Ancient Oceans On Mars?

Researchers have examined large-scale polygons on Mars and compared them to similar features on Earth's seafloor, which they believe may have formed via similar processes. 

Debate over the origin of large-scale polygons (hundreds of meters to kilometers in diameter) on Mars remains active even after several decades of detailed observations. 

*Similarity in geometric patterns on Mars and Earth has long captured the imagination.* 

Understanding these processes may in turn fuel support for the idea of ancient oceans on Mars. 

Through examination of THEMIS, MOLA, Viking, and Mariner data and images, planetary scientists have found that areas on the northern plains of Mars are divided into large polygon-shaped portions and that sets of these polygons span extensive areas of the Martian surface. 

Smaller polygon-shaped bodies are found elsewhere on Mars, but these are best explained by thermal contraction processes similar to those in terrestrial permafrost environments and not likely to form larger polygons. 

In the new study, Lorena Moscardelli and her colleagues from University of Texas at Austin present a detailed comparison of the geometric features of these large Martian polygons and similar features found in deep-sea sediments here on Earth. Moscardelli and colleagues note striking similarities. 

On Earth, polygon-shaped areas, with the edges formed by faults, are common in fine-grained deep-sea sediments. Some of the best examples of these polygon-fault areas are found in the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea. 

These are imaged using detailed, 3-D seismic surveys conducted to search for offshore oil and gas deposits. Images reproduced in this paper show that these deep-water polygons are also 1,000 meters or greater in diameter. 

While the details of deep-sea polygon formation on Earth are complex, Moscardelli and her colleagues conclude that the majority of these polygons form in a common environment: sediments made up of fine-grained clays in ocean basins that are deeper than 500 meters, and when these sediments are only shallowly buried by younger sediments. 

A key observation -- also made recently by Michelle Cooke at the University of Massachusetts -- is that the physical mechanism of polygon formation requires a thick, wet, and mechanically weak layer of sediment. 

The researchers conclude that the slope angle of the sea floor plays an important role in both the formation and preservation of these polygons. Where the seafloor slope is very gentle (slopes less than half a degree), the polygons have very regular shapes and sizes. 

In many locations where polygons have formed on top of buried topographic features on the seafloor, the shapes of the polygons were altered, and in some cases were broken up and disrupted where the slopes were steepest. 

Both observations are consistent with deformation of the soft marine sediments as they creep or flow downslope in these areas. 

*In the northern plains of Mars, where the surface is basically flat, the polygons have very regular shapes and sizes -- remarkably similar to the deep-sea polygons found on Earth.* 

*In places where the topography on Mars is more varied, and where there may be evidence for other sediment-transport features on the surface, areas of deformed and disrupted polygons can be found -- again similar to the disrupted polygons here on Earth.* 

On the basis of these striking similarities, the University of Texas at Austin team concludes that these features most likely share a common origin and were formed by similar mechanisms in a similar environment. 

The team argues that the Martian polygons were formed within a thick, wet, and weak layer of fine-grained sediments that were deposited in a deep-water setting, similar to the Earth polygons. 

Thus, these interesting geometric features may provide additional evidence for the existence of an ocean in the northern portion of Mars approximatelythree billion years ago.

First ever computer model of a living organism performed

In what can only be described as a milestone in biological and genetic engineering, scientists at Stanford University have, for the first time ever, simulated a complete bacterium. With the organism completely in virtual form, the scientists can perform any kind of modification on its genome and observe extremely quickly what kind of changes would occur in the organism. This means that in the future, current lab research that takes extremely long to perform or is hazardous in nature (dealing with lethal strains of viruses for instance), could be moved almost exclusively to a computer.

The researchers chose a pathogen called Mycoplasma genitalium as their target for modeling, out of practical reasons. For one, the bacterium is implicated in a number of urethral and vaginal infections, like its name might imply as well, however this is of little importance. The bacterium distinguishes itself by having the smallest genome of any free-living organism, with just 525 genes. In comparison, the ever popular lab pathogen,  E. coli has 4288 genes.

Don’t be fooled, however. Even though this bacterium has the smallest amount of genetic data that we know of, it still required a tremendous amount of research work from behalf of the team. For one, data from more than 900 scientific papers and 1,900 experiments concerning the pathogen’s behavior, genetics, molecular interactions and so on, were incorporated in the software simulation. Then, the 525 genes were described by 28 algorithms, each governing the behaviour of a software module modelling a different biological process.

