Justice Department Sues Tennessee Defending HIV Infected Prostitutes

A picture of a heart-shaped lake definitely sounds like something that’s been photoshopped and does the rounds on Facebook every Valentine’s Day‚ but the lovely shape of Spirit Lake‚ Washington‚ is very much real.However‚ it hasn’t always looked this way. Rather than the full heart that we can see in satellite imagery today‚ the lake used to be more like the top half of a heart‚ with east and west arms only narrowly connected. It was also once a popular tourist destination‚ teeming with swimmers‚ sailors‚ and fishers who stayed in the cabins and lodges surrounding the lake.Spirit Lake in 1979‚ pre Mount St Helen's eruption.Image credit: NASA Earth ObservatoryThat all changed with the deadly eruption of Mount St Helens‚ which sits to the southwest of the lake‚ on May 18‚ 1980. The eruption led to an increase in the surface elevation of the lake by nearly 60 meters (200 feet) and the resulting landslide of debris forced its waters out onto nearby land.But gradually‚ water flowed back in on top of the debris‚ creating the broader‚ shallower‚ and very much heart-shaped lake that we know of today. As well as its changed anatomy‚ Spirit Lake is home to a mat of floating logs uprooted by the eruption‚ serving as a reminder of what happened nearly 45 years ago.Spirit Lake as of April 26‚ 2023.Image credit: Wanmei Lang‚ NASA Earth Observatory‚ using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological SurveyLong gone are the days when the lake’s waters would be full of tourists – access to the site is now limited‚ with fishing and swimming strictly prohibited‚ though there is a designated viewpoint that’s open when conditions allow. Instead‚ Spirit Lake is being preserved as a natural laboratory for studying the recovery of landscapes after volcanic eruptions‚ with its undisturbed log mat of particular interest to researchers.“More lakes would have log mats‚ but often logs are removed for recreation and timber harvest‚” said environmental engineer Jim Gawel‚ who studies the lake‚ speaking to NASA’s Earth Observatory. “We would love to learn of other lakes in the world with large numbers of floating logs for comparison to Spirit Lake.”

There is an ancient cave in Somerset‚ England‚ that may hold a complicated secret related to our prehistoric past: evidence of human cannibalism.Gough’s Cave‚ which was formed around 500‚000 years ago‚ is located in Cheddar Gorge‚ which is made of limestone (not cheese) and is located in the Mendip Hills near Bristol. The cave is home to various large chambers‚ impressive rock formations‚ and also contains the Cheddar Yeo‚ the largest subterranean river in Britain. But among these features of natural history are archaeological materials related to human habitation from around 14‚700 years ago‚ and some of this evidence paints a picture of an ancient practice that we tend to like to forget about.Within Gough’s Cave‚ archaeologists have recovered remains of several people‚ including two teenagers and a child who was around 3 years old. Their bones appear to show strong evidence of cannibalism.  According to Dr Silvia Bello‚ from the Natural History Museum in London‚ “The evidence at Gough's Cave points to a sophisticated culture of butchering and carving human remains.”The bones seem to have been chewed by humans. And we’re not just talking about snackish nibbles – some of the evidence suggests that long bones and ribs were cracked open‚ allowing someone to get at the marrow and the bone’s grease. Some bones also have cut marks in them where soft meat was removed. And‚ finally‚ some of the skulls have been hollowed out and transformed into crude cups or perhaps bowls.But one of the most interesting aspects of this find is something that’s conspicuous in its absence. There does not appear to be any sign of violence on the remains prior to death. It seems the people were not likely killed as a result of conflict‚ despite their seemingly grisly end. So what’s going on here?Cannibalism: cruelty or compassion?Well‚ there are two potential explanations. The first is that this is an example of the kind of cannibalistic act we think of today – a cruel and gruesome side of human history. However‚ it is possible that these cases demonstrate a more complex behaviour that was itself the outcome of compassion.To be sure‚ the subject of cannibalism can be hard to swallow. Our pop culture references tend to focus on cruel scenarios and situations concerning serial killers‚ zombies‚ and monsters. This has helped establish the idea as completely taboo‚ despite it being a common feature of many historical cultures throughout history.Our ancestors have been eating one another for millions of years. In lots of cases‚ this was done as a point of necessity – to survive abject starvation – but in other instances‚ it became a feature of our religions and funerary practices. For instance‚ in Gough’s Cave‚ the bodies eaten by other people may have been those belonging to loved ones.The individuals found in the cave would have died during the last Ice Age‚ which means they could have been eaten as a means for survival‚ but this is not a sufficient explanation on its own. This is because there is actually an abundance of animal bones in the same caves‚ which means food was not completely absent. Then there’s the care taken to transform the skulls into drinking vessels.As grim as it seems‚ using skulls as containers is relatively well known among many past cultures. The Vikings and Scythians are two examples of people who had similar practices‚ but the skulls from Gough's Cave are among the earliest examples discovered to date.“The skulls were scrupulously cleaned of soft tissue shortly after death. Marks show cutting of the lips‚ cheeks and tongue‚ and extraction of the eyes. Then the bones of the face and the base of the skull were carefully removed. Finally the cranial vaults were meticulously shaped into cups‚” Bello explained.The care taken to prepare these skulls suggest they held significance beyond simply being used for nutrition. Equally‚ 3D analysis of an engraved forearm bone found in the cave also suggests that it was marked after the meat had been removed.This‚ for Bello and her colleagues‚ is significant. “The sequence of the modifications made to the bone strongly suggests that the engraving was an intrinsic part of the cannibalistic ritual and held hidden symbolic meaning.”You can learn more about the role of cannibalism as a funerary practice here.

