Written by Professor Dr. Joachim Burger Palaeogenetics Group
Artificially deformed female skull from Altenerding, an Early Medieavel site in Bavaria
Credit:State Collection for Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy Munich
A palaeogenomic study investigated early medieval migration in southern Germany and the peculiar phenomenon of artificial skull deformation.
The transition from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages in Europe is marked by two key events in European history, the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the migration into this Empire by various barbarian tribes such as the Goths, Alemanni, Franks, and Lombards. This resulted in a profound cultural and socioeconomic transformation throughout the continent, and many settlements from this epoch would subsequently develop into the villages and towns we still know today.
Few stars in the frothy firmament of academic climate science shine more controversially than Dr Michael E. Mann, creator of the notorious “hockey stick” curve, gloomy prognosticator, conspiracy theorist, co-author of The Madhouse Effect: How climate change denial is threatening our planet, destroying our politics and driving us crazy, anti-Trump activist and fan of climate toothpaste, the only anti-apathy oral hygiene product with UH-OH formula.
“The eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding…. I do not say the we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.” John F. Kennedy, speech at Rice University, 1962
Written by Morgan Kelly, Princeton Environmental Institute
Princeton University researchers have found that the climate models scientists use to project future conditions on our planet underestimate the cooling effect that clouds have on a daily — and even hourly — basis, particularly over land.
The researchers reported in the journal Nature Communications on Dec. 22 that models tend to factor in too much of the sun’s daily heat, which results in warmer, drier conditions than might actually occur. The researchers found that inaccuracies in accounting for the diurnal, or daily, cloud cycle did not seem to invalidate climate projections, but they did increase the margin of error for a crucial tool scientists use to understand how climate change will affect us.
Image copyright HUMAN ORIGINS PROGRAM, SMITHSONIANImage caption Olorgesailie Basin: the dig site spans an area of 65 square kilometres
Humans may have developed advanced social behaviours and trade 100,000 years earlier than previously thought.
This is according to a series of papers published today in Science. The results come from an archaeological site in Kenya’s rift valley. “Over one million years of time” is represented at the site, according to Rick Potts from the Smithsonian Institution, who was involved in the studies.
As Neils Bohr allegedly said, “It is hard to make predictions, especially about the future.” Indeed, Lord Kelvin’s 1895 declaration that “heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible” tends to loom in scientists’ minds when we are tempted to speculate about what technology might deliver.
Overview: The sun is blank today for the 10th straight day and it has been without sunspots this year more than half the time as the current solar cycle heads towards the next solar minimum. Solar cycle 24 is currently on pace to be the weakest sunspot cycle with the fewest sunspots since cycle 14 peaked in February 1906. Solar cycle 24 continues a recent trend of weakening solar cycles which began with solar cycle 21 that peaked around 1980.
The last time the sun was this blank in a given year on a percentage basis was 2009 during the last solar minimum when 71{154653b9ea5f83bbbf00f55de12e21cba2da5b4b158a426ee0e27ae0c1b44117} of the time was spotless. That last solar minimum actually reached a nadir in 2008 when an astounding 73{154653b9ea5f83bbbf00f55de12e21cba2da5b4b158a426ee0e27ae0c1b44117} of the year featured a spotless sun – the most spotless days in a given year since 1913.
Elon Musk’s audacious plans are usually met with acclaim, and sometimes even awe – but not this time. Fresh details of The Boring Company’s urban transport plans have been lambasted on social media.
The Tesla and SpaceX founder (pictured above) gushed about “1000s of small stations the size of a single parking space that take you very close to your destination & blend seamlessly into the fabric of a city, rather than a small number of big stations like a subway”.
The energy market is undoubtedly in a state of flux. The current power play between the U.S., OPEC and Russia is symptomatic of the changing geopolitical and economic dynamics of the entire market, U.S. tight oil seems set to completely upset the apple cart, and rapid technological advances are putting hitherto unattainable reserves within our reach.
Quantum mechanics is the branch of physics governing the sometimes-strange behavior of the tiny particles that make up our universe. Equations describing the quantum world are generally confined to the subatomic realm—the mathematics relevant at very small scales is not relevant at larger scales, and vice versa.
However, a surprising new discovery from a Caltech researcher suggests that the Schrödinger Equation—the fundamental equation of quantum mechanics—is remarkably useful in describing the long-term evolution of certain astronomical structures.
Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast believe they have uncovered some mysteries in how the sun is able to heat its atmosphere.
Published in a study in Nature Physics, the scientists found that magnetic waves crashing through the sun are one of the key ingredients in the heating process and thus propelling the solar wind. The findings come after scientists suggesting for years that these waves may play an important role in maintaining the sun’s super high temperatures, but only now have they been able to prove it.
A cycle has two extremes and two middles. The motion of a pendulum has two high points and one low point, which it passes through twice. The phases of the moon are a new moon, a full moon, and two quarter moons.
Newton’s great feat, which maybe is not commonly acknowledged, is he explained how there were two diurnal ocean tidal cycles each day which were obviously influenced by the moon’s cycle as it revolved (orbited) about the earth once about every 25 hours as the earth rotated about its axis with a period of 24 hours. Clearly these cycles have a period of time associated with them.
The alarms are sounding about lack of ice extent in the Bering Sea, studiously ignoring what else is happening in the Arctic.
For instance, the above image shows the last 10 days on the European side, with the Barents Sea on the right growing steadily to a new maximum. On the left, Gulf of St. Lawrence ice is retreating as usual while the Baffin Bay holds steady.
A group of American scientists was rescued from an island off Antarctica’s coast after ice prevented a U.S. Antarctic Program research vessel from reaching them.
A huge solar storm is heading for Earth, and it’s likely to hit tomorrow. Nasa spotted the solar flare releasing a coronal mass ejection earlier this week. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a ‘G1’ storm watch. It coincides with the formation of ‘equinox cracks’ in the sun, which form around the equinoxes on March 20 and September 23 and weaken the magnetic field.
