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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

TIL: Transumanism, singularitate şi viaţă veşnică

În fiecare zi se petrec atâtea schimbări sau descoperiri notabile în ştiinţă, tehnologie, psihologie, medicină, sociologie şi alte lucruri cu care se ocupăm cei de la revista Descoperă, încât adesea se întâmplă să nu am (şi cred că nici voi) suficient timp sau disponibilitate de a procesa şi stoca toată această informaţie în memoria de lungă durată. Din acest motiv mi s-ar părea binevenită o serie de monologuri săptămânale pe diverse teme de interes general extrase din conştiinţa colectivă, întoarse pe toate părţile până se sedimentează şi transformă în noi perspective - şi, în cel mai fericit caz, în noi discuţii. Dacă vă daţi pe reddit, probabil ştiţi deja ce înseamnă TIL. Dacă nu, acronimul de la today I learned se referă la lucruri noi pe care le aflăm zi de zi, care mai tot timpul se dovedesc a fi remarcabile.

The wonders of Chichen Itza

Buenos diaz,

Acum cateva zile am inceput aventura spre zona arheologica Chichen Itza pt a vedea cea de-a 2 a minune a lumii reprezentata prin Templu Kukulcan. In drumul nostru am facut cateva opriri pt a cunoaste mai bine civilizatia maya si cultura mexicana.

In momentul in care am ajuns in Chichen Itza soferul autocarului ne-a strans pt a ne inmana biletele de intrare si pt a ne repartiza, in functie de limba conversationala aleasa, unui ghid.

Huge deposit of Jurassic turtle remains found in China

Paleontologists from University of Tübingen and Berlin Natural History Mu-seum can make first statistical analysis of ancient species. 

"Bones upon bones, we couldn't believe our eyes," says Oliver Wings, paleontologist and guest researcher at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. He was describing the spectacular find of some 1800 fossilized mesa chelonia turtles from the Jurassic era in China's northwest province of Xinjiang. Wings and the University of Tübingen's fossil turtle specialist, Dr. Walter Joyce, were working with Chinese paleontologists there in 2008. The results of their further work in 2009 and 2011 have just been published in the German journal "Naturwissenschaften." 

Super-Massive Black Hole Inflates Giant Bubble

Like symbiotic species, a galaxy and its central black hole lead intimately connected lives. The details of this relationship still pose many puzzles for astronomers.

Some black holes actively accrete matter. Part of this material do not fall into the black hole but is ejected in a narrow stream of particles, traveling at nearly the speed of light. When the stream slows down, it creates a tenuous bubble that can engulf the entire galaxy. Invisible to optical telescopes, the bubble is very prominent at low radio frequencies. The new International LOFAR Telescope - designed and built by ASTRON in an international collaboration - is ideally suited to detect this low frequency emission.

Incoming! Tunguska-class bolide to miss Earth by just 22,500km on 15 February 2013

An asteroid the size of a city block is due to come whizzing past Earth closer than any other of its size in recorded history in February next year, according to astronomers.

The asteroid, referred to as 2012 DA14, has a diameter of approximately 45m and an estimated mass of 130,000 tonnes. It was discovered at the start of 2012 and is set to travel between the Earth and our geostationary communication satellites on 15 February 2013. At a distance of just 22,500km this will be the closest asteroid 'fly by' in recorded history.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Spectacol galactic în centrul Căii Lactee

Pregătiţi-vă de o experienţă "gastronomică" fascinantă în centrul galaxiei noastre. Evenimentul are în prim-plan o gaură neagră care ar putea devora cea mai mare parte a unui nor de praf şi gaz cunoscut drept G2, ce se apropie de aceasta.

O simulare pe un supercomputer pregătită de doi fizicieni de la Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory şi un fost coleg sugerează că o parte din G2 va supravieţui, deşi masa care va scăpa gravitaţiei găurii negre va fi de-a dreptul sfâşiată, lăsând norul de praf şi gaz sub o formă diferită şi cu o soartă pusă sub semnul întrebării.

