In the News

Strange Supernovae, Water on the Moon, and an asteroid that struck Australia

25 October 2010 Astronomy
The following three articles all come from one day at www.dailygalaxy.com 26th October ... the first says robotic telescopes have turned attention to strange exploding

A volcano, tropics under the ice, and Ice Age vegetation - under the sea

25 October 2010 Climate change
At www.physorg.com/print207197358.html ... the Java volcano, Merapi,  is about to blow, it seems, and the countryside is on high alert. Meanwhile an earthquake of the

Comet Hartley - fast approaching meeting

23 October 2010 Astronomy
At www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101022113117.htm is a report on the space mission  scheduled to have a close encounter with Comet Hartley in November. However, even now observations indicate

Little Big Horn

23 October 2010 Archaeology
At www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/How-the-Battle-of-Little-Big-Horn-Was-Won.html ... is an account of the story pieced together from later Indian memories. Adapted from The Killing of Crazy Horse Thomas Powers (2010).

The Menhirs, Cyprus in the Neolithic, Ancient Writing, and a wooden door that was made 5000 years ago

21 October 2010 Archaeology
At http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/10889/ ... the Russian Information Centre has released news of archaeological findings in the South Urals where they have unearthed an ancient complex including

Keeping Neandertals brutish

21 October 2010 Anthropology
At http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenews/2010/10/a-setback-for-neanderthal-smarts.html ... it seems that archaeologists have new decided the major site at Aray-sur-Cure in central France, the so called reindeer cave, is so

Stone Age (Palaeolithic) flour

19 October 2010 Archaeology
At www.nature.com/news/2010/101018/full/news.2010.549.html there is a report on a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (this week) (see doi.10.1073/pnas.1006993107 ) that claims

Megalithic Tombs

18 October 2010 Archaeology
Another locked in consensus point of view might be about to start rocking at the hinges. I am referring to some of the abstract ideas

Dating the Ice Ages

16 October 2010 Geology
New Scientist 22nd May 2010 had a story on the Hulu cave system near Nanjing in China which contains some very useful stalagmites that have

The Toba volcano and Out of Africa

16 October 2010 Anthropology
New Scientist 17th April, 2010 ... had an interesting story on the so called Toba super volcano which blew its head on what is now Sumatra - 74,000

Solar Flares

15 October 2010 Astronomy
At http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/10/15/new-ideas-total-solar-irradiance-and-flares/ there is a post on a paper concerning solar flares - which are sudden releases of energy from the Sun. They are in

Ulster Tomb

15 October 2010 Archaeology
The Belfast Telegraph (see www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-reland/maghera-tomb/ ) ... Portal Tombs, a form of dolmen, are only found in Ireland, Wales, and Cornwall, and there has been

Middle East Milk Drinkers

15 October 2010 Archaeology
At www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,druck-723310,0.html a German journalist reports on mainly German research that is now claiming that agriculturalists came to Europe during a wave of migration with

Tayinat Oath Platform in the Holy of Holies

14 October 2010 Archaeology
At http://heritage-key.com/blogs/owenjarus/oath-platform-2700-year0old-temple-tayinat/ we have an unusual take on the excavations being currently undertaken at Tayinat, an ancient city of the Amuq Plain, on the banks

Asteroid Phaethon

13 October 2010 Astronomy
Asteroid 3200 Phaethon sometimes acts just like a comet - it light up the night sky with meteor showers. However, most of the time it

Cosmic Strings are super massive ultra thin cracks in the universe?

13 October 2010 Astronomy
Yes, and researchers at the University of Buffalo say they have found indirect proof of their existence. They studied 355 quasars - very bright galaxies

Was the White Horse at Uffington a dog?

13 October 2010 Archaeology
No, not so barmy - a vet has suggested it resembles a greyhound or a wolfhound rather than a stylised horse (see www.guardian.co.uk/sciences/2010/oct/12/white-horse-uffington-dog/ ... the

Bronze Age Caucasus

12 October 2010 Archaeology
High in the Caucasus Mountains of Russia a previously unknown Bronze Age civilisation has been discovered - dating back to the 16th and 14th centuries

Oscillating Sea Levels

12 October 2010 Geology
At www.abc.net.au/quantum/stories/s112352.htm is a report going back to March 2000 on the study of fossil tube worm holes that have been C14 dated (in Australia)

Black Death

11 October 2010 Archaeology
At www.physorg.com/print206009200.html ... scientists in Germany have examined the skeletons of plague victims, testing their DNA and analysing protein, and they say they have proved