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The real problem with people fussing over Pluto all the time is it represents the priorities of the public - preserving traditions rather than accepting facts. The pursuit of science is about building a sustainable catalog of truths, and there is no advantage in altering truths to appease nostalgia.

Ben (9c9bs)  

(via sagansense)

Cue that song from Frozen for all Defenders of Pluto: 

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holy convergent evolution, batman!

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Update: Auction of ancient Egyptian relics averted

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis archaeological society will not auction Egyptian artifacts after the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York purchased the collection.

The Treasure of Harageh collection consists of 37 items such as flasks, vases and jewelry inlaid with lapus lazuli, a rare mineral. It dates to roughly 1900 B.C. and had been owned for the past century by the nonprofit St. Louis Society of the Archaeological Institute of America.

The auction had been condemned by U.S. and British historians who feared the loss of a valuable cultural resource to the private marketplace. British auction house Bonhams withdrew the treasure Thursday, the planned day of sale, and announced the new deal Friday. (source)

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The Forensic Dentist Who’s Reviving Mexico’s Unidentified Corpses (NSFW)

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Mummified Fetus Reveals Ancient Surgical Procedure

A 19th-century mummified fetus that underwent an ancient surgical procedure while in its mother’s womb has been discovered by researchers in Italy, according to a new report.

The procedure was apparently done when a mother’s life was in danger or the fetus had already died.

The investigators found the mummy after a devastating magnitude-6.3 earthquake occurred in L’Aquila in central Italy on April 6, 2009. The earthquake resulted in more than 300 deaths and damaged many buildings in the nearby area, including the historical St. John the Evangelist church in the village of Casentino. The floor of the church partially collapsed, exposing underground rooms holding mummified human bodies, which included the newfound fetus that dates back to 1840, according to the researchers’ estimates. Read more.

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How does the research on primates benefit humans?

There are few topics as controversial as research involving experiments on animals in general and primates in particular.

from Max Planck Institute 

“The conflict centres on two irreconcilable ethical obligations: the obligation to seek ways of making diseases treatable and in this way reduce human suffering, on the one hand, and the obligation to protect the lives of animals, on the other. As long as animal testing remains the only way of accessing knowledge about the functions and complex biological interactions in living organisms, there can be no satisfactory solution to this conflict.

A few figures to begin: As all experiments on animals are subject to both authorisation and approval, there are very accurate statistical records available on them. According to the statistics, the number of animals killed for the requirements of basic research in Germany is only 0.03 percent of the total number of animals sacrificed for human requirements (this only includes the animals killed to provide food and materials and does not include the extermination of so-called vermin etc.). Around three-quarters of all laboratory animals are rodents; the percentage of non-human primates (e.g. macaques, marmosets and vervet monkeys) is 0.05 and has remained constant for years.

Playing around with numbers like this is of little help when it comes to the ethical balancing of animal and human suffering. It is true that animals are killed to gain information. But it is not true that animals are tortured. It is clearly important to examine the harm and suffering inflicted on animals in basic research. However, the hope and assumption is that the knowledge gained from the experiments will serve in establishing a better understanding of the cause of diseases in animals and humans, and the development of effective treatments. The desire to forego the knowledge that can be gained from animal testing means deliberately foregoing the desire to help people who suffer from diseases for which no treatment currently exists. This is the moral dilemma” (read more).

(Source: Max Planck Institute)

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A classic.

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Archaeologists find "totally fascinating" medieval friary and human skeletal remains in Stirling

Human remains, a section of a wall and a “large assemblage” of medieval material have been found at the headquarters of a 13th century Dominican friary destroyed in Stirling during the Reformation in 1559.

Archaeologists say it is unclear if the skeletal parts of the individual, discovered opposite Stirling Railway Station, date from the foundation of the nearby medieval friary, in 1233, or several centuries later.

"This is an exciting and totally fascinating find,” said Murray Cook, the Archaeologist for Stirling Council.

“For Stirling, this is the first time that a medieval site has been subject to modern excavation on this scale. Read more.

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Sophisticated 600-Year-Old Canoe Discovered in New Zealand

Sophisticated ocean going canoes and favorable winds may have helped early human settlers colonize New Zealand, a pair of new studies shows.

