News Briefs 17-08-2004

I'll try not to offend anyone or make jokes at any important personality's expense today. And later, we'll watch some pigs fly...

• Ireland gets the badge of latest Atlantis candidate.
• Goth settlement found in the Ukraine. Wonder how they identified it, perhaps there were Bauhaus CDs lying around...
• British archaeologist to reveal location of John the Baptist's cave. Probably identified that site by the distinct lack of hats.
• Ancient Roman fish pens show that the majority of sea level rises in the past 2,000 year have happened in the last century.
• Unlocking the Mayan mystery.
• Ancient Persian fleet surrenders its mysteries.
• Scientists may have found a way of stopping killer viruses like AIDS.
• Bacteria play key longevity role.
• The big debate over tiny machines. The nano-tech naysayers are up against it.
• Governor of New Mexico calls for Roswell investigation to be reopened. "Clearly, it would help everyone if the U.S. government disclosed everything it knows." Clearly it would help tourism in the state of New Mexico too, but let's not be cynical...
• Documentary about Loch Ness monster gets rave reviews, labelled Scotland's Blair Witch Project.
• British man comes face to face with a puma. Let's hope he had the brown underwear on.
• Faithful flock to see religious relics. That's not so much a headline as a rule of thumb.
• How modern pagans are reviving the ancient polytheistic religions.
• Swedish monster hunter Jan-Ove Sundberg believes he may have captured Selma, Norway's legendary serpent monster in Lake Seljord, on film.
• Ghostbusters harbour doubts over Plymouth's naval dockyard. Pun not intended.
• Nairobi's miracle babies shown to media.
• The race for the X-prize is hotting up, with another contender completing a successful test run.
• David Grinspoon chats to Astrobiology Magazine about Venus, the hothouse planet. See our review of Grinspoon's excellent Lonely Planets (available from Amazon US and UK)
• Spielberg and Cruise to do Welles' (and Wells'?)War of the Worlds. It's alliteration week here at TDG.
• Don't worry about the mercury rising, because Mercury's shrinking.
• Japanese combat robots wow the crowds and aid development at the same time, with video. Not to sure about training those young robots such violent tactics though, haven't these people seen I, Robot?