– James Franco is a "bully" who shoved her to the ground on the set of Freaks and Geeks, Busy Philipps writes in new memoir This Will Only Hurt a Little. In a leaked excerpt confirmed by the Hollywood Reporter, Philipps says Franco freaked out and broke character after she followed the script's direction to nudge his character in the chest. "He grabbed both my arms and screamed in my face, 'DON’T EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!'" Philipps writes. "And he threw me to the ground. Flat on my back. Wind knocked out of me." Philipps says everybody on the set of the 1999 sitcom was appalled by Franco's behavior, Yahoo reports. She says her co-star apologized to her the next day, having been ordered to do so by the episode's director and producers, but he was never punished. Franco, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by five women, has yet to respond to the latest allegations. The Reporter notes that in her book, which is due out Oct. 16, Philipps also describes her experience of being raped when she was 14 years old. She decided to share the story for the first time last week soon after Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about her alleged assault by Brett Kavanaugh.

Expand this summary.

Busy Philipps has made lifelong friends on film and TV sets over her 20-year career, but it sounds like James Franco isn’t one of them. In her anticipated new memoir, This Will Only Hurt a Little, out Oct. 16, Philipps recalls a scary moment with her former Freaks and Geeks co-star.

 In an excerpt obtained by Radar Online and verified by Yahoo Entertainment, Philipps details an incident in which Franco allegedly shoved her to the ground, and she writes that he was a “f***ing bully.” While shooting a scene for the 1999 cult TV hit, Philipps claims she was directed to gently hit Franco in the chest while delivering a line. The actor supposedly broke character and got upset.

 View photos James Franco and Busy Philipps. (Photo: Getty Images) More

 “He grabbed both my arms and screamed in my face, ‘DON’T EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!’” she writes in the book. “And he threw me to the ground. Flat on my back. Wind knocked out of me.”

 Philipps remembers everyone on set was horrified. The Dawson’s Creek alum apparently sobbed to her co-star Linda Cardellini, who advised her to call her manager. The next day, Franco supposedly apologized after being ordered to do so by the director and producers. However, she notes that he was never punished for his supposed behavior.

 View photos Busy Philipps and James Franco in Freaks and Geeks. (Photo: NBC/Courtesy of Everett Collection) More

 Yahoo Entertainment reached out to a representative for Franco regarding Philipps’s story but did not immediately receive a response.

 Franco’s character has been called into question over the past year; he was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women but has denied the claims. The 40-year-old actor has kept a relatively low-profile since allegations surfaced, but the accusations haven’t stymied his carrier. Seth Rogen, who also starred on Freaks and Geeks and is a frequent collaborator of Franco’s, said he would absolutely keep working with his friend. Rogen hasn’t weighed in (publicly, at least) on Philipps’s story.

 Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: ||||| The actress writes about the alleged incident in an excerpt from her upcoming memoir, 'This Will Only Hurt a Little.'

 Busy Philipps claims in her forthcoming memoir, This Will Only Hurt a Little, that James Franco physically assaulted her on the set of their cult comedy Freaks and Geeks, where they played a tumultuous high school couple onscreen.

 In an excerpt leaked online Monday that The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed is authentic, Philipps alleges that Franco — whom she calls a "fucking bully" — pushed the actress after filming a scene. The short-lived NBC sitcom, which aired for one season from 1999-2000, was created by Paul Feig and executive produced by Judd Apatow.

 In her book, Philipps remembers that the script called for her character, Kim Kelly, to gently nudge Franco's Daniel Desario in the chest. Philipps writes that the scripted gesture caused Franco to get upset, after which he allegedly "threw" the actress to the ground in retaliation.

 "He grabbed both my arms and screamed in my face, 'DON’T EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!'" Philipps writes in the book. "And he threw me to the ground. Flat on my back. Wind knocked out of me."

 Philipps goes on to say that she tearfully described the alleged incident to her other Freaks and Geeks co-star Linda Cardellini, who suggested that Philipps report what happened to her manager. Philipps writes that Franco eventually apologized after being told to do so by the episode's director and producers. Though he was asked to say he was sorry, Philipps says that Franco was never punished for his alleged behavior.

 When speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about her upcoming memoir and E! late-night talk show, Busy Tonight, Philipps said she and Franco have since discussed what happened on set and that he apologized.

 "It wasn't even outrageous. At the time, 19 and with my first professional acting job, I was under the impression that this was just the way things were," she said. "James and I have talked about it over the years. At one point he apologized to me. I was always acutely aware of my expendability, and so I felt I needed to never complain, always show up on time and not be difficult. If someone else was being difficult, it was my job to be the easy one or figure out a way to soothe the situation."

 During a 2016 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Philipps had told host Andy Cohen about her previous confrontation with Franco on the set of Freaks and Geeks. During her chat with Cohen, the actress brought up Franco allegedly shoving her to the ground.

 "When we were 19, we were on Freaks and Geeks and we really, really disliked each other. It’s well-documented," Philipps said. "He, like, shoved me to the ground once. It was really brutal. But we’re friends now and we really like each other now as adults." She added that though she and Franco "really didn't get along," they had "since made amends."

 The excerpt from Philipps' book comes nearly nine months after Franco was accused of sexual misconduct by more than five women. The star of HBO's The Deuce has denied the accusations, calling the accounts "not accurate."

 Aside from the assault she allegedly suffered at the hands of Franco, Philipps revealed days ago that her book will also detail her experience being raped at 14 years old. The actress shared her story last week, hours after Christine Blasey Ford testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, whom Ford has accused of sexual assault. (Kavanaugh has denied Ford's allegations.)

 "This is me at 14. The age I was raped. It's taken me 25 years to say those words. I wrote about it in my book. I finally told my parents and sister about it 4 months ago," Philipps wrote on Instagram, accompanied by what appears to be a school photo. "Today is the day we are silent no more. All of us. I'm scared to post this. I can't imagine what Dr. Ford is feeling right now."

 THR has reached out to reps for Franco.

 This Will Only Hurt a Little is due in stores Oct. 16.

 Oct. 9, 7 a.m. Updated with Philipps' quotes to THR. |||||


Article:
FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2014, file photo, actress Lindsay Lohan performs a scene from the play, "Speed the Plow," during a photocall at the Playhouse Theatre in central London. Lohan told the Daily Mail... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2014, file photo, actress Lindsay Lohan performs a scene from the play, "Speed the Plow," during a photocall at the Playhouse Theatre in central London. Lohan told the Daily Mail on Friday, Feb. 10, 2017, that Americans should come together to support President Donald Trump.... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2014, file photo, actress Lindsay Lohan performs a scene from the play, "Speed the Plow," during a photocall at the Playhouse Theatre in central London. Lohan told the Daily Mail on Friday, Feb. 10, 2017, that Americans should come together to support President Donald Trump.... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2014, file photo, actress Lindsay Lohan performs a scene from the play, "Speed the Plow," during a photocall at the Playhouse Theatre in central London. Lohan told the Daily Mail... (Associated Press)

 LONDON (AP) — Lindsay Lohan claims she was "racially profiled" while wearing a headscarf at London's Heathrow Airport.

 The actress told a British talk show that she was stopped while traveling to New York.

 She said an airport worker "opened my passport and saw 'Lindsay Lohan' and started immediately apologizing, but then said: 'Please take off your headscarf.'"

 She told "Good Morning Britain" on Tuesday that the incident made her wonder "how would another woman who doesn't feel comfortable taking off her headscarf feel?"

 Lohan was returning from Turkey, where she recently met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

 She said she wore a headscarf in Turkey out of "personal respect."

 Lohan, who has been photographed carrying a Quran, says she finds "solace" studying the Muslim holy book and other religious texts. ||||| “Oh, Prince Eric, gimme a kiss…”

 “Why do you sound like Harvey Fierstein? Help!”

 This might be a surprising introduction to a post, but if you haven’t seen the Disney live-action remakes (Besides Cinderella), they’re actually pretty great. Particularly The Jungle Book, which was the shit. And considering that they’re now casting leads like Emma Watson, it makes what you’re about to read all the more goddamn ridiculous. E! News reports:

 “I will sing again, as #ariel #thelittlemermaid,” Lohan wrote on Instagram Saturday, alongside a side-by-side pic of her and the animated mermaid princess. “@disney approve that “#billcondon directs it along with my sister @alianamusic singing the theme song for the soundtrack.”

 Since then, Lindsay Lohan has shown a remarkable amount of self-awareness for Lindsay Lohan and changed the caption to simply “#thelittlemermaid.” Although, it still sits directly next to this photo:

 #thelittlemermaid A post shared by Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) on Feb 19, 2017 at 3:24am PST

 Let’s see if we can’t make a more honest version:

 My God, it’s like looking at twins. Actually, I’m kind of not joking. Look at how far Ariel can open her mouth. I don’t remember that being an essential part of the character, and yet here we are. Holy shit, this might actually happen. In fact, all it needs is just a little nudge…

 THE SUPERFICIAL | About • Facebook • Twitter

 Photos: AKM-GSI |||||Summary:

– Lindsay Lohan claims she was "racially profiled" while wearing a headscarf at London's Heathrow Airport, the AP reports. The actress told a British talk show that she was stopped while traveling to New York. She said an airport worker "opened my passport and saw 'Lindsay Lohan' and started immediately apologizing, but then said: 'Please take off your headscarf.'" She told Good Morning Britain on Tuesday that the incident made her wonder "how would another woman who doesn't feel comfortable taking off her headscarf feel?" Lohan was returning from Turkey, where she recently met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. She said she wore a headscarf in Turkey out of "personal respect." Lohan, who has been photographed carrying a Koran, says she finds "solace" studying the Muslim holy book and other religious texts. (Could LiLo someday be the Little Mermaid?)