Revisiting Doomsday at the LHC

We are currently holed up in Boston,  bracing ourselves for the wrath of Hurricane Sandy along with the rest of the Northeast, and kicking ourselves for not having the good sense to stay home in sunny Los Angeles. (But the Moving Naturalism Forward conference we attended was fantastic, whereby we learned a great deal about the nature of reality, emergence, morality, consciousness and free will from some very smart people — and were chuffed to discover that philosopher Daniel Dennett looks like an amiable intellectual Kris Kringle.)

Experienţele la graniţa morţii. Real or mit?

Eben Alexander, un neurochirurg de la Harvard, a intrat, la spital, în stare vegetativă. Când s-a trezit, a povestit despre o experienţă pre-moarte în care a intrat într-o lume paralelă, un adevărat Paradis. Experienţa lui a fost povestită într-o carte şi pe coperta revistei Newsweek.

Fiind vorba de un om de ştiinţă, cazul lui Alexander a stârnit multă curiozitate şi, evident, multe discuţii.

Астрономы сфотографировали "уши" черной дыры в высоком разрешении

М87 является крупнейшим "звездным мегаполисом" в созвездии Девы. В центре этой галактики находится черная дыра-тяжеловес, чья масса превышает солнечную в 6 миллионов раз. Она ежедневно поглощает гигантскую порцию газа и пыли, сопоставимую с массой нашей планеты.

МОСКВА, 29 окт - РИА Новости. Европейские астрономы использовали недавно построенный радиотелескоп LOFAR для получения высококачественных снимков пузырей из раскаленного газа - "ушей" сверхмассивной черной дыры, расположенной в центре галактики М87 в созвездии Девы, и опубликовали их в статье в журнале Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Кто поет в пустынях?

Кто хоть раз побывал в пустыне, тот никогда ее не забудет.  Впечатление - как быдто ты находишься на другой планете. Но почему-то нет чувства потерянности и одиночества среди бесконечных песков. Например, у меня больше страха вызывает лес. Может, потому что пустыня дает чувство безопасности - ты же видишь все вокруг далеко. И еще - нет там тишины. Точнее, вроде она есть, но все равно чем-то заполнена. И вот сегодня ученые выяснили - чем. Оказывается, пустыня поет. Как лес шумит, так и она наполнена звуками.

Istoricul Eusebiu din Cezareea Palestinei despre Origen

Despre Origen s-au scris multe studii şi lucrări, dar personalitatea lui rămâne controversată, din timpul disputelor origeniste şi până astăzi. Studiile româneşti competente dedicate marelui alexandrin nu sunt foarte numeroase. Un teolog contemporan observa cu justeţe faptul că studiile româneşti despre Origen sunt „precare şi dezamăgitoare, doar câteva sunt solide” [1]).

Cel care era denumit campion al ortodoxiei în timpul vieţii, fiind chemat să aplaneze dispute privind dreapta credinţă acolo unde era cazul, a fost condamnat ca şi eretic, la câteva secole după moartea sa. Creştin zelos, marele alexandrin a abordat aproape toate genurile teologice, conştient de riscul unor formulări dogmatice greşite, care i-ar fi putut aduce neplăceri chiar după moarte. 

'Atlantis in the Sand': Unlocking the Mysteries of Petra

The ruins of the ancient city of Petra lay hidden until 1812, when a Swiss explorer stumbled upon them in modern-day Jordan. Two centuries later, a new exhibition in Basel brings together some 150 artifacts that shed light on how this mysterious culture of spice traders carved a luxurious oasis into the rocks of the desert.

In the stifling heat, the intruder squeezed his way through the Siq, a narrow gorge flanked by steep rock walls. The man walked through the dark gorge for 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles). Suddenly, he laid eyes on a magnificent scene.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Steven Weinberg discusses Higgs Boson particle advancements

About 1,500 people from all over the world gathered in Texas Hall to listen to Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg’s lecture Wednesday.

The lecture titled "The Standard Model, Higgs Boson: Who Cares?" was part of the annual International Workshop on Future Linear Colliders. This is the first time the conference is being held in Texas.

Jaehoon Yu, physics department associate professor, said the event’s attendance was record-breaking.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Descoperire: un nou tip de raze cosmice

Folosind satelitul european cu raze-x XMM-Newton, cercetătorii de la CNRS şi CEA au descoperit o nouă sursă de raze cosmice. Aceste raze cosmice produc o emisie caracteristică de raze-x prin interacţiunea cu atomii din gazul înconjurător.

