Science Special News

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Volunteers repair "Bigfoot trap"

Dave Enge and Jeff LaLande figure they are following in some mighty big footsteps.They point to the hefty 12-inch wide and two-inch thick planks that form the ceiling, floor and four sides. Then there's the heavy expanded metal grate and telephone poles that anchor the 10-foot by 10-foot wooden cage to the ground."I don't know how they carried them up here," LaLande observed. "Back in the days when they built this, it was still fairly remote. You had to hike all the way up from the Applegate River at that point."Perhaps, it went unsaid, the builders of the legendary Bigfoot trap in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest had a little help from a large hairy fellow.Despite the fort-like strength its 1974 builders apparently felt was necessary to nab the elusive Sasquatch, age has taken its toll. The floor planks have nearly rotted through and rot has punched a hole through one side. And a ponderosa pine tree some 2 feet in diameter at the base was uprooted by a storm earlier this year, narrowly missing the trap but taking with it a roughly 10-inch in diameter madrone tree that struck the trap's northwest corner.

"The madrone collapsed part of the roof, which was already heavily deteriorated," explained LaLande. "The roof was no longer doing its job of protecting the planks."

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Seeking the round table at Windsor Castle

Evidence of a building linked to the myth of King Arthur and the knights of the round table has been found at Windsor Castle. The circular structure was built by Edward III in the 14th century to house the round table intended to seat the original 300 Knights of the Garter. Archaeological proof of the building was uncovered by members of Channel 4's Time Team in the castle's quadrangle.Although the stones have been removed, rubble in-fill where they were originally located remained in place. The show's presenter, Tony Robinson, said the discovery could help settle years of debate among historians over the existence of the building. "The round table building is one of our most significant ever archaeological finds. It is something that helped to establish Arthurian legends of the knights of the round table.

"We set out to uncover the walls of the building, and they are just where we hoped. Experts have speculated about the structure for centuries, but they have never been able to find the actual building."

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ISIS investigates haunting in Colonie, NY

The ISIS Team set out to investigate a home in Colonie, New York after receiving complaints of paranormal activity made by a female client living in the location. Dayna, Patricia, Justyn, Lauren, Erin, Reuben, Angela, and Matthew arrived at the location on July 2006, to conduct a complete investigation into the complaints posed by the client. Upon our arrival, team historian Lauren Ouellette began an interview with the woman and her boyfriend about the events that were troubling them.Reports include the feeling of being watched; being touched by an unseen force; seeing apparitions in the location; strange noises and banging that has no explanation for its cause; objects turn up missing and are found in unusual locations, the household pet has been noted to behave in an unusual manner, and the female client has reported seeing an apparition at the location on more than one occasion.The location is estimated to be 50-60 years old, according to the client. There is only one previous owner of the location, a couple who both died at the location within months of each other. The house itself consists of a living room, kitchen, dining room, basement, attic, bathroom, guest room, and master bedroom and the entire home has undergone extensive renovations. The dining room was once a bedroom, the walls have been painted and the flooring has undergone extensive repair.

The client reports that no activity occurred immediately after the renovation, however activity has occurred within the past year.The female client has Roman Catholic religious affiliations, but is not practicing the religion at this time. Meanwhile, the female's boyfriend is a practicing Wiccan and holds a solid interest in all things related to the occult. The female client has displayed prior interest in the occult, but the interest is minimal; the client likes to have to have tarot readings conducted, likes to visit psychics from time to time, and she has a keen interest in astrology. Occasionally, she will read books pertaining to such subjects. No clergy has been contacted about the events at the location and the house has never been blessed. Along the same lines, no other groups have ever been called in to investigate the location and there has been no prior media involved in the case.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

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Seeking the round table at Windsor Castle

Evidence of a building linked to the myth of King Arthur and the knights of the round table has been found at Windsor Castle. The circular structure was built by Edward III in the 14th century to house the round table intended to seat the original 300 Knights of the Garter. Archaeological proof of the building was uncovered by members of Channel 4's Time Team in the castle's quadrangle.Although the stones have been removed, rubble in-fill where they were originally located remained in place. The show's presenter, Tony Robinson, said the discovery could help settle years of debate among historians over the existence of the building. "The round table building is one of our most significant ever archaeological finds. It is something that helped to establish Arthurian legends of the knights of the round table.

"We set out to uncover the walls of the building, and they are just where we hoped. Experts have speculated about the structure for centuries, but they have never been able to find the actual building."

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Meet the world's smallest person

A 14-year-old Nepali boy who is only 50 centimetres (20 inches) tall has been put forward for a Guinness world record as the world's smallest person, his family and supporters said. "We found out that a Jordanian boy holds a record in the Guinness Book of World Records and he is 25.5 inches tall. But Khagendra is 5.5 inches smaller than the Jordanian guy, so we sent an application to the Guinness Book of World Records," said Min Bahadur Rana, president of Khagendra Thapa Magar Foundation, an organization set up to collect funds for the boy.Fourteen-year-old Khagendra Thapa Magar weighs only 4.5 kilograms and will be taken on tour round Nepal to raise money for his upkeep, his father told AFP."We show him in exhibitions to collect fund for his education, health and future," said Rup Bahadur Thapa, his father.

According to the website set up by his supporters, www.khagendratma.org, Thapa weighed only 600 grams at birth and his hobbies include "playing with pebbles" and "worshipping Buddha."

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Doubt cast over brain 'God spot'

There is no single "God spot" in the brain, Canadian scientists say. A University of Montreal team found Christian mystical experiences are mediated by several brain regions. Researchers asked 15 nuns to recount mystical experiences while studying them on MRI scanners, the journal, Neuroscience Letters reported. There has been much debate about how the brain reacts during connections with God among religious followers. Some people went as far as suggesting there was a specific brain region designed for communication with God. But the researchers claim this study discredits those theories. Nuns are said to experience Unio Mystica - the Christian notion of a mystical union with God - during their 20s. Researchers asked the nuns aged 23 to 64-years-old to recount such mystical experiences and measured their brain activity through MRI scans.

They found increased activity in at least 12 regions of the brain, including areas normally involved with self-consciousness and emotion. Lead researcher Dr Mario Beauregard said: "The main goal of the study was to identify the neural correlates of a mystical experience. "Rather than there being one spot that relates to mystical experiences, we've found a number of brain regions are involved.

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Extreme survival in the depths of the sea

Microbes discovered by a lake of liquid carbon dioxide under the sea off Taiwan could help us locate life on Mars, researchers say. Japanese and German researchers have found billions of bacteria and other tiny organisms living in a layer of sediment which traps the CO2 under the seabed. Their survival in such a hostile natural environment suggests that something similar could be happening on other planets.If water and CO2 are present below the surface in polar environments, says Fumio Inagaki at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology in Yokosuka, "I expect that life signatures utilising chemical materials and CO2 for growth might be found."Inagaki's team and researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany, investigated an area at the southern end of the Okinawa Trough, about 1400 metres under the East China Sea. There, hot black sulphurous fluids are vented into the water from two seabed "chimneys" known as Tiger and Lion, a stunning phenomenon captured on video by the research team.

The microbes were discovered 50 m south of the chimneys in samples taken from the crust of sediment covering a lake of liquid CO2. The video also shows a clear stream of CO2 bubbles escaping from the hole made by the researchers' sample corer.This is a sight that few people have ever seen, says Kenneth Nealson at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, US. It looks "almost surreal", he says in a commentary accompanying the research in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.