The Healing of Serpents at Easter
April 18, 2014
The original, pre-Christian name for Easter was Oestre, named after the goddess of the Spring Equinox, when painted eggs would be left as offerings to her in her serpent form, at her shrines. Oestre’s festival of healing and regeneration was always on the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. [...]Thousands of years ago, our ancestors used the serpent to represent their cognitive framework upon which to base their science of holistic and spiritual healing, and it had just as much value and validity then, if not more so.

Easter - Christian or Pagan?
April 18, 2014
From: truthbeknown.com Contrary to popular belief, Easter does not represent the "historical" crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In reality, the gospel tale reflects the annual "crossification" of the sun through the vernal equinox (Spring), at which time the sun is "resurrected," as the day begins to become longer than the night. Rather than being a "Christian" holiday, Easter celebrations date back ...

Man-Made Blood Might Be Used in Transfusions by 2016
April 18, 2014
Researchers in the U.K. have created the first man-made red blood cells of high enough quality to be introduced into the human body The premise of the HBO show and book series True Blood revolves around a technological breakthrough: scientists figure out how to synthesize artificial human blood, which, as an ample new source of non-human food, allows vampires to "come ...

The Trials of the Cherokee Were Reflected In Their Skulls
April 18, 2014
Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of Tennessee have found that environmental stressors – from the Trail of Tears to the Civil War – led to significant changes in the shape of skulls in the eastern and western bands of the Cherokee people. The findings highlight the role of environmental factors in shaping our physical characteristics. ...

Our Fears May Be Shaped by Ancestral Trauma
April 18, 2014
Last December, an unsettling Nature Neuroscience study found that mice who were taught to associate the smell of cherry blossoms with pain produced offspring who feared the smell of cherry blossoms, even if they had never been exposed to it before. We knew that the process was epigenetic—that it was not hard-wired in the permanent genetic structure of the mouse—but ...

Did vitamin B3 come from space?
April 18, 2014
Ancient Earth might have had an extraterrestrial supply of vitamin B3 delivered by carbon-rich meteorites, according to a new analysis. The result supports a theory that the origin of life may have been assisted by a supply of key molecules created in space and brought to Earth by comet and meteor impacts. "Vitamin B3, also called nicotinic acid or niacin, is [...], essential to metabolism and likely very ancient in origin."

Tiny Micro Robots Build Things in 'Microfactory'
April 18, 2014
The teenie-weeniest robot uprising ever might be sooner rather than later due to the work of research institute SRI. Don’t let these microbots’ size fool you, there is power in numbers and thousands of the robots can work together to perform tasks at dizzying speed. From ReCode.net: SRI International has developed a new generation of ant-like robots that can work as ...