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08.10.2018, 15:52

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NASA: Study provides new hope that life could survive on Proxima B, our closest known Exoplanet - It could host a dynamic dayside ocean.

In of August of 2016, astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) confirmed the existence of an Earth-like planet around Proxima Centauri – the
closest star to our Solar System. In addition, they confirmed that this planet (Proxima b) orbited within its star's habitable zone. Since that time, multiple studies have
been conducted to determine if Proxima b could in fact be habitable.

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Artist’s depiction of a watery exoplanet orbiting a distant red dwarf star. (CfA)

Unfortunately, most of this research has not been very encouraging. For instance, many studies have indicated that Proxima b's sun experiences too much flare activity
for the planet to sustain an atmosphere and liquid water on its surface.

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Is may look like dawn on Proxima b. Image: wikimedia

However, in a new NASA-led study, a team of scientists has investigated various climate scenarios that indicate that Proxima b could still have enough water to support life.

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07.10.2018, 17:32

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In the Solar system, found a new dwarf planet ...

Washington, DC—Carnegie’s Scott Sheppard and his colleagues—Northern Arizona University’s Chad Trujillo, and
the University of Hawaii’s David Tholen—are once again redefining our Solar System’s edge. They discovered a new
extremely distant object far beyond Pluto with an orbit that supports the presence of an even-farther-out, Super-Earth
or larger Planet X.

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The newly found object, called 2015 TG387, was announced Tuesday by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center.
A paper with the full details of the discovery has also been submitted to The Astronomical Journal.

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2015 TG387 was discovered about 80 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, a measurement defined as the distance
between the Earth and Sun. For context, Pluto is around 34 AU, so 2015 TG387 is about two and a half times further
away from the Sun than Pluto is right now.

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The new object is on a very elongated orbit and never comes closer to the Sun. The object with the most-distant orbit at
perihelion, 2012 VP113, was also discovered by Sheppard and Trujillo, who announced that find in 2014. The discovery
of 2012 VP113 led Sheppard and Trujillo to notice similarities of the orbits of several extremely distant Solar System objects,
and they proposed the presence of an unknown planet several times larger than Earth—sometimes called Planet X or
Planet 9—orbiting the Sun well beyond Pluto at hundreds of AUs. [hidden link - please register]

06.10.2018, 16:17

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Michigan meteorite used as doorstop for 30 years " worth $100,000 " ...

A US professor has established a rock used as a doorstop is actually a meteorite worth thousands of dollars.

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Mona Sirbescu from Central Michigan University was asked by a local man to inspect the object he had kept
for 30 years after finding it on a farm. The 22lb (10kg) meteorite was the biggest the geologist had been asked
to examine in her career.

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The rock, which came down on farmland in Edmore, Michigan, in the 1930s, could be worth $100,000 (£77,000).
Most meteorites typically consist of approximately 90-95% iron.What makes the meteorite found in Michigan
unique is that it is 88% iron and 12% nickel.



Dr Sirbescu sent a sample of the rock to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, which confirmed her findings.
The renowned science centre is now interested in buying the rock, Central Michigan University said.

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25.09.2018, 16:33

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Indonesian teenager survives 49 days adrift at sea in fishing hut ...

An Indonesian teenager has survived 49 days adrift at sea in a fishing hut, before he was rescued
by a Panamanian-flagged vessel and returned home.


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Aldi Novel Adilang, a 19-year-old from Sulawesi, worked as a lamp keeper on a floating fish trap, known
locally as rompong, located 125km out at sea. The teenager was employed to light the rompong’s lamps,
designed to attract the fish, and according to his father had done the job since he was sixteen.



Each week someone from his company would come to harvest the fish from the traps and deliver
him fresh supplies of food, water and fuel. The small, floating wooden hut – one of 50 owned by the
company and spread across the waters of Manado – was anchored to the seabed by a long rope
and suspended by bouys. But in mid-July heavy winds snapped its moorings and sent Aldi adrift
into the ocean.

