Sir Charles Lyell: The geological evidences of the antiquity of man : with remarks on theories of the origin of species by variation (1863)

It's impossible to overstate the significance of this classic of scientific literature. A necessary companion to Darwin's The Origin of Species, it springs from the ingenious mind of one of his closest friends, geologist Charles Lyell, whose theories were a critical influence on Darwin's landmark work. First published in 1863, this exploration of the implications of Darwin's "natural selection" for humans remains one of the clearest, most concise explanations of a foundational branch of modern biology. 

Eminently insightful, the books sings with a scientific poeticism -- chapter sections have such titles as: . "Works of Art in Danish Peat-Mosses" . "Curiosity awakened by the systematic Exploration of the Brixham Cave" . "Two Species of Elephant and Hippopotamus coexisting with Man in France" . "Extinct Mammalia in the Valley of the Oise" Readers in the sciences are sure to find this essential book a highly engaging one as well. 

I.D. Novikov: New analytic models of ”traversable” wormholes

Abstract

The analytic solution of the general relativity equations for spherically symmetricwormholes are given. We investigate the special case of a ”traversable” wormhole i.e., oneallowing the signal to pass through it. The energy-momentum tensor of wormhole matteris represented as a superposition of a spherically symmetric magnetic field and dust matterwith negative matter density. The dynamics of the model are investigated. We discussboth the solution of the equation with a Λ-term and without it. Superposing enough dustmatter, a magnetic field, and a Λ-term can produce a static solution, which turns out tobe a spherical Multiverse model with an infinite number of wormholes connected sphericaluniverses. Corresponding solution can be static and dynamic.

A.A. Vasiliev: History of the Byzantine empire

The cultural and religious crisis through which the Roman Empire was passing in thefourth century is one of the most significant events in the history of the world. The oldpagan culture came into collision with Christianity, which received official recognitionduring the reign of Constantine at the beginning of the fourth century and wasdeclared the dominant State religion by Theodosius the Great at the end of that samecentury. It might have seemed at first that these two clashing elements, representingtwo diametrically opposed points of view, would never find a basis for mutualagreement. But Christianity and pagan Hellenism did intermix gradually to form aChristian-Greco-Eastern culture subsequently known as Byzantine. Its center was thenew capital of the Roman Empire, Constantinople.

The Mental Cost of Cognitive Enhancement

Noninvasive brain stimulation provides a potential tool for affecting brain functions in the typical and atypical brain and offers in several cases an alternative to pharmaceutical intervention. Some studies have suggested that transcranial electrical stimulation (TES), a form of noninvasive brain stimulation, can also be used to enhance cognitive performance. Critically, research so far has primarily focused on optimizing protocols for effective stimulation, or assessing potential physical side effects of TES while neglecting the possibility of cognitive side effects. We assessed this possibility by targeting the high-level cognitive abilities of learning and automaticity in the mathematical domain. Notably, learning and automaticity represent critical abilities for potential cognitive enhancement in typical and atypical populations. Over 6 d, healthy human adults underwent cognitive training on a new numerical notation while receiving TES to the posterior parietal cortex or the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Stimulation to the the posterior parietal cortex facilitated numerical learning, whereas automaticity for the learned material was impaired. In contrast, stimulation to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex impaired the learning process, whereas automaticity for the learned material was enhanced. The observed double dissociation indicates that cognitive enhancement through TES can occur at the expense of other cognitive functions. These findings have important implications for the future use of enhancement technologies for neurointervention and performance improvement in healthy populations.

Mid-Pliocene warm-period deposits in the High Arctic yield insight into camel evolution

The mid-Pliocene was a global warm period, preceding the onset of Quaternary glaciations. Here we use cosmogenic nuclide dating to show that a fossiliferous terrestrial deposit that includes subfossil trees and the northern-most evidence of Pliocene ice wedge casts in Canada’s High Arctic (Ellesmere Island, Nunavut) was deposited during the mid-Pliocene warm period. The age estimates correspond to a general maximum in high latitude mean winter season insolation, consistent with the presence of a rich, boreal-type forest. Moreover, we report that these deposits have yielded the first evidence of a High Arctic camel, identified using collagen fingerprinting of a fragmentary fossil limb bone. Camels originated in North America and dispersed to Eurasia via the Bering Isthmus, an ephemeral land bridge linking Alaska and Russia. The results suggest that the evolutionary history of modern camels can be traced back to a lineage of giant camels that was well established in a forested Arctic.

