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Turkish site a Neolithic 'supernova'

Fri, 02 May 2008 17:50:55 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: The archaeological discoveries in Gobeklitepe - Turkey, continues to stun the archaeology world. The site is dated to 9,500 BCE.

Clip Source: www.stonepages.com

Klaus Schmidt, a member of the German Archaeological Institute, has found in Turkey a temple complex almost twice as old as anything comparable. "This place is a supernova," said Mr. Schmidt. "Within a minute of first seeing it, I knew I had two choices: go away and tell nobody, or spend the rest of my life working here."

The stone circles of Gobekli Tepe are his workplace since 1994.

Dated at about 9500 BCE, these stones are 5,500 years older than the first cities of Mesopotamia and 7,000 years older than Stonehenge.

"Everybody used to think only complex, hierarchical civilizations could build such monumental sites and that they only came about with the invention of agriculture," said Ian Hodder, a Stanford University anthropology professor who has directed digs at Catalhoyuk,

"Gobekli changes everything. It's elaborate, it's complex, and it is pre-agricultural. That fact alone makes the site one of the most important archaeological finds in a very long time."

Tags: archaeology, prehistory, neolithic, turkey, klaus schmidt, science

Painting on Leaves

Fri, 02 May 2008 21:25:26 GMT

clipped by: Sheroug
clipper's remarks: Just beautiful!

Clip Source: www.crookedbrains.net

This is leaf art, a delicate work of art from India. This beautiful art originated in the southern India (Kerala). Its done on dry Peepal (Ficus religiosa) leaves.

So how do we create it?
If you are among those who can hold the brush & create some artistic stuff you are half way through.

Place a few leaves in a bowl full of water for a month or so. But do remember to check it once every few days to see the condition of the leaves. The purpose of soaking the leaves is to remove the outer layer of the leaves. After being in water for long, the leaves get a film over them, which you need to clean by washing it off or use a brush periodically. And do remember to change the water with a fresh one periodically. And one other thing patience is a virtue along with fragile handling here.
Once the outer skin is lost, it leaves behind a beautiful bony structure, usually off-white in color.

Now dry it for a day & you got a leaf to paint on.

'Androgynous' Pharaoh Had Feminine Physique

Fri, 02 May 2008 17:54:52 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Akhenaten wasn't the most manly pharaoh, even though he fathered at least a half-dozen children. In fact, his form was quite feminine. And he was a bit of an egghead.

So concludes a Yale University physician who analyzed images of Akhenaten for an annual conference Friday at the University of Maryland School of Medicine on the deaths of historic figures.

The female form was due to a genetic mutation that caused the pharaoh's body to convert more male hormones to female hormones than needed, Dr. Irwin Braverman believes. And Akhenaten's head was misshapen because of a condition in which skull bones fuse at an early age.

The pharaoh had "an androgynous appearance. He had a female physique with wide hips and breasts, but he was male and he was fertile and he had six daughters," Braverman said. "But nevertheless, he looked like he had a female physique."

Tags: archaeology, egyptology, ancient egypt, akhenaten, science

Why You Should Talk to People

Sat, 03 May 2008 12:26:18 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Be nice to me or I might not talk to you. Or worse, maybe I will talk to you...

Recently published research shows that individual humans will be nicer (more altruistic) when there is the possibility that the recipient of an act can respond verbally. The paper, "Anticipated verbal feedback induces altruistic behavior" is published in Evolution and Human Behavior for March.

Apparently, there is a tendency under different conditions to give either nothing or half of the money.

In any event, the key finding here is that under conditions where feedback was going to happen, the "dictator" (divider of the money) more often gave away half of the cash.

Tags: science, altruism, morality, language, ethics, game theory, psychology

American Views of Religious Groups and Atheists

Sat, 03 May 2008 11:30:31 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: I find it remarkable that atheists are viewed almost as badly upon as Scientologists.

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

American Views of Religious Groups and Atheists

Gallup has released a survey measuring Americans views on various religious groups

Tags: religion, atheism, scientology, survey, gallup, us, usa, stats, society

Dream Room Wants yr Mind To ...

Sat, 03 May 2008 15:25:11 GMT

clipped by: syncopath
clipper's remarks: that's what i always searched for: "transforms the walls of a room into a living canvas" .... -))

Clip Source: rawartint.wordpress.com

Dream Room Wants Your Mind To Wander And Dream

Concepts are always great, good looking, and inviting as designers can think what they want to, without the worries of all the mundane things involved. Same is the case with the Dream Room, a concept designed by Fuse Project for Dwell magazine. If the concept ever meets realism, it’s without doubt going to be a wallet-straining one and uber-rich geeks are going to love it for sure. The Dream Room transforms the walls of a room into a living canvas. Using LCD displays as digital wallpapers, images are changed on command or by random settings, allowing one’s mind to wander and dream. The concept explores the boundaries of space, technology, landscape and wallpaper. Now, who wouldn’t like to dream that way?

Clip Source: rawartint.files.wordpress.com

Tags: transformation, go, out, of, the "room"

How to Properly Paint a Flat

Fri, 02 May 2008 21:07:52 GMT

clipped by: Sheroug

Clip Source: www.crookedbrains.net

Here is a new & interesting way to paint an apartment. Using the cans of paints, making the paint fly & splash on the wall, the paint at times can be seen going a few floors high in air. So what do you think is the idea or concept behind it? Much information isn't available on this one, was it created for a movie scene, or a part of an advertisement or who were the people behind the concept or where or when was it created. But it looks really cool!

