Science: What Geeks are Talking about in Science from Fox News

Here is the latest in Science News from Fox News

Filmmakers ignore curse, scan Shakespeare’s grave
Visitors to the grave of William Shakespeare can’t help but notice this to-the-point inscription: “Blessed be the man that spares these stones, and cursed be he that moves my bones,” it reads (with the spelling cleaned up).

Archaeologists discover ancient Anglo-Saxon island in UK countryside
Experts in the U.K. have discovered the remains of an Anglo-Saxon island, which they are touting as a site of huge archaeological importance

‘A demon ate the Sun’ How solar eclipses inspired superstition
The first and only total solar eclipse of 2016 will roll across the sky this week. Total solar eclipses — when the moon’s shadow blocks the sun entirely — are spectacular events, highly anticipated by astronomers, astrophotographers and casual spectators alike

Science paper citing ‘Creator’ sparks outrage
Think a “Divine Creator” belongs in science?

Civil War-era shipwreck found off North Carolina coast
A large iron-hulled Civil War-era steamer has been discovered in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Carolina.

Can you outrun a supervolcano? Maybe, study finds
Can you outrun a supervolcano? New evidence from an ancient eruption suggests the answer is a surprising yes

Total solar eclipse and asteroid flyby on Tuesday, a cosmic double feature
Tuesday seems to be a double-header for cosmic events: A total solar eclipse will shadow Indonesia and the North Pacific Ocean, and a 100-foot-wide asteroid will streak past Earth.

Rare discovery: Archaeologists find woman’s 2,500-year old seal in Jerusalem
Archaeologists digging in the Giv‘ati parking lot at Jerusalem’s City of David have found two 2,500-year old seals. Unusually, one of the seals belonged to a woman, making it an extremely rare find.

ExoMars mission set to land on the red planet later this year
The first mission of the joint European-Russian ExoMars program will blast off for the Red Planet next week.

A new chapter in the story of Joan of Arc’s ring
A ring said to have belonged to Joan of Arc is back in the medieval peasant-turned-warrior’s native France nearly 600 years after she was burned at the stake.

Solar eclipse to darken skies over Asia, Pacific
Jay M. Pasachoff has taken off to a tiny island in Indonesia made famous by naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace while Mike Kentrianakis is a grabbing a coveted seat aboard an Alaska Airlines flight headed to Honolulu.

Oldest Muslim graves in France discovered
Three medieval graves in southern France may hold the remains of three Muslim men, a new study finds

Scientists say they have discovered what might be a new species of octopus while searching the Pacific Ocean floor near the Hawaiian Islands
Scientists say they have discovered what might be a new species of octopus while searching the Pacific Ocean floor near the Hawaiian Islands.

SpaceX rocket misses sea landing after successful satellite launch
SpaceX has successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit with the SES-9 communications satellite. We’re awaiting word on an attempted first stage landing. The Falcon 9’s second stage is in orbit in a 17-minute coast phase ahead of spacecraft separation. Watch the action live in the window below, courtesy of SpaceX.

Astronaut Scott Kelly: I could have spent longer in space
Just days after ending his after his epic 340-day stint on the International Space Station NASA astronaut Scott Kelly says that he could have stayed in space longer.

Grizzly bear move could be ‘bigger than recovering the bald eagle’
“This is really momentous, bigger than recovering the bald eagle,” an environmental writer tells the Christian Science Monitor after the US Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday proposed removing grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone from the endangered species list.

Astronaut Scott Kelly was 2 inches taller after his epic year in space
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly was about 2 inches taller when he returned to Earth after his epic 340-day stint on the International Space Station earlier this week.

Why is Greenland’s ice getting darker?
Greenland can’t seem to catch a break. Not only are its ice sheets melting due to skyrocketing temperatures but now researchers using satellite data have found that it has gotten darker over the past two decades.

NASA finds mountain range the size of Alaska on Pluto
Scientists with NASA’s New Horizon spacecraft have discovered a mountain range on Pluto that is a bit larger than the state of Alaska and may be covered with methane-infused snow.

Ancient mini kangaroos had no hop, they scurried
Two newly described species of tiny kangaroos that lived between 18 million and 23 million years ago scurried rather than hopped, a new study finds.

Astronomers spot galaxy a record 13.4 billion light-years from Earth
Astronomers say they have discovered a hot, star-popping galaxy that is far, far away — farther than any previously detected, from a time when the universe was a mere toddler of about 400 million years old.

Space shuttle fuel tank set to be displayed at California Science Center
ET is coming home.

