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An inscription on a burial artifact discovered in Israel is “the first appearance of Jesus in the archaeological record,” says Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical Archaeology Review. Scholars have no reason to doubt that Jesus actually lived, but no archeological evidence of his life has been found until now.

Andre Lemaire, a specialist in Aramaic (the language Jesus spoke), says it is “very probable” the find is an authentic reference to Jesus of Nazareth. It appears on an empty ossuary (limestone burial box for bones) and says, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” Lemaire dates the object to 63 AD and says the writing style, and the fact that Jews practiced ossuary burials only between 20 BC and 70 AD, means the time is right.
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Scientists may have come up with the answer to the question every parent wants answered: why is their baby crying? You’ve fed him, changed him, taken his temperature?nothing works. If only he could tell you what’s wrong.

Now a device has been invented that can translate a baby’s cries. A microchip monitors volume, pattern and interval to calculate if the baby is stressed, tired, hungry, sleepy or uncomfortable. The battery-powered “Why Cry” was created by Spanish electronic engineer Pedro Monagas.
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The noise from airports impairs children’s reading ability and long-term memory, but at least some the effects are reversible. Scientists monitored reading, memory, attention and speech perception in schoolchildren before and after the opening of the new international airport nearby. Children between 8 and 12 who lived near the airport site were monitored six months before the new airport, and one and two years afterwards. The results showed that long-term memory, reading and speech perception were impaired in the children who were exposed to noise near the new airport, and the effects were even worse two years later. But the reading and long-term memory of the children living near the old airport, which closed when the new one opened, got better.
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Scientists have developed a database of genetic information from Iceland’s small population, where everyone is related to everyone else, and have new clues about what causes both mental and physical illness. This information is finally helping to answer the age-old question: how much of what happens to us is due to nature (genes) and how much to environment? “I believe the majority of human destinies have a genetic component,” says Dr. Kari Stefansson.
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