http://machinemachine.net/stream/feed en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sweetcron therourke@gmail.com http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/science/25archeo.html?_r=1 Archaeologists and other scientists report in Friday’s issue of the journal Science that excavations show hunter-gatherers were living at the Buttermilk Creek site and making projectile points, blades, choppers and other tools from local chert for a long time, possibly as early as 15,500 years ago. More than 50 well-formed artifacts as well as hundreds of flakes and fragments of chipping debris were embedded in thick clay sediments immediately beneath typical Clovis material. “This is the oldest credible archaeological site in North America,” Michael R. Waters, leader of the discovery team, said at a news teleconference. Dr. Waters, director of… ]]> Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:00:47 -0700 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/science/25archeo.html?_r=1 http://www.archaeology.org/1003/etc/neanderthals.html If Neanderthals ever walk the earth again, the primordial ooze from which they will rise is an emulsion of oil, water, and DNA capture beads engineered in the laboratory of 454 Life Sciences in Branford, Connecticut. Over the past 4 years those beads have been gathering tiny fragments of DNA from samples of dissolved organic materials, including pieces of Neanderthal bone. Genetic sequences have given paleoanthropologists a new line of evidence for testing ideas about the biology of our closest extinct relative. The first studies of Neanderthal DNA focused on the genetic sequences of mitochondria, the microscopic organelles that convert… ]]> Mon, 01 Mar 2010 04:58:00 -0700 http://www.archaeology.org/1003/etc/neanderthals.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrichor Petrichor (pronounced /ˈpɛtrɨkər/; from Greek petros "stone" + ichor "the fluid that is supposed to flow in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology") is the name of the scent of rain on dry earth. The term was coined in 1964 by two Australian... ]]> Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:36:18 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrichor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrichor Petrichor (pronounced /ˈpɛtrɨkər/; from Greek petros "stone" + ichor "the fluid that is supposed to flow in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology") is the name of the scent of rain on dry earth. The term was coined in 1964 by two Australian researchers, Bear and Thomas, for an article in the journal Nature.[1] In the article, the authors describe how the smell derives from an oil exuded by certain plants during dry periods, whereupon it is adsorbed by clay-based soils and rocks. During rain, the oil is released into the air along with another compound, geosmin, producing… ]]> Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:36:00 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrichor http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/17-08/ff_primordial_yeast The dish contains a variant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, known in culinary circles as baker's or brewer's yeast. But Cano didn't get this from Whole Foods. Back in 1995, he extracted it from a 45 million-year-old fossil. The microorganisms had lain dormant since the Eocene epoch, a time when Australia split off from Antarctica and modern mammals first appeared. Then Cano brought the yeast back to life. This reanimation of an ancient life form was a breakthrough, a discovery so shocking that the scientific community initially refused to believe it. It changed our understanding of what microorganisms are capable of. It… ]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:01:00 -0700 http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/17-08/ff_primordial_yeast