Quote of the Day: Never believe anything until it has been officially denied. -- Claud Cockburn

• Sparks fly over rare axe head.
• Researchers scour Cuban records for clues to Calusa Indians who migrated from Florida.
• Urn-burial site dating to 1,000 BC found at Adichanallur in India.
• The Sakakini Palace in Cairo is currently undergoing restoration prior to being turned into a medical museum.
• Niya yields buried secrets.
• Beit She'an artifacts go up in smoke.
• Billy the Kid’s lawyers want their client dug up to confirm the outlaw's true identity.
• A newish book, The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill by David Ovason is available at Amazon US/UK.
• Unveiling castle's hidden secret.
• Russian boy tells of past lives on Mars and Lemuria.
• UFO spies vanish into black hole.
• The curious case of the NASA Crinoid cover-up on Mars.
• $1 Million pentagon-sponsored robot race ends as all entries break down.
• The Hubble Space Telescope may have won a reprieve as Nasa has agreed to study ways to service it using robots.
• Mars rover finds crater a little depressing.
• Mars rovers to last longer than expected.
• Testing begins for global plane.
• The two asteroids to be visited by the Rosetta mission have just been named.
• The UK government is not serious in its study of potentially threatening rocks from space.
• Last American on Moon contradicts first Chinese in space: Great Wall mystery continues.
• The effects of climate change mean there is increasing acceptance by Britons of spring arriving early.
• Pirate fishing menaces albatross. Illegal fishing threatens Galแpagos Islands waters.
• Bison have nowhere left to roam.
• Why sugar pills cure some ills.
• Taking a nutrient called choline during pregnancy 'super-charges' brain.
• Loss Of smell linked to key protein in Alzheimer's disease.
• New artificial blood shows promise.
• Stem cell tricks hint at baldness cures.
• Recycled water could risk health.

Quote of the Day: Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. - Mark Twain

• The remains of an ancient civilization has been discovered in the depths of the Northern sea. Another Atlantis candidate?
• Dozens of exquisitely preserved Inca mummies are being recovered from a barren hillside on the outskirts of Lima. Any redheads?
• An ancient gate is restored in the heart of Cairo. No, not that kind of gate.
• Roman gladiators were overweight vegetarians who lived on barley and beans.
• This robot builder could print houses.
• Powerful explosions have rocked three Madrid train stations, killing 182 rush-hour commuters and wounding nearly 600. Evidence at the site of bombings ties the murders to Muslim extremists. A letter purporting to come from Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network claimed responsibility for the train bombings. Young Muslims in the Netherlands are being recruited for armed terrorism missions against Western targets.
• Did angels intercede to save Ronald Reagan's life? Hand Of Providence : The Strong and Quiet Faith of Ronald Reagan is available from Amazon USand UK.
• 'Godless Americans' launch a new political group.
• In the wake of an accidental killing, a historian explains who the Freemasons are, what they do and why conspiracy theorists seem drawn toward them.
• A device to help eliminate friendly fire during military combat has been created.
• Scientists have created the first glowing butterfly, by inserting a jellyfish gene into its DNA. Now we have glowing butterflies.
• Modified genes spread by imported biotech corn threaten to displace or contaminate native ancestor varieties in Mexico, the birthplace of corn.
• The 'Pristine' Amazonian rainforests are changing.
• The UK ivory trade is thriving and uncontrolled. How many more cue balls do we need?
• Can ear prints be used to catch a thief? Yeah, ear prints.
• It's time for you to do your bit for El Salvador and demand that iguana become a dinner menu staple. It tastes like chicken.
• The bubonic plague, or Black Death, may have originated in ancient Egypt.
• Sub-wavelength lensing in flat panels of left-hand materials (LHM) has been seen in two new experiments. I await your explanation.
• Robotic vehicles race across the Mojave Desert this weekend in a DARPA-sponsored contest.
• Pravda sensation: Cities are found on the Moon.
• Geophysicists might have solved one of the biggest mysteries in the solar system - why do the magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune differ from those of the other planets?
• Could Mars be a wet world teeming with tiny Martians?
• Thanks to NASA, the Mars rovers, and the Internet, we have all become explorers of Mars.

