Jackson treated for 'more serious' ailments

Rep. Jackson treated for 'more serious' ailments — The mystery surrounding U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s leave of absence deepened Thursday as his office disclosed a few more vague details about his medical condition, saying his ailments were "more serious" than previously thought and he needs extended inpatient treatment.

But his staff gave no hint of the congressman's whereabouts or exactly what he was suffering from, saying only that he has grappled with physical and emotional problems "privately for a long period of time" and was at an inpatient facility.

The nine-term Chicago Democrat has come under intense scrutiny in recent years for ties to imprisoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and an extramarital affair. Despite a pending U.S. House ethics investigation connected to Blagojevich, he has been widely expected to win re-election in November.

FILE - In this March 20, 2012 file photo, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., thanks supporters at his election night party in Chicago after his Democratic primary in the Illinois' 2nd District. A statement from Jackson's office Thursday, July 5, 2012, said that Jackson's medical condition is more serious than initially believed and he's undergoing evaluation and treatment at an in-patient medical facility. The congressman's office announced last week that he had been on medical leave for two weeks and was being treated for exhaustion. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

He has been on medical leave for three weeks, though his office didn't disclose his leave until last week — and did so in a meager three-sentence statement saying he was being treated for exhaustion. Neither his family nor his staff has offered more explanation, and the statement Thursday provided few details.

"Congressman Jackson's medical condition is more serious than we thought and initially believed," the statement said. "Recently, we have been made aware that he has grappled with certain physical and emotional ailments privately for a long period of time. At present, he is undergoing further evaluation and treatment at an in-patient medical facility."

The statement said Jackson, 47, will need "extended in-patient treatment as well as continuing medical treatment thereafter."

Multiple messages left for his spokesmen, his brother and his wife, Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson, were not returned. His father, Rev. Jesse Jackson, said he spoke to his son once recently and he sounded "exhausted and overwhelmed." ( Associated Press )

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'10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty' Judges Skeptical of Hunter's New Claims

'10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty' Judges Skeptical of Hunter's New Claims - One of the judges from Spike's new "10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty" calls Rick Dyer's assertion that he shot and killed a Sasquatch last year "completely worthless."

"Dude, I'm not going to take your word [for] it or your crappy picture. Show us real data," says Todd Disotell, a professor of anthropology at New York University who also runs NYU's Molecular Anthropology Laboratory.

Of course, Dyer's case is probably hurt by the fact that he was responsible for a Bigfoot hoax back in 2008, not to mention that he was a used car salesman before that and plans to go on tour with the now-stuffed body (which he says he shot in Washington, not San Antonio, as originally reported). "The second profit pops into science, science goes squiggly," concluded Disotell. "It's strange that he chose to have it taxidermied rather than have better-preserved live samples sent for testing," said Natalia Reagan, a primatologist who co-judges "Bounty" with Disotell and actor Dean Cain.

Disotell and Reagan bring years of lab and field research experience to the hunt for Bigfoot in the new series. Disotell established the terms for what would be considered definitive proof of Bigfoot so that Lloyd's of London would insure the $10 million stakes of the show.

The contestants are an assortment of Bigfoot hunters, or "Squatchers," along with survivalists, paranormal researchers, and ordinary hunters and trackers. Their different methods lead to conflict and sometimes even cooperation through various challenges designed for this particular kind of search.

The scientists likened visiting with the contestants to "a primatological study," according to Reagan, "where you see the coalitions form and the infighting and who's going to band together next week." But living with them also gave her a respect for their passion, and even though some of their theories were far-fetched, she was open to them. "[Science] is not static. It changes and adapts. It evolves. And so to hear their theories, maybe my take on things will change and evolve."

The scientific rigor is what sets this show apart from most of the other Bigfoot shows that have been on TV. Part of Reagan's job was "to teach [the hunters] the correct collection protocol," so if something were found, it could be considered incontrovertible proof of Bigfoot's existence. She said Disotell "didn't test any sample that wasn't collected properly."

Real scientific methods were surprisingly compatible with the reality-show format. "It's exactly the same laboratory techniques and even field techniques that we use in my anthropological research. There's no difference. We collect scat, hair; we dart, trap. We do whatever to get a biological sample from primates in the wild and then try to figure out who they're related to. Are they something new?" Disotell says, "That's sort of the hunt for Bigfoot."

