GILBOA - Scientists say it was like discovering the botanical equivalent of dinosaur footprints. They're talking about the floor of the world's oldest forest, discovered during repair of the Gilboa Dam.

It dates back roughly 385 million years.

Previously scientists thought the area was just a stagnant swamp with only one type of tree growing. Thanks to this discovery that's no longer the case.

“Now we know that there were at least three trees growing, other plants," paleontologist Linda Vanaller Hernick explained. "This area was near a coastal area and it was also disturbed by a lot of high and low water.”

That means an ocean wasn't far away from where countless homes and roads now stand. The discovery is being highlighted in Thursday's issue of the journal "Nature."

People can see some of the fossilized trees and other artifacts at the New York State Museum.

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (AP) - Being able to fly would be nice, so would invisibility. But given a chance to pick one superpower, more Americans say they would want to travel through time or read other people's minds.

Time travel and mind reading tied for first place in a Marist College poll released Tuesday. Both superpowers received 28 percent of the votes out of five choices. Flying came in third followed by the ability to teleport and invisibility.

Pollsters surveyed 1,020 people across the country Nov. 15 through Nov. 18. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.

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