World's oldest known fossils push evidence for life back by 220 million years

The oldest fossils known to date have been discovered in 3.7 billion-year-old rocks in Greenland by an Australian-led team of researchers.

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Researchers discover how human immune receptors become activated in the presence of harmful substances

In George Orwell's classic dystopian novel Animal Farm, as the barnyard devolves into chaos the slogan "all animals are equal" quickly becomes "all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others". The same might be true for the tiny immune receptors scattered across the surface of our T-cells. Before now, it was unclear how these complex molecular receptors recognised harmful invaders (or antigens) and sent warning signals into the cell. It was largely assumed that "all receptors were equal".

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TD9 Development up to 2016-08-31, then +5 Day Forecast.

This animation models surface winds of the development of TD9 up to the current day, 2016-08-31, then seamlessly shows the +5 day potential path of the storm, up to 2016-09-01. The entire sequence is then repeated showing wind power density. Data from the GFS 2016-08-31T06:00Z run. Hurricane Gaston makes an appearance then spins out of the frame harmlessly.

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People enhanced the environment, not degraded it, over past 13,000 years

Human occupation is usually associated with deteriorated landscapes, but new research shows that 13,000 years of repeated occupation by British Columbia’s coastal First Nations has had the opposite effect, enhancing temperate rainforest productivity. Andrew Trant, a professor in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo, led the study in partnership with the University of Victoria and the Hakai Institute. The research combined remote-sensed, ecological and archaeological data from coastal sites where First Nations’ have lived for millennia.

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Did you know dogs can donate blood, too? Calling all hero’s

In the USA; 46% of US homes have a dog, yet I have never heard any advertisements for it. I had to inquire after I read about it. My dog donated, it was quick, easy and he got so much attention and treats.

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Dogs Understand Human Words and Intonation

Dogs have the ability to distinguish words and the intonation of human speech through brain regions similar to those that humans use, a study in the 2 September issue of Science reports. The results reveal important insights into the neural networks needed to understand speech, hinting that perhaps both humans and dogs may have relied on similar networks that were already in place before language evolved, and later adapted to process speech.

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Will This “Neural Lace” Brain Implant Help Us Compete with AI?

“Can we just inject electronic circuits through a needle into the brain, or other tissue, and then connect it, and then monitor? Yes, we can, and that’s where we are today.” By Kiki Sanford

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The U.S. plans to build the most advanced fusion reactor ever

The US government has put its weight behind efforts to create an economically viable fusion reactor, endorsing a new category of designs that could become the most efficient and viable yet. Re-creating the atom fusing processes that sustain the sun on Earth has long been one of the holy grails of modern physics. Hydrogen fusion has been powering out Sun for the past 4.5 billion years now, and it’s still going strong — a machine that could safely and stably harvest these processes would offer humanity safe, clean, and virtually endless energy.

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Second Manassas showed how bloody Civil War would be

If the stunning Confederate victory at First Manassas in July 1861 had shown that a long, hard road lay ahead in this war, Second Manassas would show how bloody it would be.

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Solar powered pipe desalinates seawater into drinkable fluid.

For the 2016 land art generator initiative, Khalili engineers propose a solar powered pipe to desalinate seawater into drinkable fluid.

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Will a Merged Tesla-SolarCity put a Solar-Powered Battery in every Home?

Critics don't think Tesla can sell enough home batteries to justify its acquisition of SolarCity, but what they're underestimating is the potential for innovation the Gigafactory brings.

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A Tale of Two Standoffs

The federal response to Lakota protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline couldn't be more different than their reaction to this year's Bundy occupation. By Michael McLean.

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California is about to find out what a truly radical climate policy looks like

The state’s new climate law will mean so much more than a few solar panels and electric cars.

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A lightning strike killed 323 reindeer, and this is the ghastly aftermath

It was the deadliest -- and probably eeriest -- strike ever recorded.

