The anthropology world is all abuzz with a discovery in Africa that’s knocking scientists off their feet.

It’s the finding of 1.5 million-year-old fossilized human footprints in Kenya at Rutgers University’s Koobi Fora Field School.

Researchers say the ancient footprints show that some of the earliest humans walked just like we do today and also had anatomically modern feet.

The area around the human footprints was also littered with a range of animal prints, all discovered within two 1.5 million-year-old sedimentary layers near Ileret in northern Kenya.

Three footprint trails were found in the upper sediment layer. Two of them had two prints each, while the other had seven prints and numerous isolated prints. Perfectly preserved 15 feet below were one trail of two prints and a single isolated smaller print, possibly that of a child.

The discovery is detailed in this month’s issue of the journal Science.

What makes these footprints decidely human? Researchers say the big toe is parallel to the other toes, whereas in apes, it is separated for better grasping in the trees. What’s more, the footprints show a human-like arch and short toes, typically associated with walking upright. Other clues found to be within the range of modern humans were the size, spacing and depth of the impressions which provided estimates of weight, stride and gait.

The authors say the size of the footprints and their modern anatomical characteristics point to the hominid Homo ergaster, the name by which early Homo erectus is more generally known. This was the first hominid to have had the same body proportions (longer legs and shorter arms) as modern Homo sapiens. Other H. ergaster or H. erectus remains have been found in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya and South Africa, at dates consistent with the Ileret footprints.

What was that? is the question that a lot of Texans are asking after a mysterious fireball streaked across the skies of the Lone Star state on Sunday morning.

Within seconds of the sightings, the calls started streaming in to a number of law enforcement agencies from Dallas all the way to Austin. Some of the callers described what they believed was a plane crash, but a search for any crash site came up empty-handed.

Austin television station KVUE reported eyewitness accounts from the north side of the city, where one golfer described the event as “a real bright ball that had an elongated goldish tail on it.”

Coincidentally, NOAA’s office in Jackson, Kentucky reported that it has received calls on Sunday from local residents concerning a possible explosions and or earthquakes across the area. It has also warned of a possible satellite debris falling across the region.

The Federal Aviation Administration had warned pilots to be on the lookout for space debris after Tuesday’s collision between American and Russian satellites orbiting the Earth.

FAA spokesman Roland Herwig said officials suspect the debris could be related to the collision, but says that has not been confirmed.

The effects of hundreds of pieces of debris are now the concern after an American and Russian satellite were destroyed in a collision nearly 500 miles above the Earth on Tuesday.

NASA’s Orbital Debris Program office said the satellites slammed into one another over Siberia in an incident that was observed by the Space Surveillance Network of the U.S. Department of Defense.

The U.S. satellite belongs to Maryland-based Iridium Satellite LLC, which says it is now dealing with the possible disruption of service for its satellite phone customers.

Iridium downplayed the collision’s effect on its network of 60+ satellites and said the lost satellite would be replaced by another one already in orbit within the next month.

Although the collision occurred more than 200 miles above the International Space Station’s orbit path, NASA is still keeping a close eye on the debris, which the space agency says could also threaten other satellites in the higher altitude neighborhood where the collision took place.

Alaska’s Mount Redoubt volcano is about to blow its top say seismic experts. An eruption is expected within days or weeks according to the latest activity report, which tells of a vapor plume rising above the volcano’s summit crater.

Redoubt, located on the Kenai Peninsula, 106 miles southwest of Anchorage, is one of 130 volcanoes in the “Land of the Midnight Sun.”

Scientists from the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) are monitoring events round-the-clock at Redoubt, which has been assessed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as one of the nation’s highest-threat volcanoes.

Location of Redoubt volcano, in relationship to surrounding towns, roads, and other volcanoes. Picture Date: September 26, 2008 Image Creator: Schaefer, Janet, Image Creator:Image courtesy of the AVO/ADGGS.

Mount Redoubt’s last eruption stretched from late 1989 into 1990. The series of eruptions were the second most costly in the history of the United States, and had significant impact on the aviation and oil industries, as well as the people of the Kenai Peninsula.

On December 15, 1989, a Boeing 747 flying 150 miles northeast of Anchorage encountered an ash cloud from Redoubt Volcano and lost power in all four jet engines. The plane, with 231 passengers aboard, lost more than 9,800 feet of elevation before the flight crew was able to restart the engines. After landing, it was determined the airplane had suffered about $80 million in damage.

