From unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org Thu Jan 31 21:55:23 2008 From: unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org (A Monthly Update on the World of Science) Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 02:55:23 +0000 Subject: [Unmuseum_newsletter] The UnMuseum Newsletter for February 2008 Message-ID: The UnMuseum Newsletter for February 2008 Science Over the Edge A Roundup of Strange Science for the Month --------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the News: *Younger Moon - A recent study of lunar rocks brought back to Earth by the astronauts has determined that the moon is much younger than previously thought. A study by Matthew Touboul of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, and his colleagues using radiometric dating shows our nearest celestial neighbor is thirty million years younger than earlier estimates. The team discovered a different way of using the radiometric method that achieved more accurate results. The new data gathered also suggests the moon was formed differently that the most current popular theory. The current theory is that a "proto-Earth" was hit by a Mars-sized "impactor" in ancient times. Part of the impactor spun off to becomes the moon. Touboul's analysis of the lunar rocks shows that are essentially the same as earth rocks suggesting that after the earth was hit, more of it found its way into orbit to form the moon that did the "impactor." *Hatshepsut Identification May Still be up in - According to story in the Associated Press, Egyptian scientists' announcement in the press a few months ago that they had used DNA to confirm the identity of the mummy female pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut may have been premature. The finding, which was highlighted in the Discovery Channel's "Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen" special, has so far not made it way into a peer-reviewed scientific publications. Part of the delay has been caused by the use of Egypt's new ancient-DNA lab. While the lab enables Egyptian scientists to analyze DNA without foreign help, getting the results is still a long process and the technicians involved are new at the procedure. Most of the analysis of the supposed Hatshepsut mummy initially was done with CT scans, which give less reliable results, compared to DNA. Final results may still be months ahead. *Neanderthals Died of Cold - A new theory says that modern humans survived when Neanderthals died because modern humans had developed the skill to sew and make complex clothing. Ian Gilligan, a postgraduate researcher from the Australian National University, suggests that the disappearance of Neanderthals 35,000 to 30,000 years ago coincides with the peak of the ice ages when temperatures dropped to extreme lows. He argues, in last month's issue of the journal World Archaeology, that earlier in the ice ages Neanderthals were more tolerant of the cold and just needed simple clothing while modern humans were forced to create complex clothing to survive. When the temperatures plunged at a time called the "glacial maximum" Neanderthals couldn't adapt quickly enough to make protective clothing and died out. *Roman "Superglue" - Romans used a form of "superglue" that still sticks today. Scientists at Rheinischen Landes Museum in Bonn, Germany, discovered the glue on a legionnaire's battle helmet. It had been used to mount silver laurel leaves on the headpiece. The glue was found accidentally while researchers were examining the helmet. They were amazed to find that it was still effective after 2,000 years of exposure to moisture. The formula for the glue seems to include bitumen, bark pitch and animal grease, though scientists have yet to figure out all the ingredients in the right proportions to recreate the material. *Mona Lisa Identified - Veit Probst, director of the Heidelberg University Library, thinks a book in the library's collection forever solves a puzzle that has had historian scratching their heads for centuries: The identity of the woman in Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. At various times researchers and historians have claimed that person pictured was Leonardo's mother, a noblewoman, prostitute or even the artist himself in disguise. Evidence to the contrary was found by manuscript expert Armin Schlechter while looking at book containing letters of the Roman orator, Cicero. The book was owned by Agostino Vespucci, a Florentine city official and acquaintance of the painter. In the margins Vespucci notes that Leonardo was working on three paintings the time, including a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo. Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of the wealthy Florentine silk merchant, was named as the subject of the painting by the 16th century painter and art historian Giorgio Vasari, but art experts have always been suspicious of this as Varari sometimes used unreliable sources. This new evidence, according to Probst, vindicates Vasari and closes the case on the mysterious identity of the woman with the famous smile. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Science Quote of the Month - "Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science." - Edwin Powell Hubble -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's New at the Museum: *Hoax Journalism - As strange as it seems these tabloids go back to long standing tradition in American culture involving authors as noteworthy as Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe. (http://www.unmuseum.org/jourhoax.htm) War of the Worlds: Trapped! - Installment four in our new graphic novel. (http://www.unmuseum.org/graphicclassic/wow/cover.htm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ask the Curator: *Up a Well - If a person is in a deep well in the daytime and he looks straight up will he be able to see the stars? - M. Matthews The notion that you can see the stars during daylight hours from the bottom of a deep well or chimney has been around a long time. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle mentions it as does the 19th century author Charles Dickens. However, any theoretical or practical evidence for this seems lacking. The British astronomer Rev. W.F.A. Ellison tried it from the bottom of a bottom of a colliery 900 feet below the surface and found the he wasn't struck by the sight of stars, but the brilliant blue of the sky when compared the darkened tube he was looking up through. We cannot see the stars in the sky during the day because of the sunlight is scattering off gas molecules in the air, sending light in all directions - including into our eyes. (Blue is scattered more than the other colors so that is why the sky is blue). The light radiating this way during day is much brighter than most stars. A few extremely bright stars, like Sirius, are visible in the day if you know where to look, though they do not stand out against the day sky like they do at night. If you were at the bottom of a well shaft, and Sirius was directly overhead during the day, the well shaft might reduce the glare from the sun enough to make the star more visible. It would not, however, allow you to see the fainter stars and the real world chance of Sirius being exactly over your shaft would be extremely small. Similarly planets, like Venus, can be seen in the daylight and viewing them from a well or chimney might reduce the Sun's glare and make them more visible, but you could probably get the same effect by using the cardboard cylinder from a roll of paper towels that you hold up to your eye. Have a question? Click here to send it to the curator. (http://www.unmuseum.org/postmail.htm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In History: *Mystery Airship in Nebraska - On February 4th 1897, witnesses in Inavale, Nebraska, reported seeing a cone-shaped flying object with "two sets of wings on a side, with a large fan-shaped rudder." Over the next few weeks similar reports would appear though out the state, and also in nearby Kansas. All of these accounts are part of a larger "flap" of sightings that seemed to sweep the United States starting in Sacramento in late 1896. While many of the reports of a "mystery airship" were either hoaxes or cases mistaken identity, some of them are still unexplained. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the Sky: *Total Lunar Eclipse - On February 20, 2008, the eastern half of the United States will be treated to a total lunar eclipse as the shadow of the earth crosses the lunar surface. The eclipse starts at 8:43PM Eastern time and becomes total at 10:01PM. The western half of the United States will see the eclipse already in progress when the moon rises that evening. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Observed: *Big Texas UFO - Texans in the area of Stephenville observed what looked like a UFO in early January. Witnesses described an enormous object with flashing strobe lights that was totally silent. A pilot who saw it said he estimated the UFO was a half-mile wide and a mile long, and was "bigger than a Wal-Mart." There were also reports that two fighter jets chased the ship, which sped away at supersonic speeds. The local paper, the Stephenville Empire-Tribune, says that about 40 people observed the object. Initially the Air Force denied that it had any planes flying that night, but later admitted that ten F-16 fighter jets were conducting training flights in the area the even of January 8, when most of the sightings occurred. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the Tube: Please check local listing for area outside of North America. *Nova: The Mummy Who Would Be King - Could a mummy exhibited for 140 years at an obscure museum in Niagara Falls be the remains of a long-lost Egyptian pharaoh? (Repeat) On PBS. February 5 at 8 pm *Remind Me Dinosaurs: Return To Life? - In the film, Jurassic Park Four, scientists are once again recreating dinosaurs through genetic engineering. We'll learn why the dream of recreating the dinosaur genome is coming closer to reality.; On Discovery Channel. Feb 17, 9:00 pm; Feb 18, 1:00 am; Feb 25, 9:00 pm; Feb 26, 1:00 am, 6PM; ET/PT. *Triassic Giant - Ichthyosaurs were swimming, air breathing creatures that resembled whales and dolphins. A team excavates the giant fossil from a riverbank in British Columbia that is believed to be the largest Triassic ichthyosaur ever found. On the Discovery Channel. Feb 17, 10:00 pm Feb 17, 11:00 pm Feb 18, 2:00 am Feb 23, 5:00 pm ET/PT *Tank on the Moon - During the 1960s, the US and the Soviet Union were engaged in a feverish competition to see which nation would be the first to set foot on the moon. The winner of this race is history, but a secret chapter is now unfolding. On Science Channel. Feb 12, 10:00 pm; Feb 13, 1:00 am; Feb 13, 5:00 am; Feb 13, 11:00 am; Feb 17, 6:00 pm; ET/PT *Global Warming: What You Need to Know, with Tom Brokaw - Travel to Patagonia where glacial ice caves are receding. Journey to the Amazon for clear evidence that the jungle may be drying out, vastly reducing the Earth's ability to absorb carbon dioxide. Tom Brokaw separates fact from fiction. On Science Channel. Feb 17, 9:00 pm Feb 18, 12:00 am Feb 18, 4:00 am Feb 18, 10:00 am, ET/PT. *MonsterQuest Episode: Giant Squid Found? - Is the legend of the Kraken, a tentacled beast as large as a whale, based on myth or a real creature? Take an expedition to the Sea of Cortez, Mexico where fishermen regularly claim to encounter large schools of giant squid. Watch as squid expert Scott Cassel uses lures with built-in cameras in an attempt to video a Kraken-sized squid 1,000 feet below the ocean. What Cassel and his team discover will make history. One-part history, one-part science and one part monster, discover the truth behind legendary creatures. On The History Channel. February 13 09:00 PM; February 14 01:00 AM. -----------------------------------------------------------------------*LGM: Check out the antics of Meep and Zeep as they try to find their flying saucer! (http://www.unmuseum.org/soearch/over.htm#lgm) Copyright Lee Krystek, 2008. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org Fri Feb 29 19:22:25 2008 From: unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org (A Monthly Update on the World of Science) Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2008 00:22:25 +0000 Subject: [Unmuseum_newsletter] The UnMuseum Newsletter for March 2008 Message-ID: The UnMuseum Newsletter for March 2008 Science Over the Edge A Roundup of Strange Science for the Month --------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the News: *Siberia Asteroid Smaller - The asteroid that exploded over Siberia in 1908 flattening almost a thousand square miles of land might not have been as large as once thought. Mark Boslough, a physicist at Sandia National Laboratories, estimated that blast was only between a quarter and a third as powerful as the previously figures of 10 to 20 megatons. Boslough used computer simulation to make his estimates. His figures show that the asteroid exploded high in the air creating a fireball that did not touch the ground. A shock wave, though, flattened trees for many miles around. Boslough's work suggests that smaller asteroids can be more dangerous than previously thought. This is significant as it is estimated that smaller asteroids hit the earth three times more often that larger asteroids. *Tiny Pterodactyl - We usually think of pterodactyls as huge, monstrous, bat-like flying reptiles with wing spans up to the size of a small plane, but scientists in China have found the fossils of a smaller version with dimensions similar to that of a sparrow. Nemicolopterus Crypticus was small, had no teeth and sported strangely curved toes that make scientists think it lived in trees. The discovery was reported by Xiaolin Wang of the Chinese Academy of Science, in last month's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. *King Penguins in Trouble Because of Global Warming - Scientists are concerned that global warming may lead to the extinction of the King Penguin. A study by French scientists in the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences shows that king penguin chicks are less likely to survive in years with warm sea surface temperatures, than cold. The researchers believe this is due to a decline in Antarctic fish stocks, which the penguins feed on, during warm years. Scientists predict that a 0.47 degree F increase in the temperature of the Southern Ocean would reduce penguin numbers by 9%, and cause the population to collapse. The report concludes, "Our findings suggest that king penguin populations are at heavy extinction risk under the current global warming predictions." *Big, Mean Frog - In Madagascar scientists have found the fossil of a frog the size of a bowling ball that sported heavy armor and teeth. The creatures, that lived among dinosaurs 70 million years ago, has been named Beelzebufo ampinga. The animal weighed 10 pounds, measured 16 inches long and may have dined on dinosaur eggs according to paleontologist David Krause at New York's Stony Brook University, who study was published by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. That's makes it the biggest known frog of all time and much larger than the current champion, the Goliath frog of West Africa, which can reach 7 pounds. Scientists are puzzled how the Beelzebufo wound up in Madagascar when its closest relative is a South American horned frog. Since frogs cannot cross large bodies of salt water this suggests a land bridge existed between the two locations much later scientists had previously thought. *Height Goes Back to Ancestors - A study published in this month's Current Anthropology suggests your height is a clue to where you ancient ancestors lived. Though height within ethic groups, and even within families, varies quite a bit, body size seems to be related to the region and lifestyle of the ancestors of your ethnic group. In general groups that lived in the tundra, savanna, desert and other open habitat areas tend to be the tallest, while groups that lived in island or island-like communities are the smallest. Scientists speculate humans evolution in crowded areas favored reproductive age at a smaller size because of high competition for limited resources. Human with less competition could afford to grow taller before reaching adulthood. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Science Quote of the Month - "Science is a great game. It is inspiring and refreshing. The playing field is the universe itself." - Isidor Isaac Rabi, U. S. physicist. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's New at the Museum: *Who Dunnit to the Dinosaurs? - They reigned over the earth for more than 100 million years and suddenly, mysteriously disappeared. What caused the demise of this ubiquitous group of reptiles which included some of the largest animals to ever walk the planet? > (http://www.unmuseum.org/deaddino.htm) *Teachers Resources - Check out our new page of helpful UnMuseum materials for the classroom. (http://www.unmuseum.org/teacher_res/index.htm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ask the Curator: *The BIG CRUNCH -What is the Big Crunch and when will it occur? - Madison The "Big Crunch" is one of several theories about how the universe will end. Probably everybody is now familiar with the leading theory about how the universe started, the so called "Big Bang." According to the Big Bang theory, at the beginning of the universe all matter and energy was compressed into an infinity small point with infinite density and temperature. Then followed a period of rapid inflation and expansion (the Bang). Matter in the universe cooled and coalesced into stars, planets and galaxies. The expansion continues today as each of the local groups of galaxies, including ours, grows further apart from each other. For many years scientists pondered what would happen at the end of the universe. While the expansion continues, gravity is trying to reverse the process and pull all matter back together. Scientists figured that either gravity would be too weak and the expansion would continue forever while just getting slower and slower, or gravity would be strong enough to bring all the matter and energy back together in a "Big Crunch." Scientists also speculated if the universe did come back into a "Big Crunch" it might precipitate another "Big Bang" which would create another universe. Ours, they suggested, might be just one in an unending series of universes. Initial measurements suggested the amount of gravity and the speed of the expansion were very nearly balanced. This meant that scientists had to impatiently wait for decades until better technology was available so that more accurate studies could be made and they could find out what the fate of the universe was. In one of those moments that proved that Sir Arthur Eddington was right when he said "not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine," the results came back showing that the expansion wasn't slowing at all. It was - much to the shock of almost everybody - accelerating. Scientists have decided that the reason for the acceleration must be something they've dubbed "dark energy," but they have almost no idea what this energy might be and how it works. If the expansion continues at the current rate the universe may end in "The Big Rip." At some point about 50 billion years in the future the expansion will become so great that everything will be ripped apart. Galaxies will fly apart as individual solar systems go their own way. Later stars will lose their planets and eventually everything down to the subatomic level will be torn asunder. Although a "Big Crunch" seems unlikely due to this most recent finding, because scientists know almost nothing about what "dark energy" is, they can't rule out that it might suddenly reverse and cause a rapid collapse of the universe. When this might happen is also a mystery. If there is a Big Crunch, the universe would end as all matter was sucked into black holes, then the black holes were pulled together to create a single massive black hole. Scientists have no idea whether this singularity might lead to a new universe and a new expansion or not. Have a question? Click here to send it to the curator. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In History: *Alligators in the Bronx - Though many people have heard stories about alligators in the sewers of New York, not many are familiar with their appearance on the Bronx river - an area not normally associated the reptiles' natural habitat. In March of 1935 (and also in June of 1932 and 1937) both live and dead alligators were found on the banks of the river. How they got there is still unknown. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the Sky: *Look for Mercury - If you've never seen the planet Mercury in the sky, this March may be your best opportunity. On March 3rd Mercury will be at its greatest western elongation, 27 degrees from the Sun. It will also be less than 3 degrees from the bright planet Venus in the southeastern pre-dawn sky making it easy to find. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Observed: *Fireball in the Northwest - On the evening of February 19th, residents of the Northwestern part of the United States were surprised to see a fireball streak through the sky. The object, thought to be a meteorite, was seen by several pilots and caught on a security camera. Though the meteorite looked close to many observers, this tends to be an optical illusion. It appears that the object exploded before it reached the ground. To view a video of the tape check: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8dqkJwgoEw -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the Tube: Please check local listing for area outside of North America. *Nova:Saved By the Sun - Is it time to take solar energy seriously? Tuesday. March18 at 8 pm *Dinosaurs: Return To Life? - Dinosaurs: Return to Life follows scientists who are using the latest technology and amazing advances in genetic research to revive the possibility of creating a living breathing dinosaur, but in a different way than we ever imagined..; On Discovery Channel. Mar 01, 9:00 pm; Mar 02, 1:00 am; Mar 02, 11:00 am, 6PM; ET/PT. *Giant Squid: Caught on Camera - The first photographs ever of the giant squid - one of the world's largest and most mysterious sea creatures. On the Discovery Channel. Mar 02, 8:00 pm; Mar 03, 12:00 am pm; ET/PT *T-Rex: Warrior or Wimp? - Since the discovery of the first T-Rex skeleton in 1905, this famous dinosaur has been billed a supreme predator, a six-ton Tyrant Lizard King. The dinosaur?s mouth, filled with huge spiky teeth, led scientists to conclude it must have been a killer. On Science Channel. Mar 02, 9:00 pm; Mar 03, 12:00 am; Mar 03, 4:00 am; Mar 03, 10:00 am; ET/PT *Quest for the Lost Ark - The existence and location of the Ark of the Covenant has remained one of the most enduring mysteries in archaeology. Professor Tudor Parfitt from London's School of Oriental and African Studies will reveal where he believes the Ark is. Parfitt is well-known for discovering that the Lemba tribe in Zimbabwe is one of the lost tribes of Israel. Follow this global quest-detective as he decodes ancient texts and pieces together clues. Ultimately he builds a picture of what he thinks the Ark looks like and where it is. The journey takes viewers through Israelite wars, Philistine shrines, Solomon's Temple and Africa to the final, critical clue which led Parfitt to its current location. On The History Channel. Sunday, March 02 08:00 PM; Monday, March 03 12:00 AM, ET/PT. *Journey to 10,000 BC - Discover the thrilling real story of life on earth in prehistoric times. Viewers will go back in time to when early humans are just starting to inhabit North America and huge climate fluctuations cause a mini-Ice Age. The saber tooth cat, the giant ground sloth and the woolly mammoth are suddenly becoming extinct. How does man survive? Travel to early archaeological sites in North America and watch as scientists uncover fossilized bones, ancient homes and weapons of stone. State-of-the-art green-screen computer animation re-creates the great mammoth hunts of the time. On The History Channel. Sunday, March 09 08:00 PM; Monday, March 10 12:00 AM; Saturday, March 15 10:00 PM; Sunday, March 16 02:00 AM; ET/PT. -----------------------------------------------------------------------*LGM: Check out the antics of Meep and Zeep as they try to find their flying saucer! (http://www.unmuseum.org/soearch/over.htm#lgm) Copyright Lee Krystek, 2008. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org Mon Mar 31 19:02:45 2008 From: unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org (A Monthly Update on the World of Science) Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:02:45 +0000 Subject: [Unmuseum_newsletter] The UnMuseum Newsletter for April 2008 Message-ID: The UnMuseum Newsletter for April 2008 Science Over the Edge A Roundup of Strange Science for the Month --------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the News: *Squid Beaks and Artificial Knees - What's the connection between a giant squid and fixing your grandfather's bad knee? It could be a material called chitin. For years scientists have wondered how a squid, which has no bones, can use its beak to cut though hard materials, without harming its own mouth. One scientist likened it to embedding a razor blade in Jell-O, then trying to use the blade for cutting by holding the Jell-O. The base of the blade would destroy the Jell-O, because the Jell-O is too soft. Scientists at the University of California found that squids solve this problem by gradually changing the density of their beaks from the cutting edges which are ultra hard, to the base which is soft. Scientists believe a similar technique could improve artificial joints, which must be soft to connect to living tissue, but hard to resist abrasion as the joint moves. *Arthur C. Clarke Dies - On March 19th, famed science fiction writer and futurist Arthur C. Clarke died. Clarke, age 90, was one of the group or writers, also including Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein, who were sometimes referred to as the "big three" of 20th century science fiction due to their influence on the genre. Clarke, the last surviving member of this elite group, had won numerous Nebula and Hugo awards, and in 1986 was named a Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America. Probably Clarke's best known work was "2001: A Space Odyssey" which he developed with director Stanley Kubrick in 1969 into an iconic film and book. Clarke is also credited with the idea of the geosynchronous communication satellite. Originally a citizen of Britain, Clarke died in Sri Lanka, which had been his adopted home since the 1950s. For more information about Clarke's life see our biography on him. (http://www.unmuseum.org/notescurator/b3clarke.htm) *Disagreement Holds Up Nazi Treasure Hunt - A hunt for buried Nazi treasure was called off after the partners running the excavation had a disagreement. Christian Hanisch and Heinz-Peter Haustein were looking for the famed Amber Room, an interior made of gold and amber that the Nazis had looted from a palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. The excavation near the town of Deutschneudorf, Germany, had been going on for several weeks when the partners had a disagreement over how it should proceed. Hanisch, who says his farther was one of the Wehrmacht soldiers who helped bury the loot, pinpointed the location to dig but alleges that the excavation has not been in the area he indicated. Haustein, who is also mayor of the town, told Germany's Bild newspaper that geophysicists will now re-evaluate the situation and that digging may resume in the future. *DNA Roots - According to research published in the journal PLoS One, 95% of Native Americans (North, South and Central) can trace their ancestors back to one of six women who probably immigrated to the Americas 18,000 to 21,000 years ago. It is thought these women were part of a group of people that entered the western hemisphere though a land bridge that has since disappeared. Scientists used DNA found in the cell's mitochondria which is passed down only through a person's mother to distinguish the heritage lines. By looking at the mutations in the DNA and using a formula to estimate how often they occurred, researchers were able to calculate when a gene lines leds back to a single person. While most scientists are impressed by the study, some warn that the speed at which mutations occur is dependent on multiple conditions and future research may show that the time estimates involved may be significantly off. *Distant Star Goes Up with a Bang - It hardly seems like news since it happened 7.5 billion years ago, but a star about half away across the universe has exploded. What makes it relevant today is that the light and other radiation from that titanic explosion finally reached Earth. On Friday, March 23rd,it was observed by NASA's Swift satellite. Scientists believe that this star, which was roughly 40 times larger than the sun, is the most powerful explosion ever observed. It was so bright that for an hour it could have been seen with the naked eye, if anybody had been looking for it. At the distance of 7.6 billion light years it easily breaks the record of distant-objects-that-could-be-observed-by-the-naked-eye which was previously only at 2.5 million light years. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Science Quote of the Month - "Science increases our power in proportion as it lowers our pride." - Claude Bernard (1813-78) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's New at the Museum: *The Eerie Crystal Skulls-The movie" Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" highlights these strange, archaeological oddities. Were they created in ancient times for paranormal purposes or are they modern fakes? (http://www.unmuseum.org/cryskull.htm) *War of the Worlds Part V- The conclusion to our newest graphic novel.(http://www.unmuseum.org/graphicclassic/wow/index.htm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ask the Curator: *The Zapotec's Little Tunnels - I've heard of tunnels found in buildings from the Zapotec empire, somewhere in Central or South America. These tunnels, as I have heard, were too small for adults or normal-sized children to enter, but still had little staircases carved into them, and ceremonial-type items were found in them. I can't find much information on them- are they real? Are people still trying to explore them? Any idea what they were used for? Many thanks - Tango. The Zapotec Empire of central American (now Mexico) existed from about 500 BC to 700 AD, and reached peak population of around 16,500 around 500 AD. At this point in time they abandoned their old capital and built a new one, Monte Alb?n, atop a high plateau in the valley of Oaxaca. Beneath the central plaza of this city runs a labyrinth of small tunnels. The tunnels, many only a foot high, are - as you note - too small for adults and most children. Some appear to have steps and are connected chambers containing artifacts like human skeletons and funerary objects. Despite Monte Alb?n being one of the most studied archeological sites in the Americans, the reason behind the tunnels is unknown, but ideas have been proposed ranging from water drainage to a transportation system for diminutive aliens. One explanation seems to be that the tubes were used for sighting the different positions of the sun, moon and stars as they moved across the sky, but the existence of the chambers snd artifacts seems to also suggest a ritual connection. This, by far, is not the only mystery about Monte Alb?n. On the north side of the site is an area called "The Gallery of Dancers" with many stone tablets carved with reliefs of human figures in contorted positions. Nobody is exactly sure what these figures mean, except that they are not really dancers. The leading theory is that they may be human sacrifices. Perhaps we could understand more about the city and its strange features if we could read the Zapotec hieroglyphics that cover city walls. While the language is still spoken in Mexico, the meanings of the glyphs have been lost and only a handful are now known. Without a key, like the Rosetta Stone (http://www.unmuseum.org/rosetta1.htm) which allowed Egyptian script to be deciphered, the translation of these texts may never be known. For a look at the plaza and the tunnels check: http://studentweb.tulane.edu/~dhixson/montealban/montealban.html Additional pictures can be seen here including the entrance to a tunnel that might have been used to site the planet Venus: http://www.le.ac.uk/archaeology/rug/AR315/fotos13.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In History: *Brown Mountain Lights - The Brown Mountain "Ghost" lights of North Carolina are famous. For many years these lights appeared to have no explaination. In April,1922, George Mansfield, of the Geological Survey, spent a week at the location studying each sighting. He attributed 44 percent of the lights to cars, 33 percent to trains, 10 percent to stationary lights and 10 percent to brush fires. This left only 3 percent unexplained. Not everybody who has seen these mysterious lights, however, accepts his explainations. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the Sky: *Lyrid Shower - A few hours before dawn on Sunday April 22nd and Monday April 23rd will be a great time to catch the Lyrid Meteor Shower. Expect to see about 5 to 20 meteors an hour coming out of the constellation Vega. The show is caused every year when the Earth plows through the dusty trail left behind by Comet Thatcher. The bits left behind hit Earth's atmosphere at nearly 110,000 mph. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Observed: *Hexapus Found at Sea Life Centre - Scientists have found a mutant octopus with only six arms and they have dubbed the creature a "hexapus." The animal had come to the Blackpool Sea Life Centre in northwest England from a local zoo and it wasn't until he attached himself to the glass wall of aquarium that staff noticed that "Henry" was missing two limbs. Usually octopi can regrow missing limbs if they lose one, but the fact that Henry has not and appears to have no stumps indicates to the staff that the missing limbs are the result of a birth defect. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the Tube: Please check local listing for area outside of North America. *Nova: Voyage to the Mystery Moon - NASA and the European Space Agency dispatch a two-part mission to study Saturn and its enigmatic satellite, Titan. Tuesday, April 1 at 8 pm *Nova: Cracking the Maya Code - The story behind the centuries-long decipherment of ancient Maya hieroglyphs. Tuesday, April 8 at 8 pm *Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science - The legend of a North American Ape species known as Sasquatch, Bigfoot and Yeti has been around since recorded time. Even today, sighting and physical evidence are gathered on a regular basis. Is this creature fact or fiction? On Discovery Channel. Apr 05, 9:00 pm; Apr 06, 1:00 am; Apr 25, 1:00 pm; ET/PT. *Egypt's Ten Greatest Discoveries - Dr Zahi Hawass and a team of leading archaeologists have selected the ten most important discoveries in Egypt. From major battles, to mega-construction, the discoveries uncover the amazing stories of the lives of kings, queens and ordinary people. On the Discovery Channel. Apr 06, 8:00 pm; Apr 07, 12:00 am; ET/PT *Most Of Our Universe Is Missing - We can only account for four percent of our universe. Join us as we visit the world's most powerful telescopes, fly through outer space, and travel inside the deepest mines to find the other 96% of what makes the universe home. On Science Channel. Apr 11, 9:00 pm; Apr 12, 1:00 am; Apr 08, 8:00 pm; Apr 08, 11:00 pm; Apr 09, 3:00 am; Apr 09, 9:00 am; Apr 13, 4:00 pm; Apr 15, 4:00 pm; May 01, 4:00 pm; ET/PT *Riddle of the Polar Sky - Join a quest to unravel the mystery of the Aurora Borealis. Scientists and citizens working on the most current scientific theories live in six months of extended darkness. On Science Channel. Apr 15, 8:00 pm; Apr 15, 11:00 pm; Apr 16, 3:00 am; Apr 16, 9:00 am; Apr 18, 4:00 pm; Apr 20, 4:00 pm; May 07, 4:00 pm; ET/PT *Decoding The Past: Doomsday 2012: The End of Days - There are prophecies and oracles from around the world that all seem to point to December 21, 2012 as doomsday. The ancient Mayan Calendar, the medieval predictions of Merlin, the Book of Revelation and the Chinese oracle of the I Ching all point to this specific date as the end of civilization. A new technology called "The Web-Bot Project" makes massive scans of the internet as a means of forecasting the future... and has turned up the same dreaded date: 2012. Skeptics point to a long history of "Failed Doomsdays", but many oracles of doom throughout history have a disturbingly accurate track record. As the year 2012 ticks ever closer we'll speculate if there are any reasons to believe these doomsayers. On The History Channel. April 05 10:00 PM; Sunday, April 06 02:00 AM , ET/PT. -----------------------------------------------------------------------*LGM: Check out the antics of Meep and Zeep as they try to find their flying saucer! (http://www.unmuseum.org/soearch/over.htm#lgm) Copyright Lee Krystek, 2008. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org Fri May 2 00:08:07 2008 From: unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org (A Monthly Update on the World of Science) Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 04:08:07 +0000 Subject: [Unmuseum_newsletter] The UnMuseum Newsletter for May 2008 Message-ID: The UnMuseum Newsletter for May 2008 Science Over the Edge A Roundup of Strange Science for the Month --------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the News: *Jabba Frog had No Lungs - Scientists have discovered a species of frog that lives in the remote parts of Indonesia's Kalimantan province that has no lungs. According to David Bickford, an evolutionary biologist at the National University of Singapore, the frog was discovered during an expedition in August 2007, but nobody noticed the lack of lungs until several specimens were dissected back at the laboratory. According to Bickford, the aquatic frog, named Barbourula kalimantanensis, is the first frog to be discovered that gets it oxygen through its skin rather than though a set of lungs. Some salamanders and caecilians also have this ability. Bickford described the animal as looking like "a squished version of Jabba the Hutt. They are flat and have eyes that float above the water." Scientist hope that a careful study of the creatures may help them understand the environmental factors that contribute to "extreme evolutionary change." Bickford co-authored a paper on frog for peer-reviewed journal Current Biology. *The Sound of Neanderthals - According to Robert McCarthy of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Neanderthal man spoke a bit like a croaking frog. McCarthy, who presented his results at a meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, reconstructed the shape of Neanderthal vocal track based on 50,000-year-old fossils from France. Neanderthal man was thought to have gone extinct about 30,000 years ago. McCarthy, who simulated their voices with a computer synthesizer, said Neanderthals, who were thought to have gone extinct about 30,000 years ago, wouldn't have been able to produce the quantal vowels which now form the basis of our spoken language. McCarthy hopes to continue his work and produce an entire Neanderthal sentence. *NASA Extends Mission to Saturn - The international Cassini Mission to Saturn has been extended by 2 years at a cost of $160 million added to the original $3.3 billion price tag. The unmanned probe has sent back about 140,000 pictures of the planet's rings, atmosphere, storms and moons since the probe was launched in 2004. The extension will allow Cassini to make 60 more orbits around the planet and then pass by its largest satellite, Titan, along with four other moons. *Ancients Army Covered with Egg - Scientists have discovered that the famous full-sized terracotta army that guards a Chinese emperor's tomb was originally covered with egg. According to German and Italian chemists who have analyzed samples from several of the figurines the egg was a binder for colorful paints. According to Catharina Blaensdorf, a scientist at the Technical University of Munich in Germany egg paint is normally very stable, and not soluble in water which makes it less sensitive to humidity and moisture. Scientists first suspected that the binder used might be an animal product, but analysis has led them to suspect egg. The terracotta army, dated to 210B.C, is one of China's most striking archeological sites and was discovered accidently by farmers who were digging in their fields. Information about how the figures were originally painted will help scientists repair, maintain and restore the site. *Hydrogen Sulfide for Suspended Animation - Scientist's continue to be impressed with hydrogen sulfide as a possible way to create a state of suspended animation in animals. In last month's Anesthesiology journal Warren Zapol, the head of anesthesiology at Harvard University's Massachusetts General Hospital, reported testing the substance in mice and finding it slows mouse metabolism without cutting blood flow to the brain. This method appears to be superior to chilling a body to slow metabolism, which can cause problems with heart rhythm. If a successful way of placing human beings into suspended animation can be found it, could have several uses including putting astronauts to sleep for extended space missions or placing patients in stasis after traumatic injury. One of the attractions to this method is the easy as which subjects can be placed into the state and removed from it. They simply are given a mixture of regular and with the gas. Mice placed into this state are not truly asleep, but do react to stimulus (like getting their tail pinched). "I don't know what its like," Zapol stated, "probably some slow-motion world." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Science Quote of the Month - "Science is an imaginative adventure of the mind seeking truth in a world of mystery." - Sir Cyril Herman Hinshelwood (1897-1967) Nobel prize winner 1956. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's New at the Museum: *Flying Saucers and the Third Reich - Hitler and the Third Reich led Europe into a decade of terror in the first half of the 20th century that culminated in World War II. Technology played a greater part in that war than in past conflicts and the Germans developed an amazing array of secret weapons in a short time. Were flying discs part of the Luftwaffe arsenal? And if so, was this secret looted and used by the Allied victors after the war? > (http://www.unmuseum.org/germufo.htm) *The Roots of Indiana Jones - Indiana Jones was spawned in the mind of George Lucas as a way of bringing the short serial movies he'd watched as a child back to life. What were these cliffhangers and why were they so inspiring? > (http://www.unmuseum.org/notescurator/indyroots.htm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ask the Curator: *Tesla's "Death Beam" - I'm wondering about Tesla's Death Ray. Did anyone ever try to build one after his death? Was it ever proven as a viable weapon? - Frank Nikola Tesla, the almost forgotten genius of electricity, hated war and for years searched for a way to put an end to it. In 1934, at age 78, Tesla thought he had found it. He had an idea for a death beam based on sending a concentrated stream of charged particles though the air. The beam would carry tremendous energy and would disrupt or melt whatever it hit. The weapon, he thought, could be used to down any hostile airplane approaching a country's borders. The beam could only be sent in a straight line and would not follow the curve of the earth, so it only had a range of only a couple of hundred miles. Because of this, Tesla felt that his invention could be used only as a defensive weapon to prevent aggression. He failed to get much interest in it until he wrote a technical paper entitled "New Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-Dispersive Energy Through Natural Media" and mailed it to a number of Allied nations including the United States, Canada, England, France, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia. According to him the weapon would be "capable of destroying 10,000 enemy airplanes at a distance of 250 miles." The nation that showed the greatest interest in it was the Soviet Union, which tested one stage of the weapon in 1939 and sent Tesla a check for $25,000. Tesla's design was clever. One the problems with a charged particle weapon is that the particles need to be accelerated in a vacuum, but then must be able to emerge from the weapon into the atmosphere to make the beam. To keep the interior of the weapon a vacuum Tesla devised a gateway for the particles that consisted of a blast of high-speed air blowing across the weapon's barrel. The blowing air helped maintain the vacuum, but would not hinder the beam. Despite this, experts say his exact design appears unworkable. However, after his death some of his papers appeared to have gone missing and then, during the "cold war" both the United States and the Soviet Union tried to developed "charged particle" weapons similar in principal to Tesla's designs. Conspiracy theorists suggest this is more than a coincidence. Later a similar weapon was designed to be put aboard a rocket as part of the SDI ("Star Wars") program to down approaching missiles, but the idea was never implemented. Currently one company is experimenting with a charged particle beam weapon code named MEDUSA which they hope can be used to defend against planes and light tanks. So far, however, no charged particle weapon seems to have made it into the standard defense inventory of any nation. Have a question? Click here to send it to the curator.(http://www.unmuseum.org/postmail.htm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In History: *Airship Flap - May of 1897 marks the end of the great airship flap that started the previous November of 1896. For those few months people all over the United States reported seeing a strange airship in the sky apparently piloted by a reclusive inventor. Then, as suddenly as the reports had started, they stopped leaving a mystery that continues even today. For more information on this anomaly in history check out The Mysterious Airship of 1896. (http://www.unmuseum.org/airship.htm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the Sky: *Check out Mercury - If you ever wanted to spot the innermost planet, Mercury, in the sky this could be the month to do it. Starting around May 13 look for the tiny planet in the west-northwestern sky in the early evening. It should be very close to the horizon. Wait about 30-45 minutes after the sun had set and make sure you have an unobstructed view of the western horizon. Mercury is very difficult to see because it orbits so close to the sun and is lost in the sun's glare. The trick is to look not too early or too late and watch for a bright star-like object. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Observed: *Chances are Against Intelligent Aliens - According to a paper in Astrobiology magazine it seems likely that human beings are alone in the universe. Andrew Watson, with the United Kingdom's University of East Anglia in Norwich, looked at the length of time it took human beings to evolve and compared it to the length of time Earth will be habitable for life. "If we had evolved early ? then even with a sample of one, we'd suspect that evolution from simple to complex and intelligent life was quite likely to occur. By contrast, we now believe that we evolved late in the habitable period," Watson says. With only about a billion years before the sun will grow hotter and incinerate our planet, the Earth's biosphere, at least four billion years old, is in its old age. Humans have overcome horrendous odds -- less than 0.01 percent over 4 billion years according to Watson's calculations -- to achieve intelligence very late in the game. If his calculations hold true for other earth-like planets it seems that intelligent life is very rare indeed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the Tube: Please check local listing for area outside of North America. *Nova: First Flower - In remote mountains of China, experts find clues to the origins of Earth's most stunning plants. May 6 at 8 pm. *Most Of Our Universe Is Missing - A team of astronomers and scientists try to pinUnfolding Universepoint the location of a strange presence hidden deep in the core of the galaxy. What they find in this mysterious realm harbors clues to the origin of the world and a future course to the galaxy and universe. On Science Channel. May 06, 8:00 pm; May 06, 11:00 pm; May 07, 3:00 am; May 07, 9:00 am; May 11, 4:00 pm; ET/PT *Riddle of the Polar Sky - Join a quest to unravel the mystery of the Aurora Borealis. Scientists and citizens working on the most current scientific theories live in six months of extended darkness. On Science Channel. Apr 15, 8:00 pm; Apr 15, 11:00 pm; Apr 16, 3:00 am; Apr 16, 9:00 am; Apr 18, 4:00 pm; Apr 20, 4:00 pm; May 07, 4:00 pm; ET/PT *Cities Of The Underworld : Stalin's Secret Lair - Deep within the former Soviet Union lays a classified, subterranean world of Cold War secrets. Join host Don Wildman as he ventures behind the Iron Curtain to reveal how the Soviets were really preparing for a nuclear war. From nuclear submarine bases to underground apartment blocks, these sites are so top-secret; they've never before been seen on American television. On The History Channel. Airs on Thursday May 01 10:00 PM; Friday May 02 02:00 AM; Monday May 05 09:00 PM; Monday May 05 11:00 PM; Tuesday May 06 01:00 AM, ET/PT. *MonsterQuest: Giganto - The Real King Kong - An exploration of the Giganto (King Kong) legend using modern science, technology, and historic eyewitness accounts. Gigantopithecus (the Latin term for "Giant Ape") is believed to have existed 9 to 5-million years ago and supposedly was around 10-feet tall. Some fossil evidence shows that it may have lived in China or India. Scientists of varying fields will attempt to genetically connect Giganto to modern-day creatures from around the world. Could Bigfoot be a relative? Forensic testing, extensive scientific research, 3-D animation, and body reconstruction will help determine the true mystery behind this prehistoric ape. On The History Channel. Wednesday, May 07 09:00 PM; Thursday, May 08 01:00 AM; ET/PT. -----------------------------------------------------------------------*LGM: Check out the antics of Meep and Zeep as they try to find their flying saucer! (http://www.unmuseum.org/soearch/over.htm#lgm) Copyright Lee Krystek, 2008. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org Sat May 31 22:32:23 2008 From: unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org (A Monthly Update on the World of Science) Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2008 02:32:23 +0000 Subject: [Unmuseum_newsletter] UnMuseum Newsletter for June 2008 Message-ID: The UnMuseum Newsletter for June 2008 Science Over the Edge A Roundup of Strange Science for the Month --------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the News: *Dino Asteroid May Have Set of Oil Fires - According to a report in the journal Geology the asteroid that ended the dinosaurs reign may have set off massive oil fires changing the world wide environment. Previously scientists had speculated that these massive fires were caused by burning forests, but an examination of the soot left at the time seems incompatible with burning vegetation. The soot particles, called cenospheres, are extremely similar to those created by modern high-temperature coal and oil fires according to Simon Brassell of Indiana University, one of the article's authors. The paper suggests that the meteor crashed into oily shales found in the Gulf of Mexico, which caused the oil in the rocks to vaporize and ignite in the air, making cenospheres in the process. *Dino Feathers Trapped in Amber - Scientists working in a quarry in western France have discovered a chunk of amber (hardened, ancient tree sap) enclosing seven feathers that are a 100 million years old. Though the source of the feathers can't be confirmed, scientists speculate that they may have been from a Troodontidae dinosaur or a dromaeosaurid dinosaur, both of whose teeth have been found nearby. Though both of these groups of dinosaurs are thought to have feathers, scientists cannot rule out the possibility of the feathers coming from a primitive form of bird. The feathers, according to the scientists "have a structure unknown in bird feathers," but also have a flattened shaft, which the researchers say is a "prerequisite for using them to fly." The researchers hope that examining these samples will give them clues as to the evolution of the feather. *Pythons Taking Over Florida - Giant pythons are spreading over south Florida according to a study by Frank Mazzotti, a professor at University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. The snakes are mostly Burmese pythons from Myanmar that were pets and turned loose in the wild. From 2002-2005, 201 of the animals were captured in the state, but this figure has more than doubled in the last two years. The pythons, whcih eat cats, dogs, hares, foxes, squirrels, raccoons and even alligators, may eventually, according to Mazzotti, range across the entire southern United States. With the largest python caught so far in Florida measuring 16.4 feet and weighed 154 pounds, the estimated population 30,000 snakes could become a major environmental and safety concern. *Suicide by Snake - According to legend Cleopatra killed herself using a poisonous snake, but Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley in her new book, Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt makes the case that the snake theory is "just too difficult to sustain and leaves too many loopholes." Supposedly Cleopatra and two of her ladies-in-waiting locked themselves in her bed chamber and killed themselves by a self-inflicted snake bite. If that is true, Tyldesley, a lecturer at the University of Manchester in England, finds herself struggling with the following questions: Could one snake kill all three women, or were three snakes smuggled into the room? Who brought the snake(s) into the room? Where did the snakes then go? Since not all snakes are poisonous, how did the women ensure that they would die? Cleopatra, thinks Tyldesley, might have chosen to die on her own terms rather than wait to be killed or humiliated by Octavian. She also suggests Cleopatra and her servants died of self-administered poison, which might have been smuggled into the room or worn on the queen in a pin or hair comb. *Super Suit for Super Soldiers - Engineers at Sarcos Inc., in Salt Lake City, are working on a "super strength" suit for the army. Much like the fictional device seen in the recent Iron Man film, the suit, or exoskeleton, senses the movement of the wearer and amplifies his strength. While the idea has been around for decades, most designs were too slow to respond and match normal human movement, particularly walking. Sarcos seems to solved this problem and currently the limitation on the suit is the power supply. The suit's battery lasts only 30 minutes. It can also be plugged in to a stationary power supply, but the cable limits the machines usefulness. While the current suit is only designed to assist workers with heavy tasks, designers envision versions that are armored to be used in combat. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Science Quote of the Month - "A fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective." - Edward Teller -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's New at the Museum: *Hitler Targets New York City - Hitler wanted nothing more than to avenge the American bombing of German cities with Nazi attacks on the American homeland cites, like New York. He failed, but how close did he come? > (http://www.unmuseum.org/hitlernyc.htm) *War of the World Printable Version- Return to the 19th century when Martians tried to take over the world in H. G. Wells classic tale by downloading our graphic novel as an Adobe PDF file appropriate for printing.(http://www.unmuseum.org/graphicclassic/wow/wow.pdf) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ask the Curator: *Cleopatra of Egypt - We studied Ancient Egypt and I was absent when we studied Queen Cleopatra. Who is she? - Samantha There are several Cleopatra's in Egyptian history, but the most famous one was Cleopatra VII. She was the last Pharaoh of Egypt, at a time just before the country was completely taken over by the Rome. Cleopatra herself was not of Egyptian heritage, but Greek. In 331BC Alexander the Great (who was from a section of Greece) liberated Egypt when he defeated the Persian Empire. After Alexander's death in 232BC, Egypt fell under control of one of Alexander's generals, Ptolemy. The Ptolemy family kept power there until Cleopatra was born to her father, Ptolemy XII, in 69BC. Cleopatra showed great interest in the traditions of Egypt and was the only member of her family in 300 years that bothered to learn the language. She followed the Egyptian beliefs and while she ruled she was considered the re-incarnation and embodiment of, Isis, the Egyptian goddess of wisdom. When her father died in 51 BC, a 17 year-old Cleopatra and her 12-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIII, took over. In addition to be siblings, Cleo and her brother were married (a common trick used to keep power in the family back then). Cleo attempted to push her husband/bother into the background and get sole control of the kingdom, but lost the battle and was forced to flee Egypt. Cleopatra's chance to get back into power came in 48BC when a political miscalculation by her brother got the Roman ruler Julius Caesar angry with him. Cleopatra took advantage of this situation: It is said that she had her servants bring an expensive Persian carpet to Caesar as a gift. When it was unrolled, Cleopatra tumbled out. Caesar, age 50, enchanted by her beauty and youth (she was only 21) and fell in love with her. He helped her returned her to the Egyptian throne which led to Ptolemy XIII's death. Caesar and Cleo had a son, Caesarion, together. It was Caesar's plan to have Caesarion rule Egypt after his death and leave Rome to grand-nephew, Octavian. Cleopatra, however, wished her son to be heir to all of Rome. When Caesar was killed by members of the Roman Senate in 44BC, Cleopatra made Caesarion her co-regent and successor. Later she allied herself with Mark Anthony, one of the three men ruling Rome after Caesar's death. They married and had children. It is likely that Cleopatra had plans to take on Rome and make herself and her son rulers of the known world, but the Romans, under Octavian, attacked first. Anthony and Cleopatra's forces were defeated at the naval battle off the coast of Actium. Soon the armies of Rome were marching through Egypt and Anthony was mortally wounded in battle. Cleopatra was held under house arrest and commited suicide (legend has it that she killed herself by letting a deadly Asp snake bite her) in 30BC at the age of 39. Cleopatra is remembered for her immense beauty and even more immense ambition. She ruled in a time when Greek women were expected to be submissive to their husbands. Instead of taking a back seat to men, however, she cleverly used her charms to gain political advantages over her enemies and was nearly successful in ruling the known world. Have a question? Goto http://www.unmuseum.org/postmail.htm to send it to the curator. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In History: *Sky Serpent - The Kansas newspaper, the Fort Scott Monitor, on June 27, 1873 reported "...A strange and remarkable phenomenon was observed at sunrise yesterday morning. When the disc of the sun was about halfway above the horizon, the form of a huge serpent, apparently perfect in form, was plainly seen encircling it and was visible for some moments." Did this actually happen or is this another example of hoax journalism? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the Sky: *Lyrid Meteors for Dad's Day - The Lyrid Meteor Shower will peak on Father's Day, June 15. Unfortunately a nearly full moon will make viewing of the shower difficult. The meteors will appear to be coming from the constellation Lyra, which will be rising in the northeast at the same time the moon rises in the southeast. Don't expect more than 10 meteors were hour at the most. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Observed: *British UFO Records Released - The British National Archives has recently released over a 1,000 pages of previously secret UFO files. In one report air traffic controllers saw a bright, circular object, flashing different colors approach one of their runways without clearance. The object, according to the report, made a touch and go on landing, then departed at 'terrific speed' in a 'near vertical' climb. The incident, which occurred at a small airport near the eastern coast of England, is just one of many in the documents, though most seem to have a more mundane explanation than that of a flying saucer. Also, while there are a number of unexplained cases in the papers, there is no reported instance in which the Ministry of Defense found any evidence of alien activity or alien spacecraft. The recently released file is just one of several on this subject that are to be made public. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the Tube: Please check local listing for area outside of North America. *Nova: Mystery of the Megavolcano - Researchers from Indonesia to Greenland unearth clues to the greatest volcanic eruption of the last 100,000 years. June 17 at 8 pm. *Killer Ants - Over 8,000 species of ants cover the planet. Most are harmless, but some have a violent streak. African driver ants have eaten a horse in a day and suffocated a human, and the army ants of South and Central America can wipe out entire ecosystems. On the Discovery Channel. Jun 21, 8:00 pm; Jun 22, 12:00 am; ET/PT *Beyond Invention: Cryptozoology - Bigfoot in your backyard? Sea Serpent stalks Fisherman! Extinct Mutant Creature Lives! Believe it or not, these headlines are real! On the Science Channel. Jun 12, 8:00 pm; Jun 12, 11:00 pm; ET/PT *Passport to Pluto...and Beyond - NASA's New Horizons mission is exploring the "new frontier" of the outer reaches of our solar system, solving the mysteries of Pluto and beyond. Meet the scientists who have waited their whole lives for this mission and see what surprises they'll reveal. On the Science Channel. Jun 10, 9:00 pm; Jun 11, 12:00 am; Jun 11, 4:00 am; Jun 11, 10:00 am; Jun 15, 5:00 pm; ET/PT *Dinosaurs: Return to Life? - Dinosaurs: Return to Life follows scientists who are using the latest technology and amazing advances in genetic research to revive the possibility of creating a living breathing dinosaur, but in a different way than we ever imagined. On the Science Channel. Jun 05, 9:00 pm Jun 06, 12:00 am Jun 06, 4:00 am Jun 06, 10:00 am Jun 07, 1:00 pm; ET/PT *Mega Disasters : Comet Storm - 13,000 years ago, a large comet exploded over eastern Canada unleashing a mass of burning fragments that ignited a mega storm of fire spreading for thousands of miles. Nearly every living thing on the North American continent was destroyed, including an ancient civilization known as the Clovis. 3-D computer animations will recreate this storm and offer an idea of the level of destruction a similar comet explosion would cause today On The History Channel. June 03 09:00 PM; June 04 01:00 AM, ET/PT. -----------------------------------------------------------------------*LGM: Check out the antics of Meep and Zeep as they try to find their flying saucer! (http://www.unmuseum.org/soearch/over.htm#lgm) Copyright Lee Krystek, 2008. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org Wed Jul 2 00:14:56 2008 From: unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org (A Monthly Update on the World of Science) Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2008 04:14:56 +0000 Subject: [Unmuseum_newsletter] The UnMuseum Newsletter for July 2008 Message-ID: The UnMuseum Newsletter for July 2008 Science Over the Edge A Roundup of Strange Science for the Month --------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the News: *Missing Pyramid is Found - Egyptian archaeologists have uncovered the "missing pyramid" of Menkauhor, according to Zahi Hawass, Egypt's antiquities chief. The German archaeologist Karl Richard Lepsius noted he'd found the pyramid in 1842 at Saqqara, calling it the 'Headless Pyramid' because its top was missing, said Hawass. Since then, however, blowing desert winds have covered the base with twenty-five feet of sand. Although archaeologists have not found a Menkauhor's cartouche at the site, Hawass is sure from the dates involved it is his pyramid. Menkauhor was an obscure pharaoh who ruled Egypt for eight years about 4,000 years ago. *Stonehenge: Land of the Dead - A team of scientists think that one of the main functions of Stonehenge, the strange ring of giant rocks in southern England, was to act as a cemetery. "It's now clear that burials were a major component of Stonehenge in all its main stages," said Mike Parker Pearson, archaeology professor at the University of Sheffield in England and head of the Stonehenge Riverside Archaeological Project. According to Pearson the burials started as early as 3,000 BC and continued through the site's zenith. The archaeologists think that Stonehenge is directly related to a settlement they have found at nearby Durrington Walls. While Stonehenge features rock columns, the settlement had wooden columns oriented in the exact opposite direction. "The village appeared to be a land of the living and Stonehenge a land of the ancestors," remarked Pearson. *As Far as the Brain is Concern It's Not Just More, but Better - Scientists in Britain have discovered it just isn't the sheer number of nerve cells in the human brain that makes it so smart, it is also the composition of those cells. Researchers looking at the density and molecular makeup of synapses found major differences between different species. The team found more than 600 types of synaptic proteins found in mammals, but were surprised to find that only half that in invertebrate synapses, and a quarter of that in single-cell animals. This means that the genetic transition from single-celled to multi-celled organisms, and then again from invertebrates to vertebrates, both involved huge increases in the architectural complexity and signaling capacity of synapses, says the study, published in Nature Neuroscience. "The view that 'more nerves' is sufficient to explain 'more brain power' is simply not supported by our study," said lead researcher Seth Grant, who heads the Genes to Cognition Program at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Britain. *The Smell of Coffee in the Morning - Japanese scientists have found that smelling coffee in the morning may be just as important as drinking it to get your day started. According to a study published in New Scientist, experiments have shown that the aroma of coffee helps restore brain activity to normal levels in sleep deprived rats. Researchers at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba, Japan, took 30 rats and kept them awake for 24 hours then exposed half of them to the smell of roasted coffee. Researchers then checked brain activity and those rats brains which had smelled the coffee were found to have returned to their normal non sleep deprived state. "These results indirectly explain why so many people use coffee for staying up all night," concluded the study. *Probe Finds Martian Ice - NASA's Phoenix probe, which touched down on Mars earlier this year, has found the first hard evidence of ice on the planet. The spacecraft's robotic digging arm scooped out three small trenches 2 inches deep in the soil, uncovering a whitish material. While some researchers thought this was ice, others argued it could also be salt. However, pictures of the trenches taken on successive days shows that the white stuff quickly disappears, something salt would not do. Scientists say it appears that the ice was evaporating in the cold, dry Martian atmosphere. Peter H. Smith of the University of Arizona, the mission's chief scientist, said "It is with great pride and a lot of joy that I can announce today we have found the proof that this hard, bright material really is water ice and not some other material." The discovery of ice greatly increases the possibility that some form of microbial life exists, or may have existed, on Mars at one time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Science Quote of the Month - "There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact. " - Mark Twain --------------------------------------------------------------------------------What's New at the Museum: *The Most Valuable Coin in the World: The 1933 Double Eagle - It was stolen from the U.S. government, collected by an eccentric king, seized by the Secret Service and practically worshiped by numismatists. Though it is not much more than an inch in diameter and weights just a bit more than an ounce, the 1933 Double Eagle is the world's most valuable coin. (http://www.unmuseum.org/doubleeagle.htm) *Are We All Just Living in a Video Game?- The idea that the world around isn't real, but is actually a game-like simulation has been around for a while. Certainly anybody that has played any simulation type game, from Halo 2 to The Sims has probably, briefly entertained such thoughts. It took a real genius, like Nick Bostrom, to suggest that such a thing just wasn't a possibility, but maybe a probability. > (http://www.unmuseum.org/notescurator/videogame.htm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ask the Curator: *BC, AD, BCE, and CE- Why are the years called by BC and AD and how exactly did the year change to BC to AD'? Did ancient people follow this? - Gajendra K. The B.C./A.D. numbering system is based on the presumed year of the birth of Jesus Christ. Years before his birth are given the abbreviation B.C. ("Before Christ") designation and are numbered backwards so the further back in time you go in time the higher the number. For example, the Great Pyramid is thought to have been built 2560 years before Christ was born which would be expressed as 2560 B.C.. The A.D. stands for "Anno Domini" which is Latin for "In the year of our Lord." All recent dates are expressed in the number of years after Jesus's birth. This year is A.D. 2008 which translates to "The year of our Lord 2008" or 2008 years after Christ was born. Technically the A.D. abbreviation should go before the number, but more recently it has become common to put it either at the beginning or the end, for example "2008 A.D.". Some people prefer to use the designation C.E. (for "Common Era") instead of A.D. so there is no religious connection (though C.E. can also thought of as "Christian Era."). The same thing can be done changing B.C. - Before Christ - to B.C.E which means "Before Common Era." This dating system wasn't invented until A.D. 525, and was not commonly used until the 8th century. Before then dates were typically numbered years based on the start of the reign of the current king. For example, Babylon was established as the center of the Babylonian Empire during the 30th year of King Hammurabi's reign. In some cases dates were not established by the beginning of the reign of the current king, but the beginning of the dynasty of kings to which he belonged. A few early calendars (like the Hebrew Calendar) tried to base their dates of the number of years since the world was created, but given that different religious scholars disagreed about when this occurred, the number system was never universal. While previous number systems were adequate in ancient times when there were few contacts between different peoples and little shared history, as interactions between cultures spread, it became difficult to constantly match the years of different king's reigns together to establish correct dates. The A.D. system first became popular in Western Europe and is now the defacto standard though out most of the world. Its popularity can also be attributed to the success of the Gregorian calendar (our system of months and days) to which it has been closely tied. Historical re-examination of the birth of Christ in the last century suggests Jesus was actually born several years before A.D. 1, but given that the system is now so well established there has been no attempt to fix it. Another quirk with the system is that there is no "year zero." This means that if you go one year backwards from A.D. 1 you will find yourself at 2 B.C.. Incidentally some people incorrectly attribute the A.D. to the abbreviation of "After [Christ's] Death" but this is incorrect as it would yield dates 33 years too low - The length of Jesus' life. Have a question? Click here to send it to the curator.(http://www.unmuseum.org/postmail.htm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In History: *Momo - In July of 1971 picnickers in the woods near Louisiana, Missouri, saw a strange "half-ape and half-man." In fear they abandoned their lunch and locked themselves in their car while the creature consumed a peanut butter sandwich they'd left behind. Though they did not report the incident to police until a year later, this was the first of a string of supposed sightings of this creature in the area of northeastern Missouri in the early 70's. The creature, dubbed "Momo" - using the abbreviation for Missouri and the first two letters of "monster" - left tracks which were dismissed by authorities as part of a hoax. The flap of reports ended in August of 1972 and the Momo monster faded into history. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the Sky: *July Planets in the Sky - This month is a good time to view the Moon, Mars, Saturn, and the star Regulus clustered together in the western sky. They will be closest on the night of the 6th just after sunset. Two days earlier, on July 4th, the earth reaches aphelion - the furthest point in its orbit - 94.5 million miles (152.1 million km) from the sun. Coming in the middle of the northern summer this continues to prove that the variations in our planet's distance from the sun does not affect the seasons. It is only because the northern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun during the summer that we get warm weather. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Observed: *British Copter Tangles with UFO - According to the British News portal The Register, a police helicopter at Ministry of Defence base of St. Athan, near the town of Cardiff, tangled with a flying saucer last month. The aircraft was hovering at altitude of 500 feet waiting for clearance to land when the crew spotted a UFO racing towards them from below. The helicopter was forced to swerve sharply to avoid a collision. According to the news site, the aircraft then crossed the Bristol channel in pursuit of the object, but lost sight of it and had to return to base because of low fuel. The crewmen described the UFO as being "saucer-shaped". Police said that the incident had been reported to the relevant authorities for further investigation. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------On the Tube: Please check local listing for area outside of North America. *Nova: Mystery of the Megaflood - What unleashed a catastrophic flood that scarred thousands of square miles in the American Northwest? Jul 22 at 8 p.m. *Nova: The Perfect Corpse - Forensic investigators tease secrets from the well-preserved bodies of people buried long ago in peat bogs. Jul 8 at 8 p.m. *Noah's Ark: The True Story - Search for the truth behind the story of Noah and his ark. Find out how Noah could have built such a structure and whether or not a great flood took place on the earth. The search for remains of the ark continues today. On the Discovery Channel. Jul 13, 9:00 pm; Jul 14, 1:00 am; ET/PT *King Tut's Mystery Tomb Opened - In the first tomb found in Egypt's Valley of the Kings in 84 years, scientists find 7 coffins, plus a golden infant-size coffin, but one coffin remains sealed. Now, in a Discovery exclusive, they race to reach it, read the markings, and lift the lid... On the Discovery Channel. Jul 13, 6:00 pm; ET/PT *Next Wave, The: Science of Tsunamis - Science demystifies one of the most dangerous and enigmatic forces on earth: tsunamis. See the science behind their devastating power. Understand where they come from and what we can do to better prepare. It's not if it will happen again, but when... On the Science Channel. Jul 05, 9:00 pm; Jul 06, 12:00 am; Jul 06, 4:00 am; ET/PT *America's Lost H-Bomb - A deadly threat lurks just a few miles off the coast of Savannah, Georgia. A thermo-nuclear weapon is ejected and lost during a war game between U.S. bombers and fighters. Can U.S. military experts retrieve the weapon before someone else tries to? On the Science Channel. Jul 19, 8:00 pm; Jul 19, 11:00 pm; Jul 20, 3:00 am; ET/PT *Ancient Discoveries: Ancient New York Visit the Show Website - New York's towering skyline and world-leading technology have made it the ultimate city, yet breathtaking new discoveries reveal that the blueprints for this megametropolis were in fact laid thousands of years ago. From brutal bloodsports staged in ancient Madison Square Gardens to Times Square-style celebrations at a gigantic neolithic calendar, you are about to discover that everything you thought you knew about the Big Apple comes from our distant forefathers. On The History Channel. Tuesday, July 01 09:00 PM; Wednesday, July 02 01:00 AM; ET/PT. -----------------------------------------------------------------------*LGM: Check out the antics of Meep and Zeep as they try to find their flying saucer! (http://www.unmuseum.org/soearch/over.htm#lgm) Copyright Lee Krystek, 2008. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org Thu Jul 31 21:33:29 2008 From: unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org (A Monthly Update on the World of Science) Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 01:33:29 +0000 Subject: [Unmuseum_newsletter] The UnMuseum Newsletter for August 2008 Message-ID: The UnMuseum Newsletter for August 2008Science Over the EdgeA Roundup of Strange Science for the Month--------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the News: *Mercury and Monks - Danish Monks who working on Biblical text or religious writing may have been killed by the toxic mercury ink that they used. Scientists have examined the remains from six cemeteries and found the medieval monks had mercury in their bones. Experts suspect that this they may have been contaminated when they licked their pens, to make sharper point, when using a red ink that included mercury. According to Kaare Lund Rasmussen, a University of Southern Denmark scientist at the Institute of Physics and Chemistry, the mercury was used because it gave the ink a 'bright red, beautiful color.' He warns that even today 'one should really not touch, or much less rub, the parchment pages of an incunabulum' because of the continuing danger of contamination. While mercury was used as a cure for some diseases at that time, it is unlikely that this is the source of the monk's contamination as their remains do not show signs of those illnesses. The report in this month's Journal of Archaeological Science does admit that the monks may have also been exposed to mercury as they prepared the medicine for others. *Speech Goes Back a Million Years - A new study suggests that pre-human relatives, like Neanderthal man, had the capability of using language. Researchers led by geologist Ignacio Martinez Mendizabal of Spain's Alcala University examined the skull of human ancestor Homo antecessor, who lived around 800,000 to 1,000,000 years ago. A careful three-dimensional reconstruction using computerized tomography (CT) reconstruction shows that Homo antecessors' outer and middle ear were optimized for hearing in the one to five kilohertz range. These pitches are linked to speech and are not possessed by other primates. Martinez's team reached the conclusion that if Homo antecessor was listening to speech, he must have also been creating it. He most likely would have passed this skill to his decedents including Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. *More Evidence Against Ancient Crystal Skulls - A recent article in the Journal of Archaeological Science adds more support to the idea that the most famous crystal skulls from the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institution appear to be 19th century fakes, rather that ancient artifacts. Researchers from the museums examined the skulls with electron microscopes, looking for tiny scratches and marks left by the carving implements. They then compared the results with surfaces of crystal objects known to be of ancient South American origin. Scientists found that in both skulls rotary wheels had been used to work the crystal - a technique that would not have been available to ancient artisans. Researchers also found a tiny black-and-red deposit in the Smithsonian skull which turned out to be silicon carbide. Silicon carbide does not exist on the earth naturally but can only be found in meteorites and modern industrial abrasives. The article concludes that 'The skulls under consideration are not pre-Columbian. They must surely be regarded as of relatively modern manufacture.' *Less Volume, More Control - Researchers at the Japan Institute of Science and Technology have discovered that humans, like the other great apes, have vocal tract air sacs for communicating to others over long distances. In humans, however, these sacks are just shrunken vestiges. 'Unfortunately, it comes with a cost,' noted TobiasRiede, a scientist at the National Center for Voice and Speech in Denver who participated in the study as a guest researcher. 'You have to fine-tune it in order to keep the voice from breaking.' Scientists speculate that evolution in humans sacrificed power and range in communications for control. Experiments, conducted using PVC pipe and an inflatable urinary bladder from a pig, show that air sacs can cause vocalizations to break at times, giving it a hoarse, uncontrolled quality. If humans still had large vocal sacs, human voices would be prone to cracking. The study was published in last month's Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. *Museum Experts Baffled by Bug - Experts at London's Natural History Museum are baffled by a new bug that has appeared in the museum's gardens. The tiny red-and-black bug which is about the size of a grain of rice was first spotted in March 2007. Scientists have consulted the museum's collections which includes 28 million insect species, but none is an exact match for this bug. 'I don't expect to find a new species in the gardens of a museum,' said the institutions collections manager, Max Barclay. 'Deep inside a tropical rainforest, yes, but not in central London.' For that reason experts at the museum are still reluctant to declare it a new species, however, and it may be an adaptation of Arocatus roeselii, which lives in central Europe on different trees. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Science Quote of the Month - 'Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination.' - John Dewey 1929 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's New at the Museum: *The Hall of Troubled and Alternate History - Step into the museum's subbasement where our researchers have constructed a time machine to allow you to explore mans' sordid past.. > (http://www.unmuseum.org/history.htm)*Cellular Deception - The cell phone has conquered our society. Now it's going after our foliage > (http://www.unmuseum.org/notescurator/cellphone.htm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ask the Curator:*Vall?e and Bostrom - Is the idea that we are all just living in a big computer simulation related to what Jacques Vall?e and people like that are talking about when they try to explain UFO's as not extraterrestrial craft but 'control devices' and so on? That is, do they mean that the ones behind the UFO's are the programmers of this big simulation we're living in, who are doing experiments on us by sending these weird, anomalous phenomena and seeing how we deal with them? I never really understood what Vall?e was getting at till I read the article on the world as a computer simulation in the current edition of the Museum of Unnatural Mystery. Thanks. - Alan MeyersDr. Jacques F. Vall?e, a computer scientist, venture capitalist and former astronomer, has long been one of the 'deep thinkers' in the arena of Ufology. Born in France in 1939 he became interested in the subject when he observed a UFO in 1955. At first Vall?e was convinced that UFOs were extraterrestrial spacecraft and published his ideas in his book Anatomy of a phenomenon: unidentified objects in space--a scientific appraisal. By 1969, however, his thinking had changed and he began to see UFOs and alien abduction reports as part of a much larger phenomenon that included other paranormal events. He outlined his thinking for this in his book Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers. Vall?e suggested in his book that flying saucers and alien visitors might not be from other planets, but from other dimensions or even different time periods. These ideas did not sit well with many UFO enthusiasts and Vall?e soon found himself an outcast among their ranks, or as he put it a 'heretic among heretics'. Vall?e sees one possible explanation of the UFO phenomenon as that of a 'control mechanism ' with incidents as deceptions created to manipulate people and society. Sometimes this is done by other humans. For example, we know the US Air Force encouraged UFO reports to hide the flights of SR-71 Blackbird spy aircraft in the 80's. The Soviet Union also did the same thing to cover the launch of rockets that were not in compliance with the SALT treaty they had signed. Much of the social manipulation caused by UFOs reports, however, Vall?e suggests are done by non-human entities who have an agenda of which we are totally unaware. Vall?e's initial thinking was that these entities were from another dimension, and were not operators of a simulated world that we are living in (See last month article on Living in a Video Game). 'There is a distinction to be made between a Matrix-like virtual world and what I first proposed in 'Messengers,' [Messengers of Deception: UFO Contacts and Cults his 1979 book] namely an information multiverse with fully physical manifestations' said Vall?e, in an interview with SUB ROSA online magazine. The multiverse he is thinking about is related to some of the interpretations of quantum theory which suggest that reality consists of many nearly parallel universes. If beings from one universe successfully figured out how to cross to another universe we might interpret them as extra terrestrials. A visitor moving from one quantum parallel universe to another also might be jumping in time also leading to the suggestion that flying saucers are our ancestors' attempts to manipulate their past. Even though Vall?e initial ideas with control mechanisms didn't involve our living in a simulated universe, in my opinion the idea that UFO incidents (and other paranormal experiences) are attempts by those outside the simulation to influence our society seem to make just as much sense as the multi-dimensional approach. Remember Vall?e's initial thinking on this subject was published in 1979 long before Bostrom's 2002 paper on the simulation argument came out. Perhaps Vall?e, after pondering Bostrom's thinking, will address this possibility directly in some future book. Have a question? Click here to send it to the curator.(http://www.unmuseum.org/postmail.htm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In History: *Strange Wake in Loch Ness - The supposed monster in Loch Ness has continued to defy common logic even in recent times. On August 11, 1996, Austin Hepburn photographed a strong wake moving up the loch despite the day being windless and no in the vicinity. Scientists have no explanation for the sighting and it remains a mystery. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the Sky: *Summer Meteor Shower - The Perseid Meteor Shower will be the highlight of the night sky this month. Though shooting stars associated with the shower can be seen from late July to August 18, the peak of activity occurs over the 11th, 12th, and 13th of this month. The best view will come just before dawn, but it is still possible to observe meteors in the evening hours. The shower appears to emanate from the constellation Perseus, which will be in the north during the evening hours near the W shaped constellation of Cassiopeia. The shower can produce up to 80 meteors an hour during peak conditions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Observed: *Moon Astronaut Believes in Alien Visitors - In a recent radio interview former NASA astronaut Dr, Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon, stated the he believes in extra-terrestrial life and that 'that we have been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomenon is real - though it's been covered up by governments for the last 60 years or so'. While there are scores of people who agree with Mitchell's pronouncement, he is one of the few people of such a scientific statue to publicly state his beliefs. Mitchell holds two Bachelor of Science degrees and a doctorate in aeronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. When asked to comment on Mitchell's statement a NASA spokesman replied, 'NASA does not track UFOs. Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinion on this issue.' --------------------------------------------------------------------------------On the Tube: Please check local listing for area outside of North America. *Nova: Dimming the Sun - New evidence that air pollution has masked the full impact of global warming suggests the world may soon face a heightened climate crisis August 5 at 8 pm.*Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science - The legend of a North American Ape species known as Sasquatch, Bigfoot and Yeti has been around since recorded time. Even today, sighting and physical evidence are gathered on a regular basis. Is this creature fact or fiction? On the Discovery Channel. Aug 15, 9:00 pm; Aug 16, 1:00 am; Aug 23, 3:00 pm; ET/PT*America's Loch Ness Monster - Bordering New York and Vermont and known as America's Loch Ness, Lake Champlain is home to a monster named Champ. Experts use the latest technology in an attempt to prove the existence of this giant, sea serpent-like creature. On the Discovery Channel. Aug 15, 8:00 pm; Aug 16, 12:00 am; Aug 22, 12:00 pm; Aug 23, 4:00 pm; ET/PT*T-Rex: New Science, New Beast - Travel into the past and re-write the history of tyrannosaurus rex. Every child's imagination will be turned on end as the world is introduced to the real t-rex On the Science Channel. Aug 16, 8:00 pm Aug 16, 11:00 pm Aug 17, 3:00 am; ET/PT*Most Of Our Universe Is Missing - We can only account for four percent of our universe. Join us as we visit the world's most powerful telescopes, fly through outer space, and travel inside the deepest mines to find the other 96% of what makes the universe home. On the Science Channel. Aug 12, 9:00 pm; Aug 13, 12:00 am; Aug 13, 4:00 am; Aug 13, 10:00 am; Aug 13, 4:00 pm; Aug 17, 5:00 pm; ET/PT*The Universe Episode: Beyond the Big Bang - The universe began with a massive expansion, billions and billions of years ago, and it continues to expand with every passing second. Interviews with the world's leading physicists and historians are woven together with animated recreations and first-person accounts to explain concepts such as the formation of galaxies, the creation of elements and the formation of Earth itself. On The History Channel. Saturday, August 16 08:00 PM; Sunday, August 17 12:00 AM ; ET/PT. *Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed - The story of Anakin Skywalker's descent into darkness and his son Luke's quest to conquer evil has spellbound audiences for 30 years. For the first time take a profound look at the serious subtext behind Lucas' six film milestone. The influence of ancient mythology from Greek legends to King Arthur is visible; but also more recent historical influences, from the political rise of Napoleon to the machinations of Adolf Hitler can be seen. On The History Channel. Saturday, August 16 10:00 PM; Sunday, August 17 02:00 AM; Wednesday, August 20 10:00 AM; Wednesday, August 20 04:00 PM ; ET/PT. -----------------------------------------------------------------------*LGM: Check out the antics of Meep and Zeep as they try to find their flying saucer! (http://www.unmuseum.org/soearch/over.htm#lgm) Copyright Lee Krystek, 2008. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org Sun Aug 31 12:15:25 2008 From: unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org (A Monthly Update on the World of Science) Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2008 16:15:25 +0000 Subject: [Unmuseum_newsletter] The UnMuseum Newsletter for September 2008 Message-ID: The UnMuseum Newsletter for September 2008 Science Over the Edge A Roundup of Strange Science for the Month --------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the News: *World's Smallest Snake Creates a Big Up Roar - Residents of the Caribbean Island of Barbados are a bit miffed at Penn State University evolutionary biologist S. Blair Hedges who recently scientifically described a snake and therefore gets credit as the species "discoverer." The snake which is well known to locals, Hedges has named after his wife with the scientific moniker of Leptotyphlops carlae. It is thought to be the smallest snake in the world with adults only reaching a length of 4 inches. Barbados residents, who refer to it as the thread snake, are annoyed at Hedges because they feel that the scientist is making it sound like they are unaware of "things in our own backyard." However under scientific protocol the Hedges is the first person to scientifically describe and classify the species and has the right to give it the scientific name *Elementary Teacher Make Massive Astronomical Discovery - A Dutch elementary teacher is being credited with having discovered a previously unknown astronomical object. Hanny van Arkel, 25, doesn't even own a telescope, but made her discovery though the internet. Working as a volunteer work for project Galaxy Zoo, a Web site that enlists the public's help in identifying galaxies, she came across a something she could not classify. The object is composed of hot gas, has a greenish color and a strange hole in the center. The astronomers who run the project were unable to classify it either and are hoping they will be able to get time on the Hubble Telescope to take a closer look. The object has been nicknamed "Hanny's Voorwerp." Project galaxy enlists the help of volunteers to examine results from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey where there are far too many pictures for professional astronomers to handle and computers do not have the pattern recognition ability to do the work as well as the human mind. *Colossal Squid Probably Docile - Scientists examining the body of a colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni), that was captured of the coast of New Zealand last year, have determined that the animal was probably very docile rather that a sleek predator. "The colossal species has a reputation for being an aggressive and dangerous predator and have been feared and misrepresented in the past," according to marine biologist Steve O'Shea of Auckland's University of Technology. The researchers' analysis of this specimen has shown that "as she got older she got shorter and broader and was reduced to a giant gelatinous blob, carrying many thousands of eggs," O'Shea explained. The scientists think her shape affected her behavior and ability to hunt. "I can't imagine her jetting herself around in the water at any great speed, and she was too gelatinous to have been a fighting machine," said O'Shea. "It's likely she was just blobbing around the seabed carrying her brood of eggs, living on dead fish, while her mate was off hunting." *Chopper Used to Track Dinos - The Bureau of Land Management is using a helicopter and a special camera to photograph a landscape full of dinosaur footprints near Utah's Coral Pink Sand Dunes. The 3-acre site is crisscrossed with the fossilized tracks of at least six species of dinosaurs. The camera is able to pick up tracks as small as a centimeter long and the resulting photographs will be used to give researchers a three-dimensional map and images of the tracks ways. The maps will help "possibly determine what they were doing," said Neffra Matthews, a geographer with BLM. The area contains tens of thousands of tracks, ranging from chicken-sized animals to some that were as long as 20 feet. *Big Foot Hoax Gets Cop Fired - Clayton County, Georgia, Deputy Sheriff Matthew Whitton got fired for his participation in a sasquatch hoax last month. Whitton, along with his partner Ricky Dyer, obtained a large ape costume, filled it with road kill meat, dropped it into a freezer, and then claimed they had found it in the mountains of northern Georgia. On Saturday, August 17, 2008, they showed the supposed corpse at a press conference in Indiana attended by various Sasquatch researchers. The researchers quickly realized the hoax and confronted the pranksters who admitted they had perpetrated the hoax for fun. Whitton's boss, Jeff Turner, the chief of Police of Clayton County, Georgia, didn't get the joke and has fired Whitton. Once he perpetrated a fraud," Turner said, "that goes into his credibility and integrity. He has violated the duty of a police officer." In addition the two men are under investigation for fraud after selling the "body" for $50,000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Science Quote of the Month - "I am tired of all this thing called science here....We have spent millions in that sort of thing for the last few years, and it is time it should be stopped." - Senator Simon Cameron, 1901, on government funding. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's New at the Museum: *The "Mystery" of the Bermuda Triangle - Are ships, boats and planes disappearing off the coast of Florida? Check our update on this classic page. (http://www.unmuseum.org/triangle.htm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ask the Curator: *DNA vs GENES - I would like to know the difference between DNA and genes. - Kamini DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. It is a double-stranded, helical nucleic acid molecule that encodes information hereditary information for almost all living organisms. A gene is one section of the DNA that controls a specific function or characteristic. DNA is arranged like a twisted ladder with the up and down rails composed of sugar molecules and phosphate molecules connected to rungs made of either adenine and thymine or guanine and cytosine. One section of rail and a half rung is called a nucleotide and each nucleotide can be connected with others to make both sides of the ladder and to make the ladder longer. Because the half rungs (called bases) can be either adenine, thymine, guanine or cytosine, there are four different types of nucleotides. The order of the nucleotides on the ladder is important as this is how information is encoded into the DNA. It is not unlike the zeros and ones that encode information for computer program. A group of consecutive nucleotides on the ladder that composes the instructions necessary to make one protein is called a gene. The protein molecule that the gene makes may control characteristics like a person's eye color, hair color, etc. On average a gene includes 3000 nucleotides, but for some simple proteins only a few dozen may be needed. Not all DNA nucleotides are part of a gene. There are lengthy intergenic regions in between most genes that either have no function or a regulatory function the scientists are only yet beginning to understand. Humans are believed to have about 20,000 - 25,000 genes. More than ninety-nine percent of these genes are shared by all humans with only less than a percent involved in giving us all those traits that make use individuals. (In fact chimps, our closet biological relatives, have the 96% of the same DNA we do). Human DNA is also split up into unconnected sections called chromosomes. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes. A child gets one half of each pair from their mother and the other half from their father which is why a child might have their father's wide set eyes, but their mother's eye color. Chromosome number 23 is known as the sex chromosome because females carry two X types and males carry one Y and one X. The DNA in a gene is divided up into two components. A "non-coding" section that simply indicates whether the gene is "on" or "off" (sometimes referred to the gene being "expressed" or not) and a "coding" section which contains the instructions to build the protein. The DNA does not build the protein itself but transcribes the information to RNA (Ribonucleic acid) to do the work. RNA looks and acts a lot like DNA, but is made up of only one half of the twisted ladder and uses a few alternate materials. In a few cases gene may not make a protein at all, but just RNA which is then used in another part of the protein synthesis operation. Every cell in our body carries a copy of our DNA and parts of that DNA are very specific to each person, which is why it has become as important as fingerprinting to establish identity. Just a few cells left behind at a crime scene through a strand of hair can be enough to let police positively identify someone as the perpetrator. DNA can also predict if a person will get certain disease. For example, Tay-Sachs, which is a fatal disease often afflicting Eastern European Jews, has been shown to be the result a mutated and non-functioning HEXA gene. Other genes may not directly cause a disease, but increase the likelihood of a person getting ill. For example, researchers have shown that people with a nonfunctioning CREB gene are at an increased risk for anxiety and alcoholism. The DNA actually looks like a super-tiny thread and is impossible to see without the use of an electron microscope. Typically it is curled up on itself so it can fit inside a microscopic cell. If you were to uncurl the DNA in a single cell, however, it would stretch out to about three feet in length and contain three billion base pairs. Have a question? Send it to the curator (http://www.unmuseum.org/postmail.htm). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In History: *Speaking of Bigfoot...- In September of 1975 near Noxie, Oklahoma, farmer Ken Tosh claimed to have had several run ins with six or seven foot tall brown hairy bipeds with glowing eyes. "The eyes glowed in the dark, redish-pink eyes," stated Tosh. On tree occasions a neighbor, Marion Parret fired upon the creatures, but with little effect on the animal except to swat at its arm as if bothered by a fly. The creatures smelled like sulfur and left a three-toed track. Once Tosh and his brother-in-law spotted two of the creatures simultaneously - one with red eyes and the other with yellow eyes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the Sky: *Triangle of Planets - See if you can spot Mercury, Venus and Mars - the three planets closest to earth - in the sky earlier this September. The three form a triangle less than six degrees wide in the western sky, near the horizon, just after sunset. Don't wait to check this out. By the end of the mouth Mars and Mercury will have dropped below the horizon and only Venus will be visible. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Observed: *Author Attempts to Explain "Dancing Plague"- In July of 1518 a strange plague erupted in Strasbourg, France. Hundreds of people involintaraly took to the streets and danced for days until they dropped. In the end several dozen died of exhustion or heart attacks. Scienitsts have debated the cause of this event. Known diseases can account for a person trembling, shaking or convulsing, but not a the cordinated dance observed in Strasbourg. Historian John Waller, author of the forthcoming book, "A Time to Dance, A Time to Die: The Extraordinary Story of the Dancing Plague of 1518," thinks the illness was caused by a "mass psychogenic illness," a form of mass hysteria. According to Waller the period preceeding the incident was one of tremendous psychological stress due to bad weather, crop failure, famine and disease. The legend of Saint Vitus, a Sicilian martyred in 303 A.D., who said he would send down plagues of compulsive dancing was also in peoples minds. Under these conditions, Waller states, victims often go into an involuntary trance state, fueled by psychological stress and the expectation of succumbing to an altered state. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the Tube: Please check local listing for area outside of North America. *Nova: Hitler's Sunken Secret - An expedition to the bottom of Norway's Lake Tinn illuminates Nazi Germany's nuclear ambitions. On PBS - September 9 at 8 pm. *Nova: Einstein's Big Idea- The story behind the world's most famous equation, E = mc2. On PBS - September 16 at 8 pm. *Monster of the Milky Way - Does a supermassive black hole lurk at the center of our galaxy? On PBS - September 23 at 8 pm. *Secrets of the Dinosaur Mummy - While exploring the Montana badlands a team of amateur fossil hunters led Nate Murphy to uncover the world's most complete dinosaur mummy. Employing state-of-the-art imaging scientists are able to unlock the most detailed images of dinosaur anatomy. On the Discovery Channel. Sep 14, 9:00 pm; Sep 15, 1:00 am; Sep 15, 9:00 pm; Sep 16, 1:00 am; ET/PT *Dinosaurs: Return To Life? - Dinosaurs: Return to Life follows scientists who are using the latest technology and amazing advances in genetic research to revive the possibility of creating a living breathing dinosaur, but in a different way than we ever imagined. On the Discovery Channel. Sep 14, 10:00 pm Sep 15, 2:00 am; Sep 15, 8:00 pm; Sep 16, 12:00 am; ET/PT *The Mystery of the Human Hobbit - It was the most striking scientific discovery of last year. An entirely new species of mini-human found on an island in Indonesia. Is the hobbit a new species that transforms our view of evolution, or is it simply a very small, modern human being? On the Science Channel. Sep 02, 9:00 pm; Sep 03, 12:00 am; Sep 03, 4:00 am; Sep 07, 5:00 pm; Sep 29, 8:00 pm; Sep 29, 11:00 pm; Sep 30, 3:00 pm; Oct 01, 3:00 am; ET/PT *MonsterQuest: Giant Killer Snakes - Head deep into the Venezuela wilderness where there have been sightings of huge man-eating snakes--anaconda. For the first time ever an industrial acoustic sonar camera will be used to search for these monsters. The investigation will also search the Everglades of Florida where pet pythons have escaped and are multiplying and growing to huge sizes, preying on all kinds of animals, even swallowing a full grown alligator in one case. Could a human become their next victim? On the Science Channel. September 04 08:00 PM; Friday, September 05 12:00 AM ET/PT *MonsterQuest: Giant Squid Found? - Is the legend of the Kraken, a tentacled beast as large as a whale, based on myth or a real creature? Take an expedition to the Sea of Cortez, Mexico where fishermen regularly claim to encounter large schools of giant squid. Watch as squid expert Scott Cassel uses lures with built-in cameras in an attempt to video a Kraken-sized squid 1,000 feet below the ocean. What Cassel and his team discover will make history. One-part history, one-part science and one part monster, discover the truth behind legendary creatures. On The History Channel. Wednesday, September 10 08:00 PM; Thursday, September 11 12:00 AM; ET/PT. -----------------------------------------------------------------------*LGM: Check out the antics of Meep and Zeep as they try to find their flying saucer! (http://www.unmuseum.org/soearch/over.htm#lgm) Copyright Lee Krystek, 2008. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org Wed Oct 1 18:50:39 2008 From: unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org (A Monthly Update on the World of Science) Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2008 22:50:39 +0000 Subject: [Unmuseum_newsletter] The UnMuseum Newsletter for October 2008 Message-ID: The UnMuseum Newsletter for October 2008 Science Over the Edge A Roundup of Strange Science for the Month --------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the News: *Extinct Frog Isn't Extinct - Scientists are happy to find that a tiny frog species thought to be extinct has been rediscovered alive and well. The 40 millimeter-long (1.5 inch) Armoured Mistfrog was thought to have been wiped out by a fungus that hit the Australian state of Queensland in 1991. Two months ago, however, a student from James Cook University conducting research on another frog species found what looked like several Armoured Mistfrogs in a creek. Conrad Hoskin, a researcher at The Australian National University in Canberra tested DNA tissue samples from the frogs and determined they were indeed from the missing Armoured Mistfrog. "A lot of us were starting to believe it had gone extinct, so to discover it now is amazing," Hoskin said. "It means some of the other species that are missing could potentially just be hidden away along some of the streams up there." *Nasty Ancient Salamander - Those little salamanders you see in your local stream had a very nasty ancestor: Kryostega collinsoni - the15 foot long salamander-like amphibian from hell. Kryostega, which lived about 240-million-year ago, was the largest land animal in Antarctica during the middle Triassic period. Though scientists dug up the creature's skull in 1986 they are only now getting around to publishing an article about it in an upcoming Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. One of the more unusual characteristics of this creature is that in addition to teeth around the edge of the mouth it had teeth across the roof of the mouth. Some of these teeth were an inch and a half in size. Researchers believe that the animal looked and acted a lot like a modern crocodile. *Stonehenge was a "Place of Healing." - Scientists think they have found evidence that Stonehenge, the circle of standing stones in southern England, was a "place of healing." A large number of remains found in graves in the area show signs of serious disease or injury. Also about half of the people were from outside the Stonehenge area. "People were in a state of distress, if I can put it as politely as that, when they came to the Stonehenge monument," Archaeologist Timothy Darvill told journalists during a press conference at London's Society of Antiquaries. The researchers believe the place was similar to Lourdes, the French shrine known for its supposed ability to heal the sick. This evidence, however, does not rule out other uses for Stonehenge. "It could have been a temple, even as it was a healing center," Darvill said. "Just as Lourdes, for example, is still a religious center." *Collider Down Till Spring '09 - The Hadron Collider, the world's largest atom smasher, had to be shut down just 36 hours after it started operation and will be off line until next spring. The collider began working on September 10, shooting protons at nearly the speed of light, but was turned off after an electrical transformer failed. Further examination showed parts of the system had melted. Initally CERN, who operates the smasher, had thought it was take two months for them to warm the system up from its operating temperature of near absolute zero, fix the problem and cool the system back down. Now, however, the agency says there is not enough time to bring the system back on-line before they enter their "winter maintenance" period that lasts till spring. *Vikings Needed Wives - The Vikings may have plundered the rest of Europe not for gold and goods, but to get wives. Researcher James Barrett thinks that the selective killing of female newborns led to a shortage of adult Scandinavian women. This drove young men during the eighth to the mid-eleventh centuries - a time known as the "Viking Age" - to seek women by raiding neighboring countries. Barrett dismisses alternate theories like the development of improved seafaring technologies spurred the Viking Age because there is evidence that the Vikings had boats capable of traveling to locations like Britain centuries earlier. "Thus the development of the Viking ship cannot have been a cause of movements of this kind," he notes. "Ships capable of carrying warriors over long distances are a necessary pre-requisite for the Viking Age, but clearly they did not cause it." Barrett has written an article about his theory for last month's issue of Antiquity. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Science Quote of the Month - "Those who have an excessive faith in their theories or in their ideas are not only poorly disposed to make discoveries, but they also make very poor observations." - Claude Bernard (1813-78) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's New at the Museum: *The Colossal Squid - Riddle: What has eight arms and two tentacles, lives in the deep ocean and is bigger than a giant squid? Answer: The Colossal Squid. (http://www.unmuseum.org/colossalsquid.htm) *Monster Movies - As Halloween approaches it's time to take a serious look at the history of these perennial thrillers. (http://www.unmuseum.org/notescurator/monstermovies.htm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ask the Curator: *People Too Heavy for the Earth? - This may be a very stupid question, but I have been curious about this for a long time. When the earth was first formed, there were no people inhabiting the earth. Now there are over 6 1/2 billion people on the earth (along with all the animals now roaming the earth). I realize living things consume the resources of earth but why has not the weight of 6 1/2 billion people affected the orbit or tilt of the earth? It is an incredible amount of weight on earth that was not there before. - Diane There are a few reasons why this weight does not affect earth's orbit. If we take the average weight of a human being as 150lbs and multiply it by 6.5 billion, then converte it to kilograms by dividing by 2.2, we get an approximate mass for all the human life on our planet as 443.19 billion kilograms (this is probably an over-estimate as the much of the world's population are children which would lower the average weight). This seems like a large number until you compare it with the mass of the earth, however, which is 6,000,000,000,000,000 billion kilograms. We are only a tiny, tiny fraction of the planet's total mass. Accurate estimates of the planet's total biomass (all plants and animals) are hard to come by, but one often cited figure is 69,181 billion kilograms. Still only a tiny fraction of earth's total mass. Even if people did represent a large percentage of the earth's weight our growth in numbers on the planet would not represent a change in the planets total mass. Why? Because all that we are was once part of the earth. For example 80% percent of our bodies are water. The water was here before people were on the earth; it was just located in the lakes, rivers and oceans of our planet. As a human body grows it takes on this water that was already on the planet. The water is shifted from sitting on the surface of the earth to inside your body, but the mass does not change. This is the same for all the other materials in your body and for all life. The only way to significantly increase the weight of our planet would be for it to be hit by a large object (by large I mean planet-sized). If such a collision occurred, however, the impact would probably wipe out all life on the planet and any modifications to the orbit would be a moot point as far as human beings were concerned. Have a question? (http://www.unmuseum.org/postmail.htm) to send it to the curator. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In History: *UFO with Hairy Aliens - On October 25, 1973, man with two children stopped his truck by a field near Uniontown, PA. They'd seen a red light over the area and on closer examination found a UFO resting on the ground. Two hairy figures with green glowing eyes were making "screaming sounds" near by. The man took a shot at one of the creatures with his rifle. The creatures and the UFO then disappeared, though a state trooper, summoned to the site, observed the ground glowing where they UFO had previously been parked. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the Sky: *Two Meteor Showers - Two meteor shows will light the October sky. The first is the Draconid meteors which will peak around October 7. This minor shower come from debris left behind in the wake of comet Giacobini-Zinner. The meteors will seem to come from the constellation Draco the Dragon, found between Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. The second meteor shower , the Orionids, comes to us courtsey of Halley's Comet. It will peak on October 20, with a meteor approximately every two minutes. The Orionid meteors appear to come from the Orion constellation (hence the name). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Observed: *Swedish Monster Caught on Tape - Sweden's monster, the Storsjoe or Great Lake monster, has been caught on film by surveillance videos, according to Gunnar Nilsson, the head of a shopkeepers' association in Svenstavik. The association has installed the six cameras that monitor the lake constantly. "On Thursday at 12:21 pm, we filmed the movements of a live being. And it was not a pike, nor a perch, we're sure of that," announced Nilsson. The images filmed have been posted on a website dedicated to the Storsjoe monster (www.storsjoodjuret.nu), and show a long serpent-like creature swimming in the murky waters. "A highly-advanced system on one of the cameras detected heat...," suggesting the creature was alive, Nilsson said. "It's very exciting and quite spectacular." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the Tube: Please check local listing for area outside of North America. *Nova: Arctic Dinosaurs - Experts in Alaska investigate how dinosaurs managed to thrive in polar regions. On PBS - October 7 at 8 pm. *Quest for the Giant Squid - The Discovery Channel and Smithsonian Institute team up to find the bus-size marine monster alive in its habitat. Sonar, a manned submersible and high-tech cameras are used to search as record numbers of dead giant squid are raised by fishing trawlers. On the Discovery Channel. Oct 03, 8:00 pm; Oct 04, 12:00 am; ET/PT *Colossal Squid - Colossal Squid is a landmark television event that presents the dramatic capture of a massive squid off the coast of Antarctica, and the groundbreaking research to discover the secrets of one of the ocean's most ellusive and mysterious creatures. On the Discovery Channel. Oct 03, 9:00 pm; Oct 04, 1:00 am; ET/PT *Siberian Apocalypse - A cataclysmic explosion wiped out nearly 1000 miles of Siberia wilderness in 1908. Three scientists return to the site of the detestation to find out what triggered this apocalyptic event nearly a century ago. On the Discovery Channel. Oct 13, 9:00 pm; Oct 14, 1:00 am; Oct 18, 10:00 pm; Oct 19, 2:00 am; ET/PT *The Hawking Paradox - In 2004, Stephen Hawking admitted to making a mistake. The genius who discovered black holes was claiming that his entire theory about them was wrong. Follow Hawking as he prepares to deliver the paper that he says will prove his doubters wrong. On the Science Channel. Oct 05, 8:00 pm; Oct 05, 11:00 pm; Oct 07, 3:00 am; ET/PT *Dive to Bermuda Triangle - The mystery of the Bermuda Triangle has spawned theories from aliens to time warps. Hundreds of boats and planes have disappeared without a trace. Most of these can be explained, but a few still remain a genuine mystery. On the Science Channel. Oct 13, 8:00 pm Oct 13, 11:00 pm; Oct 14, 3:00 pm; Oct 15, 3:00 am; ET/PT *Last Days on Earth - Could the human race become suddenly extinct? We count down seven ways in which the world as we know it could meet an abrupt and untimely end, from a mammoth asteroid strike to the eruption of a super volcano. What would happen as computers literally become trillions of times smarter than we are--would they program our mass murder? Scientists, experts, and witnesses describe these and other vividly pictured disaster scenarios, from super bugs created in secret labs to black holes that could suck earth into oblivion. Using state-of-the-art computer-generated graphics and interviews with the world's top scientists, we will leave viewers pondering humanity's place in the universe and will reveal the most terrifying truth of all--that our greatest enemy is ourselves. On The History Channel. Sunday, October 12 10:00 PM; Monday, October 13 02:00 AM; ET/PT. -----------------------------------------------------------------------*LGM: Check out the antics of Meep and Zeep as they try to find their flying saucer! (http://www.unmuseum.org/soearch/over.htm#lgm) Copyright Lee Krystek, 2008. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org Sat Nov 1 09:45:07 2008 From: unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org (A Monthly Update on the World of Science) Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 13:45:07 +0000 Subject: [Unmuseum_newsletter] The UnMuseum Newsletter for November 2008 Message-ID: The UnMuseum Newsletter for November 2008 Science Over the Edge A Roundup of Strange Science for the Month --------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the News: *3-D Displays on the Way? - Scientists at the University of Arizona have figured out how to make the first updatable three-dimensional displays with memory. "This is a prerequisite for any type of moving holographic technology. The way it works presently is not suitable for 3-D images," said Dr Nasser Peyghambarian, chair of photonics and lasers at the university's Optical Sciences department. While the technology is far from perfected Peyghambarian says he does not see any more major barriers to using it to create 3-dimensional televisions and computer displays within the next ten years. *Secret Files Reveal Orders to Shoot Down UFO - Recently released secret files published by Britain's National Archives indicate that a United States fighter jet operating out of Royal Air Force Station at Manston, England, was ordered to shoot down a UFO. The incident, which happened on the night of May 20, 1957, involved two jets sent over the North Sea to intercept a massive blip with an unusual flight pattern that appeared on radar. "The blip was burning a hole in the radar with its incredible intensity," the pilot said. "It was similar to a blip I had received from B-52's and seemed to be a magnet of light. ... I had a lock on that had the proportions of a flying aircraft carrier." One fighter pilot, who could only see the object on radar because of heavy cloud cover, was order to fire a salvo of missiles at it. Before he could launch them, however, the object disappeared from his radar apparently shooting away from him at incredible speeds. Retired US airman Milton Torres told Britain's Sky News that he was the pilot and had spent half a century trying to discover the truth about his encounter. "I had not the foggiest idea what had actually occurred, nor would anyone explain anything to me," the pilot said. He said afterwards he was led to a man in civilian clothes, who "advised me that this would be considered highly classified and that I should not discuss it with anybody not even my commander," he said. *Acrobatic Flying Robot Designed After Pterodactyl - Sankar Chatterjee, a paleontologist from Texas Tech University, and aerospace engineer Richard Lind, from the University of Florida, are teaming up to build the next generation of futuristic aircraft based on the design of a 225-million-year-old pterodactyl. Tapejara wellnhoferi had an unusual crest on his forehead that acted like a rudder. Though such a design is very unstable it allowed the creature to make sharp turns and perform difficult acrobatic maneuvers. The scientists are cooperating on a flying robot that would use the same design. "It's nice to have something stable, but the military is interested in having aircraft that can fly down into cities between buildings, avoiding wires and stuff like that," observed Sean Humbert of the University of Maryland. "This is a good design if you want to do crazy acrobatic maneuvers." *Magnet Approved to Treat Depression - Though it sounds more like a quack cure then serious medicine, the FDA has approved the use of magnetic stimulation to treat depression. The device beams magnetic pulses through the skull that trigger small electrical charges that spark brain cells to fire. Proponents claim that it doesn't have the risks of surgically implanted electrodes or shock therapy. The technique, called transcranial magnetic stimulation or TMS, has been developed by Neuronetics Inc.'s. The NeuroStar therapy is specifically for patients who had no relief from their initial antidepressant and offers them a different solution than trying pill after pill. *Oldest Doggie Found - An international team of scientists think that they have discovered the remains of the oldest known dog. It lived about 31,700 years ago and subsisted on a diet of horse, musk ox and reindeer. The second oldest dog found in Russia, dates to only 14,000 years ago. This new evidence which was found in Goyet Cave in Belgium, suggests to that the Aurignacian people of Europe first domesticated dogs." In shape, the Paleolithic dogs most resemble the Siberian husky, but in size, however, they were somewhat larger, probably comparable to large shepherd dogs," remarked Germonpr?, a paleontologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences who contributed to the study to be published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Science Quote of the Month - "Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science." - Ralph Waldo Emerson. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's New at the Museum: *The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis - A Zoology Professor's controversial theory about how the dwelling in water may have affected the evolution of man may explain issues from our lack of body hair to our affinity for expensive beach-front property. (http://www.unmuseum.org/aquaticape.htm) *Steampunk Fun - A nostalgic look at a past that never was.>(http://www.unmuseum.org/notescurator/steampunkfun.htm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ask the Curator: *Baghdad Battery for Electric Cars? - "Has the Babylon battery on your site ever been tested out for a power source for cars? How about lamps etc.?" - Sheryl Skoglund In 1938 the German archeologist Wilhelm Konig discovered an object in the Baghdad museum's collection that looked to him like it might be the remains of a battery: a clay jar which seemed to have an iron bar running from the top surrounded by a copper cylinder (http://www.unmuseum.org/bbattery.htm). Other scientists disagreed with his idea claiming the jars might have been used to contain scrolls or have some other purpose, but Konig published his conjecture in 1940 and people have been fascinated with the possibility ever since. Several people have actually made replicas of the Baghdad Battery and tried it on different applications. The voltage produced is pretty low compared to modern batteries. Perhaps a half volt. (Your everyday AAA battery produces one and one half volts.) This might be sufficient to light a LED bulb, but given the size of the ancient battery, it really has no modern practical use. It has been suggested that the ancients might have used it to electroplate objects. What is amazing about the battery - if that is truly what it is - is that it exists at all. It was thought the discovery of how to make electricity though a chemical reaction was not discovered until beginning of the 19th century. The battery, and other devices like the Antikythera Mechanism (http://www.unmuseum.org/amechanism.htm), which is a mechanical computer used to predict the movement of the stars, suggest that the ancients knew a lot more about technology that we originally appreciated. For a video excerpt from Mysterious World demonstrating both of these objects, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsqQs0GtI4Q Have a question? Click here (http://www.unmuseum.org/postmail.htm) to send it to the curator. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In History: *Australian Big Cats - Australia has no wild cat species (the Tasmanian tiger was actually a marsupial), yet occasionally large black panthers are reported. These reports are often linked with attacks on sheep or other stock animals. When cryptozoologist Paul Cropper investigated the report of one of these mysterious black cats being killed on the Cambewarra Range in 1977, however, he found that it was only a large house cat gone feral. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the Sky: *Planetary Conjunction - As November rolls along the planets Venus and Jupiter will move closer and closer together until on the 30th they will be only 2 degrees apart in the sky. This close encounter between two of the brightest objects in the heavens is called a conjunction. Be sure to look for it just after sunset near the constellation Sagittarius. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Observed: *Project Yeti Captures Foot Prints - A team of Japanese adventurers think they have found the tracks of the elusive yeti (sometimes called the abominable snowman) on Dhaulagiri IV -- a 7,661-meter (25,135-foot) peak in the Himalayas. "The footprints were about 20 centimeters (eight inches) long and looked like a human's," stated Yoshiteru Takahashi, the leader of the Yeti Project. "Myself and other team members have been coming to the Himalayas for years and we can recognize bear, deer, wolf and snow leopard prints and it was none of those," he added. This was the group's third attempt to track down the legendary creature. The team set up nine motion-sensitive cameras in an area where they thought they had seen a yeti in 2003, but did not get any photos. "We remain convinced it is real. The footprints and the stories the local tell make us sure that it is not imaginary," said Takahashi. "We will come back as soon as we can, and we will keep coming back until we get the yeti on film." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the Tube: Please check local listing for area outside of North America. *Nova: Alien From Earth - Do the remains of a tiny hobbit-like creature found on the Island of Flores belong to a new human species? On PBS. November 11 at 8 pm. *Nazi UFO Conspiracy - A credible investigation of possible connections between UFO sightings in the past half century and secret flying saucer technologies developed by the Nazis in WW2. On the Discovery Channel. Nov 09, 8:00 pm; Nov 10, 12:00 am; ET/PT *Investigation X: Siberian Apocalypse - Colossal Squid is a landmark television event that presents the dramatic capture of a massive squid off the coast of Antarctica, and the groundbreaking research to discover the secrets of one of the ocean's most ellusive and mysterious creatures. On the Discovery Channel. Nov 03, 9:00 pm; Nov 04, 1:00 am; Nov 10, 12:00 pm; Nov 15, 9:00 pm; Nov 16, 1:00 am; ET/PT *Parallel Universe - The strange notion of parallel universes is gaining strength in the scientific community and may solve our most basic questions about the universe, including the origins of the Big Bang itself. On the Science Channel. Nov 09, 9:00 pm; Nov 10, 12:00 am; Nov 11, 4:00 am; ET/PT *Secrets of the Deep - For the first time ever, advanced computer graphics will light the infinite vistas of the ocean. The largest habitat on earth has remained impentrable, until now. On the Science Channel. Nov 10, 8:00 pm; Nov 10, 11:00 pm;Nov 11, 3:00 pm; Nov 12, 3:00 am; ET/PT *Decoding The Past Episode: Doomsday 2012: The End of Days - There are prophecies and oracles from around the world that all seem to point to December 21, 2012 as doomsday. The ancient Mayan Calendar, the medieval predictions of Merlin, the Book of Revelation and the Chinese oracle of the I Ching all point to this specific date as the end of civilization. A new technology called "The Web-Bot Project" makes massive scans of the internet as a means of forecasting the future... and has turned up the same dreaded date: 2012. Skeptics point to a long history of "Failed Doomsdays", but many oracles of doom throughout history have a disturbingly accurate track record. As the year 2012 ticks ever closer we'll speculate if there are any reasons to believe these doomsayers. On The History Channel. Tuesday, November 11 08:00 PM; Wednesday, November 12 12:00 AM ; ET/PT. -----------------------------------------------------------------------*LGM: Check out the antics of Meep and Zeep as they try to find their flying saucer! (http://www.unmuseum.org/soearch/over.htm#lgm) Copyright Lee Krystek, 2008. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org Mon Dec 1 18:57:15 2008 From: unmuseum_newsletter at unmuseum.org (A Monthly Update on the World of Science) Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008 23:57:15 +0000 Subject: [Unmuseum_newsletter] The UnMuseum Newsletter for December 2008 Message-ID: The UnMuseum Newsletter for December 2008 Science Over the Edge A Roundup of Strange Science for the Month --------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the News: *Woman Gets New Trachea from Stem Cells - Scientists have managed to give a 30 year-old woman a new lease on life by replacing her old trachea (windpipe) that had been damaged by tuberculosis with a new one formed from her own stem cells. Doctors started with a section of windpipe from a cadaver and stripped of all cells from it leaving just a scaffolding of collagen. They then covered that donor windpipe with stem cells from the patient's own bone marrow and also with cells from a healthy part of her own trachea. After four days of letting these cells grow, the medical team was able to transplant the trachea into the patient. Ten days later she was released from the hospital. By using the patient's own stem cells to create the windpipe doctors can avoid having trachea rejected by the body, a major problem with transplants from other people. The medical team was a collaboration of the universities of Barcelona, Spain; Bristol, England; and Padua and Milan, Italy. *"Furbys" Found Alive - Scientists on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi caught and released three pygmy tarsiers, animals that there thought to be extinct for eighty years. The large-eyed primates, which are small enough fur balls that they can fit snugly into a person's hand, bear a striking resemblance to the Furby, a popular electronic toy for children in the late 1990s. The species had not been seen alive since they were collected for a museum back in 1921. Most scientists had believed they were extinct until 2000, when two researchers trapping rats in Sulawesi accidentally caught and killed one. The pygmy tarsier, or Tarsius pumilus, weighs about 1.7 ounces, and has dense fur with large, protruding eyes. *Mammoths to Return? - According to a study published in the journal Nature scientists have for the first time figured out 80 percent of the genetic code of an extinct animal: the ice age's woolly mammoth. The project was successful because it used mammoth hair found frozen in the Siberian permafrost, instead of bone. Past efforts to find pure ancient DNA in bone failed because bacteria, viruses and parasites had crept into the bone fossils during the thousands of years it sat in the ground contaminating them. Given the success of this project some scientists think it should be possible to someday recreate any creature that has gone extinct within the last 100,000 years as long as it got trapped in permafrost and had hair. Unlike the movie Jurassic Park, however, this leaves out the dinosaurs which went extinct 65 million years ago. *E=mc2 Proved Correct - Albert Einstein's famous formula E= mc2 has finally been proven by a collaboration of French, German and Hungarian physicists. Though the formula, which stands for Energy is equal to mass times the speed-of-light squared, has been used by scientists for over a hundred years it was still a theory. The calculation to prove it depends knowing that the protons and neutrons in an atom are comprised smaller particles known as quarks, which in turn are bound by gluons. The mass of the quarks and gluons only comprise 5% of the weight of the total, however, and scientists have wondered where the other 95% came from. According to the study, which required a huge amounts of computer calculations, the other 95% is bound up in the energy from the movements and interactions of quarks and gluons. This shows that Einstein formula is correct and that this energy can be converted to mass. According to France's National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) Einstein's theory "until now, has been a hypothesis. It has now been corroborated for the first time." *Australian Crocs Threatened by Toads - A survey of the Victoria River in Australia shows that in a one-year period as many as 77 percent of the crocodiles have died as a result of eating cane toads. The cane toads, introduced onto the continent in 1935 from Central and South America in an attempt to control beetles, have slowly spread westward across the county becoming pests themselves. The creatures carry poisonous sacs on their heads with venom so effective it can kill a large predator in minutes. Scientists are worried that if the crocs continue dying at the present rate it will have serious implications for the future of the species. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Science Quote of the Month - "Shall I refuse my dinner because I do not fully understand the process of digestion?" - Oliver Heaviside (1850-1925) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------What's New at the Museum: *Remembering Wordsmith Michael Crichton - Eclipsed by the excitement of the past presidential election was the unexpected death of Michael Crichton: best-selling author, filmmaker and science fiction visionary . > (http://www.unmuseum.org/notescurator/crichton.htm) *The Christmas Visions of Thomas Nast - At the beginning of the 19th century Santa Claus found himself in a quandry. What should he wear? Perhaps he should emphasize his title of St. Nicholas and appear as a stern bishop wearing robes? Or maybe go the other way and be seen as a clowning elf with a frock coat and pantaloons? It was at this point that Thomas Nast, premire American political cartoonist of the 1800's, stepped in and gave Santa the well-needed makeover that he still carries with him even today...>(http://www.unmuseum.org/nast.htm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ask the Curator: *End of Life on Earth - With recent news about global warming and the slow depletion of the Earth's natural resources due to mining, hunting, killing of plants and animals to make way for modernization, is it possible for man to render the Earth virtually un-inhabitable? If yes, how do you think this will happen, how fast, and given the current state of the Earth, how long until it will happen. - Harris *You didn't mention in your email if you meant virtually un-inhabitable by just humans or almost any living thing. Given the choice let's go for the big enchilada! Could man end life on Earth entirely? Probably not given we know there are bacteria that live two miles underground getting their energy not from the sun but from radiation in the rock. These things would be very hard for us to get at, let alone kill. However, we might be able to do in just about everything else on the planet, including ourselves, if we let our most advanced technology get into the wrong hands. *The best (or perhaps worse) scenario for this would be the deliberate misuse of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology will allow us to produce machines as small as or even smaller than bacteria. The positive uses of this technology include the ability to make a tiny robot that would live in a human body and hunt down cancer cells. Such a thing seems like science fiction, but researchers and engineers are thinking about ways to do this now, and multi-millions of dollars are being poured into this technology both in the United States and abroad. *Imagine the danger though if someone were to reprogram that tiny robot to kill all living cells. A handful of those nano robots might not be that dangerous to large populations, but suppose that these robots also had the ability to self-replicate. The result would be a plague would spread across the earth killing all life. *Another possibility is creating a self-reproducing nano-robot that would enter plants and disrupt photosynthesis. A plant that cannot carry out photosynthesis (create food from sunlight) is a dead plant. Without plants to provide food, life would soon vanish from the earth (with the exception of those bacteria we mentioned before that live off radiation instead of sunlight). *Of course no sane man (or woman) would build such a robot, but the world is filled with crazy people and terrorist groups. Suppose they got a hold of this technology? People thinking about this problem have already coined a term for it: Nanoterrorism. Nobody is quite sure at this point how difficult it will be to build such a robot. Obviously nature has already engineered some organic self-reproducing machines in the form of bacteria. At some point in our future - perhaps in the next decade or two - we will be able to do the same thing. Our machines, unlike bacteria, will be programmed to do specific functions of our own design. Some of them will give us great benefits (think of a self-reproducing nano-robot that be dropped into the ocean to clean up an oil spill), while others may bode of great danger. *I'm not saying here we should blindly panic and start burning down laboratories that work with nano-technology, however. What we do need to do is carefully think how the technology should be used and what safeguards should be in place. Have a question? Click here to send it to the curator.(http://www.unmuseum.org/postmail.htm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In History: *Aliens Bad at Prophecy - On December 20, 1954 the Earth was to be visited with devastating geological disasters according to Dorothy Martin of Oak Park, Illinois. Martin claimed she was a psychic in contact with an alien named Sananda. According to Martin the aliens were going to send spaceships to provide an escape for those who wanted to go with them, however, the date passed and neither the spaceships nor the earthquakes ever appeared. Despite this Martin continued to announce prophecies from the aliens until her death in 1992. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the Sky: *December's Shooting Stars - December boasts two meteor showers: The Geminids, which peak on December 13, and the Ursids, which peak on December 22. Normally the Geminids give a better show, but this year because they are occurring during a full-moon and will be washed out in its glow, you may get a better view of shooting stars during the Ursids. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Observed: *Polar Bear Mix Up - Zookeepers at Kushiro, Japan, have finally solved the mystery of why two polar bears, brought together to breed have failed to produce offspring in the past 6 months: Both bears were female. The zoo bought Tsuyoshi as cub believing him to be male and a proper mate for Kurumi, their female. Apparently the zoo that sold Kushiro the cub did not take a very close look at her. Officials at the zoo in Kurumi will keep Tsuyoshi despite her inability to raise the population of polar bears in their exhibit, as she has become a favorite with zoo visitors. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the Tube: Please check local listing for area outside of North America. *Nova: The Last Great Ape - An expedition into the Congo examines one of our closest living relatives, the peace-loving bonobos. On PBS. December 9 at 8 pm. *UFO's Over Earth: The Bucks County Flap - When the number of UFO sightings increases by 700%, MUFON investigators converge on the Philadelphia suburb of Bucks County. The team works their way through nearly 60 witnesses to focus on two, in hopes their stories can be verified by physical evidence.. On the Discovery Channel. Dec 13, 10:00 pm; Dec 14, 2:00 am; ET/PT *Hot Planet - The effects of climate change -- massive storms, superfires and rising seas -- are potentially catastrophic. But they are not yet inevitable. This film looks at the future of global warming, and what man -- and science -- can still do to stop it.. On the Discovery Channel. Dec 08, 9:00 pm; Dec 09, 1:00 am; ET/PT *The Real Superhumans and the Quest for the Future Fantastic - This groundbreaking, feature-length documentary reveals the amazing stories of real people with extraordinary super powers. On the Science Channel. Dec 11, 9:00 pm; Dec 12, 12:00 am; Dec 12, 4:00 pm; Dec 13, 4:00 am; ET/PT *Humanzee - Humans and chimpanzees share an estimated 98% of genetic material. Oliver is a unique chimpanzee. He walks upright on two legs, he has a pronounced nose and 47 chromosomes midway between a human and a chimpanzee. Could he really be a chimp-human hybrid? On the Science Channel. Dec 14, 8:00 pm; Dec 14, 11:00 pm; Dec 16, 3:00 am; ET/PT *The Mystery of the Giant Sloth's Cave - A team of world renowned palaeontologists uncover a prehistoric sloth cave which could hold the answers to the extinction of the giant sloth over 10 thousand years ago. On the Science Channel. Dec 03, 9:00 pm; Dec 04, 12:00 am; Dec 04, 4:00 pm; Dec 05, 4:00 am; ET/PT *The Universe : Mysteries of the Moon - For thousands of years, mankind has found comfort in its presence. It's been a lantern for nighttime travelers, a timekeeper for farmers, and a location finder for sailors at sea. For some cultures, it's even been a god. It's the only cosmic body ever visited by human beings. From afar, the Moon's luminance has captivated us since the beginning of time. And a closer look at the beacon in the dark sky reveals an ever-present source of myth, intrigue, controversy and unsolved mysteries. The field of science may cast an empirical light on some things about the Universe, but lunar experts are the first to admit they don't have all the answers when it comes to our Moon. This episode explores the theories behind Lunar Transient Phenomena that have left scientists stumped for centuries; takes to the Canadian waters to see how the Moon effects our planet through tides; and dusts off some age-old myths and weighs arguments that without our Moon, humanity may not even exist. On The History Channel. December 16 12:00 PM ; ET/PT. -----------------------------------------------------------------------*LGM: Check out the antics of Meep and Zeep as they try to find their flying saucer! (http://www.unmuseum.org/soearch/over.htm#lgm) Copyright Lee Krystek, 2008. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: