On:

The gladiators who put on shows in the coliseums of ancient Rome fought to the death before crowds of adoring fans. Most of them were prisoners or slaves, but some did it for pay and others did it because they enjoyed it. Archeologists say they put on these shows in order to display their fighting skills, that they weren’t only fighting for their lives. Emma Young writes in New Scientist that gladiatorial combat had become a martial art, like kung fu or other Asian martial arts, by the beginning of the first century. They draw this conclusion from researching Roman artifacts and medieval fight books. The daughter of the Roman orator Cicero was a big fan of one particular gladiator. Teens love actors or rock stars the same way today.
read more

On:

A new study suggests that women who regularly ate French fries as young children have a significantly higher risk of breast cancer. Researcher Karin Michels says, “This study provides additional evidence that breast cancer may originate during the early phases of a woman’s life and that eating habits during that phase may be particularly important to reduce future risk of breast cancer.”
read more

On:

Newswise – Palm trees in Pennsylvania? Magnolias in Minnesota? The migration of subtropical plants to northern climates may happen if future global warming patterns follow the shift that took place in the past.

According to an article in the journal Science, fossils of southern plants found in cold climates provide evidence that plants changed drastically during a period of sudden global warming 55 million years ago?will it happen again? Biologist Jonathan Bloch says, “It indicates that should we have a period of rapid global warming on that scale today, we might expect very dramatic changes to the biota of the planet, not just the mammals and other vertebrates, but forests also completely changing.”
read more

On:

In Chapter 7 of her book What I Learned From the Fat Years, Anne Strieber continues her discussion of clothes. She writes, “New customers entering women’s departments for the first time should know how we pioneering fat ladies had to struggle. It reminds me of what the suffragettes went through, campaigning for votes for women. I eventually became curious about what it was like to shop in my mother’s era. Women were pretty curvy then?did they have as much trouble shopping as I did?”

NOTE: This news story, previously published on our old site, will have any links removed.read more