A stone block unearthed in Mexico and covered in carved patterns is thought to be the oldest example of writing found in the Americas. Archaeologists believe the writing on the 26lb (12kg) block could date back to the first millennium BC. Road builders digging in a gravel quarry found the 14x8in (35x20cm) block at Cascajal, Veracruz. It is thought to be the work of the Olmec civilisation, which may have laid the foundations for the future Mayan and Aztec empires. An international team of researchers, writing today in the journal Science, said that the find shed surprising new light on the Olmecs. The 62 symbols inscribed on the block contain distinct elements, repeated characters, and what appear to be sentences. Several paired sequences are suggestive of poetic couplets. Dr Stephen Houston, of Brown University in Rhode Island, the co-author of the study, said: ‘It’s a jaw-dropping find. It takes this civilisation to a different level.’ Dr Houston, an expert on ancient writing, added: ‘This block shows a whole new dimension to the society and opens up the possibility that they could have kept records. It’s telling us that these records probably exist and that many remain […]
SAN FRANCISCO — The ambitious founders of Google, the popular search engine company, have set up a philanthropy, giving it seed money of about $1 billion and a mandate to tackle poverty, disease and global warming. But unlike most charities, this one will be for-profit, allowing it to fund startup companies, form partnerships with venture capitalists, and even lobby Congress. It will also pay taxes. One of its maiden projects is bound to get attention. According to people briefed on the program, the organization, called Google.org, is aiming to develop an extremely fuel-efficient, plug-in hybrid car engine that runs on ethanol, electricity and gasoline. The philanthropy is consulting with hybrid engine scientists and car manufacturers, and has arranged for the purchase of a small fleet of cars with plans to convert the engines so that their gas mileage exceeds 100 miles per gallon. The goal: reduce dependence on oil while alleviating the effects of global warming. Google.org is drawing skeptics for both its structure and its ambitions. It is a slingshot compared with the artillery of charities established by older captains of industry. Its funding pales next to the tens of billions that the […]
A pair of new studies shows that winter sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk dramatically in the past two years and that perennial ice in particular is disappearing. Two types of sea ice cover the Arctic Ocean: thick perennial ice that resists thaw year-round and thinner seasonal ice that melts during the summer and freezes again in the winter. Both types are experiencing decline, according to analyses of microwave satellite data. Researchers led by Joey Comiso of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland found that the amount of ice covering the Arctic has declined by 6 percent over each of the last two winters, compared to a loss of merely 1.5 percent per decade since 1979. Comiso’s team did not distinguish between perennial and seasonal ice, but he told LiveScience most of the loss was likely seasonal ice. ‘This amount of Arctic sea ice reduction the past two consecutive winters has not taken place before during the 27 years satellite data has been available,’ Comiso said. The researchers said that warming temperatures and a shorter winter-ice season are likely to blame. ‘In the past, sea-ice reduction in winter was significantly lower […]
Frank Hall knows he probably should not eat Hungry-Man dinners. The frozen meals have as much as 2,230 milligrams of sodium per serving - far more than the government’s recommended daily allowance for older people - and Mr. Hall’s doctors have advised him to strictly limit salt consumption to help keep his blood pressure down. But once a week, when grocery shopping with his granddaughter, Mr. Hall, who is 80 and has heart disease, tosses one or two of the big blue packages in his cart anyway. ‘They’re really convenient and I figure you can splurge a little bit once in awhile,’ said Mr. Hall, who lives in Goldthwaite, Tex. Sprinkled into everything from bread to cheese, soups and breakfast cereal, just about every fast-food restaurant meal and now even fresh cuts of meat, salt is ubiquitous in the American food supply. And according to government data, Americans eat far too much of it. Now the nation’s largest doctors’ group, the American Medical Association, is going after the government and the food industry to reduce what it sees as a persistently high level of salt in many processed foods. At its annual meeting in late […]
Marijuana can improve the effectiveness of drug therapy for hepatitis C, a potentially deadly viral infection that affects more than 3 million Americans, a study has found. The work adds to a growing literature supporting the notion that in some circumstances pot can offer medical benefits. Treatment for hepatitis C involves months of therapy with two powerful drugs, interferon and ribavirin, that have severe side effects, including extreme fatigue, nausea, muscle aches, loss of appetite and depression. Because of those side effects, many patients do not finish treatment and the virus ends up destroying their livers. Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco and at an Oakland substance abuse center tracked the progress of 71 hepatitis C patients taking the difficult therapy. Tests and interviews indicated that 22 smoked marijuana every day or two during the treatment period while 49 rarely or never did. At the end of the six-month treatment, 19 (86 percent) of those who used marijuana had successfully completed the therapy — meaning they took at least 80 percent of their doses over at least 80 percent of the period. Only 29 (59 percent) of the nonsmokers achieved that goal. Similarly, […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
