Europeans Among First to America?

Recently the genome of a 24,000 year-old boy was dug up at Mal'ta near Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia. What makes this boy different from others is that his genes actually matched Western European genes and Native American genes, but not East Asian. What this means is that Europeans had traveled much farther east at that time period than what was previously known, and this mixed culture of people was among the first to either cross the land bridge into Alaska. Another study that backs this research up shows that 1 of the five mitochondrial DNA lineages is found in both Native Americans and Europeans.
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/21/science/two-surprises-in-dna-of-boy-found-buried-in-siberia.html?_r=0

Quantum Memory Storage

In the typical computer, bits of information are stored as a string of 1s and 0s. In a quantum system, "qubits" of information can be stored in a "superposition state" in which they can be 1s and 0s at the same time. What does this mean? It means that said qubits of information could perform multiple calculations all at once, speeding up everything tremendously. The main problem scientists have run into with quantum memory is that it does not hold its memory for very long at room temperature. Previously, the "world-record" had been about 25 seconds at room temperature and 3 minutes under cryogenic conditions. A new experiment however was able to keep it going for 39 minutes at room temperature, crushing the old record. There are many obstacles still to overcome in reaching the goal of being able to harness quantum memory storage, but this is definitely a great start.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24934786

Domestic Dog Origins in Europe?

Scientists have been vigorously testing the DNA of various species of both dogs and wolves in an attempt to uncover the exact location in which the dog evolved from the wolf. The most recent studies point to Europe, almost 18,000 years ago. This contradicts earlier studies which show that the modern dog branched off in either the Middle East or Asia about 15,000 years ago. The only problem with either of these studies is that paleontologists have found distinctly dog-looking fossils dating back to about 30,000 years ago. It is a difficult task finding the origin due to the fact that there are so many off-breeds of dogs, and many have interbred back with wolves once more. Further research will be done in hopes to uncover the true evolutionary branch of dogs and wolves.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24946944