Science Special News

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Analysing the Dead Sea Scrolls

From the very beginning, science and technology have played a critical role in the authentication, restoration and analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls. "There have been a number of remarkable technological achievements that have helped us better understand the scrolls," said Scott Noegel, a University of Washington expert on Near Eastern languages and literature."I think the coolest has been the use of DNA analysis," added R. Bryce Seidl, president and chief executive officer of the Pacific Science Center. Because some of the scrolls were written on animal hide, Seidl explained, experts since the mid-1990s have been able to establish a specific "genetic fingerprint" that can identify the species and even an individual animal to further aid in matching scroll fragments. A powerful tool known as PCR (polymerase chain reaction) analysis can now be used to reconstruct the genetic code from the typically degraded and fragmented DNA strands obtained from the skin.Geology played a critical if indirect role in protecting the scrolls over the millennia. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on the planet's surface. It's also one the saltiest places on Earth, which isn't so great for living things but helps keep other things in the area -- such as papyrus or skin documents -- from deteriorating.

The first tools of science and technology applied to the scrolls were used to identify and date the ancient documents. Archaeology, paleography (the study of ancient handwriting) and carbon-14 dating were the disciplines that first convinced scholars of the scrolls' authenticity. Some of the Hebrew and Aramaic scrolls were actually dated, providing solid reference points. The discovery of the scrolls provided scholars with some of the best examples of handwriting styles and their evolution for this period. Carbon-14 dating, which was developed around the same time the scrolls were discovered in the 1940s, can establish age by measuring how much of any organic material's carbon-14 atoms have deteriorated into carbon-12 atoms.

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Woman's ring finger can reveal her sportiness

For an instant guide to how fast a woman can run, take a look at her hands. Women whose ring fingers are longer than their index fingers are quicker on their feet, offering a simple way of predicting who will win a race, researchers have found.The discovery could be a boon for parents wondering whether to shell out large sums on coaching - by providing an indication of their daughter's chances of turning into a sports star.Unlike men, most women have ring fingers that are shorter or the same length as their index fingers. Only a few have longer ring fingers.The finding adds to evidence that the ratio between the two fingers - not the length itself but their length relative to each other - is associated with a number of different personality traits, which include sexuality, fertility, intelligence, aggressiveness and musical ability.The difference is believed to be linked to the level of the male hormone testosterone, to which the foetus is exposed in the womb.

Scientists have suggested that the higher the level of testosterone, the more masculine the resulting foetus is likely to be, with its associated traits of strength, fertility and mathematical ability.Unfortunately, while a longer ring finger is associated with some desirable traits, such as musical skill, a longer index finger is associated with others, such as intelligence, past research has shown.Professor Tim Spector, of the twin research and genetic epidemiology unit at St Thomas's Hospital in London, who conducted the latest study, said he had been sceptical about the claims.

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China tests nuclear fusion reactor

Chinese scientists made their first successful test of a thermonuclear fusion reactor on Thursday, raising the energy-hungry country's profile in the new but uncertain technology that promises clean power, state media reported. Thermonuclear fusion seeks to generate power by joining nuclei of atoms together, releasing energy that can be tapped without producing greenhouse gases but creating a small amount of nuclear waste.Scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced they had successfully tried a domestically developed fusion device in the eastern Chinese city of Hefei, Xinhua news agency said.The scientists called the device "the first of its kind in operation in the world," but the report did not specify what tests it had passed.Xinhua cited the scientists as saying that deuterium and tritium atoms had been fused together at a temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius for nearly three seconds.

The report did not specify whether the device, called Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), had succeeded at producing more energy than it consumed, the main obstacle to making fusion commercially viable.Today's nuclear power plants employ fission, in which atoms are broken apart, not fused together. Scientists say fusion could potentially produce virtually unlimited, clean energy from readily available resources, such as seawater.China is a partner in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, a 500-megawatt experimental reactor to be built in southern France.

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Science shouldn't fear ghosts

'Either I or the scientist is a fool with our opposing views of probability,' William James wrote. The risk of appearing foolish, he believed, was the least of the dangers. There also was the risk of failing to investigate the world in all its dimensions, or making it appear smaller and less interesting than it really is.A hundred years ago, one of the most ambitious of research projects was launched, a study that linked scholars and mediums on three continents. Its purpose was to discover whether living humans could talk to dead ones.Newspapers described the work as "remarkable experiments testing the reality of life after death." The scholars involved included William James, the famed American psychologist and philosopher, and Oliver Lodge, the British physicist and radio pioneer. They saw evidence for the supernatural — in this world and perhaps the next.In one instance they made a request to an American medium while she was in a trance. The request was in Latin, a language the medium did not speak. The instructions included a proposal that she "send" a symbol to a British medium. During her next trance session, the American began asking about whether an "arrow" had been received. Later, comparing notes, the researchers discovered that during the American's first trance, the English psychic had suddenly begun scribbling arrows.

