jojo, adventurer

"Dubbed the "Venus of the Hohle Fels," after a cave at Schelklingen in the Swabian Jura of southwestern Germany where it was found, the carving is around 32,000 years old, according to carbon-dating measurements. Carbon-dating of remains beyond 30,000 years ago of age usually turns out to be an under-estimate, which suggests the "Venus" is at least 35,000 years old, according to archaeologist Nicholas Conard, a professor at Germany's University of Tuebingen. "It is... perhaps the earliest example of figurative art worldwide," he believes." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

Looks like a broiler :) - Eivind

"More specifically, estrogen naturally produced in women seems to block the production of an enzyme called Caspase-12, which itself blocks the inflammatory process. The presence of estrogen would therefore have a beneficial effect on innate immunity, which represents the body's first line of defence against pathogenic organisms. "These results demonstrate that women have a more powerful inflammatory response than men," said Dr. Saleh." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"An island for ancient elites has been found in central Mexico, archaeologists say. Among the ruins are a treasury and a small pyramid that may have been used for rituals. The island, called Apupato, belonged to the powerful Tarascan Empire, which dominated much of western Mexico from A.D. 1400 to 1520, before the European conquest of the region." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

The ancient noobs were the elites's mortal enemies at the time I imagine. - Thomas Bøhm from BuddyFeed

Well, the interaction between Aztec and Tarascan is interesting, but *I* won't be the one to call either noob! :) - jojo, adventurer

""It has been seven years since someone discovered a new elemental superconductor," Schilling said. "It gets harder and harder because there are fewer elements left in the periodic table." This discovery adds data to help improve scientists' theoretical understanding of superconductivity, which could lead to the design of room-temperature superconductors that could be used for efficient energy transport and storage." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"X-ray analysis of a wall sample from the Trajan's Market ruins in Rome showed that the mortars used by ancient Romans contained stratlingite, a mineral known to strengthen modern cements." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"The chosen site at Airman's Corner is about one-and-a-half miles (2.4km) west from the current visitor centre, at the edge of the World Heritage Site." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"Culture Minister Faruk Hosni said in the statement: "An Egyptian archaeological mission working near El-Karn island on Lake Qarun in Fayoum has found a large amount of fishing tackle, sewing equipment and jewelry made from animal bone dating back to prehistoric time." "The mission also found caves used by prehistoric man," he said. "The most important item is an awl made of animal bone and granite, which shows that prehistoric man devised many ways to sew leather," Khaled Saad, who headed the archaeological mission that uncovered the artifacts, was quoted as saying." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"On the grounds of Pima County's Ina Road wastewater treatment facility, archaeologists have unearthed the remains of an ancient farming community that could potentially rewrite the history of human settlement in the Southwest. The less than auspicious setting might not inspire today — the scent of human waste at times overwhelming the senses — but scientists say the site was ideally suited for organized agriculture when the ancients farmed the area more than 3,000 years ago. "This was the perfect place to start irrigation agriculture, and these guys did it in spades," James Vint said." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"Online video of the talks at the annual Technology Education Design (TED) conferences devoted to "ideas worth spreading" are being translated for the world to hear with the help of volunteers. "TED's mission is to spread good thinking globally, and so it's high time we began reaching out to the 4.5 billion people on the planet who don't speak English," said TED "curator" Chris Anderson." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

""What's surprising to me is the abundance of novel sRNA candidates in our data sets," said Shi. "When I looked into the sequences that cannot be confidently assigned as protein-coding, I found that a big percentage of those sequences are non-coding sequences derived from yet-to-be-cultivated microorganisms in the ocean. This was very exciting to us because this metatranscriptomic approach — using a data set of sequences of transcripts from a natural microbial community as opposed to a single cultured microbial strain — opens up a new window of discovering naturally occurring sRNAs, which may further provide ecologically relevant implications."" - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

I'm just glad the history room has come to life again. I was afraid it would die, even though I threw in a few links every now and then. - Eivind

