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"Giant mammals roamed North America during the Ice Age, but were humans among them? A site in Vero Beach on Florida's East coast contains mammoth, mastodon, giant ground sloth—and human fossils. The problem is that humans were not yet supposed to have been there, according to the standard story told to generations of archaeologists. When discovered in the early 1900s, researchers insisted that the Vero Beach human remains washed in long after the large mammals fossilized. But new results, like so many other similar reinvestigations of old sites, show they were made at the same time and that humans lived...

The Permian Basin has hit an all-time high for the number of active oil rigs. What we're seeing right now is the impact of a thriving oil industry, we're in the middle of a historic boom. It seems like we are breaking records left and right. First in retail spending, sales tax revenues and now oil rigs, this is a boom to remember. "It's a good time to live in west Texas," said Morris Burns, Oil and Gas Consultant. More rigs, more oil, more money. The Permian Basin is in the middle of a historic boom. "It's certainty excellent economic...

Gigantic amoebas have been found in the Mariana Trench, the deepest region on Earth. During a July 2011 voyage to the Pacific Ocean chasm, researchers with Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and National Geographic engineers deployed untethered landers, called dropcams, equipped with digital video and lights to explore the largely mysterious region of the deep sea. The team documented the deepest known existence of xenophyophores, single-celled animals exclusively found in deep-sea environments. Xenophyophores are noteworthy for their size, with individual cells often exceeding 4 inches (10 centimeters), their extreme abundance on the seafloor and their role as...

NEW YORK (AFP) – Here's heavy metal music that won't give you a headache: a French-built organ with more than 6,000 steel pipes that has just started thundering from a New York church. The organ, built by master artisans in France, draws on centuries of French organ tradition, creating an authentic Baroque sound that other makers just can't copy, according to organist Dennis Keene. "It reminds you of Versailles at the king's arrival. We don't have this kind of sounds in the US," Keene enthused. The instrument, comprising a staggering 6,183 pipes in 111 ranks, will be officially inaugurated in...

A story: Once upon a time there lived a giant. The giant had massive strength, determination and ingenuity. The giant worked hard and prospered. He accumulated great wealth. He generously shared his abundance with those in need and those who were suffering.  And he was happy to do it. The giant’s neighbors saw him prosper and they were jealous. They said to the giant that even though the giant had been very generous, they had less than he. He owed it to them to give more. It is only fair, they said. The giant could easily afford to share, so...

The world's largest neutrino telescope – made from a giant cube of ice at the South Pole – aimed at detecting subatomic particles traveling near the speed of light has been completed, researchers announced today (Dec. 20). http://www.livescience.com/environment/south-pole-neutrino-observatory-construction-finished-101220.html

The guys at Hyundai come up with the mother of all vuvuzelas

A preliminary geological survey has indicated that there might be about 26 million barrels of recoverable oil a mile under the sand near two kibbutzim in the northern Negev. That would amount to about $2 billion at current prices. There might be 12 million additional barrels further down. This news comes a day after drilling began on the Leviathan, a record-setting exploratory well in a massive natural-gas field off the coast of Haifa. The area is thought to contain 16 trillion cubic feet of gas, and it might also contain oil.

The ‘slow boat’ to Centauri concept we’ve discussed before in these pages envisions generation ships, vessels that take thousands of years to cross to their destination. And based on current thinking, that’s about the best we could manage with the propulsion systems currently in our inventory. Specifically, a solar sail making a close solar pass (a ‘sundiver’ maneuver) could get us up to 500 or 600 kilometers per second (0.002c), making a 2000-year journey to the nearest star possible. It’s hard to imagine under what circumstances such a mission might be launched.But let’s think long-term, as Greg Matloff (New York...

