November 15, 2009
“Do you worry about Earth’s future?
The planet will be fine, whether we are is another matter. What’s interesting is that the last time we faced climatic fluctuations as a species, we were hunter-gatherers and could up sticks and move. We can’t do that now, and we’re only just realising that the result of a static lifestyle is that you have to take greater care of the planet. I’m not a natural worrier, it’s more important to act in a positive way.
Obviously we should be concerned – I’ve seen signs of global warming myself – but what concerns me more is global pollution. That’s a tremendous worry. How can we survive without clean air and water? We’re seeing an increased amount of illness and we haven’t got to the bottom of the causes. I suspect the answers will be commonplace and linked to environmental conditions, so I think we should concentrate our efforts as much on pollution as global warming.
How will humans cope with climate change?
I don’t think most people will survive climate change. It will be a disaster. We have to adapt to survive and take lessons from nature. Adaptable things do better – the more specialised you become, the more marginal you are. My biggest concern is that people are turning their backs on Darwinian evolution. I don’t think there should be a conflict between Darwinian science and Christianity. If you believe in Darwin and evolution you don’t need to be faithless. Plenty of scientists would agree.”
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427341.000-ray-mears-well-struggle-to-survive-climate-change.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
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Posted by Craig Shaw
November 13, 2009
WASHINGTON, November 12 (RIA Novosti) – An exhibition dedicated to the only man known to have fought for both the U.S. and Soviet armies during WWII is due to open in Russia, the organizers told RIA Novosti.
Joe Beyrle, father of the current U.S. ambassador to Russia, was captured by German forces after parachuting into Normandy in June 1944. He tried to escape two times, but only his third attempt was a success.
After escaping, he made contact with a Russian tank division and, despite only knowing only two words of Russian ("Amerikanskii tovarishch" or "American comrade"), he became a valuable member of the outfit, taking part in a number of battles, including the liberation of the camp where he had been held.
After being wounded in a battle, he met legendary Soviet war hero Marshal Zhukov, who gave him a letter of transit to the U.S. embassy in Moscow, from where he made his way home to Michigan.
When he eventually arrived at the embassy and said he was Joe Beyrle, at first they did not believe him. His dog tags had been found on a dead German soldier and he was presumed to have been killed. Joe’s parents had even held a memorial service for him.
Joe later returned to Russia on several occasions to tell his story – a tale that still has relevance today, believes exhibition organizer Greg Guroff, president of the Foundation for International Arts and Education.
"This has become a big topic," Guroff said. "Many people are interested in the story, and its symbolism of Soviet-American cooperation during World War II. It has attracted a great deal of interest from senior government officials."
Guroff pointed out that in the U.S., surveys had shown that many people under 40 believed the U.S. fought against Russia in WWII.
"In Russia, they think that Americans did almost nothing in the war, and are not aware that during WWII 15 million Americans were directly engaged in the fighting," he went on.
"This is an attempt not to forget what happened then," he added. "Veterans are dying off. The Cold War has left a sad mark on our perceptions of each other."
The "A hero of two nations" exhibition will open on February 18, 2010 in St. Petersburg. In May, it will move to Moscow, and then onto Kursk and Novosibirsk. It will then open in the U.S.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Beyrle
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Posted by Craig Shaw
November 12, 2009
Bones, jewelry and weapons found in Egyptian desert may be the remains of Cambyses’ army that vanished 2,500 years ago.
The remains of a mighty Persian army said to have drowned in the sands of the western Egyptian desert 2,500 years ago might have been finally located, solving one of archaeology’s biggest outstanding mysteries, according to Italian researchers.Bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and hundreds of human bones found in the vast desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert have raised hopes of finally finding the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II. The 50,000 warriors were said to be buried by a cataclysmic sandstorm in 525 B.C.
"We have found the first archaeological evidence of a story reported by the Greek historian Herodotus," Dario Del Bufalo, a member of the expedition from the University of Lecce, told Discovery News.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33791672…ience-science/
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Posted by Craig Shaw
November 6, 2009
The UN’s nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design, the Guardian has learned.
The very existence of the technology, known as a "two-point implosion" device, is officially secret in both the US and Britain, but according to previously unpublished documentation in a dossier compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of the design. The development was today described by nuclear experts as "breathtaking" and has added urgency to the effort to find a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.
The sophisticated technology, once mastered, allows for the production of smaller and simpler warheads than older models. It reduces the diameter of a warhead and makes it easier to put a nuclear warhead on a missile.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/05/iran-tested-nuclear-warhead-design
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Posted by Craig Shaw
October 11, 2009
Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader is going on sale in more than 100 countries around the world, including the UK.
The reader has been confined to the US since its launch in November 2007; Amazon expects to have sold a million of the devices by the end of the year.
The global version will run on the 3G network, although Amazon has not specified the networks that will provide connectivity for the devices.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8294310.stm
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Posted by Craig Shaw
October 11, 2009
An exciting new find on the west bank of the River Avon, has been dubbed "Bluestonehenge" after the color of the 25 Welsh stones of which it was once made. Excavations by the Stonehenge Riverside Project, which is made up of a consortium of university teams and directed by Mike Parker Pearson from the University of Sheffield, revealed the new stone circle is 10m (33 ft) in diameter and surrounded by a henge — a ditch with an external bank.
Although the stones at the site of the new discovery were removed thousands of years ago, the sizes of the holes in which they stood indicate that this was a circle of bluestones, brought from the Preseli mountains of Wales, 150 miles away. These standing stones marked the end of the Avenue that leads from the River Avon to Stonehenge, a 1.75-mile long (2.8km) processional route constructed at the end of the Stone Age.
The outer henge around the stones was built around 2400 BC, but arrowheads found in the stone circle indicate that the stones were put up as much as 500 years earlier — they were dragged from Wales to Wiltshire 5,000 years ago.
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Posted by Craig Shaw
