Caligula's statue will come back home

"La statua dell’imperatore Caligola torna a Nemi. A recuperarla il comando provinciale della Guardia di Finanza di Roma, guidato dal generale Ignazio Gibilaro, nel corso di una più vasta operazione di tutela del patrimonio artistico nazionale. «E' stato recuperato un pezzo di straordinaria bellezza e rinvenuto un sito archeologico finora sconosciuto alla stessa sovrintendenza – ha spiegato Giuseppina Ghini, direttrice del Museo delle Navi dove sarà collocata la statua dopo il suo restauro - Abbiamo sottoposto la statua ad una prima ripulitura, presto inizieremo il restauro ma per ora si sta ancora studiando, analizzando»."
http://www.newnotizie.it/2011/07/13/ritrovata-la-statua-di-caligola-in-trono/
Emperor Caligula's statue is coming back home to Nemi. It was the provincial team of the Guardia di Finanza in Rome, led by General Ignacio Gibilaro, to retrieve it, during an police action to protect the national artistic heritage. According to Giuseppina Ghini, head of the Museum at Nemi,  this staue is a piece of extraordinary beauty, discovered in a previously unknown archaeological site. The statue, after restoration, will be soon bach home in the Museum of Nemi. 

Locations of archaeological sites

A collection of Placemarks of archaeologically interesting locations of the ancient world.
http://www.ancientlocations.net/
For instance, the egyptian pyramids
http://www.ancientlocations.net/index.php?sp=-1&in=0&rep=0&sort=0&f=22#section_22_Pyramids

Earliest Roman basilica found outside Alexandria - Ahram Online

" At Al-Baron area in Semouha district, south of Alexandria, an Egyptian archaeological mission has discovered several significant monuments and artefacts that will help in the writing of the history of the area.

 During excavations, archaeologists uncovered the earliest Roman civil basilica yet found on top of a Ptolemaic temple dedicated to the three Alexandria deities (Isis, Serapis, Harpocrates) along with a collection of terracotta statues."
Earliest ever civil Roman basilica found outside Alexandria - Greco-Roman - Heritage - Ahram Online

DNA transistor

"Passivated nanopores withstand extreme voltages.
Solid-state nanopores are a core element of next-generation single molecule tools in the field of nanobiotechnology, most prominently in the area of DNA-sequencing technology. Researchers at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center have recently introduced a nanopore-based DNA sequencing platform, which they call a DNA transistor. Thin-film electrodes are integrated into the nanopore device for electrically interacting with translocating DNA. They have now shown that TiN electrodes inside a nanopore can be passivated and completely shielded against electrochemical deterioration even when extreme voltages are applied."

http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/lab/46476

electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

"Functionalized electrochemical impedance spectroscopy device targets personalized medicine.
Rapid, sensitive, accurate, miniaturized and inexpensive biosensors are highly desirable for assisting clinical medical diagnosis. Researchers based at National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, have developed such a portable bio-sensing platform to detect intermolecular interactions using nanogold-enhanced electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS)."

http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/lab/46448

Objeto en llamas sobre Alemania

"Un objeto volador no identificado cayó en llamas sobre la ciudad de Berlín, Alemania. Una cámara captó el momento preciso en el que se observa al extraño objeto cayendo de manera lenta paro totalmente incendiada."

Vídeo: objeto en llamas cae sobre Alemania

Sandstorm on Phoenix

Phoenix Dusts Off After Giant Sandstorm Whips Through
More http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/us/07dust.html

See the video (courtesy: http://www.mikeolbinski.com/ and http://www.krazywake.com/)

Amazing video by two photographers - Mike Olbinski and Blaine Coury - in Arizona.

 A wall of dust is moving on Phoenix in Arizona. 

A giant mirage on a Chinese river

'Lost Civilization' Appears Above Chinese River, Published June 27, 2011,  News Corp Australian Papers
"It looks like any other city skyline with skyscrapers, a few mountains and trees -- except it isn't real.
The giant mirage appeared across the skyline in East China earlier this month after heavy rainfall and humid conditions covered the Xin’an River. As mist settled over the river at dusk, tall buildings appeared to rise from nowhere, leading residents in nearby Huanshan City to speculate that the vision may be a "vortex" to a lost civilization."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/06/27/lost-civilization-appears-above-chinese-river/?intcmp=obinsite