This week a lone stingray in a North Carolina aquarium was found to be pregnant and the idea of the world's first shark-ray hybrid was put forward‚ a 280-million-year-old fossil was identified as a partial forgery‚ and Earth has received a power beam sent from space for the first time. Finally‚ we take a closer look at the peculiar pink fairy armadillo.Subscribe to the IFLScience newsletter for all the biggest science news delivered straight to your inbox every Wednesday and Saturday.NASA Just Received Laser And Radio Messages Together From Even Deeper Space Over the last few months‚ NASA has been using its Psyche spacecraft to test a whole new communication system. The probe's main mission is to visit an asteroid of the same name (16 Psyche) but on its journey there it has been sending laser messages back to Earth. Now‚ new tests have shown even more exciting ways to communicate with spacecraft beyond Earth. Read the full story hereShark-Ray Hybrid? Aquarium Suggests Shark May Have Impregnated Its Lone Stingray There's a bit of a mystery going on at the Aquarium and Shark Lab in Hendersonville‚ North Carolina‚ after a stingray became pregnant despite no male stingrays being present. While an interesting mystery in its own right‚ the case has drawn extra attention after suggestions by the head of the aquarium that the stingray could have been impregnated by a shark. Read the full story here13-Year-Old Boy Cured Of Terminal Brain Tumor In World First For the first time ever‚ a child suffering from a deadly type of brain tumor known as a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) has been completely cured. Until now‚ doctors had only been able to offer radiotherapy in an attempt to slow the cancer’s growth‚ yet this breakthrough offers hope for a more effective treatment. Read the full story here280-Million-Year-Old Mystery Solved As Forged Fossil's "Skin" Identified As Paint A magnificent fossil find was made in the Italian Alps in 1931. The specimen retrieved was thought to show remarkable preservation of an ancient reptile’s soft tissues‚ but that wasn’t the whole story. Now‚ a new study has revealed what makes this unusually well-preserved fossil so unusual: that “soft tissue” is‚ in fact‚ just black paint on a carved surface. Read the full story hereEarth Has Received Power Beamed From A Satellite In Space For The First Time In the video game Simcity 2000‚ one of the futuristic types of energy plants was a microwave power plant where solar energy was collected in space and transmitted back down to Earth. That idea is now a reality. Since June last year‚ an experiment in space has been transmitting energy down to Earth via solar panels on a satellite in orbit and now we have the first results of how the experiment is going. Read the full story hereTWIS is published weekly on our Linkedin page‚ join us there for even more content.Feature of the week: Pink Fairies: The World’s Smallest Armadillo Has A Unique Double Skin There are over 20 species of armadillo alive today‚ but among them is one that stands out for a myriad of reasons. But it’s not the pink fairy armadillo's (unsurprisingly) pink coloration that makes it so peculiar‚ it was recently discovered that they also have a trait that’s never been seen in any other mammal before. Read the full story here More content:Have you seen our free e-magazine‚ CURIOUS? Issue 19 February 2024 is out now. Check it out for exclusive interviews‚ book excerpts‚ long reads‚ and more.PLUS‚ the entire season 3 of IFLScience's The Big Questions Podcast is available now.

Name: Archie Dutrizac Location: Leominster‚ Massachusetts Date: June 23‚ 2023 Me and my wife went for our daily walk with our pug and we always cross though St. Leo cemetery in Leominster. I have caught orbs in pics throughout time in this place‚ but this day something wanted to be noticed! As we walked down a particular road‚ the pug started growling and giving a little woof. At first‚ I wasn’t paying attention‚ but then he started to get rowdy then full barking. I looked around to see if someone was planting flowers or watering them‚ because a lot of people do that‚ but today no one was in sight. We walked though a crossroads and the pug stopped barking by the time we go to a certain tree. I was also talking to the dog to say‚ “What the hell you barking at?” Then all of a sudden these wind-chimes near a stone were liked slapped! No wind was blowing that day! Plus‚ the way it was hit I knew something was there! I went to the cemetery the next night and this is what I caught on my 4k camera: https://youtube.com/shorts/knrTE4EsARQ

Plus: The anti-Israel hunger strike at Brown ends with a whimper.

A reggae biopic designed to perpetuate hegemony.

Now a MAGA carnival‚ the event is not the movement’s forum for debate that it once was.

Start with Switzerland.

His no-tolerance crackdown on El Salvador’s gangsters produced a predictable result.