In Norway, Archaeologists have reopened a burial mound which is thought to contain the bodies of a Viking queen and princess interred there approximately 1,173 years ago.

Earlier studies conducted by Per Holock at the University of Oslo showed that the older woman might be the Viking Queen Aasa while the younger female could be her daughter. An alternate theory is that the younger woman was a slave tasked to accompany her queen.

The dig site was originally found in southeastern Norway's Vestfold County where the Oseberg Viking longboat (now being displayed in Oslo) was also discovered back in 1904. The bodies of both women, with ages estimated to be at 60 and 30, were also found with the boat and were eventually reburied in the mound last 1948.

When the grave site was reopened, the members of the team were shocked to find it filled with water. The project leader Vivian Wangen of the Museum of Cultural History commented about this saying, "we were surprised when we removed the lid of the sarcophagus that it was filled with water. We hope the casket and the remains are intact. We won't find out until tomorrow."

The University of Oslo in Norway has concluded through a study that first-born children tend to be smarter than their younger siblings in terms of IQ scores.

According to researcher Petter Kristensen who headed the study, records of 250,000 military draftees from 1985 to 2004 were examined, collated and processed and the results revealed that the IQ scores of first-borns were 2.3 points higher on average.

According to Frank Sulloway of the University of California, Berkeley, 2.3 points can be crucial. This means that chances of first-borns to have above-average IQ ratings are 1.3 percent higher than their brothers and sisters. A 2.3-point difference could also spell the outcome of entrance exams for top-tier universities in America.

The reason for first-born children having generally higher IQ's than their younger siblings is not in the genes, says Kristensen. Social factors actually play a bigger role in the development of a child's mind. The fact that parents tend to have spent more exclusive time with their eldest children could be one of the reasons. Another reason for better development could be because eldest children sometimes act as surrogate parents by helping rear the younger kids, thus raising their maturity level.

Kristensen, by the way, is the second in a family with five kids. He says the only person who believes him among his siblings is his older brother. All of his younger sisters completely disagree with his findings.

Here's one ratio that doesn't quite add up mathematically. If you cut down on smoking, you still do not cut down the harms associated with it.

This is the conclusion of a study conducted regarding the impact of cutting down smoking on deaths from heart disease, lung cancer and other tobacco-related cancers. The study took a 20-year follow up period, and had participants between 20 to 34 years old. Says Dr. Kjell Bjartveit, former director of the National Health Screening Service in Oslo, " The long-term effects of a substantial reduction in smoking did not show any benefits in comparison with persistent heavy smoking."

Therefore, don't get to thinking that just because you cut back from 15 sticks of cigarettes a day to only seven, you'd also be cutting down to half the risk of you dying of smoking-related causes.

So, follow the doctor's advice: "Smokers should quit -- you can't give your health a better present than to quit smoking."