NASA plans landing on 40m-wide asteroid
It was once considered the most dangerous object in the universe, heading for Earth with the explosive power of 84 Hiroshimas. Now an asteroid called 2000SG344, a lump of rock barely the size of a large yacht, is in the spotlight again, this time as a contender for the next giant leap for mankind.Na...

Vikings: from ram-raiders to fishmongers
Archaeologists and scientists have revealed that 1,000 years ago cod was traded extraordinary distances across Europe, from the Norwegian Arctic to England and the Baltic. The research may force yet another revision of the image of the Vikings, from longship ram-raiders, to mainly traders and coloni...

Man hiccups for 15 months
A musician who has been hiccupping for 15 months is hoping an operation will solve his problem. Chris Sands, 24, from Lincoln, hiccups as often as every two seconds - and sometimes even when he is asleep. He has tried a variety of cures, including hypnosis and yoga, but nothing has worked. Doctors a...

The Schirmer abduction 40 years later
Kevin Randle: Starting in the mid-1960s, UFO research found a new category of sighting. The first indication came from South America where a Brazilian farmer (who later became an attorney) told a tale of abduction at the hands of alien creatures. Antonio Villas-Boas claimed that he had been forced i...

Did Earth once have multiple moons ?
The ancient catastrophe that gave birth to the Moon may have produced additional satellites that lingered in Earth's skies for tens of millions of years. A new model suggests moonlets may have once occupied the two Earth-Moon Lagrangian points, regions in space where the gravitational tug of the Ear...

Chupacabra kills dog ?
A dog was found dead with a puncture mark in its throat and completely drained of blood in the Argentinean city of Rosario. No signs of a struggle were evident, nor were bloodstains found on the ground. The animal shared a terrace with another dog that did not suffer any violence whatsoever. This in...

Neanderthals were separate species
A new, simplified family tree of humanity has dealt a blow to those who contend that the enigmatic hominids known as Neanderthals intermingled with our forebears. Neanderthals were a separate species to Homo sapiens, as anatomically modern humans are known, rather than offshoots of the same species,...

The legend of Akakor
Philip Coppens : In 1973, Erich von Däniken, at the height of his fame, claimed in his book “The Gold of the Gods” that he had found a gigantic subterranean tunnel system in Southern America. It was a major claim – and one that seriously would tarnish his profile, for his source would soon deny he h...

GM crops get mixed response in Asia
Submitted by Pendekar Timur: With food prices hitting record highs the jury is still out in Asia as to whether genetically modified crops hold the key to future food security. The Philippine government has openly embraced the commercial growing of genetically modified (GM) corn, but neighbouring cou...

Coincidence and the thought path
Anthony North: We've all heard of fate, but what is it? To some it is a force in the universe that influences you, driving you towards a life preordained. Whilst to others, it is a superstition, a fallacy -something that doesn't exist. I don't like the former -it suggests that you have no free will,...