Edge: "That Damn Bird"

Study into the abilities of grey parrots to respond to spoken questions regarding subjects of colour and quantity, in an attempt to chart the similarities between vocal communication in birds, primates and humans.

Irene Pepperberg's work has over the past 26 years involved the parallels between learning to serially stack objects like toys and cups in perfect order, and the ability to develop more complex syntactic sentences, allowing them to express their wish to have or be given some or more of a predefined object.

It is comparatively easy for parrots to distinguish pairs of objects or subjects, but takes them much longer to accommodate thinking around three or more objects, but with training, it can be done. This is delineated by the transition of saying something like 'want nut' to 'want green nut', and in the case discussed, took the parrot 10 months.

However, it seems you can ask a parrot too many questions, as it was noted that although there was an 80% accuracy rate, there were times when the parrot gave all the wrong answers, simply to avoid giving the correct one, causing the researchers to conclude that the bird was trying to convey its boredom with the task, which almost gives them a Machiavellian aspect.

We obviously assume ourselves to be masters of communication, and it is indeed this phenomenon that marks out what we term the more intelligent species on Earth, whether it be through the written and spoken word, or vocal exclamations or bodily gestures, that are more prevalent in the animal world - and what seems to be common among them is an occasional desire to mislead or confuse other communicants. Indeed, it could be argued that one of the main uses of communication is to confuse and deceive others, but that's another post.

A common statement of those claiming to have been involved in communication with aliens or EBEs, often remark that such communications took place on a mental, or telepathic level, with victims often claiming that they felt as if their entire minds were being probed, and that all information therein was read and understood by their ET acquaintances. Although many might marvel at such abilities, and wish for a time when humans can emulate such mental feats, many more will feel that in so doing we will be surrendering our wills and minds forever, as our every thought and emotion will be constantly monitored and verified for compliance.

image 'Communication' Isabelle Cardinal

Mystery of the planets: It's in the stars. Really

Continuing the theme of stars, planets and tides, here's a discussion of whether there's any basis in astrology, which holds that our very lives are to some or other extent directed by the forces of our local celestial bodies.

We know for instance that our Moon governs high and low tides, as well as stabilising the spinning motion of Earth, and the author asks whether our thoughts and actions can be similarly affected. For instance there's a well documented myth that claims accident and crime rates soar with each Full Moon, and even one that claims gamblers are on average, 2% luckier with the benefit of a fully shining moon bearing down upon them.

Although popular astrology has recently, and indeed often, taken a bashing at the hands of the scientific community, statistical research is reported to have shown that some professions are dominated by people of specific birth-signs, as described in a book by astronomer Percy Seymour - claiming not to beleive in horoscopes, he stated that the Sun, Moon and stars all have an influence over us.

Of course, no amount of works published that pour scorn on astrology will discourage the hundreds of millions of people worlwide, who check their daily stars in a plethora of publications, nor those who seek to guide and help us through life's daily trammels and soul-searching travels.

image by Kagaya from truthtree.com

The Case for Habitable Exoplanet Moons

It may well turn out that as we colonise space, moons rather than other planets, will be more suitable for sustaining us. At the start of the article, we learn that planets circling other stars tend to be far more massive than Earth, and only one out of the 167 discovered so far is comparable in size to us, and thus far none of them look able to support humans or our fellow flora and fauna.

The trick is to find large enough planets that support moons, which in turn would be able to maintain sufficient amounts of water in an atmosphere conducive to harbouring life. Although most planets would appear to be too hostile, the tidal interactions between some of the planets, particularly gas giants and their predicted moons, might allow for life to be nurtured there.

The analogy is made of moving the planet Mars to the current position of icy moon Europa, off Jupiter, where the spin energy of the gas giant would create tidal heating on the Martian surface, by an amazing 'tens of degrees', to the extent that it's believed that the dormant volcanoes on Mars would be kick-started back in activity.

As mentioned in previous posts, there are those who believe our very own Moon, (and even other bodies in our solar system), was placed in orbit around us by an unknown civilisation, who recognised that its steadying effect on the Earth's spin would allow for humans to eventually be able to sustain themselves and civilisation. They further contend that the Moon itself is an encoded message to us, alerting us to the possibility of modifying our own, or other solar systems, by the not-so simple expedient of shifting planets and moons to different locations.

