Hunting as the primary source of food is the common conception of prehistoric man but that may be incorrect, says Anna Revedin of the Italian Institute of Prehistory and Early History in Florence, who ancient starch grains on grinding tools buried at three prehistoric settlements in the valleys and floodplains of Italy, Russia, and the Czech Republic.

Read the tale by Kristen Minogue at Science Now.

Israel's Antiquities Authority is partnering with Google to bring the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls online, in the original languages and in translation.  Some scholars have complained that access to the ancient texts, among the more interesting archaeological finds of the last century, has been too limited. 

The images of the 30,000 fragments will be in high resolution, preventing a need for them to be re-imaged in the future and allowing in-depth analysis.

The first photographs are slated to be online within months.

In the 'You shouldn't mix alcohol and goat sacrifice' department, we have this news from Associated Press/NPR;  a 10-day Navratri festival that honors Durga, the Mother Goddess in the Hindu religion, went awry after a scuffle broke out concerning who would get their goat sacrificed first.

It's not like they wouldn't all get a chance - some 30,000 goats were sacrificed at the temple on Saturday, it is said.   But being first was the issue so with 40,000 people at the Tildiha village temple needing their goats sacrificed, it was bound to get ugly.  And so it did, with 10 dead and 11 wounded.

In dioecious species you have males and females, and males do not directly produce offspring. The increase of the population is constrained by the number of females in such lineages (male gametes are cheap). There is no such limitation in asexual lineages, where every individual can contribute to reproductive “primary production.” Additionally, the mating dance is another cost of sex. Individuals expend time and energy seeking out mates, and may have to compete and display for the attention of all. Why bother?

The answer on the broadest-scale seems to be variation, says Razib Khan...

In China, collagen is not just for ridiculous fake lips.  For those women who think facelifts and Botox are just not enough, they can now buy collagen-enhanced drinks.  


"Take a collagen drink for 30 days and have skin as soft as a baby's"

One 22-year-old enthusiast in the Guardian says her skin is "super smooth" after a six-month course.  Well, it's a little easier at 22, isn't it?  

Communicating Astronomy with the Public journal (CAPjournal) #9 is up and focused on cultural astronomy and how historical or cultural aspects to science pieces can help communicators to engage with a wider audience.  

During IYA2009, many countries ran projects that can be classed as “Cultural Astronomy”. The activities described focused on indigenous astronomy,  the history of astronomy and the inclusive nature of astronomy — as a hobby that can be enjoyed by anyone, anywhere. Activities included public events that combined telescope observing with storytelling, new learning modules for school  children, theatre productions and cultural astronomy exhibitions.

Forget booze, women and drugs, modern gangsters know where the big money is; government health care.

73 people have been charged with the most lucrative mafia scheme ever- setting up 118 phantom clinics in 25 states to cheat Medicare out of $163 million.   That's bold, people.

How did they get caught?  Goofy paperwork, like eye doctors doing bladder tests and ear, nose and throat specialists doing pregnancy ultrasounds while obstetricians were testing for skin allergies and dermatologists were billing for heart exams.

But not before they got away with $35 million.

From Babbage at The Economist:

"IT'S 'Out of Africa' meets 'Pretty Woman'", says a screenwriter pitching her script to a studio exec in the legendary eight-minute tracking shot that opens Robert Altman's "The Player".

Tech start-ups are like films. There are only a few basic plots; all the rest is "X meets Y". I was reminded of this on Tuesday at the New York Tech Meetup. NYTM, as its 15,000 members call it, is the grand-daddy event of the city's start-up scene. It's like "The Player" meets Silicon Alley.

Want to chase insurers out of your business?    Interpret rules so that families can buy a policy for a child only when the child gets sick, meaning costs will skyrocket for everyone else which ... would not be allowed.  A guaranteed money loser for companies and so large insurers announced they would no longer issue child-only policies.

As a result of the confusion in rushing through health care reform, the Obama administration now says insurers can charge more for sick kids.  Just like they do now.  Only with the government taking a chunk of taxpayer revenue to manage it.