The teenager only had a few days worth of supplies and survived by catching fish, burning wood from
his hut to cook them, and sipping seawater through his clothes to minimize his salt intake. The Indonesian
consulate in Osaka said that 10 ships had sailed past the Indonesian teenager before a Panamanian-flagged
vessel, MV Arpeggio, finally picked him up in the waters off Guam on 31 August – more than a month and a half later.

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24.09.2018, 08:25

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A German found gold treasure in the old closet and gave all authorities ...

A resident of the German city of Bremen bought an old kitchen Cabinet and find the gold hidden by the
previous owner. On it informs edition The Local. Three of the ingot lying in an envelope at the back wall
of one of the boxes. Their total weight was 2.5 kg. The cost of such quantity of precious metal is estimated
at 83.5 thousand Euro .

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The man took the treasure in the lost and found. According to city authorities, he did the right thing because
hidden in the closet the gold was not his property. He will pay 2.5 thousand Euro. The police found that before
the sale the wardrobe stood in the house of a wealthy pensioner who died in March. It is not excluded that
the gold bars were hidden there for decades.

22.09.2018, 19:08

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Frenchman shares home with over 400 animals, including alligators, snakes and tarantulas ...

In an unassuming house on France’s River Loire, a cobra lives on the coffee table, a 50-kg (110-pound)
tortoise roams the garden and a two-metre (seven-foot) alligator sleeps in the owner’s bed, while another
keeps watch at the door.

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Over two decades, 67-year-old reptile enthusiast Philippe Gillet has amassed a collection of more than
400 phobia-inducing animals, including rattlesnakes, tarantulas and lizards in his home in western France
near the city of Nantes.

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Gillet says the two alligators, named Ali and Gator, were rescued from a leather farm, but most of the
animals are pets that outstayed their welcome elsewhere and have been abandoned or donated.

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“We don’t understand them, we hate them, we think they’re horrible. But when we get to know them,
you can call them over, tell them to come and eat something for example.”

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Gillet says he has all the necessary permits to keep and transport the animals for roadshows, which he
runs to raise awareness about reptiles. He insists the locals do not mind their unusual neighbours and
regularly pop in for coffee, safe in the knowledge that the most dangerous snakes are kept in a room
behind two sets of doors. [hidden link - please register]

19.09.2018, 16:02

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World’s oldest brewery in Israel was making beer 13,000 years ago completely changing what we know about history of booze ...

THE world’s oldest brewery has been discovered in Israel with archaeologists believing it made “beer-like”
tipples 13,000 years ago. Located in the Raqefet cave south of Haifa, the site is also a burial site for the
semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers - the Natufian people.

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Dani Nadel, an archaeology professor at the University of Haifa, said the ancient booze was probably weaker
than modern beer but was “fermented”, reports [hidden link - please register] He said: “If we're right, this is the earliest testament
in the world to alcohol production of any kind.”

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Three small pits or mortars, up tp 60cm deep, have been found carved into the surface of the cave – two of
which were used for storing grain. The third mortar is believed to have been used for pounding and brewing
grains before fermentation, according to reports.

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In July, experts discovered the remnants of what may have been the oldest bread ever baked in Jordan at
a site occupied by the Natufian people 14,400 years ago. Archaeologists believe the location of the mortars
suggests alcohol was used in “ceremonies” or some kind of social event.

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According to a Stanford University paper published on the discovery the booze production “predated
the appearance of domesticated cereals by several millennia in the Near East."

The authors wrote: “It has long been speculated that the thirst for beer may have been the stimulus
behind cereal domestication, which led to a major social-technological change in human history;
but this hypothesis has been highly controversial. [hidden link - please register]

19.09.2018, 15:19

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A massive rose-coloured jellyfish, said to resemble a volcano, has washed up on a beach in New Zealand.

Eve and Adam Dickinson and their two children found the lion's mane jellyfish while they were walking on Pakiri Beach, in north Auckland, on Monday.

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"It was incredible. We turned over some of the other jellyfish on the beach to see if they looked the same as the big one but they didn't. This one was definitely different."

The lion's mane, or Cyanea rosea, is the largest jellyfish species found in New Zealand waters.

They are usually about 50 centimetres wide, but there have been sightings of specimens more than one metre in diameter.

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"They have a toxin in their tentacles which can hurt you if you get too close to them."

