Lake Titicaca, La Paz and Death Road

Damien and I had made into Bolivia after 2 buses and a 2 and a half wait inbetween. We had arrived in Copacabana which isn't as glamorous as its namesake in Brazil but has a little charm for itself. At this point I wasn't feeling too great and was keen to go and get myself a private room. Damien was happy with the idea too so we scouted out a decent hotel and checked in.

Curiosity rover: Why is Nasa so curious about Gale Crater?

Early on Monday morning, Nasa's Curiosity rover will attempt a hazardous landing on the Martian surface. It will take seven minutes from the capsule hitting the top of the atmosphere at six kilometres per second to the van-sized vehicle being placed gently on the ground.

A heat shield to withstand heating to 1,600C, the largest and strongest supersonic parachute yet built, and finally a new piece of kit called the Sky Crane will all be used.

Our History Boone County home to Birthplace of Paleontology

The gigantic bones found long ago in southwestern Boone County shook the minds and beliefs of top scientists east and west of the Atlantic Ocean in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Europeans and Americans had never seen the likes of the massive skeleton of extinct mastodons until French Capt. Charles Lemoyne de Longueil came upon them during a 1739 military expedition at a place called Big Bone Lick.

The bones, molars and tusks that belonged to vanished mastodons and woolly mammoths forced the country’s future third president, Thomas Jefferson, and scientists around the world to recast their beliefs about the workings of nature and the very concept of extinction. Jefferson and others couldn’t comprehend that God, in creating the perfect world of nature, allowed a type of creature to vanish forever.

Arheologii au descoperit ciocolata de acum 2.500 de ani

Arheologii au anuntat ca au descoperit urme de ciocolata vechi de 2.500 de ani in peninsula Yucatan. Aceasta este prima data cand se gasec reziduuri de ciocolata pe o farfurie si nu intr-o cupa, ceea ce ar sugera ca aceasta ar fi putut fi folosita drept condiment sau sos, alaturi de mancare solida.

Expertii stiau de mult ca boabele si pastaile de cacao au fost utilizate in culturile pre-hispanice la prepararea bauturilor rezervate elitei, scrie Telegraph.

Alvarado And Tenochtitlan

While Hernan Cortes is known as the primary conqueror of the Aztec people and Mexico, he didn't do it alone. History has also shed light on his second in command, Pedro de Alvarado. 

This military strategist, later to be named Governor of Guatemala, became infamous for his role in the dramatic fall of Tenochtitlan and the ensuing battles for supremacy and survival.

Satellites watch stellar death throes

Astronomers think they have seen the flare of a dying star being eviscerated by a black hole. The signal, spotted by three different satellites, could shed light on the relationship between the smaller black holes seen in our own galaxy and the supermassive ones in distant reaches of the Universe.

The stellar victim was first seen1 in 2011 by Swift, a NASA satellite designed to spot bursts of high-energy photons known as γ-rays. For more than a month, Swift watched a signal from a distant galaxy, which eventually faded from view. Subsequent analysis showed that the γ-rays probably came from a star being ripped to pieces by a previously unknown black hole (see 'The awakening of a cosmic monster').

Arsenic eyes rice nutrients

ARSENIC accumulation in rice is something that is largely unexplored. A study has now found that the heavy metal can disrupt amino acid synthesis in the grain, a staple diet for many. This can reduce the levels of essential and non-essential amino acids found mainly in rice which are essential for a healthy life.

Essential amino acids like lysine, phenylealanine, histidine and methionine not only improve digestion, stimulate hormonal release and enhance memory, they are also the building blocks of all proteins. Deficiency of glutamic acid, a non-essential amino acid, has been linked to Parkinson’s disease.

Grupul Local

Galaxia noastra, Calea Lactee, este membra a unui grup din apropiere care este compus din aproximativ 40 de galaxii cunoscute, numit Grupul Local. Numarul real ramane necunoscut, intrucat recensamantul a crescut in mod constant de-a lungul anilor, pe masura ce noi membri au fost identificati. Grupul Local contine galaxii de aproape toate tipurile, inclusiv galaxii spirala ca M31, M33 si, desigur, Calea Lactee. Acesta contine dec asemenea cateva galaxii neregulate luminoase (norii lui Magellan), cateva galaxii neregulate slab iluminate, galaxii pitice (nucleate, sferoidale, eliptice si de tip compact). Singurul tip important de galaxie care nu este reprezentat in Grupul Local este tipul eliptic.

Gale Crater: Geological 'sweet shop' awaits Mars rover

John Grotzinger is the project scientist on Nasa's latest multi-billion-dollar mission to Mars.

He's going to become a familiar face in the coming months as he explains to TV audiences the importance of the discoveries that are made by the most sophisticated spacecraft ever sent to touch the surface of another world.

Building a supermassive black hole in under a billion years

Decades of astronomy have revealed that supermassive black holes, weighing up to billions of times the mass of the Sun, inhabit the centers of most galaxies, if not all of them. In some galaxies, these black holes power quasars, in which the energetic matter near the black hole emits copious amounts of light. 

This output has helped us spot quasars at great distances, meaning they date from when the Universe was just a few hundred million years old.