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	(Sponsor this newsletter) Roman-Era Shipwreck Yields Moon Goddess Statue, Coin Stashes A ship in Israel's Caesarea Harbor was filled with bronze statues headed for recycling when it sank about 1,600 years ago. Now, thanks to a chance discovery by a pair of divers, archaeologists have salvaged a haul of statuary fragments, figurines and coins from the seafloor. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced today (May 16) the discovery of the Late Roman-era artifacts, which include a figurine of a moon goddess and a lamp carrying the likeness of a sun god. Read More » Remarkable evidence of ancient humans found under Florida river By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers who dove hundreds of times into a sinkhole beneath the brown murky waters of Florida's Aucilla River have retrieved some of the oldest evidence of human presence in the Americas including stone tools apparently used to butcher a mastodon. Scientists said on Friday the tools, animal bones and mastodon tusk found at the site showed that people already had occupied the American Southeast by 14,550 years ago, about 1,500 years earlier than previously known. The site provided some of the most compelling evidence that humans had spread across the New World earlier than the so-called Clovis people, who archeologists for six decades considered the Americas' first people. Read More » Echoes of Ancient Cosmology Found at Prehistoric Native American Site The so-called Heckelman site, located near the town of Milan, in Ohio's Erie County, is on a flat-topped bluff above the Huron River. There, people of the "Early Woodland" period of North American prehistory erected tall, freestanding wooden poles as part of the group's social or religious ceremonies. Archaeologist Brian Redmond, a curator at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, said the location of the site appeared to echo a conception of the cosmos common to many Native American peoples. Read More » Cosmic Dust on Earth Reveals Clues to Ancient Atmosphere The oldest space dust yet found on Earth suggests that the ancient atmosphere of Earth had significantly more oxygen than previously thought, a new study finds. Although oxygen gas currently makes up about one-fifth of Earth's air, there was at least 100,000 times less oxygen in the primordial atmosphere, researchers say. Previous research suggests that significant levels of oxygen gas started permanently building up in the atmosphere with the Great Oxidation Event, which occurred about 2.4 billion years ago. Read More » New State of Water: Strange 6-Sided Molecule Found A strange new behavior of water molecules has been observed inside crystals of beryl, a type of emerald, caused by bizarre quantum-mechanical effects that let the water molecules face six different directions at the same time. Under normal conditions, the two hydrogen atoms in each water molecule are arranged around the oxygen atom in an open "V" shape, sometimes compared to a boomerang or Mickey Mouse ears. But in a new experiment, scientists have found that hydrogen atoms of some water molecules trapped in the crystal structure of the mineral beryl become "smeared out" into a six-sided ring. Read More » Genes tell how the giraffe got its long neck By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have sequenced the genome of the giraffe for the first time, uncovering DNA quirks that help explain how the tallest animals on earth developed their remarkably long necks. To pump blood two meters up from the chest to the brain calls for a turbo-charged heart and twice the blood pressure of other mammals. Giraffes also need special safety valves to let them bend down for a drink and raise their heads again without fainting. Read More » Robotic Toy 'Leka' Designed for Kids with Autism However, there's another spherical, programmable, rolling robot currently in development that's capable of doing important work to engage children with special needs, particularly children on the autism spectrum. Described by its designers as "a robotic companion," the roly-poly Leka robot is shaped like a ball, has an endearing "face" that changes expressions, and uses sound, light and colors to interact with users through customizable games that improve cognitive and motor skills. Caregivers and educators can program the toy to guide children with developmental disabilities through a range of activities, helping them to improve communication and learn to connect with their environment and with others around them. Read More » NASA launches near-space monitoring balloon from New Zealand NASA successfully launched a super pressure balloon from New Zealand's South Island Wanaka Airport Tuesday to conduct near-space scientific investigations. The launch marks the fifth attempt to get the massive balloon airborne, with previous bids thwarted by bad weather, NASA said in a release. Long-duration balloon flights at constant altitudes play an important role in providing inexpensive access to the near-space environment for science and technology. Read More » Genes tell how the giraffe got its long neck By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have sequenced the genome of the giraffe for the first time, uncovering DNA quirks that help explain how the tallest animals on earth developed their remarkably long necks. To pump blood two metres up from the chest to the brain calls for a turbo-charged heart and twice the blood pressure of other mammals. Giraffes also need special safety valves to let them bend down for a drink and raise their heads again without fainting. Read More » Silent But Deadly: Half of All Heart Attacks Have No Symptoms Nearly half of all heart attacks may have no symptoms at all — but that doesn't mean they're any less deadly than heart attacks with symptoms, a new study finds. "Silent" heart attacks account for 45 percent of all attacks in the U.S., according to the study, published today (May 16) in the journal Circulation. In addition, the researchers also found that silent heart attacks raise a person's risk of dying from heart disease by three times, compared with if they had not had a heart attack. Read More » That's My Mom: Mother's Voice Lights Up Kids' Brains There really is something special about a mother's voice, science confirms. Children's brains respond more strongly to their mothers' voices than to the voices of strangers, even when heard for only a fraction of a second, according to a new study published today (May 16), in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We know that hearing [their] mother's voice can be an important source of emotional comfort to children. Read More » Doctors Perform US' 1st Penis Transplant A 64-year-old man in Massachusetts has become the first person in the United States to receive a penis transplant, doctors announced today. The patient, Thomas Manning, needed his penis removed in 2012 because of aggressive penile cancer. The penile transplant was performed in order to reconstruct the genitalia so it has a more natural appearance, restore urinary function and hopefully achieve sexual function, the doctors said. Read More »
