www.sciencenews.org June 26th ... pieces of copper slag from smelting activity have been found in Serbia dating back as early as 7000 years ago. This is 500 years earlier than any significant sign of metallurgy in the Middle East - namely, in southern Iran around 6500 years ago. The Journal of Archaeological Science has the paper and says that other sites in SE Europe date from 6000 years ago and the contemporary Vinca culture is famous for its metal objects, including copper vessels.

http://news.yahoo.com June 25th reports on a German theory that rejects malaria as the cause of death but blames sickle cell disease (quoting a letter written to the Journal of the American Medical Association by a couple of medical scientists).

www.physorg.com/print196687173.html June 25th ... scientists know the consensus theory is inadequate - which may come as a surprise to some. All  the textbooks are emphatic - it happened this way and they go on to describe in detail the consensus model of how it came about. The trigger was an orbital shift known as the Milankovitch Cycle. It caused more sunlight to fall across the northern half of the earth where the great ice sheets lay.

At www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-06/uog-sbn062310.php we have an article that suggests Neanderthals separated from other Homo sapiens as early as one million years ago - going by DNA analysis. Once again, this is an exercise in computer simulation dressed up as fact, and it goes on to conclude no actual hominid ancestor for either Neanderthals or Homo sapiens has been found - the missing link is still missing. In the study only dental morphology was analysed - nothing else but teeth.