Hermetic Cosmology

A cosmology is the conceptual framework of an individual, school of thought, or whole culture bymeans of which the world is understood. “Hermetic Magic” by Stephen Edred Flowers, Ph.D.

When one first begins to study various cosmologies, the usual impression is that it is an interesting intellectualexercise but has little in the way of practical application. Further study shows that knowing what comes after deathprovides a guideline on how to live life to ensure a better outcome in the next life, after life or next incarnation. Italso illustrates the differences between religion and magic which allows us to make an informed decision regardinghow much of either that we want to practice. Some cosmologies even describe such hard to define concepts as loveand soul mates.

Cunoaşte-te pe tine însuţi - dimensiuni filosofico-creştine

Orice demers filosofic gravitează în jurul problematicii omului. De-a lungul timpului mulţi „iubitori deînţelepciune” au încercat să vină în sprijinul omului pentru a-l face să înţeleagă, cine este, de ce este şi încotro seîndreaptă. S-au făcut nenumărate încercări, situând răspunsul la aceste întrebări, în materialitate, în principiiimpersonale sau în cauze iraţionale. Cel care a intuit cel mai bine răspunsul la aceste întrebări a fost Socrate, producândo adevărată reformă în gândirea antică.

A descoperit că esenţa omului nu rezidă într-o cauză materială, ci este inefabilă. A fost pus în faţa acestor întrebări în momentul când a văzut gravat pe frontispiciul Templului din Delhi cuvintele „cunoaşte-te pe tine însuţi”,răspunzând camaradului care-l însoţea la templu, că această maximă l-a pus pe gânduri, invitându-l la introspecţie.

Subiectul constient - Constiinta

Dupa uciderea lui Socrate, polisul atenian a inceput sa se destrame. Analizand situatia lui Socrate,Hegel o pune sub semnul tragicului. (exista mai multe definitii ale tragicului, dar cea mai cunoscutaeste: In cazul tragicului se confrunta doua forte dintre care una este calificata pozitiv, iar altanegativ; in aceasta confruntare iese invingatoare forta negativa).

Hegel: Se confrunta doua forte, ambele calificate pozitiv. Aceste doua forte se ruineaza reciproc.Exemplificand pe cazul lui Socrate, putem considera ca atenienii aveau dreptate pentru ca ei isiaparau obiceiurile, traditiile, credintele pe care Socrate le contesta (stiu un singur lucru, ca nu stiunimic). Hegel spune ca si Socrate avea dreptate pentru ca el aduce in lume un principiu nou - alinitiativei si al raspunderii.

Diogenes Laërtius: The Life of Epicurus

EPICURUS was an Athenian, and the son of Neocles and Chærestrate, of the burgh of Gargettus, and of the family of the Philaidæ, as Metrodorus tells us in his treatise on Nobility of Birth. 

Some writers, and among them Heraclides, in his Abridgment of Sotion, say, that as theAthenians had Colonis and Samos, he was brought up there, and came to Athens in his eighteenthyear, while Xenocrates was president of the Academy, and Aristotle at Chalcis. But after the deathof Alexander, the Macedonian, when the Athenians were driven out of Samos by Perdiccas,Epicurus went to Colophon to his father.

And when he had spent some time there, and collected some disciples, he again returned toAthens, in the time of Anaxicrates, and for some time studied philosophy, mingling with the rest of the philosophers; but subsequently, he somehow or other established the school which wascalled after his name; and he used to say, that he began to study philosophy when he was fourteenyears of age.

THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH

I WILL proclaim to the world the deeds of Gilgamesh. This was the man to whom all things were known; thiswas the king who knew the countries of the world. He was wise, he saw mysteries and knew secret things, he brought us a tale of the days before the flood. He went on a long journey, was weary, worn-out with labour,returning he rested, he engraved on a stone the whole story.

