Archaeologists find wreckage of Confederate gunboat

[CNN]  The Ides of March was indeed a portentous day for the Confederate gunboat Peedee and its the 90-man crew, which heaved three artillery pieces overboard and torched the doomed vessel in the waning weeks of the Civil War.  More...

Treasure trove of medieval manuscripts published

[Media Newswire]  The largest surviving family-owned library of medieval manuscripts in Britain can now be enjoyed by everyone thanks to the publication of a new book telling its fascinating story.   More...

Christ's endangered language gets new lease of life in Oxford

[Guardian UK]  It is the language that Christ spoke, but is regarded as "endangered" with ever fewer scattered groups of native speakers. But in Oxford, Aramaic has been flourishing again, with a course in the ancient language drawing people from as far afield as Liverpool and London.  More...

Scientists track ancient gene 'explosion'

[UPI]  U.S. researchers say an explosion of new genes more than 3 billion years ago created about a quarter of today's DNA blueprint of all life. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say about 27 percent of all gene families that exist today were born between 3.3 billion and 2.8 billion years ago, ScienceNews.org reported Tuesday.  More...

Seeing daybreak at 'Ireland's Stonehenge'

[BBC]  Newgrange, located 40km north of Dublin and perched high above a bend of the River Boyne, is a prehistoric passage tomb, covered on the outside by a large grassy mound. At over 5,000 years old it is the older cousin of Stonehenge and it predates the pyramids by about 500 years.  More...