Researchers at Ziyaret Tepe the site of the ancient provincial capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire recently discovered nearly 500 of these tokens
He compared it to the continued use of pens in the age of the computer.
Cinzia Pappi an archaeologist at Leipzig Universityin Germany who was involved not in the study told Live Science in an email that the discovery of tokens at Ziyaret Tepe is a reminder that major historical developments such as the invention of writing systems
The use of tokens in what were certified records (perhaps indeed effectively contracts) is from the late fourth millennium Macginnis told Live Science in an email.
Most of the cuneiform tablets that correspond with the recently unearthed tokens deal with trades of grain Macginnis said.
As he explained by using tokens in conjunction with cuneiform tablets or records the ancient Assyrians developed a system of recording information that was ideal for administrative purposes.
Place in history Both Macginnis and Pappi noted a previous discovery of clay tokens at Nuzi an excavation site near Kirkuk Iraq that dated back to the late second millennium B c
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#Most Kids Eat Fruits & Veggies (But Spinach, Nah) Most U s. children eat at least some fruits
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The impact winter pushed ecosystems toward plants with faster growing strategies Blonder told Live Science in an email interview.
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This Op-Ed was adapted from a post to the NRDC blog Switchboard. Strong contributed this article to Livescience's Expert Voices:
This Op-Ed was adapted from New Rules Would Allow Montana Landowners to Shoot Trap More Wolves on the NRDC blog Switchboard.
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#There's No Debate: Lowering Salt Cuts Strokes and Heart attacks (Op-Ed) This article was published originally at The Conversation.
The BMJ Open study is another contribution to the bulk of supportive evidence suggesting though not proving a plausible connection between the reduction in salt intake achieved in the last eight years in the UK with a national programme (1. 4g less salt per day) and the reduction
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Improving crops through plant breeding has always been a core part of farming and gardening. Farmers would freely exchange their seed with others
Over the past 20 years the growth of the free and open source software movement whose poster child is the operating system Linux has provided an alternative to proprietary software from megacorps such as Microsoft Apple
and IBM and a means to protect against software patents. Taking inspiration from this we have created a similar organisation the Open source Seed Initiative (OSSI)
This pledge is OSSI s equivalent of the idea that underpins the open source software movement in the form of the General Public Licence or GPL.
The GPL states that the software is free to use but any modifications to it or other software derived from it must be licensed under the GPL too ensuring the benefits accrue to the public
and continue to be free. Importantly that s free#as in freedom not free#as in you don t have to pay for it.
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Most of the fungus grows below the ground in a vast network of root-like tubes called hyphae.
Estimates place the age of this gigantic fungal network at more than 2000 years. In Australia some of our fungi are a little more modest in size
One such tool is released the recently Warcup ITS fungal identification set developed by CSIRO scientists in collaboration with the Ribosomal Database Project (RDP) and partners from the Western Illinois University and the Los alamos National Laboratory in the US.
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The taxonomy of ostriches according to the Integrated Taxonomy Information system (ITIS) is: According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List most ostrich subspecies are endangered not though their populations are declining.
and an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis told Live Science in an email.
Instead attacks were more common at sites with many males and high population densities. Also chimpanzees in East Africa killed more frequently than did chimps in West Africa the study found.
Some study sites had about 55 chimpanzees living together he said. Grooming Gallery: Chimps Get Social This is a very important study
because it compiles evidence from many sites over many years and shows that the occurrence of lethal aggression in chimpanzees is not related to the level of human disturbance Joan Silk a professor in the school of Human Evolution
and Social Change at Arizona State university who was involved not in the study told Live Science in an email.
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#Livestock Workers May Carry Staph Bacteria from Pigs Workers who handle livestock may carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria in their noses after they leave the farm.
and other health outcomes in workers their families and communities Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+.
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#Ancient Egyptian Woman with 70 Hair Extensions Discovered More than 3300 years ago in a newly built city in Egypt a woman with an incredibly elaborate hairstyle of lengthy hair extensions was laid to rest.
Whether or not the woman had styled her hair like this for her burial only is one of our main research questions said Bos in an email to Live Science.
