Smithsonian.com

A computer-generated image of how the woman would have appeared when she was first laid to rest. Photo: Wessex Archaeology

For one  ancient woman, a diamond—or, at least, her jewelry—is indeed forever. At a quarry between Heathrow airport and Windsor Castle, just outside London, archaeologists just uncovered the remains of a 4,400-year old corpse that may turn out to be the first queen of Windsor. Though her clothes long since decomposed and her bones are almost completely decayed, her lavish jewelry remains behind, giving hints to her identity and possible royal status. LiveScience reports:

The woman’s bones have been degraded by acid in the soil, making radiocarbon dating and DNA analysis impossible. Nonetheless, excavators believe she was at least 35 years old when she died sometime between 2500-2200 B.C., around the era Stonehenge was constructed.

When this woman was buried, she wore a necklace of tube-shaped gold beads and black disks made from a coal-like material called lignite. Scattered around her remains, archaeologists also found amber buttons and fasteners, hinting that she was buried in an adorned gown that has long since disintegrated. Black beads near her hand were probably once part of a bracelet. A large drinking vessel, a rare find in graves from this time period and area, was also buried near her remains

From initial isotope analyses, the researchers found that the gold probably originated in southeast Ireland and southern Britain, the black beads from eastern Europe, and the amber perhaps from the Baltic region, Discover writes. As far as who she was:

According to the archaeologists in charge of the excavation, Gareth Chaffey of Wessex Archaeology, the woman was probably “an important person in her society, perhaps holding some standing which gave her access to prestigious, rare and exotic items.”

This means, Chaffey continued, that she could have been a leader, a person of power or perhaps even a queen.

More from Smithsonian.com:

Extraordinary Discoveries 
Dispatch from Stonehenge 

Image: Alain Feulvarch

Oxford wants you to know it’s a really classy place. And what could possibly be classier than a giant fish tank with sharks in it? Not much, and that’s why the school was planning on displaying a live shark at its next ball. But after complaints that the shark is more super-villainy than super-classy, the principal of Oxford reviewed the case, agreed with the criticisms, and nixed the fin.

Many thought the shark was a joke, at first. The tipoff that it would appear at all came from a poster for the ball that simply says, in large white letters, “Ginglymostoma cirratum (you should really go look that up).” Ginglymostoma cirratum is the Latin name for nurse sharks. When asked about the reference, the planning committee, headed by Sam Levin (a second year biology student) wouldn’t reveal much more. The committee did confirm, however, that a live shark would be involved somehow.

Clare Phipps was one of the students who wasn’t happy. She told the Guardian, “There is a difference from a shark in an aquarium because that has an educational purpose, informing people about conservation, and often zoos are involved in breeding programmes and so on. This is about nothing more than showing off. We’ve got so much money sloshing around we can hire a shark.”

Levin poo-poo’d their concerns, telling the Guardian that the company providing the shark was experienced and professional. “It will have a guard and caretaker with it at all times to look out for signs of stress, and we’re keeping it there for only a short time. I feel confident that the shark will not suffer,” he said.

But it’s possible that Levin, despite his second year biology education, doesn’t know a ton about shark handling and how complicated it is. Just this year a shark on the set of a Kmart commercial died, on a set where there were both trained professionals and animal welfare watchdogs.

So, eventually, Oxford principal Alice Prochaska pulled the plug on Levin’s shark. After seeing the complaints from Phipps and others, she sent a note to the ball planners telling them to drop the shark. The tickets price will stay the same though, a full £110 for a sharkless night of “decadence, debauchery and indulgence.”

Update: The original version of this post was accompanied by an image of a sandbar shark, rather than a nurse shark. Thanks to David Shiffman for help identifying the right species.

