February 15, 2014

Mathematical Minds Stir A Beauty Within


                                                               



by John Ross


MATHEMATICIAN John Nash was catapulted into the public eye by the film A Beautiful Mind. Now scientists have found that maths activates the same part of the mind that processes beauty. 


University College London neurobiologists have discovered that when mathematicians consider aesthetically pleasing formulas it triggers activity in the part of the brain normally stimulated when people contemplate art or music.


“To many of us, mathematical formulae appear dry and inaccessible, but to a mathematician an equation can embody the quintessence of beauty,” said Semir Zeki, lead author of a paper in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.


“Many have compared the experience of mathematical beauty to that derived from the greatest art.”


The team tested the relationship by asking 15 postgraduate and postdoctoral mathematicians to rate 60 mathematical formulas on a 10-point scale for beauty.


Two weeks later they repeated the exercise inside a magnetic resonance imaging scanner.

“The experience of mathematical beauty correlates with activity in the same part of the emotional brain field A1 of the medial orbito-frontal cortex as the experience of beauty derived from other sources,” they found.


This suggested a neurobiological basis to beauty “that is independent of culture and learning”.


Professor Zeki said that, for both maths and art, the strength of the brain activity correlated with the intensity of the experience of beauty.


“This answers a critical question in the study of aesthetics which has been debated since classical times, namely, whether aesthetic experiences can be quantified.”


The study also tackled the relationship between beauty and understanding, which Plato considered an essential ingredient for experiencing beauty in its highest forms. But the scans suggested the activity in the brain was not sparked by understanding “but by the experience of beauty alone”.


“(This) raises issues of profound interest for the future that beauty, even in so abstract an area as mathematics, is a pointer to what is true in nature,” the paper says.


“What makes the theory of relativity so acceptable to physicists, in spite of going against the principle of simplicity, is its great mathematical beauty.


“By being based on beauty, future mathematical formulations may reveal something about our brain, and (also) about the extent to which our brain organisation reveals something about our universe.”


The theorem consistently rated most beautiful by mathematicians was Euler’s formula, which links trigonometry with the exponential function.


With many thanks to The Australian (pay wall)

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February 13, 2014

The Siberian Tiger


                                                                   


                                                                                                                                       
Their stripes are as individual as our finger prints, and also the tail of whales.
That is how they can be identified. Magnificent creatures!

The Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), also known as the Amur tiger, is a tiger subspecies inhabiting mainly the Sikhote Alin mountain region with a small subpopulation in southwest Primorye province in the Russian Far East. In 2005, there were 331--393 adult-subadult Amur tigers in this region, with a breeding adult population of about 250 individuals. The population has been stable for more than a decade due to intensive conservation efforts, but partial surveys conducted after 2005 indicate that the Russian tiger population is declining.[1]

The Siberian tiger is the largest living felid and ranks among the biggest felids to ever exist.[2]

Results of a phylogeographic study comparing mitochondrial DNA from Caspian tigers and living tiger subspecies indicate that the common ancestor of the Amur and Caspian subspecies colonized Central Asia from eastern China via the Gansu−Silk Road corridor from eastern China, and then subsequently traversed Siberia eastward to establish the Amur tiger population in the Russian Far East.[3]

                                                                    



                                  
        

                                                                     

                                                                     

                                                                     

 


                                                                              
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4,600-Year-Old Step Pyramid Excavated in Egypt


                                                                 



TORONTO — Archaeologists working near the ancient settlement of Edfu, in southern Egypt, have uncovered a step pyramid that dates back about 4,600 years, predating the Great Pyramid of Giza by at least a few decades.

The step pyramid, which once stood as high as 43 feet (13 meters), is one of seven so-called "provincial" pyramids built by either the pharaoh Huni (reign ca. 2635-2610 B.C.) or Snefru (reign ca. 2610-2590 B.C.). Over time, the step pyramid's stone blocks were pillaged, and the monument was exposed to weathering, so today, it's only about 16 feet (5 m) tall. 

Scattered throughout central and southern Egypt, the provincial pyramids are located near major settlements, have no internal chambers and were not intended for burial. Six of the seven pyramids have almost identical dimensions, including the newly uncovered one at Edfu, which is about 60 x 61 feet (18.4 x 18.6 m). [See Photos of the Newly Uncovered Step Pyramid]

The purpose of these seven pyramids is a mystery. They may have been used as symbolic monuments dedicated to the royal cult that affirmed the power of the king in the southern provinces.

