Our history is like layers of an onion. Now the time machine takes us back farther and farther. History being like the DNA of our culture. Go here to read the whole story….

They call it potbelly hill, after the soft, round contour of this final lookout in southeastern Turkey. To the north are forested mountains. East of the hill lies the biblical plain of Harran, and to the south is the Syrian border, visible 20 miles away, pointing toward the ancient lands of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent, the region that gave rise to human civilization. And under our feet, according to archeologist Klaus Schmidt, are the stones that mark the spot—the exact spot—where humans began that ascent. Standing on the hill at dawn, overseeing a team of 40 Kurdish diggers, the German-born archeologist waves a hand over his discovery here, a revolution in the story of human origins. Schmidt has uncovered a vast and beautiful temple complex, a structure so ancient that it may be the very first thing human beings ever built. The site isn’t just old, it redefines old: the temple was built 11,500 years ago—a staggering 7,000 years before the Great Pyramid, and more than 6,000 years before Stonehenge first took shape. The ruins are so early that they predate villages, pottery, domesticated animals, and even agriculture—the first embers of civilization. In fact, Schmidt thinks the temple itself, built after the end of the last Ice Age by hunter-gatherers, became that ember—the spark that launched mankind toward farming, urban life, and all that followed.

WASHINGTON: Babies who hear two languages regularly when they are in their mother’s womb are more open to being bilingual, a study published this week inPsychological Science shows.

Psychological scientists from the University of British Columbia and a researcher from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in France tested two groups of newborns, one of which only heard English in the womb and the others who heard English and Tagalog, which is spoken in the Philippines.

To determine the babies’ preference for a language, the researchers studied the newborns’ sucking reflex; increased sucking by a neonate indicates interest in a stimulus.

To read the full story right here:

In control? Think again. Our ideas of brain and human nature are myths | Madeleine Bunting | Comment is free | The Guardian
In control? Think again. Our ideas of brain and human nature are mythsThe notion of individual autonomy underpins our society, yet new research suggests this guiding principle is an illusion

Atheist Digest: Evolution
In this series we’re going to explore philosophy, science, theology, psychology, epistemology, and a whole slew of other silly elitist things. We’re going to challenge each other to think, we’re going to inadvertently insult some people, and hopefully we’ll end the day battered, bruised, confused, but just a little more thoughtful and tolerant than before.

Previous articles in this series:

Atheist Digest: Diary Series Introduction

Atheist Digest Two: Semantics

Atheist Digest Three: Belief

Atheist Digest Four: Science, and Scientific Method

An unidentified flying object.

Photograph by: Files, Vancouver Sun

If UFO sightings statistics are anything to go by, the skies over Canada in 2008 must have looked like an extraterrestrial parking lot.

Canadians saw a record number of unidentified flying objects last year, according to a 20-year study of saucer sightings from coast to coast.

Chris Rutkowski, a ‘Ufologist’ and science writer in Manitoba, said Tuesday that in the past two decades, 15,000 Canadians have reported seeing 8,600 UFOs. These include sightings of lights in the sky and disc-shaped objects, reported to authorities ranging from the Department of National Defence to airports, police and the RCMP.

I lifted the money paragraph from a very interesting article in the NYT.  Please take the leap to read the whole thing.  Happily!

Averted Vision – Happy Days Blog – NYTimes.com
I suspect there is something inherently misguided and self-defeating and hopeless about any deliberate campaign to achieve happiness. Perhaps the reason we so often experience happiness only in hindsight, and that chasing it is such a fool’s errand, is that happiness isn’t a goal in itself but is only an aftereffect. It’s the consequence of having lived in the way that we’re supposed to — by which I don’t mean ethically correctly so much as just consciously, fully engaged in the business of living. In this respect it resembles averted vision, a phenomena familiar to backyard astronomers whereby, in order to pick out a very faint star, you have to let your gaze drift casually to the space just next to it; if you look directly at it, it vanishes. And it’s also true, come to think of it, that the only stars we ever see are not the “real” stars, those cataclysms taking place in the present, but always only the light of the untouchable past.

Demons, UFOs and strange voices
A look at the beliefs of deceased investigators John Keel and Lou Gentile.
— Paranormal Review

West Coast Tsunami Threat Higher than Thought
Tsunamis are often triggered by earthquakes, as was the case with the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
— LiveScience

Home Burials Offer an Intimate Alternative
The number of home funerals has soared in the last five years.
— NY Times

Scientists reveal secret of girl with ‘all seeing eye’
A 10-year-old girl born with half a brain is able to see normally through one eye.
— PhysOrg.com

Fayette Bigfoot: Drawings
Sketch depicts ‘thin’ hairy hominid.
— Cryptomundo

STANDBY FOLKS We be changing direction………..