Aliens Have Visited Earth, Space Entrepreneur Robert Bigelow Believes

 Posted on January 22, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  794 words  |  Trudie Dory

Aliens are among us. That's the gist of comments made by billionaire space entrepreneur Robert Bigelow on CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday. Could intelligent alien life really exist on Earth and we wouldn't know about it? Not likely, according to Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, who said, "Obviously, I think that aliens are out there. The conditions for life seem to be very widespread. All the requirements for life are everywhere, that doesn't prove life is everywhere. [Read More]

Ancient ritual bloodletting may have been performed at carvings found in Mexico

 Posted on January 22, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  611 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Archaeologists in southern Mexico have discovered 30 carvings depicting capital I-shaped ballcourts cut into rocks. These carvings may have been used in ceremonies involving water and "ritual bloodletting," new research finds.  The carvings, in the ancient settlement of Quiechapa, are badly weathered, but small features in a few cases can be made out, such as one carving that appears to show a bench in the ballcourt.  "Ballgames were of great significance to people throughout ancient Mesoamerica," [Read More]

Centuries of Tradition: Stunning Photos of Native American Hopi Pottery

 Posted on January 22, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  797 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Beauty from the earthAcross the earth, nature has created limitless examples of magnificence in the natural designs of both plants and animals, as well as the splendor of the world's many spectacular landscapes. And every once in a while, new forms of beauty are also found when the creative hands of humans lovingly interact with the natural elements of the world. Impressive exampleOne such example of the expressive interaction between items found in the natural world and man has been found for hundreds of years in the southwestern deserts of the United States, where Native American potters have searched for the finest of clay soils and fashioned that clay into meaningful, useful and beautiful ceramic items. [Read More]

Done with Babies: April the Internet-Famous Giraffe Is Starting Birth Control

 Posted on January 22, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  392 words  |  Trudie Dory

April the giraffe rocketed to fame on the internet in 2017 with a live-streamed pregnancy and birth that captivated hundreds of millions of viewers. But the now five-time mama is done having babies. On June 6, Jordan Patch, owner of Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, New York, announced on Facebook that April would be retiring from the park's giraffe breeding program, and that she would begin taking a regimen of contraceptives beginning June 7. [Read More]

Einstein's Letter Talking About 'Hitler-Insanity' to Be Auctioned

 Posted on January 22, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  492 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

A handful of Albert Einstein's letters, including one in which he talks about the "Hitler-insanity" that had taken over Germany and also describes his son's schizophrenia treatments, are being auctioned off this week to the highest bidder. Einstein was a prolific writer, and his letters have allowed historians to see what occupied his mind. As these letters show, Einstein thought about issues big and small, especially about how world events affected him and other people targeted by Nazi Germany. [Read More]

Even Viruses Catch Viruses

 Posted on January 22, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  357 words  |  Trudie Dory

Among pathogens, viruses are unique in their collective ability to infect all types of organisms. There are plant viruses, insect viruses, fungal viruses, and even viruses that infect only amoeba and bacteria. Now a group of researchers at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France has made the startling discovery that even some viruses can have viruses. In a paper in Nature last month, the group described how they identified a giant mimivirus in a cooling tower in France. [Read More]

How to Down a Satellite: Go Back 22 Years

 Posted on January 22, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  587 words  |  Trudie Dory

The U.S. Navy's planned attempt to destroy a de-orbiting spy satellite using a ship-launched missile this month is making headlines -- but if the attempt is successful it won't be the first time the United States government has used a missile to shoot a satellite down. More than 22 years ago, on Sept. 13, 1985, U.S. Air Force Maj. (now retired Maj. Gen.) Wilbert "Doug" Pearson became the first pilot ever to shoot down a satellite, when an ASM-135 ASAT anti-satellite missile launched from his F-15A Eagle at an altitude of 38,100 feet in the Pacific Missile Test Range some 200 miles west of Vandenburg Air Force Base, Calif. [Read More]

Photos: Gorgeous Bearded Dragons Show Off

 Posted on January 22, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  557 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Bearded dragonsBearded dragons are amazing lizards in the genus Pogona. There are eight Pogona species. Researchers in Australia have studied Pogona vitticeps to learn more about how they rely on environmental cues or genetics (or both) to determine the sex of the babies. Here, a bearded dragon shows its "I'm threatened" display. The mouth is opened, the inside often flushed with orange, the dark beard flares out in contrast, and there can be a hiss. [Read More]

Psychology of Hate: What Motivates White Supremacists?

 Posted on January 22, 2023  |  10 minutes  |  2130 words  |  Trudie Dory

The sight of torch-wielding, chanting white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, jarred the country over the weekend, a national distress that only deepened when a counter-protester died and 19 others were wounded in a car attack there on Saturday. An alleged white supremacist, James Alex Fields Jr., has been charged in that attack. White supremacy — the view that white people are racially superior — and neo-Nazism are nothing new, of course. [Read More]

Puppies! 10 African Wild Dog Puppies Born

 Posted on January 22, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  487 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Ten African wild dog pups are getting a warm welcome at the Brookfield Zoo near Chicago. The lively pups, born on Thanksgiving Day, are currently off exhibit, with plenty of adult supervision from their mother and father, Kim and Digger, and Digger's brother Duke. [See more baby zoo animals .] A few days ago, the 8-week-old pups got their first check-up from veterinarians, including routine vaccinations and sexing, which revealed them to be six males and four females. [Read More]