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Mysterious underground rings built by Neandertals

New study reveals deep cave exploration, as well as the oldest evidence of Neandertal building

Deep within a French cave where no light penetrates are two curious structures: large rings of stalagmites, some broken and arranged like the rails of old-fashioned wooden fences. When discovered in the early 1990s, scientists didn’t know what to make of the formations, which appeared to be fire-scorched in places. Now, they may have an answer: The rings were built by Neandertals, who learned to explore caves extensively and engaged in complex building behaviors like arranging stones more than 175,000 years ago, much earlier than thought.

The ancient structures—more than 330 meters inside the current entrance to the cave—include a scattering of small, deliberately arranged heaps of stone along with two large rings, one about 2.2 meters across and the other nearly three times that size. The rings and piles are made of about 400 stalagmites of similar size, weighing a total of 2.2 tons.

Most of the forearm-sized fragments are roughly cylindrical and were intentionally broken to the proper length, says Sophie Verheyden, a geologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels. That much is clear, she says, because the pieces are missing both their tips and their bases. “I’m a caver, and those structures are something like I’ve never seen before”…

Dallas' hard-earned diversity of leadership may help city heal after police shootings - The Dallas Morning News An acknowledgement of a dark and painful past, but a positive and hopeful article about the future. Dallas is a diverse city and a great city. My greatest hope is that the visions expressed by city leaders in this article come to pass, and that the rest of the country will follow.

You may have seen the exuberant celebrations of David Katoatau, an Olympic weightlifter competing in the 105-kg weight class for the island nation of Kiribati.

NBC titled their video clip, “Weightlifting makes David Katoatau want to dance.”

But there’s another, solemn reason for his joyful performance. Katoatau told Reuters he wants to raise global awareness of the climate change that threatens to destroy his country. 

Video: NBC, Map: Wikimedia

I'm more excited about this than when Star Wars The Force Awakens came out. Biting my nails. Sitting on the edge of my seat. Can't wait to see the real fireworks on the 4th. May Juno Ju-light up the 4th.

Secrets lie deep within Jupiter, shrouded in the solar system’s strongest magnetic field and most lethal radiation belts. On July 4, 2016, our Juno spacecraft will plunge into uncharted territory, entering orbit around the gas giant and passing closer than any spacecraft before. Juno will see Jupiter for what it really is, but first it must pass the trial of orbit insertion. For more information: http://www.nasa.gov/juno and http://missionjuno.swri.edu.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Seriously. How?

The struggle is real. The discrepancies can be obvious but are often subtle and so well hidden in deeply ingrained social norms that we fail to notice them. Women can be as guilty of perpetuating and ignoring these inconsistencies as men.

If you’re excited about the juno news today, sink your teeth into a Crash Course episode that’s all about Jupiter! 🔭  https://youtu.be/Xwn8fQSW7-8

So many consequences for all of us. It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out, for better or for worse.