“These modules then communicated with each other after every time step, making for a unified whole that closely matched M. genitalium‘s real-world behaviour,” claims the Stanford team in a statement.

Thus, even for an organism of its size, it takes that much information to account for every interaction it will undergo in its lifespan. The simulation work was made using  a 128-node computing cluster, and, even so, a single cell division takes about 10 hours to simulate,  and generates half a gigabyte of data. By adding more computing power, the computing process can be shortened, however its pretty clear that for more complex organisms, much more resources might be required.

“You don’t really understand how something works until you can reproduce it yourself,” says graduate student  and team member Jayodita Sanghvi.

Big leap forward for genetic engineering and CAD

Emulating for the first time a living organisms is fantastic by itself, and is sure to set the ground for the development of Bio-CAD (computer-aided-design). CAD is primarily used in engineering, be it aeronautic, civil, mechanical, electrical and so on, and along the years has become indispensable, not only in the design process, but more importantly in the innovation process. For instance, by replacing the insulating material for a boiler in CAD, the software will imediately tell the engineer how this will affect its performance, all without having to actually build and test it. Similarly, scientists hope to achieve a similar amount of control from bio-CAD as well. The problem is that biological organisms need to be fully described into the software for bio-CAD to become lucrative and accurate.

“If you use a model to guide your experiments, you’re going to discover things faster. We’ve shown that time and time again,” said team leader and Stanford professor Markus Covert.

We’d love to see this research expanded forward, which most likely will happen, but we’re still a long way from modeling a human – about 20,000 genes short.

Iceberg twice the size of Manhattan breaks off Greenland glacier

Researchers at the University of Delaware and the Canadian Ice Service recently reported that an ice island, whose surface is twice that of Manhattan, broke off from Greenland’s Petermann Glacier, one of the two largest glaciers left in Greenland connecting the great Greenland ice sheet with the ocean via a floating ice shelf.

The 46-square-mile giant iceberg broke off from the glacier on Monday, and has since started its journey towards the open ocean.The on-site discovery was confirmed with satellite imaging from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites.

Although the new iceberg is admitedly large, it rather pales in comparison to its predecessor from 2010, when a chuck of ice 97-square-mile chunk of ice broke off from the Petermann Glacier – the largest iceberg recorded in the Arctic since 1962. Last year, on the other side of the world, an iceberg the size of New York City broke off from the Antarctic ice sheet – 340-square-miles in surface.

Greenland ice sheet is melting and shrinking

“While the size is not as spectacular as it was in 2010, the fact that it follows so closely to the 2010 *event brings the glacier’s terminus to a location where it has not been for at least 150 years,*” says Andreas Muenchow, associate professor of physical ocean science and engineering in UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment.

“The Greenland ice sheet as a whole is shrinking, melting and reducing in size as the result of globally changing air and ocean temperatures and associated changes in circulation patterns in both the ocean and atmosphere,” he notes.

Muenchow points out that the air around northern Greenland and Ellesmere Island has warmed by about 0.11 +/- 0.025 degrees Celsius per year since 1987. This means Northern Greenland and Canada have been warming five times faster than the average global temperature, according to the scientist.

“Northwest Greenland and northeast Canada are warming more than five times faster than the rest of the world,” Muenchow says, “but the observed warming is not proof that the diminishing ice shelf is caused by this, because air temperatures have little effect on this glacier; ocean temperatures do, and our ocean temperature time series are only five to eight years long — too short to establish a robust warming signal.”

This is not an isolated incident. Many of glaciers in southern Greenland have been melting at an unusual rapid pace. If it continues, and more of the Petermann is lost, the melting would push up sea levels – the ice lost so far was already floating, so the breaks don’t add to global sea levels.

The new iceberg is expected to follow in the footsteps of the previous 2010 giant glacier, breaking apart into smaller icebergs as it moves away north, then west, before reaching the shores of Newfoundland.

France's ANDRA is developing a million-year hard drive.