When the gods created Gilgamesh they gave him a perfect body. Shamash the glorious sun endowed him with beauty, Adad the god of the storm endowed him with courage, the great gods made his beauty perfect, surpassing allothers, terrifying like a great wild bull. Two thirds they made him god and one third man.

David Talbott - The Plasma Universe of Hannes Alfven

In the 20th century no scientist added more to our knowledge of electromagnetism in space than Hannes Alfvén(1908–1995). His insights changed the picture of the uni- verse, revealing the profound effects of charged particle move-ment at all scales of observation. 

But recognition never camequickly, and never easily, and mainstream journals typically regarded Alfvén as an outsider, often rejecting his submissions. In retrospect, Alfvén’s dificulties in gaining acceptancecan only highlight the inertia of institutionalized ideas in thesciences, reminding us of the obstacles faced by all of history’sgreat scientific innovators.

Wallace Thornhill - Toward a Real Cosmology in the 21st Century

A real cosmology must be a broad and coherent natural philosophy. It may always be incomplete, based on ourlimitations, but to be valid there can be no exceptions in our experience. In particular, cosmology must address issues of life and the human condition. 

Therefore it must be a truly interdisciplinary pursuit. Modern specialized science is a hostileenvironment for such a quest. For example, the world’s largest professional body, the Institute for Electrical andElectronic Engineers (IEEE), recognizes plasma cosmology while it remains unheard of by students of astronomy. Plasmacosmology receives no publicity although it deals empirically with the electromagnetic behavior of plasma, whichconstitutes almost the entire visible universe. Unlike theoretical big bang cosmology, plasma cosmology can claimsuccessful predictions without recourse to hypothetical matter, energies and forces.

Agamemnon in Herodotus and Thucydides: Exploring the historical uses of amythological paradigm

This paper explores the use of the myth of Agamemnon in Herodotus and Thucydides.I argue that the deployment of Agamemnon in their works is shaped by, and sheds additionallight on, the historians’ attitude toward myth (and its use in rhetoric), their narrative aims andhistorical outlook. 

Herodotus’ readiness to embrace myth in both narrative and speeches, hisrepresentation of complex motivation, his description of the conflict between the Greeks andthe Persians, and his panhellenic outlook, influence the function of Agamemnon: as king of Sparta and the leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War, he reflects the idealistic and pragmaticmotivation of the Spartans in the context of the Persian Wars.

Aristotle's Metaphysics

The first major work in the history of philosophy to bear the title ―Metaphysics‖ was the treatise by Aristotle that we have come to know by that name. But Aristotle himself did not use that title or even describe his field of study as metaphysics‘; the name was evidently coined by the firstcentury C.E. editor who assembled the treatise we know as Aristotle's Metaphysics out of various smaller selections of Aristotle's works. 

The title metaphysics‘—literally, after the Physics‘— very likely indicated the place the topics discussed therein were intended to occupy in thephilosophical curriculum. They were to be studied after the treatises dealing with nature (ta phusika). In this entry, we discuss the ideas that are developed in Aristotle's treatise.

Claude Mossé: PROCESUL LUI SOCRATE

În primăvara anului 399, sosirea la Pireu a navei carese întorcea de la Delos, unde în fiecare an era trimisă oambasadă sacră pentru a comemora victoria lui Theseu asupra Minotaurului, a fost întâmpinată de discipolii lui Socrate cu mare durere: ea însemna, într-adevăr, căpedeapsa cu moartea pronunţată de tribunalul popular împotriva bătrânului ale cărui lecţii le urmau străluciţiitineri ai Atenei, pedeapsă a cărei execuţie fusese amânatăcu o lună, conform legii, urma să fie dusă la îndeplinire. Adoua zi, filozoful avea să bea otrava în mijlocul discipolilor săi, iar moartea lui exemplară avea să stârneascăadmiraţia secole de-a rândul.