The man behind the study is Caleb Scharf, an astrobiologist, is much more optimistic at finding suitable moons for humans, once he has detected enough exoplanets that have these moons, and this search will be continued by the satellites COROT and Kepler, due to launch between now and 2008.

image Europa

Links to Kepler and COROT missions

Giving the President a Pink Slip in New York City

The good citizens of New York turned out on the streets yesterday to voice their continued disapproval at the state of the war in Iraq, with inscribed placards such as 'Drop Bush, Not Bombs', 'How Many Lives Per Gallon', and 'I'm Already Against The Next War', referring to the seemingly inevitable conflict with Iran, thought to be starting anytime soon.

Tom Engelhardt then introduces us to some of the people he encountered, indicating that many different types of protestor had gathered from various social groups, including Iraq and Viet Nam war veterans to the increasingly vociferous 'grannies', who opine that a great deal of US youth today lacks the necessary drive to get up and oppose what is being done in the name of their nation, and more to the point, what is being done 'to' their country - TV and related apathy are thought to be to blame for this.

The article continues with more interviews with marchers, and it's very clear that Bush is being held responsible by many Americans, just as unhappy with his domestic performance in the wake of Katrina as they are with his foreign policies, and that they are demanding that their Senator, Hillary Clinton to be great deal more vocal in reflecting their disapproval, and calling for the immediate recall of troops and abandonment of permanent military bases down in Iraq.

Given these levels of opposition, it will be much harder for Bush to sell a war with Iran to the public, whose administration might be wondering what type of event or atrocity they could blame on that nation, to justify once more unleashing the dogs of war.

image ny times

A Site to Be Seen: Ancient Earthworks Electronically Rebuilt, Now to Travel

There's a travelling exhibit that's due to hit the road in Cincinnati from June 20th, ending Septmeber 30th, featuring virtual reconstructions of 39 earthworks, and fittingly named " Earthworks: Virtual Explorations of the Ancient Ohio Valley", which has been 10 years in the making.

Due to the ravages of mankind and agricultural concerns, many mounds that could once have been seen dotting the landscape, have now all but disappeared, representing a huge cultural loss that can never be directly replaced, which make efforts such as this all the more valuable and welcome.

It's not known what will happen to the exhibition after it closes, but maybe they might consider the international option by bringing it over to the UK, or elsewhere in Europe, as it would definitely arouse a great deal of interest, especially in this household.

image virtual earthworks Marietta, Ohio

Link to CERHAS

Scientists make water run uphill

The original experiment, devised by a Dr Heine Linke who works in the field of molecular motors, was to see if random energy can be coerced into directed motion, by getting water vapour to transport water along a predetermined path, and as the headline suggests, they succeeded. There is even a small video clip for our edification, just in case we don't believe them, presumably.

It's thought that with further research, it should be possible to use this application to help cool overheating processors in our computers - at present the devices in place, like heat sinks and fans, themselves generate heat, adding to the overall problem. This new finding should not only enable us to cool down existing machines, but will allow for much more powerful chips that should be immune from overheating, allowing us to work longer and later into the night.

Link to the Linke Group

Chelsea Win Premiership - Chelsea 3-0 Man. Utd.

With this emphatic win over their closest rivals, Chelsea have won back-to-back Premiership titles, and although there are still two more games to play, the season is effectively over, but many feel it could have been better.

Dumped out of the FA Cup by Liverpool in the semi-finals, and being knocked out of the Champions League by the mighty Barcelona were the two low points of the season, and it remains to be seen whether next year will see them progressing farther and actually winning in Europe.

Although the club will obviously be delighted at a second Premiership win, there have been rumours that behind the scenes all might not be well - manager Jose Mourinho was rumoured to have had furious rows, possibly with Peter Kenyon, and there might be speculation that Chelsea will look for a new manager over the Summer, in a bid to win that elusive UEFA Champions League. A possible replacement might be Brazilian Felipe Scolari, in the news right now for having rejected the chance to become next England coach, once the current incumbent has quit after the upcoming World Cup. For his part, Mourinho might yet pitch up at Real Madrid, who have a very capricious attitude regarding their head Coach appointments. In a post-match interview, he expressed the thought that he wished he felt happier, and this after he had thrown his tie, jacket and winners medal, into the crowd - he made the same gesture after winning the Champions League with Porto, 2 years ago, a sign that head already left them and was now looking to the future and his next job with Chelsea.

It's also likely that there will be quite a few comings and goings in the close season, with Chelsea possibly looking to replace 5 or 6 players, hoping to do business, as with Germany captain Michael Ballack, before players' value rockets upwards after good displays in the World Cup.

