Science & TechnologyS


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Does The Past Exist Yet? Evidence Suggests Your Past Isn't Set in Stone

Recent discoveries require us to rethink our understanding of history. "The histories of the universe," said renowned physicist Stephen Hawking "depend on what is being measured, contrary to the usual idea that the universe has an objective observer-independent history."

Is it possible we live and die in a world of illusions? Physics tells us that objects exist in a suspended state until observed, when they collapse in to just one outcome. Paradoxically, whether events happened in the past may not be determined until sometime in your future -- and may even depend on actions that you haven't taken yet.

In 2002, scientists carried out an amazing experiment, which showed that particles of light "photons" knew -- in advance −- what their distant twins would do in the future. They tested the communication between pairs of photons -- whether to be either a wave or a particle. Researchers stretched the distance one of the photons had to take to reach its detector, so that the other photon would hit its own detector first. The photons taking this path already finished their journeys -− they either collapse into a particle or don't before their twin encounters a scrambling device. Somehow, the particles acted on this information before it happened, and across distances instantaneously as if there was no space or time between them. They decided not to become particles before their twin ever encountered the scrambler. It doesn't matter how we set up the experiment. Our mind and its knowledge is the only thing that determines how they behave. Experiments consistently confirm these observer-dependent effects.

Telescope

Solar System May Be 2 Million Years Older Than Thought

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© MSNBC
Researchers' new estimate based on study of pieces of meteorite

The solar system may be up to 2 million years older than previously thought, a new study has found.

Researchers studying bits of a meteorite discovered that the space rock was 4.5682 billion years old, predating previous estimates of the solar system's age by up to 1.9 million years. This adjustment, though ever so slight, should help astronomers better understand how the sun and planets formed.

"We believe that, right now, this is the most precise and accurate date for the age of the solar system," said study co-author Meenakshi Wadhwa of Arizona State University.

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The Secret Behind Mona Lisa's Smile

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© CorbisMona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
The secret of how Leonardo da Vinci produced the optical effects that created the Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile can be revealed for the first time.

Scientists have discovered how the artist managed to achieve his trademark smoky effect, known as sfumato, on the painting; by applying up to 40 layers of extremely thin glaze thought to have been smeared on with his fingers.

The glaze, mixed with subtly different pigments, creates the slight blurring and shadows around the mouth that give the Mona Lisa her barely noticeable smile that seems to disappear when looked at directly.

Using X-rays to study the painting, the researchers were able to see how the layers of glaze and paint had been built up to varying levels on different areas of the face.

With the drying times for the glaze taking months, such effects would have taken years to achieve.

The scientists also suspect that he used his fingers to apply the glaze to his paintings as there are no brush marks or contours visible on the paintings.

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Piece by Piece, China Reconstructs Treasures Destroyed by British Troops

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© Peter FosterPan Ting-ting, 21, one of 500 graduate volunteers at Beijing Old Summer Palace who are working to piece back together 30,000 fragments of Qing Dynasty porcelain excavated from the ruins of the Old Summer Palace
Almost 150 years after British and French troops looted and destroyed the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, Chinese archaeologists are painstakingly patching together treasured historical artifacts excavated from the ruins.

Archaeology students are piecing together thousands of fragments of Qing Dynasty porcelain that have been excavated over the past 30 years from what is known in China as the "Gardens of Perfect Brightness".

"On a good day, we manage to reconnect about 20 pieces of the porcelain," says Pan Ting-ting, one of the student volunteers.

The team has been working on pieces of vases, bowls and plates depicting twirling dragons and weeping willows. These represent only a small portion of the 30,000 recovered pieces.

The 150th anniversary of the destruction of the Old Summer Palace during the Second Opium War will be marked in October.

Info

Discovery of Ancient Cave Paintings in Petra Stuns Art Scholars

Winged Child_Petra
© Courtauld InstituteDetail of a winged child playing the flute, before and after cleaning.
Spectacular 2,000-year-old Hellenistic-style wall paintings have been revealed at the world heritage site of Petra through the expertise of British conservation specialists. The paintings, in a cave complex, had been obscured by centuries of black soot, smoke and greasy substances, as well as graffiti.

Experts from the Courtauld Institute in London have now removed the black grime, uncovering paintings whose "exceptional" artistic quality and sheer beauty are said to be superior even to some of the better Roman paintings at Herculaneum that were inspired by Hellenistic art.

Virtually no Hellenistic paintings survive today, and fragments only hint at antiquity's lost masterpieces, while revealing little about their colours and composition, so the revelation of these wall paintings in Jordan is all the more significant. They were created by the Nabataeans, who traded extensively with the Greek, Roman and Egyptian empires and whose dominion once stretched from Damascus to the Red Sea, and from Sinai to the Arabian desert.

