News Scan facts........

Mystical?
Archaeologists are working to solve the enduring riddle of Stonehenge: When and why was the prehistoric monument built? The excavation project, is designed to unearth materials that can be used to establish a more specific date for when the mysterious first set of bluestone was put in place at Stonehenge, one of Britian's best known and least understood landmarks. The bluestones are the smaller of the large rocks installed at Stonehenge. The site, has become popular with Druids, modern-day pagan, and New Agers, who attach mystical sognificance to the strangely shaped circle of stones. But there remains the great debate about the actual purpose of the structure. The dig will be led by Timothy Darvill, a leading Stonehedge scholar from Bournemouth University, and Geoffery Wainwright believe the bluestone were first put in place around 2600 B.C. Those original bluestones were removed about 200 years later. The dig team hopes to find bits of them embedded in the earth.


Stop to smell the roses.


Growing levels of air pollution from power plants and automobiles have reduced the potency of flower fragrances by upto 90% as compared with pre-industrial levels in the U.S., a new study as found. The trend is unpleasant for human noses but may be life-threatening for pollinators such as bees and butterflies. "Many insects find flowers by detecting the scent produced by those flowers," said study leas author Jose D. Fuentes, an environmental scientist at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. "This (pollution) makes it increasingly difficult for pollinators to locate the flowers ( and feed on their nectar).' Flowers also stand to suffer when this symbiotic relationship flaters. If insects can't find enough flower-based food to survive, their movements won't pollinate plant species.