The 2012 Mayan Apocalypse Is Back; A New Old Tomato

Discovered: Get ready for the world to end this year, a new kind of old tomato, why some people kick in their sleep, and animals on earth earlier than expected.

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  Actually, get ready for the world to end in 2012 (again). Following the discovery of a calendar sans the 2012 end date for the world, archeologists have found more evidence of a December 2012 end of humanity date. The researchers found it on a carving about a king's royal visit. "This was a time of great political turmoil in the Maya region and this king felt compelled to allude to a larger cycle of time that happens to end in 2012," explains researcher David Stuart. Even though science assured us the world will not disappear at the end of 2012, what now? [Tulane]


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  Some new old tomatos. Just in time for summer, science has discovered new tomato varieties with what it calls vintage flavoring. Sounds très chic to us, tell us more. "Now that we know that some of the qualities that people value in heirloom tomatoes can be made available in other types of tomatoes, farmers can have access to more varieties of tomatoes that produce well and also have desirable color and flavor traits," explains researcher Ann Powell. Nom. Where can we get some? [University of California Davis]


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  Why some people kick in their sleep. Some people get violent in their sleep, having what science calls REM sleep disorder. We hope we're not like this and we're very sorry to anyone we've shared a bed with if we are. "Until now, we didn't know much about the risk factors for this disorder, except that it was more common in men and in older people," explains researcher Ronald B. Postuma. "Because it is a rare disorder, it was difficult to gather information about enough patients for a full study. For this study, we worked with 13 institutions in 10 countries to get a full picture of the disorder." Anywho, research has discovered a bevy of things that could contribute to sleep punching and kicking, including smoking, head injuries, pesticide exposure, farming and less education. An odd mix of things, if you ask us. [American Academy of Neurology]


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  Animals existed so long ago. Longer ago than first thought by 30 million years, putting the earliest evidence of animal life at 585 million years ago. After having discovered that fossil to the right, geologists studied those long marks, determining they are tracks of centimeter long slugish animal, that left its mark 585 million years ago. They figured it out not by studying the rock over there, but by putting particles of granite rock into their fancy-science dating machine. [University of Alberta]

Source & Image : Yahoo