This is of course one of the answers we are still trying to find from the record said Bos in the email.
what kind of hair coloring was used on this hair it only seems that way macroscopically said Bos in the email.
On other sites dyed hair was found from ancient Egypt. This woman among other ancient Egyptians may have dyed her hair for the same reason as why people dye their hair today in order not to show the gray color Bos said.
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#Good Fats, Bad Fats: Their Roles in Heart Health Questioned Eating more of the good kinds of fat
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#19 New Swift & Clever Praying mantises Discovered Swift deadly hunters lurk in the trees many camouflaged to look like lichen or bark.
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#Russian Culture: Facts, Customs & Traditions Russian culture has a long and rich history steeped in literature ballet painting and classical music.
Developers are coming up with pot patches marijuana e-cigarettes oral strips tinctures and topical creams Khalatbari said.
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#Wild Chimps Prefer a Firm Bed Chimpanzees are quite choosy when it comes to their sleeping arrangements
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#Dr. Oz's'Miracle'Diet Pills: 5 Controversial Supplements This week Dr. Mehmet Oz host of The Dr. Oz Show sat down to explain to senators why he as a surgeon
and exercising are the things they need to do. 10 Fitness Apps: Which Is Best for Your Personality?
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You can see more of Sussman's work on her website and in our Live Science Gallery.
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His team used data on natural deaths versus poaching deaths in the Samburu National Reserve in Kenya and then applied these numbers to a continent-wide database called MIKE or Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants.
The researchers created two computer models: one that looked at 12 MIKE sites with the best carcass data
and a second that examined all 306 sites even those with less information about elephant deaths.
In the past 10 years elephant numbers at the 12 sites have decreased by 7 percent which takes into account that elephant numbers were mostly increasing until 2009.
Elephants in Central africa decreased by more than 60 percent in the past 10 years according to an analysis of three locations in the 12-site model.
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#The 2014 Ig Nobel Winners: Banana Peels to Nasal Pork Nobel laureates awarded the 2014 Ig Nobel prizes tonight (Sept. 18) at Harvard university honoring those scientific achievements that first make people laugh
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#Nearly 600 Years of Tree Rings Show Altered Ocean Habitat Ocean currents that deliver important nutrients to shallow coastal waters have become weaker and more variable over the last half-century
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#Flamingo Facts: Food Turns Feathers Pink Flamingos are large birds that are identifiable by their long necks sticklike legs and pink or reddish feathers.
There are six species of flamingo according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information system (ITIS: greater flamingo lesser flamingo Chilean flamingo Andean flamingo James'(or puna) flamingo and American (or Caribbean) flamingo.
and data analysis. Peterson contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
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This Op-Ed is adapted from a post on the blog A Humane Nation where the content ran before appearing in Live Science's Expert Voices:
which first appeared on the HSUS blog A Humane Nation. The views expressed are those of the author
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#Why Do Teeth Turn Yellow? While celebrities and models may sport pearly white teeth the smiles of most people are a tad duller.
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#Are saturated Fats as Bad as We Have been led to Believe?(Op-Ed) This article was published originally at The Conversation.
There is a reasonably solid core of agreement if one looks closely#he said. These included the emerging consensus that overeating of refined carbohydrates is bad for you
The fungus has already wiped out the arabica variety in places like Java in Indonesia which once produced much of the world's best coffee. 10 Things You Need to Know About Coffee We don't see an end in sight anytime soon Leonardo Lombardini of World Coffee Research a scientific endeavor of Texas A&m University
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#Olive oil and Veggies May Combine to Lower Blood pressure Putting olive oil on your veggies may bring health benefits that aren't found
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That suggests that advances in farming technologies caused the rise of human infections with the waterborne worm Mitchell told Live Science. 7 Stunning Archaeological Sites in Syria Bloody worms Schistosoma parasites live in freshwater snails
Ancient site The egg was uncovered in a cemetery with 26 skeletons at a site called Tell Zeidan in Syria.