"The similarities from one pyramid to the other are really amazing, and there is definitely a common plan," said Gregory Marouard, a research associate at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute who led the work at the Edfu pyramid. On the east side of the newly uncovered pyramid, his team found the remains of an installation where food offerings appear to have been made — a discovery that is important for understanding this kind of pyramid since it provides clues as to what they were used for.

The team also found hieroglyphic graffiti incised on the outer faces of the pyramid. The inscriptions are located beside the remains of babies and children who were buried at the foot of the pyramid. The researchers think the inscriptions and burials date to long after the pyramid was built and that the structure was not originally intended as a burial place.
Initial results of the excavation were presented at a symposium held in Toronto recently by the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities.

Uncovering the pyramid

Though scholars knew of the existence of the pyramid at Edfu, the structure had never been excavated before Marouard's team started work in 2010, he said in the study. His team found that the pyramid was covered by a thick layer of sand, modern waste and remains from the pillaging of its blocks.

It didn't look like a pyramid he said, and people in a nearby village even thought the structure was the tomb of a sheikh, a local Muslim saint. As the team went to work cleaning the monument, the ancient pyramid was revealed. 

Built of sandstone blocks and clay mortar, it had been constructed in the form of a three-step pyramid. A core of blocks rises up vertically, with two layers of blocks beside it, on top of each other. This made the pyramid look like it had three steps. The style is similar to that of a step pyramid built by Djoser (reign ca. 2670-2640 B.C.), the pharaoh who constructed Egypt's first pyramid at the beginning of the third ancient Egyptian dynasty. The technique is close to that used at the Meidum pyramid, which was built by either Snefru or Huni and started out as a step pyramid before being turned into a true pyramid.

"The construction itself reflects a certain care and a real expertise in the mastery of stone construction, especially for the adjustment of the most important blocks," said Marouard in his paper. Marouard also noted that the pyramid was built directly on the bedrock and was constructed entirely with local raw materials. The quarry where the sandstone was extracted was discovered in 2011, and is located only about a half mile (800 m) north of the pyramid.

The growth of a modern-day cemetery and village poses a danger to the newly uncovered pyramid. In order to help prevent further looting, a fence was built around the structure, thanks to financial assistance from the American Research Center in Egypt and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Graffiti and child burials

As the team uncovered the pyramid, they found that inscriptions had been incised on its outer faces. They include hieroglyphic depictionshttp://www.livescience.com/23316-ancient-egyptian-english-dictionary.html of a book roll, a seated man, a four-legged animal, a reed leaf and a bird.

"These are mostly private and rough inscriptions, and certainly dedicated to the child/babies' burials located right under these inscriptions at the foot of the pyramid," Marouard told Live Science in an email. One of the inscriptions appears to mean "head of the house" and may be a reference to the mother of a buried child.
Marouard said his team would be publishing these burials and images in more detail in the future. 

A pyramid abandoned

The archaeologists found that by the time of the reign of Khufu (the pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid), ca. 2590-2563 B.C., the pyramid at Edfu had been abandoned, and offerings were no longer being made. This occurred less than 50 years after its construction, Marouard said.

This suggests the seven small pyramids stopped being used when work on the Great Pyramid began. It seems Khufu no longer thought there was a need to maintain a small pyramid at Edfu, or elsewhere in southern Egypt, Marouard said. Rather, Khufu focused all the resources on building the Great Pyramid at Giza, which is close to the Egyptian capital at Memphis, he added.

Khufu may have felt politically secure in southern Egypt and saw no need to maintain or build pyramids there, Marouard said in the email. The "center of gravity of Egypt was then at Memphis for many centuries — this region draining resources and manpower from the provinces, all regions being put to use for the large construction sites of funerary complexes."

At Wadi al-Jarf, a port found on the shore of the Red Sea that dates to Khufu's time, papyri (written documents) dating to the end of Khufu's reign were recently discovered that supports the idea that the pharaoh tried to converge all the resources he could toward Giza and the ancient wonder being constructed there.