Since 1700, at least 41 volcanoes in Alaska have erupted, some of them as many as 25 times, according to an Ash Alert brochure linked from the Alaska Division of Home Security and Emergency Management.

Ashfall is one of the greatest dangers associated with volcanic eruptions. According to the USGS website, volcanic ash consists of tiny jagged pieces of rock and glass. Ash is hard, abrasive, mildly corrosive, conducts electricity when wet, and does not dissolve in water. Ash is spread over broad areas by wind. During an ashfall, daylight can change to complete darkness. Accompanied by rain and lightning, the gritty ash can also lead to power outages, prevent communications, and disorient people.

The AVO website states that on the Kenai Peninsula, during the 1989-90 eruptions, schools were closed and some individuals experienced respiratory problems. Drifting ash clouds disrupted air traffic as far away as Texas. Ash also interrupted commercial air traffic into and out of Anchorage, and mudflows from the volcano threatened an oil storage facility near Cook Inlet.

Another death this weekend in the latest salmonella scare has many Americans concerned about what they’re buying in the grocery store these days.

The situation has been confusing for any consumer who’s trying to keep up.

First, everyone was told not to buy a short list of possibly tainted products, like Austen, Keebler, and Little Debbie brands of peanut butter crackers. But then, the list kept growing, and growing. There’s now well over 100 products affected. Click here to see the list.

Many consumers who were just hearing about the story second-hand thought peanut butter in a jar was involved, which it is NOT.

The makers of Jif peanut butter felt inclined to reaffirm that fact. Last week the J.M. Smucker Company issued a press release stating that along with Jif, its Smucker’s, Smucker’s Uncrustables, Adams, Laura Scudder’s, Eagle Brand and Pillsbury brands were all safe to eat.

The release stated that “No products made by The J. M. Smucker Company are included in the Food and Drug Administration recall of food service peanut butter and peanut butter products….The J. M. Smucker Company does not purchase peanuts or any ingredients from Peanut Corporation of America.”

The Peanut Corporation of America’s Blakely, Georgia processing facility has been pinpointed as the sole source of contaminated peanut butter used to make everything from cookies, crackers, to ice cream and even some pet foods.

Earlier this week, the company stated in a release that “PCA continues to work with all regulatory agencies involved in this ongoing, dynamic
investigation and we will address the agency’s findings when they are shared with us.”

“As we announced on January 18th, PCA issued a voluntary recall for all peanut butter and peanut paste produced on or after July 1, 2008 in our Blakely, Georgia facility.

PCA makes peanut butter for use in nursing homes and cafeterias.

The latest victim in the salmonella outbreak was a Minnesota woman in her 80s, who had been living in a long-term care facility.

With no winner in Saturday night’s drawing, the jackpot grew to $146 million, or a cash value of $85.5 million.

While no one won the jackpot Saturday, there were 940,953 players across the nation that won a total of more than $6.5 Million in prizes in America’s Game.

The winning numbers were 8-10-18-43-56, with a Powerball 9 and a Power Play 3.

The Powerball Lottery is played in Arizona, Connecticut, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

Just last week, the new year brought changes to the Powerball game. Last Sunday the new Powerball became a 59/39 game. Powerball officials say they’re adding white ball numbers to make the jackpots bigger, while removing some of the red ball numbers to create more winners. The changes are expected to create more than 3.5 million additional winners per year at the same sales level.

Also on January 4, the state of Florida joined the Powerball program, making it the 30th state in the Multi-State Lottery Association. The District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands are also members.

In 2008, there were 11 Powerball jackpot winners. The largest prize was a $276 million jackpot won in West Virginia in March.

Other changes announced effective on Sunday, the Power Play option will continue, except that 5X will always be drawn for the second prize (Match 5+0). That means that when players win the second prize and have also purchased the Power Play option, their $200,000 prize will automatically become $1 million; every time. And this prize is paid in cash. The Power Play option will still offer the chance of drawing the multipliers 2X, 3X, 4X, or 5X for the other set prize levels, but the second prize will never be less than 5X.

