News Briefs 07-01-2013

I need relocation therapy -- my fingers are too cold to type.

• Mining for gigantic fossil snakes: As paleontologists know, there's nothing on Earth better than a coal mine for analyzing ancient ecosystems.
• Severn Estuary fossils reveal Stone Age fire-starting.
• Papyri point to practice of voluntary temple slavery in Ancient Egypt.
• 8 million mummified animals found at Saqqara. How long did it take to count them?
• A string of 13 dwarf galaxies in orbit around the massive galaxy Andromeda are not behaving as they should.
• Photo of Mt. Vesuvius from space is gorgeous, terrifying.
• Researchers think they might be able to corral antimatter.
• Mysteries of the snowflake: The curious world of the ice-crystal experts.
• The secrets of Earth's climate history may be in its caves.
• CFL light bulbs found to emit skin-damaging levels of UV radiation.
• The hidden culprit behind violent crime, lower IQs, and even the ADHD epidemic is gasoline lead.
• Awakening: Tens of thousands of patients each year, in the US alone, wake up at some point during surgery. What does it mean to be conscious?
• Ideas Are Overrated: The danger of imagination without follow-through.
• Metamorphosis complete: People of all ages think that, despite having changed in the past, they will change very little in the future.
• A pickpocket's tale: The spectacular thefts of Apollo Robbins.

Quote of the Day:

Attention is like water. It flows. It’s liquid. You create channels to divert it, and you hope that it flows the right way.

Apollo Robbins