A new radiocarbon dating determined that the manuscript was penned on 15th-century pages.
You can see the manuscript at
Friday, May 20, 2011
Voynich Manuscript
Written in Central Europe, the Voynich Manuscript—named after the Polish-American antiquarian bookseller, Wilfrid M. Voynich, who acquired it in 1912—are still being debated as vigorously as its puzzling drawings and undeciphered text. It is considered as a magical or a scientific text, nearly every page contains botanical, figurative, and scientific drawings.
A new radiocarbon dating determined that the manuscript was penned on 15th-century pages.
A new radiocarbon dating determined that the manuscript was penned on 15th-century pages.
Unbound planets could abound in the universe
"Ten planets that appear to be drifting in interstellar space have been spotted by an international team of astronomers. The planets are so far from any host stars that they may not orbit a star at all, and could be drifting unbound through space. The team believes that such rogue planets could outnumber normal stars almost 2:1 and their existence could confirm computer simulations of solar-system formation."
Unbound planets could abound in the universe - physicsworld.com
Unbound planets could abound in the universe - physicsworld.com
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Il Guardiano del Nord
Vaishravana, il Guardiano del Nord e dio della ricchezza
Legno laccato, dorato e dipinto, h. cm 38
Arte sino-tibetana, XVII secolo
Museo Arte Orientale, Torino
Il Re Guardiano del Nord è uno dei Re Celesti e siede sul dorso di un leone delle nevi,
reso in questa scultura secondo gli schemi della tradizione cinese. Vaishravana è ornato da una grande tiara, da orecchini ricadenti sulle spalle e dal gioiello pettorale del “nodo senza fine”, uno degli otto simboli auspiciosi del Buddhismo. La mano destra atteggiata nella tarjani mudra, il gesto per allontanare gli spiriti maligni, trattiene un gioiello fra il pollice e il medio, mentre il braccio sinistro sostiene una mangusta sputa-gioielli. L'animale è simbolo della caratteristica del dio, quale divinita' che dona ricchezza e dominatore dei serpenti che regnano nel sottosuolo.
Mudra, http://www.cultor.org/Orient/Iconography/Mudras/Mudras.html
Vaishravana, also known as Jambhala in Tibet and Bishamonten in Japan is the name of the chief of the Four Heavenly Kings and an important figure in Buddhist mythology.
In Japan, Bishamonten, or just Bishamon, is thought of as an armor-clad god of warfare or warriors and a punisher of evildoers. Bishamon is portrayed holding a spear in one hand and a small pagoda in the other hand, the latter symbolizing the divine treasure house, whose contents he both guards and gives away. He is one of the Seven Gods of Fortune. Bishamon is also called Tamon-ten, meaning
"listening to many teachings".
Adam's Calendar
"A 75,000 year-old stone calendar - In the cradle of humankind.
A new discovery of an ancient circular monolithic stone calendar site in Mpumalanga has proven to be at least 75,000 years old, pre-dating any other structure found to date. Southern Africa holds some of the deepest mysteries in all of human history... at around 60,000 years ago the early humans migrated from Africa and populated the rest of the world.... Modern historians have been speculating about the origins of these ruins, often calling them ‘cattle kraal of little historic importance’. The truth of the matter is that closer scientific inspection shows that we actually know very little about these spectacular ancient ruins. ...Adam’s Calendar is the flagship among these ruins because we can date this monolithic calendar with relative certainty to at least 75,000 years of age based on a number of scientific evaluations."
Scarab seal
"Ancient Egyptian scarabs were popular amulets in ancient Egypt. According to ancient Egyptian myths, the sun rolls across the sky each day and transforms bodies and souls. Modeled upon the Scarabaeidae family dung beetle, which rolls dung into a ball for the purposes of eating and laying eggs that are later transformed into larva, the scarab was seen as an earthly symbol of this heavenly cycle. This came to be iconographic, and ideological symbols were incorporated into Ancient Egyptian society."
From Wiki
Heart-scarab with a decoration on the back
(Egyptian Museum, Torino)
See my book
Nubia
"In 2300 BC, Nubia was first mentioned in Old Kingdom Egyptian accounts of trade missions. From Aswan, right above the First Cataract, southern limit of Egyptian control at the time, Egyptians imported gold, incense, ebony, ivory, and exotic animals from tropical Africa through Nubia. As trade between Egypt and Nubia increased so did wealth and stability."
More http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubia
More http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubia
Origami and shopping bags
"Engineers from Oxford University have used the principles of origami to create the first rigid, flat-folding shopping bag with a rectangular base.
The project started off as a mathematical curiosity for Dr Zhong You, a lecturer at Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science, but it may have important implications for the packaging industry."
Origami principles lead to rigid, flat-folding shopping bag | News | The Engineer
The project started off as a mathematical curiosity for Dr Zhong You, a lecturer at Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science, but it may have important implications for the packaging industry."
Origami principles lead to rigid, flat-folding shopping bag | News | The Engineer
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Fernando Sanford and the "Kirlian effect"
My paper on Fernando Sanford and the Kirlian effect has been selected by
Look 'n' Watch
The best of the rest from the Physics arXiv this week
Look 'n' Watch
The best of the rest from the Physics arXiv this week
To use sound waves to measure temperature
"A sensor that uses sound waves to measure temperature could replace thermometers that lose accuracy in harsh environments such as nuclear power stations. Scientists at UK measurement institute the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) are using the long-established principle that sound travels faster through warm air to create a cheap and robust thermometer that doesn’t need recalibrating or replacing. They hope the device would be used to measure extremely high temperatures or in locations where it would be difficult to change the thermometer, such as in nuclear reactors."
'Memristor' could mimic brain neurons in future
"Computers that mimic the human brain in the way they process data have moved a step closer to reality thanks to new research from the US. Researchers at Hewlett Packard (HP) and California University in Santa Barbara have used highly focused X-rays to, for the first time, map out the nanoscale properties of a newly understood circuit element called a memory resistor or ‘memristor’. These have the ability to ‘remember’ how much electronic charge passes through them and one day may be able to act like synapses within electronic circuits, mimicking the complex network of neurons present in the brain."
Photosynthesis and the entanglement
"Recent studies have indeed suggested that electronic excitation transfer (EET) in photosynthesis benefits from quantum entanglement. ... To model the photosynthesis that occurs in plants, Briggs and Eisfeld study a collection of monomers, each possessing a single electronic state and coupled to its neighboring units by a dipolar interaction. The authors find that for dipolar interactions similar to those found in real molecular aggregates, the coherences in quantum transport (from the Schrödinger equation) are identical to those occurring in classical transport according to Newton’s equation."
Photosynthesis disentangled?
Monday, May 16, 2011
Graphite oxides boost supercapacitors
"Researchers in the US have discovered a new form of carbon produced by "activating" expanded graphite oxide. The material is full of tiny nanometre-sized pores and contains highly curved atom-thick walls throughout its 3D structure. The team has also found that the material performs exceptionally well as an electrode material for supercapacitors, allowing such energy-storage devices to be used in a wider range of applications."