News Briefs 12-07-2012

After many years of suffering with a slow, crashy computer, I finally have my dream set-up. Hopefully that means a boost for TDG content from now on!

• Hubble discovers a fifth moon orbiting Pluto.
• Sun illuminates 'ManhattanHenge' in the Big Apple. Also: astronomy tips to identify your own local 'henge'.
• New Stonehenge visitor centre design attracts criticism from designers.
• CIA smacks down former employee over Roswell claim.
• They tried to make me go to heaven, I said "no, no, no". Amy Winehouse back from the dead?
• Stephen Hawking trials a device that reads his mind to translate his thoughts into speech. Submit your guess at the first thing that pops out…
• Huge vortex spied on Saturnian moon Titan.
• Timbuktu terrorists break down mosque door meant to stay closed till the end of the world.
• Two ancient mummies uncovered in Scotland were 'Frankensteins', made up of the bodies of six different people.
• Remember when leading U.S. politicians defended LSD? Yeah, before my time too…
• Now, it's only Gitmo detainees who get the 'good stuff'.
• Peyote hunters of the Holy Mountain.
• Now we know why the song "Take My Breath Away" was on the Top Gun soundtrack: Stealth Fighter chokes another pilot.
• Scientists who've never heard of suspension of disbelief prove why Batman couldn't glide with his cape.
• Can oral sex cure morning sickness. Must. Not. Post. Jokes.
• The eyes don't have it: debunking the idea that people's eyes give away their lies.
• 'Dowsing rod bomb detector' businessman faces fraud charges. Probably deserves murder charges.
• The British plot to assassinate Rasputin. Because the man didn't have enough other people trying to kill him...
• Image of the day: bat foetus offers an overdose of cuteness.

Thanks RPJ and Richard.

Quote of the Day:

LSD was an incredible experience. Not that I’m recommending it for anybody else; but for me it kind of – it hammered home to me that reality was not a fixed thing. That the reality that we saw about us every day was one reality, and a valid one – but that there were others, different perspectives where different things have meaning that were just as valid. That had a profound effect on me.

Alan Moore