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This is a story of conspiracy and betrayal, of a lust for power and a lost allegiance; the story of the man who killed King Richard III. In this documentary we set out to prove that the Welshman Sir Rhys ap Thomas, master of Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire, killed King Richard III, changing the course of British history. We uncover what drove him Rhys ap Thomas to betray not only his master but a King – and we reveal his remarkable story; from a childhood embroiled in the War of the Roses and exile to the continent, to a determined...

Leprosy, one of the oldest recorded diseases in human history, remains prevalent in Asia, Africa, and South America, with over 200,000 cases every year.1,2 Although ancient DNA (aDNA) approaches on the major causative agent, Mycobacterium leprae, have elucidated the disease’s evolutionary history,3,4,5 the role of animal hosts and interspecies transmission in the past remains unexplored. Research has uncovered relationships between medieval strains isolated from archaeological human remains and modern animal hosts such as the red squirrel in England.6,7 However, the time frame, distribution, and direction of transmissions remains unknown. Here, we studied 25 human and 12 squirrel samples from two...

Nearly half of the world's language families are found in the Americas. Although many of them are now thought extinct, historical linguistics analysis can survey and compare living languages and trace them back in time to better understand the groups that first populated the continent.In a study published March 30 in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology, Johanna Nichols, a historical linguist at the University of California Berkeley, analyzed structural features of 60 languages from across the U.S. and Canada, which revealed they come from two main language groups that entered North America in at least four distinct waves.Nichols surveyed...

31 pyramids in Egypt, including the Giza pyramid complex, may originally have been built along a 64-km-long branch of the river Nile which has long since been buried beneath farmland and desert. The findings, reported in a paper in Communications Earth & Environment, could explain why these pyramids are concentrated in what is now a narrow, inhospitable desert strip...Sedimentary evidence suggests that the Nile used to have a much higher discharge, with the river splitting into several branches in places. Researchers have previously speculated that one of these branches may have flown by the pyramid fields, but this has not...

As the seemingly unending fallout from the Boeing 737 MAX series unfolds, supplier Spirit AeroSystems has announced it will lay off around 450 workers. The decision was prompted by the Boeing 737 MAX production slowdown following a door plug blowing off an Alaska Airlines-operated 737 MAX in January. The effects of Boeing's production delays are already costing airlines and could impact airline growth for years. The Department of Justice is considering a fraud prosecution against Boeing for allegedly violating the terms of its 2021 deferred prosecution agreement related to two previous 737 MAX accidents. Spirit will lay off hundreds of...

The visitors often draw comparisons between the iconic Taj Mahal and the newly built mausoleum of the founder of the Radhasoami sect in Soami Bagh, located about 12 km away from the Taj Mahal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Saomi Bagh in Agra is a new white marble structure in Agra that took 104 years to build ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A new white marble structure in Agra that took 104 years to build is daily drawing hordes of spiritually inclined tourists. The visitors often draw comparisons between the iconic Taj Mahal and the newly built mausoleum of the founder of the Radhasoami sect in Soami Bagh,...

Boeing's Starliner flight to the International Space Station was delayed again due to a helium leak. NASA, Boeing and the United Launch Alliance said in a statemen Tuesday that the launch date will now come no earlier than Tuesday at 4:43 p.m. EDT. "Starliner teams are working to resolve a small helium leak detected in the spacecraft's service module traced to a flange on a single reaction control system thruster. Helium is used in spacecraft thruster systems to allow the thrusters to fire and is not combustible or toxic," they said. Boeing's statement said that it is working with NASA...

Car manufacturers are slowing their transition to producing electric vehicles (EVs), because of low customer demand and production problems. Mercedes-Benz announced to investors in March of this year that it is going back on its pledge to sell only fully electric cars by 2030. Instead, investors were told that the company plans to continue to make gasoline-powered cars well into the next decade. Fully electric cars and hybrids will account for only up to half of its sales by 2030. It appears that carmakers are suffering after committing wholeheartedly to the ideological fad of EVs, rather than introducing them as...

The Zigy electric quadricycle for one is a concept study at the moment, but its designers are seeking industry partners to move to prototyping - Andrea Mocellin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The design collaboration that brought us the Revolve wheelchair in 2021 has now turned its attention to the problem of inner-city mobility. Noting that many SUV-sized vehicles around town only have a single occupant, the team has designed a compact EV for one. The collaboration in question is between German mobility designer Andrea Mocellin and engineering consultancy Dexet Technologies. The Zigy concept was inspired by the narrow and congested roads of London,...

