According to new research, house mice (Mus musculus) are ideal biomarkers of

human settlement as they tend to stow away in crates or on ships that end up going
where people go.
Using mice as a proxy for human movement can add to what is already known
through archaeological data and answer important questions in areas where there is
a lack of artefacts, Searle said.
Where people go, so do mice, often stowing away in carts of hay or on ships. Despite
a natural range of just 100 meters (109 yards) and an evolutionary base near
Pakistan, the house mouse has managed to colonize every continent, which makes it
a useful tool for researchers like Searle.Previous research conducted by Searle at
the University of York supported the theory that Australian mice originated in the
British Isles and probably came over with convicts shipped there to colonize the
continent in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
In the Viking study, he and his fellow researchers in Iceland, Denmark and Sweden
took it a step further, using ancient mouse DNA collected from archaeological sites
dating from the 10th to 12th centuries, as well as modern mice.
He is hoping to do just that in his next project, which involves tracking the migration
of mice and other species, including plants, across the Indian Ocean, from South
Asia to East Africa.

House mice are ideal biomarkers of human settlement, because the migration
patterns of them are exactly the same as human beings, and this would be a useful
tool for many researchers.

Why and to what extent should parents control their childrens TV watching? There is
certainly nothing inherently wrong with TV. The problem is how much television a
child watches and what effect it has on his life. Research has shown that as the
amount of time spent watching TV goes up, the amount of time devoted not only to
homework and study but other important aspects of life such as social development
and physical activities decreases.
Television is bound to have it tremendous impact on a child, both in terms of how
many hours a week he watches TV and of what he sees. When a parent is
concerned about the effects of television, he should consider a number of things:
what TV offers the child in terms of information and knowledge, how many hours a
week a youngster his age should watch television, the impact of violence and sex,
and the influence of commercials.
What about the family as a whole? Is the TV set a central piece of furniture in your
home? Is it flicked on the moment someone enters the empty house? Is it on during
the daytime? Is it part of the background noise of your family life? Do you
demonstrate by your own viewing that television should be watched selectively?

TV watching has become one area of major concern for parents, especially in terms
of the time and content they children are exposed to, because more time on
television usually means less time on other important aspects of life, and
inappropriate contents can negatively influence the behaviours.

'Just-in-Time' is a method of manufacturing products which aims to minimise

production time, production costs, and the amount of stock held in the factory. Raw
materials and supplies arrive at the factory as they are required, and consequently
there is very little stock sitting idle at any one time. Each stage of the production
process finishes just before the next stage is due to commence and therefore the
lead-time is significantly reduced. With a 'Just-in-Time' production system, the level of
production is related to the demand for the output (i.e. the number of orders) rather
than simply producing finished goods and waiting for orders. This means that raw
materials and stock only need to be ordered from suppliers as required.

Just-in-Time is the method of manufacturing to minimise the production time, cost

and the amount of stock by matching the level of production to the demand for the
output.

Why are the citizens of some nations rich while the inhabitants of others are poor? It
is surely true that ample endowments of energy, timber, and fertile land all help raise
wealth. However it turns out that natural resources are only a very small part of the
answer. Far more important in determining the wealth of the citizenry are the
fundamental political and legal institutions of a nation. Institutions such as political
stability, secure private property rights, and legal systems based on the rule of law
create the incentives that encourage people to make long-lived investments in
improving land, and other forms of physical and human capital. These investments
raise the capital stock, which in turn provides for more growth long into the future.
The cumulative effects of this growth over time eventually yield much higher
standards of living: they make the citizens rich.

The gap between rich and poor is not defined by the availability of natural resources,
but the wealth of the citizenry as well as the fundamental political and legal
institutions of a nation.

Offering a helping hand, robots have become a permanent and inescapable reality of
21st century living, and theyre about to be even more present.
"We're probably a few years away from having very serious robotics in our lives. The
first thing is going to be self-driving cars and then hopefully in the next 20 or 30 years
we'll start to see serious humanoid robots in our homes, doing all the sort of things
that we imagine from science fiction."
We've long been intrigued by robots. Standing 9-foot-tall, Cygan was a celebrity
robot of the fifties, able to crush cans in his hand, but now he's the centrepiece of
plans for a new Science Museum exhibition in London, charting our fascination and
fear of robots back to this model from the 16th century.
"Theres always that slight, you know, cloud on the horizon theyre wonderful,
theyre wonderful but were quite scared of them. That's natural, thats human. On the
basis of 500 years of history, its generally robots have tended to be used for people
want them to do. The chances of them turning into this terrifying thing that enslaves
us all, I think the chance of that is actually quite slim."Our interest in robots may be
rooted in the past, but the mystery behind what they're capable of continues to
intrigue and may very well change the shape of our future.

Robots have become the reality, and many people are often intrigued by their
capabilities which may continue to change the shape of future.

