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Washington(CNN)US intelligence agencies still do not know "exactly where, when or how Covid-19 virus was transmitted initially" in China but remain focused on two primary theories, that "it emerged naturally from human contact with infected animals or it was a laboratory accident," the nation's top spy told Senate lawmakers on Wednesday.

Uncle Hugo's and Uncle Edgar's were legendary among the community of science fiction, fantasy, and mystery readers—and now they're gone. Venerable Minneapolis science fiction and fantasy bookstore Uncle Hugo’s and its sister store in the same building, Uncle Edgar’s, which specialized in mysteries, were both burned to ruins last Friday night by rioters. The store took its name from two major awards in the genre fields, science fiction’s Hugo awards, and mysteries Edgar’s. Independent bookstores are a threatened American institution, and Uncle Hugo’s was considered a flagship operation. Owner Don Blyly was noted for his ability to adapt to modern...

Help! I need recommendations for fun reading material. I really enjoy mysteries and have been re-reading some Agatha Christie books, because so many of the newer books are PC or extremely gory. Also, I prefer my reading material to be clean. Humor books are also good, as well as real crime and crime solving methods, as long as it's not too hair-raising. Fiction or non-fiction, as long as it's entertaining. Are there mysteries out there where the detective has at least somewhat conservative values? Are there ones set in the past that don't have feminist females entirely out of character...

EGYPT 2000 BC: Drills were used that turned 500X faster than today's power drills and bored into granite rock with ease. Dentists worked with cement fillings, dental bridges, and inserted artificial teeth. Doctors performed pregnancy tests, determined the sex of an unborn child, fed nourishment through tubes, fitted artificial legs and hands; and used anesthetic and sophisticated instruments to perform bone and brain surgery? Mysterious moving walls, automatically flashing lights and lamps that shone century after century, non-stop? A detailed map of Antarctica dating back thousands of years, without ice! A 400 ft pyramid was found on the seabed. 44...

The Watcher A family bought their dream house. But according to the creepy letters they started to get, they weren’t the only ones interested in it. One night in June 2014, Derek Broaddus had just finished an evening of painting at his new home in Westfield, New Jersey, when he went outside to check the mail. Derek and his wife, Maria, had closed on the six-bedroom house at 657 Boulevard three days earlier and were doing some renovations before they moved in, so there wasn’t much in the mail except a few bills and a white, card-shaped envelope. It was...

A scientific study claims to shed new light on the decades-long mystery of what happened to Amelia Earhart. Richard Jantz, an emeritus anthropology professor at the University of Tennessee, argues that bones discovered on the Pacific Island of Nikumaroro in 1940 were likely Earhart’s remains. The research contradicts a forensic analysis of the remains in 1941 that described the bones as belonging to a male. The bones, which were subsequently lost, continue to be a source of debate. Earhart, who was attempting to fly around the world, disappeared with navigator Fred Noonan on July 2, 1937, during a flight from...

If you’re a lover of a good mystery, then get a load of some of these amazing phenomena! Some people think we’re not meant to understand everything in the world and in the universe. Others think there’s a logical explanation for everything. We just think that there are some amazing mysteries in the world that are waiting to be solved. So take a look at some of these X-files, you’ll definitely be scratching your head. Maybe you’ll wonder how you never heard of them before… and maybe question, just who is keeping this so quiet? ... 9. Red glow over...

Last 'alphabet series' novel published in AugustAuthor Sue Grafton, known for her best-selling "alphabet series" of mystery novels, has died at age 77, according to a statement from her daughter. Jamie Clark wrote on both the author's official Facebook page and on her website, that he mother died Thursday night in Santa Barbara, California, following a two-year battle with cancer. Notable deaths of 2017 “Although we knew this was coming, it was unexpected and fast. She had been fine up until just a few days ago, and then things moved quickly,” the posting said. Grafton published the first novel in...

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Mystery Is Deep and Yet Vertical – A Brief Meditation on the Christian Meaning of Mystery By: Msgr. Charles PopeIn the secular world, a “mystery” is something which baffles or eludes understanding, something which lies undisclosed. And the usual attitude of the world toward mystery is to solve it, to get to the bottom of it, or to uncover it. Mysteries must be overcome! The riddle or “whodunit” must be solved!In the Christian and especially the Catholic world, “mystery” is something a bit different. Here, mystery refers to the fact that there are hidden dimensions in things, people, and situations that...

During the past 2,500 years, the Parthenon—the apotheosis of ancient Greek architecture—has been rocked by earthquakes, set on fire, shattered by exploding gunpowder, looted for its stunning sculptures and defaced by misguided preservation efforts. Amazingly, the ancient Athenians built the Parthenon in just eight or nine years. Repairing it is taking a bit longer.

[BIG snip] Santorum's ad and his Op-Ed, meant to mock Gingrich, in reality can only distinctly not help Santorum's struggling campaign. Gingrich will surely make the inevitable -- and correct -- connection between Santorum's ad and a serious attack on the Reagan space legacy -- and the dreams of America itself. "We'll continue our quest in space…. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue," said President Reagan that tragic January night. Well, no they won't. Not if Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney have anything to say about it. "I promise," says Santorum. Worse, whether Santorum's staff understands it...

The mysteries of the universe are as vast and wide as existence itself. Throughout history, mankind has searched and struggled to find the answers tucked away inside the universe and everything we see around us. .. True, we have yet to come up with the answers to life, the universe, and everything — but oh do we have questions! Solving these mysteries may help to explain not only the creation of the universe, but also how it works, why it works, and possibly how it will end. 1. The Higgs boson The Higgs boson is a hypothetical particle whose accompanying...

The Mysteries as Voiced by Ms. TuTu Farcical Pythian Oracle As the year began in 2010, Ms. Tutu Farcical of the Oracle wrote an article that we thought should be revisited. We thought it would be interesting to see if any of the questions plaguing us at the time from 2008 – 2009 were answered during the last two years. Not only have most of them not been addressed, but we could easily add more questions that have arisen since her initial publication. It should be noted that Ms. Farcical is not a forward-looking prophetic woman. Instead she looks deep...

Why was the GOP aced out in Massachusetts and Connecticut? How did Blago’s right-hand man win in Illinois? And eight other unanswered questions. With only a handful of House races still being sorted out, the 2010 midterm elections are now almost entirely settled. And yet, despite all the vote totals, exit polls, and other data we have received, we’re left with some results that are almost maddening. 1. The New England doldrums: New Hampshire is back to being a GOP-leaning state, with Kelly Ayotte taking the Senate race and Republicans winning back both House seats, which they had lost in...

A human foot was found washed ashore on Whidbey Island in Washington state on Friday. The bare foot was found at about 11:15 a.m. by a tourist on the east side of the island, near the town of Greenbank. It is the ninth severed foot to be found on the B.C.-Washington coast since August 2007, with seven of those in B.C. “Based on what we’re seeing, we’re estimating that it either belongs to a female or a juvenile, because it’s a smaller size,” said Island County Det. Ed Wallace.

A powerful new solar observatory will spend the next five years recording images of the sun with 10 times better resolution than HD television, peering deep within the sun's layers to reveal just how solar storms erupt. The observations could help scientists build the first effective models for space weather forecasting. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is slated for launch on Feb. 10 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. It carries three instruments that will pierce the mysteries enshrouding the sun's magnetic fields and ultraviolet radiation, which together help shape the Earth's atmosphere every day. "The unique...

The Invariant Set Postulate differentiates between reality and unreality, suggesting the existence of a state space, within which a smaller subset of state space (reality) is embedded. (PhysOrg.com) -- Since the early days of quantum mechanics, scientists have been trying to understand the many strange implications of the theory: superpositions, wave-particle duality, and the observer’s role in measurements, to name a few. Now, a new proposed law of physics that describes the geometry of physical reality on the cosmological scale might help answer some of these questions. Plus, the new law could give some clues about the role of...

The Fruits of the Mysteries of the Rosary When I was growing up, my mother and I would say the rosary every day together. Before each decade, she would announce the mystery and the fruit, or virtue, associated with it. I have continued the practice of saying the rosary in my adult life. Indeed, it is one of my favorite devotions and can’t imagine life without it. I do remember all the mysteries of the original Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious sets of five decades. It took me a while, but I even managed to memorize the Luminous Mysteries established by...

....In one celebrated case uncovered by Professor Schwartz's team, an 18-year-old boy who wrote poetry, played music and composed songs was killed in a car crash. A year after he died, his parents came across a tape of a song he had written, entitled, Danny, My Heart Is Yours. In his haunting lyrics, the boy sang about how he felt destined to die and donate his heart. After his death, his heart was transplanted into an 18-year-old girl - named Danielle. When the boy's parents met Danielle, they played some of his music and she, despite never having heard the...