Science & Technology

Uranium Is Getting Some Glowing Reviews On Amazon

MG Siegler
TechCrunch
Sun, 25 Jul 2010 15:08 UTC

Did you know you can buy uranium ore on Amazon? Well you can. It's actually been on sale for a while - BoingBoing pointed it out back in 2007. But talk of it has recently started popping up around the Internet once again this past week. Our sister site CrunchGear did a quick post pointing it out last week. Since then, a whole new batch of great customer reviews have been flowing in, as Amazon CTO Werner Vogels points out today.

Some of the negative reviews note that uranium is "bad for you." Another says that it killed a pet gorilla. But some positive reviews mark is as a "great gift for a hostile dictator."

Ancient skull suggests head reshaping practice

Nicky Phillips
The Age
Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:28 UTC

Eleven thousand years ago a tall and solidly built Aboriginal man lived a hard life. His bones reveal he had multiple breaks in both forearms, a fractured ankle so severe his shin bones fused together and arthritis in his jaw.

''Death might have been something to look forward to for him,'' palaeoanthropologist Peter Brown said.

But since his skeleton, known as Nacurrie, was discovered in 1948, near Swan Hill on the Murray River, it has been the changes to his skull that have been of most interest to Professor Brown

Sonar Scanners Discover Ancient Wrecks Off Italian Coast

Ella Ide
Reuters
Sun, 25 Jul 2010 07:18 UTC

A team of marine archaeologists using sonar scanners have discovered four ancient shipwrecks off the tiny Italian island of Zannone, with intact cargoes of wine and oil.

The remains of the trading vessels, dating from the first century BC to the 5th-7th century AD, are up to 165 meters underwater, a depth that preserved them from being disturbed by fishermen over the centuries.

"The deeper you go, the more likely you are to find complete wrecks," said Annalisa Zarattini, an official from the archaeological services section of the Italian culture ministry.

The timber structures of the vessels have been eaten away by tiny marine organisms, leaving their outlines and the cargoes still lying in the position they were stowed on board.

"The ships sank, they came to rest at the bottom of the sea, the wood disappeared and you find the whole ship, with the entire cargo. Nothing has been taken away," she said.

Neurons to inspire future computers

BBC
Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:30 UTC

The way nerve cells communicate is being studied by the research teams.

The way neurons communicate could inspire the next generation of computers.

Researchers are developing novel computers by mimicking the way that neurons are built and how they talk to each other.

Basing computers around neurons could lead to improvements in visual and audio processing on computers.

It might mean that computers learn to see or to hear in the future rather than just rely on sensors.

As well as building computers, the researchers are also helping to improve understanding of nerve cells and how they operate.

Smarter seeing

While artificial neural networks have been around for more than 50 years they typically do not copy real neurons very closely.

UK: Remains of Roman Villa Near Aberystwyth Discovered

BBC News
Mon, 26 Jul 2010 04:55 UTC

Archaeologists have discovered a 4th Century Roman villa near Aberystwyth.

It is the most north-westerly villa found in Wales and has forced experts to reconsider the whole nature of Roman settlement across mid and north Wales.

Findings indicate Abermagwr had all the trappings of villas found further south, including a slate roof and glazed windows.

"The discovery raises significant new questions," said Dr Toby Driver and Dr Jeffrey Davies, excavation directors.

The villa is likely to have belonged to a wealthy landowner, with pottery and coin finds on the site indicating occupation in the late 3rd and early 4th Centuries AD.

It was roofed with local slates, which were cut for a pentagonal roof. The walls were built of local stone and there was a cobbled yard.

Chinese Archaeologists' African Quest for Sunken Ship of Ming Admiral

Xan Rice
The Guardian
Sun, 25 Jul 2010 11:14 UTC

Search for remains of armada which came to grief on a pioneering voyage to Kenya 600 years ago

It's another chapter in the now familiar story of China's economic embrace of Africa. Except that this one begins nearly 600 years ago.