Article:
Police search at the Delaware Valley Charter School Friday, Jan. 17, 2014, in Philadelphia. Police say two students have been shot at a Philadelphia high school. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (Associated Press)

 PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia police say a boy charged with aggravated assault was expected to surrender Saturday in connection with a shooting that wounded two students at a high school gymnasium.

 Police say another boy already in custody in Friday's shooting at the Delaware Valley Charter High School in north Philadelphia has not been charged yet.

 Police aren't identifying either boy because of their age, but say they've been in contact with the second suspect's parents, which is why they expected him to turn himself in.

 Police have said it appears two students were wounded when one of the suspects accidentally fired the gun.

 Police say a girl was treated and released for a bicep wound. The same bullet then hit a 17-year-old male student who remained hospitalized in stable condition. ||||| The gunman who shot two students at Delaware Valley Charter School on Friday is still on the loose. NBC10's Nefertiti Jaquez has the latest. (Published Monday, Feb. 3, 2014)

 A suspect is now in custody a day after two students were shot inside a Philadelphia high school.

 The shooting happened on Friday just before 3:30 p.m. at the Delaware Valley Charter School at 5201 Old York Road in the Olney section of the city, Philadelphia Police say.

 "Two kids, a male and a female, both shot in the arm" is the call that went out over police radio minutes after the shooting on Friday afternoon.

 "A school is supposed to be a safe environment. Are you kidding me? Two kids just got shot," shouted Frank Thorne, whose daughter was inside the school at the time of the shooting. "How was a child, or whoever, [able to] bring a gun up in the school?"

 Teens Recovering After School Shooting

 One of the two teenagers shot at the charter school in Olney is out of the hospital. NBC10's Daralene Jones has an update on their conditions. (Published Monday, Feb. 3, 2014)

 A teen boy, who attends the school, pulled out a handgun inside the school's gymnasium and then the weapon fired, according to officials.

 An 18-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy were injured in the shooting, which took place near the gymnasium, police said. The bullet struck the rear of the girl's left arm, exited her bicep and then struck the boy in the shoulder, according to police.

 Both victims were rushed to Albert Einstein Medical Center, which is just a block north of the high school.

 The girl was discharged from the hospital around 6 p.m., but the boy remains hospitalized. He is currently in stable condition.

 "We are thankful that our students are in good condition and recovering from this incident," school officials said in a statement released Saturday afternoon.

 Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey says there were seven students inside the gym when the shooting happened and that the entire incident was caught on surveillance video.

 Manhunt for Suspects Widens in School Shooting

 Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey says that the teen they have in custody was involved in the shooting, but he was not the shooter. They're looking for one, possibly two more suspects. (Published Monday, Feb. 3, 2014)

 THE SUSPECTS

 At the height of the investigation immediately following the shooting, Philadelphia Police used surveillance video to identify alleged suspects. Police also say they received information from school security and school officials.

 Based on that information, police say they identified a 15-year-old student from South Philadelphia as a suspect.

 Police descended on the home of the student and brought him in for questioning. Officials said they thought he was either the shooter or was with the shooter.

 But hours later, that teen was released and, police say, will not be charged. According to police, the boy was not involved in the shooting. They also claim the security officials provided inaccurate information regarding the boy.

 Family of Teen: "He's a Straight-A Student

 NBC10's LuAnn Cahn talked to the uncle of the boy who police took into custody after a shooting inside the Delaware Valley Charter High School. (Published Monday, Feb. 3, 2014)

 The school did not address the police allegations of inaccurate information in its statement.

 Family members of the teen, angry over his implication, told NBC10 he was a "straight A student." That same family member, an uncle who wished to remain anonymous, said his nephew's involvement in the shooting was some kind of mistake.

 After examining the surveillance video and conducting numerous interviews, police identified two suspects in the shooting.

 A 16-year-old boy was taken into custody and questioned at Philadelphia Police's Northwest Detective Division. Investigators initially said they considered him a co-conspirator, but did not believe he was the shooter. He was questioned and then released Saturday morning. He has not been charged.

 Police filed charges against a second suspect, a 17-year-old boy. The teen turned himself in on Saturday and is charged with two counts of aggravated assault and other related offenses.

 "It's just like any other investigation, now we're able to talk with the people that were shot, the victims, able to talk with some of the kids that may have seen what took place," Ramsey said.

 Parents Worry About Kids in Wake of Shooting

 Concerned parents arrived at Delaware Valley Charter School just hours after two students were shot. The students are in stable condition at Einstein Medical Center. (Published Monday, Feb. 3, 2014)

 SEPTA Police searched trash cans and station concourses to see if the gun used was dumped. So far, those searches have been futile.

 THE SCHOOL & SHOOTING RESPONSE

 Delaware Valley Charter School is one of 87 charter schools in Philadelphia. Charter schools are independent of the School District of Philadelphia. The school serves more than 600 students in grades 9 through 12.

 Police: "Turn Yourself In!"

 Philadelphia Police Lt. John Stanford gives the first briefing on the shooting inside a high school in Olney. (Published Monday, Feb. 3, 2014)

 The school was placed on lockdown following the shooting and was quickly secured.

 "We had good response and were able to lock this down very, very quickly and get information very quickly as to who the suspect was and be able to locate that person very quickly and so this one worked out for us," Ramsey said.

 Officials say students were searched and then released on a one-by-one basis. The school was completely cleared at 5:30 p.m.

 Parents told NBC10 reporters on the scene that there have been several fights at the school recently and that they had concerns about safety.

 Police say the school does have security. The building is also equipped with metal detectors, so investigators are trying to figure out how the student was able to get the gun into the school.

 "They go through metal detectors. You have to go through everything to get into the school even as a parent," said Gina, who did not want to share her last name. "I have to go through metal detectors."

 "Clearly a breech of security of some kind," said Ramsey. "Don't know exactly how it happened, but kids shouldn't be able to get a gun in school."

 Along with thanking parents for their support and understanding, school authorities say they will "continue to follow our mission making Delaware Valley Charter High School a S.A.F.E place to learn."

 The acronym "S.A.F.E." stands for scholarship, attitude, focus and excellence, according to the school's website.

 School officials say, "We will continue to be committed to making sure that the safety of our children and staff is taken seriously inside and outside of school."

 Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter. |||||Summary:

– Another school shooting: Police say two students were shot today inside a Philadelphia high school, reports AP. Authorities say a male and female student were each shot in the arm this afternoon at the Delaware Valley Charter School in north Philadelphia. The injuries weren't life-threatening. One student was in custody and another is expected to surrender soon. NBC10 says it's not yet clear whether the shooting in the school gym was intentional, but a police official tells the station that it was captured on video. The video reportedly shows a group of teens together in the gym when the gunfire breaks out.


News article:

It was the urge to avoid playing ping-pong in the dark that led Luke Irwin to make one of Britain’s most extraordinary archaeological discoveries in recent years. Without that compulsion, he might never have found out that he lives on the site of one of the biggest Roman villas ever built in the British Isles.

 Irwin, a rug designer, and his wife had decided to convert an old barn on their newly purchased Wiltshire property into a room where they and their children could play table tennis, so they hired electricians to lay cables for lights.

 “The electricians originally suggested stringing up an overhead cable from our house to supply the power for the barn, but I insisted it had to be an underground cable,” said Irwin. It turned out to be a fateful decision.

 The electricians started drilling and hit a hard layer 18 inches below the surface. It was found to consist of pieces of mosaic. “We knew the significance of that straight away,” added Irwin. “No one since the Romans has laid mosaics as house floors in Britain. Fortunately we were able to stop the workmen just before they began to wield pickaxes to break up the mosaic layer.”

 Irwin called in Historic England (formerly English Heritage), whose archaeologists confirmed that the mosaic had formed part the floor of a grand villa built between AD175 and 220, and had been remodelled several times before the fifth century.

 The Irwins’ house, created out of two labourers’ cottages, was built in the centre of the old villa and rests on a large slab of Purbeck marble, which is probably of Roman origin. According to the experts, the discovery is of “national significance”.

 “The rest of the site has not been touched since the house collapsed more than 1,400 years ago, and it is unquestionably of enormous importance,” said Dr David Roberts, an Historic England archaeologist.

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest An artist’s impression of what the villa would have looked like in Roman times. Photograph: PR

 “This is a hugely valuable site with incredible potential. The discovery of such an elaborate and extraordinarily well-preserved villa, undamaged by agriculture for over 1,500 years, is unparalleled in recent years and it gives us a perfect opportunity to understand Roman and post-Roman Britain.”

 It is believed that the three-storey structure, which would have dominated the valley, was similar to that found at Chedworth, one of Britain’s most important Roman villa sites. It is thought to have belonged to a family of extraordinary wealth and importance. “It is not just the size of the building – which is vast – but the other discoveries that we have made that reveal what a special place this must have been,” said Roberts. “We have found discarded oyster and whelk shells. To keep them fresh, they must have been brought in barrels of salt water from the sea, which is miles away, and that shows just how rich the villa’s owners must have been.

 Other discoveries have included a perfectly preserved Roman well and the stone coffin of a Roman child. This had been used to hold geraniums until its significance was realised. Only a few test pits have been dug, but Roberts said it was clear the walls of the villa were probably still more than a metre high, although they are buried under alluvial sediment from a nearby river. In addition, the mosaic has been revealed to be of particularly high quality. “Everything about this villa suggests it was made of the highest-quality materials,” added Roberts. “We have identified bits of stone that have come from at least 13 different British quarries. This was the country house of a powerful, rich Roman. Doubtless he also had a city house in London or Cirencester.”

 Intriguingly, the house was not destroyed after the collapse of the Roman empire, said Roberts. Archaeologists have discovered timber structures erected in the fifth century. Roberts said the remains from this period, between the end of Roman occupation and the completion of Saxon domination of England, could open a window into one of the least understood periods in British history. It could also reveal how people responded to the collapse of the Roman empire, the superpower of the age.