Us humans have been quick to embrace digital technology for preserving our memories, but we've forgotten that most of our storage won't last for more than a few decades; when a hard drive loses its magnetism or an optical disc rots, it's useless. French nuclear waste manager ANDRA wants to make sure that at least some information can survive even if humanity itself is gone -- a million or more years, to be exact. By using two fused disk platters made from sapphire with data written in a microscope-readable platinum, the agency hopes to have drives that will keep humming along short of a catastrophe. The current technology wouldn't hold reams of data -- about 80,000 minuscule pages' worth on two platters -- but it could be vital for ANDRA, which wants to warn successive generations (and species) of radioactivity that might last for eons. Even if the institution mostly has that pragmatic purpose in mind, though, it's acutely aware of the archeological role these €25,000 ($30,598) drives could serve once leaders settle on the final languages and below-ground locations at an unspecified point in the considerably nearer future. We're just crossing our fingers that our archived internet rants can survive when the inevitable bloody war wipes out humanity and the apes take over.

Sea-Swallow

The strange beauty of its animal is enough to make it spectacular on its own, but this creature is more remarkable than it seems at a first glance. It is a marine gastropod mollusk, much like clams and oysters, but unlike them, it doesn’t have a solid shell. It is the only member of its family, although it is closely related to Glaucilla marginata, to which it bears quite a resemblance. It typically eats plankton or other microscopic algae, but what’s truly interesting is that it can eat Portuguese Man O’ War (Physalia physalis), a poisonous jellyfish-like creature; but not only does it eat it, but it also consumes the entire organism, storing the venomous nematocysts for its own use, in the thin feather-like “fingers” on its body. Because it can store the venom from several Portuguese Man O’ War, it can be much more poisonous than the creatures it devours.

But Glaucus atlanticus gets even more awesome: it actually floats on its back, due to a gas-filled sac in its stomach. The dorsal side, which is actually the foot and underside, is blue or somewhere between blue and white, while the true dorsal surface is completely silver-grey. This is a remarkable adaptation called counter shading, which helps trick predators.

Glaucus is also a hermaphrodite a hermaphrodite, containing both male and female reproductive organs, and even more interesting, after the mate, both animals produce eggs.

BLUE CHAKRAS

The chakras are believed to be a number of wheel-like vortices which, according to traditional Indian medicine, exist in the surface of the subtle body of living beings. The chakras are said to be "force centers" or whorls of energy permeating, from a point on the physical body, the layers of the subtle bodies in an ever-increasing fan-shaped formation. Rotating vortices of subtle matter, they are considered focal points for the reception and transmission of energies. Different belief systems posit a varying number of chakras; the best-known system in the West has seven chakras.
It is typical for chakras to be depicted as either flower-like or wheel-like. In the former case, "petals" are shown around the perimeter of a circle. In the latter, spokes divide the circle into segments making the chakra resemble a wheel (or "chakra"). Each chakra possesses a specific number of segments or petals.

Press with thumb for 5 seconds & release for 3 seconds, in the affected point. Repeat for 2-3 minutes for 5 to 10 days. You will feel relieved.

Quite interesting! Keep Walking.....

Just to check this out.......

The Organs of your body have their sensory touches at the bottom of your foot, if you massage these points you will find relief from aches and pains as you can see the heart is on the left foot.

Typically they are shown as points and arrows to show which organ it connects to.
It is indeed correct since the nerves connected to these organs terminate here.
This is covered in great details in Acupressure studies or textbooks.

God created our body so well that he thought of even this. He made us walk so that we will always be pressing these pressure points and thus keeping these organs activated at all times.

Eggs unlimited: an extraordinary tale of scientific discovery

This is not only a potentially landmark discovery, but also a cautionary tale about the dangers of seemingly well-established scientific dogma. In many ways, this is a classic example of the failures of the classical observationalist/inductivist form of scientific method, as opposed toempirical falsification, the approach put forth convincingly by Karl Popper, one of the greatest philosophers of science of the 20th century 

Instead of adhering so dogmatically to the view that eggs cells cannot be replenished in a woman's body, the scientific community should have welcomed continued attempts to falsify that view rather than viewing contradictory data with scorn and ridicule. As Popper noted, science does not prove the truth of hypotheses so much as it provides possible avenues and mechanisms for falsifying such hypotheses.

