Cave an Ice Age time capsule (AP/CNN)

[eppur_se_muova]

SPRINGFIELD, Missouri (AP) -- The bear that left a 3-foot-long claw mark in an Ice Age clay bank was the largest bear species ever to walk the earth, about 6 feet tall at the shoulder and capable of moving its 1,800 pounds up to 45 miles per hour in a snarling dash for prey.

The claw mark by the extinct giant short-faced bear still looks fresh today in a southwest Missouri cave that some scientists are calling a national treasure -- an Ice Age time capsule sealed for thousands of years.

Discovered accidentally five years ago on the outski3rts of Springfield, Riverbluff Cave is slowly yielding its fossil treasures as a small team of scientists and volunteers gingerly explores it while trying to preserve a rich bed of remains, from bones to tracks and dung.

"We found 5,000 microfossils in just one 1-foot by 2-foot block of clay," said lead paleontologist Matt Forir, the naturalist for Springfield-Greene County Parks.

Remains in the cave date back at least 830,000 years and possibly over 1 million years. At some point at least 55,000 years ago, it was sealed by rocks and mud until a construction crew blasted a hole in one end while building a road in September 2001.
***
more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/10/30/ice.age.cave.ap/index.html

Quite a lot of detail, especially for a CNN science article.

"outski3rts"?

[XNASA]

1. Ahem. Newsflash!

The world is only 6,600 years old.


:)

[Demit]

2. Well of course! That's to distinguish it from the inner c1ty!

[tridim]

3. Million year old fossils? Impossible

Everyone knows the Earth is only 6000 years old.

[grizmaster]

4. Love the Galileo quote for your name- nevertheless it moves

They say it's probably just legend that he said it, but I still love the quote.

One note- I'd always seen it written this way

Eppur si muove

http://www2.nd.edu/Departments//Maritain/etext/otcoc14.htm

[eppur_se_muova]

5. You are correct on both counts -- it is apocryphal, and I can't spell in Italian.

Strangely, I originally found the phrase by doing a search with The Google, but can't find "my" spelling now! "Si" = "yes" would seem to make more sense.

[grizmaster]

6. could be Latin instead I suppose

Either way, I love the image of the apparently broken Galileo reading his "confession" then saying that just loud enough for the bishops to hear as he left the podium.


Speak truth to power.

[JitterbugPerfume]

7. this is priceless!

Springfield Mo is the hometown of Ashcroft , and the national headquarters of the Assemblies of God church.

they must be spinning big time over THIS