Intute blog

Nine months after the discovery of a mass grave of 51 decapitated bodies near Weymouth, scientists have confirmed the remains as belonging to Scandinavian Vikings.

The burial site was unearthed at Ridgeway Hill during preliminary excavations ahead of a proposed new relief road in the area; a number of theories had been proposed as to the origins of the dead men, with Roman pottery discovered at the site. However, the use of radiocarbon dating placed the bodies around 1000AD, and examination of isotopes in the teeth suggested the men came from Scandinavia – the high protein diet suggested by the tests compared favourably with that observed in similar Swedish sites.

Viking raids into the area became increasingly commonplace around the turn of the first Millennium AD, and it’s likely that an unsuccessful raid resulted in the local Anglo Saxon population executing the captured Vikings.

Discover more about Vikings and Anglo Saxons on Intute.

The ESRC Festival of Social Science is happening from 12-21 March 2010 as part of National Science and Engineering Week.

The 2010 Festival of Social Science features over 130 events happening in 7 regions and in over 40 different cities in the UK.

You can follow what’s happening at the Festival via:

• A Google map showing where events are being held
• The #esrcfestival hashtag on Twitter
• The ESRC Festival press release page which includes a number of subject specific briefings

It celebrates some of the country’s leading social science research, giving an exciting opportunity to showcase the valuable work of the UK’s social scientists and demonstrate how their work has an impact on all our lives.

Events are aimed at a range of different audiences, including policy makers, business, the media, the general public and students of all ages. Events come in a variety of formats from traditional lectures and exhibitions to theatrical performances, film screenings, topical debates and even a trip to Second Life.

Intute features more Internet resources from the Economic and Social Research Council about the Social Sciences.

Researchers at the Australian National University in Canberra have discovered and mapped an ancient river system some 35 metres below the surface of the Simpson desert. According to their estimates, the underlying waterways date to around 50 million years ago, when the climate and landscape were very different.

Although the mapping of underground waterways is relatively simple these days with the employment of technologies such as satellite remote sensing, the channels beneath the Simpson desert lie too deep to be revealed by this technique. Instead, the researchers have had to extract data from previous ground surveys and map the lowest points of the sand dunes to build up an accurate picture of the underlying system.

Robert Simpson, a member of the Smithsonian Institute and a paper co-author, suggests that the waterways still influence the landscape and that the map the team have created could offer assistance in locating mineral deposits under the desert sands.

Disover more about groundwater and remote sensing on Intute.

Reference: Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, DOI: 10.1080/08120090903416278

The Internet has been named as one of a record 237 nominations for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. The Norweigan Nobel Committee met on March 9 to cull the initial thousands of nominations down to a more manageable list; the final number is still significantly ahead of last year’s previous record shortlist of 205.

Quite who would receive the award should the Internet triumph remains unclear at this point, though Tim Berners-Lee, the “founder” of the ‘Net may well be in the running. The peace prize is historically awarded to “the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.” Interest in the prize has surged since the notable triumph of Barack Obama in 2009.

The shortlist for 2010 includes 38 organisations or groups and 199 individuals; others nominated include a Russian human rights group and a Chinese dissident. Although the panel does not disclose the nominees, the nominators (who include other Laureates, professors, government officials and the panel themselves) sometimes reveal their choices.

The chosen recipient will be revealed in October, with the prize formally awarded in December.

Discover more about the Nobel Prize on Intute, and take a look at our hot topic features covering the history and awards.

Neilsen research reported this week in a review of social networking activity on mobile devices, women were found do use their phones to “tweet” and “friend” 10% more than men.

Do you think it is true that women use some types of new technology more than men?

The recent State of the Blogosphere report by Technorati found on the contrary that more men are active bloggers than women.

Some other useful places for finding information on women’s use of new technology include.

Pew Internet and American Life project which has many market research reports on who uses Web 2.0 (mainly US based).

Also from the USA the National Information Center on Women and Information Technology has facts and figures on employment in the IT industry and qualifications in IT by women.

Similarly in the UK BCS women is a specialist group of the British Computer Society. It has advice, news and a useful set of links for organisations supporting and researching women in IT

Another source of statistics on women and IT usage and access worldwide is the United Nations. Try searching their Women Watch gateway for reports on ICT and gender.

Similarly the OECD website section on technology can also be searched for reports on gender gaps in access and use. For instance see this 2007 report

More information on Women Studies can be found by searching Intute which has a collection of links to academic websites.

Here is the latest round up from Intute and the LSE Library

Audit Commission: The truth is out there – Transparency in an information age – A discussion paper

Regenerating the English Coalfields HC 247 Public accounts Committee

Invisible Patients: Report of the working group on the health of health professionals

Improving Health and Safety: An analysis of the Health and Safety Executive’s risk communication in the 21st century This report analyses the executive’s risk communication in two specific cases: that of the Buncefield oil storage incident of 2005 and that of the proposed development at the Oval cricket ground in London.

Home Office Occasional Paper 88: What perceptions do the UK public have concerning the impact of counter-terrorism legislation implemented since 2000?

The National DNA Database Home Affairs Committee HC 221

Any of our business? Human Rights and the UK private sector: Government Response to the Committee’s First Report of Session 2008-09 Joint Committee on Human Rights reports HL 66/HC 401

Banking in Scotland HC 70 Scottish Affairs Committee report.