The remote archipelagos of East Polynesia were among the last habitable places on Earth that humans were able to colonize. In New Zealand, human history only began around 1200-1300, when intrepid voyagers arrived by boat through several journeys over some generations.

A piece of that early heritage was recently revealed on a beach in New Zealand, when a 600-year-old canoe with a turtle carved on its hull emerged from a sand dune after a harsh storm. The researchers who examined the shipwreck say the vessel is more impressive than any other canoe previously linked to this period in New Zealand. Read more.

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In 1340,Waldemar Atterdag became the King of Danes and in 1361 he set out to capture more land. On july 22nd his army invaded the Island of Gotland, where the peasant defenders of the land became victims to brutality.  

The picture above is just one of the many victims. In 1905 a mass grave was found in the Island of Gotland. The peasant defenders were stripped of armor and tossed into pits. Just a few were wearing minor bits of armor:

And there were many heavy injuries inflicted on bodies, one of them being cut to the bone with swords and axes

With the other being brutal blows to the head via hammers and axes

SOURCE

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Sekhemka statute sale: Northampton Museum faces new sanctions

The UK’s Northampton Museum could face new harsh sanctions for the sale of the ancient Egyptian Sekhemka statue. Sanctions include possible suspension of member status in the UK’s largest museum organisation, the British Museum Association.

The British Museum’s Association will hold a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday to decide on the possible actions against the Northampton Borough Council (NBC) which sold the statue on 10 July.

The 4,500-year-old, painted limestone statue was sold to a private buyer at Christie’s in London for £15.8m (about LE183.6 million). Read more.

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Don’t worry, Cthulhu is still fast asleep and no one has heard from the Kraken for centuries. This nightmarish maw is the beak of a female colossal squid, one that weighed 770 lbs (350 kg), measured nearly 11.5 feet long ( 3.5 m) and was recently dissected by scientists during a live webcast from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington, New Zealand. The squid was found by Captain John Bennett and his crew in Antarctic waters back in December 2013. She’s only the second intact colossal squid specimen ever recovered, providing an extraordinary opportunity for scientists to learn more about this mysterious species.

The squid’s eyes measured nearly 14 inches in diameter. The better to see you with, my dear. She also had three hearts, all the better to love you to tiny, bite-size pieces.

Click here for additional images, courtesy of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Learn more about the colossal squid here.

Click here to watch the entire dissection.

[via Business Insider Australia and The Huffington Post]

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shocking content !

Shen Shaomin’s Beautiful And Terrifying Bone Sculptures

Bones automatically insinuate death, and often are the only physical remnant that insinuates life once existed. Shen Shaomin‘s bone works are equal parts terrifying and fascinating, man-made memorials to human intervention on the planet. Creatures that never have been or should be are pieced together from human and animal skeletons. The bones are carved and relief-carved with text taken from several sources, including the Bible, the Koran, and various sources. Inscribed in English, Arabic, and Chinese, the texts serve as warnings to the two largest industrial nations in the world of the damage being caused to the planet.

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Researchers are trying to solve a Danish castle mystery

Hammershus, perched on the cliffs of northwest Bornholm in the Baltic, is perhaps Denmark’s best known ruin. It was excavated and renovated at the end of the 1800s up until 1940, but the ruined castle is still shrouded in a mystery with significance to the history of Denmark: who actually built Hammershus, and why?

For that reason it has been crucial to date the almost thousand year old structure, something archaeologists hope they will now be able to do as the ruins are posed to receive their first proper archaeological excavation.

“We’re aware that the parts of Hammershus we know date from the middle ages but the burning question is precisely when,” says Nils Engberg, archaeologist with The National Museum of Denmark and leader of the excavation. Read more.

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i want the kind of funding that scientists in comic books have.  where are you getting this money?  do you publish papers or do you just turn people into giant lizards and call it a day?  do you have to get that shit peer reviewed?  who is paying for your research?  can you give me their email address 

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 Mosaic fragments with fish

1st-3rd Century A.D.

Roman Empire

Glass cast

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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CURIOSITY turned 2 today! ...While the blog has been on hiatus! Sorry guys! I'll be back, I promise. Just been very busy with university and life and stuff.