Stephen Hawking to retire from Cambridge University post
The 66-year-old cosmologist will step down as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a title once held by Isaac Newton. He will continue with his studies.
Stephen Hawking to step down at Cambridge
Famed cosmologist Stephen Hawking will retire from his prestigious post at Cambridge University in Britain next year, but intends to continue his exploration of time and space.
Hawking, 66, is Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a title once held by the great 18th century physicist Isaac Newton. The university said Friday that he would step down at the end of the academic year in September, but would continue working as Emeritus Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.
University policy is that officeholders must retire at the end of the academic year in which they become 67. Hawking will reach that milestone on Jan. 8.
'Dinosaur dance floor' found in Arizona
Utah researchers have found what they are calling a "dinosaur dance floor," a site in the northern Arizona wilderness that contains thousands of footprints of Jurassic era beasts.
They reported in the paleontology journal Palaios that the tracks range from 1 inch to 20 inches long, which may indicate mothers walking around with their young, the researchers said.
The trails were likely made 190 million years ago when the continents were grouped together and a desert larger than the Sahara covered most of the southwestern U.S.
6,000-year-old household tools unearthed in Greece
A 6,000-year-old set of household gear, including crockery and two wood-fired ovens, has been found in the buried ruins of a prehistoric farmhouse in northern Greece, officials said Thursday.
The rectangular building, which covers about 624 square feet, was discovered during work to lay water pipes earlier this year at the village of Sosandra near Aridaia, about 360 miles north of Athens.
Archaeologists who excavated the site between March and July found a large number of clay vessels for cooking and eating, stone tools, mills for grinding cereals and two ovens.
Researchers identify genes linked to lung cancer
In the largest effort of its kind, scientists reported Thursday in the journal Nature that they have identified 26 genes that, when damaged, appear to promote lung cancer.
It's a step toward developing new treatments that can be tailored to specific patients.
The federally funded project was the largest ever to screen genes for mutations in the most common form of lung cancer, called adenocarcinoma. The results more than double the catalog of genes implicated in that condition.