Macpherson said when dealing with the lion's mane jellyfish, people should "treat them with caution".

(This is in the Sydney Morning Herald)

18.09.2018, 17:06

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"My six-pack saved my life" says man run over by bin lorry while sunbathing ...

Jack Moore, 21, was sleeping in Earlham Park, Norwich, with his girlfriend when they were
run over by the vehicle, a bin lorry that was out collecting rubbish from dustbins. He suffered
a collapsed lung and liver damage but doctors told him the damage could have been
worse – and that the fact he is so fit may be behind his survival.

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He said: ‘The doctors said I was lucky I had more muscle otherwise I would probably have
suffered more injuries. ‘They said I was very healthy and that was also a big factor in my recovery.’

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He said that he only noticed the truck when it was about a foot away from his head and had
no time to react. He said: ‘The front wheel crunched over my stomach which was really
mentally distressing. It was the last thing I expected to happen, I think adrenaline kicked in so
I did not feel the pain immediately. ‘Then it drove over Vicky, stopped on her and started to reverse.
I pulled myself back out from underneath it before it could run over me again.’

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He said his stomach appeared to be disfigured and deformed with his belly button pushed
off to the left of his body. Vicky suffered a broken collarbone, fractured sternum and broken
vertebrae, according to the [hidden link - please register]. He could also see the truck’s tyre details on his stomach,
but as the pain kicked in he was unable to scream because of his punctured lung.

17.09.2018, 16:17

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" World's first " hydrogen-powered train enters into service ...

European railway manufacturer Alstom has launched what it says is the world's first hydrogen
fuel cell train. In an announcement Sunday, the French business said that the Coradia iLint
used fuel cells that turn hydrogen and oxygen into electricity. In terms of speed, the new train
can travel up to 140 kilometers per hour.

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Two models of the low-noise, zero-emissions train will enter commercial service in Lower Saxony,
Germany, today. Fueled via a mobile hydrogen filling station, the trains will run on around 100 kilometers of line between
the locations of Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervorde and Buxtehude.

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"The world's first hydrogen fuel cell train is entering passenger service and is ready for serial production," Henri Poupart-Lafarge, Alstom's
chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement Sunday. [hidden link - please register]

16.09.2018, 18:42

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In South Africa, found the oldest drawing in the world.

A fragment of stone found in South Africa provides the canvas for what archaeologists believe is
the oldest human drawing ever found.As one of the earliest examples of artistic thinking in humans,
the unremarkable-looking rock has given a unique insight into the minds of our distant ancestors.

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The cross-hatched pattern drawn in ochre had been buried in Blombos Cave, east of Cape Town,
for around 73,000 years. It was unearthed as archaeologists sifted through the debris found on the
floor of the cave, which has already yielded a wealth of materials made by our Stone Age ancestors.

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The discovery was documented in the journal [hidden link - please register]. The findings were welcomed by professor Alistair Pike,
an archaeologist at the University of Southampton who has previously identified art nearly as old as the Blombos
stone, but made by Neanderthals.

“It’s very exciting but also not very surprising given the amount of symbolic activity that has already been found
in the cave,” professor Pike, who was not involved in the new study, told The [hidden link - please register]

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An abstract pattern appears to have been engraved on this piece of ochre, which was also found
at Blombos Cave in the same archaeological debris that yielded the silcrete flake (Errico/Henshilwood/Nature)


However, while there is a chance the scratched ochre discovered in the cave could have been produced
in a purely functional way, he said the drawing itself is unambiguously a piece of art. It also ties together
the various engravings and beads from around this period with the elaborate cave paintings made by
our more recent ancestors.

Professor Pike noted that even though this simple piece may appear to be the sign of a more primitive brain,
in fact the person who created it would have been no less developed than the creators of the elaborate animal
drawings made in Europe thousands of years later.

“I guess you can contrast a Jackson Pollock painting with a Giotto and say gosh, those are two very different things – but they are formed by the same symbolic processes and meanings,” he said.

15.09.2018, 17:58

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Man mowing lawn gets rained out, wins $10 million ...

