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Magnetic analysis lets archaeologists match obsidian artifacts from Syria to the specific quarry—not just the volcano—of origin.

“Our magnetic tests were chosen in part for their simplicity so that most rock magnetism laboratories could take the necessary measurements and apply this new approach worldwide. We did not want to develop a technique that could only be done in one or two laboratories in the world. It was important the approach be accessible, making it as ‘open source’ as possible,” says Ellery Frahm, Research Fellow in the University of Sheffield’s Department of Archaeology.

The cultural significance of artifacts to Syria’s heritage, which is under threat due to the current conflict, is an important part of Frahm’s research. “During my fieldwork in Syria, I identified some spectacular artifacts that should be curated and displayed to the Syrian public at the Deir ez-Zor archaeological museum.

“Unfortunately, Deir ez-Zor has been a center of fighting since summer 2011. The last time I had an update, the museum had become a stronghold for the Syrian military, even with snipers on the roof, and it appears that when they pulled out last fall, the museum was essentially trashed,” explains Frahm.

Full story at Futurity.

More research news from top universities.

Photo credit: Dr._Colleen_Morgan/Flickr

Last year, we brought you geeky parents out there the exciting news that there was finally an alphabet book on the market for you and your high IQ offspring, so we’re now thrilled to announce that educational universe is expanding!

Andrew and Sarah Spear, authors of My Little Geek ABC, are back in action with a Kickstarter campaign kicking off next Tuesday to publish their follow-up books Nerdy Numbers and Sci-fi Shapes, plus an iPad app to guide your little geniuses on the path to geekdom.

Nerdy Numbers Board Book

We’ll be starting with 1 through 10 as those are somewhat important, but then get onto the really great numbers like pi, the speed of light, and of course 42.

Sci-fi Shapes Board Book

Take your child on a sci-fi adventure where they’ll meet a dodecahedron, twin helix and even an elusive tesseract.

The iPad App

The iPad app will contain a copy of all three books: Nerdy Numbers, Sci-fi Shapes and our original My Little Geek alphabet book. There will also be four mini-games per book, each focusing on four different aspects of your child’s development: reflexes, fine motor skills, memory and creativity.

Check out a description of the project in the video below and don’t forget to visit their Kickstarter page to support this awesome project.

Full story at My Little Geek.

A top-notch education from the get-go.

Sure, you could have blown twenty bucks at the theater catching the 2008 movie Iron Man, but why bother when CineFix has an 8-bit version that’ll only take a minute of your time?

It’s like having your popcorn and eating it, too…for free.

Full story at YouTube via Laughing Squid.

Mini movies.

Source: CPC Strategy Blog

Google is growing by leaps and bounds. The stats are showing that the Google+ and YouTube prove to be a very powerful combination.

Interested in reading more about Google?

New Yorkers can be a tough crowd with over eight million people so, you’ll want to try to fit in as much as possible. This video gives some tips for what not to do and being courteous New York-style.

Travel tips and more here.

An epic recap of your favorite viral videos from the past eight years. Who could forget such favorites as keyboard cat, Nyan Cat or Ain’t got time for that?

More YouTube fun here.

Declines in the biodiversity of pollinating insects and wild plants in Britain, Belgium, and the Netherlands have slowed in recent years.

Researchers found evidence of dramatic reductions in the diversity of species ibetween the 1950s and 1980s, but researchers say the picture brightened markedly after 1990, with a slowdown in local and national biodiversity losses among bees, hoverflies, and wild plants.

Scientists report a significant slowing or reversal of the declines for wild plants and their insect pollinators in recent years. “These species are important to us,” says Bill Kunin professor of ecology at the University of Leeds “About a third of our food production, including most of our fruit and vegetables, depends on animal pollination and we know that most crop pollination is done by wild pollinators.”

Full story and additional images at Futurity.

More research news from top universities.

Photo credit: Keith Williamson/Flickr

Sterile gauze and tweezers aren’t going to do the trick when it comes to healing a broken heart, but a tiny bottle of vodka to clean the wound might just do the trick.

Melanie Chernock has the cure for what ails you in Love Hurts, the first aid kit for emotional wounds.

Initially, I knew that I did not want to make a kit of sadness and wanted to approach the product with a sense of humor. Love Hurts contains all of the essentials for going through a rough breakup such as dark chocolate, vodka, bubble bath soap, a candle with matches, candy hearts, a mix CD, and if all else fails, tissues. All of the products come neatly packaged in a compact kit. Unfortunately, the kit is not yet available to purchase. If anyone is interested in producing it, please get in touch!

If listening to the radio for three minutes is any indication, we’re pretty sure this would fly off the shelves.

Full story at Melanie Chernock via Neatorama.

Laughter is the best medicine.

Photo credit: Luke Nilsson

The landscape of Facebook is constantly changing, and that means social media managers can easily be overlooking some great opportunities to boost their business with new features.

Social Media Examiner‘s Mike Gingerich provides an audit guide to make sure your company is still on the cutting edge of this platform.

#1: Maximize Your Page Cover Image

Facebook recently updated its guidelines and loosened the restrictions on what you can display on your main Page cover image. (View updated Facebook Guidelines.) This prime location now lets you display your web address, a call to action and more.

The key is that text cannot exceed 20% of the cover image area.

Facebook now allows creative uses of the timeline cover image.

If designed creatively, cover images now afford Pages a powerful new opportunity tocommunicate key pieces of information to visitors. Make sure to take advantage of this change.

#2: Evaluate Your Profile Image

Your profile image is used whenever you post and it is the first thing users see when glancing through posts in their news feed. Your business should not have a picture of Joe the owner in the profile unless Joe is the brand! Your logo can help reinforce company branding.

Note that your profile image should be uploaded at a size of 180 x 180 pixels; Facebook sizes it down to 160 x 160 pixels.

Key Tip: It’s best to upload a square-designed image.

Full story at Social Media Examiner.

Maximizing Facebook for business.

Photo credit: Fotolia