Evidence Points
to New Landing Point for Caesar's Britain
Invasion
December 2, 2017
Evidence discovered by chance has
convinced a team of archaeologists that Julius
Caesar's second invasion of Britain landed first
on the Isle of Thanet, in opposition to a
longstanding theory of the Romans' arrival
elsewhere. Caesar is known to have brought a
considerable amount of men, ships, and supplies to
Britain twice, in successive years, 55 B.C. and 54
B.C. The first trip was little more than a
sustained visit; the second trip has long been
called an invasion because it involved 20,000 men
and a few battles with native British tribes.
Caesar's own account of the topography he saw
matches that of the area in and around Kent's
Pegwell Bay, said the archaeologists, from the
University of Leicester. Excavations commenced in
earnest after discovery of a large defense ditch
at the Thanet hamlet of Ebbsfleet that matched
ones known to be Roman in Alésia, in France.
Caesar and the Romans won a decisive victory over
the Gauls there in 52 B.C. Excavations at the Ebbsfleet site
have also turned up remains of iron weapons,
including part of a pilum, a Roman javelin.
Pottery found in the 5-meter-wide ditch dates to
the 1st Century B.C.
Crickets
the Protein Source in Finnish Bread
November 26, 2017
If eating insects
doesn't bug you, then this bread is for you.
Fazer, a bakery based in Finland, has started
making bread from flour that includes dried
crickets. The bakery claimed that it was offering
the world's first insect-based bread for store
purchase. It's not all crickets in the dough,
though. Also in there are wheat flour and seeds.
The addition of the crickets adds protein to the
mix. The company said that each normal-sized loaf
contained about 70 ground crickets and came with a
slightly higher price tag than "normal" bread.
Share
Tables Help Schools Avoid Food Waste
November 26, 2017
Share
Tables are catching on in schools across the U.S.
Students are required to accept a certain amount
and number of foods as part of the federal school
lunch program. Another rule states that each
children must be given fruit or vegetables. Not
all students like the taste of the fruits or
vegetables that they care given; however, they can
also mix and match by swapping something from
their plate for something on a Share Table. It can
be food or drink, not hot or unsealed. Items that
need to be kept cold, like milk or yogurt, are
stored in chilly bins or in icepack-lined trays.
Painstaking,
Edible Entries at Gingerbread House
Competition
November 22, 2017
All
told, the National Gingerbread House Competition
had 170 entries, from 17 U.S. states and Canada.
It was the 25th such event, which takes place
every ear in Asheville, N.C. Notable among the
entries were some by previous grand prize winners.
Professional judges chose winners in four
categories: child, youth, teen, and adult. Among
the strict criteria were the requirements that
entries must be at least 75 percent gingerbread
and that all of an entry must be edible, including
any base or adhesives. For some of the more
complicated entries, that edibility requirement
was a tall order. As well, all entries were
notable for their attention to detail, which the
creators assured the judges required hours and
hours of painstaking work and dedication.
3,000-year-old
Castle Found under Turkish Lake
November 21, 2017
Archaeologists
searching for something legendary have found
something more concrete, a 3,000-year-old castle.
The castle is deep under the surface of Lake Van,
the largest lake in Turkey and second-largest lake
in the Middle East. The lake is thought to have
been formed out of a volcanic eruption of nearby
Mount Nemrut. The archaeologists, from Van Yüzüncü
Yil University, started exploring several years
ago. Recently, they found a castle, with walls 10
feet high and stretching nearly half a mile
around. The castle was built, the archaeologists
say, by the Urartu culture, also known as the
Kingdom of Van, which had a capital called Tushpa
near the lake and ruled the area for nearly three
centuries, ending in the 6th Century B.C.
8,000-year-old
Rock Art Shows Dogs on Leashes
November
20, 2017
Rock art from 8,000
years ago shows the oldest yet known images of
dogs on leashes, an archaeologist says. Maria
Guagnin, of Germany's Max Planck Institute for the
Science of Human History, found nearly 350 images
of dogs in art work carved into rocks in Jubbah
and Shuwaymis, two sites in what is now
northwestern Saudi Arabia. The dogs feature in
hunting scenes–helping humans hunt gazelles,
ibexes, and lions– and, Guagnin says, some are
clearly shown on leashes, tied to the waists of
their owners. The dogs depicted have short snouts,
curled tails, and pricked up ears, much like the
modern Canaan breed of dog.