"Although Mycenaean power was largely based on their control of the sea, little is known about the workings of the harbour towns of the period as archaeology to date has focused on the better known inland palaces and citadels. Pavlopetri was presumably once a thriving harbour town where the inhabitants conducted local and long distance trade throughout the Mediterranean — its sandy and well-protected bay would have been ideal for beaching Bronze Age ships. As such the site offers major new insights into the workings of Mycenaean society." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"This major exhibition explores seventeenth-century Iran through the reign and legacy of one of its most influential rulers, Shah 'Abbas I (reigned AD 1587–1629)." - I wish I could go to this exhibition! - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago has announced the free Internet publication of eleven Egyptological titles" - A couple on Paleolithic Man, some alphabet stuff ... I'm starting with the Mortuary Temple of Mayor Paser. Pub dates range from 1931 to 2000. - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"Dawson easily outpointed Antonio Tarver in their rematch Saturday in Las Vegas, repeating his performance of their October meeting, but didn’t do enough to displace Hopkins. Thus, Dawson remains at No. 2. “Some consideration was given to moving Dawson ahead of Bernard Hopkins, but the majority of the panel members responding this week and the editorial board felt that due to the fact that Dawson showed no significant improvement since his first decision over Tarver, it would be best to maintain the status quo,” said Nigel Collins, editor of THE RING magazine." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"Frozen and lonely, Planet X circled the far reaches of the solar system awaiting discovery and a name. It got one thanks to an 11-year-old British girl named Venetia Burney, an enthusiast of the planets and classical myth. On March 14, 1930, the day newspapers reported that the long-suspected 'trans-Neptunian body' had been photographed for the first time, she proposed to her well-connected grandfather that it be named Pluto, after the Roman god of the underworld. Venetia Phair, as she became by marriage, died April 30 in her home in Banstead, in the county of Surrey, England. She was 90. ... More vexing to Mrs. Phair was the persistent notion that she had taken the name from the Disney character. 'It has now been satisfactorily proven that the dog was named after the planet, rather than the other way around,' she told the BBC. 'So, one is vindicated.' " Venetia's great-uncle Henry, who was a housemaster at Eton, had successfully proposed that the two dwarf moons of Mars be named... - jojo, adventurer

"Considered to be the most important of the hillside houses, the palatial house of Gaius Flavius Furius Aptus, the city consul, is drawing attention as a focus of excavation and restoration projects. Its magnificent 178-square-meter salon, whose walls were clothed with marble, is witnessing a major restoration. The plan is to begin with the restoration of the salon’s walls." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"The king’s grave was found in a 211-square-meter area owned by Behçet Aktaş in Kemalpaşa’s Atatürk neighborhood. It was discovered when a construction digger struck a rock that was part of the grave during excavation work for a newly-planned building. The landlord of the building next to the excavated area, İlker Yıldız, said they saw an empty space inside the rock, which contained ancient pieces. "After we saw the pieces we understood that the area being dug contained historic pieces and we called the gendarmerie. They stood on guard for a day until the İzmir Museum Directorship’s officers and experts arrived," Yıldız said. He also said they collected the unearthed pieces but that the grave was still there because part of the land containing the grave was under a building and if they were to dig more the building could collapse. The area is now protected with wires and the uncovered pieces are being cleaned and will be studied to discover the king’s identity." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"Fight Fax is now shipping The 2009 Boxing Record Book, Volume 26 (434 pages). The price is $55 plus shipping and handling. It includes complete records of active boxers, including over 200 female fighters’ records from all over the world; split and majority decisions listed in records; title bout section with complete breakdown round-by-round scoring of every IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC and WBO 2008 title bout, including referees, judges, promoters, etc" - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"Over the course of two summers of field work Miyashita and Fanti began building a theory that Grande Prairie is a "missing link" between known dinosaur species that existed much further to the north and south. "Prior to this there were no localities with a variety of dinosaurs and other animals between Alaska and southern Alberta," said Myiashita. The list of new finds for the area includes armoured and thick-headed plant eaters and fossilized freshwater fish and reptiles." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"Five patients have tested positive for HIV - three of them in Miami - and 33 have tested positive for hepatitis since February, when the VA started notifying more than 11,000 people treated at three VA medical centers to get follow-up blood checks because they could have been exposed to infectious body fluids. The equipment is used for colonoscopies and ear, nose and throat procedures. The hospitals are in Miami, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Augusta, Ga." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"To combat the threat of contamination due to industrial spillage, natural disaster or sabotage, the physicist has developed a new system to monitor the safety of a building or community's water supply in real time. Modifying special fibers developed in his Tel Aviv University lab, Prof. Katzir can detect "colors" in the infrared spectrum which distinguish between pure and contaminated water. Not visible to the naked eye, this spectrum is normally only seen by certain animals, like snakes or vampire bats, to track down prey. Connected to a commercial infrared spectrometer, the fibers serve as sensors that can detect and notify authorities immediately if a contaminant has entered a water reservoir, system, building or pipeline." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"The structure of salts in battery electrolytes is much more complex than typical table salt (sodium chloride), according to Lucht. The best salts for lithium ion batteries are those that have high conductivity and excellent stability. "Few molecular structures are both," he said, "and we have discovered a new one."" - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

Just days before the release of Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes, SquareEnix sent a Cease & Desist letter to Chrono Compendium to stop everything to do with Crimson Echoes. - jojo, adventurer

"“The concept that died with the ancient Library of Alexandria,” said Wastawy, “is what we’ve resurrected because learning is not a one-dimensional thing. It’s called a library because of the ancient library, but it’s really a learning center.” And so the library is home to far more than books: A resident orchestra holds regular concerts; the museum in the basement boasts artifacts representing the many epochs of Egyptian history; an art gallery showcases the work of Egyptian artists." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet

"Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni announced today that an Egyptian mission has discovered that an area to the north of Lake Qarun in the Faiyum region is rich in archaeological and paleontological remains dating back as far as 40 million years. Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said that the 10- kilometer-wide area is currently being explored to prevent valuable information from being lost to planned touristic development in the area." - jojo, adventurer from Bookmarklet