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Our universe's rate of expansion keeps getting stranger. New data continues to show a discrepancy in how fast the universe expands in nearby realms and more distant locations.  The study's researchers said this "tension" could mean we need to revise our understanding of the physics structuring the universe, which could include exotic elements such as dark matter and dark energy. New measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gaia space telescope together showed that the rate of expansion nearby is 45.6 miles per second per megaparsec. This means that for every 3.3 million light-years a galaxy is farther away from...

Genetically modified babies given go ahead by UK ethics body The creation of babies whose DNA has been altered to give them what parents perceive to be the best chances in life has received a cautious green light in a landmark report from a leading UK ethics body.The Nuffield Council on Bioethics said that changing the DNA of a human embryo could be “morally permissible” if it was in the future child’s interests and did not add to the kinds of inequalities that already divide society. The report does not call for a change in UK law to permit genetically...

The Wxrisk.com site is run by a local meteorologist in Virginia, Dave Tolleris, aka "DT". He does commercial forecasting for clients, with his 'products' being European Grain and Energy weather... Overseas (China Ukraine Russia India) Daily weather... Overseas weekly and 30 day reviews... US Grain forecasts... HDD and CDD forecasts...30 day forecasts... South America daily weather... 6-10 day and 11-15 energy forecasts... The Winter storm newsletter. DT contributes to the community with non-commercial forecasting for our local weather with his famous (because they're accurate!) snow forecasts and pointing out when it would be wise to pay attention to the weather...

Scientists have long linked the evolution of the human hand—unique for its lengthy opposable thumbs and dexterous fingers—to the rise of stone tools some 2.6 million years ago. These instruments, from primitive chunks of rock used as makeshift hammers to sharp stone flakes created by striking one stone against another and even small handaxes, are typically attributed to Homo habilis, an ancient human species nicknamed “handy man” in honor of its theorized role as the first toolmaker. Early hominins practiced an array of tool-related activities, including hunting, foraging and cooking. But according to a new study from researchers at Chatham...

The ongoing eruption of Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano and continued lava flows into the sea has created a tiny new landmass off the Big Island, officials revealed Friday. The U.S. Geological Survey said the tiny island formed off the northernmost part of the ocean entry from Fissure 8, and was oozing lava similar to that of the larger lava flow along the coast. In photos posted by the agency, the "island" is just a few meters off shore, and about 20 to 30 feet in diameter. "It's most likely part of the fissure 8 flow that's entering the ocean—and possibly a...

The Shroud of Turin, which has been revered by some Christians as the burial cloth of Jesus, could be a fake, according to a new forensic investigation. The investigation into the bloodstain pattern on the cloth was reported Tuesday in the Journal of Forensic Sciences and is apparently the first such analysis of the controversial shroud. Held in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, the shroud shows the image of a crucified man and has been analyzed and scrutinized for many, many years. The Vatican regards it as an icon, rather than a religious relic—and the...

In the lowest layer of the Area 15 archaeological grounds at the Gault Site in Central Texas, researchers have unearthed a projectile point technology never previously seen in North America, which they date to be at least 16,000 years old, or a time before Clovis. While clear evidence for the timing of the peopling of the Americas remains elusive, these findings suggest humans occupied North America prior to Clovis - considered one of the oldest, if not the oldest, Paleo-Indian culture of North America, and dated to around 11,000 years ago. In 2002, Area 15 of the Gault Site in...

A research team led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) found the fingerprint of a massive flood of fresh water in the western Arctic, thought to be the cause of an ancient cold snap that began around 13,000 years ago... The cause of the cooling event, which is named after a flower (Dryas octopetala) that flourished in the cold conditions in Europe throughout the time, has remained a mystery and a source of debate for decades. Many researchers believed the source was a huge influx of freshwater from melting ice sheets and glaciers that gushed into the North Atlantic... However,...

Can anyone else go outside and take shoot some decent local photos of tonight's Venus-Moon event with your DSLR? Please NO Interweb photos, ONLY originals from your local view, thanks!

Could an ancient children's burial ground contain clues about how one of the world's greatest empires came to an end? Andrew Thompson explores the theory that malaria was the silent killer responsible for the fall of Rome. Today in the west, most people have forgotten how deadly malaria used to be, although there were serious malarial epidemics in many parts of Italy as recently as the 1950s. But each year, mainly in Africa, it still kills over two million people, most of them children. While there are several mentions of a disease sounding very similar to malaria in historical documents...

