Cave divers in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula have discovered what may be the world's longest underground river, connecting two cave systems with a waterway at least 95 miles (154 km) long.
A group of foreign divers exploring the area near the Caribbean beach resort of Playa del Carmen have yet to name the stretch, but believe it could be connected to two other major systems, adding more than 125 miles (200 km) to its length.
Science & Technology
A labyrinth filled with stone temples and pyramids in 14 caves - some underwater - have been uncovered on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, archaeologists announced last week.
The discovery has experts wondering whether Maya legend inspired the construction of the underground complex - or vice versa.
According to Maya myth, the souls of the dead had to follow a dog with night vision on a horrific and watery path and endure myriad challenges before they could rest in the afterlife.
In one of the recently found caves, researchers discovered a nearly 300-foot (90-meter) concrete road that ends at a column standing in front of a body of water.
The discovery has experts wondering whether Maya legend inspired the construction of the underground complex - or vice versa.
According to Maya myth, the souls of the dead had to follow a dog with night vision on a horrific and watery path and endure myriad challenges before they could rest in the afterlife.
In one of the recently found caves, researchers discovered a nearly 300-foot (90-meter) concrete road that ends at a column standing in front of a body of water.
Up to eight million people are at risk of ID fraud after a hacker breached the security system of the world's largest hotel chain.
An Indian hacker broke into the IT system of Best Western Hotel Group and stole personal details of everyone who has stayed there in the past 12 months.
The details, which included home addresses, phone numbers, place of employment and credit card details, were sold on through an underground network controlled by the Russian Mafia.
The information is thought to be worth up to £2.8billion. Experts say that if it falls into the wrong hands it could spark a 'major crimewave'.
An Indian hacker broke into the IT system of Best Western Hotel Group and stole personal details of everyone who has stayed there in the past 12 months.
The details, which included home addresses, phone numbers, place of employment and credit card details, were sold on through an underground network controlled by the Russian Mafia.
The information is thought to be worth up to £2.8billion. Experts say that if it falls into the wrong hands it could spark a 'major crimewave'.
Melting alpine glaciers are revealing fascinating clues to Neolithic life in the high mountains.
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| ©University of Berne |
| The Schnidejoch glacier records human activity in the region |
An ancient city in western Turkey, discovered by smugglers of ancient artifacts at an illegal excavation six years ago and recovered with soil by officials, now waits to be unearthed.
An Australian researcher has won an international prize for her plan to wrap a giant asteroid with reflective sheeting to stop it colliding with the earth and destroying all life.
Such an impact would have the force of 110,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs if the asteroid, which actually exists, hits the planet in 2036, said Mary D'Souza, a PhD student with the University of Queensland's School of Engineering.
Such an impact would have the force of 110,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs if the asteroid, which actually exists, hits the planet in 2036, said Mary D'Souza, a PhD student with the University of Queensland's School of Engineering.
Perchlorate. Never heard of it? Join the club. But NASA's Phoenix spacecraft has found it in the soil in the icy northern plains of Mars. And now that it's been found, scientists are scrambling to explain how it got there, and what, if anything, its presence means about the habitability of the Martian north.
Phoenix didn't go to Mars to find perchlorate. It went looking for evidence of liquid water. From orbit, NASA's Mars Odyssey in 2002 discovered water ice in the martian north, lying just inches beneath the surface. Very cold, very hard ice. Far too cold to support life.
But Mars's polar regions aren't always so cold. The angle at which Mars tilts changes over time, and every hundred thousand years or so the planet leans so far over that its north and south poles take turns facing the sun as the planet travels through its orbit.
When this happens, the polar regions get increased sunlight, and some of the subsurface ice may melt, and leave behind telltale mineral signs in the martian soil. Those signs are what Phoenix is looking for.
NASA's MER rovers have both found evidence, at sites near the martian equator, of rocks that were altered by the action of liquid water. But most scientists agree that those alterations occurred quite early in Mars's history, perhaps as long ago as 4 billion years.
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| ©Unknown |
| A 3D rendering of a perchlorate ion, which contains one chlorine atom (green) and four oxygen atoms (red). |
Phoenix didn't go to Mars to find perchlorate. It went looking for evidence of liquid water. From orbit, NASA's Mars Odyssey in 2002 discovered water ice in the martian north, lying just inches beneath the surface. Very cold, very hard ice. Far too cold to support life.
But Mars's polar regions aren't always so cold. The angle at which Mars tilts changes over time, and every hundred thousand years or so the planet leans so far over that its north and south poles take turns facing the sun as the planet travels through its orbit.