As this story shows, many members of the scientific community were as guilty as the Catholic church was against Galileo, and the albumen left on their faces in this case is doubly ironic in that the spheres in question were not planetary bodies, but rather egg cells. Perhaps the irony extends three-fold because the guilty party were respected scientists.
Eggs unlimited: an extraordinary tale of scientific discovery

Two biologists, split by rivalry and disagreement, suddenly realised that they were on the same side. The result was a revolutionary breakthrough.

A dogma has haunted the study and treatment of female infertility for more than half a century. It states that a baby girl is born with an ever-diminishing number of egg cells which cannot be renewed or replenished during her life, and that when she runs out of these eggs an irreversible menopause begins.

The dogma's origins go back to 1951 when Sir Solly Zuckerman, a South African born British scientist, published the definitive study showing “unequivocally” that the human ovary, like that of other mammals, has a finite resource of egg cells that begins to be lost during foetal development, even before a woman is born.

Estimates suggested that the female foetus has about 7 million putative egg cells that reduce to about 1 million at the point of birth. By the time of puberty, the teenage girl has between about 300,000 and 400,000 egg cells and these are lost at a rate of about 1,000 a month, with typically just one ripening to maturity at the time of ovulation.

The problem with the dogma, and Zuckerman's “definitive” study, was that it turns out not to be true. In a series of remarkable studies published over the past eight years scientists have produced convincing evidence to suggest that women are not after all born with all the egg cells that they will ever possess.

Several research teams across the world have shown that the mammalian ovary is far more versatile than Zuckerman and his subsequent followers had ever thought possible. The core of this new thinking lies in the remarkable discovery of “oogonial stem cells” within the ovary that are capable of producing a constant supply of fresh eggs, or oocytes.

The discovery of these stem cells, which had gone unrecognised for six decades, has profound implications for the study and treatment of female fertility, as well as a plethora of other health conditions.

It raises the prospect of being able to grow unlimited numbers of human oocytes in the laboratory that could either be used in IVF treatment or as a source of embryonic stem cells to treat incurable illnesses such as Parkinson‘s disease.

But, even more profound, is the idea that human ovaries might be induced in some way to function well into old age, not for the sake of maintaining fertility but to retain the other health benefits that stem from active, egg-filled ovaries.

It was Tilly's pioneering work in 2004 that kick-started the revolution now sweeping through fertility laboratories around the world. It was he who discovered and named the oogonial stem cells in the mammalian ovary.

Like so many important scientific discoveries, this one was unexpected and serendipitous. Tilly was working on a quite different problem when he and his team discovered something that they could not explain.

The Edinburgh University team has already received material and expertise from Tilly and Dr Telfer is now about to apply for a licence from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to carry out the first fertilisation of a mature human egg derived from oogonial stem cells grown in a laboratory dish.

If an early human embryo is produced in this way it will dramatically alter the landscape for human fertility treatment. Women and girls undergoing ovary-destroying chemotherapy or radiation treatment may be able in the future to have their oogonial stem cells stored and banked so that they could later have an unlimited supply of their own eggs for IVF treatment.

WHY WE SHOULD VISIT TEMPLES?

--(Scientific Reason)

There are thousands of temples all over India in different size, shape and locations but not all of them are considered to be built the Vedic way. Generally, a temple should be located at a place where earth's magnetic wave path passes through densely. It can be in the outskirts of a town/village or city, or in middle of the dwelling place, or on a hilltop. The essence of visiting a temple is discussed here.

Now, these temples are located strategically at a place where the positive energy is abundantly available from the magnetic and electric wave distributions of north/south pole thrust. The main idol is placed in the core center of the temple, known as "Garbhagriha*" or *Moolasthanam. In fact, the temple structure is built after the idol has been placed. This Moolasthanam is where earth’s magnetic waves are found to be maximum. We know that there are some copper plates, inscribed with Vedic scripts, buried beneath the Main Idol. What are they really? No, they are not God’s / priests’ flash cards when they forget the shlokas. The copper plate absorbs earth’s magnetic waves and radiates it to the surroundings. Thus a person regularly visiting a temple and walking clockwise around the Main Idol receives the beamed magnetic waves and his body absorbs it. This is a very slow process and a regular visit will let him absorb more of this positive energy. Scientifically, it is the positive energy that we all require to have a healthy life.