Such is the naturalistic intricacy of these paintings that the actual species of flowers, birds and insects bursting with life can be identified. They were probably painted in the first century, but may go back further. Professor David Park, an eminent wall paintings expert at the Courtauld, said that the paintings "should make jaws drop".

Info

Solar-Powered Toothbrush Doesn't Require Toothpaste

Solar Toothbrush
© cnbeta.com.The Soladey-J3X toothbrush.
Researchers have designed a toothbrush that cleans teeth by creating a solar-powered chemical reaction in the mouth, doing away with the need for toothpaste.

Dr. Kunio Komiyama, a dentistry professor emeritus at the University of Saskatchewan, designed the first model of the unconventional toothbrush 15 years ago. Today, Komiyama and his colleague Dr. Gerry Uswak are seeking recruits to test their newest model, the Soladey-J3X. The toothbrush, which is manufactured by the Shiken company of Japan, will soon be tested by 120 teenagers to see how it compares to a normal toothbrush.

The Soladey-J3X has a solar panel at its base that transmits electrons to the top of the toothbrush through a lead wire. The electrons react with acid in the mouth, creating a chemical reaction that breaks down plaque and kills bacteria. The toothbrush requires no toothpaste, and can operate with about the same amount of light as needed by a solar-powered calculator.

The researchers have already tested the toothbrush in cultures of bacteria that cause periodontal disease, and demonstrated that the brush causes "complete destruction of bacterial cells," Komiyama said.

Last month, the researchers presented their research at the FDI Annual World Dental Conference in Dubai, where their poster won first prize out of 170 entries.

Book

Egypt publisher: Christians forged their version of the Bible

Pope Shenouda
© Reuters Leader of Egypt's Coptic Church, Pope Shenouda, standing with heads and representatives of churches, in Cairo, June 8, 2010.
Egyptian daily al-Masry al-Youm says Coptic Church is considering filing a complaint against the release of controversial 'forged Bible.'

An Islamic publishing house in Egypt has published what is says is a "forged" version of the Christian Bible, angering the local Coptic Church, independent daily al-Masry al-Youm reported Thursday.

The owner of the Islamic Enlightenment Publishing House, Abuislam Abdullah, wrote in the introduction that the reason behind the book's publication was to prove that there are several versions of the bible and that Christians had forged theirs.

Sherlock

Oliver Cromwell's Lost Army: Buried Side by Side, the Roundheads Who Fell Victim to a Terrible Siege

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© On-Site ArchaeologySkeleton army: The remains found in York, one of 10 mass graves containing Roundhead soldiers
They were crammed together and buried side by side, stripped of all clothing and personal possessions.

Force of circumstance determined this most impersonal and undignified resting place.

For the men buried in mass graves at a ruined York church were the soldiers of Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentary army.

The Roundheads were not killed in combat but probably by infectious disease during the gruelling English Civil War siege of the city.

Their comrades went on to defeat King Charles I's Cavaliers at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644 and turn the tide of the war.

But history forgot the more than 100 souls who probably never made it to the battleground.

Sherlock

Vietnam: Stone Age Artefacts Unearthed in Son La

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© Viet Nam NewsSome stone tools unearthed at six excavation sites at the Son La hydro-electric reservoir construction site.
More than 28,400 artefacts unearthed at six excavation sites in the Son La Hydro-electricity Plant reservoir construction site have been handed over to the Dien Bien Museum.

The objects, unearthed by Viet Nam Archaeology Institute graduates, have been identified as being from the Palaeolithic era (around 20,000 years ago) to Neolithic (3,000-4,000 years ago). They were found at Huoi So, Tua Thang communes and Muong Lay town of Dien Bien District.

They include simple tools like stone pestles, mortars, and ceramic objects.

Institute Professor Nguyen Khac Su said the objects were from tribes living in connected groups along the Da River, judging from the groups of objects.

Sherlock

Chinese "Pompeii" Unearthed in Hunan

Archaeologists have discovered an oriental 'Pompeii' in Hunan, China.

As Pompeii in Italy was destroyed by the volcanic eruption, the Chengbu Shiwangutian was destroyed by a plague of locusts during the Qing Dynasty.

'Shiwangutian' refers to an ancient farming and settlement site in Chengbu County in Hunan.

According to Zeng Xiaoguang, Deputy Director of Cultural Heritage Bureau in Shaoyang City in Hunan, after the locusts plague, the site was turned into an uninhabited area and a large amount of cultural relics were preserved, reports the People's Daily Online.

Shiwangutian is in a trapezoid shape that is higher in the north and lower in the south. It has been divided into upper part, middle part and lower part with a big circle with the diameter of 300 meters in the middle part of the farmland.