England's chances in this competition may have suffered a setback this afternoon, with news that Wayne Rooney was stretchered off the field of play, after what looks ominously another injury to the ankle he broke in Euro 2004 - it is fervently hoped that he can recover before the Summer. He is one of a very small handful of truly world class players we have, and his loss could be a mortal blow to our chances of even reaching the knock-out stages.

In conclusion, a good note for Chelsea to end a season that was effectively over by last October, and it will have given them particular pleasure to win it against Man. Utd, and by such a decisive margin, especially after their coach Ferguson had warned in the Press that next year would see Man Utd. making a far stronger challenge for honours, but once again they end their season with nothing more than a League Cup win.

I was hunting UFOs, says Pentagon's UK hacker

A cautionary tale of what can befall the unwary hacker, especially when those hacked systems belong to the US security apparatus, not that such actions will deter the determined or the sufficiently curious.

The curiosity that was sparked in Gary McKinnon stemmed from what he tells us was his desire to discover the reality of the alien and UFO phenomena, and any possible associated supressed technology, but as far as we know he didn't manage to find anything of Earth-shattering import.

For his efforts, he faces extradition from Britain to the US, where he could be fined £1.75 million, as well as a 70-year stretch in jail, none of which can be affording him much in the way of optimism, as he ponders his future.

It is being claimed that his intrusions into the Pentagon, NASA and the Johnson Space Centre, caused nearly £400,000 of damage, combined with the unlikely claim that he 'crippled vital defence systems' in the days following 9/11 - an emotive issue that can be thrown into the mix at the slightest prompting, but what else would we expect from this current administration and its henchmen. In all likelihood he was merely browsing files, rather than running programmes or altering data, so its hard to see what damage could have been caused, apart from the embarassment and frustration at being breached from the outside. All of which would appear to make for his trial ending up a foregone conclusion, even before his plane takes off from Heathrow, and as such he remains apprehensive about his immediate future. He has made enigmatic references to what he did find, implying that he may have more to say at a later date, providing of course, that he is free to do so. But that's what they all say...

Deciding whether our ancestors evolved as a single lineage may depend more on philosophy than fossils.

Here's some further coverage by Nature, of the recent australopithecine finds from the Afar region of Ethiopia, and a discussion of whether they truly represent a linear continuity of different species living in that region between 4.4 million, and 2.9 million years bp.

Up until these recent discoveries of A. anamensis, there was only one other known set of specimens, found about 700 miles away in Kenya, although plenty of other discoveries have been made close to the Asa Issie site, including A. afarensis, and Ardipithecus ramida, proving that this region was once home to a bewildering array of proto-humans.

Because three different species have been found in three consecutive, and therefore chronologically dated strata, it is being claimed that we are able to witness evolution as a progressive that spawned new species, in this case bewilderingly quickly.

However, it could also be argued that like quantum particles, new species seem to suddenly wink in and out of existence, indicating a possible correlation between the worlds of the sub-atomic and the superficial.

But, as mentioned in previous post, by far the greatest mystery of this discovery, is how was it that as many as 8 individuals were discovered in the same location, as back in those days of extremely sparse populations, 8 folks was probably quite a large gathering - maybe they represent an entire group that was wiped out without warning, or an unlucky group of individuals who were survived by others.

Of course, we don't yet have the configuration of how the bodies lay relative to each other, nor any pictures that would give any indication of any pattern. It would appear that their bodies originally rested in a ravine cut by rain, and it may be that they were thrown down there by their kith and kin after they had died, though why this would be done is not known - possibly an attempt to cover them to avoid being gnarled and chewed by hyena, or other hungry fauna.

It would be too much to expect the bodies being laid out deliberately, or for them to be oriented to various points of the compass, as seen in much later prehistoric burial customs, and there is always the possibility that they were all prey at various times to predatory fauna, and were dragged down there after having been killed, to be consumed out of the sight of other scavengers.

We don't even know if the site marks a place where 8 indivduals all died together, in groups or even singly. Potential incidents might include them being the victims of an internecine struggle that went very badly wrong, or that they fell victim to some sort of catastrophic illness, such as poisoning from bad food. Then again, it could have been a bolt of lightning, caught in a freak hailstorm, or they may have been caught in a flash flood or accompanying landslide. A similar scenario was discovered at Shanidar, in Iraq, where the remains of 10 or more Neanderthals were discovered, and deemed to have all died in a sudden and lethal rock-slide.

The true story of this site will be an ongoing mystery for some time to come, assuming that anyone decides to follow that line of investigation, but at the moment, no-one seems to have broached that subject.