At the ocean’s deepest point, you might expect silence–but not so
“You would think that the deepest part of the ocean would be one of the quietest places on Earth,” says NOAA research oceanographer Robert Dziak, but it’s not so.

Massive volcanic explosion reshaped Mars
Mars got a dramatic facelift billions years ago, thanks to a volcanic eruption so large that it actually caused the Red Planet to tilt by as much as 25 degrees.

Scientists find huge population of rare whales off Madagascar
Scientists have found the largest population of a rare tropical whale species that only last year was videotaped for the first time.

This tiny dragonfly flies a record-setting distance
The world’s longest-distance flier is a fly—a dragonfly to be exact.

Asteroid set to whiz past Earth sometime this month
Earth is once again expected to have a close encounter with a passing asteroid.

Yearlong spacemen embrace fresh, frigid air back on Earth
Ah, there’s nothing like a blast of fresh, frigid air to welcome you back to the planet after nearly a year cooped up in space.

Why did ancient Europeans just disappear 14,500 Years Ago?
Some of Europe’s earliest inhabitants mysteriously vanished toward the end of the last ice age and were largely replaced by others, a new genetic analysis finds

Yale’s climate change program out of gas
After years of feeling the heat, Yale’s Climate & Energy Institute is finally facing an inconvenient truth: the program will close at the end of June.

Archaeologists discover ancient winery, bathhouse at Jerusalem construction site
Archaeologists have discovered a winery dating to the Roman or Byzantine period on the site that is set to house residential buildings for Jerusalem’s ultra-orthodox population.

Scott Kelly: Year in space paves the way for even longer missions
Astronaut Scott Kelly says that his epic year in space will help fuel longer-term space missions, paving the way for NASA’s ambitious plan send humans to Mars.

This chimp behavior is baffling scientists
Chimpanzees in West Africa are throwing rocks at trees, and why they’re doing it remains a mystery, Discovery reports.

Osama bin Laden wanted America’s youth to fight climate change
Climate change activists seeking drastic change have an ally about as welcome as a mountain of burning tires: Osama bin Laden.

Bill Gates ‘discovers’ 14-year-old formula on climate change
Bill Gates just released a climate science equation that explains how the world can lower carbon dioxide emissions “down to zero,” according to the 2016 edition the annual letter he and his wife, Melinda, published.

Astronaut Scott Kelly back on Earth after yearlong space mission
Astronaut Scott Kelly landed safely in Kazakhstan early Wednesday, culminating an unprecedented yearlong mission in space.

NASA releases new ultraviolet image of Mars’ moon Phobos
NASA has released a new image of Mars’ moon Phobos, allowing scientists to better assess the mysterious object.

New scans of King Tut’s tomb may reveal hidden burial chamber
On April 2, a new series of radar scans will be performed on King Tutankhamun’s tomb to search for hidden chambers that may contain an undiscovered royal burial, Egypt’s antiquities ministry has announced

NASA plans supersonic passenger jet
Nearly 13 years after the last iconic Concorde airliner hung up its wings, NASA has announced a potential contender in the space.

Plastic-laden plankton poop could be disastrous
The amount of plastic in our oceans is now popping up as gigantic islands and set to outpace the global fish population by 2050.

New attention paid to controversial first Nazi hunter
Nearly 50 years after he was mysteriously found dead in a bath tub, two new films are helping to put Germany’s first Nazi hunter Fritz Bauer “back where he belongs: in the collective consciousness,” reports Munich daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung, via AFP.

Is the Doomsday Clock still relevant?
Seven minutes to midnight. Five minutes to midnight. Three minutes to midnight

Scott Kelly set to return to Earth after spending a year in space
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is set to return to Earth on Tuesday, after spending nearly a year on the International Space Station in which he celebrated a birthday, conducted space walks and nibbled on space veggies.

Male gorillas sing and hum when they eat
It turns out that male gorillas have a little Frank Sinatra in them.

Hubble captures star’s stunning blue bubble
The Hubble space telescope has captured an incredible image of a blue bubble around a distant star.

Scientists wait for ‘dragons’ to hatch in Slovenia
When humans in the 15th century encountered olms—rare amphibians that have been roaming Earth’s caves for 200 million years—they thought they were baby dragons.

Scientists crown ‘Earth’s first animal’
Way before humans, sharks, or dinosaurs, the sea sponge was very likely the first animal on Earth.

Meteorite hunters find 6 space rocks from Florida fireball
Meteorite hunters in Florida have found six space rocks associated with a rare daytime fireball that streaked through the Sunshine State’s skies on Jan. 24.