În vecinătatea clusterului Arches, lângă centrul Căii Lactee, aceste particule sunt accelerate în unda de şoc generată de zeci de mii de stele tinere care se mişcă cu viteze de aproximativ 700.000 km/h. Aceste raze cosmice produc o emisie caracteristică de raze X prin interacţiunea cu atomii din gazul înconjurător. Originea lor diferă de cea a razelor cosmice descoperite cu exact o sută de ani în urmă de Victor Hess, origine ce provine din explozia supernovelor. Aceste descoperiri sunt publicate în revista Astronomy & Astrophysics.

'White Widow' Scenario for Birth of Type Ia Supernovae

J. Craig Wheeler has studied the exploding stars called supernovae for more than four decades. Now he has a new idea on the identity of the "parents" of one of the most important types of supernovae -- the Type Ia, those used as "standard candles" in cosmology studies that led to the discovery of dark energy, the mysterious force causing the universe's expansion to speed up.

Wheeler lays out his case for supernova parentage in the current issue of The Astrophysical Journal. He explains why he thinks the parents of Type Ia could be a binary star made up of white dwarf star (the burnt-out remnant of a Sun-like star) and a particular type of small star called an "M dwarf."

Monster Galaxy May Have Been Stirred Up By Black-hole Mischief

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have obtained a remarkable new view of a whopper of an elliptical galaxy that may have been puffed up by the actions of one or more black holes in its core.

Spanning a little more than one million light-years, the galaxy is about 10 times the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy. The bloated galaxy is a member of an unusual class of galaxies with a diffuse core filled with a fog of starlight where there would normally be a concentrated peak of light around a central black hole. Viewing the core is like seeing a city with no downtown, just houses sprinkled across a vast landscape.

Big Bang and religion mixed in Cern debate

Some of Europe's most prominent scientists have opened a debate with philosophers and theologians over the origins of everything.

The event, in Geneva, Switzerland, is described as a search for "common ground" between religion and science over how the Universe began.

It will focus on the Big Bang theory.

Hyperfast Stars Point to Black Hole Slingshot

The black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy is by far the nearest such supermassive gravitational monster to our sun, yet observing this space-time maelstrom is a challenge because it is 27,000 light-years away and obscured in visible light by intervening star clouds and dust lanes in the galactic plane.

The region of space profoundly warped by the black hole is a little more than a light-year across.

Egypt’s ‘collapsing’ pyramids

My first introduction to working in Egypt was a project in Cairo’s historic old quarter, following the 1992 earthquake that caused widespread and devastating damage. Cintec International won the contract to repair and reinforce a number of badly affected structures, with work commencing in 1998.

The project consisted of some 15 notable mosques and maqaads, successfully strengthened using Cintec’s patented anchoring systems. Most of the essential work was completed by early 2005, with ongoing localised repairs still being undertaken as and when required.

Archaeologists find burnt stucco floor related to astronomical event 1,350 years ago

TECOZAUTLA, MEXICO.- During the excavations in Pañhu, an archaeological zone which will soon open its doors to the public in the municipality of Tecozautla, Hidalgo, archaeologists registered a burn stucco floor, evidence that its main pyramid was desacralized approximately 1,350 years ago. This coincides with an astronomical event which was thought, by its inhabitants, to be a cataclysm. 

Archaeologist Fernando Lopez Aguilar, director of the site’s investigation project promoted by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH – Conaculta), informed that there was a solar eclipse at sunrise the 3rd of August in the year 650 AD. 

History of Hattuşa’s excavation on display

Yapı Kredi Culture Center displays a photography documenting a century of archaeological excavations in the Hattuşa, situated in the northern province of Çorum. The exhibition features photographs drawn from German Archaeological Institute

Istanbul’s Yapı Kredi Cultural Center has opened a new exhibition on Hattuşa, inviting viewers to dig through the history of the past 100 years of archaeological excavations at the ancient Hittite capital in northern Turkey.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Morocco denies destruction of ancient carvings

Yagour, Morocco - Morocco's government has denied claims that Salafists had destroyed stone carvings dating back more than 8,000 years in the High Atlas mountains.