Further, the Sanctum is closed on three sides. This increases the effect of all energies. The lamp that is lit radiates heat energy and also provides light inside the sanctum to the priests or poojaris performing the pooja. The ringing of the bells and the chanting of prayers takes a worshipper into trance, thus not letting his mind waver. When done in groups, this helps people forget personal problems for a while and relieve their stress. The fragrance from the flowers, the burning of camphor give out the chemical energy further aiding in a different good aura. The effect of all these energies is supplemented by the positive energy from the idol, the copper plates and utensils in the Moolasthan*am /*Garbagraham. Theertham, the “holy” water used during the pooja to wash the idol is not plain water cleaning the dust off an idol. It is a concoction of Cardamom,Karpura (Benzoin), zaffron / saffron, Tulsi (Holy Basil), Clove, etc...Washing the idol is to charge the water with the magnetic radiations thus increasing its medicinal values. Three spoons of this holy water is distributed to devotees. Again, this water is mainly a source of magneto-therapy. Besides, the clove essence protects one from tooth decay, the saffron & Tulsi leafs protects one from common cold and cough, cardamom and Pachha Karpuram(benzoin), act as mouth fresheners. It is proved that Theertham is a very good blood purifier, as it is highly energized. Hence it is given as prasadam to the devotees. This way, one can claim to remain healthy by regularly visiting the Temples. This is why our elders used to suggest us to offer prayers at the temple so that you will be cured of many ailments. They were not always superstitious. Yes, in a few cases they did go overboard when due to ignorance they hoped many serious diseases could be cured at temples by deities. When people go to a temple for the Deepaaraadhana, and when the doors open up, the positive energy gushes out onto the persons who are there. The water that is sprinkled onto the assemblages passes on the energy to all. This also explains why men are not allowed to wear shirts at a few temples and women are requested to wear more ornaments during temple visits. It is through these jewels (metal) that positive energy is absorbed by the women. Also, it is a practice to leave newly purchased jewels at an idol’s feet and then wear them with the idol’s blessings. This act is now justified after reading this article. This act of “seeking divine blessings” before using any new article, like books or pens or automobiles may have stemmed from this through mere observation.

Energy lost in a day’s work is regained through a temple visit and one is refreshed slightly. The positive energy that is spread out in the entire temple and especially around where the main idol is placed, are simply absorbed by one's body and mind. Did you know, every Vaishnava(Vishnu devotees), “must” visit a Vishnu temple twice every day in their location. Our practices are NOT some hard and fast rules framed by 1 man and his followers or God’s words in somebody’s dreams. All the rituals, all the practices are, in reality, well researched, studied and scientifically backed thesis which form the ways of nature to lead a good healthy life.

The scientific and research part of the practices are well camouflaged as “elder’s instructions” or “granny’s teaching’s” which should be obeyed as a mark of respect so as to once again, avoid stress to the mediocre brains.

Snakes originated on land not sea

One of the most primitive snake fossils have debunked the belief that the slithery reptiles had originated in the sea, suggesting instead that they were the creatures of land.

The animal, which lived at the same time as the dinosaurs, probably emerged from a line of burrowing reptiles that eventually lost their legs. 

Where and how snakes diverged from their legged cousins the lizards is still a mystery. 

The debate over snake origins has been hampered by the scarcity of transitional fossils. 

But new fossils from eastern Wyoming, US, belonging to the ancient snake Coniophis precedens - which lived some 65-70 million years ago - could help clear up the mystery. 

According to the analysis by Nicholas Longrich from Yale University and his colleagues, Coniophis lived in a floodplain environment and “lacks adaptations for aquatic locomotion”. 

They describe it as a “transitional snake, combining a snake-like body and a lizard-like head”. 

“This thing quite probably would have had small legs,” the BBC quoted Dr Longrich as saying. 

The ancient reptile’s small size, along with physical features of its spine, suggests that it burrowed. And analysis of its jaws revealed that it fed on relatively large, soft-bodied prey. 

But they did not have the flexible jaws that allow modern-day snakes to swallow prey many times their own body size. 

“The genesis of the Serpentes (the biological name that defines what we understand as snakes) that began with the evolution of a novel means of locomotion, followed by adaptations facilitating the ingestion of ever larger prey, thereby enabling snakes to exploit a wider range of ecological niches,” the researchers wrote. 

A species of termite has been found to inflict more damage on its enemies as it ages.