 However, it is the sense of continuity that has affected Irwin. “Some of the oyster shells we have found have not been touched by another human for more than 1,500 years and now we have uncovered them lying around our house. It is a very powerful feeling,” said Irwin

 Fishbourne palace, Chichester

 Most of the palace’s sumptuously decorated rooms had mosaic floors. However, a serious fire in the late third century destroyed most of it and it was not rebuilt.

 Chedworth, Gloucestershire

 One of the largest Roman buildings in Britain, the villa was built in phases over 200 years and transformed into a palace arranged around three sides of a courtyard. Buildings included a heated west wing and two separate bathing suites, one for damp heat and one for dry.

 Turkdean, Cirencester

 Site of a major Roman villa complex which appears to have been occupied from the late second century until the end of the fourth. Coins, pottery, floor tiles, millstone fragments and a stone-lined water course have also been found, while aerial photographs have suggested a substantial complex.

 Brading, Isle of Wight

 All 12 of the villa’s ground-floor rooms survived. Artefacts include pottery and jewellery, while floor mosaics include images of Orpheus, Bacchus, a cockerel-headed man and gladiators.

 Box villa, Wiltshire

 The building probably contained at least 50 rooms, including a huge reception hall that was 40ft long, 20ft wide and 30ft high. Many rooms had central heating, most had glass windows and the interior walls were plastered, painted and decorated. ||||| A man stumbled across a Roman villa in his back garden which is being hailed as the most significant discovery of its kind for a decade.

 Luke Irwin, from Wiltshire, was laying an electricity cable in his barn when he uncovered a mosaic underground.

 The rug designer, who was making the alterations so his children could play table tennis, took a photo and sent it off for more information.

 Mr Irwin said: "I sent a photograph to the council and within 24 hours they were here with archaeologists to see what we'd found.”

 Experts from Historic England and Salisbury Museum carefully began excavating the site, and realised the mosaic formed part of the floor of a grand Roman building.

 The find has been proclaimed by Historic England as “unparalleled in recent years”.

 After an eight-day dig, archaeologists uncovered more of the ‘elaborate’ and ‘extraordinarily well-preserved’ villa, thought to be one of the largest ever found in the country.

 Dating from between AD 175 and 220, the grand home is thought to have been three storeys high, similar to those found at Chedworth in Gloucestershire.

 The team also discovered hundreds of discarded oyster shells which were artificially cultivated and carried live from the coast in barrels of salty water.

 The dig unearthed "extremely high status pottery”, brooches, coins and the bones of wild animals which had been hunted, as well as a suckling pig.

 All the evidence suggests a family of high importance and wealth lived at the villa, possibly a Roman emperor.

 Dr David Roberts, an archaeologist from Historic England who helped work on the excavation, said: "We've found a whole range of artefacts demonstrating just how luxurious a life that was led by the elite family that would have lived at the villa.

 Shape Created with Sketch. In pictures: 12 amazing archaeological discoveries Show all 12 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. In pictures: 12 amazing archaeological discoveries 1/12 Ancient forest, discovered in February 2014 Ancient forest revealed by storms. The recent huge storms and gale force winds that have battered the coast of West Wales have stripped away much of the sand from stretches of the beach between Borth and Ynyslas. The disappearing sands have revealed ancients forests, with the remains of oak trees dating back to the Bronze Age, 6,000 years ago. The ancient remains are said by some to be the origins of the legend of ‚Cantre‚r Gwealod‚ , a mythical kingdom now submerged under the waters pif Cardigan Bay 2/12 Medieval royal palaces, discovered in November 2014 Archaeologists in southern England have discovered what may be one of the largest medieval royal palaces ever found – buried under the ground inside a vast prehistoric fortress at Old Sarum. The probable 12th century palace was discovered by archaeologists, using geophysical ground-penetrating ‘x-ray’ technology to map a long-vanished medieval city which has lain under grass on the site for more than 700 years 3/12 The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered ca. 1950 The Dead Sea Scrolls are almost 1,000 biblical manuscripts discovered in the decade after the Second World War in what is now the West Bank. The texts, mostly written on parchment but also on papyrus and bronze, are the earliest surviving copies of biblical and extra-biblical documents known to be in existence, dating over a 700-year period around the birth of Jesus. The ancient Jewish sect the Essenes is supposed to have authored the scrolls, written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, although no conclusive proof has been found to this effect 4/12 Diamond, discovered in March 2014 This rare diamond that survived a trip from deep within the Earth's interior confirmed that there is an ocean’s worth of water beneath the planet’s crust 5/12 Whale skeletons, discovered in February 2014 Chilean and Smithsonian paleontologists study several fossil whale skeletons at Cerro Ballena, next to the Pan-American Highway in the Atacama Region of Chile 6/12 Complete mammoth skeleton, discovered in November 2012 The first complete mammoth skeleton to be found in France for more than a century was uncovered in a gravel pit on the banks of the Marne, 30 miles north-east of Paris. Picture shows experts at work making a silicon cast of the mammoth's tusk 7/12 Million-year-old human footprints, discovered in February 2014 Photograph of the footprint hollows in situ on the beach as Happisburgh, Norfolk 8/12 Terracotta warrior, discovered in June 2010 Chinese archaeologists unearthed around 120 more clay figures in June 2010 excavations at the terracotta army site that surrounds the tomb of the nation's first emperor in the northwestern Shaanxi Province © Jason Lee / Reuters 9/12 Neolithic 'lost avenue' - prehistoric stone circle, discovered in September 1999 The discovery of a Neolithic 'lost avenue' was described as one of the most important finds of the last century. Since the 1700s, archeologists and historians have argued over the existence of the huge sarsen stones, which were unearthed at the site of the world's biggest prehistoric stone circle at Avebury in Wiltshire 10/12 Byzantine mosaic, discovered in February 2007 Plans for a walkway at the centre of the furious dispute over Jerusalem's holiest site were delayed by the discovery of a Byzantine mosaic 11/12 Ancient gold, discovered in March 2014 Gold fitting for a dagger sheath (around 1900 BC.) found near Stonehenge 12/12 Rosetta Stone, discovered in 1799 The Rosetta Stone is a basalt slab inscribed with a decree of pharaoh Ptolemy Epiphanes (205-180 BC) in three languages, Greek, Hieroglyphic and Demotic script. Discovered near Rosetta in Egypt 1/12 Ancient forest, discovered in February 2014 Ancient forest revealed by storms. The recent huge storms and gale force winds that have battered the coast of West Wales have stripped away much of the sand from stretches of the beach between Borth and Ynyslas. The disappearing sands have revealed ancients forests, with the remains of oak trees dating back to the Bronze Age, 6,000 years ago. The ancient remains are said by some to be the origins of the legend of ‚Cantre‚r Gwealod‚ , a mythical kingdom now submerged under the waters pif Cardigan Bay 2/12 Medieval royal palaces, discovered in November 2014 Archaeologists in southern England have discovered what may be one of the largest medieval royal palaces ever found – buried under the ground inside a vast prehistoric fortress at Old Sarum. The probable 12th century palace was discovered by archaeologists, using geophysical ground-penetrating ‘x-ray’ technology to map a long-vanished medieval city which has lain under grass on the site for more than 700 years 3/12 The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered ca. 1950 The Dead Sea Scrolls are almost 1,000 biblical manuscripts discovered in the decade after the Second World War in what is now the West Bank. The texts, mostly written on parchment but also on papyrus and bronze, are the earliest surviving copies of biblical and extra-biblical documents known to be in existence, dating over a 700-year period around the birth of Jesus. The ancient Jewish sect the Essenes is supposed to have authored the scrolls, written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, although no conclusive proof has been found to this effect 4/12 Diamond, discovered in March 2014 This rare diamond that survived a trip from deep within the Earth's interior confirmed that there is an ocean’s worth of water beneath the planet’s crust 5/12 Whale skeletons, discovered in February 2014 Chilean and Smithsonian paleontologists study several fossil whale skeletons at Cerro Ballena, next to the Pan-American Highway in the Atacama Region of Chile 6/12 Complete mammoth skeleton, discovered in November 2012 The first complete mammoth skeleton to be found in France for more than a century was uncovered in a gravel pit on the banks of the Marne, 30 miles north-east of Paris. Picture shows experts at work making a silicon cast of the mammoth's tusk 7/12 Million-year-old human footprints, discovered in February 2014 Photograph of the footprint hollows in situ on the beach as Happisburgh, Norfolk 8/12 Terracotta warrior, discovered in June 2010 Chinese archaeologists unearthed around 120 more clay figures in June 2010 excavations at the terracotta army site that surrounds the tomb of the nation's first emperor in the northwestern Shaanxi Province © Jason Lee / Reuters 9/12 Neolithic 'lost avenue' - prehistoric stone circle, discovered in September 1999 The discovery of a Neolithic 'lost avenue' was described as one of the most important finds of the last century. Since the 1700s, archeologists and historians have argued over the existence of the huge sarsen stones, which were unearthed at the site of the world's biggest prehistoric stone circle at Avebury in Wiltshire 10/12 Byzantine mosaic, discovered in February 2007 Plans for a walkway at the centre of the furious dispute over Jerusalem's holiest site were delayed by the discovery of a Byzantine mosaic 11/12 Ancient gold, discovered in March 2014 Gold fitting for a dagger sheath (around 1900 BC.) found near Stonehenge 12/12 Rosetta Stone, discovered in 1799 The Rosetta Stone is a basalt slab inscribed with a decree of pharaoh Ptolemy Epiphanes (205-180 BC) in three languages, Greek, Hieroglyphic and Demotic script. Discovered near Rosetta in Egypt

 "It's clearly not your run-of-the-mill domestic settlement."

 A perfectly preserved Roman well and the stone coffin of a Roman child, which went unnoticed and was being used as a flower bed, were also among the finds.

 Dr Roberts added: "The site has not been touched since its collapse 1,400 years ago and so it's of extreme importance.

 "The large scale and complexity of the site present a unique opportunity to understand Roman and post-Roman Britain.