Seducers from Inner Space

Before reading the linked article, please be advised that it contains some semi-explicit sexual references - not much, but maybe enough for you to get hot under the collar, so if that's not your thing, you might wish to look away now.

Author Randall Fitzgerald takes us on a tour of things that go hump in the night, whether you want or participate or not, and questions exactly from where these apparitions originate, and what it is that causes or motivates them.

He relates how a number of apparitions and encounters with human-looking females caused him to go on a search to define exactly what was happening to him - the experiences happened while he was awake, as he recalls having to don his spectacles in order to clearly see the facial details, leading him to conclude he was being visited by something akin to the jinns, incubi and succubi of yesteryear.

He then goes on to opine, as have many others, that these visitations, particularly prevalent during the Middle Ages, bore a striking similarity to modern day sightings of, and meetings with, what are perceived to be aliens, thought largely to be a cultural phenomenon of our present times. However, I would counter that there are numerous, possible portrayals from thousands of years ago, of what resemble our notion of aliens from rock art sites across the world, specifically in the US south-west, and the far northern regions of the Australian outback, and to a lesser extent, Europe.

The article continues by discussing the nature of these encounters from a wide range of characters, including legendary Neanderthal apologist, Stan Gooch, and whether there is any link between these events and various aspects of sleep paralysis and related disorders, an explanation most often suggested by the medical establishment. Even these people however, are not able to account for such phenomena as stigmata and all manner of other bruises and marks found on the bodies on some of those claiming to have had these experiences, or that local temperatures can suddenly rise or fall dramatically during some events.

Of course it's possible that we are visited by both creatures from the supernatural dimension as well as beings travelling in from the outside - or maybe we humans are the only creatures who experience paranormal visions, hitching a ride on the ether in order for them to be able to manifest themselves before us using the same mental apparatus that we use. Maybe it is this anomalous behaviour or ability on our part that has drawn in one or other curious aliens, fascinated to find out how such phenomena can exist for us, but not for them.

Socialists: Give apes human rights

I'm sure the Spanish Socialist Party are only acting out of good intentions, as they justify their proposals to give apes human rights because they share over 95% of their genetic make up with ourselves, but would we really be doing the apes a favour by according them equal status with ourselves.

Bearing in mind the way in which countless millions of human beings in the present, and down through history, have had their human rights used, abused and trampled into the dust, maybe being a member of the human club isn't always what it's cracked up to be.

There may come a time in the future when extra-terrestrial or inter-dimensional beings might be considering whether to grant humans some sort of parity with themselves, based on some notional aspect, genetic or otherwise, of a shared commonality. As they would appear to know all our secrets, yet seem unwilling to share theirs with us, that day could be a very long way off in the future.

image Hieronymus Bosch 'Garden of Earthly Delights - Hell' c.1504

James Bond's Spy Agency Advertises for First Time in History

A few years ago, our internal security service, MI5, advertised to the world that they were hiring, and various applicants who rang to enquire were greeted by a message, from someone claiming to be the KGB, informing the startled job-seekers that their details were now in the hands of the Russians. I can't remember if they ever found who had hacked MI5's recorded message, but how we laughed at the time.

So now MI6, responsible for our external spying on the rest of the world, have let it be known that they too are looking for more spooks to swell their ghostly ranks, and doubtless there will once again be thousands of hopefuls, dreaming of a life in espionage, followed possibly, by a retirement in sun-kissed exile, who make that call.

I had always been under the impression that it was the security services who made the first advances to whichever individual they hoped to persuade, cajole or blackmail into working for them, and I'm not sure what sort of message advertising for new talent is sending to the nation.

But unless you're one of these go-ahead, all-action, multi-talented and super motivated at all times of the day and night types, it's probably not worth your while applying - long gone are the days when being a dodgy lounge-lizard of questionable integrity were pre-requisites for the job, which in many ways is only to be regretted.

Cartoon history of race to Mars

As another Bank Holiday weekend looms into view, thoughts inevitably turn to art exhibitions and the dusty corridors of museums, and sometimes we even make it out of the house to go and visit some of them.

If you're walking near the British Museum, which inevitably will be full to the gunwhales with enthusiastic tourists, keenly taking in what so many of us residents take for granted, you might want to make the short journey around the corner to the Cartoon Museum, on Little Russell St.

Colin Pillinger, the man credited, to the chagrin of many unsung others, as being responsible for putting the Beagle 2 mission into operation, has collated a cartoon history of our modern obsession with the Red Planet, apparently in a quest to show that scientists have a sense of humour, something we'll have to take his word for.