More from Smithsonian.com:

Stopping Sharks by Blasting Their Senses
Shark Attack! (In a Fossil)

Photo: tiswango

Nothing like a coral reef in need of repair, and a robot ready to get to work, to get people to pull out their wallets. A team of Scottish scientists who submitted their reef-repairing robot to Kickstarter raised $3,000 in less than a week with the help of 80 backers, the BBC reports. (Since that report, that total has risen to 245 backers, kicking in $8,000.) The campaign has a ways to go yet, however. The team hopes to raise a total of $107,000 before the Kickstarter deadline in June.

The coral-bots, as the team is calling them, work by transplanting damaged coral with pieces of healthy coral, much like a gardener pruning and sowing a plot of flowers. Coral-bots have already succeeded in sea tests, but the researchers still need to hone the machines’ ability to detect healthy coral. The team also needs to design and create robot arms for plucking and putting down appropriate bits of coral. The Kickstarter campaign will directly fund these efforts, and, upon success, the team plans to conduct a live demonstration in a public aquarium. If successful, they would then move on to the first on-the-ground mission in Belize.

The Scottish team aren’t the only ones turning to crowdfunding to support their work in science. Recently, crowds have help raise funds for projects ranging from space exploration to studying rare lizards to reinstating science education in third-grade classrooms.

More from Smithsonian.com:

Kickstarter Works Best for Game Designers  
Next Up? The Smart Watch

Photo: Marion Doss

Lions, tigers, bears, elephants and other wild animals will not longer star in circus shows in the UK, the Guardian reports. Instead, only domesticated animals such as ponies horses will leap through hoops and perform other circus tricks. The government made the announcement after a lengthy campaign, the Guardian writes, and the ban will go into effect on December 1, 2015. 

The new rules won’t be enforced for another year and a half in order to give travelling circuses time to find homes for their animals and come up with new acts. The new ruling has been a long time coming, however.  

Politicians and animal welfare groups have repeatedly called for the measure and in June 2011 [members of the parliament] overwhelmingly supported a blanket ban, but ministers were initially reluctant to meet their demands due to fears over possible legal action from circus operators.

The new rule defines with animal as “any creature not normally domesticated in Great Britain.” The BBC expands upon this definition:

There are currently 20 licensed wild animals working in circuses.

These include camels, zebras and snakes, but not elephants, monkeys, gorillas, chimpanzees or big cats.

The UK’s governmental animal protection policy page includes a full copy of the new bill [pdf] as presented to parliament. Here, they justify the decision to give wild animals in circuses the ax:

The British circus industry has a rich heritage dating back over two centuries, and I hope it will
continue to thrive long into the future. For many years wild animals were an integral part of the
circus experience: the only chance that most people would have to glimpse exotic beasts from
distant lands.

Today, by contrast, we are fortunate to enjoy world-class zoos, a wide-reaching
education system, and internationally renowned wildlife documentaries, which together give
children and adults an appreciation and knowledge of wild animals and the environments they
come from.

More from Smithsonian.com:

Pablo Fanque’s Fair 
The Circus Is Coming! 

A construction project in London turned into an archaeological dig when crews discovered the relics of ancient Rome entombed in the mud. Bloomberg News, whose new headquarters is set to go up atop the site, says that “some 10,000 well-preserved objects” have so far been found:

Museum of London archeologists have discovered good-luck charms, coins, drains and even leather shoes — dating from the mid-40’s A.D. (when the Romans founded London) to 410 A.D. The objects are in good condition because a now-lost river, the Walbrook, kept the ground wet and prevented their decay.

“What we’ve found is essentially a slice through the entire history of Roman London,” said Sophie Jackson, project manager for the Bloomberg Place excavation. “We’ve got, in one corner of this site, the whole sequence: every year of Roman occupation, represented by buildings and yards and alleyways — places where people lived and worked for 350 years, one layer above another.”

“We’re calling this site the Pompeii of the north,” said Jackson.

On top of the charms and coins, says CNN, the dig also turned up fragments from Roman writing tablets—a rare find even in the formerly-Roman and permanently-under-construction city.

More from Smithsonian.com:

Greek Subway Dig Uncovers Marble Road from Roman Empire
Scientists Think They’ve Found Richard III’s Body Under a Parking Lot