In the News

At https://anthropology.net/2020/05/30/ancient-dna-from-france-outline-comp... ... the early farmers that moved through the Balkans into eastern and central Europe did not mix with the local hunter gatherers it

At https://phys.org/news/2020-05-genomic-analysis-long-term-genetic-west.html ... genomic analysis shows a long  term genetic mixing across western Asia - going back deep into the Holocene. The region includes Anatolia

William sent in this link www.yahoo.com/news/mammoth-skeletons-dug-mexico-city-155124553.html ... mammoth skeletons dug up during construction of an airport at Mexico City. To date, 70 mammoths have been

At https://spaceweather.com (May 29th 2020) we have news of a big solar flare on one of the flanks of the Sun. Flare activity appears to

At https://phys.org/news/2020-05-earliest-evidence-italians-extraordinary-g... ... during the Laste Glacial Maximum, when an ice sheet covered a goodly portion of Britain and Swiss mountain glaciers were at maximum

Sent in by Robert. Astgeroids that sprout  comet like tails.  See for example https://phys.org/news/2020-05-atlas-telescope-first-of-its-kind-asteroid... .... an asteroid sporting a tail. ATLAS is designed to scan

At https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2020/05/27/the-induced-magnetosphere-of-... ... the induced magnetosphere of Mars. Five years after NASAs MAVEN spacecraft entered into orbit around Mars data from the  mission has led

Chris Gatling's column in Current World Archaeology 101 June 2020 (see www.world-archaeology.com ) ... takes a brief look at a study carried out by geneticists

At www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/theres-a-russian-volcano-that-erup... ... a Russian volcano erupts diamonds. Rather, very tiny diamonds created by crystallisation of volcanic gases. The volcano is actually situated in the

Another re-calibration of C14 dating is underway. It could shift prehistoric dates by hundreds of years. Why? Well, just look at what it is going

At https://phys.org/news/2020-05-sky-comet-swan.html ... the image below was taken by a UK astrophotograper, Damian Peach ...    ... unfortunately, it won't be easy to see the

At https://phys.org/news/2020-05-ancient-giant-armored-fish-fed.html ... another example of evolution reproducing similar niche feeding habitats as a result of similarities in niche environments. These concern different geological periods.

At https://phys.org/news/2020-05-supercomputer-simulations-reveal-neanderth... ... opne for the fairies. Perhaps. It involves climate scientists. Not a good start. Then we get into supercomputers and simulations. The idea

At https://phys.org/news/2020-05-oldest-native-americans-lake-baikal.html ... which has its origins in a paper in Cell - see https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.037 ... using genetic data, ancient pathogen genomics, as well as

At https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/05/16/downward-virus-flux-in-earths-atm... .. this is an interesting post by guest blogger Robert Kernodle. The atmosphere is choc a bloc with viruses and bacteria, over three

This subject is up on the Thunderblogs this week, presumably pre-emted by the new study. At https://phys.org/news/2020-05-black-holes-neutron-stars-merge.html ... mergers between black holes and neutron stars.

At https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2020/05/15/global-cooling-event-4200-yea... ... a global cooling event 4200 years ago spurred the evolution of rice which then spread across Asia, we are told. The cooling

At www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/uom-trl051320.php ... long legs make for good runners as any schoolboy knows. The chap with the long hairy legs is always going to win

The law of unexpected consequences strikes again - providing a silver lining. At https://phys.org/news/2020-05-dozens-prehistoric-roman-medieval-sites.html ... Exeter University has got local archaeologists, mostly amateur, to look

A bit of mischievous propaganda from Iran. At www.tehrantimes.com/news/447819/ ..  evidence suggests prehistoric people living in Iran migrated to the Americas. This is according to