Nutcracker Man strangely preferred fruits

An early human with a big mouth made for chomping strangely preferred to eat soft, squishy fruits, new dental analyses suggest.

The finding — the big guy’s teeth showed only light wear — might force scientists to downgrade everything they thought they knew about hominids’ diets. For starters, the findings could cause this hominid, Paranthropus boisei, to relinquish rights to its long-held moniker, the Nutcracker Man, in the eyes of anthropologists.

The Nutcracker Man lived from about 2.3 million years ago to 1.2 million years ago, before vanishing from the fossil record. He boasted a huge jaw with massive chewing muscles and flat, tough teeth whose crushing power could obliterate the roots and nuts of his home on the African savanna. - msnbc

Real Trekkie tricorder detects ailments

New handheld medical scanners coupled with regular cell phones resemble “Star Trek” tricorders and could see what ails you with a push of a button.

The invention, using off-the-shelf cell phone technology, would allow medical scanners to boldly go where none have gone before — to the aid of the roughly three-quarters of the world’s population currently without access to ultrasounds, X-rays and other imagers used for everything from detecting tumors to monitoring fetuses.

A “Star Trek” tricorder, left, and at right an image from a medical scanner of a simulated breast tumor displayed on a cell phone screen. Medical scanners plugged into cell phones could help detect cancer and other disorders. - msnbc

Photo of bus stop brings out the ‘thought police’

A photographer was approached and photographed by men claiming to be police officers for taking a picture of a bus stop.

Mike Langridge, 56, was out for a walk with his camera when two men in dark civilian clothing claiming to be police officers began to walk around him and take pictures.

As the police have no knowledge of such an incident, they may have been pretending to be police officers.

He had been taking scenic photographs near Ravensden on April 9.

He had taken pictures of a cellnet mast and some power lines when two men walked slowly past him, nodding at him in acknowledgement.

As his eye settled on a attractively overgrown country bus stop, Mr Langridge noticed that the two men had produced a camera themselves and were aiming it at him.

Speaking to them, he learned that they claimed to be police officers ‘on a training exercise for contingency planning’.

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After going on his way, Mr Langridge noted the officers following him in an unmarked white van.

Mr Langridge said: “I thought some paranoid local resident or busybody passerby had made a quick call to the cops about someone ‘acting suspiciously’ - taking photographs! - and they’d come out in double-quick time to see what’s what.”

“If proof were needed that we’re now living in a society that is scared of its own shadow, then surely this was it.

“If we really have reached that point, thanks to all the nonsensical Government-sponsored hype about ‘terrorism’ then the terrorists have truly won.” A police spokesman said: “There have been no exercises in Ravensden.

“We have searched the records of our 999 systems from 8am to 5pm on the day in question and can’t find anything that appears to match this situation.” - beds

Ice-Circle Discovered in Sweden. Made by aliens?

Within the already very thin ice of the Sannavagen lake a circular disc of ice was segregated from the surrounding area and showed a slight ridge along the edge.

The circle remained for about two weeks but the residents were not able to take a closer look as the ice was already to thin to walk on it.

The picture was taken by Mrs. Maria Akerblom from the neaby bank.

Lake Sannavagen lies just next to the hamlet of Sanna (61°41’02,2″ N, 16°11’16,88″O), near the village of Järsvö in the Swedish province of Hälsingland.

We will update this report as soon as more photos are available…
Find more information about circles in snow, ice and other media here…

Send Your Name to the Moon With New Lunar Mission

NASA invites people of all ages to join the lunar exploration journey with an opportunity to send their names to the moon aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, spacecraft.

The Send Your Name to the Moon Web site enables everyone to participate in the lunar adventure and place their names in orbit around the moon for years to come. Participants can submit their information at http://lro.jhuapl.edu/NameToMoon/, print a certificate and have their name entered into a database. The database will be placed on a microchip that will be integrated onto the spacecraft. The deadline for submitting names is June 27, 2008.

“Everyone who sends their name to the moon, like I’m doing, becomes part of the next wave of lunar explorers,” said Cathy Peddie, deputy project manager for LRO at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “The LRO mission is the first step in NASA’s plans to return humans to the moon by 2020, and your name can reach there first. How cool is that?”

The orbiter, comprised of six instruments and one technology demonstration, will provide the most comprehensive data set ever returned from the moon. The mission will focus on the selection of safe landing sites and identification of lunar resources. It also will study how the lunar radiation environment could affect humans. LRO will also create a comprehensive atlas of the moon’s features and resources that will be needed as NASA designs and builds a planned lunar outpost. The mission will support future human exploration while providing a foundation for upcoming science missions. LRO is scheduled for launch in late 2008.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is being built at Goddard. The mission also will be managed at the center for NASA’s Explorations Systems Mission Directorate in Washington.

Send Your Name to the Moon is a collaborative effort among NASA, the Planetary Society in Pasadena, Calif., and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. - nasa

Man pushes creation of panel to prepare city for space aliens

eff Peckman is back at it, and this time he is bringing little green men along for the ride.

The Denver man, who sponsored an offbeat ballot initiative that would have required the city to implement stress-reduction techniques, now wants to ask voters to create a commission dealing with space aliens.

“It is important because if you’re driving down the highway and you saw a crash of a small spaceship and a car or a bus full of kids, you really wouldn’t know what to do,” Peckman said Thursday. “Do you wait for the hazardous materials experts to show up because of potential contaminants from another solar system? What do you do? People really don’t know.”

Peckman, 54, who is single and lives with his parents, has submitted to the city a draft of the proposed ordinance, which would require the creation of an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission.

As required, the city is holding a “review and comment” meeting on the proposed ballot initiative with Peckman on Thursday.

“I don’t know what we’re going to ask him yet,” said David Broadwell, an assistant city attorney.

Peckman hopes to collect enough signatures - he needs about 4,000 - to get the proposed initiative on the November ballot.

According to the proposal, the 18-member ET commission would “create a responsible, common-sense strategy for dealing with issues related to the presence of extraterrestrial beings on Earth,” among other tasks.

Peckman said the proposed initiative is “a shortcut to disclosure of the knowledge of extraterrestrial beings on Earth and interacting with people on Earth.” He said he has never seen an space alien, but that he has seen evidence proving that they exist.

“I certainly believe that they visit somewhat frequently,” he said. “I don’t know that they’re walking around the streets of LoDo - others might disagree with that. But they do seem to have made their presence known all over the world to a lot of people.”

Councilman Charlie Brown was an outspoken critic of Peckman’s 2003 “Safety through Peace” initiative, which failed but garnered a healthy 32 percent in support. Brown called the 2003 initiative “looney-tooney” and Peckman’s latest proposal “even loonier.” - rm