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Cool science-related newsbits
Feb. 27th, 2009 09:56 amAP: Calif. aquarium blames flooding on curious octopus
Edited To Add: Here's a longer article on the incident.
AP: 13,000-year-old tools unearthed at Colorado home
By Alysia Patterson, Associated Press Writer
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — Staff at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium in California say the trickster who flooded their offices with sea water was armed. Eight-armed, to be exact.Compare with Otto, the mischievious octopus at the SeaStar aquarium in Germany (scroll down to the section in English).
They blame the soaking they discovered Tuesday morning on the aquarium's resident two-spotted octopus, a tiny female known for being curious and gregarious with visitors. The octopus apparently tugged on a valve and that allowed hundreds of gallons of water to overflow its tank.
Aquarium spokeswoman Randi Parent says no sea life was harmed by the flood, but the brand new, ecologically designed floors might be damaged by the water.
Edited To Add: Here's a longer article on the incident.
AP: 13,000-year-old tools unearthed at Colorado home
By Alysia Patterson, Associated Press Writer
DENVER (AP) — Landscapers were digging a hole for a fish pond in the front yard of a Boulder home last May when they heard a "chink" that didn't sound right. Just some lost tools. Some 13,000-year-old lost tools. They had stumbled onto a cache of more than 83 ancient tools buried by the Clovis people — ice age hunter-gatherers who remain a puzzle to anthropologists.Only 18 inches deep! Imagine digging a hole in your yard and finding that!
( more details )
What researchers found on the tools also was significant. Biochemical analysis of blood and other protein residue revealed the tools were used to butcher camels, horses, sheep and bears. That proves that the Clovis people ate more than just woolly mammoth meat for dinner, something scientists were unable to confirm before.
"A window opens up into this incredibly remote way of life that we normally can't see much of," Bamforth said.
The cache was buried 18 inches deep and was packed into a hole the size of a large shoe box. The tools were most likely wrapped in a skin that deteriorated over time, Mahaffy said.
( more details )
