Keeping the Russian meteor story alive and kicking - another big fireball has been seen, along the east coast of North America - see http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/another-big-meteor-this-time-o... which provides lots of links. See especially http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/213/03/05/andrew-cooper-were-the-recent-a... where the comments have been accumulating since I last posted on this (the subject is the trajectory of the Russian meteor).

At www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/03/2013/astronomical-alignment... ... an attempt to catalogue astronomical alignments at temples in Mesoamerica, 70 per cent of which seem to be focussed on the Sun. The solstice was of interest, but not the equinox, while in some places (highland Maya) the cycles of Venus were important and in one location, the Moon.

The big story this week is undoubtedly the two reports issued by NASA on the Planck images of the universe - see www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-109&cid=release_2013-109 which concerns the Planck space mission (telescope) which has released a detailed mapping of the oldest stars, and therefore light, in the universe, revealing new information about age, contents, and origins. Apparently, the universe is not expanding as fast as the consensus would have had us believe, even last week. The universe, they say, is 100 million years older than theorised previously.

According to New Scientist - see www.newscientist.com/article/dn23290-farming-has-deep-roots-in-chinese-i... ... it seems three grinding stones have been found in China with traces of plant material that seem to show they were used to process millet and other grains, as well as yams, beans, and various roots. The big eye opener is that they date from as early as 23,000 years ago, at the height of the Late Glacial Maximum. Robin Allaby of the University of Warwick says there was a warm blip at that time and it could well have been warm enough to grow things.