As I recall, the Beagle 2 mission only cost £50 million, and although that's a great deal of money to most of us, in the context of Governmental committment to exploring space, is almost nothing - we should be sending up these missions all the time, to every planet, moon and comet we can get to, at least until we can start sending up some manned missions.

Archaeologists seize unique opportunity to discover ancient secrets under Olympic site

While the rest of London tries to drum up some sort of enthusiasm for the Olympics of 2012 - which according to the Mayans, will be the last one ever held, (pre-)historians have struck archaeological gold.

I live near one of the busiest streets in London, and never tire of telling anyone who will listen that it follows the route of a Palaeolithic trackway dating back at least 15,000 years - and that's before we hit the Underground, where the people who dug the tunnels so far below current ground level, came across fossilised crocodiles that date back to a time when the UK was under a warm, shallow sea.

In what's described as Britain's biggest ever dig, covering an area greater than the City of London - the financial district, rather than London as a whole - remains and artifacts have been found dating back to the Mesolithic, 8,000 years ago, and once again it looks as if we have more timber trackways, built to aid navigation across the swampy conditions, that to some extent still prevail today.

We are often told that it was the Romans who came over here 2,000 years ago, and constructed a network of roads that covered thousands of miles across Britain. However, there is good evidence that in many cases the Romans were merely following the routes of tracks laid out thousands of years earlier - although it has to be admitted that the size and quality of the Roman roads revolutionised travel, as they allowed the fast and free flow of large numbers of men and materiel to more or less anywhere of importance on mainland Britain, south of Hadrian's Wall.

Link to road history in Britain

Bradshaw Paintings of the North West Kimberley, Australia

Although this isn't a news item, and the image has been posted by me before, these rock paintings from northern Australia deserve a brief showing from time to time, particularly in these times when we expect to see strange creatures and aliens from outside this world, rather than from within.

The reason for posting this specific image is that it reminds me of listening to Whitley Strieber, on one of his Dreamland shows (I think), in which he described a boyhood incident. This involved him and some friends sitting in a car-park, and seeing a malevolent (?) small man/genie, who was floating around in a bubble, in their vicinity, appearing out of nowhere, and presumably disappearing back there shortly thereafter.

There's probably no link between the two, but it would be interestng to discover what had prompted someone to paint such a being, as well as all the other Wandjina images, which in some instances almost bear a passing resemblance to some of the depictions found in the Four Corners region of the south-western US.

Moon Race: U.S. Not Alone in Future Lunar Exploration

If you've recently set up your retirement home on the Moon, hoping for a bit of peace and quiet in your twilight years, be prepared to entertain a stream of international visitors inbound from Earth, as various space agencies race to stake out their particular patch of lunar land.

Although there are no scheduled human landings due for a few years yet, the Moon itself will be scrutinised as never before, with promises of 'tons of detail' - which originally was what we were promised from ESA's strangely silent Smart-1 mission, now scheduled for September impact on to the lunar surface, hopefully after any data has been transmitted back to Earth.

Most notable of the Moon missions is India's Chandrayaan-1, aiming to place a satellite in orbit, which will follow Japan's SELENE, and precede China's Chang'e-1, with NASA's LRO bringing up the rear, all slated to launch 2007/8.

Although the current spate of missions in the offing all originate from nations who more or less manage to co-exist with each other, it can only be a matter of time before less friendly powers like Iran or North Korea announce that they too would like a slice of the stellar action - and it will be interesting to see the efforts of their opponents, as they try to forestall this eventuality.

Links ISRO CNSA JAXA

Mars Global Surveyor MOC2-1444 Release

There's a fresh crop of photos to see, the most mysterious of which is posted here, going by the title of 'Russell Extravaganza'. From here, it looks as though this part of the Martian surface is alive and wet, maybe even watery, and certainly not resembling the fossilised landscape that is officially portrayed.

On an unrelated note, and partly to fill the space left by the brevity of the paragraph above, we're half way through a TV Turn-Off Week, although naturally you won't have seen it mentioned or advertised on TV. It's a good idea not to peruse the TV listings, as this might risk an uncontrollable urge to power up the plasma - and anyway, everything we see is repeated for ever, so it's unlikely we'll miss anything we'd regret not seeing.

We believe in ET, not ID

Article by Seth Shostak, who gives us an impassioned plea to accept him and his work, as some sort of bastion against Intelligent Design and by default, Creationsism.

