Noumenal News

Arctic ice is melting faster than computer models of climate calculate, according to a group of US researchers.
Since 1979, the Arctic has been losing summer ice at about 9% per decade, but models on average produce a melting rate less than half that figure.
The scientists suggest forecasts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) […]

The US Army hopes, within a few years, to deploy a plasma shield – a machine that generates a protective screen of dazzling mid-air explosions – to stun and disorient an enemy.
The device uses a technology known as dynamic pulse detonation (DPD). A short but intense laser pulse creates a ball of plasma, and a […]

GEORGETOWN, Guyana: A woman lynched by Guyanese villagers who accused her of being an evil spirit was mentally ill, police said Tuesday.
Radika Singh, 55, was beaten to death by people who apparently believed that she was an “Old Higue,” a vampire of local lore that drinks the blood of human babies.
“Her husband … said she […]

NASHUA – Her identity remains a mystery, but a woman’s comments caused quite a stir, surprising those at a play in Concord this weekend and puzzling local school officials Monday.
After a performance of “The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial” on Sunday afternoon at the Capitol Center for the Arts, there was a question and answer session […]

A Louisville Metro Police officer indicted last week on charges of unlawfully arresting a woman and committing perjury had been twice suspended by the department, for lying and threatening her superiors.
Officer Claudette McCracken also faces charges of tampering with public records and official misconduct.
She and her lawyer could not be reached immediately for comment.
She was […]

(May 1, 2007) Chile’s southern island of Chiloé is more than just physically isolated from mainland Chile, and its residents continue to mix Catholic teachings with the pagan beliefs of their ancestors. Mothers on the island routinely tie red ribbons on their babies’ arms to avoid the “evil eye” of potential enemies, and these superstitious […]

GIZA, EGYPT–They have survived sandstorms and desert stillness, the fury of kings and the ravages of time, but the legendary Pyramids of Giza are endangered now – and the agent of their peril is a gloomy Egyptian stable-owner by the name of Hesham el-Ghabri.
Or so you might think.
“They forbid us to ride around the pyramids,” […]

KATSUYAMA, Fukui Prefecture–Workers at a leisure facility found a fossil containing traces of dinosaur skin patterns, a rare discovery that could shed light on the actual appearance of the creature, the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum said Thursday.
Museum officials said classifying the dinosaur has been difficult because fossils of its bones have not been found.
Full […]

4/30/2007 - In a case that furthers the polemic surrounding regulatory structure of the dietary industry, the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) has issued comments to the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) urging the agency to withdraw its draft guidance pertaining to the CAM industry.
In February, FDA announced the availability of the draft […]

Researchers in the US say they have firm evidence that apes communicate using gestures - shedding light on the development of human language.
The team analysed the way bonobos and chimpanzees used hand and limb gestures to make themselves understood.
The scientists found the apes used gestures more flexibly than the way they used facial and vocal […]