A seguito del terribile terremoto che ha devastato il Giappone, la Croce Rossa Italiana ha avviato una raccolta fondi in sostegno delle popolazioni colpite dal sisma e dallo tsunami. Per donare 2 euro alla Croce Rossa Italiana "Pro Emergenza Giappone" è possibile inviare un SMS da cellulari TIM, Vodafone, Wind, 3, CoopVoce, Tiscali o da telefono fisso Telecom, Infostrada, Fastweb, Teletu e Tiscali al numero 45500.
http://www.cri.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/1
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Injectable polymer implants stimulate rebuilding of bones
"The need for artificial joint replacements in people with osteoarthritis could soon be bypassed with injectable polymer implants that stimulate rebuilding of bone structures.
The research is being headed by Bristol University’s team of stem cell and tissue engineering experts in collaboration with researchers from Qatar and Canada. Speaking to The Engineer, lead investigator Dr Wael Kafienah of Bristol explained the rationale behind the project."
Injectable polymer implants stimulate rebuilding of bones | News | The Engineer
The research is being headed by Bristol University’s team of stem cell and tissue engineering experts in collaboration with researchers from Qatar and Canada. Speaking to The Engineer, lead investigator Dr Wael Kafienah of Bristol explained the rationale behind the project."
Injectable polymer implants stimulate rebuilding of bones | News | The Engineer
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Search Engines for the Human Body
A Search Engine for the Human Body: Microsoft software recognizes organs and other structures in medical images, FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011, by TOM SIMONITE
"A new search tool developed by researchers at Microsoft indexes medical images of the human body, rather than the Web. On CT scans, it automatically finds organs and other structures, to help doctors navigate in and work with 3-D medical imagery.
CT scans use X-rays to capture many slices through the body that can be combined to create a 3-D representation. This is a powerful tool for diagnosis, but it's far from easy to navigate, says Antonio Criminisi, who leads a group at Microsoft Research Cambridge, U.K., that is attempting to change that. "It is very difficult even for someone very trained to get to the place they need to be to examine the source of a problem," he says."
CT scans use X-rays to capture many slices through the body that can be combined to create a 3-D representation. This is a powerful tool for diagnosis, but it's far from easy to navigate, says Antonio Criminisi, who leads a group at Microsoft Research Cambridge, U.K., that is attempting to change that. "It is very difficult even for someone very trained to get to the place they need to be to examine the source of a problem," he says."
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
150° anniversario dell'Unità d'Italia
Soffermàti sull’arida sponda,
Vòlti i guardi al varcato Ticino,
Tutti assorti nel novo destino,
Certi in cor dell’antica virtù,
Han giurato: Non fia che quest’onda
Scorra più tra due rive straniere;
Non fia loco ove sorgan barriere
Tra l’Italia e l’Italia, mai più!
Vòlti i guardi al varcato Ticino,
Tutti assorti nel novo destino,
Certi in cor dell’antica virtù,
Han giurato: Non fia che quest’onda
Scorra più tra due rive straniere;
Non fia loco ove sorgan barriere
Tra l’Italia e l’Italia, mai più!
dall'Ode "Marzo 1821" di Alessandro Manzoni
Buon compleanno, Italia!
Laser-scan system to have a virtual view of Stonehenge
"Experts at English Heritage are using laser scanning and high-resolution digital imaging to create a virtual rendering of Stonehenge that will show it in detail and hopefully reveal new features.
The survey will map the standing and fallen stones of Stonehenge, as well as the top of the horizontal lintels.
Despite the vast amount of archaeological activity and academic study into Stonehenge and its landscape over the centuries, relatively little is known about the lichen-covered surfaces."
Read more: Laser-scan system has virtual view of Stonehenge details | News | The Engineer
The survey will map the standing and fallen stones of Stonehenge, as well as the top of the horizontal lintels.
Despite the vast amount of archaeological activity and academic study into Stonehenge and its landscape over the centuries, relatively little is known about the lichen-covered surfaces."
Read more: Laser-scan system has virtual view of Stonehenge details | News | The Engineer
Emperor Akihito's Address
Japan's emperor urges victims not to 'abandon hope'
"Japanese Emperor Akihito made an unprecedented televised address to his disaster-stricken nation Wednesday, saying he was "deeply worried" by the crisis at damaged nuclear reactors and urging people to help each other in difficult times."
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42104850/ns/world_news-asiapacific/
"I am deeply hurt by the grievous situation in the affected areas. The number of deceased and missing increases by the day we cannot know how many victims there will be. My hope is that as many people possible are found safe," Akihito said.
"Japanese Emperor Akihito made an unprecedented televised address to his disaster-stricken nation Wednesday, saying he was "deeply worried" by the crisis at damaged nuclear reactors and urging people to help each other in difficult times."
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42104850/ns/world_news-asiapacific/
"I am deeply hurt by the grievous situation in the affected areas. The number of deceased and missing increases by the day we cannot know how many victims there will be. My hope is that as many people possible are found safe," Akihito said.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Revelations of a golden age
"For roughly 700 years, many of the greatest scientists lived in the Islamic world. The Western narrative, however, has often neglected the contributions of major figures such as the chemist al-Jabir, the mathematician al-Khwarizmi and the medic al-Razi, preferring instead to jump directly from Aristotle, Euclid, Archimedes and Ptolemy to Copernicus and Galileo in reporting scientific development over the ages. Yet the fact is that between the eighth and 15th centuries AD, the scientists of the Islamic world developed original theories in mathematics, astronomy, physics, medicine and engineering – frequently with the help of works translated into Arabic from Greek, Sanskrit, Pahlavi and Syriac sources." by George Gheverghese Joseph, Revelations of a golden age - physicsworld.com
On the book "Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science", by Jim Al-Khalili
On the book "Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science", by Jim Al-Khalili
Monday, March 14, 2011
Questi tremendi eventi
Il Papa esprime la sua vicinanza alle popolazioni del Giappone colpite dal terremoto e dallo tsunami. Un telegramma, a firma del segretario di Stato, cardinale Tarcisio Bertone, è stato inviato dal Papa a monsignor Leo Jun Ikenaga, arcivescovo di Osaka e presidente della Conferenza episcopale giapponese. Nel messaggio, Benedetto XVI esprime il proprio cordoglio per le vittime del cataclisma e per le loro famiglie e si dice vicino ai soccorritori.
Speculum Orbis Terrarum - Peru
From the “Speculum Orbis Terrarum,” Antwerp, 1578.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10772/10772-h/10772-h.htm
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10772/10772-h/10772-h.htm
Hiram Bingham
Hiram Bingham, formally Hiram Bingham III, (1875–1956) was an academic, explorer, treasure hunter and politician from the United States. He made public the existence of the Quechua citadel of Machu Picchu in 1911 with the guidance of local Indigenous farmers. Later, Bingham served as a member of the United States Senate.
More Wiki
Bingham used the Raimondi's maps of Peru for exploring the country. In the book "Inca Land, Explorations in the Highlands of Peru", Bingham is telling "Raimondi's marvelous energy led him to penetrate to more out-of-the-way Peruvian villages than any one had ever done before or is likely to do again. He stopped at nothing in the way of natural obstacles."
Bingham used the Raimondi's maps of Peru for exploring the country. In the book "Inca Land, Explorations in the Highlands of Peru", Bingham is telling "Raimondi's marvelous energy led him to penetrate to more out-of-the-way Peruvian villages than any one had ever done before or is likely to do again. He stopped at nothing in the way of natural obstacles."
Antonio Raimondi
"Antonio Raimondi (1826 – 1890) was a prominent Italian-born Peruvian geographer and scientist. Born in Milan, Raimondi emigrated to Peru, arriving on July 28, 1850 at the port of Callao. In 1851 he became a professor of natural history. ...Throughout his career, Raimondi displayed a passion for all things Peruvian. He undertook no less than 18 extensive journeys to all regions of the country, studying the nation's geography, geology, botany, zoology, ethnography, and archaeology. In 1875, he collected his findings in the massive tome El Perú, ...".