“The reports that these stone carvings were damaged, as you can see, is not true,” Communications Minister Mustapha Khalfi told journalists, on a government organised trip to the Yagour plateau.

'Fox hole' opens passage to Neolithic past, possibly Hades

A Field Museum curator is digging around a cave in Southern Greece that’s been compared to the mythical underworld, Hades.  That cave might help explain why people choose to migrate to big cities or high tail it to the suburbs.

And it has a surprising Chicago tie.

William Parkinson is the associate curator of Eurasian anthropology at the Field Museum. He is on a research team, called The Diros Project, made up of two Greek and two American archaeologists (both Chicago natives).

Высококачественные изображения древних текстов появились в Интернете

Как известно, язык – это не только средство общения, но и инструмент постижения прошлого. Античная цивилизация перестала существовать много веков назад, но человечество сохранило знание древнегреческой письменности. И сегодня мы имеем возможность прочесть "Одиссею" Гомера или сочинение о том, как гениальный Эратосфен ещё в III веке до нашей эры с завидной точностью подсчитал диаметр Земли.

Письменность появилась в разных обществах в разное время и дошла до нас в виде клинообразных штрихов на глиняных табличках или причудливых рисунков на стенах погребальных комнат. Хотя поколениям исследователей уже удалось расшифровать часть древних текстов, многое из того богатства, которым располагают музеи, архивы и библиотеки продолжает оставаться загадкой для большинства учёных.

В Гватемале найдено древнейшее захоронение правителя майя

Жрец, могилу которого нашли гватемальские археологи, был родоначальником цивилизации майя.

Археологи при раскопках археологического комплекса Такалик-Абах близ города Реталхулеу на западе Гватемалы обнаружили могилу верховного жреца майя по имени Кутц Чман, правление которого пришлось на 7 век до нашей эры.

«Кутц Чман был великим правителем, при нем начался переход от культуры ольмеков к культуре майя», -- пояснил Мигель Оррего, один из руководителей раскопок. Вытеснение ольмеков произошло не сразу, они продолжали доминировать в регионе примерно до 4 века до нашей эры, когда майя окончательно захватили ключевые торговые пути.

Quasar May Be Embedded in Unusually Dusty Galaxy

Hubble astronomers have looked at one of the most distant and brightest quasars in the universe and are surprised by what they did not see: the underlying host galaxy of stars feeding the quasar. The best explanation is that the galaxy is shrouded in so much dust that the stars are completely hidden everywhere. Astronomers believe that the James Webb Space Telescope will reveal the galaxy.

All but the very first galaxies contain some dust-the early universe was dust-free until the first generation of stars started making dust through nuclear fusion. As these stars aged and burned out, they filled interstellar space with this dust as they lost their atmospheres.

Астрономы опубликовали "гигафото" центра Млечного Пути

Астрономы Европейской южной обсерватории получили самое подробное на сегодняшний день изображение центра Млечного Пути. Девятигигапиксельная фотография опубликована на сайте обсерватории (оригинал, 25 Гбайт, версия с инструментами увеличения), там же приводится краткое описание работы астрономов.

Astronomers report dark matter 'halos' may contain stars, disprove other theories

Could it be that dark matter "halos" — the huge, invisible cocoons of mass that envelop entire galaxies and account for most of the matter in the universe — aren't completely dark after all but contain a small number of stars? Astronomers from UCLA, UC Irvine and elsewhere make a case for that in the Oct. 25 issue of the journal Nature.

Astronomers have long disagreed about why they see more light in the universe than it seems they should — that is, why the infrared light they observe exceeds the amount of light emitted from known galaxies.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Эксперт: наука и религия - не противоположности

Кафедра теологии открылась недавно в МИФИ. О том, что даст физикам-ядерщикам обучение богословию, в студии программы "Утро России" рассказал директор Центра ядерной медицины при НИЯУ МИФИ Александр Болоздыня.