The Proposed National Assembly for Wales (Legislative Competence) (Culture and other fields) Order 2009: Government Response to the Committee’s First Report Welsh Affairs Committee HC 420 and The Proposed National Assembly for Wales (Legislative Competence) (Local Government Order 2009: Government Response to the Committee’s Fourth Report HC 411

Violence Against Women and Girls: Advisory group final report and recommendations- The violence against women and girls advisory group has considered how current strands of DCSF work with schools can be most effectively harnessed to maximise impact. The group considered specific issues (e.g. pornography), evidence of the effectiveness of previous interventions in schools, and policy developments (e.g. the new sex and relationships guidance for schools). This report reflects the group’s scrutiny of current relevant work and makes recommendations on new work to ensure schools’ impact on preventing and tackling violence against women and girls is maximised.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills: Venture capital support to small businesses Public Accounts committee report. HC 271

Age Equality in Health and Social Care: A report on the consultation

Health and Social Outcomes and Health Service Experiences of UK Military Veterans: A summary of the evidence

Home Office Research Report 34: The drivers of perceptions of anti-social behaviour

Managing offenders on short custodial sentences National Audit Office report HC: 431,

Rural Insights Resident Survey 2010- This report is a comprehensive survey, which took place during late 2009, on the perceptions and priorities of rural people. Commission for Rural Communities

Commission on Scottish Devolution- HC 255 Scottish Affairs Committee

Goats and Tsars: Ministerial and other appointments from outside Parliament Public Administration Committee HC 330

Vehicle and Operator Services Agency: Enforcement of regulations on commercial vehicles Public accounts Committee report HC 284.

Sexual Offenders Risk Assessment Tool Pilot Ministry of Justice report.

High Speed Rail: Command paper

Final Reports from the Taskforce on the Health Aspects of Violence Against Women and Children

Charging Levels and Structures in Money-purchase Pension Schemes: Report of a quantitative survey Department for Work and Pensions.

Secondary School Applications and Offers 2010 statistics.

Statutory Homelessness: Fourth quarter 2009 – England

Inclusion Health: Improving the way we meet the primary healthcare needs of the socially excluded Cabinet Office.

Review of Public Health Regulation- This review seeks to increase the confidence of the public and professionals on standards of competence, performance and conduct of the public health workforce.

After the recent news of funding cuts at NASA and the abandonment of the proposed American return to the Moon in 2020, US President Barack Obama is set to announce heavy investment in technological developments which may open up more effective travel to other bodies in the Solar System.

At a conference to be held in Florida next month, Obama will announce investment of around 6 billion dollars to transition space transport development to commercial organisations, while earmarking further funds for the development of new technologies.

Whilst the announcements may well be seen as a political tool, given the heavy investment in the Florida region that comes from NASA and space-related activities, it is a clear indication that the current White House is more supportive of NASA and human exploration of space than the previous funding cuts had indicated.

These developments may well increase the chance of manned missions to Mars and other bodies, such as asteroids.

Discover more about NASA and space missions on Intute.

Quite a few interesting dog welfare related stories in the media during the past week, here’s a couple that have caught my attention:

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home is celebrating its 150th anniversary and to mark this achievement they are hosting a variety of special events throughout 2010. The Royal Mail has produced a set of commemorative stamps showing some of the rescuing and re-homing Battersea success stories. The stars of the stamps are ten former Battersea residents, all of whom were re-homed. The Guardian Online  has a gallery of the images used on the stamps, which can be viewed here.

Defra consultation on dangerous dogs – this consultation aims to toughen the current legislation relating to dangerous dogs in order to protect the public. The consultation will close on the 01st June 2010, and all details on the consultation, including a list of consultees can be found here.

Intute Veterinary has a collection of Web resources on dogs and dog diseases – browse the collection here.

The trouble Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland, which has only just resumed operation after a 14 month hiatus, will be shut down at the end of 2011 for a further 12 months to allow repairs and safety updates to take place.

The news comes at a time when operators are set to begin a series of experiments at record-breaking energy levels in a bid to further our knowledge of conditions immediately following the Big Bang. It is anticipated that collision energies during these experiments will reach 7 trillion electron volts (TeV).

However, in order to reach levels of 14 TeV, urgent safety work to joints which lie between the magnets must take place. If one of the LHC magnets warms up, an operation known as a “quench” takes place, where copper sheaths take up the current to avoid a serious incident. That said, the last such “quench” in 2008 cost an estimated 24 million pounds, and so naturally scientists are keen to avouid a repeat.

The LHC is expected to be out of action for around 12 months while the copper sheaths are strengthened, and only then will experiments be run at the maximum operating energy of 14 TeV. The delay is a blow to our hopes of understanding the Universe’s opening moments and conditions, but scientists hope that the LHC will be fully operational by the end of 2012.

Discover more about the Large Hadron Collider and CERN at Intute.

According to reports from Italian researchers at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas, a large impact crater has been discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The crater measures 36-46km across, and was only recently revealed following heavy deforestation in the area.

Although the origins of the crater have not yet been conclusively determined, Giovanni Monegato from the University of Padova is hopeful that closer examination will confirm his team’s suspicions. One of the key discoveries would be that of shocked quartz, which is only ever located at the site of nuclear explosions or asteroid impacts.

If confirmed as an asteroid impact, the size of the crater would point to a space rock around 2km in diameter, and would be approximately the 25th largest discovered on the planet. It is of course far smaller than the more cataclysmic impact craters such as the 170km wide crater at Chicxulub, Mexico, which was recently confirmed as being the impact which wiped out the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago. The largest known impact crater on Earth is some 300km across, and is situated at Vredefort, South Africa.

Discover more about asteroid impact and impact craters on Intute, and learn more about the Democratic Republic of the Congo from the Intute World Guide.