 "Without question, this is a hugely valuable site in terms of research, with incredible potential.

 “It's one of the best sites I have ever had the chance to work on."

 The site has now been protected to preserve it.

 Mr Irwin said it was “unbelievable” to have stumbled across the rare find.

 He said: "The thought of the footsteps we are following in. I have always been fascinated by history ever since I went to Pompeii as a child.

 "But to find it 20 yards from your own front door - and then the 20 billion to one shot that you design luxury rugs for the Roman aristocrats of today. It's mind blowing."

 Further research will be continued when more funding becomes available. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Start digging around in the backyard and you're liable to unearth rusted bottle caps, utility pipes, or maybe a long-forgotten toy. Luke Irwin, on the other hand, discovered the remains of a lavish Roman villa on his property in Wiltshire, England, the Independent reports. The residence, built nearly 2,000 years ago, "was the country house of a powerful, rich Roman," archaeologist David Roberts tells the Guardian. Irwin and his wife, who recently moved to the property with their children, had decided to add lights to their barn so they could play table tennis at night. Though electricians suggested overhead lines, the couple opted to bury them, and workers hit a hard layer about 18 inches down. It proved to be pieces of mosaic. Irwin, who designs "luxury rugs for the Roman aristocrats of today," says he knew right away it was a significant find. "Fortunately," he recalls, "we were able to stop the workmen just before they began to wield pickaxes." Irwin contacted Historic England, and archaeologists rushed to the property to begin an excavation. Calling the site "hugely valuable," Roberts tells the Guardian the discovery "is unparalleled in recent years and it gives us a perfect opportunity to understand Roman and post-Roman Britain." It's not just the size of the building, believed to be three stories, that indicates it was the home of an important Roman: It's the stuff scientists have found along with the house—discarded oyster shells, for instance, which would have been imported from the coast. "High-status pottery," coins, and the mosaic flooring itself all point to wealth. Also discovered was a child-sized coffin made of stone. (Remains unearthed in Germany point to a massive Bronze Age battle.)


For years, cognitive scientist Lars Chittka felt a bit eclipsed by his colleagues at Queen Mary University of London. Their studies of apes, crows, and parrots were constantly revealing how smart these animals were. He worked on bees, and at the time, almost everyone assumed that the insects acted on instinct, not intelligence. "So there was a challenge for me: Could we get our small-brained bees to solve tasks that would impress a bird cognition researcher?" he recalls. Now, it seems he has succeeded at last.

 Chittka’s team has shown that bumble bees can not only learn to pull a string to retrieve a reward, but they can also learn this trick from other bees, even though they have no experience with such a task in nature. The study “successfully challenges the notion that 'big brains' are necessary" for new skills to spread, says Christian Rutz, an evolutionary ecologist who studies bird cognition at the University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom.

 Many researchers have used string pulling to assess the smarts of animals, particularly birds and apes. So Chittka and his colleagues set up a low clear plastic table barely tall enough to lay three flat artificial blue flowers underneath. Each flower contained a well of sugar water in the center and had a string attached that extended beyond the table's boundaries. The only way the bumble bee could get the sugar water was to pull the flower out from under the table by tugging on the string.

 Video of Hints of tool use, culture seen in bumblebees

 The team put 110 bumble bees, one at a time, next to the table to see what they would do. Some tugged at the strings and gave up, but two actually kept at it until they retrieved the sugar water. In another series of experiments, the researchers trained the bees by first placing the flower next to the bee and then moving it ever farther under the table. More than half of the 40 bees tested learned what to do, Chittka and his colleagues report this week in PLOS Biology .

 Next, the researchers placed untrained bees behind a clear plastic wall so they could see the other bees retrieving the sugar water. More than 60% of the insects that watched knew to pull the string when it was their turn. In another experiment, scientists put bees that knew how to pull the string back into their colony and a majority of the colony's workers picked up string pulling by watching one trained bee do it when it left the colony in search of food. The bees usually learned this trick after watching the trained bee five times, and sometimes even after one observation. Even after the trained bee died, string pulling continued to spread among the colony’s younger workers.

 But pulling a string does not quite qualify as tool use, because it would have to be an independent object that wasn’t attached to the flower in the first place. And other invertebrates have shown they can use tools: Digger wasps pick up small stones and use them to pack down their burrow entrances, for example. But that two bees figured out how to pull the string with no help and further, that other bees could pick up on that ability was “most impressive,” says Ivo Jacobs, a cognitive zoologist at Lund University in Sweden who was not involved with the work. “The fact that bumble bees could learn to do so shows their unexpected behavioral flexibility.”

 The findings could also hint at a rudimentary form of culture in bees, Jacobs says. With their ability to learn where others are, find out what they are doing, and experimenting on their own, the insects demonstrated that they can pass on knowledge—a key requirement of culture, normally considered to be a more complex phenomena, he explains. “It's interesting to see that the bees have this capacity."

 Rutz is impressed, too, because the work involved almost 300 bees and clearly documented how string pulling spread from bee to bee in multiple colonies. Cognitive studies of vertebrates like birds and monkeys typically involve about an order of magnitude fewer individuals, he notes.

 With additional experiments, Chittka hopes to figure out the neural basis of these “smarts” in the bumble bees. He cautions that the insects might not be all that intelligent, but that instead, “these results may mean that culturelike phenomena might actually be based on relatively simple mechanisms.” ||||| Conversely, after 48 h of extensive training (20 instances of string pulling), 11 of the 15 foragers solved the task without feedback from the moving blue flower ( S5 Video ). Latency to obtaining the reward (147 ± 23.44 s) was much higher than for normal blue flower training (22.1 ± 1.5 s; t test: t25 = 6.25, p < 0.0001). The subjects’ success differs significantly from their performance when they were relatively inexperienced (McNemar Test, χ 2 1 = 7.111, p = 0.008), thus indicating that the majority of highly experienced individuals may no longer require visual feedback to perform the necessary sequence of motor actions. In fact, experienced bees may not need the blue flower at all and perhaps have associated the string with the reward.

 The success of bees learning such a behavior raises the question about the mechanisms by which the demonstrators learned to pull the string. One possibility is that demonstrators are stimulated to repeat the specific sequence of actions (moving the string with their legs) that induces the conditioned stimulus (i.e., the blue flower positioned under the table) to move a little closer. If so, we would expect bees not to move the string with their legs and fail at the task if the colored target stimulus is not present. To test this prediction, we challenged bees (Colony 2) to access the reward when a string was attached to only a colorless inverted Eppendorf cap containing sucrose solution (Materials and Methods) immediately after their initial stepwise training and then again after extensive experience with blue flowers and strings. Without a colored stimulus, only 2 of 15 bees tested obtained the reward after their initial training. We thus hypothesized that relatively inexperienced bees rely on visual feedback of the colored target moving closer while the string is being pulled. To explore this further, we examined the video material for the unsuccessful bees to see if they would attempt to pull the strings and then abort this action when visual feedback was not forthcoming. However, none of the unsuccessful bees demonstrated even an aborted pulling action on the colorless flower’s string. This suggests that most relatively inexperienced bees require the presence of the blue flower to even begin attempting to string pull. (However, there is also evidence for the importance of visual feedback during pulling from an experiment with coiled strings; see section The Mechanisms of Observational Learning in String Pulling.)

 In comparison, we were able to train 23 of 40 individuals (Colony 1) through a stepwise training procedure to successfully pull a string to obtain reward ( Fig 1B horizontal black bar in column 4, S1 – S4 Videos). The stepwise training consisted of four steps of incremental difficulty within which flowers with strings were placed at progressively more distant positions under the transparent table (Steps 1–4, Fig 1A and 1B ). On average, successful training for an individual bee took 309 ± 18 min. Gaining access to the reward in the final step required grasping the string with the forelegs and/or mandibles and pulling it closer ( S4 Video ). The mean time required (latency) to obtain sucrose decreased significantly as a function of experience within each of the four successive training phases (Friedman test, Step 1: χ 2 4 = 59.1, p = <0.001; Step 2: χ 2 4 = 53.1, p = <0.001; Step 3: χ 2 4 = 52.1, p = <0.001; Step 4: χ 2 10 = 92.3, p < 0.001; Fig 1C and 1D ). Eight, three, one, and five individuals gave up at Steps 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively, either because they ceased foraging activity or had irregular foraging activity (n = 11), or because they failed to obtain the reward (n = 6). Three of these successfully trained bees were later used as demonstrators in the social learning experiment.

 (A) Arena set up for the observation of string pulling. (B) The various testing procedures. Tests 1 and 2 were identical and consisted of giving 5 min to individual bees to solve the string pulling task. After having been trained to forage from blue artificial flowers, bees were tested a first time (Test 1). Then, demonstrators were trained (see Fig 1 ) and used to display string pulling (two instances, straight strings) during each of five foraging bouts to individual observers (n = 52) placed in a transparent Plexiglas cage. After the observation phase, 25 observers were tested again with the straight-string task (Test 2) and 27 with the coiled-string task. Fifteen different bees observed the flower moving without visible actor so that a forager could then obtain the sucrose solution (“Ghost control”) and, where tested, with the straight-string task subsequently. Untrained bees (n = 25) were also tested a second time with string pulling. (C) Percentage of successful untrained, social, and nonsocial observer bees in Tests 1 and 2. Asterisk: Fisher’s exact test, p ≤ 0.0001. Double S: McNemar test, χ 2 1 = 13.067, p < 0.001. (D) Mean ± s.e. (s) latency in accessing the reward in untrained and observer bees. Observers’ latency was not different from that of the two “innovators” (Mann–Whitney U test, U 15 = 6, p = 0.205), (see S1 Data ).