It was only after a series of similar, equally unexpected results that the researchers published their findings.Could any study produce results more provocative, more worth pursuing — more forgotten — a century later? For many, the dismissal of such Victorian research represents a triumph of modern science over superstition. But — and I admit that this is an unusual position for a mainstream science writer — I believe that it may instead represent a missed opportunity, a lost chance to better understand ourselves and our world.

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UFO enthusiast speaks at University

Robert Hastings came to UCF on Monday night to inform students of what he called the reality of UFOs in America. Hastings was brought to school by the Campus Activities Board Speakers Committee and its director, Kevin Chen. "It was exciting to have him here, and we had a good turn-out" Chen said. Hastings began his speech by telling students he was directly involved in the sighting of UFOs in March 1967. Hastings, who described himself as an "Air Force brat," spent his teenage years living on the Malmstrum Air Force Base in Montana. He claimed to be present in an air traffic control tower when "five unidentified aerial targets" were spotted by the controllers. This began his interest in UFOs and other space crafts and he has been researching ever since.After introducing himself to the audience and recalling his initial UFO experience, Hastings began a slideshow that he produced and narrated.The timeline ran from 1948 through 1985, and contained many de-classified government documents from agencies such as the CIA and FBI.A common theme throughout his entire presentation was the threat of UFOs near areas where nuclear weapons were being stored.He presented the case of Betty and Barney Hill, which, according to Hastings, took place in 1961."The couple was driving near their home in New Hampshire when they suddenly saw bright lights and heard beeping," Hastings said. "The next thing the couple knew they woke up two hours later and eight miles down the road."

While undergoing time-regression hypnosis slowly, and with mounting fear, each of them relived a frightening encounter with alien beings that took them from their car and led them aboard the now landed UFO."They were then separated and given lengthy medical examinations. Afterward, one of the aliens approached Betty and began to communicate with her in broken English."She was told that neither she nor her husband would remember the encounter" said Hastings, who claimed that radar reports from a local Air Force base in fact tracked a UFO at the same time and area where the Hills alleged encounter took place.

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Does the Loch Ness Monster exist ?

Start looking into the phenomenon of the Loch Ness Monster and you cannot help but stir up controversy. Nessie is one of the most iconic symbols of Scotland and every year thousands of tourists make the trip to the banks of Loch Ness. But the question of what is, or isn't, beneath the deep mysterious waters of the loch has given rise to feuds, rivalries, forgeries and even bombings. Even today, a simmering rivalry exists between the two monster museums of Drumnadrochit, one of which takes a sceptical view of the mystery, while the other is very much pro-Nessie. Years of hoaxes, pseudoscience and counterculture obsessives have made Nessie a dubious area for serious naturalists, while monster souvenirs are a byword for tourist tat. Yet, Nessie is one of our most enduring myths, with a history which stretches from St Columba to The Simpsons.

Whatever the real nature of the beast, she has become a much-loved symbol of the nation, instantly recognisable across the world. Stories involving St Columba, and early-history Pictish carvings found in the Highlands, include a strange beast with flippers and a beak. Folk tales speak of kelpies, mischievous water horses who lured children to their deaths, and early maps contain places marked Loch Na Beistie. The first written account of Nessie comes in St Adamnan's Life of St Columba in the seventh century, which tells of the saint rescuing a Pict from a monster in Loch Ness. Columba declared: "Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man: go back with all speed." Some say Nessie has never attacked anyone since - others believe the story is a parable showing Christianity overpowering pagan belief in nature spirits.

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Moving beyond String Theory

Ask any credentialed nerd what the ultimate theory of physics is, and chances are they'll reply, "string theory." In string theory -- an idea that's been around since the late 1970s -- the universe is a 10-dimensional place, with six of those dimensions curled up inside themselves like a cat in front of a fireplace. All particles and forces are different resonances and vibrations of these 10-dimensional strings.Strings are far from the only game in town. There are other, potentially equally promising approaches to unifying physics' two seemingly incompatible visions of the cosmos: general relativity and quantum mechanics.This fall, Columbia University mathematician Peter Woit has published a critique of string theory (Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory), pointing out that in more than three decades, string theory still has yet to make a single prediction that can be verified in the lab or through the lens of a telescope.