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Largest Quakes to Hit Katla Volcano in Decades

Two earthquakes of magnitude 4.6 and 4.5 hit Katla volcano in Mýrdalsjökull glacier last night, followed by a series of aftershocks. These are the largest quakes to hit Katla since 1977, when a 5.1 earthquake was measured there.

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Bad taxonomy can kill world records

Or, When the world's tallest dandelion isn't actually a dandelion.

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Temples Inside Caves Are What Remains of an Ancient Buddhist Society

Western India is home to the last relics of a 2,000-year-old culture.

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Dog becomes legendary for daily walks to town

The lumbering figure comes into view shortly after sunrise. His pace is steady, his resolve determined on his four mile walk up Highway 84. Bruno, a wandering, wooly, wolf of a dog, is on his way to town. “It's just been his routine as far back as I know,” says Sharon Rouse, who watches Bruno’s arrivals from the picture window of the Hansen Realty office, where she works the reception desk.

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The Wari's grisly end—the fall of a South American empire

The first Andean empire conquered modern-day Peru—then broke up 1,000 years ago. By Lizzie Wade.

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Just a bee

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How Sunflowers Follow the Sun

The secret is in their stems.

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More than 300 Reindeer Killed by Lightning in Norway

Reindeer often huddle together during bad weather, which is likely why so many were killed during the storm, according to the Norwegian Environment Agency.

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Scientists have discovered that human-induced climate change dates back at least to 1830

Continents and oceans in the northern hemisphere began to warm with industrial-era fossil fuel emissions nearly 200 years ago, pushing back the origins of human-induced climate change to the mid-19th century. The first signs of warming from the rise in greenhouse gases which came hand-in-hand with the Industrial Revolution appear as early as 1830 in the tropical oceans and the Arctic, meaning that climate change witnessed today began about 180 years ago.

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Major rivers of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta become unusually deeper

Vietnamese scientists have warned of the unusual increase in the depth of two major rivers in the Mekong Delta, with sand mining and hydropower dams said to be the cause. (Aug. 16, 2016)

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Why our ancestors drilled holes in each other's skulls

For a large part of human prehistory, people around the world practised trepanation: a crude surgical procedure that involves forming a hole in the skull of a living person by either drilling, cutting or scraping away layers of bone with a sharp implement. To date, thousands of skulls bearing signs of trepanation have been unearthed at archaeological sites across the world. But despite its apparent importance, scientists are still not completely agreed on why our ancestors performed trepanation.

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Elephants are the end of a 60m-year lineage – last of the megaherbivores

Four-tuskers, hoe-tuskers, shovel-tuskers are all wiped out – now only a fragment of this keystone species remains. By Patrick Barkham. (Aug. 12, 2016)

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Tropical Depression 8 forms off North Carolina Coast Sunday

The system could become Tropical Storm Hermine on Monday and pass just offshore of the Outer Banks, N.C., on Tuesday.

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Blood in Honduras, Silence in the United States

By Lauren Carasik. (Aug. 16, 2016)

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Watch a Wasp Take Control of a Cockroach’s Brain

A video captures the dark side of insect mind control. By Katherine Harmon Courage.

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Danuta Siedzikówna - Polish National Heroine, executed August 28, 1946

Danuta Siedzikówna (nom de guerre: Inka; underground name: Danuta Obuchowicz;Polish national heroine. Born 3 September 1928, Guszczewina – died 28 August 1946, Gdańsk) was a medical orderly in the 4th Squadron (created in the Białystok area) of the 5th Wilno Brigade of the Polish Home Army.[1] In 1946 she served with the Brigade's 1st Squadron in Poland's Pomorze (Pomerania) region.

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Man fails paternity test because his unborn brother is the father of his child

It is thought cells from a miscarried sibling were absorbed by the man while he was in the womb. By Shehab Khan. (Oct. 24, 2015)

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Tories’ failure to halt ivory trade ‘risks extinction of elephants’

The UK is putting elephants at risk of extinction through its broken promises on the ivory trade, according to campaigners. Before the last election, the Conservative party pledged to shut down the UK’s domestic ivory market: at the time 30,000 elephants a year were being slaughtered for their tusks. But no action has been taken. While bans on the international trade in ivory exist, a failure to observe similar measures at a national level is being exploited by criminal gangs who smuggle ivory into the UK, where it can be passed off as antique.

