An anonymous reader quotes Rolling Stone:
To mark what would have been author Ray Bradbury’s 100th birthday on August 22nd, the Library of Congress, the Los Angeles Public Library and libraries from across the nation have banded together for a virtual “read-a-thon” dedicated to Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Actors William Shatner and Rachel Bloom, authors Susan Orlean, Marlon James and Neil Gaiman and…
Tag: stone
Ancient stone ‘breadcrumbs’ reveal early human migration out of Africa
Nubian Levallois flints thought to date from 100,000 years ago have been found in Israel’s Negev Desert, the farthest north that the distinctive technology attributed to early modern humans has been found so far. Source: https://www.livescience.com/early-humans-out-of-africa-flints.html
A stepping stone for measuring quantum gravity
A group of theoretical physicists, including two physicists from the University of Groningen, have proposed a ‘table-top’ device that could measure gravity waves. However, their actual aim is to answer one of the biggest questions in physics: is gravity a quantum phenomenon? The key element for the device is the quantum superposition of large objects. Their design was published in New…
An Unusual Meteorite, More Valuable Than Gold, May Hold Life’s Building Blocks
Slashdot reader sciencehabit tells the strange story of a 4.5-billion-year-old meteor from “the cold void beyond Jupiter” that sent “blazing fireballs and rocks raining down on farms and fields.” On 23 April 2019, a space rock the size of a washing machine broke up in the skies over Aguas Zarcas, a village carved out of Costa Rica’s rainforest. The falling fragments,…
Stone Age people were cremating their dead about 9000 years ago
A 9000-year-old cremation in Israel may help identify when in prehistory people began changing their burial practices and perhaps their religious beliefs too Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2251443-stone-age-people-were-cremating-their-dead-about-9000-years-ago/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Germany Plans To Dim Lights At Night To Save Insects
An anonymous reader quotes a report from MSN: In a draft law seen by AFP, the country’s environment ministry has drawn up a number of new measures to protect insects, ranging from partially outlawing spotlights to increased protection of natural habitats. “Insects play an important role in the ecosystem…but in Germany, their numbers and their diversity has severely declined in recent…
In 2020, Venus and Perseid meteors!
In 2020, the peak of the Perseid meteor shower nearly coincides with Venus’ greatest elongation, or greatest apparent distance from the sun in our sky. Both will fall around the mornings of August 11, 12 and 13. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/venus-and-perseid-meteors-in-2020…
Beautiful shell carving was part of Incan offering to Lake Titicaca
A 500-year-old stone box found in Lake Titicaca contains a llama carved from mollusc shell and a miniature gold bracelet. They may have been part of a human sacrifice offering to the lake itself Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2250701-beautiful-shell-carving-was-part-of-incan-offering-to-lake-titicaca/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
What’s the August birthstone?
Happy birthday, August babies! Your month has 2 birthstones, peridot and sardonyx. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/august-birthstone-sardonyx-peridot…
One Mystery of Stonehenge’s Origins Has Finally Been Solved
For more than four centuries, archaeologists and geologists have sought to determine the geographical origins of the stones used to build Stonehenge thousands of years ago. Pinning down the source of the large blocks known as sarsens that form the bulk of the monument has proved especially elusive. From a report: Now researchers have resolved the mystery: 50 of the 52…