6,000-Year-Old Tombs Found Next to Stonehenge

 From SciTech this morning...

A prehistoric complex, including two 6,000-year-old tombs, has been discovered by archaeologists in Hampshire.

The Neolithic tombs, which until now had gone unnoticed under farmland despite being just 15 miles from Stonehenge, are some of the oldest monuments to have been found in Britain.

Archaeologists say they will hold valuable clues about how people lived at the time and what their environment was like.

The discovery is also close to Cranborne Chase, one of the most well researched prehistoric areas in Europe.

Click here to read the rest.

 image via AP/National Graphic

One of my favorite poems by Robert Frost...

The Road Not Taken

 by Robert Frost
 Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood 
And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
      Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
      Though as for that the passing there
      Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

photo via Read Print

Scientists are working on a fat enzyme that would allow everyone to be skinny

• I'm not sure how I feel about the possibility of everyone being skinny someday. I personally don't think skinny is sexy. But, like you, I do associate thinness with health. Right or wrong that's the general impression. So when I stumbled across this article I thought it would be interesting to share and see what you think.

•  From Discover Magazine we have this interesting tidbit...

Remember the guy from Super Size Me who ate about 23,000 Bic Macs and never got fat? Ever wonder how he did it? Turns out he may have been born without the “fat enzyme.”

The enzyme MGAT2 is found in the intestines and determines the fate of our food by regulating how it is metabolized: It either makes fat go straight to your waistline, or converts it into energy. Scientists in California have discovered that when mice are missing the gene for MGAT2, they can eat whatever they want and never have to worry about getting fat.

The University of California at San Francisco knocked out the gene in experimental mice to see how their bodies grew after feeding them different diets. When the normal and experimental mice were fed a diet low in fat, both sets of mice grew the same way. But when the mice were eating a 60 percent fat diet (i.e., a typical American diet), the experimental mice weighed 40 percent less and had 50 percent less fat than the normal mice.

Not only does decreasing MGAT activity in mice reduce their chances of packing on the pounds, it also prevents them from developing other obesity-related problems such as fatty livers and glucose intolerance. While the researchers are unsure of precisely how the experimental mice kept the weight off, they think that when the mice are missing the MGAT2 enzyme, their body ultimately doesn’t store or use the fat.

Still, don’t go on a Big Mac binge just yet: Until scientist can figure out how to manipulate this gene to create the magic skinny pill, we will continue to metabolize food like we did when we were hunters and gathers.

Related Content:
DISCOVER: 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Fat
DISCOVER: Killer Fat
DISCOVER: Fat Is Not The Enemy

image via Google Images

Animals made from old computer parts previewed

 

 

Click here to see more of these works of art made from recycled computer parts.

Images via artsdesignblog.com 

Solar powered hatchback van hits the streets in Europe!

I wonder if American manufacturers are going to be turning out vehicles like this in the near future? A worldwide vehicle revolution is currently underway, and the good news is that renewable energies are leading the way! I sure wouldn't mind having this van.

From Inhabitat.com this morning...

Starting this coming spring, a slick new solar-powered electric vehicle will be hitting the streets of Europe. Italian car designer Pininfarina and French battery manufacturer Bolloré have officially announced that the five door Blue Car hatchback is now ready for production. A fully-electric vehicle with solar panels by 2010!

Previously unveiled at last years Geneva Show, the Blue Car is a fully-electric vehicle that comes equipped with solar panels on the rooftop. The vehicle is 3.65 meters long, 1.6 meters high and 1.72 meters wide, and features a 50kW electric motor that provides an acceleration of 0-60mph in around 6 seconds and a top speed of 80mph.

The solar panels on the vehicle’s roof provides some power to the vehicle’s systems. It comes with regenerative brakes and a Lithium Metal Polymer batteries, and has a range of 155 miles per charge. According to the manufacturer, all the materials in the construction have been made to be as environmentally friendly as possible.

Photo via Inhabitat

Classic Crime Comic Books of the 1940s and 1950s...

 

From CrimeBoss.com

Welcome to my gallery of crime comic covers. Crime comics from the 1940s and 1950s have some of the best covers ever created. It’s a good thing, too, because oftentimes the interior content (especially the Fox titles) is terrible. 

