Culture | Page 2893 | Science Codex

Tectonic Signatures On Mars

The High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board Mars Express has provided snapshots of the Aeolis Mensae region. This area, well known for its wind-eroded features, lies on a tectonic transition zone, characterised by incised valleys and unexplained linear features.

Illuminated by the Sun from the west (right side in the image), the pictures are of a ground resolution of approximately 13 metres per pixel. The region, imaged on 26 and 29 March 2007, during Mars Express orbits 4136 and 4247, is located at approximately 6° South and 145° East.

The Search for Hatshepsut and the Discovery of her Mummy

Dr. Zahi HawassJune 2007

When the Discovery Channel approached me to search for the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut, I did not really think I would be able to make a definite identification. But I did think that this would give me the perfect opportunity to look at the unidentified female mummies from Dynasty 18, which no one had ever studied in as a group. There were already many theories about the identities of these mummies, but the latest scientific technology had not yet been used to study them.

Female Iguanas Will Even Die For The Right Mate

Picking a mate isn’t easy—if you are a female iguana. In a study Maren Vitousek of Princeton University and colleagues found that female Galápagos marine iguanas spend a lot of energy picking a mate from a wide range of suitors – energy they could otherwise spend foraging, producing eggs, or avoiding predators.

Understanding The 'Sickness' Bug

A breakthrough announced this week by scientists at the University of Southampton's School of Medicine will lead to greater understanding of noroviruses, the most common cause of non-bacterial gastroenteritis around the world.

Traditionally very little has been known about the biology of noroviruses because of the difficulty in culturing and manipulating these pathogens in the laboratory.

Mummy Of Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut Found

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt, sent out this announcement:

On Wednesday (27/6/2007) at 11:00 a.m Culture Minster Farouk Housni and Dr. Zahi Hawass Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) will hold an International Conference at the Egyptian Museum in Tarir in Room 43 to announce the Identification of Hatshepsut's mummy .

Please come to attend the event at 10:00 am. at the Egyptian Museum in order to fix cameras and TV crews.

Why You Should Wait To Brush Your Teeth

Dental enamel is the thin, outer layer of hard tissue that helps maintain the tooth's structure and shape while protecting it from decay.

While eating fruit is important part of a balanced diet, how you eat it may be ruining your teeth, says David Bartlett, BDS, PhD. Frequently consuming foods with a low pH (potential of hydrogen) value, such as fresh fruit, pickles, yogurt, honey, fruit juices and raisins can lead to irreversible dental erosion.

LaCie Delivers 1TB Secure Biometric Drive

LaCie has announced it has boosted the capacity of its d2 SAFE Hard Drive to 1TB in a compact 2 x 6 x 7in casing.

The d2 SAFE hard drive is designed to keep intruders away from private data, and comes equipped with a biometric sensor, 128-bit AES hardware encryption technology, and chain lock port for maximum protection against unauthorized use.

Is the Large Halidon Collider Ready For Prime Time?

CERN Director General Robert Aymar announced that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will start up in May 2008 despite the fact that a low-energy run originally scheduled for this year has been dropped due to delays, coupled with the failure in March of a pressure test in one of the machine’s components.

In that instance, a magnet assembly known as the inner triplet, provided to CERN as part of the contribution of the US to the LHC project, failed a pressure test. A repair has been identified and is currently being implemented.

New picture of Earth's lower mantle

Laboratory measurements of a high-pressure mineral believed to exist deep within the Earth show that the mineral may not, as geophysicists hoped, have the right properties to explain a mysterious layer lying just above the planet’s core.

A team of scientists, led by Sébastien Merkel, of the University of California, Berkeley, made the first laboratory study of the deformation properties of a high-pressure silicate mineral named post-perovskite.

Invertebrate immune systems are anything but simple

A hundred years since Russian microbiologist Elie Metschnikow first discovered the invertebrate immune system, scientists are only just beginning to understand its complexity. Presenting their findings at a recent European Science Foundation (ESF) conference, scientists showed that invertebrates have evolved elaborate ways to fight disease.

The Mystery Of Ice And Its Importance In Climate Change

We deal with ice every day. Yet we don't all there is to know about it. Now Dr Angelos Michaelides and Professor Karina Morgenstern say they have made a breakthrough in understanding how ice works.

Dr Michaelides said, “We are all familiar with the freezing of water. It features prominently in our daily lives, from fridge freezers to winter snow. Despite all this, the question of how individual water molecules come together and give birth to ice crystals remains mysterious.”

There's Gold In Green Energy

A report from the UN Environment Programme says government subsidies, fears about global warming and high oil prices have led to an investment boom in the green energy and energy efficiency businesses.

The report says investment capital flowing into renewable energy climbed from $80 billion in 2005 to a record $100 billion in 2006. As well, the renewable energy sector’s growth “although still volatile ... is showing no sign of abating.”

Neanderthal Man Was An Innovator

Neanderthal man was not as stupid as has been made out says a new study published by a University of Leicester archaeologist.

In fact Neanderthals were far removed from their stereotypical image and were innovators, says Dr Terry Hopkinson of the School of Archaeology and Ancient History in a paper published in Antiquity.

Spectacular Artwork - From The Ice Age!

Archaeologists from Tübingen report they have found parts of five figurines from the Ice Age at Vogelherd Cave in southwestern Germany. The figurines were carved from ivory and are of woolly mammoths, date to 35,000 years ago and count among the oldest and most impressive examples of figurative artworks from the Ice Age.

Circumcision Overstated as Prevention Tool against AIDS

New study finds the key to understanding the global spread of AIDS is the size of the infected prostitute community around the world.

In new academic research published today in the online, open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal PLoS ONE, male circumcision is found to be much less important as a deterrent to the global AIDS pandemic than previously thought. The author, John R. Talbott, has conducted statistical empirical research across 77 countries of the world and has uncovered some surprising results.