По словам Болоздыни, университет в принципе предполагает универсальное образование, и его выпускник должен ориентироваться не только в своей специальности, но и в других сферах жизни. Противопоставление научного и религиозного мышления, по его мнению, — не более чем стереотип: "Основоположник современной физики Исаак Ньютон был монахом, поэтому говорить, что наука и религия – нечто противоположное, не совсем корректно", — говорит он.

Физики споткнулись о сверхтвердость

Восьмилетняя история самого таинственного квантового эффекта – сверхтвердости – возможно, подходит к своему завершению: этого эффекта в природе может и не быть.

Квантового эффекта сверхтвердости, возможно, не существует в природе. Во всяком случае, к такому выводу пришел Мозес Чан, физик из Университета штата Пенсильвания, опубликовавший соответствующую статью в последнем номере журнала Physical Review Letters.

Болгарские археологи обнаружили развалины многоэтажных зданий, построенные около 4800 лет до нашей эры

СОФИЯ, 22 октября. /Корр.ИТАР-ТАСС Игорь Броварник/. Археологи из болгарского города Велико-Тырново обнаружили развалины древних зданий близ села Петко Каравелово, построенные около 4800 г до н.э. Ученые отмечают, что найденные дома были достаточно высокими - в два-три этажа.

На острове Пасхи легендарные статуи начали ходить!

Американские антропологи реконструировали их перемещение с помощью четырехтонной бетонной реплики

Американским ученым, возможно, удалось раскрыть тайну гигантских статуй с острова Пасхи, разгадав, каким образом создатели могли передвигать их на большие расстояния.

Для изготовления той самой реплики, с помощью которой их научились двигать - ученые предварительно составили трехмерную модель одной из реальных моаи (так называют статуи с острова Пасхи). Затем на основе этой модели была изготовлена бетонная копия весом около четырех с половиной тонн, пишет NatureNow.

Астрономы обнаружили самый быстрый пульсар в созвездии Центавра

Астрономы обнаружили при помощи орбитального гамма-телескопа "Ферми" быстрейший на сегодня гамма-пульсар в созвездии Центавра, совершающий один оборот за 2,5 миллисекунды и пожирающий при этом останки звезды-компаньона размером с Юпитер.

МОСКВА, 25 окт - РИА Новости. Астрономы обнаружили при помощи орбитального гамма-телескопа "Ферми" быстрейший на сегодня гамма-пульсар в созвездии Центавра, совершающий один оборот за 2,5 миллисекунды и пожирающий при этом останки звезды-компаньона размером с Юпитер, говорится в статье, опубликованной в журнале Science.

Первый пернатый динозавр в западном полушарии обнаружен в Канаде

Канадские палеонтологи выяснили, что страусоподобные североамериканские динозавры-орнитомимы обладали роскошным набором перьев, что делает их первыми пернатыми ящерами, найденными на территории Нового Света.

МОСКВА, 25 окт - РИА Новости. Канадские палеонтологи выяснили, что страусоподобные североамериканские динозавры-орнитомимы обладали роскошным набором перьев, что делает их первыми пернатыми ящерами, найденными на территории Нового Света, говорится в статье, опубликованной в журнале Science.

В Бермудском треугольнике обнаружены подводные пирамиды

Канадские океанологи полагают, что нашли затонувшую Атлантиду.

Сенсационное сообщение, распространенное  информационным агентством Prensa Latina, "взорвало" Интернет. Якобы на дне моря в Бермудском треугольнике обнаружены останки какого-то города. Судя по всему, очень древнего. Подводные объекты увидели и сняли на видео исследователи базирующейся в Канаде фирмы Advanced Digital Communication - Пол Вайнцвейг и его жена Полина Зелитская, родившаяся в России.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Verdict surpriza in cazul probelor din lacul Vostok

In luna februarie 2011, oamenii de stiinta au forat in premiera pana la aproape patru kilometri in lacul Vostok, aflat sub gheata din Antarctica. Cercetatorii au analizat mostrele luate si au constatat ca acestea nu contin niciun fel de forma de viata, in afara bacteriilor provenite de la instalatiile de foraj.

Lacul este acoperit in totalitate de gheata, fiind complet izolat de restul lumii, potrivit Maxi Sciences.