When defending their colony, some termites "explode", releasing chemicals that injure intruders.

A previously unknown crystal structure has been discovered that raises the toxicity of their chemical weapons.

As worker termites grow older, they become less able to perform their duties.

Yet this newly discovered structure allows ageing workers to better defend their colony.

When faced with a threat, many termite species employ a type of altruistic suicide known as "autothysis" in order to deter attackers.

In a few species, workers join "soldier" termites in the defence of their colony and perform these acts of suicidal defence.

However, a twist to this system has been discovered in a species from French Guiana.

"My PhD student, Thomas Bourguignon, was studying termite community ecology and collecting species when, casually, he found something really special," Prof Yves Roisin from the Free University of Brussels told BBC News.

By rupturing their bodies, Neocapritermes taracua release a toxic chemical that sticks to intruders, holding them fast and corroding their bodies.

"[Autothysis] is usually a one component system. The defensive secretions are stored in salivary glands, but in these species there is a 'backpack' with two crystals carried outside the body. When the termite bursts, the two mix together, producing the more toxic compounds," Prof Roisin explained.

The "backpacks" are formed from pouches on the outside of the body.

Defensive bombs

Although termite societies contain castes of "soldier" individuals with vastly enlarged mandibles that have evolved for the purpose of attacking intruders, workers can join fights and perform defensive suicides should the need arise.

The research shows that as workers in this species grow older and more incapable of performing other tasks, they store up crystals that produce a chemical reaction when mixed with glandular secretions. This increases the toxicity of their explosive defence mechanism.

Biologists believe it allows the ageing workers to become more "useful" to the colony as sacrificial, defensive bombs.

How the crystals are synthesised is, as yet, unknown. Also unknown is whether other species in the genus have evolved a similar backpack system.

"There are some five or six species in the genus, but it's the only species [that carries a backpack] we've seen so far," Professor Yves Roisin said.

Glow in the dark cats

In 2007, South Korean scientists altered a cat’s DNA to make it glow in the dark and then took that DNA and cloned other cats from it — creating a set of fluffy, fluorescent felines. Here’s how they did it: The researchers took skin cells from Turkish Angora female cats and used a virus to insert genetic instructions for making red fluorescent protein. Then they put the gene-altered nuclei into the eggs for cloning, and the cloned embryos were implanted back into the donor cats — making the cats the surrogate mothers for their own clones.
 
What’s the point of creating a pet that doubles as a nightlight? Scientists say the ability to engineer animals with fluorescent proteins will enable them to artificially create animals with human genetic diseases.

God particle' lab to build larger collider to solve universe’s mysteries

After discovering the Higgs Boson this summer, the team at Cern is now planning for even larger hadron collider to solve the mysteries of the universe.

*The Geneva-based team are proposing a new underground accelerator with a circumference of 50miles (80kms) - three times the size of the
current one under Geneva - which will be used to solve mystery of how gravity interacts on a molecular level.*

It is still not clear how gravity can operate both at the particle level, and at the level of planets, stars and solar systems.

Though any new collider is unlikely to be built until 2025, the Cern team wish to get a head start, concerned by the 25-year wait it took between proposing the first collider, and its completion in 2008.

Another option is to tear down the colliders in the current tunnel, which runs in a 27km (17miles) circular track around 150m underground near Lake Geneva, and build more sensitive equipment in its place.
Either scheme would cost billions of dollars, which would be shared between Cern’s 20 member states.

Now a team of 18 scientists are drawing up a roadmap for Cern, including designs for new machines.

“The new machine could be installed in the LHC tunnel. Alternatively, it could be installed in a new, longer tunnel, using a tunnel circumference of 80km,” the Daily Mail quoted their paper as saying.

The suggestions will be discussed at a European Strategy Preparatory Group in Krakow in Poland this week.

The Mayan Civilization and its people

Deep within the jungles of Mexico and Guatemala and extending into the limestone shelf of the Yucatán peninsula lie the fabled temples and palaces of the Maya. While Europe still slumbered in the midst of the Dark Ages, these innovative people had charted the heavens, evolved the only true writing system native to the Americas and were masters of mathematics and calendrics. Without advantage of metal tools, beasts of burden or even the wheel they were able to construct vast cities with an astonishing degree of architectural perfection and variety. Their legacy in stone, which has survived in a spectacular fashion at places such as Palenque, Tikal, Tulum, Chichén Itzá, Copán and Uxmal, lives on as do the seven million descendants of the classic Maya civilization. 

