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Benvenuti in queste pagine dedicate a scienza, storia ed arte. Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, Torino

Monday, December 10, 2012

Roman Dodecahedron of Kadath

The web site http://www.kadath.be/ is publishing the review Kadath. The site tells that it is based on the "projet KADATH". "Dans l’œuvre de H.P. Lovecraft, Kadath est la cité légendaire des Grands Anciens, symbole de l’origine des civilisations. Notre quête, appliquée aux réalités archéologiques, est de remonter à pareilles sources, en cherchant à déchiffrer l’empreinte que laissèrent les premiers civilisateurs, dieux et ancêtres présents dans tous les mythes et toutes les traditions."
the reader can find a paper from Kadath, written by Pierre Méreaux-Tanguy discussing the Roman Dodecahedron as an optical instrument. For other reference on the Roman Dodecaedron see the papers: Ancient and modern rangefinders at http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.2078 and http://arxiv.org/abs/1206.0946


Friday, October 26, 2012

Cooking ... the brain


"Brains demand exceptional amounts of energy," says Ed Yong at Discover Magazine — energy that raw food simply can't provide. That's where cooking comes in.
Writes Yong:
Our ancestors overcame this constraint when they learned how to cook. Cooked food offers more calories than raw food, and is easier to chew and digest. These early chefs could gain more energy from the same amount of eating time. That, in turn, fueled more neurons and larger brains.

Read the interesting article The Week
http://theweek.com/article/index/235334/cooking-the-secret-to-the-evolution-of-the-human-brain

Let me suggest

Let me suggest to visit the link
From WWII to the end of Apartheid, relive 20th century history with Google

Thursday, October 25, 2012

De bello Parthico

Roma. Anno 44 avanti Cristo, mese di marzo. Da un futuro lontanissimo in cui la scienza ha raggiunto vertici inimmaginabili, ma insanguinato da una guerra cruenta, appare nell'Urbe un misterioso personaggio. E' un viaggiatore del tempo dotato di straordinari poteri. Nessuno saprà mai qual è la sua vera identità, si fa chiamare Sesto Mercurio e con questo nome verrà ricordato negli annali dell'Impero. Ha una sola missione da compiere: salvare Caio Giulio Cesare dall'imminente attentato delle idi di marzo. ...
 http://www.edizionirei.com/products/de-bello-parthico2/

Sunday, October 21, 2012

October, horse chestnut blossoming

Today, 21 October in Torino the temperature is of 24 degrees.
In Corso Palestro, some horse chestnuts trees are blossoming.



Dry leaves and blossoms





Friday, October 19, 2012

Terra Madre

Slow Food’s Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre is an international food fair. Held from October 25-29 this year and fully open to the public, it’s an opportunity to discover the foods that change the world.
"‘Foods that change the world’ is the slogan behind Slow Food’s biggest international event - Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre taking place in Turin over October 25-29 - in recognition of the collective power of the hundreds of responsible small-scale food producers, chefs and experts who will gather for these five days." They are coming in Torino from all the world,  with  stories, products and passion, to present their experience of the world of food and wine, to allowing discovering different cultures and related knowledge and skills behind foods.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Cupriavidus metallidurans

"The ability to create gold from base materials has eluded alchemists since the Middle Ages, but two U.S. university professors have found a way to produce small amounts of gold using metal-loving bacteria to make the magic. ... the two professors at Michigan State University found that a certain type of metal-loving bacteria can transform high amounts of the toxic chemical compound gold chloride from a liquid into solid 24-karat gold. " Kazem Kashefi, assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Michigan State University and Adam Brown, associate professor of electronic art and intermedia at Michigan State, found that the bacteria, Cupriavidus metallidurans, can withstand concentrations of gold chloride 25 times higher than previously reported by scientists.
More at
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kitconews/2012/10/05/focus-microbial-alchemy-produces-gold-from-toxic-chemical/

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Australian centuriation


Here the Nullarbor Plain in Australia.
The lines seem a centuriation on the territory
When was this centuriation made?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullarbor_Plain

Friday, September 28, 2012

Mombracco e Leonardo da Vinci

"Monbracho sopra saluzo sopra la certosa un miglio a piè di Monviso, a una miniera di petra faldata la quale e biancha come marmo di carrara, senza machule che è della durezza del porfido o più, delle quali il compare mio Maestro Benedetto scultore a impromesso donarmene una tabuletta per li colori.
 Adì 5 di genaro 1511", Leonardo da Vinci, manoscritto “B” Archive National Paris

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Bracco


Here in the satellite map, the quartzite quarry on the top of Mombracco, a mountain near Saluzzo.
Leonardo da Vinci, as we can read from his words,
knew the white marble-like stone coming from this quarry.
Mombracco is a  is over Rifreddo, Sanfront and Barge.


Amianto

« C'era amianto dappertutto, come una neve cenerina: se si lasciava per qualche ora un libro su di un tavolo, e poi lo si toglieva, se ne trovava il profilo in negativo; i tetti erano coperti da uno spesso strato di polverino, che nei giorni di pioggia si imbeveva come una spugna, e ad un tratto franava violentemente a terra. »
(Primo Levi, Il sistema periodico)


L'Amiantifera di Balangero è una cava di amianto situata in provincia di Torino, non più attiva. Fu la più grande cava di amianto in Europa e una tra le prime nel mondo; copriva una buona parte dei territori comunali di Balangero e di Corio.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiantifera_di_Balangero