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Tropical Species Washes
Up at Margate Following Odd Winter Weather
Anglers fishing off the coast of Margate
are used to catching a range of species including the chip
shop favourite cod. But the latest animal to wash up on
the beach at the Kent seaside resort is something a little
more exotic.
The ocean sunfish, a tropical species usually
found in much warmer waters, was found on the town's beach
last week. Read
more. |
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'Doomsday'
Clock a Minute Closer to the End
Not to be confused with biblical prophecy
or the Mayan calendar, the so-called Doomsday Clock owes
its existence to scientists and engineers, or at least those
who've been affiliated with the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Bulletin authors today nudged the clock a minute closer
to midnight (5 minutes to midnight), after moving it a little
further from the end of humanity in 2010. "Two years
ago, it appeared that world leaders might address the truly
global threats that we face. In many cases, that trend has
not continued or been reversed," according to the bulletin
website. "For that reason, the Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists is moving the clock hand one minute closer to
midnight, back to its time in 2007."
Read more. |
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Why
Oil Is Bad for People
and Wildlife
By the Audubon Society
Learn why oil and oil spills are a bad
idea for humanity. The Audubon Society has written an interesting
article targeted to children, but perhaps we adults should
be paying more attention. Scientists and government officials
are worried about the health of the oceans, the beaches,
and the wetlands. They are concerned about the impact on
all living things—from tiny plankton in the ocean
to sea turtles and birds. This of course finds it way back
to humans. When will be move beyond oil?Read
more here.
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Nebuchadnezzar's tower-Among
the finds is a haunting, albeit partly lost, inscription
in the words of King Nebuchadnezzar II, a ruler of Babylon
who built a great ziggurat — massive pyramidlike towers
built in ancient Mesopotamia — dedicated to the god
Marduk about 2,500 years ago. |
Archaeologists
Decode 5,000-Year-Old Bar Tab
A trove of newly translated texts from
the ancient Middle East are revealing accounts of war, the
building of pyramidlike structures called ziggurats and
even the people's use of beer tabs at local taverns.
The 107 cuneiform texts, most of them previously
unpublished, are from the collection of Martin Schøyen,
a businessman from Norway who has a collection of antiquities.
The texts date from the dawn of written
history, about 5,000 years ago, to a time about 2,400 years
ago when the Achaemenid Empire (based in Persia) ruled much
of the Middle East. Read
more
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