You can see some pretty strange things on a London commute but not since the Middle
Ages has the city seen anything quite like this. In the shadow of Tower Bridge today, 125
noble knights did battle in the name of the Red King.
"I am the one king. The only king! The true king!"
The battle was to promote Clash of Kings a real-time strategy game for iOS and Android
devices. In it, players battle to build an empire, defeating enemies to retain control of their
kingdoms. And today the Red King did just that, claiming victory over this monstrous
opposition as confused tourists and commuters looked on.
"We're from the US and this is our first day in London. We never thought wed see anything
like this.""This isn't what Londoners normally do in parks, is it?"
Certainly not, but it was all in a day's work for these men, many of whom are professional
battle re-enactors and most of whom survived the battle unscathed.
"Yeah, a slip here and there. Bit of a hip gone, but apart from that, yeah, I survived. And now
enjoying a beer.
Never has a beer been quite so hard-won!
A new real-time strategy game called Clash of Kings has become popular even in
London commutes, and it becomes exciting for professional players to compete.

Google's new self-driving cars are to finally hit the roads this summer with steering
wheels. The company will begin testing the vehicles on public roads in the coming
months, but it turns out they will have steering wheels and brakes, something they
hadn't envisioned a year ago.Engineers will operate 25 prototypes which use the
same software as Googles Lexus sport-utility vehicles that have already self-driven
about 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometres) a week in recent months.
The Internet search company announced a year ago that it planned to build a fleet of
self-driving cars, saying the prototypes wouldn't have steering wheels, accelerator
pedals or brake pedals because they wouldn't need them.
It turns out, however, that the critical control devices are still rather essential. Built in
Detroit, the cars will be equipped with removable steering wheels and pedals so test
engineers can take over driving if needed.
The company also said it would test new passenger and pedestrian protection
technologies, including a firm front end and flexible windshield.It also said the speed
of the prototype will be limited to 25 miles per hour (40 kilometres per hour) to
decrease the likelihood of severe injury in a collision.

Google has launched the tests on its self-driving cars, yet the results are not quite
successful, because steering wheels and brakes are still required and essential, and
therefore new tests will be made on new prototypes.

It's described as the Greatest Show on Earth". But now, after 145 years as the
centrepiece of the Ringling Brothers' Circus travelling across the United States, the
show's last remaining 11 elephants have arrived at a conservation centre in Florida
to officially retire.
Meet Asia, the 48-year-old veteran entertainer who spent decades delighting crowds.
She, and the other remaining 10, will spend their days outside from now on.
"It's been in the sense that after 145 years our elephants will no longer be a part of
our travelling circus shows. It's the end of an era, its sweet in a sense and at the end
of the day, it's about these magnificent creatures and conservation, and ensuring that
these guys will be around for many generations to come."
Fewer than 40,000 elephants remain in the wild. Two hundred and fifty are in
captivity in the United States, 39 of which are now at this 200-acre centre. The
endangered Asian elephants have spent most of their lives in front of crowds of
people, but while many may see this as an end of an era, others would argue it's
time for a well-earned rest.

The Ringling Brothers Circus, also known as the greatest show on Earth, officially
announced their retirement, and all the elephants in the circus will be released to the
nature.

Terrifying footage shows passengers on a packed plane praying and crying as it

experiences severe and unexpected turbulence, rocking it from side to side.
More than 30 people travelling on the Etihad Airways flight to Indonesia were injured
when the plane suddenly hit turbulence. Many suffered broken bones and, according
to reports, nine of those hurt are still in hospital. Passengers can be seen raising
their hands in the air as they fear for the unknown.
The plane was flying from the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi to Jakarta in Indonesia
yesterday and it did land safely. It was about 45 minutes away from Jakarta, flying
over Sumatra, when the turbulence hit. It's understood officials from the airport and
Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee have inspected the plane.
The Federal Aviation Administration says that most turbulence accidents happen at
30,000 feet (9.1 kilometres) or above. It can be hard to predict and the injuries it
causes cannot always be prevented by wearing seat belts.

Despite the turbulence which leads to the unexpected and terrifying experience for
passengers, the Etihad airplane landed safely, and has been inspected for issues.

This may just look like another sun spot or solar flare but it is, in fact, something
much rarer. This dark circle, moving across the sun, is the planet Mercury.
The planet passes directly between Earth and the sun about 13 times every century.
The last time this happened was 10 years ago in 2006 and the next time will be on
November 11th ,2019.
So who could see this rare phenomenon? This year's transit was visible for most of
the earth, including the Americas, Europe, Africa and much of Asia. And this isn't a
"blink or you'll miss it" phenomenon, the transition lasted 7 hours.
Experts warned those looking for the planet to be careful. Mercury's black disc only
covered a tiny proportion of the sun and looking at the sun with unprotected eyes can
be very dangerous. But those with the right equipment enjoyed this rare event, and
those who didn't will have to wait at least another three years.
Mercury is a special planet which passes directly between Earth and the sun
infrequently, but it is very easy to observe and safe to do so as long as people have
the right protective equipment for their eyes.