Space
Needle Time Capsule Opened 15 Years Late
November 20, 2017
New construction has
found a forgotten glimpse of times past. Building
workers at Seattle's Space Needle unearthed a time
capsule buried in 1982 and intended to be opened
in 2002. On the outside of the capsule was a
drawing of the tower done by architect John
Graham, the building's designer; also on the
outside was written, in flowery handwriting, "Time
Capsule to be opened April 21, 2002." The writing
was done by the wife of Rod Kauffman, who was
operations manager at the Space Needle in 1982.
The two originally met on one of the building's
elevators. Kauffman was
on hand for the opening of the capsule, 15 years
late. Inside were familiar items like letters,
postcards, and photographs from the year the
capsule was buried, 1982. Also included in the
heavy metal box were things dated further back, to
1962, when the Space Needle opened, as part of the
World's Fair: a menu from the restaurant Top of
the Needle and an old audio tape of a 20th
anniversary broadcast.Â
3-D
Crosswalk Has People Talking – and Stopping
November
20, 2017
A 3-D crosswalk in Iceland has
convinced motorists and pedestrians that they are
seeing things. It's the brainchild of Ralf Trylla,
the environmental commissioner
in Ísafjörður, a town of about 2,600 in the
Westfjords, in the northwest part of the country.
The painted lines of the crosswalk appear to be
floating above the ground. The town council
granted Trylla the necessary permits in short
order, and the painting began. Since its
appearance, the crosswalk has served as a
curiosity for many and a deterrent to speeders.
Just about everyone who has approached the
crosswalk–which is on a one-way street in a
residential part of town–has stopped, if only to
appreciate the optical illusion.
Out
of This World: Leonardo Painting Tops $450
Million at Auction
November 15, 2017
A Leonardo painting
has set an auction by quite a long way, selling
for $450 million. Christie's entertained bids from
four bidders in the auction room and one on the
phone for 19 minutes before the auction ended,
with the anonymous phone bidder taking it. The
painting, Salvator Mundi, was created
about the same time as the Mona Lisa, art
historians believe, but had private owners for
centuries before being rediscovered in 1900.
Climate
Change Savaging Natural Wonders: Report
November 13, 2017
The world's wetlands and other
natural wonders are increasingly under attack from
climate change, a new report concludes. The
report, from the International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN), found that 62
natural wonders around the world were damaged and
at risk from global warming; that figure has
doubled in just three years. The Everglades are an example of a
wetlands that has experienced a rise in sea level.
Elsewhere, rising river levels have created fierce
flooding. More famously, the sea has already
swallowed a few islands in the Bay of Bengal and
is threatening a handful of island nations in the
Pacific. The report was
published to coincide with the United Nations
climate summit in Bonn, Germany.
Rival
Group Claims U.S. Representation at Climate
Conference
November 13, 2017
The official U.S.
delegation to the United Nations climate summit
has scheduled a meeting on the future of coal.
Sensing the irony, a rival group made up of
leaders of large U.S. states, cities, and
businesses has requested its own represenation at
the summit. Former New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg was a keynote speaker at an event to
launch a drive called America's Pledge, an effort
to ensure that climate change is at the forefront
of discussions involving representatives of
America. Current California Gov. Jerry Brown is
also in attendance, as are four U.S. Senators,
several mayors, and a handful of representatives
of major U.S. corporations.
Carbon
Emissions Predicted to Set New Record High
November 13, 2017
Scientists are
expecting a record high in carbon emissions in
2017, after three years of flat growth. The
prediction, of a 2-percent growth, comes in the
Global Carbon Budget report, produced by a group
of several dozen research institutions and
emissions experts. The official number is expected
to be 37 billion tons of carbon dioxide, the
highest total ever.
