Psychologists Shed Light On Origins Of Morality

From the physorg.com article:
In everyday language, people sometimes say that immoral behaviours “leave a bad taste in your mouth”. But this may be more than a metaphor according to new scientific evidence from the University of Toronto that shows a link between moral disgust and more primitive forms of disgust related to poison and disease.

“Morality is often pointed to as the pinnacle of human evolution and development,” says lead author Hanah Chapman, a graduate student in the Department of Psychology. “However, disgust is an ancient and rather primitive emotion which played a key evolutionary role in survival. Our research shows the involvement of disgust in morality, suggesting that moral judgment may depend as much on simple emotional processes as on complex thought.” The research is being published in Science on February 27, 2009.

Read the article here.

Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci discovered

From the timesonline.co.uk article:
What may be a hitherto unknown portrait of Leonardo da Vinci in middle age shows that the Renaissance genius had piercing blue eyes, a long nose and long greying hair with a droopy moustache.

The damaged oil-on-panel portrait was discovered by Nicola Barbatelli, a medieval historian, while he was researching the archive and picture collection of an aristocratic family at Acerenza (population 3,000), an ancient village perched on a rock above the river Bradano near Potenza in the southern Italian region of Basilicata.

Read the article here.

Has Atlantis Been Found?

This image was found by aeronautical engineer Bernie Bamford as he browsed through Google Ocean. This could be the remnants of a city, possibly Atlantis, or just an incredibly linear natural formation. Time will tell, but it is a very interesting find.

If you find the site on Google Earth, just northwest of the  Canary Islands,  you can see more linear lines to the east of the site. 

See the article here.

Update: I have heard the theory that the above picture is simply a satellite mapping artifact, similar to the lines seen off the coast of Los Angeles in Google Earth.

Galaxy has Billions of Earths

From the bbc.co.uk article:

There could be one hundred billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy, a US conference has heard.

Dr Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Science said many of these worlds could be inhabited by simple lifeforms.

He was speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago.

So far, telescopes have been able to detect just over 300 planets outside our Solar System.

Very few of these would be capable of supporting life, however. Most are gas giants like our Jupiter, and many orbit so close to their parent stars that any microbes would have to survive roasting temperatures.

But, based on the limited numbers of planets found so far, Dr Boss has estimated that each Sun-like star has on average one “Earth-like” planet.

This simple calculation means there would be huge numbers capable of supporting life.

Read the article here.

Update:
It is interesting how this article above compares to this other article I mentioned April 21, 2008. You’ve got to love science.

Táin Bó Cuailnge

It’s amazing to me how few people have ever heard of this story, in my opinion it should be as well known as the Iliad. The summary below, from articlesbase.com, is the most concise version of I could find.

Tain Bo Cuailnge meaning the Cattle Raid of Cooley is a legendary epic from early Irish literature. The Táin Bó Cuailnge represents the oldest vernacular tale of Western Europe, predating both Beowulf and Homer’s Odyssey. It describes the invasion of Ulster by the armies of Queen Medb of Connaught and her husband Ailill intending to steal the Brown Bull of Cuailnge. They are faced only by the boy warrior Cuchulainn, the rest of the men of Ulster being incapacitated by an ancient curse placed by the ancient Celtic goddess of war, Macha. Cuchulainn is young enough to be free of the curse, he manages to hold off the invading armies until the Ulstermen are free of the curse. 
Read the rest of the summary here. 

More about the Tain here. 
More about Cúchulainn here. 

Here is a look at the version of the story I have read. It can be purchased at Amazon.com