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FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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	(Sponsor this newsletter) BRIEF-Changsheng Bio Technology's unit signs agreement with Japan's Gene Techno Science May 16 (Reuters) - Changsheng Bio Technology * Says unit signs agreement with Japan's Gene Techno ScienceCo Ltd on medicine project Source text in Chinese: http://bit.ly/24TYsrJ Further company coverage: (Reporting by Hong Kong newsroom) Read More » Volcanoes Spit Out 4.5-Billion-Year-Old Pieces of Earth Materials from Earth's mantle that were created within the first 50 million years of the solar system's birth have been discovered. In fact, the material — found within volcanic rock on Canada's Baffin Island and in a region near the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific — is about 4.5 billion years old, researchers said in a new study. Read More » Why Belief in Witchcraft Can Do Harm Belief in witchcraft is linked to a lack of trust for people in sub-Saharan Africa, new research finds. In regions where witchcraft belief is high, people are less likely to trust others, including their family, neighbors and local institutions, American University economist Boris Gershman reports in the May issue of the Journal of Development Economics. "What's more, the children of immigrants from countries with high prevalence of witchcraft beliefs are more distrusting than children of immigrants from other countries," Gershman found, suggesting that such beliefs may contribute to the formation of persistent antisocial attitudes. Read More » Newly Discovered Fetus Is Youngest Egyptian Mummy on Record A computed tomography (CT) scan of the coffin revealed that the coffin didn't hold mummified internal organs, as researchers had suspected, but instead contains the tiny mummy of a human fetus, according to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England. "This landmark discovery … is remarkable evidence of the importance that was placed on official burial rituals in ancient Egypt, even for those lives that were lost so early on in their existence," museum researchers said in a statement. The British School of Archaeology originally uncovered the 17-inch-long (44 centimeters) coffin in Giza in 1907, and the Fitzwilliam Museum added the coffin to the museum collection that same year. Read More » Insect Astronomers? Dung Beetles 'Photograph' the Sky While Dancing For dung beetles, that means a dance and a mental photograph. A new study finds that dung beetles take a snapshot of the positions of celestial bodies while "dancing" on top of a ball of dung. Previous research discovered that dung beetles, like other insects, use the light of the Milky Way to navigate. Read More » Newfound Ax Blade May Be World's Oldest, Researchers Say What could be the world's oldest stone ax blade has been identified from fragments found in an ancient rock shelter in northwest Australia, according to archaeologists. The ax fragments were found in layers of sediment at Carpenter's Gap, a large rock shelter in Windjana Gorge National Park,in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Using carbon dating, the fragments are estimated to be between 46,000 and 49,000 years old — much older than similar composite stone axes found elsewhere in Australia and Japan that date from between 30,000 and 35,000 years ago, the researchers said. Read More » Elephantiasis: What Causes This Strange Condition? A Brazilian man with elephantiasis, a rare condition in which people's limbs become discolored and swell to enormous sizes, was recently featured on the popular Animal Planet show "River Monsters," which often films in tropical, heavily forested locales. As the name "elephantiasis" implies, the condition causes a person's limb to resemble that of an elephant. Elephantiasis is actually a complication of a parasitic infection called lymphatic filariasis. Read More »
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FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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	(Sponsor this newsletter) For first time, scientists grow two-week-old human embryos in lab By Kate Kelland LONDON, (Reuters) - Scientists have for the first time grown human embryos outside of the mother for almost two full weeks into development, giving unique insight into what they say is the most mysterious stage of early human life. Scientists had previously only been able to study human embryos as a culture in a lab dish until the seventh day of development when they had to implant them into the mother's uterus to survive and develop further. "This it the most enigmatic and mysterious stage of human development," said Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, a University of Cambridge professor who co-led the work. Read More »
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	(Sponsor this newsletter) Gluten-Free Diets May Be Risky for Kids Putting kids on gluten-free diets even if they don't have celiac disease or a wheat allergy may carry more risks than benefits, experts warned. In recent years, gluten-free diets have become increasingly popular. A 2015 survey found that 25 percent of Americans said they consume some gluten-free foods, up from just 8 percent in 2013, according to the market research company Mintel Group. Read More » Docs Retrieve Misfit Shine from Girl's Stomach — Device Still Works A 13-year-old girl swallowed her Misfit Shine activity tracker while swimming, but the gadget still worked after doctors retrieved it from her stomach, according to a new report of the case. At the hospital, an X-ray showed the device was in her stomach. The physicians became concerned the device might come apart, exposing the internal lithium battery, which could damage the girl's stomach or intestines. Read More » Why Texting Isn't Like Other Kinds of Distracted Driving A "sixth sense" may protect drivers when they're a bit distracted behind the wheel — but not if they're texting while driving, a new study finds. The work was led by researchers at the University of Houston and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, and was funded in part by the Toyota Class Action Settlement Safety Research and Education Program. Normally, "the driver's mind can wander, and his or her feelings may boil, but a sixth sense keeps a person safe, at least in terms of [avoiding] veering off course," Ioannis Pavlidis, a professor of computer science at the University of Houston and the lead author of the study, said in a statement. Read More » Scarred, Sunken Mastodon Hints at Earlier Human Arrival in Americas Nearly 15,000 years ago, early humans gathered by a small pond in what is now Florida, near Tallahassee. A team of scientists recently investigated the artifacts in their underwater resting place, known as the Page-Ladson archaeological site. For decades, many archaeologists staunchly affirmed that humans settled in the Americas no earlier than 13,200 years ago. Read More » The Truth Is Out There: Do Area 51 Files Hold Secrets of UFOs? In her race to secure the Democratic nomination for president, Hillary Clinton has recently drawn support from an unusual voter base — alien enthusiasts. First in a radio interview, then again on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Clinton expressed interest in making public files about UFOs and the mysterious Nevada site called Area 51. If there's nothing there, let's tell people there's nothing there," said Clinton, speaking with Kimmel. Read More »
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