Michelle Moran's Blog, page 107

Evidence of Stone Age amputation forces rethink over history of surgery

By Adam Sage

The surgeon was dressed in a goat or sheep skin and used a sharpened stone to amputate the arm of his patient. The operating theatre was not exactly Harley Street — more probably a wooden shelter — but the intervention was a success, and it has shed light on the medical talents of our Stone Age ancestors.

Read the rest on the Times Online.

Leonardo da Vinci's bones to be dug up by Italian scientists

By John Follain

div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited { color:#06c; }

Scientists seeking permission to exhume the remains of Leonardo da Vinci plan to reconstruct his face to discover whether his masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, is a disguised self-portrait.

Read the rest on the London Times.

Dillinger's getaway car sells for $165,000

by Peter Valdes-Dapena, senior writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A 1930 Ford Model A used by bank robber John Dillinger to evade federal agents sold at auction Saturday for $165,000.

Read the rest on CNN.

Letters from the edge: Van Gogh's poignant story revealed through his writing

By Victoria Moore

Self-portrait: Van Gogh

Mind-blowing hallucinations. Epileptic fits. Suicidal despair. Van Gogh's fierce, swirling brushstrokes are often said to be the work of a madman. But a major new exhibition, based on his letters, reveals a far more poignant story.

Read the rest on the Daily Mail.

Dinosaur "Death Pits" Created by Giant's Footprints?

Brian Handwerk

Following in a giant dinosaur's footsteps could be fatal—but not for the reasons you might suspect. Mysterious "death pits" holding the fossil skeletons of nearly two dozen small dinosaur species may actually be the 160-million-year-old footprints of an ancient behemoth, a new study suggests.

Read the rest on National Geographic.

Humans Caused Demise of Australia's Megafauna, Evidence Shows

ScienceDaily — A new scientific paper co-authored by a University of Adelaide researcher reports strong evidence that humans, not climate change, caused the demise of Australia's megafauna -- giant marsupials, huge reptiles and flightless birds -- at least 40,000 years ago.

Read the rest on Science Daily.

Revealed: The dark secrets about Charlie Chaplin's mother that fired his genius

Ill-fated: The tragic decline of Hannah Chaplin haunted the star all his life
by Glenys Roberts

Notorious for his under-age mistresses and pilloried for his Leftwing views, Charlie Chaplin will forever be remembered for his tear-jerking performances as the vulnerable Little Tramp - the icon he created in silent movie days.

Read the rest on the Daily Mail.

HMS Invincible: Inside the battle ship made famous by Turner, the fighting Temeraire, and its amazing history

by Sam Willis

Struggling to breathe in mouthfuls of air rank with choking gunsmoke, hundreds of men and boys crouched low on the gun decks of His Majesty's Ship Temeraire.

Read the rest on the Daily Mail.

Study: Animals populated Madagascar by rafting there

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - How did the lemurs, flying foxes and narrow-striped mongooses get to the large, isolated island of Madagascar sometime after 65 million years ago?

Read the rest here.

Evidence suggests some Mexican Indians dug up graves, dismembered bodies and reburied them

AP: MEXICO CITY — Archaeologists have found evidence that pre-Hispanic groups in Mexico's Baja California peninsula dug up their decomposing dead, dismembered the bodies and then reburied them.

Read the rest on Google.