The Loom
Your hands are, roughly speaking, 360 million years old. Before then, they were fins, which your fishy ancestors used to swim through oceans and rivers. Once those fins sprouted digits, they could propel your salamander-like ancestors across dry land. Fast forward 300 million years, and your hands had become fine-tuned for manipulations: your lemur-like ancestors used them to grab leaves and open up fruits.
Mediterranean and Near Eastern Fieldwork at Penn
The Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project is an international, multidisciplinary, scientific investigation at the sanctuary of Zeus on Mt. Lykaion, Arcadia. According to ancient authors, this sanctuary was famous in antiquity as the site of Pan-Arcadian and Pan-Hellenic athletic contests in honor of Zeus, and for an impressive open-air altar where human sacrifice reportedly took place.
Bad Astronomy
Well now, this is an interesting discovery: astronomers have found what looks like a "super-Earth" – a planet more massive than Earth but still smaller than a gas giant – orbiting a nearby star at the right distance to have liquid water on it! Given that, it might – might – be Earthlike. This is pretty cool news. We’ve found planets like this before, but not very many! And it gets niftier: the planet has at least five siblings, all of which orbit its star closer than it does. Now let me be clear: this is a planet candidate; it has not yet been confirmed.
NOVA
Can Wind Turbines Make You Sick? Residents living in the shadows of wind turbines say the sound is making them sick. But so far the science isn't there. From NOVA Next | Jun 27, 2018 Thirty Years Ago Today, Global Warming First Made Headline News On June 23, a NASA climate scientist, James Hansen, told a U.S.
Mars Panorama - Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 177
NASA's Mars Exploration Program (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) This self-portrait of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity combines 66 exposures taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) during the Sol 177th of Curiosity's work on Mars (Feb. 3, 2013). The rover is positioned at a patch of flat outcrop called "John Klein", which was selected as the site for the first rock-drilling activities by Curiosity. The self-portrait was acquired to document the drilling site. The rover's robotic arm is not visible in the mosaic. MAHLI, which took the component images for this mosaic, is mounted on a turret at the end of the arm.
Pharyngula
Probably not. But the New York Times reports: A review of studies has found that the health benefits of infant male circumcision vastly outweigh the risks involved in the procedure. Actually, it doesn’t.
Documentaries
Medical marijuana is legal in 20 states and the District of Columbia, but there are still use cases that are very controversial, like medical marijuana for children. Some claim it’s a wonder drug for epilepsy, severe autism, and even to quell the harsh side effects of chemotherapy, while others decry pumping marijuana into still-growing bodies. […] What’s the biggest threat to humanity you can think of? Pollution, disease, natural disasters, terrorism, crime, drugs…? But do we ever think about our basic life support needs? We usually don’t have to because luckily for us we have a system.
NeuroLogica Blog
Jan 13 2017 Cognitive Biases in Health Care Decision Making This was an unexpected pleasant find in an unusual place. The Gerontological Society of America recently put out a free publication designed to educate patients about cognitive biases and heuristics and how they can adversely affect decision making about health care. The publication is aimed at older health care consumers, but the information it contains is applicable to all people and situations.