When this happens, the polar regions get increased sunlight, and some of the subsurface ice may melt, and leave behind telltale mineral signs in the martian soil. Those signs are what Phoenix is looking for.
NASA's MER rovers have both found evidence, at sites near the martian equator, of rocks that were altered by the action of liquid water. But most scientists agree that those alterations occurred quite early in Mars's history, perhaps as long ago as 4 billion years.
As Aesop said, appearances are deceiving-even in life's tiniest critters. From first detection in the 1880s, clinging to the sides of an aquarium, to its recent characterization by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), a simple and primitive animal, Trichoplax adhaerens, appears to harbor a far more complex suite of capabilities than meets the eye.
The findings, reported in the August 21 online edition of the journal Nature, establish a group of organisms as a branching point of animal evolution and identify sets of genes, or a "parts list," employed by organisms that have evolved along particular branches.
With each sequenced genome, another dataset is made available to advance the quest of evolutionary biologists seeking to reconstruct the tree of life. The analysis of the 98 million base pair genome of Trichoplax (literally "hairy-plate") illuminates its ancestral relationship to other animals.
Trichoplax is the sole member of the placozoan ("tablet," or "flat" animal) phylum, whose relationship to other animals, such as bilaterians (humans, flies, worms, snails, et al) and cnidarians (jellyfish, sea anemones, corals, et al), and sponges is contentious.
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| ©Ana Signorovitch, Yale University |
| Trichoplax adhaerens |
The findings, reported in the August 21 online edition of the journal Nature, establish a group of organisms as a branching point of animal evolution and identify sets of genes, or a "parts list," employed by organisms that have evolved along particular branches.
With each sequenced genome, another dataset is made available to advance the quest of evolutionary biologists seeking to reconstruct the tree of life. The analysis of the 98 million base pair genome of Trichoplax (literally "hairy-plate") illuminates its ancestral relationship to other animals.
Trichoplax is the sole member of the placozoan ("tablet," or "flat" animal) phylum, whose relationship to other animals, such as bilaterians (humans, flies, worms, snails, et al) and cnidarians (jellyfish, sea anemones, corals, et al), and sponges is contentious.
Durham University archaeologists have discovered two rare Roman stone sarcophagi.
The 1800-year-old sandstone coffins were uncovered at a dig on the site of former chapel and office buildings in Newcastle upon Tyne. They are the first such find - and arguably the most impressive - in the area for more than 100 years.
They are thought to have been used to bury members of a rich and powerful family from the adjacent, walled fort of Pons Aelius, whose West Gate would have been sited just yards away. Hadrian's Wall would have run to the north of the fort.
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| ©Durham University |
| Archaeologists in the UK have discovered two rare Roman stone sarcophagi at a dig on the site of former chapel and office buildings in Newcastle upon Tyne. |
The 1800-year-old sandstone coffins were uncovered at a dig on the site of former chapel and office buildings in Newcastle upon Tyne. They are the first such find - and arguably the most impressive - in the area for more than 100 years.
They are thought to have been used to bury members of a rich and powerful family from the adjacent, walled fort of Pons Aelius, whose West Gate would have been sited just yards away. Hadrian's Wall would have run to the north of the fort.
The European Space Agency is about to launch the most sophisticated mission ever to investigate the Earth's gravitational field and to map the reference shape of our planet - the geoid - with unprecedented resolution and accuracy.
The Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) will be placed onto a low altitude near sun-synchronous orbit by a Russian Rockot vehicle launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia, some 800 km north of Moscow.
Lift-off is scheduled to take place at 16:21 CEST (14:21 UTC) on Wednesday 10 September. The launcher is operated by Eurockot Launch Services, a joint venture between EADS Astrium and the Khrunichev Space Centre (Russia).
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| ©ESA - AOES Medialab |
| The geoid is the surface of equal gravitational potential defined by the gravity field and is crucial for improving our understanding of ocean circulation, sea-level change and terrestrial ice dynamics, all of which are affected by climate change. GOCE-derived data is also much needed for use in practical applications such as surveying and levelling. To watch an animation please go here. |
The Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) will be placed onto a low altitude near sun-synchronous orbit by a Russian Rockot vehicle launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia, some 800 km north of Moscow.
Lift-off is scheduled to take place at 16:21 CEST (14:21 UTC) on Wednesday 10 September. The launcher is operated by Eurockot Launch Services, a joint venture between EADS Astrium and the Khrunichev Space Centre (Russia).
Comment: And what about the asteroids that we might not see... in time?