Prehistoric News Roundup Vol.2

I’ve covered a bunch of bunk type news of late. So I’m going to cover some fun stuff for a bit and get some real news into this blog. Today’s theme is Prehistory.

And, we have a surprise visit from the Evolution vs. Creationism “debate”.

  • Creationism Creeping into Schools – FEB 15, 2013 08:00 AM // DISCOVERY NEWS
    Anti-science is all too common. 5 bills are proposed already. But it’s not just Creationism and Intelligent Design. Now it’s “Academic Freedom” to question things like Stem Cell Research or Climate Change. The bills want to give teachers the right to skip over units required by curriculum in favor of their own personal views.
  • Antiscience bills die in Arizona and Oklahoma – February 26, 2013 // By idoubtit
    Isn’t it shiny when things go so well? Of the 5 mentioned above on the 15th, 2 have lost! This is why you need to watch these cases and make your voices heard in response to them! Hopefully the other three will also get struck down!

Photo News Roundup

You know me. I love rounding up some news for you! This roundup features photos!

Prehistoric News Roundup

Kitsu here once again, enjoying the fact that some interesting Dinosaur news is in the pipeline, and she has enough for a roundup specifically for it!

  • Biggest Dinos Had Tennis Ball-Sized Brains – JAN 24, 2013 08:55 AM ET // BY CHARLES Q. CHOI, OURAMAZINGPLANET
    Specially they’re talking about Ampelosaurus, a discovery from 2007, formerly called Titanosaur. Monstrous body. Tiny, tiny brain. Science has verified this and it’s a consistent link amongst the Sauropod dinosaurs.
  • Small, Meat-Eating Dino Count Suddenly Triples – JAN 24, 2013 12:43 PM ET // BY JENNIFER VIEGAS
    People looked at some teeth, which I don’t understand why this hadn’t already been done, and now the 7 species on record is replaced by a scientifically verified 16. This takes the total to 23. Way to go science! Don’t drop the ball for so long next time!
  • Tiny Feathered Dinosaur Found – JAN 28, 2013 11:20 AM ET // BY LIVESCIENCE
    Archaeopteryx has been gaining more and more company in the “feathered dinosaur” world for a long time, and this new discovery suggests that even Archaeopteryx’s name (meaning “First bird”) should be doubted. New discoveries from china show that feathers have been around, along with the avian body indicators, for a very long time.

Kitsu’s Afternoon “News”: HIV sides with people against Cancer (+ Bonus Stories)

Originally reported by Discovery News in their blog on 14 September 2011.

The normally life threatening Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has been genetically engineered by scientists to reprogram cancer patients own immune systems to attack cancer cells. This process involves removing t-cells and infecting them intuitionally with modified HIV. The T-cells then attack the cancer. Finally, chemotherapy is used to kill off the infected t-cells and prevent the modified ones from interfering with the production of normal ones. The patient then suffers what appears to be the flu as the cancer dies.

The University of Pennsylvania group who created this process plan to continue testing it, and have already had excellent results in the 3 human tests preformed (2 cases in full remission and another in partial, all lymphocytic leukemia sufferers). Future tests are planned to include research with other forms of cancer.

 

BONUS STORIES

  • SPIKY NEWBORN DINOSAUR FOUND IN D.C. BELTWAY 19 September 2011: The first dinosaur hatchling ever discovered in the Eastern USA is not only the youngest dinosaur ever found, but represents a new species of armored dinosaur!
  • ASTEROID FAMILY NOT GUILTY OF DINOSAUR KILLING 19 September 2011: The Daptistina asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that has long been considered the source of the dinosaur slaying asteroid has been cleared for xenocide against dinosaur kind after providing an alibi: the asteroid belt didn’t exist at the time for dinosaur extinction!