Monthly Archives: May 2010
Sophisticated Social Organization before the Invention of the Wheel
A team of archaeologists from the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, headed by Gil Stein, director of the Oriental Institute and chief of the expedition, along with a team of fellow Syrians, is finding new clues to prehistoric society and laid the foundations for urban life in the Middle East even before the invention of the wheel.
The analysis of the archaeological site of Tell Zeidan, which has not been excavated so far, and above which are not thereafter ever built, is revealing a society rich in trade, in the metallurgy of copper and production ceramics.
Artifacts found there recently are providing greater support to the hypothesis that Tell Zeidan, in the Euphrates River Valley, near Raqqa, Syria, was among the first Middle Eastern societies to develop social classes according to their degree of power and wealth.
This Bacteria Will Make Us Smarter
Until now it was known that exposure to certain bacteria in the environment may have some antidepressant qualities, but Dorothy Matthews and Susan Jenks, researchers from Sage Colleges, New York, have gone much further by suggesting that these same bacteria may also increase our ability to learn. “Mycobacterium Vaccae ,” says Dorothy Matthews “organism is a soil that is ingested or breathed in a natural way for people when they spend time in the field or in contact with nature.”
A U.S. Military Plane Breaks the Record for Supersonic Flight
An experimental aircraft of U.S. Air Force, the X-51A Waverider has managed to break the record by flying supersonic flight during more than three minutes at a speed of Mach 6, six times that of sound (about 7350 km/h). Never before human ingenuity had been moving so fast for so long. Just another American military unit had arrived at Mach 6 before but just endured twelve seconds. Last April, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) conducted a similar test to try to put a military vehicle at Mach 20 suborbital, without obtaining good results. Only got to level 5.
An Unknown Object, Found around the Sun
An unknown object, probably man-made, has been discovered in an orbit around the Sun Named as 2010 KQ, the gadget has surprised astronomers. First was mistaken for an asteroid, but its slope, its color and low brightness indicate clearly that, instead of a rock, this is an artificial, obviously, unless it relocate the biggest surprise of our lives, who knows, developed on this planet. Scientists are not able to relate to any particular release, although some suspect that this may be part of a Russian Proton rocket launched in October 1974 to discuss the moon.
Electric Motor Structure
To make electric cars part of everyday life it is needed a new vehicle design and components.
Take for example the engine that drives only one wheel, and connected directly to it. One of the advantages of these motors is that manufacturers can use for other things the space occupied by the conventional engine as these engines are coupled directly to the wheels of the vehicle. This opens a wealth of opportunities for automotive designers face when designing a new vehicle.
The First Human Infected By a Computer Virus
It looks like a science fiction story. The scientist Mark Gasson, School of Systems Engineering at the University of Reading (Berkshire, UK), said to have become the first human infected by a virus. The researcher was introduced in one hand an electronic chip as part of an investigation into the potential risks of implantable devices. Without embargo, the small device was found to be “contaminated” by a virus. This virus may have been transferred to other electronic systems with which the scientist has been in contact. In his view, what happened uncovers the disturbing possibility that, in the future, advanced medical devices such as pacemakers or cochlear implants are vulnerable to cyber attacks.
A Composite That Could Be Crucial To the First Forms of Life
Researchers at the University of Leeds have found new clues about the origins of life on Earth. The team has discovered that a compound known as pyrophosphite may have been an important source of energy for primitive forms of life.
There are several theories about how life appeared on Earth from inanimate matter billions of years ago. As indicated by Terry Kee from Leeds University, who led the research, it is a question as the egg and chicken. Scientists are not in agreement on what came first, if the replication or metabolism. But there is a third element in this dilemma, and energy.
Phoenix Mars Dies
NASA has decided to officially abandon the attempt to revive their Phoenix probe on Mars, two years after the spacecraft landed in the icy polar surface of the Red Planet.
Two images from the Phoenix Mars Lander made in 2008 (left) and 2010 (right). The first solar panels can be active in the probe. In the second, no “signs of life ‘ Reuters-NASA
Phoenix, a ship that operates on solar energy, whose size approaches that of a van-landed on Mars on May 25, 2008, and operated for five months collecting and analyzing soil samples and searching for chemical compositions that could sustain life.
The Tevatron is About the Origin Of Life
One of the most ambitious experiments in the Tevatron in Illinois (USA), veteran competitor of the LHC in Geneva, just get a great result that could unravel one of the greatest secrets of the universe and revolutionize the world of physics. The scientists behind the old particle accelerator believe they have found the reason why matter dominates over antimatter, a hypothesis to be confirmed once the completion the test, called DZero, which may explain why the cosmos is the way it is.
Continental Size Ecosystem for North American Dinosaurs
They found first evidence that a moderate warm climate and allowed the dinosaurs to spread through North America to form a massive single homogeneous community.
The researchers behind the discovery, McGill University, Canada, are unraveling the mysteries of the little known habits of dinosaurs, finding that the entire Western Interior of North America during a time was probably inhabited by one community of dinosaurs. According to statistical analysis of the fossil record, dinosaurs were facing very well to all environments, and were not as restricted to specific geographical areas as previously thought.