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A newly devised type of silica bead could help save melting glaciers from the onslaught of climate change, scientists say. The innovative new approach, developed by a company called Ice911, employs minuscule beads of 'glass' which are spread across the surface layer of glaciers. There they help to reflect light beating down on them and slow what has become a tremendous pace of melt throughout the last several years. 'I just asked myself a very simple question: Is there a safe material that could help replace that lost reflectivity?' Found of Ice911, Leslie Field, told Mother Jones. What they landed...

Rupa Huq is planning to table an amendment outlawing protests outside abortion clinicsA Labour MP is planning to table an amendment to new domestic violence legislation to ban protests outside abortion clinics. Rupa Huq, the MP for Ealing Central and Acton, told a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference that pro-life protesters were “weaponising rosary beads” outside a clinic in her constituency. HuffPost UK quotes her as saying: “We have a Marie Stopes clinic in Ealing and for as long as I can remember, there has been a constant phoney vigil outside the clinic, with people stopping women going...

Ancient Human Behavior Uncovered Article Date: 24 Jun 2007 - 4:00 PDT A major question in evolutionary studies today is how early did humans begin to think and behave in ways we would see as fundamentally modern" One index of 'behavioural modernity' is in the appearance of objects used purely as decoration or ornaments. Such items are widely regarded as having symbolic rather than practical value. By displaying them on the body as necklaces, pendants or bracelets or attached to clothing this also greatly increased their visual impact. The appearance of ornaments may be linked to a growing sense of...

An international team of researchers led by Oxford University have new dating evidence indicating when the earliest fully modern humans arrived in the Near East, the region known as the Middle East today. They have obtained the radiocarbon dates of marine shell beads found at Ksar Akil, a key archaeological site in Lebanon, which allowed them to calculate that the oldest human fossil from the same sequence of archaeological layers is 42,400-41,700 years old. This is significant because the age of the earliest fossils, directly and indirectly dated, of modern humans found in Europe is roughly similar. This latest discovery...

A recent excavation led by archaeologist George Nash in November 2010 at the Trefael Stone in south-west Wales - originally a portal dolmen transformed in later times in a standing stone - has revealed a small assemblage of exotic artefacts including three drilled shale beads, identical to those found at a nearby Early Mesolithic coastal habitation site. These items, each measuring about 4.5 centimetres in diameter, were found within a disturbed cairn or post-cairn deposit... Similar perforated shale beads have also been found at a number of other sites including Manton Warren (Humberside), Newquay (Cardiganshire), Star Carr (Yorkshire) and Staple...

Green-friendly washing machine uses just one cup of water Bill Westwater, chief executive of Xeros Peter Stiff Hippies may not be the most frequent visitors to the launderette, but soon they will have no excuse not to wash their clothes, thanks to a new environmentally friendly washing machine — that uses only one cup of water and leaves clothes virtually dry — set to go on sale next year. The technology, developed at the University of Leeds, aims to save up to 90 per cent of water used by conventional machines, use 30 per cent less energy and have the...

A cache of 70,000 beads from all over the 17th-century world have been unearthed from Saint Catherines Island, Georgia, a stop along a Spanish trade route between China and the Philippine capital of Manila. The beads reflect a startling array of shapes, colors, sizes, and materials, hinting at the wide reach of the Spanish Empire in the 17th century, archaeologists report. So far, researchers with an ongoing project funded by the American Museum of Natural History have found roughly 130 different types of beads, some of which include as many as 20,000 samples. "We also have found perhaps the first...

First farmers made 'lucky beads'The green beads were prized by early agriculturalists Some of the first farmers in the Near East probably used green beads as amulets to protect themselves and their crops, a study suggests. The authors of the research suggest that early agriculturalists attached special importance to this colour. Beads they recovered from dig sites in Israel had been made from a variety of green minerals and the farmers went to great efforts to obtain them. Details appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal. Daniella Bar-Yosef Mayer, from Israel's University of Haifa, and Naomi Porat,...

Dig uncovers African beads buried in ancient village By Sean O’RiordanMay 22, 2008 BEADS that originated in Africa are some of the treasures archaelologists have found as they begin to explore an ancient settlement in north Cork. Test trenches also revealed pottery and weapons from a medieval period. In addition, there was evidence of prehistoric settlements in the area and an early ecclesiastic settlement, possibly from the 7th-8th century. Evidence of a large moat and cobbled walkways were also uncovered. Experts are due to conduct major excavations within weeks. One archaeologist said: “It’s one of the most exciting discoveries in...

Shells may represent oldest known beads Bruce Bower Three sea-snail shells previously discovered at Stone Age sites in Israel and Algeria contain intentionally fashioned holes in their centers, making the finds the oldest known examples of personal decoration, a research team says. HOLE IN TWO. Two perforated shells from an Israeli site dated to between 135,000 and 100,000 years ago appear in different views (top group and bottom group). Vanhaeren, F. d'Errico The trio of perforated shells apparently served as beads, conclude Marian Vanhaeren of University College London and her colleagues. Holes in the shells look nothing like those that...

Janice, an African American woman, age 55, is all fired up against the Democrats in Louisiana. Said "I bet you those buses were running on election day!"

Mont Pleasant Middle School in Schenectady, New York, is today’s liberal lunatic of the day, the first institution to receive the title.  Mont Pleasant qualified when school officials violated the constitutional rights of one of its students, twelve-year-old Raven Furbert. Raven Furbert was a typical student before she received a string-it-yourself bead kit for Christmas.  Her uncle, J.D. Barnes, a Police Officeir of 10 years, is serving in Iraq.  So she made a red, white and blue beaded necklace to express her patriotism and her support for the troops.  One Tuesday, In January, she wore the necklace to Mont...

This is a copy of the reply I have recieved from the President of the Board of education of the school district that banned red, white and Blue beads that a young girl wore for her uncle in Iraq. Dear Mr. Marko: You are quite wrong. There are gangs in our community but not our schools, because we take a hard line on anything that remotely resembles gang activity. We have removed beads from a number of students, without regard to color. In fact, expressions of partriotism and support for our troops is not only permitted but encouraged. At Mt....

Chopper Crew Grounded Over Public Prank By ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press Writer CANBERRA, Australia - The crew of an Australian military helicopter was suspended after one of the fliers held up a sign asking women to bare their breasts as the aircraft flew by spectators at a car race, a defense force spokesman said Tuesday. The soldier held the crudely worded sign urging women to partially disrobe to the open door of an army Iroquois helicopter as it passed by crowds watching the Lexmark Indy 300 car race at Surfers Paradise, a coastal resort south of the Queensland state capital...

Ostrich beads indicate early symbolic thought 18:25 31 March 04 NewScientist.com news service Stone Age beads revealed by archaeologists on Wednesday could be the strongest evidence yet that humans developed sophisticated symbolic thought much earlier than once thought. The ostrich egg beads and numerous other artefacts, including ochre pencils, carved bone and stone tools, were recovered from the Loiyangalani River Valley, in Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. The archaeologists who discovered the relics have yet to date them precisely, but believe they originate from the African Middle Stone Age - between 280,000 and 45,000 years ago. This is because they...