Quote of the Day: Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. Voltaire

• NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) - an anomalous SETI signal.
• Scientists see god particle?
• Mars stinks...literally. Sulfur deposits probably make the Red Planet a putrid place.
• Mega-corporations throw full force into battle against spammers.
• Reviews of two recent books on Easter Island. THE ENIGMAS OF EASTER ISLAND (Amazon US and UK), and AMONG STONE GIANTS (Amazon US and UK).
• More on the exciting archaeological discoveries in a Croatian river bed.
• China to recruit women for space. Better start accessorising those space-suits.
• Quantum cryptography leaves the lab and walks into the real world.
• Nanotechnology solves the important problems - like making a smoother ice-cream.
• Changes in the Amazonian rain forest concern scientists.
• Masonic initiation ceremony goes wrong, candidate gets shot in the head instead. Symbolic death indeed.
• Condemned Hubble Space Telescope just keeps on delivering the goods, even while on death row.
• Bush space vision dealt setback by senate budget committee.
• Mars rovers capture Martian eclipses.
• The danger from space - avoiding a day like Arthur Dent experienced. Got my towel right here...
• Plastic muscles the future of mankind? If they don't hurt like mine the morning after a jog, I'll gladly trade up.
• Mammalian egg dogma proved wrong. Sounds like a good name for a band...I can just see it on the marquee now - Mammalian Egg Dogma.
• If you think that one was good, how about The Power of Faeces. A&R job, here I come.
• UK gives tentative go-ahead for GM crops.
• George Michael retires from commercial music-making, says he will release songs free on the 'net from now on, as he has "been very well remunerated for my talents over the years so I really don't need the public's money." Website will allow for donations which will go to charities. Why does that make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside?
• More on the Bigfoot fraud story that's been bouncing around.
• Definitive signs of being a geek - when you propose to your girlfriend using a custom-built computer.

Quote of the Day: Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first - Ronald Reagan

• Defying Psychiatric wisdom, these skeptics say prove it.
• The curious case of the NASA Crinoid cover-up.
• 300 Wyoming Elk dead after baffling paralysis.
• 67% chance that God exists. He's also related to Saddam Hussein and subscribes to Hello magazine.
• More than one Jack the Ripper?
• Climate has history of fast changes.
• Neolithic Triple Henge complex shares same alignment as Giza.
• Ancient storms show big one to come.
• A new branch of primitive humans reported found in Ethiopia.
• Teen brains show low motivation. If life in the long term doesn't look attractive...
• Autism is a mystery, not a medical conspiracy.
• 1204: what really happened?

Quote of the Day: If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name in a Swiss bank. - Woody Allen

• Scientist claims proof of afterlife.
• A small band of pioneers is exploring the neurology of religious experience.
• Experts work to save Easter Island statues.
• Nazca Lines attract more than tourists.
• 1478 assassination solved. The Humanist did it.
• 15th century Inca mummies discovered.
• Monk mummy found in mountains.
• A new book, Earth History and Lost Civilizations Explained by Zoosh and Robert Shapiro is available at Amazon US/UK.
• Another new book, Civilization and Its Enemies : The Next Stage of History by Lee Harris is available at Amazon US/UK.
• UFO Magazine to close?
• A final new book for the today's post, Three Men Seeking Monsters : Six Weeks in Pursuit of Werewolves, Lake Monsters, Giant Cats, Ghostly Devil Dogs, and Ape-Men by Nick Redfern is avialable at Amazon US/UK.
• NASA deluged by civilians' Mars `discoveries'.
• Crops of circles imaged on Mars.
• Part 3: Mars, a sulfate salty planet - could it have sulfate-loving microbes? Also parts 1 & 2.
• On the heels of the Opportunity water announcement, the case for Spirit's water.
• Sea survey finds 1,800 microbial species.
• 3-headed frog found, also has 6 legs.
• Elk deaths draw national experts.
• Dramatic rescue of North Pole 12.
• Setting the world's priorities.
• Official tells of investigation into Mad Cow discrepancies.
  • Scientists push for Beagle pups onboard interplanetary missions.
  • Archaeologists seek older, more complete Lucy. But what about Snoopy?
  • Another crying Virgin Mary statue. When do we get to see a smiling Virgin Mary?
  • Did the first seafarers to sail around the Cape of Good Hope come from the east, rather than Europe?
  • Israeli archaeologist uncovers the origins of some Jewish customs.
  • Ecotourism may be bad for the eco part of the equation.
  • Prince Charles warns about vanishing fish. Is that like an evolved flying fish?
  • MPs to call for further testing of GM crops.
  • Amish reality television show looks like being axed. You couldn't dream up headlines like that if you tried...pure gold.
    • Poo from the sky. It doesn't get any more highbrow than that.
    • Mars volcano shows water flow. With purty picture.
    • Digging for America's lost colony.
    • Researchers issue retraction over link between MMR vaccine and autism.
    • New technique could give super-cool molecules. I've seen those suckers, two hydrogens and an oxygen atom passed me the other day with hats on backwards, saying 'yo mama'.
    • Archaeological dig unearths ancient love affair.
    • Steven Hawking needs to pay up on a gambling debt. Don't stress, it's all in the name of cosmology.
    • Stem cell treatments for heart problems in doubt.
    • Pesticides have killed over 90 billion French bees in the past decade.
    • Primitive crustacean smarter than scientists believed.
    • Keen to make your own bio-diesel at home? Somebody's posted instructions on the 'net. Use at your own risk!
    • Damn internet - spam, porn, and now drugs. If we could only get rid of the spam, things are looking good...
    • Comet-chasing spacecraft Rosetta finally starts chasing.
    • Biblical-scale locust plague threatens the Middle-East. Hope the four horsemen aren't saddling up...
    • Just to add to the drama, image of Virgin Mary in window shattered by vandals.