Leap day: The story behind this quirky calendar event
Monday is Feb. 29 — the bissextle or “leap day,” an artifact that dates back to the year 46 B.C. Back then, Julius Caesar took the advice of the learned astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria, who knew from Egyptian experience that the tropical year (also known as the solar year) was about 365.25 days in length.

Pluto’s icy, north pole shines in this image
It may have demoted to a dwarf planet but this image shows that Pluto continues to confound and surprise scientists.

7-year-old finds 3,400-year-old figurine in Israel
Seven-year-old Ori Greenhut was hiking up an archaeological mound in Israel when he came across a huge stone. On closer inspection, the youngster saw a face staring back at him.

Food for thought: Human teeth likely shrank due to tool use
Wisdom teeth may have shrunk during human evolution as part of changes that started with human tool use, according to a new study

Scientists trace mysterious radio flash to distant galaxy
For the first time, unusual radio signals that long befuddled scientists have been traced to a distant galaxy as much as 6 billion light years away.

Hungarian mummy offers clues to cancer mystery
Mummies have long offered up a wealth of medical information, from the role that diet plays in heart disease to the ancient origins of tuberculosis.

Textiles from the time of King David found in ancient Israeli mine
Scientists have uncovered an extensive fabric collection from the era of Kings David and Solomon in an ancient copper mine located deep in Israel’s Arava Valley.

US space-endurance champ says he could do another year
After nearly a year in orbit, America’s space-endurance champ, Scott Kelly, is just a few days away from returning to Earth — and he can’t wait.

Dinosaur was giving ‘the finger’ due to bone deformity
A Jurassic-age dinosaur suffered from eight devastating maladies during its lifetime that likely caused the paleo-beast an enormous amount of pain and possibly made it difficult to hunt, a new study suggests

Rare Charles Darwin letter will be sold at auction
A rare handwritten letter will be auctioned Thursday by famed naturalist Charles Darwin to a British marine biologist, in which he details plans to release a corrected version of the book “The Origin of Species.”

Fireball meteor exploded over the Atlantic earlier this month
A fireball meteor shot across the sky over the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, according to NASA, which describes the fiery object as the largest since the Chelyabinsk meteor over Russia in 2013.

Amelia Earhart’s plane discovered … in old movie
The plane Amelia Earhart was flying when she disappeared over the Pacific has been discovered … in a 1936 Clark Gable film.

SpaceX will make another attempt to land a rocket on a drone ship
SpaceX will attempt another audacious Falcon 9 rocket landing Wednesday after launching the SES-9 communications satellite into orbit. However, the company is downplaying expectations of a successful landing.

El Nino is taking a toll on the world’s coral reefs
A powerful El Niño combined with rising temperatures is wreaking havoc on the world’s coral reefs, causing what federal scientists say is the longest die-off event on record.

‘Space archaeologists’ show spike in looting at Egypt’s ancient sites
As economic and political instability rocked Egypt, looters increasingly plundered the country’s archaeological sites, leaving holes across the nation’s ancient landscapes

Scientists release in-depth map of the Milky Way
A spectacular map of the Milky Way has been produced that is allowing astronomers to study the cold universe, which is the gas and dust that are only a few tens of degrees above absolute zero.

Mysterious artifact discovered at Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity
A mysterious religious artifact has surfaced during renovations at Bethlehem’s famous Church of the Nativity, officials say.

Dodos were quite intelligent, study says
Is it possible that the dodo bird has been unfairly affiliated with stupidity all this time? New research released by the American Museum of Natural History says signs point to “yes.”

‘Music’ heard by Apollo 10 astronauts at the Moon not from aliens
Did Apollo 10 astronauts hear alien music coming from outer space when they orbited the moon in 1969?

Puzzling hum emanating from Pacific Ocean might be fish farts
When scientists first started hearing an odd noise emanating from the depths of the Pacific Ocean a few years ago, they didn’t know what to think.

Seas are rising way faster than any time in past 2,800 years
Sea levels on Earth are rising several times faster than they have in the past 2,800 years and are accelerating because of man-made global warming, according to new studies.

Baby gorilla delivered by C-section at UK zoo
Bristol Zoo Gardens in the U.K. welcomed a miracle family member on February 12: a female gorilla delivered by C-section..

Ant warfare: Fossils reveal insects locked in mortal combat
A weird world of warlike ants and well-armored termites has been found preserved in amber

Get set for Monday night’s full ‘snow moon’
Stargazers are in for a treat Monday when a ‘snow moon’ graces the night sky.

Mars in three days? NASA touts new propulsion system
NASA researchers are working on new laser technology that could allow a craft to reach Mars in as little as three days. Known as photonic propulsion, the system works by using lasers to propel a giant sail.