More Wiki
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Yashima Gakutei
Yashima Gakutei (1786-1868)
Dea con drago e sol nascente, Periodo Edo, c.1825
Xilografia su carta, nishiki-e con pigmenti metallici e gauffrage
Goddess with dragon and rising sun, Edo period, c.1825
Xylography on paper, nishili-e with metal pigments and gauffrage
Museo Arte Orientale, Torino
Museo Arte Orientale, Torino
Nishiki-e (lit. "brocade picture") refers to Japanese multi-colored woodblock printing. It was invented in the 1760s, and perfected and popularized by the printmaker Suzuki Harunobu, who produced a great many nishiki-e prints between 1765 and his death five years later. Previously, most prints had been in black-and-white, colored by hand, or colored with the addition of one or two color ink blocks. A nishiki-e print is created by carving a separate woodblock for every color, and using them in a stepwise fashion. An engraver by the name of Kinroku is credited with the technical innovations that allowed the blocks of separate colors to fit perfectly onto the page, relative to others, in order to have the complete image.
Folding furrows
Folds on the surface of soft materials are shown to be a consequence of a nonlinear instability.
"Even as we probe physics on ever-smaller scales, materials that can be held and manipulated with our hands often still resist our understanding. Elastic materials, in particular, still confound because of the nonlinear relationship between strain and the displacement of the material needed to maintain the rotational invariance of the elastic energy. The effects of these nonlinearities are often more pronounced at free surfaces, where strain can be alleviated by a large rotation of the surface. When a slab of an elastic material such as rubber is compressed, it develops a sulcus—a sharp furrow in its surface that plunges into the material. First reported for photographic gelatin films over one hundred years ago, they are not just a laboratory curiosity. Sulci create large strains that can lead to material failure. They are also a common motif in the morphogenesis of many organs, most famously in the characteristic folds on the surface of the human brain or, say, the arm of an infant ..."Physics - Folding furrows, Physics 4, 19 (2011), DOI: 10.1103/Physics.4.19, Folding furrows, Christian D. Santangelo, a viewpoint on: Unfolding the Sulcus, by Evan Hohlfeld and L. Mahadevan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 105702 (2011) – Published March 07, 2011, Download PDF
Surface boosts conductivity of nanocrystals
Surface states boost conductivity of Ge nanocrystals
"Ge nanocrystals are promising materials for developing nanoscale optoelectronic devices, such as band-gap engineered tandem solar cells, thanks to low processing temperatures and full compatibility with large-scale integrated circuit fabrication. Many groups have successfully developed technologies to synthesize Ge nanocrystals embedded in SiO2 thin films and to control the structural and optical properties of the nanocomposite. Nevertheless, implementation in practical devices has rarely been demonstrated. This can be partially attributed to the difficulty in making electrically conductive thin films."
"Ge nanocrystals are promising materials for developing nanoscale optoelectronic devices, such as band-gap engineered tandem solar cells, thanks to low processing temperatures and full compatibility with large-scale integrated circuit fabrication. Many groups have successfully developed technologies to synthesize Ge nanocrystals embedded in SiO2 thin films and to control the structural and optical properties of the nanocomposite. Nevertheless, implementation in practical devices has rarely been demonstrated. This can be partially attributed to the difficulty in making electrically conductive thin films."
Tiger
Paravento - Wind wall - Museo Arte Orientale - Torino
The tiger is revered not just in Japan but in the entire Asian adjoining societies. In Japan, the tiger (tora) is the emblem of the great aristocratic warriors, known as the samurai.
The tiger represents the virtue of courage.
Messaggio Quirinale a S.M. Akihito
"La notizia delle gravissime conseguenze del sisma che ha colpito il nord-est del Giappone, provocando vittime e grandi distruzioni materiali, mi ha profondamente addolorato". Lo ha scritto il Presidente della Repubblica Giorgio Napolitano nel messaggio inviato all'Imperatore del Giappone, S.M. Akihito.
"In questo momento così drammatico - ha sottolineato il Capo dello Stato - l'Italia, unita al Suo Paese da saldi vincoli di profonda amicizia, si stringe al popolo giapponese.
Con questi sentimenti, desidero trasmetterLe a nome mio personale e di tutto il popolo italiano il più sentito cordoglio e le espressioni di umana solidarietà per le vittime".
"In questo momento così drammatico - ha sottolineato il Capo dello Stato - l'Italia, unita al Suo Paese da saldi vincoli di profonda amicizia, si stringe al popolo giapponese.
Con questi sentimenti, desidero trasmetterLe a nome mio personale e di tutto il popolo italiano il più sentito cordoglio e le espressioni di umana solidarietà per le vittime".
Radiation risk
Japan earthquake shuts nuclear facilities but radiation risk unlikely | News | The Engineer
"The massive earthquake that struck off Japan’s northeast coast today has triggered the automatic shutdown of four nuclear power stations, with reports of a non-reactor fire in one and problems with the cooling system in another.
However, there has been no reported leakage of radiation from any of the reactors and based on previous experience of earthquakes at nuclear power plants experts say there is unlikely to be any."
"The massive earthquake that struck off Japan’s northeast coast today has triggered the automatic shutdown of four nuclear power stations, with reports of a non-reactor fire in one and problems with the cooling system in another.
However, there has been no reported leakage of radiation from any of the reactors and based on previous experience of earthquakes at nuclear power plants experts say there is unlikely to be any."
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Dedica al Giappone
A un paese che vive le ore peggiori della sua storia moderna dopo lo tsunami che ha causato distruzione e morte.
Gyokusen - Schizzo
Museo Arte Orientale, Torino
U.S. Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility. http://www.usgs.gov/
http://www.usgs.gov/natural_hazards/
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/
http://www.usgs.gov/natural_hazards/
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/
Northern Honshu devastated
"Rescuers struggled to reach survivors on Saturday morning as Japan reeled after an earthquake and a tsunami struck in deadly tandem. The 8.9-magnitude earthquake set off a devastating tsunami that sent walls of water washing over coastal cities in the north. Concerns mounted over possible radiation leaks from two nuclear plants near the earthquake zone."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/world/asia/13japan.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/world/asia/13japan.html
Friday, March 11, 2011
Karangetang
Just hours after the earthquake stuck Japan, triggering a powerful tsunami, a volcano has erupted in Indonesia. This is one of Indonesia’s most active volcanos, Mount Karangetang
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=126132
Volcán Karangetang erupciona en Indonesia
http://connuestroperu.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15908&Itemid=1
"Horas después del terremoto de 8.9 grados que golpeó a Japón, un volcán entró en erupción en Indonesia, sin que haya todavía datos precisos sobre daños o víctimas."
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=126132
Volcán Karangetang erupciona en Indonesia
http://connuestroperu.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15908&Itemid=1
"Horas después del terremoto de 8.9 grados que golpeó a Japón, un volcán entró en erupción en Indonesia, sin que haya todavía datos precisos sobre daños o víctimas."
NOAA-DART forecasting
DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis) is a service for real-time monitoring the ocean waves. The network has sites positioned at strategic locations throughout the ocean and play a critical role in tsunami forecasting. http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/Dart/
http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/honshu20110311/
"Tsunamis are giant waves caused by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions under the sea. Out in the depths of the ocean, tsunami waves do not dramatically increase in height. But as the waves travel inland, they build up to higher and higher heights as the depth of the ocean decreases. The speed of tsunami waves depends on ocean depth rather than the distance from the source of the wave. Tsunami waves may travel as fast as jet planes over deep waters, only slowing down when reaching shallow waters. While tsunamis are often referred to as tidal waves, this name is discouraged by oceanographers because tides have little to do with these giant waves."http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/tsunami.html
http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/honshu20110311/
"Tsunamis are giant waves caused by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions under the sea. Out in the depths of the ocean, tsunami waves do not dramatically increase in height. But as the waves travel inland, they build up to higher and higher heights as the depth of the ocean decreases. The speed of tsunami waves depends on ocean depth rather than the distance from the source of the wave. Tsunami waves may travel as fast as jet planes over deep waters, only slowing down when reaching shallow waters. While tsunamis are often referred to as tidal waves, this name is discouraged by oceanographers because tides have little to do with these giant waves."http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/tsunami.html
INGV - Istituto Geofisica Vulcanologia
Segnalo il sito dell'istituto INGV
http://www.ingv.it/eng/, http://www.ingv.it/, http://cnt.rm.ingv.it/earthquakes_list.php
http://www.ingv.it/eng/, http://www.ingv.it/, http://cnt.rm.ingv.it/earthquakes_list.php
Tsunamis hit Japan
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/japan.quake/index.html
Massive 8.9 quake, tsunamis hit Japan, By the CNN Wire Staff
March 11, 2011 -- Updated 0902 GMT (1702 HKT)
Massive 8.9 quake, tsunamis hit Japan, By the CNN Wire Staff
March 11, 2011 -- Updated 0902 GMT (1702 HKT)
Distant galaxy helped relight the universe
"The discovery of a small but distant galaxy 12.8 billion light years from Earth is providing important clues about the earliest years of the universe's life. By measuring the age of the galaxy's stars, astronomers in Europe and the US say the galaxy began to shine when the universe was just 150–300 million years old. The work suggests that such galaxies were responsible for dispersing the atomic fog that once cloaked the cosmos, during a period in the history of the universe that astronomers know very little about." by Ken Croswell
Distant galaxy helped relight the universe - physicsworld.com
Distant galaxy helped relight the universe - physicsworld.com
Thursday, March 10, 2011
SuperMoon, ovvero la SuperLuna
"The moon will be at its closest to earth since 1993 on March 19th next.
The “Lunar Perigee”, or ‘SuperMoon’ as some astrologers refer to it as, is the opposite of the “Lunar Apogee”, when the Moon is furthest from Earth. Generally, the Moon looks about 12-14% larger at its perigee compared to its apogee. Full moon (19 March) will occur during Lunar Perigee meaning it will look much larger than normal especially when it rises on the eastern horizon at sunset, or given the right atmospheric conditions."
"La "superluna” el 19 de marzo alimenta especulaciones. El anuncio de una “superluna” para el 19 de marzo comienza a levantar una serie de especulaciones sobre los efectos apocalípticos que ésta tendrá sobre la Tierra. Para este 19 de marzo nuestro satélite alcanzará su distancia más cercana a la Tierra en 19 años, acercándose a 356,578 kilómetros.."
The “Lunar Perigee”, or ‘SuperMoon’ as some astrologers refer to it as, is the opposite of the “Lunar Apogee”, when the Moon is furthest from Earth. Generally, the Moon looks about 12-14% larger at its perigee compared to its apogee. Full moon (19 March) will occur during Lunar Perigee meaning it will look much larger than normal especially when it rises on the eastern horizon at sunset, or given the right atmospheric conditions."
"La "superluna” el 19 de marzo alimenta especulaciones. El anuncio de una “superluna” para el 19 de marzo comienza a levantar una serie de especulaciones sobre los efectos apocalípticos que ésta tendrá sobre la Tierra. Para este 19 de marzo nuestro satélite alcanzará su distancia más cercana a la Tierra en 19 años, acercándose a 356,578 kilómetros.."
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Measure for measure
Measure for measure, 9 March 2011, by Stuart Nathan
"There’s a new gadget in my flat. It’s small and unflashy, it’s sitting on the corner of a worktop in my kitchen, and it tells me, from second to second, how much carbon dioxide the electricity I use is generating. And already it’s proving strangely fascinating....So for the past couple of days, everytime I or my partner switches on anything electrical, we’ve been dashing into the kitchen to see what’s happened ...
"There’s a new gadget in my flat. It’s small and unflashy, it’s sitting on the corner of a worktop in my kitchen, and it tells me, from second to second, how much carbon dioxide the electricity I use is generating. And already it’s proving strangely fascinating....So for the past couple of days, everytime I or my partner switches on anything electrical, we’ve been dashing into the kitchen to see what’s happened ...
Having this little chunk of plastic handy has really pointed out what physicists always knew and engineers have been saying since the industrial revolution: if you can’t measure something, you can’t control it. Just knowing, vaguely, in the back of your mind that a certain appliance is a bit juice-hungry is no substitute for seeing the hard numbers when you switch the thing on. Knowledge is power; or, in this case, cutting the amount of power."
Read more: Measure for measure | Opinion | The Engineer
Read more: Measure for measure | Opinion | The Engineer
The Sixth Extinction (ActionBioscience)
The Sixth Extinction, by Niles Eldredge
"There is little doubt left in the minds of professional biologists that Earth is currently faced with a mounting loss of species that threatens to rival the five great mass extinctions of the geological past. As long ago as 1993, Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson estimated that Earth is currently losing something on the order of 30,000 species per year — which breaks down to the even more daunting statistic of some three species per hour. Some biologists have begun to feel that this biodiversity crisis — this “Sixth Extinction” — is even more severe, and more imminent, than Wilson had supposed."
"There is little doubt left in the minds of professional biologists that Earth is currently faced with a mounting loss of species that threatens to rival the five great mass extinctions of the geological past. As long ago as 1993, Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson estimated that Earth is currently losing something on the order of 30,000 species per year — which breaks down to the even more daunting statistic of some three species per hour. Some biologists have begun to feel that this biodiversity crisis — this “Sixth Extinction” — is even more severe, and more imminent, than Wilson had supposed."
Life from Space: An Emerging Paradigm
Life from Space: An Emerging Paradigm (ActionBioscience)
"This article summarizes Evolution of Life: A Cosmic Perspective, an original paper by Chandra Wickramasinghe and Sir Fred Hoyle posted on this site (click on above title to read their paper). There, readers will also find a link to the commentary by the peer reviewer of that paper, which provides counterpoint views to the authors’ controversial ideas. The hypothesis, called cosmic ancestry/panspermia, posited by the authors is not widely accepted by the mainstream scientific community. It is published on this site in consideration of the authors’ distinguished contributions to science to date and to provide an opportunity for both scientists and the public to evaluate ideas presented in their paper."
More http://www.actionbioscience.org/newfrontiers/wickramasinghe.html
"This article summarizes Evolution of Life: A Cosmic Perspective, an original paper by Chandra Wickramasinghe and Sir Fred Hoyle posted on this site (click on above title to read their paper). There, readers will also find a link to the commentary by the peer reviewer of that paper, which provides counterpoint views to the authors’ controversial ideas. The hypothesis, called cosmic ancestry/panspermia, posited by the authors is not widely accepted by the mainstream scientific community. It is published on this site in consideration of the authors’ distinguished contributions to science to date and to provide an opportunity for both scientists and the public to evaluate ideas presented in their paper."
More http://www.actionbioscience.org/newfrontiers/wickramasinghe.html
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Archaeoastronomy in Ancient India
The Journal of Cosmology, 2010, Vol 9, 2063-2077. JournalofCosmology.com, July, 2010
is publishing the paper "Visions of the Cosmos: Archaeoastronomy in Ancient India" by Subhash Kak, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA
Abstract This paper is an overview of archaeoastronomy in ancient India. It describes the Vedic conception of the cosmos and the representation of the knowledge of the motions of the sun and the moon in the design of fire altars. Sites of archaeoastronomical interest described include Neolithic and Megalithic sites and the Sanchi Stupa.