If all scientific disciplines maintained such fluffy and forgiving standards, Woit argues, science would devolve into little more than medieval disputations about angels and heads of pins.Lee Smolin of Canada's Perimeter Institute has taken the next step in his new book, The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next, outlining the most promising non-stringy paths to reconciliation between Einstein and the quantum.Oxford University mathematical physicist Roger Penrose, author of The Road to Reality, invented a mathematical tool called "twisters."Smolin and Penrose take a look at the diverging paths beyond string theory.

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“Gigantic black” UFO sighted over Minnesota

A few years ago I thought I would try an interesting experiment. I took out a classified ad in several small-town newspapers across northern Minnesota. Here is what the ad said: “Have you seen a UFO, ghost, or anything you can’t explain? Please call me: xxx-xxxx. Confidentiality guaranteed.”I was expecting nothing, but my phone started ringing almost as soon as the ads hit the streets. The very first call was from an elderly gentleman whom I had known for years, and whom I would describe as an extremely Bible-oriented Christian conservative type -- a lifelong farmer, and a real no-nonsense, salt-of-the-earth kind of guy. His name is Bernard Hanson and before retirement he lived just out side the tiny town of Greenbush, Minnesota. Bernard had a strange tale to tell, and here is the article I wrote based on his experience:

It was peaceful, clear June evening in 1987. Bernard Hanson and his son Dexter were heading north from Minnesota Highway 11 on a dirt road three miles west of Greenbush when they saw a fantastic thing floating above a grove of trees. It was massive! It had the look of plastic, deep black in color. It was easily bigger than a barn and hovered serenely, about 30 feet above the tree tops over the farm of Bob Melby. Hanson and his son were surprised—and “a little scared.”“We just didn’t know what it was,” Bernard said. “It was cigar-haped and pure black, coal black. There were no markings on it. It was smooth all over. I would say it had the look of plastic. It was about 3/4 a mile from us. It was at least as big as my barn, if not bigger.”Bernard said he and Dexter sat in the pick-up and watched it for a long while. It was not a fleeting image or a streak across the sky. The object had the definite look of something solid—real enough to touch. “It was a clear June evening,” Bernard said. “There was not a cloud in the sky. The sun had just gone down, but you know the way it stays light in the summer. There was still plenty of daylight and we could see it clearly.”Even though they were somewhat frightened, Bernard and Dexter decided to get a bit closer. “We turned toward it on County Road 104, but when we moved, it moved,” Hanson said. “We followed it for a while, and then we turned north, and it turned north.” After following it for a couple of miles, Bernard said the object suddenly zoomed away. “It tilted upward and streaked away from us — it turned into a tiny black dot in just seconds and was gone. It flew upward at a 45-degree angle ...the rate of speed was tremendous... it was almost as if it just vaporized.”After the object left, the Hansons decided to stop in at the farm of Wayne Juhl’s and ask him if he saw the curious object, but Juhl said he saw nothing. Bernard knows he wasn’t “seeing things” because he and his son could not both have had the same hallucination. Also, he is certain it was not a conventional aircraft.

“A large balloon could never move that fast and go up at that angle,” he said. Then what was it? Bernard has no guess, and he is not ready to say that he saw a spaceship or a UFO. But he knows that what he and his son saw was something entirely unexplained. “I think we all have to admit that there are things in the world we don’t know about—there are a lot of mysteries. All I’m saying is that this was something I have never seen before, and I don’t know what it was.”He is not alone. The object Hanson described has a long history of being sighted not only in America and around the world, but especially here in the American Midwest. Cigar or zeppelin shaped “airships” were reported frequently in Minnesota and Iowa in the late 1800s, and some of the most curious and famous UFO cases involve crafts of similar description. In fact, Hanson’s description of both the shape and the way this object acted closely fit other such sightings. For example, in his book, Dimensions, computer scientist and former NASA consultant Jacques Vallee, writes: “Usually the airships flew very slowly and majestically...except in a few close-proximity cases when it was reported to depart “as a shot out of a gun.”That matches Hanson’s experience to the letter. Furthermore, huge cigar-shaped flying objects have been observed by thousands of people throughout history.

In the year 1211 A.D., for example, in the tiny Irish village of Cloera, the local residents were attending Mass in a church dedicated to St. Kinarus when such an object was sighted above the church. In the 1890s, airships sightings were common. Thousands of people saw them throughout the United States, even over large population centers, including Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha, Sioux City, San Francisco, and many others. From the tiny 11th Century borough of Cloera, to modern-day Greenbuh, Minnesota, the mysterious giant airships are still making their appearances, perhaps looking down at human beings and wondering about our activities as much as we do their’s.

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40 new species found in Amazon 'lost world'

Up to 40 new species of plants and animals, including a bird and a tree rat, have been discovered in an expedition to one of the world’s last unspoilt wildernesses. Scientists risked their lives to make the discoveries and three of them almost ended up being eaten by the wildlife they were trying to record. Two of the team exploring the Amapá region of Brazil had to hide in a hollow tree all night as a prowling jaguar tried to find a way in, and a third had to flee a hungry cayman. Despite their close shaves, the international research team described the unspoilt wilderness as a scientist’s heaven and were ecstatic about the wildlife they encountered. Many of the animals had no fear of the scientists because the region is so remote that they had never before come across a human. Researchers were particularly excited by the bird and the tree rat because new mammal and avian species are extremely rare.

The discoveries have yet to be verified by peer review but Enrico Bernard, of Conservation International, is confident that 27 new species have been identified and that several more are contained among the thousands of specimens brought back for analysis. Besides the rat and the bird, the new species found include seven fish, eight frogs, lizards and snakes, two shrimps and eight plants. One species of lizard, Amapafaurus petrabactulus, was rediscovered having been seen only twice before, both times in 1970. The lizard is unusual in having four fingers on its claws, whereas it closest relative has three.

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Scientists try to extract Neanderthal DNA

Scientists are attempting to extract DNA for the first time from the fossilised bones thought to be of a Neanderthal man who roamed Britain 35,000 years ago. Experts plan to use a tooth from an upper jaw to establish whether the closest relative of modern humans lived on the British Isles later than it was once thought. The fragment of an upper jaw, which was found in 1926 at Kent's Cavern in Devon, was originally thought to be human, but experts now think it could date back even further. Chris Stringer, research leader in Human Origins at the Natural History Museum in London, said it was a critical test that could have historic results. The only late Neanderthal fossils on the British Isles were found on the Channel Islands around 1910. However, Stringer said the teeth discovered at the site date back to a time when the island was joined to France around 50,000 years ago. The director of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain (AHOB) project said: "Neanderthal DNA is very distinct and would show up clearly in tests. It is a critical test as this could be the first late Neanderthal fossil on mainline Britain. "But it is also historic if there is modern human DNA as this would prove they were here earlier than previously thought. "Neanderthals are so close to us in time, living 30,000 to 40,000 years ago, and a closely related species. We have lots of Neanderthal tools but no fossils. The team is excited about the tests, but we need a bit of luck as the DNA may not have survived."

The roots, crown, size and shape of the tooth, which is thought to date back 35,000 years, would also be studied. Torquay Museum in Devon, which looks after the piece of jaw bone, has agreed in principle to the DNA and carbon dating tests, Stringer said. The group, which found evidence which dated the arrival of primitive ancestors in Britain to 700,000 years ago, 200,000 years earlier than previous findings, includes archaeologists, paleontologists and geologists from the Natural History Museum, the British Museum, Royal Holloway, University of London, and the University of Durham.

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University offers course on UFOs

UFOs and alien life forms aren’t just the subjects of science fiction books and movies. Plenty of people in Indiana claim to have seen them. With such interest, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne’s Division of Continuing Studies is offering its first class on unidentified flying objects.The class, called UFOs – Perception, Reality and Sightings in Indiana, will cover the history of UFOs, crop circles and recent local sightings.The course might sound out of this world to some, but it is a legitimate topic of study, said Mike Kelly, IPFW director of personal and professional development.“It’s not that we’re legitimizing alien life form, per se, but that there are unexplained phenomena and just having a conversation about that is interesting,” Kelly said. “We support critical thinking, obviously, no matter what the topic is, especially something that has far-fetched components and is challenging.”The three-course class, which begins Tuesday, is being taught by Roger Sugden, assistant state director and chief investigator of the Mutual UFO Network and a member of the Independent Crop Circle Research Association. Eight people have signed up for the class so far – a number that pleased Kelly but disappointed Sugden.

Sugden approached IPFW about teaching the course because no one had ever done it before, he said. He has offered information sessions at the Allen County Public Library and had as many as 75 people attend, so he thought there would be plenty of interest in a three-week class.Sugden said he has run into plenty of skeptics, but that doesn’t bother him. He simply wants to offer factual evidence of UFOs.“There’s plenty of interest in it,” Sugden said. “I’m not trying to make you a believer. I’m just here to give you an education.”Michael Shermer, founding publisher of Skeptic magazine and the executive director of the Skeptics Society, said a university setting is ideal for critical discussions of claims of UFO sightings.