Check out favorite covers, too. It includes “thumbnail” images of some covers.  Image via Crime Boss.

 

 

I wonder what the Moral majority thinks about this web site?

 

From Ananova this morning...

A web site called Christian Nymphos has been set up by a group of wives to encourage young women to embrace intimacy in their marriages.

 The site dispenses advice on how couples can spice up their love life without breaking God's laws, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Suggestions for new sexual positions, scenarios and games are published alongside to links to Bible study websites.

"God wants us to be madly in love with our husbands," wrote the anonymous women behind the site. "He wants us to keep that fire burning in our marriage beds."

Of the web site's provocative name, they add: "The word Nympho has a negative connotation for some. It doesn't have to stay this way."

Although the tone of discussion can be explicit - oral sex, orgasms and sex aides are frequently discussed - the moral message is still strong.

Sex outside of marriage is forbidden, masturbation is frowned upon, and erotica is only acceptable if the characters are married.

Christian Nymphos has had more than 800,000 visits since its launch last year.

"It's good to know that there are Godly women who are not ashamed of the blessing of marital sexual love," wrote one reader.

Image via Ananova

Don't let it bug you if you don't recognize these musicians...

If you do know who is pictured above, than I have a treat for you. There's a whole slew of old photos of these guys that you may never have seen on Targinga!

Massachusetts firefighters rescue kitten stuck in pipe

By KELLY ONANIAN

WAREHAM — Firefighters are known to rescue cats in trees but on Friday, Onset firefighters saved a kitten that was stuck in a PVC pipe for days.

The kitten, named Piper by volunteers at A Helping Paw Animal Shelter, was discovered by Onset resident Myrna Amado as she walked between her properties on Aunt Hannah's Lane.

For several days, she had heard a strange noise coming from one of her garages.

On Friday, she discovered the kitten, its face swollen, stuck in the pipe on the side of the garage.

Click here to see what happened.

Image and story via South Coast Today

Cell Phone controversy heats up: more reader input

Since writing about the dangers of cell phone use for youngsters last Sunday I have received 58 emails on the subject. Here are a few more examples:

The cell phone industry replies:

Dear Dave Stancliff,
Your Sunday story (June 7th) on the “dangers of cell phones” did not adequately address what professional scientists, researchers and U.S. Courts have found on the health impact of cell phone usage.
Since I am not a doctor or scientist, I choose to rely on organizations whose sole mission is to keep us safe.  Leading global heath organizations such as the American Cancer Society, National Cancer Institute, World Health Organization and the United States Food and Drug Administration have conducted and reviewed scientific research and evidence and have come to a consensus that there is no reason for concern about using your wireless devices. 
CTIA and the wireless industry take the health of our customers very seriously. That is why we work directly with the Federal Communications Commission to comply with the strict safety guidelines that are required for all wireless devices in the US.
Regards,
John Walls
Vice President of Public Affairs
CTIA-The Wireless Association®
(202) 736-3656 (day)
(202) 360-5430 (cell/evening)
JWalls@ctia.org

From the University of Maryland School of Nursing...

Hi Dave,

I just read your article:  http://www.times-standard.com/othervoices/ci_12539875

Do you have citations for the studies you refer to in this article?  I share your concerns and I’d like to have the studies to back these concerns up.’

Thanks

Louise

Louise Mitchell, Sustainable Foods Coordinator
Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (MD H2E) 
University of Maryland School of Nursing
655 West Lombard Street, Room 642
Baltimore, MD  21201
410-706-1924  phone
410-706-0253  fax
lmitc001@son.umaryland.edu
www.healthyfoodinhealthcare.org
www.mdh2e.org

From England...

Dear Dave,
I had to reply to your article, because I have known since 2002 that the damage to health is factual. I attach your article plus my comments and the history of activation of the Orange mast in our village in Sept 2001.
No-one has cancer yet *(apart from two pets 20 to 40 meters from the mast who died within a couple of years after suffering symptoms and cancer - their symptoms started as soon as the mast was activated) although one man (Alan Brooks) had a lump removed from his neck about 4 weeks ago.
Best regards,
Yours sincerely,
Gill Lyden

172 Common Road

Kensworth Dunstable Beds.