A team of 11 Chinese archaeologists will arrive in Kenya tomorrow to begin the search for an ancient shipwreck and other evidence of commerce with China dating back to the early 15th century. The three-year, £2m joint project will centre around the tourist towns of Lamu and Malindi and should shed light on a largely unknown part of both countries' histories.

The sunken ship is believed to have been part of a mighty armada commanded by Ming dynasty admiral Zheng He, who reached Malindi in 1418. According to Kenyan lore, reportedly backed by recent DNA testing, a handful of survivors swum ashore. After killing a python that had been plaguing a village, they were allowed to stay and marry local women, creating a community of African-Chinese whose descendants still live in the area.

A likely shipwreck site has been identified near Lamu island, according to Idle Farah, director general of the National Museums of Kenya, which is working on the archaeology project with its Chinese equivalent and Peking University.

India develops 35-dollar tablet computer for schools

Agence France Presse
Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:40 UTC

India has come up with a 35-dollar touch-screen "laptop" -- a computing prototype that it aims to make available to students from elementary schools to universities.

The gadget, developed by the elite Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science, is part of a push to give students a better education and technical skills needed to boost India's economic growth.

The first users are expected to be university students with introduction of the Linux-based computing device targeted for next year.

The ministry is going to install broadband Internet at all of its 22,000 colleges so students can use the 1,500-rupee (35-dollar) device, government spokeswoman Mamta Verma told AFP on Friday in New Delhi.

US: 900-Year-Old Figurine Uncovered in Illinois

George Pawlaczyk
The Associated Press
Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:00 UTC

If just one more shovel of earth had been removed, the curious figurine of a kneeling woman carved about 900 years ago might have ended up in a 19th century curio shop.

Or lost forever.

Instead, archaeology graduate student Steve Boles found the rare, 6-inch-high artifact this spring at a massive archaeological dig now under way at the old National Stock Yards to make way for construction of a new $670 million Mississippi River bridge. The figurine and the whole excavation have caused great excitement among archaeology professionals and students.

The sheer size of the dig and the discovery of a buried city dating to around 1050 A.D. - the same time that mound and city building also took off at nearby Cahokia Mounds - has raised hope that an old archaeological puzzle may finally be solved: Where did the Mississippians - a non-nomadic, warrior-based agricultural society - come from and why did they build on such a grand scale?

Site manager and archaeologist Jeff Kruchten said that since last fall, 137 dwelling sites have been dug up or are being excavated. Another 500 to 650 are thought to exist, pushing the estimate of the city's peak population to at least 4,000.

5000 Years Old Archaeological Pottery Craft Unearthed in Syria

H. Sabbagh
Global Arab Newtwork
Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:00 UTC

Archaeological excavations in the Houran region in Daraa, southern Syria, show that the region mastered the craft of pottery and its various uses 5000 years ago.

The excavations uncovered great numbers of pottery known as "black clay" that strongly imply connections between the occupants of Houran and the people of the Nile Valley.

According to these discoveries, the pottery craft emerged in Houran around 3000 BC, producing pottery of various sizes and purposes, most important of which are those discovered in tombs dating back to the Bronze Age (3100-2100 BC) indicating that the people of Houran at the time believed in an afterlife and buried simple items needed by the deceased with them, similar to the ancient Egyptians.

Archaeologist Yasser Abu Nuqta said most of pottery findings in Houran date back to the early, middle and late Bronze, Iron, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic Ages.

The uncovered pottery includes lanterns, containers, plates, jars, glasses and bottles of various sizes used for a range of purposes, with the various specimens giving a glimpse at the development of the pottery craft and the new techniques that were introduced to it due to cultural interaction and the prosperity of the region throughout the ages.

Abu Nuqta pointed out that the Bronze Age pottery is distinguished by the impurities and stone fragments in the thick clay used in making them, saying that the people of Houran gradually began to purify the clay and bake it at higher temperatures.