"In the Indian view, the cosmos is seen as being tripartite and recursive (see Kak, 2000a and Kak, 2008 for review and additional references). The universe is viewed as three regions of earth, space, and sky (Dumézil, 1988) which in the human being are mirrored in the physical body, the breath (prāna), and mind. The processes in the sky, on earth, and within the mind are taken to be connected."
is publishing the paper "Visions of the Cosmos: Archaeoastronomy in Ancient India" by Subhash Kak, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA
Abstract This paper is an overview of archaeoastronomy in ancient India. It describes the Vedic conception of the cosmos and the representation of the knowledge of the motions of the sun and the moon in the design of fire altars. Sites of archaeoastronomical interest described include Neolithic and Megalithic sites and the Sanchi Stupa.
"In the Indian view, the cosmos is seen as being tripartite and recursive (see Kak, 2000a and Kak, 2008 for review and additional references). The universe is viewed as three regions of earth, space, and sky (Dumézil, 1988) which in the human being are mirrored in the physical body, the breath (prāna), and mind. The processes in the sky, on earth, and within the mind are taken to be connected."
Life from space
"Richard Hoover, an astrobiologist at the US space agency's Marshall space flight centre in Alabama, said filaments and other structures in rare meteorites appear to be microscopic fossils of extraterrestrial beings that resemble algae known as cyanobacteria. Some of the features look similar to a giant bacterium called Titanospirillum velox, which has been collected from the Ebro delta waterway in Spain, according to a report on the findings.... Hoover, an expert on life in extreme environments, has reported similar structures in meteorites several times before. So far, none has been confirmed as the ancient remains of alien life.
But writing in the Journal of Cosmology, Hoover claims that the lack of nitrogen in the samples, which is essential for life on Earth, indicates they are the remains of extraterrestrial life forms that grew on the parent bodies of the meteorites when liquid water was present, long before the meteorites entered the Earth's atmosphere."
But writing in the Journal of Cosmology, Hoover claims that the lack of nitrogen in the samples, which is essential for life on Earth, indicates they are the remains of extraterrestrial life forms that grew on the parent bodies of the meteorites when liquid water was present, long before the meteorites entered the Earth's atmosphere."
Friday, March 4, 2011
Image processing?
"An interdisciplinary group of researchers is calling for the help of other scientists to help them to understand how some of the key features of human vision have evolved. The team, led by Gasper Tkačik, a physicist at the University of Pennsylvania, has compiled a database of roughly 5000 images of the Okavango Delta region in Botswana. This tropical savannah habitat is believed to be similar to the conditions that existed in Africa around 20–30 million years ago, at the time of the origins of Old World monkeys, when the basic adaptations in our visual system are thought to have evolved."
Snapping the birthplace of the human eye - physicsworld.com
by James Dacey Snapping the birthplace of the human eye - physicsworld.com
Snapping the birthplace of the human eye - physicsworld.com
by James Dacey Snapping the birthplace of the human eye - physicsworld.com
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Die bunten Buddhas
Afghanistan - Die bunten Buddhas von Bamiyan – für immer verloren?
"Seit dem 6. Jahrhundert blickten zwei riesige Buddha- Statuen auf das Tal von Bamiyan in Afghanistan – ehe die Taliban die Standbilder 2001 in wenigen Tagen zerstörten. Erst nach dem Sturz des Regimes hatten Forscher die Möglichkeit, die Statuen mit modernen Methoden zu untersuchen. Anhand der Bruchstücke will man nun Bautechnik und Farbgebung rekonstruieren und die Möglichkeiten eines Wiederaufbaus beurteilen."
"Seit dem 6. Jahrhundert blickten zwei riesige Buddha- Statuen auf das Tal von Bamiyan in Afghanistan – ehe die Taliban die Standbilder 2001 in wenigen Tagen zerstörten. Erst nach dem Sturz des Regimes hatten Forscher die Möglichkeit, die Statuen mit modernen Methoden zu untersuchen. Anhand der Bruchstücke will man nun Bautechnik und Farbgebung rekonstruieren und die Möglichkeiten eines Wiederaufbaus beurteilen."