 (A) Stepwise string pulling training protocol. Successive steps: Step 0, pretraining on blue artificial flowers (note that all bees were trained on this step); Step 1, 50% of the flower covered by the transparent table; Step 2, 75% of the flower covered; Steps 3 and 4, 100% of the flower covered. The flower was positioned at the edge in Step 3 and 2 cm under the table in Step 4. (B) Percentage of successful bees in Steps 1 to 4 (n = 40, 32, 29, and 28, respectively). Black horizontal lines within bars indicate the percentage of bees of the original 40. (C) and (D), mean ± standard error (s.e.) (line and shaded area, s) latency to obtain the reward in Steps 1–3 and 4. (C) Mean latency for the five foraging bouts of Steps 1–3. Data points, from left to right, in (D) indicate the latency to reward in Step 4 for the bout with first occurrence of string pulling and the ten foraging bouts that followed. Bees needed 6.17 ± 1.2 foraging bouts before displaying string pulling in Step 4 (see S1 Data ).

 To test bees’ capacity to learn the technique of string pulling, we first challenged untrained individuals with a stepwise training procedure (Materials and Methods; S1 – S4 Videos). We presented individual bees with three blue artificial flowers with a string attached to each flower and placed under a small transparent Plexiglas table (Materials and Methods). After learning to associate the reward with artificial flowers in a flight arena (Step 0, Fig 1A ), but prior to string pulling training, none of the bees from the eight colonies in which individuals were tested singly (n = 291) could solve the string pulling task on their first 5-min attempt (Test 1, Fig 2B ). Naïve to the string task but attracted to the artificial flowers, these bees tried to reach the reward from the top of the table through the Plexiglas.

 We gave 50 individuals (Colony 1) the opportunity to solve the string pulling task spontaneously after having learnt that blue flowers are rewarding when they were openly accessible during pretraining (for a 5-min observation period). None of these individuals solved the task. When given a second 5-min opportunity, two of 25 untrained bees succeeded in obtaining the reward ( S6 Video ). However, they were more than ten times slower at obtaining the reward than experienced string pullers (22.1 ± 1.5 s, mean ± standard error [s.e.], Mann–Whitney U test, U 23 < 0.001, p = 0.024), requiring a relatively long latency of 245 ± 3.53 s. These two bees were exceptionally explorative, trying a wide variety of methods, and solved the task in several attempts by moving the string accidently while trying to reach the flower under the table (see S6 Video and legend for more information). This shows clearly that string pulling can be learned individually by some bumblebees, but this may be an exceptionally rare ability. Across experiments (see below), 291 naïve individuals were tested once, and a total 110 were tested twice, but no further “innovators” were found. In one experiment (the transmission chain experiment below, in which control colonies were not seeded with a skilled demonstrator), bees were given extensive opportunities. After 5 d of foraging, with a maximum number of 18 foraging bouts per individual, no single bee learned to pull the string. Of the 165 bees tested in this experiment in total, nine individuals were tested more than 10 times, and 26 more than 5 times, but all were invariably unsuccessful. Thus, solving a string pulling task spontaneously is a relatively rare occurrence in bumblebees and might either reflect an unusually explorative “personality” in these individuals or simple “luck” in the process of random exploration.

 Finally, because smaller bees might be able to reach further under the table than larger bees, we examined whether body size influenced success in solving the task (Colony 1). Thorax width (as a proxy for body size) was not different between demonstrators (n = 40), observers (n = 25), and untrained bees (n = 25) (ANOVA, F 69 = 0.728, p = 0.486). Thorax width affected neither demonstrators’ (Student’s t test, t 26 = 0.659, p = 0.516) nor observers’ success rate (Mann–Whitney U test, U 23 = 79, p = 0.846). Similarly, the latency to obtain the reward was not affected by thorax width of demonstrators (Pearson correlation, r 23 = -0.086, p = 0.696) or observers (Pearson correlation, r 15 = 0.375, p = 0.169).

 We also wished to disentangle the effects of demonstrator copying and object movement copying in how string pulling was learnt by observation. To this end, we used an experimental “ghost control” ([ 40 ], S8 Video ). We trained 15 nonsocial observers (Colony 3) in exactly the same manner as above with the modification that the flowers were moved without a visible actor: an experimenter pulled the flowers with thin nylon threads attached to the strings while the observers were locked inside the observation chamber (Materials and Methods). Once the string had been pulled, an untrained forager was released into the arena to feed from the now accessible flower. Without direct demonstration of string pulling by a bumblebee forager, none of the observers managed to solve the string pulling task. Nonsocial observers mostly tried to obtain the reward from the top of the table, indicating that the bees need to observe string pulling actions demonstrated by conspecifics to learn the technique. However, because no video material is available to show that observer bees directed their gaze towards the moving flower, it is also possible that in the absence of a conspecific demonstrator, observers simply failed to attend to the movement of the flower.

 We explored whether uninformed bees (Colony 1) could learn this novel foraging technique via observation. After pretraining on blue flowers and Test 1 (Materials and Methods), an uninformed observer bee was placed in a transparent chamber ( Fig 2A ) where it could observe a demonstrator solve the string pulling task ten times. These observers (n = 25) were subsequently tested on the string pulling task alone (Test 2, Fig 2B ). In this experiment, observers never interacted directly with demonstrators in the flight arena and had access only to visual social information ( S7 Video ). Sixty percent of the individuals (15 of 25) that had the opportunity to observe a skilled demonstrator managed to pull the string and obtained the reward on the first trial after having observed the demonstration (Test 2, Fig 2C , S6 Video ). These bees, however, were initially almost as slow as the two individuals that solved the tasks without demonstration (181 ± 19 s; Fig 2D ). We speculate that the observers picked up the correct location to access the reward from observing skilled demonstrators but did not learn from them the actual technique of string pulling (further explored in the section beneath about the mechanisms of social learning).

 Finally, trial-and-error learning was also evident in the learning process. Because individuals might only learn where to obtain the reward and then learn the string pulling by trial-and-error, observer bees (n = 27, Colony 5) were tested with a coiled-string paradigm where trial-and-error learning of actions causing the rewarding object moving closer is ineffective. After a standard demonstration of string pulling (Materials and Methods), a 14 cm string was attached to the flower and coiled under the table so that initial tugs on the string would provide no visual feedback of the flower moving closer to the bee. Such coiled-string tests have in the past been used to test whether animals can solve a string pulling puzzle by means-end comprehension, without the perceptual feedback of the reward coming closer [ 44 , 45 ]. Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) [ 47 ] and wolves (Canis lupus) [ 48 ] have indeed been shown to solve the task even if the string is coiled. However, none of these observer bees were able to solve this task (n = 27, Fig 2B , S10 Video ), indicating that observers did not glean information about the string pulling technique itself by observing a demonstrator but instead were merely guided to the demonstrator’s previous location (by local enhancement) and the position of the string (stimulus enhancement). The actual act of string pulling relied on individual trial-and-error learning, which in turn necessitates the sensory feedback of tugging on the string, resulting in the target moving closer. We also tested eight experienced individuals (with an experience of more than 20 instances of string pulling) with the coiled-string test; three of these bees succeeded in pulling the coiled string to obtain the reward ( S11 Video ), indicating that highly experienced individuals do not necessarily require the feedback from seeing the flower move closer while they pull the string. In summary, these results suggest that observational learning of the string pulling task does not involve the “understanding” of the task (“insight”) but the combined use of several simple associative mechanisms and trial-and-error learning.

 (A) Regions of interest used for the video analysis of bee behaviors (not true to scale): the original region (where the demonstrator pulled a string, solid dark grey), top region (on the table, solid light grey), the two regions where the string could be presented when it was at variance with the location during the observation phase in the stimulus enhancement tests (thin grey stripes on black) and the adjacent regions where no string was presented (thin black stripes on grey). When testing stimulus enhancement, bees were challenged with a string protruding on the opposite side of one of Plexiglas tables or at 90° compared to the location where it was seen during observational conditioning (dotted lines). Regions were all 16 cm 2 (adjacent areas: 8 x 2 cm; top region 4 x 4 cm). (B) Mean ± s.e. (s) time spent by unsuccessful observer (n = 10) and unsuccessful untrained bees in two of the four regions of interest in their first attempt to retrieve the reward (Test 1) the second attempt (Test 2). Light grey: top of table; dark grey: region where string protruded during observation. Asterisk: Friedman test, p < 0.01; letters and figures: post-hoc Tukey test. (C) Percentage of time spent by observer bees in the four regions of interest when the string was protruding in the region where bees had observed demonstrators (left bar, unsuccessful observers, n = 10) or the region of the table where the string protruded when it was incongruent with that seen from the observation chamber (right bar, bees tested for stimulus enhancement, n = 14). The shades in the various regions of the stacked bars correspond to the shades in Fig 3A (see S1 Data ).

 To examine the local and stimulus enhancement possibilities, we analyzed the video footage to determine the time bees spent in four different regions of the arena (see Fig 3A , Materials and Methods). In Test 2, unsuccessful observers (n = 10, Colony 1) spent more time in the region where the demonstrator was observed (Friedman test, χ 2 3 = 14.160, p = 0.003, Fig 3B ), and untrained bees (n = 23, Colony 1) spent more time on top of the table closest to the flower (Friedman test, χ 2 3 = 35.162, p < 0.001, Fig 3B ) than in Test 1, indicating that local enhancement played a part in learning. None of the bees managed to obtain the reward when the string protruded in an area incongruent with that seen during demonstration. However, the string itself also played a role. If the string protruded from a different side of the table compared to the location during the observation period, observer bees (Test 2, n = 14, Colony 4; S9 Video ) spent more time exploring the region with the string than the region where the demonstrator had been observed (Mann–Whitney U test, U 22 = 105, p = 0.038, Fig 3C ), indicating that observers had noticed the string during the observation period and were thus attracted to it. In theory, however, these longer dwelling times in the string region might be explained by bees randomly exploring the edges of the table and simply stopping at a region that contains any protruding object. To explore this possibility, we also evaluated bees’ first approach flights after being released from the observation chamber before they had a chance of interacting with the string. If the string was in the same location as during observation, 92% of observers flew straight to the side of the string. When the location of the string was incongruent with demonstrator location, only 28.5% of observers first visited the region where the demonstrator had been observed (where chance expectation is 25%). The choice frequencies for the four sides of the table are significantly different depending on whether the string was in the correct location (Chi-square of fit, χ 2 4 = 206.857, p < 0.0001), indicating that bees were able to see the string from the observation chamber and responded differently when it was presented in an unexpected location. However, there was no appreciable attraction to the string when its location was at variance with that seen from the observation chamber (28.5%). Taken together, these results indicate a strong role for local enhancement (bees were attracted to the location where they had observed a demonstrator) and a subordinate role for stimulus enhancement (bees were attracted to the string when its location was concordant with that during prior observation) [ 25 , 46 ].

