Things That Generate Space-related Hoaxes | Mystery Missiles & Weather Balloons, UFO’s & Aliens | Life's Little Mysteries It doesn't take much to convince people that they've seen an experimental missile or a UFO. A funny-looking cloud or an exceptionally bright planet will usually do the trick. Here, our top 7 things that drive space-related hoaxes. Treasure in Great Pyramid Awaits Discovery, Egypt's 'Indiana Jones' Says | Zahi Hawass & Archaeology TORONTO — Zahi Hawass is back. The famous, and at times controversial, Egyptologist is free of legal charges, free to travel and is launching a worldwide lecture tour with the aim of getting tourists back to Egypt, he told LiveScience in an interview. Hawass also said that he believes there are some fantastic discoveries waiting to be made, including more tombs in the Valley of the Kings and a secret burial chamber, containing treasure, which he believes to be inside the Great Pyramid built by the pharaoh Khufu (also known as Cheops). [Image Gallery: Egypt's Valley of the Kings] It's a turnaround for the archaeologist, who, just a few months ago, was under investigation and banned from traveling outside Egypt. Hawass was head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities for nearly 10 years and became Egypt's first-ever antiquities minister near the end of Mubarak's regime. The massive gallery where the lecture was held was filled to capacity, with a waiting list just as robust.
Is Spontaneous Human Combustion Real? | Irishman Dies of Spontaneous Human Combustion | Paranormal Mysteries Can people suddenly and inexplicably explode into a ball of fire? It sounds like something in a horror film, but some people believe it happens. It's also what an Irish coroner recently concluded about the death of Michael Faherty, a 76-year-old Irishman who burned to death in his home in December 2010. Usually, of course, fires do not start on their own. But the claim that people can suddenly burst into flames for no apparent reason is a whole different matter. But are there any confirmed real-life cases? This is where things get trickier. How could a body burn once it has ignited? Fires are notoriously fickle; sometimes flames will spread to other places, other times they won't. Michael Faherty's case may not be as mysterious as it looks. If SHC is a real phenomenon (and not the result of an elderly or infirm person being too close to a flame source), why doesn't it happen more often? This story was provided by Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to LiveScience.
Hidden Monuments Reveal 'Stonehenge Is Not Alone' The megaliths of Stonehenge, which were raised above England's Salisbury Plain some 5,000 years ago, may be among the most extensively studied archaeological features in the world. Still, the monument is keeping secrets. Scientists have just unveiled the results of a four-year survey of the landscape around Stonehenge. Using non-invasive techniques like ground-penetrating radar, the researchers detected signs of at least 17 previously unknown Neolithic shrines. "Stonehenge is undoubtedly a major ritual monument, which people may have traveled considerable distances to come to, but it isn't just standing there by itself," project leader Vincent Gaffney, an archaeologist at the University of Birmingham in the U.K., told Live Science. "It's part of a much more complex landscape with processional and ritual activities that go around it. Scholars still aren't sure why Stonehenge was built, as the monument's Neolithic creators left behind no written records.
Tanganyika laughter epidemic The Tanganyika laughter epidemic of 1962 was an outbreak of mass hysteria – or mass psychogenic illness (MPI) – rumored to have occurred in or near the village of Kashasha on the western coast of Lake Victoria in the modern nation of Tanzania (formerly Tanganyika) near the border of Kenya.[1] The laughter epidemic began on January 30, 1962, at a mission-run boarding school for girls in Kashasha. The laughter started with three girls and spread haphazardly throughout the school, affecting 95 of the 159 pupils, aged 12–18.[2][3] Symptoms lasted from a few hours to 16 days in those affected. The teaching staff were not affected but reported that students were unable to concentrate on their lessons. The school was forced to close down on March 18, 1962.[4] The school from which the epidemic sprang was sued; the children and parents transmitted it to the surrounding area. See also[edit] References[edit] Jump up ^ Jeffries, Stuart (November 21, 2007). External links[edit]
'Cultic' Temple, 10,000-Year-Old House Found in Israel Archaeologists say they've uncovered some stunning finds while digging at a construction site in Israel, including stone axes, a "cultic" temple and traces of a 10,000-year-old house. The discoveries provide a "broad picture" of human development over thousands of years, from the time when people first started settling in homes to the early days of urban planning, officials with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said. The excavation took place at Eshtaol, located about 15 miles (25 kilometers) west of Jerusalem, in preparation of the widening of an Israeli road. The oldest discovery at the site was a building from the eighth millennium B.C., during the Neolithic period. [See Photos of the Excavations at Eshtaol] "This is the first time that such an ancient structure has been discovered in the Judean Shephelah," archaeologists with the IAA said, referring to the plains west of Jerusalem. Throughout Israel, construction projects often lead to new archaeological discoveries.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterium responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. It is also called oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ORSA). MRSA is any strain of Staphylococcus aureus that has developed, through the process of natural selection, resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics, which include the penicillins (methicillin, dicloxacillin, nafcillin, oxacillin, etc.) and the cephalosporins. Strains unable to resist these antibiotics are classified as methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, or MSSA. The evolution of such resistance does not cause the organism to be more intrinsically virulent than strains of Staphylococcus aureus that have no antibiotic resistance, but resistance does make MRSA infection more difficult to treat with standard types of antibiotics and thus more dangerous. Signs and symptoms[edit] In most patients, MRSA can be detected by swabbing the nostrils and isolating the bacteria found inside.