This strange creature was related to modern armadillos
With their bony exterior, armadillo’s have often been called living dinosaurs.

Giant dinosaur had 2 tumors on its tailbone
It’s fairly common to discover dinosaur remains scratched with ancient claw or bite marks, but finding fossils with signs of tumors is rare

Treasure hunters go after gold lost in wreck off Boston
Last summer, a team from Endurance Exploration Group used a remotely operated vehicle—or ROV—to recover a glass bottle, a chamber pot fragment, and a piece of china that had been sitting on the seabed some 1,000 feet below the Atlantic Ocean’s surface for more than 150 years.

Apollo 10 astronauts reported hearing odd ‘music’ on far side of moon
The astronauts who flew the dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing reported hearing mysterious “outer space-type music” while flying behind the moon in May 1969.

Virgin Galactic unveils new SpaceShipTwo spaceplane
Virgin Galactic unveiled the latest version of its SpaceShipTwo spaceplane Friday.

Archaeologists in the UK unearth 3,000-year-old wheel
Archaeologists in the U.K. have discovered a 3,000-year-old wheel, a find which broadens understanding of life in Bronze Age Britain.

NASA wants to unlock the universe’s secrets with telescope more powerful than Hubble
NASA has unveiled plans for a powerful new telescope with a view 100 times wider than Hubble.

Space station astronauts give huge trash can the boot
The International Space Station just got a whole lot tidier.

Pluto’s moon could have been home to subsurface ocean
Pluto’s largest moon Charon may have once had a subsurface ocean that long ago froze and expanded.

Medieval shipwreck hauled from the deep
A nearly intact medieval shipwreck has been hauled from the frigid waters of a Dutch river

Google this: Israeli scientists eye $20M moon race prize
Israeli scientists are confident that their SpaceIL spacecraft will clinch the $20 million Google Lunar XPRIZE to land an unmanned probe on the Moon by the end of next year.

Archaeologists uncover 7,000-year-old settlement in Jerusalem
Israeli archaeologists have unearthed a 7,000-year-old settlement in northern Jerusalem, attesting to the establishment of a community that dates back to the fifth millennium B.C.

Archeologists uncover 7,000-year-old settle in Jerusalem
Israeli archaeologists have unearthed a 7,000-year-old settlement in northern Jerusalem, attesting to the establishment of a community that dates back to the fifth millennium B.C.

Astronomers find supermassive black hole in giant galaxy 300 million light years away
Astronomers have found one of the largest-ever black holes in giant galaxy NGC 4889, some 300 million light years away.

Humans, Neanderthals interbred thousands of years earlier than first thought, research shows
A new study has shown that humans interbred with Neanderthals approximately 100,000 years ago, between 40,000 and 50,000 years earlier than first thought.

The heat goes on: Earth sets 9th straight monthly record
The January figures are in, and Earth’s string of hottest-months-on-record has now reached nine in a row. But NASA said January stood out: The temperature was above normal by the highest margin of any month on record.

Why 10,000-plus sharks are hanging out in Florida waters
Approximately 10,000 to 12,000 blacktip sharks are currently swimming off the Florida coast, but while these numbers may seem menacing, shark researchers say it’s not unusual to see these animals — visible as tiny dark spots in aerial photos and video — in the area at this time of year

China removing thousands from homes to hunt for aliens
In what would make for a decent episode of The X-Files, the Chinese government is forcing more than 9,000 residents from their homes in order to better search for alien life in the cosmos.

Japan launches mission to study monster black holes, galaxy clusters
A space observatory that allows scientists to peer into monster-sized black holes and the remains of titanic explosions of stars was successfully launched by Japan on Wednesday.

Easter Island’s ancient civilization was not destroyed by warfare, experts say
New research conducted on artifacts from Easter Island is questioning the theory that the ancient civilization there was destroyed by warfare.

NASA offers up stunning view of Dione divided by Saturn’s rings
First, NASA captured what looked like one of Saturn’s moon almost on top of the other in a bulls-eye formation. Now, it’s released a stunning image that appears to show one of its moon’s almost crashing into the planet’s rings.

Amateur archaeologist discovers lost Spanish settlement in Florida Panhandle
An amateur archaeologist who stumbled upon 16th century pottery shards has led to the discovery of a long-lost Spanish settlement in the Florida Panhandle.

Ancient Roman brooch contains ‘lovely’ palindrome
A person with a metal detector has discovered a 1,800-year-old copper brooch, engraved with the letters “RMA,” on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom.

Cougars are increasingly making meals of our pets
Wildlife officials in California have a disturbing revelation for pet owners: Most mountain lions in the region seem to have acquired a taste for dogs and cats.