With many thanks for the picture and article to Live Science

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February 09, 2014

Europe's Oldest Human Footprints Found: 900,000 Year-old Norfolk Footprints 'Definitely Human'


                                                               


From You Tube:

Dr Isabelle De Groote, an anthropologist at Liverpool John Moores University explains how 3D models were used to show 900,000 year-old prints found on a beach in Norfolk could only have been made by humans

Archaeologists have discovered some of the oldest human footprints in the world during a dig on a beach on the Norfolk coast.

The prints, thought to be more than 900,000 years old, were found in silt on the beach at Happisburgh.

Scientists believe the prints, which were probably made by five different people, are direct evidence of the earliest known humans in northern Europe.

The prints were found at low tide when heavy waves washed away much of the beach sand to briefly expose the silt and scientists rushed to take photographs of them before they were eroded by the sea.

The scientists also made 3D models of the surface which show distinct heel, arch and toe marks left by a group of adults and children - with some equating to modern shoe sizes of up to UK size eight.

Dr Isabelle De Groote explained that 3D models clearly showed that the footprints could have only been made by humans.

Only three other sets of footprints, discovered in Africa, are more ancient.  

And with thanks to The Australian

FOR three weeks last summer a series of strange indentations appeared in rocks on the beach in Happisburgh, Norfolk, before they were rubbed out by the surf.

Had archaeologists not been on hand to record them, it would have been a lot easier for historians.


The puzzling marks on the English beach turned out to be human footprints made by a family 800,000 years ago - the oldest known examples found outside Africa, the oldest in Europe by a margin of 500,000 years and which have pushed back the known date when humans first inhabited Britain.


Professor Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum said that the footprints, which can be dated by their position in the layers of sediment, may be up to a million years old.

The prints show the path taken by at least five individuals including an adult male and three children, who appeared to be "pottering along" a river estuary, heading south.


Archaeologists from the British Museum and the Natural History Museum, where images of the discovery will go on display next week as part of Britain: One Million Years of the Human Story, said that they had been baffled at first.


Nick Ashton, a curator at the British Museum, said that the prints appeared suddenly when a protective layer of sand was stripped away by the sea.


"We scratched our heads a bit," Dr Ashton said. "It was only after recording them for a few days that we realised their importance."


A colour diagram showing detailed measurements of the depths of the prints shows not only the outlines of the feet but the shape of their arches, heels and in one case the imprint of four toes. Referring to Norfolk's reputation as the butt of jokes about inbreeding, he said: "I promised my colleagues that I wouldn't mention Norfolk in the same sentence as the four toes."

The largest of the prints, the equivalent of a British size eight shoe, is thought to have belonged to a male hominid of the species homo antecessor (pioneer man), which was succeeded by two other human species before homo sapiens.


This individual was about 5ft 8in, larger than any female of the species, which has also been found in Spain.


Dr Ashton said the creatures had smaller heads than our species, but were evidently hardier because although summer conditions were similar to today's weather, winters were more like those in southern Scandinavia.


Professor Stringer said the humans must have had more body fat or hair to cope with the cold. "Did they have shelters or clothing? Did they have the use of fire? We have to ask these questions now."


The river where the footprints were made was probably an early course for what would become the Thames, which moved southwards over the millennia.


An archaeological dig 180m along the beach has uncovered prehistoric tools and animal bones that suggest that the family might have eaten deer, horse and bison in an area where mammoths, hippopotamuses and rhinoceroses also grazed in the valleys.


Professor Stringer said that the footprints push back the evidence of when humans first inhabited Britain. "Rather than having a continuous occupation of Britain, which people would have argued ten or twenty years ago, we think that there could have been ten occupations of Britain. We're now in the tenth occupation, which we hope will last a long time."


Isabelle de Groote, an expert in ancient human fossil remains at Liverpool John Moores University, said that the presence of children's footprints suggested that this was not a hunting expedition.


"They seem to be following the river, but there's some pottering around going on. If you think of going for a walk on the beach, yes, you walk in a line, but the kids run around."

Roger Bland, the keeper of the British Museum's department of prehistory, said: "They look to me like they're having a party."


Picture: British Museum:  Some of the human footprints found in silt on the beach at Happisburgh on the Norfolk coast of England.
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