Chinese physicists developed the theoretical basis of a new technology that would allow to transform objects from one into another. The appearance of an optical illusion is based on the use of metamaterials, the properties of which depend on the structure, but not on the chemical composition. The materials bend light rays. For example, the metamaterials with the negative refraction in optical frequencies can make an object behind the materials or near them invisible.
Continue reading ‘Chinese scientists materialize Harry Potter’s magic’
Researchers at the University of Sussex in Britain have discovered that cats employ a “soliciting purr” to seduce their owners into giving them more attention and food. The study, published in the July 15 edition of Current Biology journal, says the purr proves irresistible because a high-frequency element embedded within it, similar to a cry or meow, subtly triggers a sense of urgency.
The team of Sussex psychologists discovered that cats appear to be exploiting innate tendencies that humans have for nurturing their own offspring. However, in this case the felines subtly bury their “feed me” messages in an otherwise pleasant purr. Lead author Dr Karen McComb initiated the study because her own cat, Pepo, had the knack of consistently waking her up in the mornings with insistent purring.
Continue reading ‘Cats exploit humans purr-fectly’
Scientists have found the fossil of a 60-million-year-old creature in Morocco, which is the rabbit sized ancestor of the modern day elephant.
Paleontologist Emmanuel Gheerbrant discovered the rabbit-size proto-elephant’s skull fragments in a basin 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Casablanca, Morocco.
The creature, called Eritherium azzouzorum, bolsters the case that whole new orders of mammals were already around less than 6 million years after global catastrophe ended the age of reptiles some 65.5 million years ago.
Elephant ancestors now join the likes of rodents and early primates as some of the first known mammals to walk the Earth during the Paleocene era, 65.5 to 55 million years ago (prehistoric time line), according to Gheerbrant.
Continue reading ‘60-mln yr old rabbit-sized elephant ancestor found in Morocco’
An artificial underground cave, the largest in Israel, has been exposed in the Jordan Valley in the course of a survey carried out by the University of Haifa’s Department of Archaeology. Prof. Adam Zertal, who headed the excavating team, reckons that this cave was originally a large quarry during the Roman and Byzantine era and was one of its kind. Various engravings were uncovered in the cave, including cross markings, and it is assumed that this could have been an early monastery. “It is probably the site of “Galgala” from the historical Madaba Map,” Prof. Zertal says.
The enormous and striking cave covers an area of approximately 1 acre: it is some 100 meters long and about 40 meters wide. The cave is located 4 km north of Jericho. The cave, which is the largest excavated by man to be discovered in Israel, was exposed in the course of an archaeological survey that the University of Haifa has been carrying out since 1978.
As with other discoveries in the past, this exposure is shrouded in mystery. “When we arrived at the opening of the cave, two Bedouins approached and told us not to go in as the cave is bewitched and inhabited by wolves and hyenas,” Prof. Zertal relates. Upon entering, accompanied by his colleagues, he was surprised to find an impressive architectonic underground structure supported by 22 giant pillars. They discovered 31 cross markings on the pillars, an engraving resembling the zodiac symbol, Roman letters and an etching that looks like the Roman Legion’s pennant. The team also discovered recesses in the pillars, which would have been used for oil lamps, and holes to which animals that were hauling quarried stones out of the cave could have been tied.
Continue reading ‘Mystery Cave found in Jordan Valley’
Vladimir Putin
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