The site was occupied by people from about 7800 to 5800 years ago and may have housed a few thousand people said study co-author Gil Stein the director of excavations at the site and an archaeologist at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
The team collected samples of soil from around the skeletons'abdomens where the parasite would be expected to be found and also from around the feet and heads
which served as a control (eggs found there would suggest the soil at the site was contaminated with the parasite more recently).
or defecated at the same site. Human-caused disease Although the centuries have wiped away any traces of irrigation technology at Tell Zeidan remnants of wheat
and barley were found at the site. There was not enough rainfall for barley to grow by itself
The site also lies on a floodplain where the Euphrates and Balikh Rivers meet. When the rivers overflowed their banks water would have spread across the adjacent plains
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#Get a Death Grip! Why Snakes Don't Slip When Climbing Trees Some snakes seem to be little scaredy-cats as new research finds
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#These Adorable Fur Balls Survived a Raging Forest fire SACRAMENTO Calif. Johanna Varner thought a devastating forest fire meant the end of her pika research on Oregon's Mount Hood.
According to satellite data and the U s. Forest Service the Dollar Lake fire hit the slope between Sept. 11
and she has watched as pikas repopulate the research sites. Varner is also overseeing citizen science projects to keep a close eye on the Oregon pika population.
The most severely burned sites still have fewer pikas than lightly burned talus does. There are early hints that a vegetation threshold may exist Varner said meaning that pikas need a certain number of plants to maintain a population.
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or wheat allergies said Suzana Lucy Nixdorf a researcher at Universidade Estadual de Londrina in Brazil.
That's why Nixdorf developed a chemical test that can spot the difference between a batch of pure coffee grounds
Less coffee makes prices rise Nixdorf told Live Science. You pay for coffee but you aren't really getting coffee.
and try to spot the filler ingredients Nixdorf said. But after roasting and grinding the beans it becomes impossible to spot any twigs berries
Nixdorf said it is common for Brazilian growers to produce very dark roasts so the filler ingredients blend in better.
but the subtle flavor change can be hard to detect Nixdorf said. Nixdorf invented a new test that analyzes the chemical composition of coffee.
She uses liquid chromatography a process that creates a unique fingerprint stain for each ingredient.
Nixdorf said the test can tell if filler ingredients are mixed into coffee grounds with 95 percent accuracy.
For now the chromatography test can be done only in a lab. Nixdorf recommended that consumers stick to whole-bean coffee
Nixdorf's research was presented at the National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society in San francisco last week.
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#Montana: Big Sky, Shrinking Glaciers, Fading Wildlife (Op-Ed) Elliott Negin is the director of news and commentary at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS.
and read more tips on her blog Health in a Hurry H
#Prize for 480 New Varieties of Wheat This article was published originally at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices:
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and sugar beets sold in the U s. Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+.+Follow us@livescience Facebook & Google
#History Repeating Itself at Antarctica's Fastest-Melting Glacier It's no instant replay but West Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier one of the continent's fastest-changing ice streams looks to be recreating 8000-year-old history as it melts away a new study suggests.
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The movie's depiction of the eruption loosely based on Pliny's description and artifacts collected from the site realistically captured the earthquakes that preceded the eruption the explosions
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#New Website Tracks Deforestation in Near Real-time Forests around the world are disappearing at an astonishing rate.
But now these trees won't fall without a sound. A new map and website called Global Forest Watch provides the first near-real-time look at the planet's forests using a combination of satellite data
and user-generated reports. The website's developers hope that Global Forest Watch will help local governments
and companies combat deforestation and save protected areas. More than half a billion people depend on forests for their jobs their food their clean water said Andrew Steer the CEO of the World Resources Institute (WRI) which launched the website today (Feb 20.
More than half of all terrestrial biodiversity lives in forests. But humans are failing to preserve these crucial ecosystems Steer told reporters before the launch.
but every year the map updates with much finer-grained imagery from NASA's Landsat program.
Each pixel of Landsat data is roughly equivalent to a baseball infield said Nigel Sizer the director of the WRI Global Forest Initiative.
and his colleagues who published the first Landsat map of global deforestation last year. The WRI and about 40 other partners including Google then got on board to turn Hansen's map into something interactive and public.
