Myths About Chocolate

The Latin name for the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, means "food of the gods," and it does seem that the fruit of the tree and its delicious derivatives are indeed fit for the deities.

Both the Mayans and Aztecs believed the cacao bean had magical and divine attributes, appropriate for service in even the most sacred rituals of birth, marriage and death. By the 17th century, chocolate in drinking form was a fashionable quaff for the European elite, who believed it to have nutritious, medicinal and aphrodisiac properties. It's been said that Casanova was especially enamored by its charms.

And the love affair has yet to wane. Chocolate manufacturing is a more than $4 billion industry in the United States alone, and the average American eats at least half a pound of the confectionery every month.

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Strange Scary Surprise in The Attic For One Family

A woman knew something was in her attic when she heard a thump and then saw some nails start popping out from her bedroom ceiling one night.

Tracy, a mother of five, thought it might be an animal. She sent her older sons and nephew to check it out, she told reporters.

She told the reporters she thought "there was some poltergeist stuff going on."

And what they found was surprising. It wasn't an animal. It was the woman's ex-boyfriend.

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Cloning Hopes For Mammoth: “Jurassic Park” Possible

Scientists have discovered well-preserved frozen woolly mammoth fragments deep in Siberia that may contain living cells, edging a tad closer to the "Jurassic Park" possibility of cloning a prehistoric animal, the mission's organizer said Tuesday.

Russia's North-Eastern Federal University said an international team of researchers had discovered mammoth hair, soft tissues and bone marrow some 328 feet underground during a summer expedition in the northeastern province of Yakutia.

Expedition chief Semyon Grigoryev said Korean scientists with the team had set a goal of finding living cells in the hope of cloning a mammoth. Scientists have previously found bones and fragments but not living cells.

Grigoryev told the online newspaper Vzglyad it would take months of research to determine whether they have indeed found the cells.

"Only after thorough laboratory research will it be known whether these are living cells or not," he said, adding that would take until the end of the year at the earliest.

Wooly mammoths are thought to have died out around 10,000 years ago, although scientists think small groups of them lived longer in Alaska and on Russia's Wrangel Island off the Siberian coast.

Scientists already have deciphered much of the genetic code of the woolly mammoth from balls of mammoth hair found frozen in the Siberian permafrost. Some believe it's possible to recreate the prehistoric animal if they find living cells in the permafrost.

Those who succeed in recreating an extinct animal could claim a "Jurassic Park prize," the concept of which is being developed by the X Prize Foundation that awarded a 2004 prize for the first private spacecraft.

 

Military New Robot Project

Today, the U.S. military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) released an exciting and unusual video of its latest robotic creation: a mule-like device that gracefully and quietly walks over rugged terrain.


Officially named the Legged Squad Support System (LS3), the walking “pack mule” prototype was designed to show that “a legged robot can unburden dismounted squad members by carrying their gear, autonomously following them through rugged terrain, and interpreting verbal and visual commands,” according to the DARPA website.


“We’ve refined the LS3 platform and have begun field-testing against requirements of the Marine Corps,” said Army Lt. Col. Joe Hitt, DARPA program manager. “The vision for LS3 is to combine the capabilities of a pack mule with the intelligence of a trained animal.”

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World Trade Center Memorial Heavy Price Tag

With its huge reflecting pools, ringed by waterfalls and skyscrapers, and a cavernous underground museum still under construction, the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center is an awesome spectacle that moved and inspired some 4.5 million visitors in its first year.

But all that eye-welling magnificence comes with a jaw-dropping price tag. The foundation that runs the memorial estimates that once the roughly $700 million project is complete, the memorial and museum will together cost $60 million a year to operate.

The anticipated cost has bothered some critics and raised concerns even among the memorial's allies that the budget may be unsustainable without a hefty government subsidy.

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