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We once wrote about what might happen if melting glaciers release long-frozen bacteria. Now it’s happening: a recent microbe that has been frozen in ice in Greenland for over 120,000 years has finally melted. Studying this could give scientists a clue about what might happen when we encounter germs on other planets.

In LiveScience.com, Jeanna Bryner quotes Jean Brenchley, one of the researchers who discovered this newly-awakened bacteria, as saying, “We don’t know what state they were in. They could’ve been dormant, or they could’ve been slowly metabolizing, but we don’t know for sure. Microbes have found ways to survive in harsh conditions for long times that we don’t yet fully understand.”
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…than men do – There’s something different about girls (and no, it’s not what you’re thinking!) New research suggests that women’s immune systems are stronger than men’s, probably because the XY chromosome arrangement is more fragile that the female XX. Also, the female hormone estrogen helps to block the disease process. But women maybe more susceptible to the lung damaging effects of smoking.

BBC News quotes researcher Leslie Knapp as saying, “Women are well known to be able to respond more robustly to infections, and to recover more quickly than men. In evolutionary terms it only takes one male to reproduce with lots of females, but females are much more important in terms of producing offspring.”
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…while searching for crop circles – There are crop circles and there are crop circles. Researchers who search for new formations from airplanes have recently spotted the outlines of circles that are actually ancient monuments. They were spotted about 15 miles away from Stonehenge and are even older.

Closer inspection on the ground by archeologists has revealed that the site contains the remains of ancient wooden temples and tombs. In National Geographic News, James Owen quotes archeologist Helen Wickstead as saying that for such an important site to have remained hidden for so long is “completely amazing.” Archeologists estimate that they were built at least 6,000 years ago.
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…to get tickets for our Dreamland Festival This Weekend – You can even buy tickets at the door. Besides presentations, we’ve scheduled social times when you can get a reading from Marla, have a beer with Jim and talk with William, Whitley and Anne. Join us!

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