Powerball officials say they know that most folks only play for the big jackpot, but they want to create many more millionaires in the game, and they remind players not to forget to check tickets for the other prize levels. The starting jackpot will also be bumped from a guaranteed $15 million to a guaranteed $20 million.

Image above caption:

Moon Aglow

Framed by the Earth’s horizon and airglow, the full moon floats in the blackness of space in this photo from the Expedition 10 crew on board the International Space Station. The Station plays a crucial role as an orbital outpost, as NASA pursues an exploration strategy that will send humans back to the lunar surface and eventually on to Mars and beyond.
Image Credit: NASA

The moon is so bright this weekend because our planet’s closest cosmic neighbor has reached its closest distance, or perigree, to Earth in half a century.

The moon’s size is also larger, 14-percent bigger to be exact. It’s also 30-percent brighter, and here’s why. The moon is usually just more than 238-thousand miles away, but the distance has decreased by 17-thousand miles, pulling it closer in, much to the delight of anyone on the ground looking up at the celestial event. Before last month’s full month, Earth’s last closest moon perigree was in 1993. The Earth’s next close encounter with a full moon is eight years away, on November 14, 2016.

To see this weekend’s full moon, look to the east shortly after sunset, and hope it’s not cloudy in your area. The full moon will be at its largest at moonrise and get smaller as it rises into the night sky.

Officials with the Centers for Disease Control say the cases are all the same type of salmonella, known as Typhimurium, and have occurred over the last few months. The victims range in age from infants to senior citizens. Symptoms include diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days. Most people recover without treatment, but severe infections may occur.

Some of the states affected:

Arizona
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Iowa
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Dakota
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont

Since the food or foods causing the outbreak have not yet been identified, consumers are being advised to thoroughly cook all meats, poultry and eggs and to vigorously wash produce. Officials say an extra layer of protection is to wash hands more often.

While the CDC has not released a list of the 42 states involved in the outbreak, local media are reporting cases in the 23 states listed in the box at left.

The CDC is working with public health officials in many states, the United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to investigate the outbreak.

The last salmonella scare was the 1,400 cases of last spring and summer that were first blamed on tomatoes before the real source was revealed to be hot peppers from Mexico.

Over the last nine days, more than 500 earthquakes have been recorded beneath Yellowstone Lake. The largest was on December 27 and measured 3.9 on the Richter scale. The most recent one was a 2.6 tremor on Friday night. No damage has been reported inside the park, which experts say is to be expected from earthquakes of this size.

The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory* is monitoring the "unusual earthquake sequence" that started on December 26. It reports that more than 300 of the quakes have been reviewed and evaluated by seismic analysts. Depths of the earthquakes range from less than one mile to six miles below the surface. Analysts say the earthquakes extend northward from central Yellowstone Lake for about six miles toward the Fishing Bridge area, with a migration of the most recent earthquakes toward the north.

The swarm area is known for its earthquake activity and is not far from the park’s famous hydrothermal activity region, home to the Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most popular attractions at Yellowstone.

Earthquakes are common at Yellowstone, an active volcanic-tectonic area averaging 1,000 to 2,000 earthquakes a year. The park’s 10,000 geysers and hot springs are the result of this geologic activity.

Similar earthquake swarms have happened before without triggering steam explosions or volcanic activity, but analysts say there is some potential for hydrothermal explosions and the earthquakes may continue or increase in magnitude. However, they say there is a much lower potential for related volcanic activity.

*The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory is a collaboration of the U.S. Geological Survey, Yellowstone National Park, and the University of Utah.

For the Southern Hemisphere it’s the Summer Solstice. In June, the next solstice will welcome new seasons again.

The arrival of the Winter Solstice was reason for celebration at special festivals in places like Stonehenge in England.

The Winter Solstice is also referred to as the shortest day (and longest night) of the year and occurs when the sun shines directly over the Tropic of Capricorn. For the Summer Solstice in June, the sun glistens over the Tropic of Cancer.

The reason for the different seasons in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres is that as the Earth orbits around the Sun it also spins on its axis at a tilt of 23.5-degrees. That tilt delivers less direct sunlight to the Northern Hemisphere and more to the Southern Hemisphere.

Thanks to that tilt, the Northern Hemisphere gets less direct sunlight for the next six months and the Southern Hemisphere gets more.

Astronomically speaking, the solstices happen when the Sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator, which is on the same plane as the Earth’s equator.