STATE AND SOCIETY ATTEOTIHUACAN

Between 100 BCE and 200 CE, the city of Teotihuacan grew rapidly, most of the Basin of Mexico population was relocated in the city, immense civic-religious structures were built, and symbolic and material evidence shows theearly importance of war. Rulers were probably able and powerful. Subse-quently the city did not grow, and government may have become more collec-tive, with significant constraints on rulers’ powers. 

A state religion centeredon war and fertility deities presumably served elite interests, but civic con-sciousness may also have been encouraged. A female goddess was important but probably not as pervasive as has been suggested. Political control probably did not extend beyond central Mexico, except perhaps for some outposts, andthe scale and significance of commerce are unclear. Teotihuacan’s prestige,however, spread widely in Mesoamerica, manifested especially in symbols of sacred war, used for their own ends by local elites.

So Far, No Life Found In Buried Antarctic Lake

Earlier this year, a team of Russian scientists completed a technological first – they successfully drilled to the surface of Antarctica’s Lake Vostok. The lake is buried under ice that’s over 2 and a half miles thick – meaning that any life that might still exist in the lake hasn’t been seen on the surface for thousands of years.

In February, when the drill reached the lake’s surface, the pressure differential caused water to shoot up close to 40 meters up the borehole. At that point, the water froze, and the team waited a few months to collect it. Now they have collected it – and the results are so far a disappointment.

Cracking The Code: The Decipherment Of Linear B

A conference in Cambridge earlier this month marked the 60th anniversary of the decipherment by Michael Ventris of Linear B, a script used for an early form of ancient Greek. His stunning achievement pushed back the frontiers of knowledge about the ancient world.

When during the early 20th century archaeologists excavated some of the most famous sites of Ancient Greece – notably Knossos on the island of Crete and Mycenae and Pylos on the mainland – they found large numbers of clay tablets inscribed with a type of script that baffled them. It was significantly different to any other script known at the time. Moreover, it was immediately clear that there were at least two variants of this type of writing.

Chichen Itza - O incursiune in istoria Mayasa

Desi nu este USA, poate fi considerata inca "Aventura Americana", de data asta tot pe continent, dar in Mexic unde mi-am petrecut o parte din scurta vacanta. Voi incepe seria povestilor in ordine inversa, asadar e randul uneia din cele 7 noi minuni ale lumii, Piramida de la Chichen Itza.

Inca o zi in care trezitul de dimineata m-a facut sa cred ca nu ma aflu in concediu...trebuia sa prind feryboat-ul de la ora 7 spre Playa del Carmen. Ziua avea sa ma poarte in istoria Mexicului si mai ales in cea a peninsulei Yucatan. Dupa 30 de minute pe ocean cu soarele zambind de dupa insula Cozumel pe care o lasam in urma, am poposit in Playa del Carmen.

Scientists ponder black hole behaviour

SCIENTISTS are a step closer to understanding how supermassive black holes behave after taking a photo of the phenomena, showing that it blasts a jet of material similar to a fighter jet's afterburner exhaust.

Curtin University researcher Leith Godfrey said the jets of material needed to be understood if scientists were to understand how galaxies formed and grew.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Mayan prophecies investigated The Chilam Balam books

Though there is only the one known engraving of a prediction connected to the end of the 13th Bak’tun (monument 6 Tortuguero) it is often stated, wrongly, that there is only this one place for any possible year 2012 prophecy. There is in fact more prophetic material available from the Mayan sources known as the Chilam Balam books.

These books were made up of prophecies attached to the Short Count calendar, a count of Tun’s rather than Bak’tun’s. 

De la Big Bang în prezent: o precizie de 5 secunde! Detalii despre Premiul Nobel pentru fizică 2012


Premiul Nobel pentru anul 2012 in fizica a fost acordat pentru studiul interactiunii dintre fotoni si materie, cu posibilitatea manipularii unui atom individual, studii in care mecanica cuantica joaca un rol fundamental. Aceste studii ar putea avea aplicatii extrem de interesante in viitor, precum stabilirea unui nou standard in precizia masurarii timpului sau a unor noi tehnologii.