Sexy side of UV-B

Fri, 02 May 2008 15:56:58 GMT

clipped by: Aribeth

Clip Source: www.sciencenews.org

The first evidence of the dreaded ultraviolet-B wavelengths as a male come-on has turned up in a jumping spider from Asia.

Clip Source: www.sciencenews.org

Males of the small, iridescent jumping spider species Phintella vittata reflect ultraviolet wavelengths, mostly in the 290 to 320 nanometer range designated as B, says Daiqin Li of the National University of Singapore. UV-B is powerful stuff that increases risks of skin cancer and other ills in humans.

Yet females of this jumping spider prefer males with that UV-B charm, Li and his colleagues report in the May 6 Current Biology. The researchers set females in an arena where they could see two males posing and flirting. When a filter above one male screened out the UV-B, females spent barely half as much time watching him than his rival with full spectral glory.

Darrel Kemp

at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia

calls the results "the strongest evidence that UV-B might be used in sexual signaling, which is a significant step forward."

Is a zero-carbon city on the horizon?

Fri, 02 May 2008 12:27:22 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: As part of their Masdar Initiative (masdar meaning "the source" in Arabic), an effort to further the research and implementation of sustainable construction, the Abu Dhabi government will build this city on a nearby 2.3 square-mile site (six square kilometers), adjacent to its international airport at an estimated cost of $22 billion.
It projected the city will eventually be able to sustain 50,000 residents and more than 1,000 businesses.
It broke ground in construction of the city and hopes to complete the project by 2016.

Clip Source: science.howstuffworks.com

Looking to reduce your "carbon footprint?" You're not alone. These days, many people are thinking about the amount of energy they use and the harmful carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. But if you're like many people, your carbon consciousness may begin and end with your passing interest in purchasing a hybrid vehicle.

Not so for Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the fourth largest source of oil in the world. The city is raising the bar for environmental stewardship. Given the fact that it has the fourth largest carbon footprint in the world,

The city's environmental efforts have resulted in grand plans to build a nearby city that will be entirely carbon neutral and will produce no waste.

To attain this zero-carbon and zero-waste goal, it plans to use the cutting-edge technology of sustainable design, which strives to reduce harmful environmental impact as much as possible.

an artist's rendering of what Masdar will look like from an aerial view.

Tags: carbon footprint, ecology, pollution, abu dhabi

Elephants slaughtered for chopsticks

Sat, 03 May 2008 05:13:14 GMT

clipped by: CrazyRedHead

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Rangers in the Democratic Republic of Congo believe that rising demand for ivory in China is to blame for an unprecedented wave of elephant poaching in one of the country's war-torn national parks.

Fourteen elephants have been slaughtered in as many days as government soldiers and militias use ivory to raise money for guns.

The concerns came as South Africa lifted a 13-year moratorium on elephant culling, aimed at tackling a surge in population numbers, despite the protestations of animal rights activists.

23 tonnes of ivory seized on its way to the Far East between August 2005 and August 2006

$750 estimated price per kilogram of black-market ivory in China and Japan

7 kilograms of ivory are yielded by an average elephant’s tusks

500,000 estimated population of wild African elephants, down from 1.3 million in 1979

A report last year suggested that as many as 23,000 elephants were being

killed across the continent to meet soaring demand

Tags: animals, africa, nature

Pavements and Tiled Floors Made by Nature

Sat, 03 May 2008 06:08:14 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: irna.lautre.net

Endurance Crater, Mars

Eagle Crater, Mars

Tags: geology

Real-Life Iron Man: A Robotic Suit That Magnifies Human Strength

Thu, 01 May 2008 15:01:21 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

An exoskeleton robotic suit may help workers lift heavy loads and patients move damaged and prosthetic limbs

The prospect of slipping into a robotic exoskeleton that could enhance strength, keep the body active while recovering from an injury or even serve as a prosthetic limb has great appeal. Unlike the svelt body armor donned by Iron Man, however, most exoskeletons to date have looked more like clunky spare parts cobbled together.

Japan's CYBERDYNE, Inc. is hoping to change that with a sleek, white exoskeleton now in the works that it says can augment the body's own strength or do the work of ailing (or missing) limbs. The company is confident enough in its new technology to have started construction on a new lab expected to mass-produce up to 500 robotic power suits (think Star Wars storm trooper without the helmet) annually, beginning in October, according to Japan's Kyodo News Web site.

Tags: robotics, exoskeleton

From the Life of Nails

Fri, 02 May 2008 21:05:38 GMT

clipped by: Sheroug

Clip Source: www.crookedbrains.net

Given a few nails & asked to do something creative out of it, most wouldn't be able ot come up with anything. But a talented few with lots of creativity in them can really make work of art & display their talent & creativity with a few nails too. For creating these artistic works, it must have taken a few nails, a digital camera, & lots of creativity with interesting ideas. Here are a few photos that show a different perspective of nail - 'From The Life Of Nails'. No information is available as of now about the artist or the creator of this beautiful work. But the message of the artist is clear & simple which can be seen from these photos. Let the photos do the rest of talking.

Take in the sights

Sat, 03 May 2008 00:21:06 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: www.flickr.com

Tags: photography

Delusion, despair and loneliness

Fri, 02 May 2008 19:02:47 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.despair.com