3D
Tour for 'Void' Found Inside Great Pyramid
November 12, 2017
You now have another
way to see inside the Great Pyramid of Giza. The
catch is that you'll have to go to Paris. That
seemingly contradictory statement is made possible
by 3D technology, specifically a virtual reality
tour designed by the team of scientists who last
week announced the presence of a large
"void" inside the famed pyramid. The
scientists, from the Heritage Innovation
Preservation Institute Scan Pyramids project, used
space-age technology and cosmic rays to do the
scan; the result was a previously unknown space,
which researchers are not sure is a chamber or a
corridor. Visitors to the HIP.institute in Paris
can now don a virtual reality headset and "see"
the interior of the Great Pyramid, including the
"void."
Human
Driver Caused Driverless Shuttle Collision
November 12, 2017
Human error caused a
collision between a truck driver and Las Vegas's
first self-driving shuttle, authorities have
confirmed. The shuttle was on its first day of
covering a half-mile loop around downtown Las
Vegas. While in motion,
the shuttle's onboard sensors detected the
presence of another vehicle and stopped. The other
vehicle, a large delivery truck, pulled out into
the street from a loading bay; in doing so, the
truck grazed the front bumper of the shuttle. The truck driver was cited after the
collision. Eight people were onboard the shuttle
at the time. No one in either vehicle was injured.
Ancient
Gymnasium Found in Egypt
November 12, 2017
A team of Egyptian and
German archaeologists have found the first known
ancient gymnasium in Egypt. The gymnasium recently
unearthed is near what was at that time a village
named Philoteris. The initial population of
the village was 1,200, one-third of whom were
Greek. The village was in an area known as Fayum,
which was popular with Greek settlers. The
gymnasium would have once had several meeting
halls, a dining hall, and a large courtyard,
according to Cornelia Römer, leader of the
excavations. Surrounding the building would have
been large gardens and a 650-foot-long racing
track, Römer said.Â
High
Court Rolls Out Electronic Filing
November 12, 2017
The U.S. Supreme
Court now accepts electronic submissions.Rolling
out a new e-filing system, the Court joins the
lower courts in accepting non-paper documents.
People wishing to file documents regarding cases
to be argued before the High Court can find
a link on the Court's website but must
have registered with the Court before filing. This
is intended primarily for lawyers filing on behalf
of someone else. The Court has not abandoned
paper altogether, however: Parties to High Court
suits will still have to submit paper versions of
the documents, for awhile.
Repeat
Performance for La Niña
November 12, 2017
The "little girl" is
back again this year, as far as the weather is
concerned. The Climate
Prediction Center has announced the formation of a
La Niña for the second year in a year. La Niña is
a natural cycle that features cooler-than-average
ocean temperatures in the central Pacific Ocean,
which has varying effects on weather patterns
across the United States and across the world. The
2017 La Niña is forecast to be weak, so a
predicted down year for U.S. agricultural
production might not be so severe.
New
Space Found Inside Great Pyramid
November 2, 2017
The Great
Pyramid at Giza has revealed yet another secret. A
team of scientists using space-age technology has
revealed the presence of a hidden space. Pharaoh
Khufu's grandest achievement, more than 450 tall,
was built more than 4,000 years ago and was sealed
until A.D. 820. Those who opened the pyramid found
three chambers inside, connected by a large
corridor known as the Grand Gallery. The Queen's
chamber is at the center of the pyramid; the
King's chamber is above that; and another chamber
is below the base.Until now, searches for other
chambers have proved fruitless. A team of
scientists from Japan's Nagoya University and KEK
physics lab have employed a host of new
technologies combined with the use of cosmic rays;
the result was a previously unknown space, which
researchers are not sure is a chamber or a
corridor.
Seaborne
Plastic Waste Turned into Clothing
November 5, 2017
A
clothing company has begun a sustainability
project to make clothes out of plastic garbage
from the sea. The company, Spain's Ecoalf, sports
a program called Upcycling the Oceans. Fishers
gather plastic from the Mediterranean, the company
turns the plastic into pellets, which are then
used to create filaments to use in clothing. The
Madrid-based company, begun in 2009 by
environmentalist Javier Goyeneche, has already
released a collection of bright clothes made from
recycled fishing nets. The clothing efforts are
also intended to draw attention to the
ever-growing amount of plastic waste in Earth's
oceans.
