NSTA WebNews Digest

Science News: Archaeology

Could an Immigration Overhaul Keep More STEM Graduates in the Washington Area?

4/22/2013 - The Washington Post
Last week, a bipartisan Senate panel unveiled an 844-page bill that would give U.S. immigration policies their biggest makeover in a generation. Included in the massive proposal: much higher limits on the number of “high-tech visas,” officially called H-1B visas.

SpaceX Launches Falcon 9/Dragon On Historic Mission to Deliver Cargo to International Space Station

5/22/2012 - ScienceDaily
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket thundered into space and delivered a Dragon cargo capsule into orbit on May 22, 2012. The launch began an ambitious mission to show that the company is ready to deliver cargo to the International Space Station.

Maya Lunar Calendar Notes Discovered in Guatemala

5/14/2012 - Reuters
On the wall of a tiny structure buried under forest debris in Guatemala, archaeologists have discovered a scribe's notes about the Maya lunar calendar, which they say could be the first known records by an official chronicler of this ancient civilization. These notes pertain to the same Maya calendar that is sometimes erroneously thought to predict the world's end on or about December 22, 2012.

Fossil Suggests Plesiosaurs Did Not Lay Eggs

8/12/2011 - BBC News
Scientists say they have found the first evidence that giant sea reptiles—which lived at the same time as dinosaurs—gave birth to live young rather than laying eggs.

Huge Asteroid to Buzz Earth in November

5/10/2011 - The Christian Science Monitor
On November 8 and 9, the quarter-mile-wide asteroid 2005 YU55 will zoom past the Earth, coming within about 200,000 miles, a distance closer than our moon.

Life and the Cosmos, Word by Painstaking Word

5/10/2011 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
In a rare interview, the physicist Stephen Hawking discusses his work, aliens, and living with A.L.S.

NIH Pushes Ahead on Research Division to Speed Drug Development, Despite Protests from Scientists and Others

2/24/2011 - The Chronicle of Higher Education
The National Institutes of Health will establish by October its new center for helping pharmaceutical companies make drugs from university research discoveries, NIH leaders said Wednesday.

Lost Civilization Under Persian Gulf?

12/13/2010 - U.S. News & World Report
A once fertile landmass now submerged beneath the Persian Gulf may have been home to some of the earliest human populations outside Africa.

Math Puzzles’ Oldest Ancestors Took Form on Egyptian Papyrus

12/7/2010 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
The documents were not recreational diversions, but practical guides to keeping up with a maturing civilization.

2012 Mayan Apocalypse Calculation Might Be Off

10/20/2010 - The Christian Science Monitor
New research suggests that that accepted conversions of dates from the Mayan ‘Long Count’ calendar may be off by as much as 100 years.

Neandertals Blasted Out of Existence, Archaeologists Propose

9/27/2010 - ScienceNews
An eruption may have wiped out Neandertals in Europe and western Asia, clearing the region for Stone Age Homo sapiens.

Archaeologists Unearth Neolithic Henge at Stonehenge

7/22/2010 - BBC News
Archaeologists have discovered a second henge at Stonehenge, described as the most exciting find there in 50 years.

Archaeologists Uncover Land Before Wheel; Site Untouched for 6,000 Years

4/7/2010 - National Science Foundation
A team of archaeologists from the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, along with a team of Syrian colleagues, is uncovering new clues about a prehistoric society that formed the foundation of urban life in the Middle East prior to invention of the wheel.

Pyramid of Mystery Pharaoh Possibly Located

3/29/2010 - Discovery Channel
The long-lost tomb of the 4,300-year-old Egyptian pharaoh Userkare may have been located.

King Tut's Grandfather's Statue Head Surfaces in Luxor

3/1/2010 - Reuters
A colossal 3000-year-old red granite head of Amenhotep III, the grandfather of Tutankhamun, has been discovered in Luxor, Egypt's Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said Sunday.

Malaria Most Likely Killed King Tut, Scientists Say

2/17/2010 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
King Tutankhamun, the boy pharaoh, was frail, crippled, and suffered “multiple disorders” when he died at age 19 in about 1324 B.C., but scientists have now determined the most likely agents of death: a severe bout of malaria combined with a degenerative bone condition.

Tombs to Lift Lid on Egypt's Ancient Middle Class

1/6/2010 - Reuters
Two 2,500-year-old tombs discovered at a necropolis near Cairo promise to reveal more about ancient Egypt's middle class, Egypt's chief archaeologist said on Tuesday.

Scientists Discover Heart Disease in Ancient Egyptian Mummies

11/18/2009 - Voice of America News
An international team of scientists has discovered heart disease in ancient Egyptian mummies, dispelling the view that cardiovascular disease is an illness of modern humans.

UW Student Discovers Precious Gemstone

9/16/2009 - The Seattle Times
A University of Washington student on an archaeological dig in Israel has unearthed the find of a lifetime—a gemstone engraved more than 2,000 years ago with a portrait of Alexander the Great.

Computers Unlock More Secrets of the Mysterious Indus Valley Script

8/4/2009 - ScienceDaily
A statistical analysis reveals distinct patterns in ancient Indus symbols and creates a hypothetical model for the unknown language.

Images Reveal "Lost" Roman City

7/31/2009 - BBC News
Aerial photographs have revealed the streetplan of a lost Roman city called Altinum, which some scholars regard as a forerunner of Venice. Details of the research have been published in the journal Science.

Archaeologists Find Graveyard of Sunken Roman Ships

7/24/2009 - Reuters
A team of archaeologists using sonar technology to scan the seabed have discovered a "graveyard" of five pristine ancient Roman shipwrecks off the small Italian island of Ventotene.

Cave Record of Britain's Pioneers

7/16/2009 - BBC News
The Cheddar Gorge in Somerset was one of the first sites inhabited by humans when they returned to Britain toward the end of the last Ice Age. New radiocarbon dates on bones from Gough's Cave show people were living there some 14,700 years ago.

Untouched Tomb of Aztec King on Verge of Discovery?

7/14/2009 - National Geographic News
After nearly 30 years in the field, archaeologist Leonardo López Luján may be on the verge of the discovery of a lifetime: the only known tomb of an Aztec king.

Pope Says Tests "Seem to Conclude" Bones Are the Apostle Paul's

6/29/2009 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
The first scientific tests on what are believed to be the remains of the Apostle Paul, the Roman Catholic saint, "seem to conclude" that they belong to him, Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday. Benedict said scientists had conducted carbon dating tests on bone fragments found inside the sarcophagus and confirmed that they date from the first or second century.

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