Swells of calorie-rich planktonic krill have attracted more giant blue whales off the Palos Verdes Peninsula than local whale watchers can ever remember. Since last week, onlookers have been treated to a virtual whale playground. As many as 25 giants at once have been spotted from shore in recent days. This is extraordinary, considering that only 2,000 blue whales have been documented in the north Pacific Ocean. The blue whales' massive smooth backs, geyseral blows, and spade-like flukes have rushed the heartbeats of those who have witnessed the largest mammals ever known to A blue whale surfaces and exhales. (Scott...

COLOGNE, Germany (AFP) – Huge effigies of US President Barack Obama and bankers made up as zombies from Michael Jackson's famous "Thriller" video starred in Germany's biggest carnival procession here on Monday. More than a million people braved the snow to line the route of the seven-kilometre (four-mile) parade, where revellers traditionally poke fun at current events and enjoy tonnes of sweets hurled from the travelling floats. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's alleged night with a call girl was rewarded with a huge figure showing a beaming premier surrounded by breasts. Obama's controversial Nobel Prize was also the butt of...

CHICAGO (AFP) – Huge Asian carp, which act like "aquatic vacuum cleaners" and leap into the air when spooked by motorboats, may have invaded the US Great Lakes despite a massive effort to block them, officials said Tuesday. Researchers analyzing water samples have discovered fragments of Asian carp DNA in Lake Michigan, although there is still no evidence that that fast-breeding fish have breached electric barriers set up along Chicago-area waterways. "Clearly this is not good news," said Major General John Peabody, commanding general of the US Army Corps of Engineers' Great Lakes and Ohio River division. The Corps is...

As part of the Fiat - Chrysler alliance, the Italian carmaker will bring several new models in the United States but the 500 mini car will be the only one to be sold under the Fiat badge. The car is going to be produced by Chrysler in Mexico and, according to people close to the matter, the US-based former bankrupt automaker has already required suppliers to make sure that their parts are enough for around 100,000 Fiat 500. The Fiat 500 produced in Mexico will be sold in the US, Canada and South America, Bloomberg reported, with initial production goals...

The Giant Pool of Money What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to the Giant Pool of Money I have wanted to hear this or read the transcript every since I first heard portions of it on my car radio. I was driving to Pennsylvania on Interstate 81 with a destination of McConnellsburg to join some friends for a week-end of camping and shooting skeet. I...

LYRICS Im rigged to fire, and Im set to blow. I cannot live in this state, break down the doors, smash every window, to help the orphans escape. What would Jesus do? I think illuminate. You know whats unbiblical? Thats Jesus sitting in some blackened room. These people live so violated and were concerned with church agendas. Oh My God. Pure religion says I fight this war. The hidden millions in our own backyard, exploited masses. These kids are all alone, waiting for someone. I tell you whats biblical. The Master came to set the captives free, and we...

Conservation Groups Again Seek Endangered Species Protection For Giant, Spitting Worm In Wash. (AP) Fans of the giant Palouse earthworm are once again seeking federal protection for the rare, sweet-smelling species that spits at predators. They filed a petition Tuesday with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requesting the worm be protected as an endangered species.

Strange circles have once again appeared in the frozen surface of Lake Baikal in Siberia, as spotted by astronauts aboard the International Space Station this April. News reports described the ice rings as a puzzling phenomenon. But experts say they can explain the mystery, and it's not aliens - methane gas rising from the lake floor represents the likely culprit. Methane emissions can create a rising mass of warm water that begins swirling in a circular pattern because of the Coriolis force, or the phenomenon caused by the Earth's rotation that also helps create cyclones. "Once the water mass reaches...

This giant feral pig was shot on a Pilbara, Australia, cattle station after it was spotted eating a dead cow.

From Barack Obama's official website: “I wanted to make an art piece of Barack Obama because I thought an iconic portrait of him could symbolize and amplify the importance of his mission. I believe Obama will guide this country to a future where everyone can thrive and I should support him vigorously for the sake of my two young daughters. I have made art opposing the Iraq war for several years, and making art of Obama, who opposed the war from the start, is like making art for peace. I know I have an audience of young art fans and...