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Cherry Tomato Sauce, A Late-Summer Blast Of Sweetness

Bursting with sweetness, cherry tomatoes are making their seasonal comeback. Here's how the Italians capitalize on their outsized flavor.

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How Ants Make Gardens in the Sky

You probably think of ants as living in those dusty little hills that you accidentally kick on the sidewalk. But high above neotropical rain forests, certain ants create elaborate nests. The ants share their nest with numerous species of epiphytes, AKA non-parasitic plants that grow on other plants. Some of these plants only grow in or near ant nests. Clearly, these ant gardens are not ordinary anthills.

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Kids Practice Reading to Shy Shelter Dogs at Humane Society

The kids help the pups learn to socialize with humans. Children can practice their reading and help timid shelter dogs learn to socialize in a new mutually beneficial program at the Humane Society of Missouri. In the Shelter Buddies Reading Program, kids can read to a completely non-judgmental audience and also help acclimatize often timid or anxious shelter dogs to the presence of humans.

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Boys

Last weekend I was in Silkeborg. In the evening some fountains are lit up by light. A couple of boys swam out to the biggest fountain and stood there for a while - long enough for me to take a photo :-) M o r e pictures on my site.

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Crusader-Era Grenade Found Among Artifacts Collected By A Civilian

Crusader-era hand grenade found among an incredible trove of archaeological artifacts collected by electric company worker.

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At least 8 Tornadoes Touched Down in Indiana

The National Weather Service says a single, long supercell thunderstorm that moved through Indiana produced six tornadoes.

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Is Blue the New Green? Wave Power could Revolutionize the Renewable-Energy Game

There's enough wave energy in the oceans to power the world, and scientists are finally close to harnessing it.

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Double Tropical Threat Looms for Hawaii Next Week

Hawaii is facing not one, but two tropical threats next week as Madeline and Lester churn westward.

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Why Doctors Once Treated Fevers and Hysteria With Mashed-Up Bedbugs

From Ancient Greece through the 18th century, bedbugs were used as medicine.

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Typhoon Lionrock to Barrel into Japan's Northern Honshu Island on Tuesday

Typhoon Lionrock is poised to make landfall in Japan early next week with heavy rainfall, damaging winds and an inundating storm surge.

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Whale Shark Seeks Help - Video

Australian fisherman saves a whale shark from an almost certain death in an act of intelligence and kindness Whale shark asks fishermen for help

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North Atlantic 'Weather Bomb' Tremor Measured in Japan

Researchers track a particular type of tiny vibration for the first time, as it wobbles through the Earth from the Atlantic to Japan.

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The Song in the Heart of Many Chinese Comes From Insects

Chirping bugs like katydids, cicadas and crickets are prized as pets and are ingrained in the culture.

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Obama Creates the Largest Protected Place on the Planet, Off Hawaii

Expansion of 2006 monument will protect rare corals, fish, birds and marine mammals

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Clash of the Storms by Camelia Czuchnicki

A clash between two storm cells in New Mexico, US in June 2014, each with it's own rotating updraft. It appeared as though one updraft was anticyclonic, resulting in a very turbulent scene.

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How do animals see in the dark?

To human eyes, the world at night is a formless canvas of grey. Many nocturnal animals, on the other hand, experience a rich and varied world, bursting with details, shapes, and colors. What is it, then, that separates moths from men? Anna Stöckl uncovers the science behind night vision.

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The National Park Service just turned 100. We visited one of its filthiest, most forgotten sites

Dead Horse Bay, the National Park Service site where the waves clink with broken glass, is a reminder of New York City's brutal past.

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The Mammoth Pirates

In Russia's Arctic north, a new kind of gold rush is under way.

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