Via MSNBC: “US 285 south subject to sinkhole 1,000 feet ahead,” motorists are warned. But there is little other evidence that in southeastern New Mexico’s oil country, a giant cavern sits beneath the earth, ready to swallow part of the highway and possibly a church, several businesses and a trailer park…. (includes video).

Via Oxford University: Archaeologists excavating the former Radcliffe Infirmary site in Oxford have uncovered evidence of a prehistoric monumental landscape stretching across the gravel terrace between the Thames and Cherwell rivers… (includes video)

Via PhysOrgNews: In a study published this week in the journal PLoS ONE, a team of researchers, including Herman Pontzer, Ph.D., assistant professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, has found strong evidence that many dinosaur species were probably warm-blooded.

Via R&D: The scalding-hot sea that supposedly covered the early Earth may in fact never have existed, according to a new study by Stanford University researchers who analyzed isotope ratios in 3.4 billion-year-old ocean floor rocks. Their findings suggest that the early ocean was much more temperate and that, as a result, life likely diversified and spread across the globe much sooner in Earth’s history than has been generally theorized.

Via The Appalachian Online: Geology professor Roy C. Sidle has received approximately $80,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to conduct research evaluating the downstream impact of the coal fly ash spill in Kingston, Tenn.

From Cache Valley Daily: Utah State University is leading the way in a federally funded $4.6 million-dollar geothermal drilling project that will create dozens of jobs and student research opportunities, while simultaneously fueling energy development and deciphering the Snake River Plain’s volcanic history. A separate $300,000 project will advance carbon capture and storage technologies, while providing innovative student training opportunities….

From Discover: 1) The Earth is smoother than a billiard ball…

From Science Daily: Using portable 3D laser technology, scientists have electronically preserved a rare 110 million-year-old fossilized dinosaur footprint that was previously excavated and built into the wall of a bandstand at a Texas courthouse in the 1930s….