Sept. 14 [hidden link - please register] -- A Virginia man said getting rained out while trying to mow his lawn
led to his winning a $10 million lottery jackpot. Charles Martin of Amelia Courthouse
told Virginia Lottery officials he was moving his lawn after work recently when it started
raining too hard for him to continue the chore.

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Martin said he put the mower away and decided to stop by the 460 Pit Stop store in
Blackstone, where he played a few lottery games. One of the tickets Martin bought
was an Extreme Millions Scratcher game, which won him a $10 million top prize.

"I scratched it and I about had a heart attack!" he said. He said the store owner scanned the ticket to double-check his win.

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"Oh, it must be a good one because I can't pay it!" Martin recalled the owner saying.



Martin collected his check from the Virginia Lottery this week. He chose the lump sum option,
which came to $6,570,302 before taxes.

14.09.2018, 18:33

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14,000-year-old bread found in Jordan ...

Nobody underestimates the importance of bread, but it turns out it could be older
than previously thought. At 14,400 years old, the Oldest bread was discovered by
University of Copenhagen Archaeological Research Group in the Black Desert,
Jordan, before its age was reviewed on 12 June.

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Archaeologists found evidence of crumbs dating back more than 14 millennia in a
stone fireplace at a site in north-eastern Jordan. The bread found is believed to have
looked like a flatbread and after analysis was discovered to be made made from
wild cereals like barley, einkorn and oats.

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Not only are the crumbs older than pieces previously thought to be oldest (around
9,000 years old), but were way before farming developed, leading researchers to
believe cereals could have been cultivated and helped humans transition from just hunting.

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"The 24 remains analysed in this study show that wild ancestors of domesticated
cereals such as barley, einkorn, and oat had been ground, sieved and kneaded prior
to cooking," said Dr Amaia Arranz-Otaegui from the University of Copenhagen.
"The remains are very similar to unleavened flatbreads identified at several Neolithic
and Roman sites in Europe and Turkey. So we now know that bread-like products
were produced long before the development of farming." [hidden link - please register]

12.09.2018, 18:32

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Three new species of fish discovered in the extreme depths of the Pacific Ocean...

An exploration to one of the deepest places on earth has captured rare footage of what is believed to be three
new species of the elusive Snailfish. Involving a team of 40 scientists from 17 different nations, including Dr Alan
Jamieson and Dr Thomas Linley from Newcastle University, UK, the expedition to the Atacama Trench has
uncovered a wealth of information about life in one of the deepest places on earth.

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The pink, the blue and the purpl. Among the new discoveries are what the team believe to be three new species of snailfish.
Temporarily named ‘the pink, the blue and the purple Atacama Snailfish’, the footage shows the fish feeding and interacting
in their secret world 7,500 metres below the surface.

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These fish are part of the Liparidae family and do not conform to the preconceived stereotypical image of what a deep-sea fish should look like.



Instead of giant teeth and a menacing frame, the fishes that roam in the deepest parts of the
ocean are small, translucent, bereft of scales — and highly adept at living where few other
organisms can. The snailfish will be featured as part of the Challenger Conference 2018 which
kicks off at Newcastle University from today and runs until Friday. [hidden link - please register]

10.09.2018, 17:00

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Parsi priest has a savage warning for people using mobile phones during temple visit ...

When people visit holy places, they are expected to be devoted to the almighty.
However, with technology and social media being omnipresent, it is not an easy
task to disconnect completely. However, a Parsi priest found an interesting way to
discourage people from using their phones while visiting the Fire temple.

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“When you enter this Fire Temple it may be possible that you hear ‘the call of God’.
However, it is unlikely that he unlikely that He will call you on your mobile phone.
Thank you for turning off your phones. If you want to talk to God, enter, choose a quiet
place and talk to him. If you want to see Him, send him a text message while driving,”
read a post by Twitter user [hidden link - please register]

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While the tweet aims to deter the use of mobile phones at religious places, its sarcastic
tone has caught people’s attention. It did not take long for the post to go viral with many
complimenting the priest for his sense of humour. In over a day, the tweet has received
over 1400 likes. Visiting a temple? Watch out for the priest’s warning. [hidden link - please register]