At globalforestwatch. org users can scroll across the globe and zoom in on areas of loss (and more rarely gain).
Users of Google maps will find the format very familiar given that the company was a major partner in creating the website.
The site also has a section for stories which allows users to submit news about areas that have been clear-cut
and algorithms that can differentiate between native forests and plantations. We now have the possibility of doing something that would have been absolutely unheard of 10 years ago Steer said which is near real-time data delivered to everybody who has a laptop or a computer or a smartphone in the world.
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#Facts About Cobras Cobras with their threatening hoods and intimidating upright postures are some of the most iconic snakes On earth.
Their elegance prideful stance and venomous bite have made them both respected and feared. Cobra is the common name for a group of poisonous snakes in Africa and Southern Asia.
While using natural dyes is a bit more time consuming than those little tablets you buy at the store gathering
Despite these observations the comparative database is scant. For more on possible risks and costs to play see Robert Fagen's Animal Play Behavior (Oxford 1981) Animal Play:
Lead study author Fernando Espã rito-Santo a research scientist at NASA's Jet propulsion laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena Calif. combined satellite data airborne lidar (laser surface imagery)
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which prevention is better than cure#will always be a core mantra. Building on prevention early detection and early access to treatment is of paramount complementary importance-with treatments falling into three broad groups:
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#Pork Producers Prohibit Painful Pig Pens (Op-Ed) Matthew Prescott is food policy director for The Humane Society of the United states. He contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices:
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#New Tech Sheds Light on the Future of Food#This article was published originally at The Conversation.
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and there have been cases of people who have caught bovine TB Brown told Live Science in an email.
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#Why Sloths Leave the Trees to Poop Sloths are the quintessential couch potatoes of the rainforest
B told Livescience in an email. Daring Duos: Photos of Unlikely Animal Friends Very few mammals are based tree herbivores.
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#Marijuana vs. Alcohol: Which Is Really Worse for Your Health? The question of whether alcohol or marijuana is worse for health is being debated once again this time sparked by comments that President Barack Obama made in a recent interview with The New yorker magazine.
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#Resolve to Lose weight and Cut Carbon Emissions: Eat Less Beef (Op-Ed) Elliott Negin is the director of news and commentary at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS.
If you want to reduce the emissions associated with the food you eat the most important step is to reduce your consumption of beef Boucher wrote in a recent blog.
Ice cores are cylinders of ice drilled from glaciers and ice sheets that allow scientists to examine the layers of ice deposited over hundreds and thousands of years akin to tree rings that record
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#Straw Could Power Jets Straw is thought often of as a fuel for horses but if a French research project pans out passenger jets could soon fuel up with biofuels derived from this agricultural byproduct.
and they could be members of the royal house noted Mark Lehner the director of Ancient Egypt Research Associates in an email to Livescience.
My analysis of the bones from the small excavations at (the building complex) in 2012 showed a strong bias towards forelimb elements as to be expected in priestly garbage Redding wrote in an email to Livescience.
and contains a set of grain silos Lehner said in his email. It probably administered provisions and produced bread and other offerings.
and may have been constructed at the site of an earlier town where people involved in the building of the Pyramid of Khafre (the second largest pyramid at Giza) lived.
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#Elephant Mystery at Ancient Syrian Battle Solved Editor's Note: This story was updated at 11:40 a m. E t. on Jan 24.
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#Taking a Page from Eliot Ness to Fight Wildlife Trafficking (Op-Ed) David Wilkie is director of conservation support at WCS.
That is the good news. But unless conservationists and governments tackle the trafficking networks and consumer demand elephants will never be safe from the slaughter driven by a desire to own ivory
1. 4g in one medium-sized slice. You might opt for 0%fat in your yoghurt
community-based conservation management the long-term presence of researchers at field sites and ecotourism. While the action plan separately identifies these three areas they do not exist independently of each other.
and forest conservation at other sites across Madagascar is centred on Maromizaha Forest in the eastern part of the island.
It is actually a combination of 30 action plans each targeting different sites of importance for lemur conservation.
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