Serge Haroche, de la Ecole Normale Superieure si David Wineland, de la National Institute of Standard and Technology, ambii in varsta de 68 de ani, sunt doi magicienii in manipularea atomilor. Cei doi cercetatori au reusit "inghetarea", capturarea si observarea atomilor individuali, fara sa le distruga proprietatile cuantice.

Трагедия "Титаника" может повториться: арктический туризм - дело рискованное

Поскольку многие участки Арктики летом бывают свободны ото льда, туда все чаще наведываются круизные суда. Такие туры очень опасны, предостерегают эксперты.

Конечно, Гранд-Каньон в США, бассейн Амазонки, Большой барьерный риф у побережья Австралии или, скажем, водопады Игуасу на границе Аргентины и Бразилии, вне всякого сомнения, относятся к неповторимым чудесам природы и притягивают массы туристов. Однако не менее уникальные ландшафты и поражающие воображение картины может предложить любителям экзотики и Арктика.

The Return of a Great 19th-Century Meteor Shower

Each year as Earth journeys around the sun, it slams into streams of particles that comets have spewed into space. When these particles, known as meteoroids, smash into the atmosphere, they generate streaks of light called meteors. The most reliable meteor showers—the Perseids in August and the Geminids in December—sport about 60 meteors an hour and require nothing more than a dark, moonless sky in order to appreciate them.

Friday, October 19, 2012

International Association of Visual Semiotics

Born from an exchange of ideas between Michel Costantini and Göran Sonesson during the congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies held in Perpignan, in the south of France, in 1988, the International Association of Visual Semiotics (Asociación Internacional de Semiótica Visual, in Spanish, Association internationale de sémiotique visuelle, in French, the three official languages of the association), whose abbreviation is AISV-IAVS, was officially founded as an association under the French law in 1989 in Blois, France, where the first international congress was held in 1990.

Remedii: Salcâmul (Robinia pseudoacacia)

Salcâmul, Robinia pseudoacacia, este un arbore cu multiple întrebuinţãri în medicina naturistã, la praparatele naturale fiind folosite în special florile de salcâm.

Salcâmul scade aciditatea gastricã, având şi o acţiune antispasticã, dar şi efect colagog.

Salcâmul constituie un remediu natural în tratarea ţi vindecarea gastritelor, hiperaciditãţii, ulcerului gastroduodenal, arsurilor la stomac şi rãnilor cauzate de arsuri, prin aplicarea pe zona afectatã a florilor de salcâm.

ALBERTO RUZ LHUILLIER'S GRAVE - We Remember the Legend and his Genius (1906-1979)

"No ancient prophet has foretold what Mr Ruz Lhuillier achieved: the release of a sacred consciousness into our dimension within the most beautiful Mexican prophecy of our times. He was destined to see the future of our aging bodies."
(Lord Pakal)

In the synchronicity of time, when Ruz Lhuillier died, the last Pakal was moved by the Pakalian Group to the United States to further his education and become an ecotopian.

Petra, orasul din piatra

Cetatea, cu maiestuosul palat si monumentele funerare construite de nabateeni in Petra si in imprejurimi, a facut obiectul unor prime explorari intre 1818 si 1828. Marile cercetari arheologice au debutat insa la sfarsitul secolului al XIX-lea, culminand cu cele actuale. Cine erau misteriosii nabateeni care isi onorau mortii oferindu-le constructii monumentale? Regatul care a aprovizionat timp de peste 3 secole lumea greco-romana, pe calea caravanelor, cu produse pretioase din Arabia de Sud, a cunoscut o prima perioada de inflorire intre secolul I i.Ch. si secolul I d.Ch. Era populat de arabi nomazi sedentarizati care s-au instalat pe malurile orientale ale Marii Moarte (din actuala Iordanie) pana in Muntii Hijaz, in nordul Peninsulei Arabice.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Рыба, пиво и попкорн спасают сердце

Употребление рыбы, в отличие от препаратов, содержащих рыбий жир, снижает риск возникновения сердечных заболеваний. Соответствующие результаты были опубликованы в октябрьском номере American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Отдел науки «Газеты.Ru» составил список других продуктов, полезность которых для сердца доказана в научных исследованиях.