Another out-of-season storm is brewing near Hawaii and is likely to deliver much heavier rain than the first, as an atmospheric river will become involved, AccuWeather meteorologists warn. A storm locally called a Kona Low, which is a storm in the middle levels of the atmosphere, brought rounds of rain to parts of the islands from late last week to Mother's Day weekend. Up to several inches of rain brought localized flooding to Oahu and Kauai. Earlier this spring, another Kona Low brought tremendous rainfall and flooding to part of the island chain. In a matter of hours, the storm...

Some of China's oldest Homo sapiens remains are about 10 times younger than previously thought.Skeletal remains of a modern human discovered in 1958 were found in southern China's Liujiang District. It was previously thought that the remains were up to 227,000 years old. It is thought modern humans began their trek out of Africa about 300,000 years ago.Now a re-analysis of the bones published in Nature Communications has revised the estimate age of the Chinese remains to between 33,000 and 23,000 years ago."These revised age estimates align with dates from other human fossils in northern China, suggesting a geographically widespread...

A novel warp drive concept that can function without any need for hypothesized exotic or negative forms of energy has been unveiled in a groundbreaking new study by leading propulsion researchers. Dubbed the “Constant-Velocity Subluminal Warp Drive,” the concept, developed by physicists with the Advanced Propulsion Laboratory at the New York-based think tank Applied Physics and from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, offers a theoretical new means of propulsion for space travel that conforms to general relativity, allowing it to operate at constant subluminal speeds with no need for unphysical forms of matter outlined in past concepts. According to...

An Air Force instructor pilot died early in the morning on May 14 from injuries sustained when the pilot’s T-6A Texan II training plane ejection seat activated during ground operations the day before, the 82nd Training Wing at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, announced in a press release. “An investigation into the cause of the incident is underway,” the wing wrote, adding that the pilot’s name is being withheld for 24 hours to notify his or her next of kin. The 82nd is the host unit at Sheppard, but the pilot was assigned to the 80th Flying Training Wing, the...

In this video, I visit Avebury Henge and Stone Circle ... the largest in the world 🤩 Built and much altered during the Neolithic period, roughly between 2850 BC and 2200 BC, the henge survives as a huge circular bank and ditch, encircling an area that includes part of Avebury village. Within the henge is the largest stone circle in Britain - originally of about 100 stones - which in turn encloses two smaller stone circles.The history books state it was built for ceremonial purposes, but they forget to take into account the geological data. If they did, they would...

Sixty years ago, Ford unveiled the Mustang – and it changed everything. Prior to 1964 – the year of the first Mustang’s debut – there was no such thing as a “pony car.” Soon, there were so many of them it was hard to keep track of them. One of them was the Chevy Camaro, which appeared just in time for the 1967 model year. Its time has just run out because GM has pulled the plug – because GM knows a Camaro with a plug is as oxymoronic as Elvis without the voice (and the presence). In a backhanded...

This photo shows BYD electric cars awaiting to be loaded onto a ship at the international container terminal of Taicang Port at Suzhou Port, eastern Jiangsu Province, China, Sept. 11, 2023. (AFP Photo) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Biden administration is reportedly set to impose major new tariffs on electric vehicles (EVs), semiconductors, solar equipment and medical supplies imported from China, according to a U.S. official and another person familiar with the plan. Tariffs on electric vehicles, in particular, could quadruple from the existing 25% to 100%. The people described the plan on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to provide...

<p>'Any car company that’s not paying attention to them as a competitor is going to be lost when they hit their market. BYD’s entry into the U.S. market isn’t an if. It's a when....'</p><p>The car, launched last year by Chinese automaker BYD, sells for around $12,000 in China, but drives well and is put together with craftsmanship that rivals U.S.-made electric vehicles that cost three times as much. A shorter-range version costs under $10,000.</p>

My wife and I are planning a trip to Poland in the fall and I would like to pick up a little of the language prior to the trip. What would be the best on line source for a self administered course of learning? I respect FreeRepublic's inhabitants opinions on learning.

Since 2009, Lee Crafton, or Lee Horselogger as he prefers to be called, has been traveling across the country in a horse-drawn carriage, and now he's on his fifth trip. His journey started in 2006 when he lost his ranch in East Glacier, Montana after 27 years and dropped out of his Ph.D. program. Lee took his life savings of $75 and a couple of horses and decided to explore the nation, traveling at just three miles an hour. Needless to say, Lee is not your typical 63-year-old. But one year prior to his career change, Lee was diagnosed with...

A bus veered off a bridge and plunged into a river on Friday in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, killing seven people, officials said. The Investigative Committee, Russia’s top criminal investigations body, reported the death toll. It did not state how many others were injured, but the emergencies ministry earlier said that six people removed from the bus were in critical or serious condition. Russian news reports said there were 15 people on the city bus when it broke through a barrier and plunged into the Moika River in central St. Petersburg. Six of those who were onboard climbed out...