 What mechanisms were the observers using to copy the behavior? To answer this question, we explored several associative mechanisms: local enhancement [ 30 , 41 , 42 ], whereby observers are attracted to the location of their conspecific; stimulus enhancement [ 30 , 43 ], an attraction to the item handled by the demonstrator; and perceptual feedback [ 44 , 45 ], a form of trial-and-error learning in which action causing movement of the rewarding object towards the animal produces positive feedback for continuing that action. We found that all three associative mechanisms were involved in the learning of the string pulling process.

 The Spread of String Pulling in a Transmission Chain Experiment

 Can the combination of multiple simple social learning mechanisms mediate the establishment of a culture-like phenomenon (e.g. group-specific behaviors, such as foraging techniques, that are transmitted via social learning and retained in the group over long periods)? We tracked the diffusion of an experimentally introduced string pulling behavior among foragers of test colonies (Colonies 6, 7, 8) to explore the speed of diffusion and also the retention of the technique in the group beyond the demonstration provided by the first knowledgeable individual. To seed the technique, we trained a single demonstrator per colony to pull the string. Subsequently, we allowed pairs of bees to engage with the string pulling task and tracked the diffusion of the technique among the foraging population (Materials and Methods, Fig 4). Pairs of bees were tested in the order in which they arrived in the corridor connecting the hive to the arena; pairs could be any combination of bees regardless of whether they were naïve, the seeded demonstrator, or a successful learner (S12 Video). As a control, foragers of three separate colonies were tested in the same manner without a seeded demonstrator (Colonies 9, 10, 11).

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 larger image TIFF original image Download: Fig 4. Cultural diffusion paradigm. Bees were group-trained to feed from blue flowers in the foraging arena. Three bees were trained to pull a string to obtain an artificial flower from under a table where they would get reward (sucrose solution; see Fig 1A). These three demonstrators were placed in colonies 6, 7, and 8 (one each; seeded colonies), and bees that came out of the colony were paired up in order of exit from the hive to forage within the arena and tested with the string pulling task. Each bout was capped at 5 min, and we recorded 150 foraging bouts (150 bee pairs). In colonies 9, 10, and 11 (control colonies), no trained demonstrator was present. 150 foraging bouts were recorded (150 bee pairs) (see S2 Data). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002564.g004

 After only 150 paired foraging bouts, a large proportion of each of the test colonies’ forager population (Colony 6: n = 25/47, Colony 7: n = 17/29, Colony 8: n = 12/28) learnt to string pull, whereas none of the control colony foragers (Colony 9, 10, 11: n = 51, 58, 57) learnt to pull the string (Fig 5, Materials and Methods, S13–S18 Videos). We conducted additional foraging bouts in two of the tested colonies and found that the technique continued to spread among the foragers for as long as we allowed the spread to progress (Colony 6: 34/47, Colony 8: 18/28, Fig 5, S13 and S15 Videos).

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 larger image TIFF original image Download: Fig 5. Diffusion of string pulling in bumblebee colonies. (A–F) Nodes represent individual bees. Lines indicate that two bees interacted at least once. Thickness of lines represent total number of interactions between two individuals—one interaction equals one point line thickness and each interaction increases the line thickness by one point. See top insert for indication of line thickness and number of interactions. Size of nodes indicates number of interactions of that individual bee with any other bee—each interaction increases the size of a node by 15% of the original size (3% of the plot width). See middle insert for indication of node size and interactions. Color represents experience (learning “generation”) of that bee: prior to any experience, nodes are grey. After a bee interacts for the first time in the foraging arena, its node turns white. The “seeded” demonstrator (D1), pretrained to pull a string, is marked yellow and at the twelve o’clock position. Once a bee learns to string pull, its node turns from white to another color: orange for a first-order learner (D2, interacting with the seeded demonstrator and lower-order bees); pink for a second-order learner (D3, interacting with first-order and lower-order bees); blue for a third-order learner (D4, interacting with second-order and lower-order bees). See bottom insert for indication of node color and learning generation. Networks for the experiments (A–C) only show interactions within bouts where at least one bee pulled the string at least once. (A) Network for test colony 6 (bout n = 189). (B) Network for test colony 7 (bout n = 114). (C) Network for test colony 8 (bout n = 249). (D) Network for control colony 9 (bout n = 149). (E) Network for control colony 10 (bout n = 150). (F) Network for control colony 11 (bout n = 150) (see S2 Data). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002564.g005

 We quantified the behavioral changes in learner bees over the time of the diffusion experiments. We first screened 81 of the total 419 available videos (~20%) of the paired bouts between demonstrators and learners and inventoried the repertoire of behavioral interactions. We listed 11 types of interactions (Table 1), the frequency of which changed with increasing experience of the learners (Fig 6). Behaviors went through a series of steps with increasing competence, which typically followed the following sequence. During an observer bee’s first few bouts, she would spend most of her time flying around the arena, occasionally landing on top of the table (NI, No Interaction) and spend little or no time near the table, strings, or the other bee. She would gradually start to land beside a bee who had already pulled a string for reward, thereby gaining reward without pulling a string (Sc, scrounging). The observer thus learns to associate the other bee with reward and typically begins following her around the table, keeping in close contact as they both walk (Fo, following). After one or more occurrences of scrounging, the observer bee would begin to reach under the table, sometimes extending her proboscis towards the flower, seemingly in an attempt to gain access to the flower without manipulating the string. While moving around the edge of the table and trying to reach under it, the observer bee might accidentally move a string, but make no subsequent effort to continue moving it (AMS, Accidentally Moving String). Often the observer bee would then position herself next to the bee already pulling a string. She would be in direct contact with the string pulling bee throughout the pull, usually not touching the string (A, Attending), although in some instances ineffectively manipulating the string (STA, String Touching while Attending), and ultimately gaining reward through the other bee’s efforts. Eventually, while in direct contact with a more knowledgeable bee, the observer bee would pull the string, but not enough to move the flower close enough to the edge of the table, extract it, and obtain the reward (PA, Pulling Action with demonstrator). In this phase, she would still rely on the efforts by the more experienced bee to obtain the reward (RP, Rewarded Pull). After more experience, the observer bee would attempt to pull the string on her own without interacting with the other bee, for example, while the demonstrator was flying around the arena. On the first few attempts to string pull on their own, the observer bees did not move the flower enough to be able to obtain the reward (PAa, Pulling Action alone). Finally, after few unrewarded attempts, and typically when paired with a less knowledgeable bee, the observer bee would learn to pull the string on her own to the point of extracting the flower from underneath the table and gaining reward (RPa, Rewarded Pulling alone) and become a trained observer.

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 larger image TIFF original image Download: Fig 6. Change in learners’ behavioral interactions. Stacked bars represent the proportion of interactions observed as a function of experience (number of paired foraging bouts). Colors indicate behavioral interactions (abbreviations, see Table 1). We evaluated the behavior of 15 randomly selected individuals (5 from each test colony that had been seeded with a trained demonstrator) for these interactions, scrutinizing 174 5-min videos totaling 14.5 h of footage (see S2 Data). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002564.g006

 These changes in behavior are reflected in the relative frequencies of behavior classes as a function of experience (Fig 6). Whilst nonsocial interactions such as NI and Sc represented more than 55% of the interactions at the onset of the diffusion experiment, they decreased rapidly to 0% over time (Fig 6). In comparison, the percentage of pulling actions displayed by the learners continuously increased with experience from 15% of the interactions at the onset to 60% after 11 bouts. Overall, no major change was observed for the other behavior classes. These results show that learners progressively changed their foraging behaviors from scroungers to competent string pullers.

 In test colonies, on average 2 ± 0.06 string pulls were performed per foraging bout and 20 ± 3.9 pulls were displayed per individual over the whole diffusion experiment. Bees needed to be shown 5 ± 0.45 instances of string pulling by an experienced demonstrator before being able to pull the string themselves without demonstration and subsequently demonstrate the technique. Notably, 15 of 104 foragers (Colony 6, 7, 8: n = 10, 3, 2, respectively) picked up the technique very rapidly after only one or two observations. There was a significant variation between tested colonies in the average number of string pulls displayed per bee (Colony 6, 7, 8: n = 13 ± 4.7, 15.4 ± 9.2, 34.5 ± 7.6, respectively; Kruskal–Wallis test, H 2 = 8.790, p = 0.012) and the number of observations necessary for a bee to learn the technique (Colony 6, 7, 8: n = 4.1 ± 0.4, 7.6 ± 1.1, 5.9 ± 0.9, respectively; Kruskal–Wallis test, H 2 = 17.179, p ≤ 0.001). In addition, some bees did not manage to acquire the technique despite having been shown the same number of string pulling by other bees (5.6 ± 0.7; Mann–Whitney test, U 93 = 1075.5, p = 0.261). These results suggest colony and individual variation in social learning ability.