Course
of Running Race Illustrates Gerrymandering
November 5, 2017
Runners in Asheville,
N.C., recently participated in a 5K race (3.1
miles) that followed a nontraditional route, one
designed to prove a political point. Asheville is
in North Carolina's 10th and 11th Congressional
districts. The city used to be in one district.
The Republican-controlled legislature redrew the
shape of the two districts, both of which elected
Republicans to the House of Representatives in
2016. The race course for the Asheville 5K run was
a zigzag affair, with sharp corners and repeated
steps, effectively tracing the boundary between
the two congressional districts. Race organizers
designed the course route as nonstandard to call
attention to the "gerrymandered" districts that
resulted from the 2011 redistricting.
Anne
Frank Proposed as Name for German Train
October 31, 2017
The
operator of Germany's state rail system has
proposed the idea of naming a train after Anne
Frank, the young Holocaust victim whose diary has
been read around the world. The response to that
proposal has not been universal acclaim. Most
prominent of the critics of the proposal is the
Anne Frank House, which was once the Amsterdam
house where Anne and her family hid from the
Gestapo but is now a museum. Officials there said
that the proposal evoked great pain in reminding
people of the way that the Frank family–and so
many people like them– died. A great many Jewish
and other enemies of the Nazi state were sent to
concentration camps aboard trains. Deutsche Bahn,
the train operator, said it planned to name one of
its new high-speed trains after Frank as a
memorial to her. That idea found favor with many
people who echoed that sentiment.
New
Investigation into Anne Frank Cold Case
October 31, 2017
A retired FBI agent
is heading up a new investigation into the events
that led to the death of Anne Frank, the young
Holocaust victim whose diary has been read around
the world. Vince Pankoke, known for investigations
into Colombian drug trafficking and the September
11 attacks, and a team of 19 experts will use
new-age technology to go back over evidence
unearthed in previous investigations, with the
goal of shedding more light on how Frank and her
family were betrayed.Â
Dubai
Announces Plans for Revolving Apartments Tower
October 31, 2017
Dubai,
already home to the world's tallest building, has
announced plans for a shape-shifting skyscraper.
The Dynamic Tower will reach "only" 1,273 feet
into the sky when it is completed, possibly as
early as 2020. However, plans call for each of the
tower's 80 floors to be able to rotate a complete
circle independently of any other floor, meaning
that people inside can experience different views
on an ongoing basis.
'Distracted
Walking' Law Targets Mobile Phone Users
October
29, 2017
Hawaii's largest city has made it
illegal to cross the street while staring down at
a mobile device. Honolulu, with an estimated
population of more than 400,000, has a new law
targeting "distracted walking"; those who are
caught breaking the law will face a fine of up to
$99. Anyone who happens to be making an emergency
phone call while "distracted" will not face a
fine.
Persian
Gulf Crisis Stretches to 4 Months
October 29, 2017
The diplomatic
crisis in the Persian Gulf region is entering its
fourth month, with no signs that it will be
resolved anytime soon.The target of a blockade,
Qatar is continuing to try to cope without an open
border with its only land neighbor, Saudi Arabia,
and with disruption of its air and sea traffic.
Saudi Arabia and three other countries, have
refused a diplomatic solution for several weeks.
The last communication between Qatari Emir Sheikh
Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Saudi Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman was a phone call on September
8; that conversation did not result in any
resolution of the crisis.
Titanic
Survivor Letter Sets Record at Auction
October 22, 2017
A famous
letter that survived the sinking of the Titanic
has set a record at auction. The only known letter on Titanic
notepaper to have gone into the Atlantic and come
back out again sold for 126,000 pounds
(US$166,363). American businessman Alexander Oscar
Holverson wrote the letter on April 13, 1912, the
day before the famed ocean liner hit the iceberg
that caused its doom. He and his wife, Mary, had
boarded the ship in Southampton, bound for their
home in New York. He wrote the letter to his
mother.