Socrate era un cetăţean atenian, iar Atena odemocraţie care se recunoştea în afirmaţia a douăprincipii: egalitatea în faţa legii a tuturor celor care făceauparte din comunitatea civică şi libertatea care permiteafiecăruia să trăiască, să-şi crească fiii, să gândească dupămintea lui. Cele două principii fuseseră ferm susţinute îndiscursul pe care istoricul Tucidide îl pune pe seamaomului reprezentând simbolul acestei democraţii, Pericle.

Plutarh - Viețile paralele

Bunicul lui Antoniu a fost oratorul Antoniu, partizan al lui Sylla, pe care l-a ucis Marius. Tatăl sau, Antoniu, numit şi Cretanul , n-a fost om de frunte întreburile politice nici un nume faimos; a fost om de ispravă, însă, cinstit si tare filotim.cum se poate vedea din întâmplarea următoare: n-avea cine ştie ce bogăţii şi de aceea nevasta-l silea să fie mai strâns la mână. 

Veni odată un prieten şi-i ceru împrumut o sumă. El bani n-avea, dar îi porunci unui rob din casa să pună apă într-un pahar de argint şi să i-l aducă, îi aduse robul apa şi dânsul îşi săpuni barba ca şi cum ar fi vrut să se radă.îi făcu drum apoirobului din odaie după altă treabă şi-i dădu paharul prietenului zicându-i să facă ce-o vrea cu el. Văzu însă că se face multă zarvă în casă pentru paharul acela şică nevasta sa, mânioasă, e gata să pună la cazne robii, îi mărturisi fapta si-o rugă să-lierte.

O călătorie în lumea istoriei prin intermediul muzeelor

Muzeul este o instituție permanentă, aflată în serviciulsocietății, deschisă publicului, care seocupă cu strângerea, păstrarea, identificarea, catalogarea, analizarea, menținerea, conservarea și expunerea de diverse obiecte sau artefacte ce prezintă interes științific,istoric,artistic,tehnologic, în scopul studierii, educării, relaxării vizitatorilor, a oamenilor de știință.

Termenul de „muzeu” desemnează, de asemenea, clădirea propriu-zisă în care se găsesc păstrate, conservatei expuse acele obiecte, artefacte și/sau lucruri care au o legătură, într-un felsau altul, cucivilizația umană.

Archaeoastronomy of the Ocmulgee Earth Lodge

Was the Ocmulgee earth lodge an astronomical observatory and sophisticated scientific apparatus designed to forewarn its designers of impending catastrophe coming from the heavens?

The earth lodge at the Ocmulgee Mounds site in Macon, Georgia is a unique building among Native American archaeological sites in the Southeast. It is a round building completely covered with earth except for a smoke hole in the center of the roof to allow smoke to escape from the central fire pit below. Entry into the earth lodge was from the east through a low, long, tunnel-like, earth-covered corridor.

Max Planck: On the Law of Distribution of Energy in the Normal Spectrum

The recent spectral measurements made by O. Lummer and E. Pringsheim, and even more notablethose by H. Rubens and F. Kurlbaum, which together confirmed an earlier result obtained by H. Beck-mann, show that the law of energy distribution in the normal spectrum, first derived by W. Wien frommolecular-kinetic considerations and later by me from the theory of electromagnetic radiation, is notvalid generally.

In any case the theory requires a correction, and I shall attempt in the following to accomplishthis on the basis of the theory of electromagnetic radiation which I developed. For this purpose it willbe necessary first to find in the set of conditions leading to Wien’s energy distribution law that termwhich can be changed; thereafter it will be a matter of removing this term from the set and making an appropriate substitution for it.

Saqqara the Pottery 2005

The pottery studied in the season of 2005 came from squares 1903-1904-1905, where burials of the Upper Necropolis were discovered in the upper layers, superimposed on the late Old Kingdom necropolis and the sloping passage, i.e., Corridor 3 (squares 2002-2102) combined with the area of the mud-brick platform (squares 2001-2101), both investigated in 2004.

The surface layer in squares 1903-1904-1905 consisted of sand mixed with limestone chips in considerable quantities. The layer was evidently disturbed, as indicated by the chronological spread of the sherds found in it, from severely damaged Late Old Kingdom beer jars to vessels from the Late Period.