 To determine whether experience of the second bee influenced the observer bee’s choice of string to pull, we analyzed the pulling behavior of 25 randomly selected observer bees over the complete sequence of their foraging career during the diffusion experiment (282 paired foraging bouts). We found that observer bees more often pulled the same string as the other bee when paired with a more experienced observer bee or the seeded demonstrator (42 RP instances) than when paired with a less experienced bee (9 RP instances). In contrast, observer bees more often pulled a string alone when paired with a less experienced bee (72 RPa instances) than when paired with a more experienced observer bee or a seeded demonstrator (27 RPa instances).

 To test whether bees might cooperate during string pulling, we needed to compare whether experienced bees performed more efficiently when paired with another experienced individual than when foraging alone. Because the diffusion experiment contained only trials with dyads of foragers, the only way to make a direct comparison was to use trials in which an experienced demonstrator was paired with a fully naïve individual that had not shown any pulling action (PA, PAa, RP, or RPa) and thus did not interact or interfere with the skilled forager, who pulled the string singly. Such pairings were compared with instances where both bees were experienced (had already displayed a pulling action). We hypothesized that if cooperation was occurring, strings would be pulled faster and reward obtained quicker in such dyads. However, when paired with an experienced bee, demonstrators (n = 16 randomly chosen individuals) took 2.5 times longer to pull the string and obtain the reward (39.9 ± 9 s) than when the same individual demonstrators were paired with an experienced observer who did not interact or interfere with them (15.6 ± 2.1 s; Wilcoxon test, Z 30 = 3.409, p < 0.001). These results suggest that bees do not cooperate to pull the string but in fact hinder each other’s efforts to some degree.

 Of particular interest for culture-like phenomena is the question of whether a socially learnt behavior routine persists in the population for longer than the original knowledgeable individual can serve as a demonstrator, so that former observers can themselves become demonstrators. If this is the case, then group-specific behavior routines can at least potentially be retained over biological generations. Our network analysis indeed indicates that the technique spread across sequential sets of learners, whereby some bees that learnt the technique never interacted with the seeded demonstrator. In fact, despite the death of the seeded demonstrator in one of the test colonies (Colony 6) after 58 paired foraging bouts, the technique continued to spread among foragers. Moreover we found that there were up to four sequential learning “generations” (as opposed to true biological generations) in two of the three colonies (Fig 5). Learners had string pulling demonstrated to them by up to eight different demonstrators (2.1 ± 0.13), and each demonstrator displayed the technique to 5.3 ± 0.93 learners. Overall, seeded demonstrators displayed eight times more string pulling (119.7 ± 26.5) than the other foragers (14.6 ± 3) (Mann–Whitney, U 68 = 4, p = 0.004) and demonstrated the technique to five times more foragers (19 ± 2.8) than the other foragers (4.2 ± 0.7) (Mann–Whitney, U 36 = 2, p = 0.006). This preponderance of the pretrained demonstrators could be a result of higher motivation simply because they obtained reward with every bout, whereas untrained bees often (in the beginning of the experiment) were unrewarded (i.e., unsuccessful until they were paired with a demonstrator or until they learned to pull the string themselves).

 To test whether string pulling was diffused socially, we performed network-based diffusion analysis (NBDA). We used the time-based approach described by Hoppitt et al [49]. The Aikake Information Criterion (AIC) was used to determine if string pulling was diffused socially by comparing a social and a nonsocial model for each of the diffusion experiments. We found that for all three experiments, social transmission was more likely than asocial transmission (Table 2).

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 larger image TIFF original image Download: Table 2. Results of network-based diffusion analysis (NBDA). The difference between the fit of the nonsocial model and the fit for the social model is denoted by the change in AIC (ΔAIC). Therefore, positive values indicate a better fit for the social model (p values indicate significance). The social transmission estimate reflects the degree to which social interactions between bees influence the diffusion of string pulling. Positive social transmission estimates that do not cross zero (intervals) indicate significant influence of social interactions. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002564.t002

 We also analyzed the structure of the social networks using exponential-family random graph modeling [50] and found that for all diffusion experiments as well as the control experiments without a demonstrator bee, the structure of the networks was significantly different from random (see Table 3). This indicates that certain bees were more likely to forage together than other bees. Although this could be interpreted as certain individuals preferentially foraging together, given the open-diffusion paradigm and experimental design (in which bees could not freely distribute themselves in space but were forced through the “bottleneck” of the nest entrance tunnel to the foraging arena), this likely reflects temporal factors such differences in when bees began to forage each day, daily changes in foraging activity across bees, and how long each bee takes to return to foraging from the hive. ||||| Scientists taught bumblebees to pull a string to get a food reward, and then those bees spread the learned technique to others. The groundbreaking study is the first to show that insects have the ability to learn and pass on knowledge and skills. (Reuters)

 The bumblebee brain is puny, at least compared with the massive and fatty organ locked in your skull. At about 0.0002 percent the volume of yours, bee brains are close in size to the seeds stuck on a hamburger bun. Thinking about insect brains in terms of size alone, however, is a trap. The intelligence of sesame-brained bugs should not be underestimated.

 A study reported in the journal PLOS Biology on Tuesday, for instance, takes bee smarts in a surprising direction: Scientists from the Queen Mary University of London suggest that the “insects possess the essential cognitive elements for cultural transmission,” as they wrote in their new paper. It is possible to teach a single bee a new trick, in other words, and a different bee can learn that behavior from her peer.

 That ability is not the only ace found up the clever bee’s sleeves. A recent experiment published in the journal Science, for instance, suggested that bees have their own version of optimism, as The Washington Post reported at the end of September. (Unless they were just buzzed on sugar.) Bees are also capable of an intricate form of communication called a waggle dance, with which they signal the location of nearby food. Every 75 milliseconds a waggle lasts, roughly speaking, indicates to other honeybees that a nectar source is an additional 330 feet further from the colony.

 “Bees have some amazing cognitive abilities,” wrote Clint Perry, a behavioral ecologist at Queen Mary University and an author of the paper, in an email to The Washington Post. They can count, he pointed out, at least up to four.

 It has long been understood that some animals can teach their peers to perform new tasks. But the most famous examples involve stereotypically brainy critters, like primates or ravens: Japanese macaques show other monkeys how to wash sweet potatoes in streams. A certain group of chimps knows to fish for insects by prodding termite mounds with sticks, nibbled into brushes for maximum scoopage.

 [‘Like it’s been nuked’: Millions of bees dead after South Carolina sprays for Zika mosquitoes]

 In their paper, the researchers demonstrate for the first time that a new skill can pass from bee to bee. To that end, they had to teach bumblebees to do something strange, a task the insects would not know how to perform in nature. The scientists turned to a “coiled-string test,” similar to other tests used previously in animal cognition research.

 “We wanted to know whether bees, with a dynamic social structure and the ability to socially learn from each other, might have the basic capacities for cultural transmission of a novel behavior,” Perry said. “And this is what we showed.”

 During the test, a bee needed to extract a blue disc, hidden beneath a clear Plexiglas table, by tugging on a string attached to the puck. These bees had an incentive. The blue disc mimicked a flower, to which the scientists added a tasty drop of sugar water in its center.

 When left to their own devices, however, zero out of 50 bees could figure out how to pull the disc out from under the table. (Given a second chance, two out of 25 managed to figure it out, but they were sluggish tuggers.)

 [As bees vanish, bee heists multiply]

 So the scientists trained a batch of bees in several steps. First they familiarized the animals with the flower mimic, leaving it out in the open. The researchers then tucked the disc progressively further under the table, until the only way for the bee to reach the sugar water would be to yank on the disc’s string.

 The scientists successfully trained 23 of 40 bees. (It took about 5-and-a-quarter hours per bee.) Of the 23 pulling bees, three were selected as demonstrators. The scientists put an untrained bee in a separate cage, and let her watch the demonstrator. Out of these bees, 15 in 25 figured out how to pull on the string.

 [Morning Mix Bees from hive of 800,000 kill Arizona landscaper, injure others]

 Once trained bees were allowed to interact with their colonies, knowledge of the string-pulling behavior spread. In two colonies, the researchers recorded the pulling behavior at four degrees of social separation. In other words, bee D learned to pull the string from bee C, who learned from bee B, who learned from bee A.

 If that is the case, why don’t we see more honey bees dragging strings around the garden? It is not necessarily that insects lack the intelligence, or their undersized brains, wrote Perry’s colleague and co-author Sylvain Alem in an email to The Post. Instead, “the reason we don’t see string-pulling culture in wild bees and other insects is not lack of ability,” the scientist said, “but lack of opportunity and adequate challenges.”

 The takeaway, to hear the scientists tell it, is that “cultural transmission does not require the high cognitive sophistication specific to humans, nor is it a distinctive feature of humans.” Despite our flashcards and our SAT-prep books, we should not feel special in our ability to learn.

 [Bee hotels: One way to help native bees]

 This post has been updated. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Ever wondered how tiny a bumble bee's brain is? Imagine a sesame seed clinging to a burger bun, reports the Washington Post—in other words, it's about 0.0002% the volume of a human brain, as calculated by Science. But that doesn't mean you can't teach a bee a new trick, as behavioral ecologist Clint Perry tells the paper: "Bees have some amazing cognitive abilities," including counting up to at least four. And now he and colleagues from Queen Mary University of London are reporting in the journal Plos Biology that bees can not only learn an entirely new skill to get food but also pass on their knowledge, which is one of the basic aspects of culture. In their study, researchers placed blue discs with sugar water beneath a clear plastic table, just out of reach, but affixed a string to each one that, if tugged, would move it within reach. Out of 110 bumble bees individually introduced to the task, some tugged at the strings before eventually quitting, and only two sorted out how to pull on the string to get the sugar water. However, when bees got to watch the ones retrieving the sugar water, more than 60% of them were able to pull the string when it was their turn. One of the researchers tells Science that, as exciting as the findings are, the explanation isn't necessarily that bees are smart, but that "culturelike phenomena might actually be based on relatively simple mechanisms." (One type of bumblebee has nearly gone extinct in 20 years.)


News article:

Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| What were the 11 words? It was an irresistible mystery.