Ancient
'Gates' Found in Saudi Arabia
October 22, 2017
Archaeologists
have discovered in Saudi Arabia a few hundred
stone structures that are very, very old. Found in
Harrat Khaybar, a volcanic region in the
west-central part of the country, the gates and
walls are man-made and could date back thousands
of years. Archaeologists are still not sure how
old the stone strucutres are. They made the
discovery primarily examining satellite imagery.
The longest gate is 1,699 feet in
length; the shortest is 43 feet in length.
Leonardo
Painting Auction Prediction: $100 Million
October 15, 2017
A painting by the
creator of the Mona Lisa could fetch $100
million at auction. Leonardo
da Vinci's Salvator Mundi was painted
about the same time as the Mona Lisa, art
historians believe, but had private owners for
centuries before being rediscovered in 1900.
Officials said that the price paid for the
painting in a 1958 Christie's auction was $60. The
painting was identified as Leonardo's work only in
2011. It is the only
known Leonardo painting still in private hands.
Great
Pacific Garbage Patch Tapped for Statehood
October 7, 2017
A drive to declare the Great
Pacific Garbage Patch an official nation is
gaining momentum, with more than 130,000 people
already applying for citizenship. The
environmental charity Plastic Oceans Foundation
began a campaign to petition the United Nations to
recognize a new country, Trash Isles, as a way to
call attention to the ever-growing amount of
plastic and other garbage in the northern pacific
Ocean. The latest estimates say that Trash Isles
would be the size of a large country.
Bronze
Statue Arm Found in Antikythera Wreckage
October 7, 2017
The
encrusted fingers of a recently rediscovered
statue point to greater treasures yet to come,
according to archaeologists working at the famed
Antikythera wreck, off the coast of the Greek
island of the same name. The ship, which sunk in 1
B.C., has revealed many treasures in its time,
none perhaps more enticing and maddening than the
Antikythera Mechanism, which many people think was
a primitive form of computer. Initial discovery of
the wreck occurred only in 1900. Since then,
several expeditions have turned up notable finds,
including a bronze statue called the Antikythera
Youth, which now stands in Greece's National
Archaeological Museum. Much more recently, a team of divers
from Greece and Sweden have been exploring the
site, at times employing an underwater metal
detector built for the purposes, in a newly funded
endeavor. Their latest find is an intact arm that
would have been part of a bronze statue onboard
the ship. The archaeologists think that as many as
eight other bronze sculptures are yet to be found.
Saudi
Women to Join World's Drivers
October 1, 2017
Women in Saudi Arabia have won
the right to drive. Saudi King Salman bin
Abdulaziz announced that women could begin
achieving a driver's licence in June 2018. The
population of Saudi Arabia, as of the 2016
counting, is 32 million. Nearly half of those are
women. Women
were granted the right to vote in 2015 and
to run for seats on local councils. However, women
are still prohibited from doing many other things.
For example, they cannot, without the consent of a
male "guardian (husband, son, or father), travel
outside the country, open a bank account or a
business, decide whom they marry, or undergo
certain medical procedures. Activists said that
they intended their next target to be the laws the
so-called "guardianship laws."
Evidence
Bolsters Submerged Continent Claim
October 1, 2017
Evidence suggests
that Earth could indeed have eight continents, one
of which is on the seafloor. Earlier this year,
scientists suggested the presence of a large
underwater mass known as Zealandia, which sunk
beneath the waves tens of millions of years ago
but was, when it was at sea level, very large
indeed. A nine-week voyage to the seafloor off New
Zealand and Australia revealed evidence of
land-based fossils on the submerged landmass,
which is now more than 3,200 feet below the
surface. As well, the expedition found that
Zealandia's crust was not as deep as the
surrounding oceanic crust, confirming the theory
that the land was once much higher up. Working
aboard a ship called the JOIDES Resolution, the
scientists drilled more than 8,000 feet below the
surface, at six sites at various points along the
Zealandia landmass. What they discovered included
remains of pollen from land plants and remains of
organisms whose home is in warm shallow seas.