...the experts have shown the end of the occupation of this part of the province of Seville happened between the 24th and 23rd centuries BCE, despite evidence of it being frequented and used in the Bronze Age (c. 2200-850 BCE). "In fact, the abandonment of the site seems rather abrupt, without a gradual transition towards a different social model. The possibility that the end of the Valencina settlement was due to a social crisis has been hinted at by the dates obtained from several human skulls separated from the rest of the skeletons in a pit in a Calle Trabajadores...

Consider the ancient human fossils from a Moroccan cave called Jebel Irhoud, which were described just last year. These 315,000-year-old bones are the oldest known fossils of Homo sapiens. They not only pushed back the proposed dawn of our species, but they added northwest Africa to the list of possible origin sites. They also had an odd combination of features, combining the flat faces of modern humans with the elongated skulls of ancient species like Homo erectus. From the front, they could have passed for us; from the side, they would have stood out. Fossils from all over Africa have...

Ancient bones found around the Strait of Gibraltar... dating to the first few centuries AD or earlier, belong to grey whales and North Atlantic right whales -- coastal migratory species that are no longer found in European waters. Researchers... add that Romans would not have had the technology to hunt whale species found in the region today -- sperm or fin whales which live further out at sea -- meaning evidence of whaling might not have been something archaeologists and historians were looking out for... The right whale was once widespread in the North Atlantic, with breeding grounds off the...

A medieval gaming board has been found by archaeologists working to find a lost Pictish-era monastery in Aberdeenshire. Archaeologist Ali Cameron said the board found near Old Deer was a "very rare" find with it used to play the Norse strategy game of Hnefatafl. A date for the board has yet to be established but a similar piece found in Birsay, Orkney, in 1989 was dated to the Late Iron Age/Pictish period from the 5th to 9th Century AD. Ms Cameron said: "It is a very rare object and only a few have been found in Scotland, mainly on monastic...

By comparing genomic signatures from 71 mitochondrial and seven nuclear genomes of ancient North American and Siberian dogs spanning a period of 9,000 years, the research team was able to gain a clearer picture of the history of the first canine inhabitants of the Americas. The oldest dog remains in the Americas date to about 9,000 years ago... These dogs persisted for thousands of years in the Americas, but almost completely vanished after European contact, the researchers found... The team also discovered that the genomic signature of a transmissible cancer that afflicts dogs appears to be one of the last...

In a seismic decision from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and U.S. Department of State (DOS), Cody Wilson’s open-source 3D printed firearm file sharing site Defense Distributed is no longer banned from distributing 3D models of guns. In the legal battle it was deemed that the ban was in breach of the First Amendment – imposing censorship on a gun maker’s rights to expression. It was also decided on the basis that certain types of guns are not “inherently military” and, seemingly, present less of a threat to the population.

These guys built a NERF bazooka/rocket launcher and it is positivalutely SCARY and awesome to behold. 2.5" barrel, pneumatic system powered by a 9-volt battery. The "NERF darts" are pool noodles with PVC fittings, put together and look exactly like ginormous official NERF ammo. 3D printed cosmetics including flip-up sights, safety switch and button to fire. Finally it's painted with the same scheme as real NERF toys.Here's the video of it on YouTube.

A mere 2 hours before his grisly murder about 5,300 years ago, Ötzi the iceman chowed down on some mouthwatering morsels: wild meat from ibex and red deer, cereals from einkorn wheat and — oddly enough — poisonous fern, a new study finds. It's unclear why Ötzi ate the toxic fern, known as bracken (Pteridium aquilinum). But it's possible that he used the fern to wrap his food, almost like a piece of plastic wrap, and then unintentionally ingested some of the toxic spores the fern left behind, said study co-senior researcher Albert Zink, head of the Eurac Research Institute...

The dental record reveals that Richard III had no congenitally missing teeth, in sharp contrast to the 'bones in the urn', where both skulls are said to present this genetic anomaly. Previously it has been argued that this feature provided strong evidence of the royal identity of the 'bones in the urn'. It was claimed that the 'Princes' inherited their missing teeth from their grandmother, Cecily, Duchess of York. But Dr Ashdown-Hill's latest discovery strongly suggests that the 'bones in the urn' are not related to Cecily's son, Richard III, who was a first degree relative of the 'Princes'. Scientific...

View Academic Paper DogsBite.org was recently introduced to a variety of works by internationally acclaimed animal behaviorist Alexandra Semyonova -- born in the U.S. and educated at John Hopkins University and University College London. Semyonova writes with breathtaking honesty about issues that matter the most: the reality of selecting for aggression and the repeated denial by humane organizations and dog breeders that such selection bears no hereditary significance. Semyonova's 8-page academic paper explains, in easily understandable terms, the roots and results of selective breeding. Semyonova states in the opening sentence, "Probably everyone understands that all dog breeds we have created...