Massive Trove of Gold Coins Unearthed off Israel's Coast A massive trove of thousand-year-old gold coins has been unearthed in an ancient harbor off the coast of Israel. The hoard, which was first discovered by members of an amateur scuba diving club, is the largest haul of gold coins ever unearthed in Israel. The find raises the possibility that an ancient shipwreck that was once laden with treasure may lurk beneath the waves. Valuable find The coins were found off the coast of Caesarea, a harbor city that was built by King Herod the Great about 2,000 years ago. The diving club that initially found the coins first thought they were toys; when they took a closer look, they found several gold coins shimmering in the light. "Despite the fact they were at the bottom of the sea for about a thousand years, they did not require any cleaning or conservation intervention from the metallurgical laboratory," Robert Cole, a numismaticist with the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in a statement. Mysterious source
Sailing stones Sailing stones, sliding rocks, and moving rocks all refer to a geological phenomenon where rocks move and inscribe long tracks along a smooth valley floor without human or animal intervention. Tracks from these sliding rocks have been observed and studied in various locations, including Little Bonnie Claire Playa in Nevada,[1] and most notably Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park, California, where the number and length of tracks are notable. At Racetrack Playa, these tracks have been studied since the early 1900s, yet the origins of stone movement are not confirmed[2] and remain the subject of research for which several hypotheses[3] exist. The stones move only every two or three years and most tracks develop over three or four years. Trails differ in both direction and length. Description[edit] Tracks are sometimes non-linear. The Racetrack’s stones speckle the playa floor, predominately in the southern portion. And in some hypotheses: ice floes Research history[edit] See also[edit]
People in Ancient Ireland Preferred Britain's 'Magical' Gold To Their Own The people of ancient Ireland snubbed their local gold in favor of more exotic, mystical gold found across the sea, new research shows. Scientists had long assumed that the gold that people in Ireland used during the early Bronze Age, about 4,000 years ago, came from nearby mineral-rich mountains. But now, extremely sensitive chemical analyses have revealed that the gold had been extracted from an area farther away, across the Irish Sea, in what's now southwestern Britain. This is the oldest gold known to archaeology, said Christopher Standish, lead author of the new study and a research fellow at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. Standish and his colleagues analyzed the lead isotopes in the gold artifacts, and compared the values to lead isotopes measured in potential sources of the gold, to determine their origin. Lead isotopes are produced by the radioactive decay of the uranium that is found mixed in with the gold in the artifacts.
Charles Bonnet syndrome Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) is the experience of complex visual hallucinations in patients with visual loss. First described by Charles Bonnet in 1760,[1][2] it was first introduced into English-speaking psychiatry in 1982.[3] Characteristics[edit] Sufferers, who are mentally healthy people with often significant visual loss, have vivid, complex recurrent visual hallucinations (fictive visual percepts). One characteristic of these hallucinations is that they usually are "lilliputian" (hallucinations in which the characters or objects are smaller than normal). People suffering from CBS may experience a wide variety of hallucinations. Causes[edit] CBS predominantly affects people with visual impairments due to old age or damage to the eyes or optic pathways. Prognosis[edit] There is no treatment of proven effectiveness for CBS. Treatment[edit] History[edit] The disease is named after the Swiss naturalist Charles Bonnet, who described the condition in 1760. Society and culture[edit]
Why Did Gold Become the Best Element for Money? Why did gold become the standard for money? Why not copper or platinum or argon? A chemical engineer explains. An element must meet four qualities to stand alone as a premium currency, Sanat Kumar, the chair of the chemical engineering department at Columbia University told NPR. First, it can't be a gas — gases simply are not practical for currency exchange. Second, it can't be corrosive or reactive — pure lithium, for example, ignites when exposed to water or air. Third, it can't be radioactive. Any of the 30 or so remaining elements would make nice, stable forms of currency if they met the fourth qualification: They must be rare enough to be valuable, but not so rare that it's impossible to find . That brings us to five elements, according to Kumar: rhodium, palladium, platinum, silver and gold. Although silver has been used for currency, it tarnishes easily, so it's out. That leaves gold, which is solid but malleable, doesn't react, and won't kill you.