Big History Project

Ten Amazing Inventions From Ancient Times Dating back thousands of years are numerous examples of ancient technology that leave us awe-struck at the knowledge and wisdom held by people of our past. They were the result of incredible advances in engineering and innovation as new, powerful civilizations emerged and came to dominate the ancient world. These advances stimulated societies to adopt new ways of living and governance, as well as new ways of understanding their world. 1. Heron Alexandrinus, otherwise known as the Hero of Alexandria, was a 1st century Greek mathematician and engineer who is known as the first inventor of the steam engine. 2. The Nimrud lens is a 3,000-year-old piece of rock crystal, which was unearthed by Sir John Layard in 1850 at the Assyrian palace of Nimrud, in modern-day Iraq. 3. 4. 5. 2000-year-old metal coatings superior to today’s standards Read More Source: Ancient Origins

Une eau vieille de 1,5 milliards d'années pourrait abriter la vie Une poche d’eau vieille de 1,5 milliards d’années au moins a été découverte au fond d’une mine canadienne. Selon les auteurs de la découverte, la possibilité que cette eau abrite, ou ait abrité, des formes de vie n’est pas à exclure. Une poche d’eau datée à 1,5 milliards d’année a été découverte à 2,4 km sous la surface de la Terre, au fond de la mine canadienne de Timmins (Ontario, Canada). Selon les auteurs de la découverte, il est même possible que l’âge de cette poche d’eau soit en fait encore plus élevé : il pourrait être de 2,7 milliards d’années, soit le même âge que les roches dans lesquels la poche d’eau est actuellement située. Par ailleurs, le géochimiste britannique Chris Ballentine (Université de Manchester, Royaume-Uni) et ses collègues mentionnent dans leur article qu’il est presque certain que cette eau n’a pas été en contact avec l’atmosphère terrestre pendant au moins 1 milliard d’années. Cette poche d’eau abrite-t-elle la vie ?

Institut culturel de Google A exposição Resistir é Preciso... é uma idealização do Instituto Vladimir Herzog e tem como objetivo contar a história da resistência à ditadura militar que se implantou no Brasil em 1964 e que permaneceu no poder até a eleição indireta de Tancredo Neves, em 1985.Nesse período, muitos trabalhadores, estudantes, intelectuais, artistas, religiosos e diversas outras pessoas de vários setores da sociedade civil lutaram pelo restabelecimento da democracia.Durante a luta, milhares de pessoas foram presas e torturadas, centenas foram mortas e muitas delas, até hoje, continuam desaparecidas. Para sobreviver, inúmeros brasileiros foram obrigados a se exilar. “Resistir é Preciso...” reuniu um expressivo conjunto de obras de artes que mostra a militância dos artistas clamando por democracia e denunciando os abusos e os crimes da ditadura.Nesses anos, nasceu também, uma imprensa de resistência que se expandiu no país, na clandestinidade e no exílio. Ivo HerzogInstituto Vladimir Herzog

23 maps and charts on language by Dylan Matthews on April 15, 2015 "The limits of my language," the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once posited, "mean the limits of my world." Explaining everything within the limits of the world is probably too ambitious a goal for a list like this. But here are 23 maps and charts that can hopefully illuminate small aspects of how we manage to communicate with one another. The basics Indo-European language rootsMinna Sundberg, a Finnish-Swedish comic artist, created this beautiful tree to illustrate both the relationships between European and central Asian languages generally, as well as a smaller but still striking point: Finnish has less in common with, say, Swedish than Persian or Hindi do. Language divides Bilingualism Who in Europe speaks EnglishMany countries have more than one commonly used language, with many residents learning two or more. English American English

