News items, August 12:

Scientists have discovered new evidence for early life on earth in Archean rock in Australia. The presence of lipid steranes (forms of fatty acid) indicates that some form of cellular life was present on the earth 2.7 billion years ago, almost a billion years earlier than previous calculations.
--Nature.

The state of Kansas Board of Education has dropped the requirement to teach evolution in its school system. Teachers will no longer be required to give evolution equal time with "creationist" explanations of the development of life on earth.
--New York Times.