The problem with both sides of this debate both claim to 'know' they are correct, their arguments set in stone, and claiming unqualified support for their ideas from various sources.

He begins by stating that Seti, the search to find sentient life by the detection of radio signals from outlying aliens in outer space, is 'solid science', and that academics 'are nearly all of one voice in saying Seti makes sense'.

Academics are rarely if ever 'of one voice' about anything, except that they disagree about plenty, on a vast range of subjects for innumerable reasons, and reflects to some degree Shostak's tactic of applying wishful thinking to his own work. After almost 50 years of almost nothing, it might be becoming apparent that we could spend the next 50 centuries listening, and would still hear nothing more exciting than static.

Given the painfully slow time radio signals would take to cross even the most localised of space neighbourhoods, almost no-one would rely on this medium for establishing and maintaining contact between stationary or mobile aliens, as the messages themselves would take hundreds and thousands of years to filter through to their intended destinations and recipients.

Shostak spends the rest of the article giving the Creationsists a battering, and it would have been good to have had a quote from one of them saying what they would do should they come into contact with an alien.

In conclusion, Shostak's belief in his work rests just as much on foundations of faith as do those of his opponents, and as things stand, there is no definite time ahead when we can say we will be able to prove one or the other, because if space science has taught us one lesson, it is that the more we learn, the less we actually know.

Evidence Mounts For Sun's Companion Star

The most pertinent question regarding whether or not the Sun has a twin, is why haven't we seen it by now, as surely it should be somewhere in the neighbourhood. If we do live in a binary system, should we not have two solar risings and settings every day? Not according to discoverer of Sedna, Dr. Michael Brown, who, having studied its peculiar orbit, has surmised that its celestial journey shows that although it was once much closer to one or more other stars, those stars have since migrated away, leaving a disrupted Sedna where we find it today.

Walter Cruttenden believes that Sedna's orbital path is still influenced by this companion star, meaning that we should, by studying the data, be able to deduce the actual location of our other Sun. There is no mention made here of what might have caused a companion star to go wandering off on its own, but there may be more clues in his book, 'Lost Star of Myth and Time'.

Trampling history

Despite all the recent headline excitement generated by the so-called Bosnian Pyramid, there is considerable disquiet amongst more sober individuals, who have dug a little deeper than the front pages, in order to cast the clarity of light on what are claimed to be the murky backgrounds of some of those involved.

It has to be said, looking at the published photos of the progress of the dig so far, that they are somewhat less than convincing, but that may change after further excavation. There is an apparent claim that the pyramid is 12,000 years old, but the most surprising aspect of the story is that it has been so eagerly covered by the international Press, before any specific evidence had been gleaned from the site.

As the author of the linked article says, it would be great if it really was a pyramid, and even better if it really is that old, but there is the very real possibility that wishing such may have no basis in reality - expect to see plenty more on this as new details emerge.

Link to slideshow

Cloud of scholarly dust rises over ancient footprints claim

The controversy over the putative 40,000 year-old footprints found near the Mexican city of Puebla continues unabated, with the publication of a report that refutes the 1.3 million year age of the ash, suggested by Michael Waters and Paul Renne.

The team who first uncovered the prints, Silvia Gonzales and her colleagues from John Moores University, have stated that the layer of ash beneath the prints has been dated to 100,000 years, re-establishing the prints in their 40,000 year-old context.

They further claim that the marks in the ground are definitely footprints, and not tool marks as suggested by detractors. The date is controversial, as it puts the date of early Americans being in situ at least 20,000 years before the possible Solutrean incursions from south-western France at around 20,000 years b.p., and nearly 30,000 year before the crumbling Clovis-First theory would claim.

Link to report detailing previous, anomalous finds in the Americas, which have been claimed to push back human presence by hundreds of thousands of years, much of which has been detailed by Cremo et al.

Original claim of 1.3 million-year age here

Professor shares Andean discovery

News from Peru, where in 2004, a 4,000 year-old Temple of the Fox, standing 33 ft high, was unexpectedly discovered by archaeologists, who are describing the site as being the oldest astronomically aligned site, so far found anywhere in the Americas.

Because the site no longer lines up with its orignal constellations, and won't do so for another 22,000 years, the implication is that the builders may have understood precession, the wobble of the Earth around its axis, which cycles roughly every 26,000 years, although no such claims have yet been made onsite.

According to Robert Benfer, in charge of proceedings, the fox was held in high esteem, as it was believed to walk along sites considered suitable for digging canals - indeed the Inter-Valley canal system is considered one of the finest works of civil engineering ever undertaken - testament to the precocious skills of the builders.