The Maya Empire, centered in the tropical lowlands of what is now Guatemala, reached the peak of its power and influence around the sixth century A.D. The Maya excelled at agriculture, pottery, hieroglyph writing, calendar-making and mathematics, and left behind an astonishing amount of impressive architecture and symbolic artwork. Most of the great stone cities of the Maya were abandoned by A.D. 900, however, and since the 19th century scholars have debated what might have caused this dramatic decline.

Aryabhatta

Aryabhata is also known as Aryabhata I to distinguish him from the later mathematician of the same name who lived about 400 years later. Al-Biruni has not helped in understanding Aryabhata's life, for he seemed to believe that there were two different mathematicians called Aryabhata living at the same time. He therefore created a confusion of two different Aryabhatas which was not clarified until 1926 when B Datta showed that al-Biruni's two Aryabhatas were one and the same person.

We know the year of Aryabhata's birth since he tells us that he was twenty-three years of age when he wrote Aryabhatiya which he finished in 499. We have given Kusumapura, thought to be close to Pataliputra (which was refounded as Patna in Bihar in 1541), as the place of Aryabhata's birth but this is far from certain, as is even the location of Kusumapura itself. As Parameswaran writes in [26]:-

... no final verdict can be given regarding the locations of Asmakajanapada and Kusumapura.

We do know that Aryabhata wrote Aryabhatiya in Kusumapura at the time when Pataliputra was the capital of the Gupta empire and a major centre of learning, but there have been numerous other places proposed by historians as his birthplace. Some conjecture that he was born in south India, perhaps Kerala, Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh, while others conjecture that he was born in the north-east of India, perhaps in Bengal. In [8] it is claimed that Aryabhata was born in the Asmaka region of the Vakataka dynasty in South India although the author accepted that he lived most of his life in Kusumapura in the Gupta empire of the north. However, giving Asmaka as Aryabhata's birthplace rests on a comment made by Nilakantha Somayaji in the late 15th century. It is now thought by most historians that Nilakantha confused Aryabhata with Bhaskara I who was a later commentator on the Aryabhatiya.

Years of Data Storage:Progress!

Data storage back in 1979 and now:



And now, Kingston launches a 1 TB pen drive.

Journey of a star.

--Different types of stars, explained.

Alien-Looking Skeleton Poses Medical Mystery

What is it? Human or alien?

A teensy skeleton with a squashed alien-like head may have earthly origins, but the remains, found in the Atacama Desert a decade ago, do make for quite a medical mystery.

Apparently when the mummified specimen was discovered, some had suggested the possibility it was an alien that had somehow landed on Earth, though the researchers involved never suggested this otherworldly origin.

Analyzing the tiny humanNolan and his colleagues analyzed the specimen in the fall of 2012 with high-resolution photography, X-rays and computed tomography scans, as well as DNA sequencing. The researchers wanted to find out whether some rare disorder could explain the anomalous skeleton -- for instance it had just 10 ribs as opposed to 12 in a healthy human -- the age the organism died, as its size suggested a preterm fetus, stillborn or a deformed child, and whether it was human or perhaps a South American nonhuman primate.

Portable solar socket-Stick it anywhere to harness the power of Sun!

Just stick this portable outlet to your window to start using solar power!
We have seen a lot of solar chargers in our day. And among all of them, this is the first one we’ve seen that we will definitely run out and buy as soon as it’s made available in the U.S. It’s a portable socket that gets its power from the sun rather than the grid. You plug into a window instead of into the wall. It’s easy.

That was the whole point, according to the designers, Kyohu Song and Boa Oh: “We tried to design a portable socket, so that users can use it intuitively without special training,” they write.

It is really simple. The portable socket attaches to a window like a leech to human skin. On its underside, it has solar panels:
The solar panels suck energy from the sun. The charger converts that energy into electricity. You plug in to the charger.

Even better, the charger stores that energy. After five to eight hours of charging, the socket provides 10 hours of use. You can pop it off the window, stick it in your bag, and use it to charge up your phone with solar energy, even if you’re sitting in a dark room.