Egyptology on line resourches
http://egypt.online-resourcen.de/

Royal scenes dated back to Dynasty Zero

The oldest depiction of an Egyptian King wearing the Upper Egyptian crown
“Dr. Maria Carmela Gatto (Director of Aswan-Kom Ombo Archarological Project) made a discovery at Nag el-Hamdulab site (North west of Aswan) of the oldest graffiti shows a King wearing the Upper Egypt headgear(crown) with a group of royal scenes dated back to dynasty zero.” Said Dr. Zahi Hawass. “The find shows many hieroglyphic graffiti and the first drawings shows a complete royal celebration looks exactly like what was known in the different Pharanoic eras, showing the Pharaoh wearing his white crown accompanied by Horus followers or the royal court.”Hawass added."
More on the Dinasty Zero (Naqada III) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naqada_III

More on the Dynasty Zero

"5,200 year-old rock drawings of earliest Ancient Egyptian celebrations unearthed, by Associated Press, Published: July 4 CAIRO — Egypt’s Antiquities Authority says archaeologists have unearthed a 5,200-year-old rock drawing depicting a royal festival during Ancient Egypt’s earliest dynasty. The ministry says the scenes were part of a series of rock drawings featuring hunting, fighting and celebrations along the banks of the Nile River."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/5200-year-old-rock-drawings-of-earliest-ancient-egyptian-celebrations-unearthed/2011/07/04/gHQAw07kxH_story.html

Ice Age Art

L’arte più antica d’America trovata su un osso di mammut, LUGLIO 4, 2011. di Aezio
"I ricercatori dello Smithsonian Institution e dell’Università della Florida hanno confermato la veridicità di un misterioso manufatto scoperto in Florida nel 2006: un frammento osseo, di circa 13.000 anni fa, con incisa l’immagine di un mammut o un mastodonte. Questa incisione è l’esempio più antico e l’unico conosciuto di arte dell’era glaciale a raffigurare un Proboscidato nelle Americhe. La ricerca del team è stato pubblicata sul Journal of Archaeological Science."

" Scientists Reveal a First in Ice Age Art. June 22, 2011. Researchers from the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Florida have announced the discovery of a bone fragment, approximately 13,000 years old, in Florida with an incised image of a mammoth or mastodon. This engraving is the oldest and only known example of Ice Age art to depict a proboscidean (the order of animals with trunks) in the Americas. The team’s research is published online in the Journal of Archaeological Science. The bone was discovered in Vero Beach, Fla., by James Kennedy, an avocational fossil hunter, who collected the bone and later, while cleaning it, discovered the engraving. Recognizing its potential importance, Kennedy contacted scientists at the University of Florida and the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute and National Museum of Natural History."

Women on the Nile

"The writings of 19th century travellers in Egypt gave momentum to many European adventurers to excavate more, not only of its antiquities, but also of its social, cultural and religious life. Joan Rees' Women on the Nile (published by the American University in Cairo Press) is an excellent survey with illustrations by David Robert, Giovanni Belzoni, W. H. Bartlett, Owen Jones, Edward Lear and many other Western travellers from different walks of life, but all inspired to visit the heart of the Arab world and describe Egypt, its monuments and people."

http://213.158.162.45/~egyptian/index.php?action=news&id=956&title=Western%20women%20in%2019th%20century%20Egypt

A far quasar

"A team of European astronomers, including UK astronomers, have discovered a bright quasar that has been beaming light since the Universe was a mere 770 million years old.
The brilliant beacon, named ULAS J1120+0641, is powered by a black hole with a mass two billion times that of the Sun. Located at a redshift – a term relating to astronomical distances – of 7.1, its light has taken 12.9 billion years to reach us. The next most distant quasar is seen at 870 million years after the big bang, or a redshift of 6.4, although gamma ray bursts have been detected at greater distances of 8.6 and 8.2 redshifts."

Most distant quasar shines brightly

List of Egyptian sites

The Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA) is responsible for hundreds of sites dating to every period of Egypt’s past. Many have been designated as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. The web site of MSA is proposing a list of sites organized alphabetically, by region, or by the period to which each site’s main monuments date. http://www.sca-egypt.org/eng/SITE_List.htm

Plant a New Language in Your Garden

"A world memory champion and a neuroscientist have joined forces to create a language-learning website called Memrise, which combines mnemonic tricks with a game to help users learn quickly and efficiently. Its carefully paced learning structure and competitive points system, the app's developers believe, make their site more effective than other language-learning tools. Memrise makes learning a game with virtual gardens that users must tend. As they do, they also earn points and thereby fight their way up a community-wide leaderboard."