Conservation biology — the field that led Reagan to the disappearing forests of Panama to study spider monkeys — is ideal for the search because it studies endangered species that are also elusive. By using environmental DNA — "saliva when they take a bite off a tree," Reagan explains, or blood from a mosquito or a leech — and camera traps, which she calls "the TMZ of the natural world," the search for mythical creatures gains more real-world credibility.

Disotell and Reagan are both familiar with using the media to further science education. Disotell has appeared on "Monster Quest" and "The Daily Show;" Reagan hosts a show called "Science! It's Your Friend" on YouTube. They're hoping that by being involved with a show meant as entertainment, they can impart some real information about science. "If you can trick people into learning something," says Disotell about a lesson he learned as a teacher, "they learn it much better than if you force-feed it to them."

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Mysterious Ancient Rock Carvings Found Near Nile

Mysterious Ancient Rock Carvings Found Near Nile - An archaeological team in the Bayuda Desert in northern Sudan has discovered dozens of new rock art drawings, some of which were etched more than 5,000 years ago and reveal scenes that scientists can't explain.

The team discovered 15 new rock art sites in an arid valley known as Wadi Abu Dom, some 18 miles (29 kilometers) from the Nile River. It’s an arid valley that flows with water only during rainy periods. Many of the drawings were carved into the rock faces — no paint was used — of small stream beds known as "khors" that flow into the valley.

Some of the sites revealed just a single drawing while others have up to 30, said lead researcher Tim Karberg, of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster in Germany.

“We asked the local people about the rock art and they said that it would be very old, before their grandfathers,” Karberg told LiveScience.

Knight rider

A number of the images appear to date back around 1,500 years ago, to a period when Christianity was spreading in Sudan. They include depictions of crosses, a church, which may show a nearby, ancient monastery called al-Ghazali, and one remarkable picture of a knight riding an animal with horns.

"One is a depiction of an armed rider, with a lance and a shield, a kind of knight depiction," Karberg said, suggesting this may be an image of St. George, the legendary soldier said to have slain a dragon.

Drawings of St. George are known from Sudan and texts discussing him have been found within the country. “Our texts attest to the popularity of the Saint in Christian Nubia,” wrote historian Gerald Brown, in a study he did on the subject.

The team also found detailed representations of cattle at Wadi Abu Dom that, based on rock drawings found at other sites, are probably from the late Bronze Age. During this time, more than 3,000 years ago, the northern parts of the country were occupied by the Egyptian empire.

Mystery carvings

Another, even more mysterious, set of rock art appears to be at least 5,000 years old and shows a mix of geometric designs.

The "oldest rock art we found are the spiral motifs," said Karberg, which, as their name suggests, twist up in a way that is hard to interpret. Similar drawings have been found in the Sahara Desert.

They were created at a time when Africa was a wetter place, with grasslands and savannah dominating Sudan; people were moving to a lifestyle based on animal husbandry and, in some instances, farming.

Understanding what these drawings mean is difficult. Some researchers connect the "spiral motifs to some astronomical or astrological forms," Karberg said, but he thinks it might have more to do with math. "The regularity of the spiral might be one of the earliest mathematical ideas the people developed."

A second set of geometric drawings, probably a bit younger than the spirals, is "hard to describe," Karberg said. They consist of "amorphous patterns which are not circular. ... It looks like an irregular-shaped net," Karberg said.

There is no evidence that people were fishing in this area 5,000 years ago, ruling out fishing nets. One possibility is that these irregular "nets" may actually be animal hides. Similar drawings found in Uganda were identified as showing the hide of a crocodile or some other animal, Karberg said.

Music in the desert?

Finally, what artist wouldn't like to relax with a bit of music? The team also uncovered several "rock gongs," large rocks that someone would have smacked a small rock against to make a sound. When the archaeologists experimented with them they found that some of the gongs could produce multiple tones.

Karberg said that it’s difficult to pin down when they were used; it could have been centuries ago or millennia. They may have been used for signalling rather than for actual music. But one thing is for sure, they would have made a pretty decent sound. "As we tried out the sound of many of those rock gongs you could hear (them) quite a long distance," Karberg said.

The research at Wadi Abu Dom is ongoing and the rock art discovery was first presented last year at the 12th International Nubian Studies Conference. ( LiveScience.com )

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