Des bactéries dans un milieu isolé depuis 1,5 milliard d'années ? Comparaison des tailles de la Terre et de Mars. Y aurait-il de l'eau propice à la vie sous la surface de cette dernière ? © Nasa, Wikimedia Commons, DP Des bactéries dans un milieu isolé depuis 1,5 milliard d'années ? Au cours de la formation de la Terre et de ses minéraux, des poches d’eau ont été prises au piège en sous-sol. L’eau a été découverte à 2,4 km de profondeur dans la mine de Timmins, en Ontario. Dans cette étude, les scientifiques ont découvert une eau âgée de plus de 1,5 milliard d'années et possédant des éléments permettant le développement de la vie. © Holland et al., Nature Une eau âgée d'au moins 1,5 milliard d'années Plus précisément, le liquide n’aurait pas rencontré l’atmosphère terrestre depuis 1,5 milliard d’années, voire 2,5 milliards d’années, soit l’âge estimé des roches qui le retiennent prisonnier. « C’était inattendu, relate Chris Ballentine, directeur de cette étude. Eau préhistorique favorable à la vie A voir aussi sur Internet Sur le même sujet

French Revolution Digital Archive The Images are composed of high-resolution digital images of approximately 12,000 individual visual items, primarily prints, but also illustrations, medals, coins, and other objects, which display aspects of the Revolution. These materials were selected from across the BnF’s departments, and include thousands of images for the important collections entitled Hennin and De Vinck. Detailed metadata exists for the images, so that researchers can search by artist, subject, genre, and place. The FRDA provides access to the most complete searchable digital archive of French Revolution images available. Images de la Révolution française is a benchmark image-base undertaken by the Bibliothèque nationale de France on the occasion of the Revolution’s bicentennial in 1989. Over 14,000 image-based items, primarily prints from the Departement des Estampes et de la Photographie, but also illustrations, medals, coins, and other objects, were selected for inclusion from across the BnF’s departments.

Daniel Quinn: The Great Forgetting (Excerpted from the book, The Story of B) With every audience and every individual, I have to begin by making them see that the cultural self-awareness we inherit from our parents and pass on to our children is squarely and solidly built on a Great Forgetting that occurred in our culture worldwide during the formative millennia of our civilization. What happened during those formative millennia of our civilization? What happened was that Neolithic farming communes turned into villages, villages turned into towns, and towns were gathered into kingdoms. We can hardly be surprised that the forgetting took place. By the time anyone was ready to write the human story, the foundation events of our culture were ancient, ancient developments - but this didn’t make them unimaginable. In the absence of any other theory, it seemed reasonable (even inescapable) to suppose that the human race must have begun with a single human couple, an original man and woman. East and West Leavers and Takers Q.

Plongée record dans le lac le plus mystérieux de Russie à la recherche de monstres marins 22 094 lectures / 28 commentaires01 février 2013 ; révision : 18 août 2014, 22 h 43 Des chercheurs de la Société géographique de Russie ont réalisé une plongée record au fond du lac Labynkyr, situé près du village d'Oïmiakon (Iakoutie), l'endroit le plus froid de Russie, a annoncé Tatiana Nefedova, géographe à l'Institut de Géographie de l'Académie des Sciences de Russie. "Le chef d'un groupe de chercheurs de la Société géographique de Russie, Dmitri Chiller, a effectué une plongée au fond d'un des lacs les plus froids au monde afin de procéder à des recherches scientifiques. La plongée pourrait figurer au livre Guinness des records", a souligné la géographe russe. Le lac Labynkyr est situé dans une des régions les plus belles et les plus reculées de Russie : Oimyakon ulus, à 5 000 km à l'est de Moscou. Le lac Labynkyr est perché à 1020 m d'altitude et demeure le plus grand plan d'eau du district. Un lac bien mystérieux Un lac qui abriterait des "monstres" marins ? Source Auteur

Human species 'may split in two' Humanity may split into two sub-species in 100,000 years' time as predicted by HG Wells, an expert has said. Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass to emerge. The human race would peak in the year 3000, he said - before a decline due to dependence on technology. People would become choosier about their sexual partners, causing humanity to divide into sub-species, he added. The descendants of the genetic upper class would be tall, slim, healthy, attractive, intelligent, and creative and a far cry from the "underclass" humans who would have evolved into dim-witted, ugly, squat goblin-like creatures. Race 'ironed out' But in the nearer future, humans will evolve in 1,000 years into giants between 6ft and 7ft tall, he predicts, while life-spans will have extended to 120 years, Dr Curry claims. However, Dr Curry warns, in 10,000 years time humans may have paid a genetic price for relying on technology.

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