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Researchers back 'Hobbit' claims

Researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) are backing claims that the discovery of the so-called hobbit in Indonesia does represent a new species of human.In 2003, Australian scientists unearthed the remains of a hobbit-like species, with adults about the height of a three-year-old child, in a cave on a remote island in Indonesia.In a new paper, ANU researchers reject claims that the skeleton of a hobbit-like species was simply a very short human with a rare brain disease.ANU Professor Colin Groves says after analysing the evidence, he has no doubt the discovery represents a new species of human."What is particularly interesting about it is it survived in isolation through those two-million-years or so in eastern Indonesia and its existence was quite unsuspected until very recently," he said.Professor Groves says the evidence speaks for itself.

"Aspects of the shape of the skull are completely outside modern humans," he said. "The shape of the earhole in the skull, the shape of the forehead and the back of the skull, all these things are way outside. "The limb proportions are quite different from those seen in any modern humans that I've ever heard of."

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One small step for "a" man...

It was the perfect quote to match a momentous occasion. As Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the Moon in 1969, a global audience of 500 million people on Earth watched and listened with bated breath. “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” they heard him say as he dropped from the ladder of his spacecraft to make the first human footprint on the lunar surface.But from the moment he said it, and for 37 years since, debate has raged over whether the Nasa astronaut might have fluffed his lines.Mr Armstrong has long insisted that he meant to say “one small step for a man . . .” — which would have been a more meaningful and grammatically correct version, free of tautology. But even the astronaut himself could not be sure. “Damn, I really did it. I blew the first words on the Moon, didn’t I?” he is reported to have asked officials later, amid uncertainty as to whether he had blown the moment or simply been drowned out by static interference as his words were relayed 250,000 miles back to Earth.

Now, after almost four decades, the spaceman has been vindicated. Using high-tech sound analysis techniques, an Australian computer expert has rediscovered the missing “a” in Mr Armstrong’s famous quote. Peter Shann Ford ran the Nasa recording through sound-editing software and clearly picked up an acoustic wave from the word “a”, finding that Mr Armstrong spoke it at a rate of 35 milliseconds — ten times too fast for it to be audible.Mr Ford’s findings have been presented to Nasa officials in Washington and to a relieved Mr Armstrong, who issued a statement saying: “I find the technology interesting and useful. I also find his conclusion persuasive.”

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Haunted pub turned down by 'Most Haunted'

It is said to be haunted by 20 ghosts - but a lack of doors had ghost hunters of television's Most Haunted heading for the exit at Ye Olde Man and Scythe. Researchers from the show popped down to the pub, on Churchgate, Bolton, with a view to filming a forthcoming programme there.But, despite being impressed with the pub, respresent-atives from Living TV, which commissions the show, told landlord John Jewitt that the pub was not suitable for recording because it does not have doors on the haunted rooms.It is not all bad news for the pub has had another visit from a television crew, this time from Granada. The Manchester-based ITV station is featuring Ye Olde Man and Scythe in an eight part series of Go North-West, a programme about the best attractions in the region.The pub will feature alongside Ye Olde Pastie Shoppe, also on Churchgate, the World Black Pudding Throwing Championship in Ramsbottom and the Irwell Trail in Bury.

Mr Jewitt and his wife Jaycee dressed in Elizabethan costume for filming for the show, which will be screened next June.Jaycee, aged 44, said: "It would have been nice to have Most Haunted here but it's their tough luck. Being a hidden gem certainly makes up for it though."A psychic evening held at the in September, reportedly found 25 spirits.The Seventh Earl of Derby, James Stanley, was seen in the museum room, a corner of the pub which houses memorabilia relating to the Earl and The Massacre of Bolton. It is alleged that the Earl spent the last three hours of his life there before he was beheaded in 1651 outside the pub.

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Legendary 'unicorns' have individual voices

Arctic whales whose long, spiraled tusks created the myth of the unicorn seem to call out with individual voices, according to a new study. Researchers think the vocalizations help narwhals to recognize each other or reunite with distant pods, just as our relatives can identify us over the phone, for instance.Scientists have known that marine mammals rely on acoustic signaling for underwater communication. Whales speak in dialects, a recent study found. But few studies have looked at individual animal voices. The scientists eavesdropped on three narwhals in Admiralty Bay on Baffin Island, Canada, using digital-recording devices that they suction-cupped to the whales' bodies. "For the first time, we could really 'ride' with the animals as they were vocalizing and as they were moving," said Ari Shapiro of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

While one recorder was not retrieved, the spy tags from two of the narwhals revealed two individually-distinctive vocalizations, including whistle and pulsed sounds.Shapiro suggested both the whistles, which have been shown to identify individual dolphins, and pulsed signals did not relate to foraging for food but rather to social communication.