Playing post-holiday catch-up...

• When all the stones were still standing, Stonehenge had the ideal acoustics to amplify a repetitive trance rhythm. More.
• World's largest dinosaur fossil site unearthed in China.
• Scientists say nanodiamonds are evidence of Younger Dryas impact 12,900 years ago.
• European Neanderthals were fair skinned, freckled and had ginger hair.
• In a Britain gripped by fear of imminent invasion by Hitler’s blitzkreig troops, a secret army of 'scallywags' were set to sabotage German occupation.
• Nuclear fusion: Energy of the stars, with no emissions.
• The fight over NASA's future. Interactive graphic of the new fleet of spacecraft in NASA's Constellation program.
• Rovin', rovin', rovin' - Mars explorers don't want to stop.
• A fifth of the world's population can no longer see the Milky Way. A new push to turn off the lights in 2009.
• Global warming is just the tip of the 'global conflict' iceberg.
• Cold Carbon Sink: How antarctic iron and green algae might slow global warming.
• World's leading climate scientists weigh in on 'alternative plans' to curb global warming.
• Cattle up trees, roads swept away, as Oz's Northern Territory is deluged by eight times more rain than fell in the whole of last year.
• Filling the atmosphere with greenhouse gases could push the planet into a new ice age, scientists warn.
• Why a Florida biochemist designed citrus trees which produce oranges containing THC.
• Turning on, tuning in and painting the results. The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors slide show.
• Daniel Pinchbeck on The Intention Economy.
• For centuries, Amazonian shamans have used ayahuasca as a window into the soul. The author joins in this ancient ritual and finds the worlds within more terrifying - and enlightening - than ever imagined. Includes video link.
• Peruvian shamans perform ceremony to protect the spirits of world leaders in 2009.
• The origin of the earth, according to the folklore of the Even people.
• In search of the tunnel to the Templars' treasure.
• Where words come from.
• Parallel Universes, Alien Religions, and Carl Jung: An Interview With Clifford Pickover.
• The first true scientist.
• British scientists create bloodstream-cleaning molecule which could save thousands of lives a year by quickly disabling poisons -- and may even provide an instant hangover cure.
• Grape seed extract kills cancer cells.
• Third-hand cigarette smoke: The dangers of the toxic residue of heavy metals, carcinogens and even radioactive materials that clings to hair, clothing, cushions and carpets.
• Ban on workplace smoking results in 41% drop in heart attack hospitalizations.
• Researchers hope to decipher dolphin language with a new instrument that reveals detailed structures within sounds.
• Cloned Pets: The DNA may be the same but the behavior is another story.
• Walking in the countryside is good for your brain.
• Scientists discover true love.
• Reality gets hyperlinked.
• Activist unmasks himself as federal informant in GOP Convention case.
• Portrait emerges of anthrax suspect's troubled life: NYTimes says investigation appears to have yielded nothing more than a strong hunch, based on a pattern of damning circumstances, that Dr. Bruce E. Ivins was the perpetrator.
• The End of the Financial World as We Know It.
• Krugman: 'Let’s not mince words: This looks an awful lot like the beginning of a second Great Depression.'
• New Year 2009: Leading thinkers offer predictions of the next big thing.

Thanks Perceval.

Quote of the Day:

You're not allowed to smoke
or tell a dirty joke
And whistling is prohibited
If chewing gum is used
the chewer is pursued
And in the hoosegow hidden
Whatever form of pleasure are exhibited
Report to me and they will be prohibited
It's as I say, so shall it be
This is the land of the free.

A singing Rufus T. Firefly, after being named president of Freedonia, in Duck Soup (1933).