As such, no specific people have been identified as the temple builders, but presumably more information will trickle in as work there continues.

16th Anniversary of Hubble Space Telescope

Although there is still no definite news of what the short to mid term future holds for Hubble, today marks 16 years of stunning success, and to celebrate, a birthday card of sorts has been released.

The accompanying image is of Messier 82, a galaxy that is still young enough to act as an ongoing stellar nursery, with stars there being born ten times faster than in our own Milky Way.

When you're in orbit, which way is Mecca?

Came across this whilst watching George Clooney and co. in orbit around Solaris on the TV, musing as they go on whether his wife three times removed should be jetisoned into space or zapped by the Higgs-Boson thingy - so anyway...

As mentioned previously, it would be preferable if the delayed race into space was run by all of us being on the same team, but as there's not a hope in Hell of that happening right now, it's as well to consider the implications of the effect of world religions on our forays into the firmament.

With Malaysia about to contribute two of its astronauts to the Russians, the problem has arisen as to how and when Muslims participate in their five times daily prayer rituals, and still be in accordance with the rules that stipulate they should do so while praying in the direction of Mecca - travelling through orbital days a mere 90 minutes in duration, at roughly 17,000 mph, will make it extremely difficult for the crew to know where Mecca is, or whether the prayers would have to be dramatically shortened to keep them in proportion to the length of time available.

By contrast, the Apollo missions were all-Christian affairs, with Buzz Aldrin giving himself Holy Communion on the lunar surface, while in 1985, Saudi astronaut Sultan Salman Al-Saud marked the end of Ramadan by gazing at a crescent Moon through the Shuttle window.

There is an upcoming conference, "Islam and Life in Space' in Malaysia in a couple of days - I'd like to hear the debate about what a Muslim planet orbiting a distant star would do - treat that star as a surrogate Sun, or, if they were near enough, still look towards our star as the only, and true original.

Or maybe we too will encounter something like Lem's Solaris, a sentient celestial body that might impart insights so different and novel that we will leave our Earth-based ideas where they belong - back here on Earth, while we get on with letting the Multiverse put ourselves to rights.

UK 'should have own astronauts'

Despite the encouragement of visionary writers like Arthur C. Clarke and a host of others, Britain has never really taken to space exploration, preferring to sit back in awe as we watch our supposed First World partners blaze the trail on our behalf.

At some point in the next few years, the Shuttle will once again haul its ageing and aching self into the heavens, and on board will be a British-born astronaut, Piers Sellers - except that by the time he goes into orbit, he will effectively be a US citizen, a status necessary for him to attain, to be allowed to participate in the mission.

Although there's nothing particularly 'good' or 'bad' about this enforced nationality change, it illustrates in a nutshell the divided and discrete nature of mankind's venture attempt to free ourselves of these terrestrial bonds - we'll still be going through various passport controls as we land on the Moon, Mars, Europa or wherever, and this doesn't bode so well.

Bearing in mind that the chief reason currently cited for getting back to the Moon is to grab as much Helium-3 as it's possible to stuff into Earthbound craft, as we try to exploit a commodity that could well fuel our nuclear reactors a great deal more cleanly and safely than is the case at present.

There's money in them thar' moons, and we all know with depressing familiarity what happens when one or more nations claim exclusive rights to valuable resources. In many ways, our return to the Moon will decide how we go on and explore the rest of space, either in co-operation or conflict with each other, which given current situations, would seem to indicate the latter.

A Universe Tuned for Life

There are many mysteries that no matter how hard we ponder, we will never know for sure their true answers - for example, we will never be privy to who made the first ever table, and what they put on it when it was finished.

Still other conundrums present us with such questions as, from where did life originate, and how is it that intelligent life came into being on a planet so convulsed and traumatised in its infancy by asteroidal impacts and extraordinarily hostile conditions.

Someone like Nietzsche, advocating that what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, may have surmised that the rise of mankind as a prototypical uber-species was the inevitable triumph of blind will over accidental, local extinction events, and that it should come as no surprise to find ourselves contemplating our own quantum navels as we zoom towards our imminent salvation or destruction.

In this review of Leonard Susskind's latest offering, discussing String Theory and the supposed illusion of Intelligent Design, we are told that inflation theory and the concept of a landscape of multiverses, dovetail with each other in a way that does away with the need for a divine and guiding intellect that makes it all possible.