 When the federal government said it would finally release a declassified copy of the Pentagon Papers on Monday, 40 years after they were published by The New York Times, it initially said it would keep 11 words secret. Then it reversed itself, saying it would publish the 7,000-page report in its entirety. The intrigue sparked a guessing game among historians, security analysts and even the authors of the report: which 11 words in the once-secret government study of the Vietnam War were still deemed sensitive in the age of WikiLeaks?

 Daniel Ellsberg, the former RAND Corporation analyst who worked on the report and later provided it to The Times as part of an effort to stop the war, said in an interview that he was stumped. “Of course, I don’t know what they are,’’ he said.

 So was Leslie H. Gelb, the director of the task force that wrote the report. “I couldn’t begin to guess where those words came from,’’ he said, before hazarding a guess that they might come from the sections on peace negotiations, which were left out of the first versions of the report that were leaked.

 It sounded like a job for Twitter, if not for its large community of indiscreet intelligence analysts, then because 140 characters seemed just about right for 11 words. So The New York Times asked readers to post their guesses with the hashtag #pentagon11. Today, we are declassifying some of the highlights, compiled by my colleague here. Please keep ’em coming! Send a Twitter message using #pentagon11 or submit your guesses in the comments box below. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Decades after they were leaked, the Pentagon Papers are finally being released on Monday by the federal government—which originally said 11 words would remain censored. Officials have since changed their minds, and we may never know what 11 words they intended to keep quiet. Not even leaker Daniel Ellsburg or Leslie Gelb, whose task force wrote the report, have a clue. (Though Gelb guesses they might deal with peace negotiations.) The New York Times asked Twitter users to take a shot. A sampling, along with their Twitter handles: “Newspapers will be dead by the time we declassify this stuff.” (@Katz) “The President requires dry-cleaning for his silken undergarments once a week.” (@jendeaderick) “Justin Bieber was 'born' in Area 51; let mass testing begin.” (@Alphey) “The giant radioactive lizard is available for counterinsurgency purposes, McNamara said.” (@thesobsister) “Rosebud is the sled. Soylent Green is People. Kristin Shot JR.” (@FasterthanShaun) Visit the Twitter feed for more.


Summarize this article:

As graphic images (like the one above) of the suspected Mandalay Bay massacre gunman Stephen Paddock circulate across the internet, the question of who is leaking those crime scene photographs has become a point of concern for Las Vegas investigators.

 In a press conference last night, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Undersheriff Kevin McMahill noted:

 “There was a question about the validity of the crime scene photos that somebody had leaked. I can confirm those are, in fact, photos from inside of the room; they are in fact photos of our suspect, and as the sheriff mentioned previously, we have all opened up an internal investigation to determine the source of the leaks of those photos to the public.”

 As leaks from major investigations have become a fact of life for municipal police departments, LawNewz wondered what penalties those leakers might find themselves subject to. While a cursory foray into the niceties of the Nevada Revised Statutes turned up no particular state laws on point here, previous high-profile leaks made by those within or close to police departments may offer a bit of insight.

 In 2009, photographs of pop star Rihanna were leaked by (now former) Los Angeles Police Department (“LAPD”) officer Rebecca Reyes. Rihanna had recently been attacked during a domestic violence incident with then-boyfriend Chris Brown and the investigation was still underway as the photos made their way to the press, starting with TMZ. LAPD higher-ups then made it their business to find out who had taken and leaked the photos. After an administrative hearing and appeal, Reyes lost her job–while escaping criminal prosecution.

 In 2016, following the terrorist attack at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, crime scene photographs made their way to the front page of the New York Times. British investigators were furious and pinned the blame on U.S. law enforcement. President Donald Trump echoed that fury, calling for an official investigation. It’s unclear what that investigation determined–or if one even occurred. However, the fallout from those leaks was so great that British intelligence began withholding information from their U.S. partners for at least a brief period of time. And anyone on the receiving end of a U.S. government investigation into leaks would probably fare none too well. Just ask Chelsea Manning (or Reality Winner—or the 12 other people prosecuted by Barack Obama for leaking) about that.

 All this is to say that the leaker of the Paddock photographs–even if they’re not found guilty of an actual crime–likely won’t receive anything approaching leniency if and when their identity is discovered. And that could be sooner than later. Las Vegas Metro Police Department also has an internal affairs department which investigates situations like this, and an internal process for doling out any potential discipline including suspension and/or termination.

 At last night’s press conference, McMahill also pleaded with the press for “patience,” noting that no one wanted a speedier resolution than police and the victims’ families. He said, “We’re days away from the completion of the processing of the room [at Mandalay Bay].”

 For an FAQ promoted by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, see here.

 [image via screengrab]

 Follow Colin Kalmbacher on Twitter: @colinkalmbacher ||||| Images from inside Stephen Paddock’s Las Vegas hotel room reveal a jumble of high-powered weapons, dozens of scattered shell casings, a possible note, along with his corpse.

 The leaked photographs, some of them too graphic to publish, suggest Paddock killed himself with a shot to the head shortly before a police SWAT team stormed his room. Some believe the images may contain a possible note or letter,

 The leaked images, which were first published by MailOnline, provide a striking insight into the sheer number of weapons the 64-year-old had amassed in the days before he opened fire.

 EXCLUSIVE: these are 2 of 23 guns found in #LasVegas shooter’s hotel room at #MandalayBay - hammer, bipod, optics, ammo. 59 lives. Chilling. pic.twitter.com/gManlUIeZI — Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) October 3, 2017

 Police have said they recovered 23 guns from inside the hotel and believe Paddock used 10 suitcases to take them up to his room.

 They were taken inside room 32135 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel located on the Las Vegas Strip and leaked to the media. In addition to a number of high-powered weapons, they show shell casings and guns mounted on tripods.

 The images also show Paddock’s body, his legs dressed in dark trousers and slip-on shoes.

 Las Vegas sheriff says Paddock may have been 'radicalised'

 On a table close to his feet, there appears to be a roll of electrical tape, along with what may be a sheet of paper and a pen.

 At this stage, police have not mentioned recovering any sort of note. Indeed, they have admitted they are scrambling to identify a motive for his decision to open fire on a country music concert, attended by 22,000 people.

 Police said Paddock took his own life before a SWAT team stormed his room (CNN )

 They have said they hope that his girlfriend, Marilou Danley, who returned to the US on Wednesday from a visit to Asia, may be able to provide some insights.

 Officials met her when she arrived as Los Angles and whisked her out of a side door in a wheelchair. Images show her wearing a baseball cap.

 On Tuesday, Las Vegas Sheriff Joe Lombardo told reporters he hoped and expected she would provide information about Paddock that would be of of help to them.

 Las Vegas shooting – in pictures

 15 show all Las Vegas shooting – in pictures

 1/15 People scramble for shelter at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gun fire was heard Getty

 2/15 People carry a person at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after shots were fired David Becker/Getty

 3/15 People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gun fire was heard David Becker/Getty

 4/15 A handout photo released via Twitter by Eiki Hrafnsson (@EirikurH) showing concertgoers running away from the scene (C) after shots range out at the Route 91 Harvest festival on Las Vegas Boulevard EPA/Eiki Hrafnsson

 5/15 People lie on the ground at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after hearing gun fire Getty

 6/15 A man in a wheelchair is taken away from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after hearing gun fire David Becker/Getty

 7/15 People stand on the street outside the Mandalay Bay hotel near the scene of the Route 91 Harvest festival on Las Vegas Boulevard EPA/Paul Buck

 8/15 FBI agents confer in front of the Tropicana hotel-casino after a mass shooting during a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus

 9/15 Las Vegas police run by a banner on the fence at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival grounds after shots were fired David Becker/Getty

 10/15 An injured person is tended to in the intersection of Tropicana Ave. and Las Vegas Boulevard after a mass shooting at a country music festival Ethan Miller/Getty

 11/15 Metro Police officers pass by the front of the Tropicana hotel-casino after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus

 12/15 A woman sits on a curb at the scene of a shooting outside of a music festival along the Las Vegas Strip AP/John Locher

 13/15 A cowboy hat lays in the street after shots were fired near a country music festival in Las Vegas Getty

 14/15 Las Vegas Metro Police and medical workers stage in the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard South after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus

 15/15 Sheriff Joe Lombardo (2-R) speaking during a press briefing in the aftermath of the active shooter incident on Las Vegas Boulevard EPA

 “We anticipate some information from her shortly,” he said.

 Other photographs that were leaked to the media show Paddock’s 32nd floor room room from the outside, with its door broken and covered with police tape.

 In one of those external shots, that look into the room, a rifle can be seen on the floor of the hotel suite, with a crime scene tag next to it.

 The image also show that Paddock had mounted a camera inside the room, perhaps to film his actions or monitor police located at the venue.

 There was another camera in the the peep hole of the hotel door. “I anticipate he was looking for anyone coming to arrest him,” said Mr Lombardo. |||||

– Las Vegas police have confirmed the legitimacy of photos circulating the internet showing guns, ammunition, and the corpse of Stephen Paddock inside a Mandalay Bay hotel room, LawNewz reports. The next step is finding—and punishing—whoever leaked the gruesome crime scene photos. The New York Times has stitched together some of the non-graphic leaked photos to give a complete view of the inside of Paddock's hotel room and its contents, which included more than 20 guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition carried up to the room inside 10 suitcases. According to the Independent, some people online believe one of the photos shows a note left behind by Paddock, but that appears to not have been the case. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department undersheriff says the department has "opened up an internal investigation to determine the source of the leaks." While whoever leaked the crime scene photos would face consequences, it's unclear what those consequences would be. LawNewz notes a Los Angeles Police Department officer who leaked photos of Rihanna following a domestic violence incident in 2009 was fired from her job but didn't face criminal charges. Crime scene photos leaked from the terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert last year in England resulted in British intelligence cutting US intelligence off from certain information.