Plant a New Language in Your Mind - Technology Review

Who and where

Who and where: Current and Recent Foreign Missions in Egypt http://www.sca-egypt.org/eng/FMR_CURRENT-MISSIONS_MP.htm
"The principal mission of the Ministry of State for Antiquities, previously known as the Supreme Council of Antiquities, is to protect and promote the cultural heritage of Egypt, both independently and in cooperation with national and international organizations. To achieve its goals, it formulates and implements all policies concerned with antiquities; issues guidelines and permits for the excavation, restoration, conservation, documentation, and study of sites and monuments; and manages a country-wide system of antiquities museums."

Enborne crop circle

From Google Maps.

"A SHARP-eyed Newbury resident spotted this strange formation off the Enborne Road in Newbury while studying computer satellite images. Construction manager Rob Fox, of St John’s Road, was looking for an alternative route to work using on-line aerial maps when he spotted what appeared to be a crop circle outline in ploughed earth."
http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=10089

Being a red blood cell

"Nanoparticles disguised as red blood cells could be used to deliver anti-cancer drugs directly to a tumour. So say researchers at the University of California at San Diego, whose new technique is unique in its approach to harnessing nanoparticles."

Nanoparticles play at being red blood cells - physicsworld.com

Aircrafts make clouds rain

"For more than 50 years it has been known that aircraft can punch large holes or carve out canals inside clouds as they pass through them – but no-one had been able to explain exactly why this happens. Now researchers in the US have identified the cause by comparing satellite images of clouds with the results of computer modelling. They say that the phenomenon could lead to extra precipitation in the vicinity of major airports."

Aircraft punch holes in clouds and make it rain - physicsworld.com

Dakhla Oasis

A French excavation team made several discoveries in Balat village in the Dakhla Oasis, around 500 km south of Cairo. More at http://www.archaeogate.org/egittologia/article/1427/1/recenti-scoperte-archeologiche-nelloasi-di-dakhla.html
http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/470508 and also
An ancient Egyptian federation

An ancient Egyptian federation

E il faraone inventò lo Stato federale, by Aristide Malnati

"Il federalismo ha avuto la prima manifestazione storica nell’Antico Egitto. ... è la conclusione dell’analisi degli elementi archeologici e storici, emersi in 30 anni di scavo sistematico sul sito di Balat, capoluogo dell’Oasi di Dakhla (200 Km a Ovest dell’odierna Luxor) durante il regno dei sovrani della VI Dinastia (2300-2200 a. C.); scavo condotto dall’archeologo francese Georges Soukiassian alla testa di un’équipe internazionale." Balat  è il più antico abitato egizio giunto fino a noi. "A Balat sono state rinvenute imponenti vestigia di quello che fu il fulcro del potere della regione più ricca d’Egitto, in particolare (ma non solo) durante la VI Dinastia. Qui risiedevano e facevano il bello e cattivo tempo i Governatori di tutta l’Oasi ... Godevano di forte autonomia e di reale possibilità di incidere anche in decisioni di politica nazionale. ... Se passiamo poi alla necropoli per l’eterno riposo dei, diremmo oggi, Presidenti della regione, il quadro della venerazione, in cui erano tenuti, si completa: ognuno fu sepolto in una mastaba, un’imponente sepoltura a sviluppo sotterraneo (quasi una piramide rovesciata), che sfociava nella camera funeraria superbamente affrescata con scene".

More

http://www.avvenire.it/Cultura/faraone_201106301208149670000.htm

As reported by Aristide Malnati, federalism had been developed for the first time in the ancient Egypt. This is a conclusion after analysis of archaeological and historical elements, lasted for 30 years during the systematic excavations on the site of Balat, Dakhla Oasis (200 km due west of Luxor). The period was that of the Sixth Dynasty (2300-2200 BC). The excavation is lead by the French archaeologist Georges Soukiassian.
Balat is considered the oldest Egyptian village. It was the most powerful center in one of the richest regions in Egypt, particularly during the Sixth Dynasty. Here lived the Governors of Oasis, having wide autonomy from the king and a real possibility to influence the decisions of the national policy.

New Pharaonic artefacts discovered in North Egypt - Ahram Online

"New Pharaonic artefacts discovered in North Egypt's site of San El-Hagar
A collection of painted blocks used in the construction of king Osorkon II’s temple have been unearthed in San El-Hagar in the Delta city of Sharqia"
New Pharaonic artefacts discovered in North Egypt's site of San El-Hagar - Ancient Egypt - Heritage - Ahram Online

A "Mobius" graphene

"In 1858, August Mobius dreamt up a shape with a single surface and only one edge. The Mobius strip has fascinated children and scientists alike since then.
How small can these shapes be? In December 2003, German chemists made a molecular Mobius strip out of a benzene-like ring modified with a belt-like carbon structure. Since then, various groups have produced increasingly bizarre Mobius-type molecules, including one that can switch back and forth from a Mobius to an ordinary strip when zapped with light.
Of course, the obvious choice of material with which to make Mobius molecules is graphene. But this particular trick has eluded chemists, an omission that clearly irks. Now Douglas Galvao from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and buddies have decided to grip the bull by the horns and calculated the properties that Mobius carbon might have."New form of "Mobius" carbon predicted - Technology Review

Farewell Lieutenant Columbo

"Peter Michael Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011) was an American actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the television series Columbo. He appeared in numerous films and television guest roles and was nominated for an Academy Award twice (for 1960's Murder, Inc. and 1961's Pocketful of Miracles), and won the Emmy Award on five occasions (four for Columbo) and the Golden Globe award once. Director William Friedkin, when discussing Falk's role in his 1978 film The Brink's Job said that "Peter has a great range from comedy to drama. He could break your heart or he could make you laugh.""

More http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Falk

Image created with labyrinthine tiling (see http://staff.polito.it/amelia.sparavigna/rendering/index.html, http://arxiv.org/abs/cs/0609084). 

Hot quarks break free

"Physicists in the US, India and China have calculated that quarks and gluons can break free from their confinement inside protons and neutrons at a temperature of around two trillion degrees Kelvin – the temperature of the universe a fraction of a second after the Big Bang. The researchers arrived at this figure by combining the results of supercomputer calculations and heavy-ion collision experiments. They say that it puts our knowledge of quark matter on a firmer footing."

Quarks break free at two trillion degrees - physicsworld.com

Wrinklons

"A new quasiparticle called the "wrinklon" could help explain why materials as diverse as graphene and household curtains wrinkle in much the same way – despite their very different length scales. The particle has been introduced by researchers in Belgium, France and the US as a result of measurements on a wide range of materials on length scales from micrometres to metres. While the work may not lead to more attractive curtains, wrinkles do turn out to affect the electronic properties of graphene and the analysis could therefore influence the development of graphene-based devices."

Introducing the 'wrinklon' - physicsworld.com

Voyager mission at the edge of the solar system

"Recent data from the spacecraft have shown a gentle decrease in the velocity of the solar wind at the heliopause – the outer boundary of the heliosheath – not the abrupt discontinuity predicted by current theories. Also, scientists looking at other data from both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have found that the magnetic field in the heliosheath is a tumultuous foam of magnetic bubbles, as compared to the graceful arcs of magnetic field lines they had expected."

More surprises for the Voyager mission at the edge of the solar system - physicsworld.com

Khufu’s second solar boat revealed

"Today, hundreds of foreign and Egyptian journalists along with photographers, cameramen and TV presenters flocked to the Giza Plateau, where Minister of State for Antiquities Zahi Hawass, Chargé d’Affaires at the Japanese Embassy to Egypt Masami Kinefuchi, and the chief executive representative of the Nitori Holding Company, Akio Nitori, unveiled King Khufu’s second solar boat. This boat was first discovered in 1954 by Egyptian architect and archaeologist Kamal El-Malakh with fellow archaeologist Zaki Nour during routine cleaning at the southern side of Khufu’s Great Pyramid. The first pit was found under a roof of 41 limestone slabs. Removing one of these slabs, a cedar boat, completely dismantled but arranged in the semblance of its finished form, was found along with layers of mats, ropes, instruments made of flint and some small pieces of white plaster with 12 oars, 58 poles, three cylindrical columns and five doors."

Khufu’s second solar boat revealed - Ancient Egypt - Heritage - Ahram Online

Documentos de Antonio Raimondi serán restaurados y digitalizados

"Se recuperarán libretas, acuarelas, planos y láminas hechas por el sabio.
Gracias al convenio firmado entre el Archivo General de la Nación (AGN) y la Asociación Educacional ‘Antonio Raimondi’ será posible restaurar y digitalizar la colección del sabio italiano, que data de los años 1852 a 1869, anunció el ministro de Cultura, Dr. Juan Ossio Acuña. "

Documentos de Antonio Raimondi serán restaurados y digitalizados

Peer pressure keeps planets young...

"Two US astrophysicists claim they have answered an important question about how planets form: why don't young planets get pushed into their companion stars before they have a chance to grow? It turns out that a little company is enough to keep them there, say the researchers, who argue that multiple planets moving through a rocky disk can prevent one another from falling into the star."

