In the News

The peculiar properties of sound at Stonehenge

28 August 2010 Archaeology
New Scientist August 27th ... acoustic experiments were made at Stonehenge in an attempt to determine how it may have sounded during prehistoric gatherings. Once

Vortex of Fire

28 August 2010 Electromagnetism
At http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/08/27/tornado-of-fire-in-brazil/ you will find some short video clips of a tornado of fire created during wild fires - transient phenomena captured by the abundance

The Layer Cake

27 August 2010 Geology
If this is cake it ain't got a lot of fruit. At www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100825185121.htm ... research has found the North American continent is a layer cake

Alternative energy

27 August 2010 Electromagnetism
At www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100825131445.htm ... devices to capture electricity out of the air are being contemplated - like solar cells capture sunlight. However, it requires more research

Coal through the microscope

27 August 2010 Catastrophism
Go to http://geology.com/articles/coal-through-a-microscope.shtml where it says microscopes reveal the hidden nature of coal - made from thick accumulations of plant debris, mixed with swamp sediments.

Near Earth Objects

27 August 2010 Catastrophism
At www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1306555/Our-terrifyingly-crowded-solar-system/ is a short post with a video clip of the asteroids that fly close to the earth - and only those discovered by

Early Americas

27 August 2010 Archaeology
Daily Mail August 25th ... the remains of a prehistoric child were found in an underwater cave in Mexico - dating back over 10,000 years

Electricity in the brain and electricity in the weather

27 August 2010 Electromagnetism
At http://opa.yale.edu/news/article_print.aspx?id=7646 July 14th 2010, Yale University press release - scientists at Yale have a paper in Neuron which claims electrical fields can influence the

Arrows give the game away

27 August 2010 Archaeology
BBC News August 26th ... archaeologists in South Africa have unearthed stone points dated 64,000 years ago which were probably arrow heads. A microscope revealed

Radio emissions from sun spots

27 August 2010 Astronomy
At www.physorg.com/print201972151.html ... professor Jeongwoo Lee (see also www.csun.edu/physicsandastronomy/IAUS273/) seeks to explain why sun spots are a source of radio emissions because hot electrons gyrate in the

Shrinking atmosphere

27 August 2010 Electromagnetism
Yes, the atmosphere is shrinking - as a result of low levels of solar radiation - a lack of sun spots. At www.physorg.com/print202054025.html there is

The birth of black holes

27 August 2010 Physics
At www.physorg.com/print201957102.html ... a paper in Nature purports to have discovered the origin of the universe's first super massive black hole - by computer simulation

Neutrinos and decay rates - ongoing

27 August 2010 Physics
At http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/08/27/folow-up-on-the-solar-neutrino-radioactive-decay-story/ --- which is the story that broke a few days ago concerning research that seemed to show a variation in radioactive decay rates

Archaeology in the Western Desert

26 August 2010 Archaeology
At http://yalealumnimagazine.com/issue/2010_09/egypt3841.html ... Yale University press release. Egyptologists have barely explored the western desert, an expanse the size of Texas, but recently some intrepid archaeologists

Maya archaeology updates

26 August 2010 Archaeology
At www.usatoday.com August 26th .... it is claimed archaeologists are near to finding out why the Maya abandoned their cities - in the 9th century

Late Pleistocene Notts

26 August 2010 Archaeology
The Independent and the daily Mail August 26th  (see also www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1306616/Axes-Ice-Age-dating-13-000 ....) excavations preceding road widening on the A46 in Nottinghamshire have found Iron Age

A new paper on nanodiamonds at the YD boundary

26 August 2010 Catastrophism
At http://cosmictusk.com we have news of a new paper due to be published by the Journal of Glaciology by Kurbatov, Mayewski and Steffensen et al

Digging for Britain; August 26th

25 August 2010 Archaeology
BBC 2 'Digging for Britain' 26th August ... looked at various archaeological sites from Creswell Crags to the Beaker people - and surprisingly, they moved

Mammoths, and other sturdy beasts with big stomachs

25 August 2010 Archaeology
There is an unusual posting at http://chiefio.wordpress.com August 24th .. on the mammoths and what they might mean for climate change. He quotes from Wikipedia

Magnetic Monopoles

25 August 2010 Physics
At the io9 website (www.io9.com ) there is a feature, ask the scientist. In this instance, it is Physicist David Sparks who poses as teacher and