Mention is made of the polarised arguments of Creationists who contend that the Earth and everything on it dates back a mere 6,000 years, to the opposite opinion expressed by Steven Weinberg, that as more was understood about the Universe, the more pointless its existence seemed to be.

The reviewer concludes by saying that although the book
condemns Intelligent Design, the author merely transfers its arguments to String Theory, treating it in a quasi-religious manner by inferring that God wrote the original mathematical equations of the Universe, and Nature simply took care of the rest. At the end, we are left where we started - is there a purpose and guiding hand behind life, or is the Universe merely a giant calculation programme, slowly and blindly running itself towards an already known ending, after which there will never be anything that we would recognise as life, or even a landscape in which it or a Designer could ever exist.

Young Mars Was Wet, Mineral Map Shows

Although at first glance, the water-cut features of Mars look as if they were made very recently, geologists studying clay deposits have asserted that there have been three phases of climatic conditions over the last 4.5 billion years of its existence, and that these features must therefore be very old.

The report suggests that initially the Red Planet was wet and warm, followed by a wet and acidic phase, before entering its supposed dessicated state, which has persisted for the last 3.5 billion years.

The shift between the first and second epochs is said to have been the result of massive volcanic activity, with massive amounts of sulphur being released into the atmosphere. There is no reason given here for why Mars has since remained almost unchanged in 3.5 billion years, and doesn't take into account the possibility of large amounts of water or ice still existing there, that are claimed to have been found.

Although water is also found on other planets and moons, the Earth is unique, in that here we have both fresh water and saltwater, as well as land, and it is this combination that is believed to be the best for harbouring life over long durations of time.

Other theories contend that Mars was lush and fresh until much more recently, and that its biosphere was ripped away by a planet that exploded nearby, causing untold death and destruction to whatever may have existed at the time.

More here

Study of human migration over 60 000 years

Although it's already been running for a year, there is finally a conference being held, to review and preview past and future aspects of the project to track human migration routes around the world over the last 60 millennia.

The Genographic Project aims to take DNA samples from 100,000 individuals, and in so doing hope to build a picture of who has come from where, who they're related to, with particular attention being paid to members of indigenous populations.

However, due to the increasing admixture of humans and their genes over the last 200 years, it may be too much of a tangled web to unravel, and it's difficult to say how much validity there is in this sort of exercise.

Although it's the public who are being genetically scanned, this conference is not open to them, although there is a subsequent event on May 8th near Johannesburg, should you happen to be passing through, either on a migratory trek of your own design, or just travelling around in your spare time.

unidentified image from here

Java Man's First Tools

Once again, we find ourselves with eyes cast across the oceans in the direction of Indonesia, as we try to fathom what was happening with some of our early ancestors between 1m and 2m years ago.

Ever since Eugene Dubois began poking around on Java in the latter part of the 19th century, it has become increasingly apparent that this region of the Earth was crucial in its role as a home for heroes, amongst whom were likely the first ocean mariners, who at about 900,000 years made the sea voyage to the island of Flores.

Although we don't have their remains, stone tools dating to just less than 1 million years have been found, and now there is now evidence for tool use on Java going back even further, between 1.2m and 1.6m years, with this latest discovery, announced and exhibited by archaeologist Harry Widianto.

The chert tools are notable for their diminutive size, and look as if they could have been worked last week, a detail that has caused some to question the true age of the tools. There is an outside possibility that these small tools could have been made by the small ancestors of the so-called 'Hobbit' Floresensian erectus, but there is no direct evidence as yet that this is the case.

Wait A Few Minutes: Blood Pressure Readings Lower When Patients Slow Down

Another amazing medical breakthrough has been announced, with the news that if you rush into your doctor's surgery and immediately have your blood pressure taken, an artificially high figure will result - and uncannily, if you spend five minutes beforehand sitting quietly, the result will be more accurate.

While the analysts involved were only doing their job, and should be commended as such, it's quite staggering that that no-one has thought of this before.

The bad news is that there is no new advice for avoiding high blood pressure, other than eating sensibly and living a responsible life, of sorts.

image hypertension danny filippone

Rudy's Blog at rudyrucker.com

I accidentally stumbled across this whilst searching for something else, and which is the blog of Dr. Rudy Rucker, one time winner of the Philip K. Dick award. This will be most useful to those living near him in San Francisco, as he appears to be speaking at several events in that area.

Having recently retired as a professor of computer science, he is the author of several books, including the non-fiction work, 'The Lifebox, the Seashell and the Soul'. His opinion is that all of reality is in fact maths and computation, and takes this to heart in his quest to find the meaning of life.

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