Peer pressure keeps young planets growing - physicsworld.com

On sunspots and solar flux

Recurrence plots of sunspots, solar flux and irradiance
by AC Sparavigna
The paper shows the recurrence and cross recurrence plots of three time series, concerning data of the solar activity. The data are the sunspot number and the values of solar radio flux at 10.7 cm and of solar total irradiance, which are known as highly correlated. To compare the series, the radio flux and irradiance values are monthly averaged. Recurrence plots display the oscillating behaviour with remarkable features. Moreover, cross recurrence plots help in identifying time lags between the sunspot number maximum and the maximum of radio or irradiance signals, in circumstances where the data values are highly dispersed. Image processing is useful too, in enhancing the monitoring. An interesting behaviour is displayed by cross recurrence plots of irradiance, which are not symmetric with respect to the line of identity.

http://arxiv.org/abs/0804.1941

Hygroscopic properties of volcanic ash

Hygroscopic properties of volcanic ash
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 38, L11802, 4 PP., 2011
doi:10.1029/2011GL047298

by  P. Kumar T. L. Lathem A. Nenes J. Dufek I. N. Sokolik M. Trail A. Russell
Volcanic ash is hygroscopic
Water vapor adsorption is the main proceess controlling ash hygroscopicity
The results can be parameterized in a simple correlation for use in models
"Limited observational data exists on the physical interactions between volcanic ash particles and water vapor; yet it is thought that these interactions can strongly impact the microphysical evolution of ash, with implications for its atmospheric lifetime and transport, as well as formation of water and ice clouds. ...The hygroscopicity of the ash particles is quantified by their ability to uptake water and nucleate into cloud drops under controlled levels of water vapor supersaturation. Evidence presented strongly suggests that ash uptakes water efficiently via adsorption and a simple parameterization of ash hygroscopicity is developed for use in ash plume and atmospheric models."

Shrinking atmospheric layer linked to low levels of solar radiation

Changes in the solar energy output may cause the outer atmosphere to contract.

Researches are also showing that solar cycling has differences in the minimum values.

Shrinking atmospheric layer linked to low levels of solar radiation

Snake near the lake

Image from Google Maps: a geoglyph near the Titicaca Lake, Peru.

This image shows a plain area covered by a network of waru-warus, that is, of the "raised fields" - earthworks separated by canals - near the Titicaca Lake. This is an ancient agricultural technique used by Andean people starting from the first millennium BC. Note that the structure of the network is created after a careful planning. Each raised field is approximately 10 meters large and more than one hundred long. 

It seems a snake, the pond as its eye and a forked tongue. More on waru-warus: arXiv:1009.4602 [pdf] Geoglyphs of Titicaca as an ancient example of graphic design, Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, and arXiv:1009.2231 [pdf] Symbolic landforms created by ancient earthworks near Lake Titicaca, Amelia Carolina Sparavigna

Efimov states

"Tractable three-body problems are rare, which is why Vitaly Efimov’s study in 1970 proposing that bound states could exist between three interacting bosons was so intriguing. It took more than3 0 years, though, to observe Efimov states in an ultracold gas of cesium atoms, in which interactions could be controlled with a magnetic field. Now, writing in Physical Review Letters, theorists suggest similar states should also exist between dipolar molecules."

http://physics.aps.org/synopsis-for/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.233201

The bent pyramid

Google Maps is an excellent service for archaeological survey. Let us look at the Bent Pyramid in Egypt.

After a processing by means of AstroFracTool and GIMP, we have

Or using the wavelets of Iris

Interesting for mapping sites! In my opinion, there are many other structures in these images which are connected to the pyramid (for instance, the one that seems a pool near the upper left corner), besides those listed in the following map.

This map is adapted from: 

http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/bent-pyramid-dashur.html

A new type of supernova

"A new type of supernova that shines up to 10 times brighter than any previously recorded has been discovered by an international team of astronomers. However, the team has yet to explain the exact mechanism that drives this new type of exploding star, with existing models failing to reproduce the radiation emanating from this new class of violent events."

New type of supernova outshines the rest - physicsworld.com

Vídeo: espectacular explosión solar

Una espectacular erupción solar fue captada por la NASA. Aunque sólo es de impacto medio, las imágenes de la eyección de masa coronal son impresionantes.

Read more http://www.connuestroperu.com/ciencia-y-tecnologia/42/18185-video-espectacular-explosion-solar-

Vídeo: espectacular explosión solar

Automated factories in space

"Future space equipment could one day be built in off-planet automated factories, following a new programme by UK firm Magna Parva.
The Technology Strategy Board-funded scheme will develop the idea of off-planet manufacturing for technology such as solar sails and antenna reflectors, which could cut the costs and complexity of such structures.
If this equipment were manufactured in space it could be made thinner, lighter and with fewer parts because it would not have to withstand the force of Earth’s gravity or fold compactly into a launch vehicle."

Programme looks forward to automated factories in space | News | The Engineer