An exhibit shows the life of a neanderthal family in a cave in the new Neanderthal Museum in the northern town of Krapina, Croatia, February 25, 2010.NIKOLA SOLIC
Neanderthals were just too hot
"Rather than being outwitted by the more numerous early humans," reports The Daily Telegraph, "Neanderthals were just as sophisticated – but so impressed the humans they were seen as potential mates, say scientists. The interbreeding meant that their own line died out, said Prof. Julien Riel-Salvatore, of the University of Colorado, adding: 'In many ways, they were simply victims of their own success. … By the Ice Age both Neanderthals and the ancestors of modern humans were ranging more widely across Eurasia in the search for food. This led them to interact – and interbreed – more often. The researchers ran a computer program for the equivalent of 1,500 generations showing that as Neanderthals and modern humans expanded their yearly ranges, the Neanderthals were slowly absorbed by more numerous modern humans until they had disappeared as a recognizable population."
Lighter than a feather
"Scientists have invented a new material that is so lightweight that it can sit atop a fluffy dandelion without crushing the little fuzzy seeds," says the Los Angeles Times. "It's so lightweight, Styrofoam is 100 times heavier. It is so lightweight, in fact, that the research team consisting of scientists at University of California Irvine, HRL Laboratories and Caltech say in the peer-reviewed Nov. 18 issue of Science that it is the lightest material on Earth, and no one has asked them to run a correction yet. That's light!" The material, dubbed "ultralight metallic microlattice," says an HRL scientist, "takes more than 10 seconds … for the lightest material we've made, to fall if you drop it from shoulder height."
Two little crime-stoppers
"An armed robber who held up a babysitter was shamed into leaving empty-handed when two young children offered him their pocket money," says Orange Co. UK. "The man had rung the doorbell of a house in Schwanewede, near Bremen, and then forced his way in, reports The Local. Armed with a gun and wearing a balaclava, the man had the terrified babysitter at gunpoint when the children she was looking after came downstairs. When they offered him their savings, he was apparently overcome with shame and left the house without a word – or a penny." A police spokesman said the children were younger than seven. He added: "The robber must have realized that what he was doing was awful, and simply put his gun away and left."
Idler catches the prize
"A self-confessed idler who believes that doing nothing is an art form has won the most prestigious prize in science book publishing for his treatise on watching waves," says The Independent. "Gavin Pretor-Pinney, who cofounded The Idler magazine and set up the Cloud Appreciation Society, was last [week]awarded the ($16,000) Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books with his latest observations on laid-back living, The Wavewatcher's Companion." In the past, the prize has been won by cosmologist Stephen Hawking, geneticist Steve Jones and evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould.
Hipsters well-established
"In case you haven't noticed, hipsters – and those who cater to them – are everywhere. And that really galls some hipsters," says U.S. National Public Radio. "'Hipster culture is omnipresent,' says Peter Furia, a founder of Seedwell Digital Creative Studio in San Francisco. 'It dominates fashion, music and lifestyle. It crosses borders of ethnicity, socio-economic status and sexual preference – something that we haven't seen since the boom of hip-hop culture.' Furia's studio is producing a documentary-style Web series, American Hipster – for its nascent YouTube channel – that will debut in April 2012. 'What's funny is that people who aren't hipsters generally express distaste for them and those who appear to be hipsters hate to be identified as such. Everybody hates hipsters … especially hipsters. And the ironic part is that hipsters' opposition to pop culture has become pop culture.'"
It's never too late
An 83-year-old Missouri man who married his 96-year-old girlfriend said he hopes younger people will realize it's "never too late" for love, says United Press International. Kansas City couple Paul Tredo, 83, and Fern Schurr, 96, said they decided to get married after only knowing one another for just over a year, KCTV, Kansas City, reported last week. "We used to eat meals together all the time. Then suddenly, there she was, and it became evident that she was the one I wanted to be with," Mr. Tredo said. "It is never too late. You are never too old." Ms. Schurr said she was "starting a whole new life" with Mr. Tredo. "Love is everywhere. It cannot hide from you," she said. "He is my friend, and … we need people who are sincere in their hearts. And he is."
Thought du jour
"By the time a bartender knows what drink a man will have before he orders, there is little else about him worth knowing."
– Don Marquis (1878-1937), American humorist