Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
Meditation makes your brain grow bigger and our heads have changed shape dramatically over the past 650 years.
NASA is evaluating a program called THOR that would smash a big copper projectile into a region of Mars that hints at having a dust-covered frozen sea, causing a 30-foot deep crater, to see what lies beneath.
Earth Institute rsearchers have discovered two new lakes beneath the Antarctic ice sheet that are among the biggest of the 145 known to exist. They have been sealed off from the surface for 35 million years, possibly hiding unique and unknown ecosystems.
NASA's top climate scientist claims the Bush administration is trying to shut him up.
And finally, the flytrap anemone.
That anemone actually looks like a taco, as envisioned by Dr. Seuss.
Posted by: M/tch M/lls at January 31, 2006 07:42 AMAlso, it's a bit odd to me that the headshape article talks about "modern human's face", "the human skull", and "modern people", yet the study cited only involves a small number of skulls from a very small part of the globe.
I can't tell if the study itself uses such broad language, or if the fault is with the reporter. I suspect the latter.
Also, given the fact that the time span is a mere 650 years, I'm surprised they don't mention nutrition as a possible factor.
Posted by: M/tch M/lls at January 31, 2006 07:56 AMWasn't enough just to bomb Iraq. Now we're going after Mars too!
Posted by: AHamm at January 31, 2006 07:57 AMAh, from this this it looks like, as I suspected, the trouble is with the reporter, not the study.
Also, I assume the modern orthodontic records used for comparison were from people of European ancestry, but that's not made clear either. The population of Britain has certainly undergone major shifts since 1545.
Posted by: M/tch M/lls at January 31, 2006 08:05 AMThey have been sealed off from the surface for 35 million years, possibly hiding unique and unknown ecosystems.
Uhoh.
"I am forced into speech because men of science have refused to follow my advice without knowing why. It is altogether against my will that I tell my reasons for opposing this contemplated invasion of the antarctic - with its vast fossil hunt and its wholesale boring and melting of the ancient ice caps. And I am the more reluctant because my warning may be in vain." --At the Mountains of Madness
Posted by: mcmc at January 31, 2006 04:05 PMLook at it this way, mcmc: if they drill down and start hearing the mad piping of an ancient race (and the same piping mimicked by said race's ancient, rebellious creations) then we've all got a leg up on Dr. Dyer and everyone else in his expedition.
Posted by: Robust McManlyPants at February 1, 2006 04:10 PM