian "blueberries" — iron-rich spherical formations first seen by Opportunity in 2004 — but they actually differ in several key ways, scientist said. |  |
Sizing up a new measuring ruler for the solar system
The sun still shines as bright, but according to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), its precise distance from us has just changed.
At a recent meeting of the IAU in Beijing, China, members unanimously voted to redefine the astronomical unit, or AU, which has long served as the fundamental unit of distance between objects in the solar system. According to the voters, the official definition of the AU is now exactly 149,597,870,700 metres, and the unit should be written "au". Historically, calculating the astronomical unit was based on the average distance between Earth and the sun, or 149,597,870,691 metres. An amendment in 1976 complicated things by also tying the unit to the sun's mass. |  |
Build a supercomputer on the moon
NASA currently controls its deep space missions through a network of huge satellite dishes in California, Spain and Australia known as the Deep Space Network (DSN). Even the Voyager 1 probe relies on these channels to beam data back to Earth as it careers away into space.
But traffic on the network is growing fast, at a rate that the current set-up can't handle. Two new dishes are being built in Australia at the moment to cope with the extra data, but a researcher from University of Southern California has proposed a slightly more radical solution to the problem. |  |
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