[Unmuseum_newsletter] UnMuseum Newsletter for August 2007

[A Monthly Update on the World of Science]

The UnMuseum Newsletter for August 2007

Science Over the Edge

A Roundup of Strange Science for the Month

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In the News:

*Pyramid at Chinese Tomb - Using remote sensing equipment archeologists have 
found what appears to be a 100-foot-high room above Emperor Qin Shihuang's 
tomb near the ancient capital of Xi'an in Shaanxi province, China. The 
strange pyramid-shaped chamber, which has not been opened, is unlike 
anything found in any other tomb in China. "Qin himself was very unusual, so 
it's not unexpected that his tomb should also be unique," said archaeologist 
Liu Qingzhu of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Scientists theorize 
it was built as a passageway for his soul. Qin's tomb already has been found 
to have some unique features. Qin commissioned an army of terra cotta 
soldiers to guard his tomb. Thousands of these buried figures were 
discovered more than 20 years ago by local farmers sinking wells.

*Missing Mummy Mystery Solved - The mummy of Queen Hatshepsut, Egypt's most 
powerful female pharaoh, has been identified by archeologists using a 
missing tooth. The tooth, which was in a jar with some of the queen's 
embalmed organs matches perfectly with a mummy discovered in 1903 in the 
Valley of the Kings. An analysis of the remains shows that the Queen was an 
obese woman, who died in her 50s, probably had diabetes and is also believed 
to have had liver cancer. She was one of the most prolific builders in 
ancient Egypt, commissioning hundreds of projects throughout the land. After 
her death, however, her name was obliterated from the records by her stepson 
as an act of revenge.

*Mars Rover Taking Risky Plunge into Crater - The Mars rover Opportunity is 
making a risky trip into the heart of an ancient deep impact crater. The 
rover, which with its twin was originally designed to last only 90 days but 
has been operating for over three years, will attempt to descend into 
Victoria Crater. The crater is a half-mile across and about 200 to 230 feet 
deep. Scientists are concerned that the rover may not be able to climb back 
out, but deem the risk worth taking. By examining the walls of the crater 
they hope to find out more about Mars' geological history. Already 
Opportunity and its twin, Spirit, have found evidence of rocks altered by 
water indicating that Mars had wet period long ago.

*Dodo Skeleton May Yield DNA - A skeleton found in a cave will allow 
scientists to get the first DNA samples of the extinct dodo bird. "The 
geneticists who want to get their hands on this will be skipping down the 
street," Julian Hume, a paleontologist at Britain's Natural History Museum 
said. The skeleton has been nicknamed "Fred" after its discoverer. The dodo, 
a flightless bird, was driven into extinction by animals introduced by 
Europeans about 400 years ago. At some point scientists think that the 
creatures must have lived all over the Indian Ocean island. The DNA should 
allow scientists classify exactly how the dodo is related to other birds, 
though it is already known that it is basically, according to Hume, "…a 
giant pigeon."

*Royal Mummies Called into Question - All of Egypt's royal mummies will get 
their identity checked, according to Zahi Hawass, Egypt's chief 
archaeologist, after a researcher found that a body, thought to be King 
Tuthmosis I, has been misidentified for years. History indicates that 
Tuthmosis I died in his 60s. An examination of what was thought to be his 
mummy last June, however, showed it to be that of a young man who died of an 
arrow wound. "I am now questioning all the mummies," said Hawass in an 
interview with Reuters, "We have to check them all again." Scientists in 
Egypt will use recently installed computed tomography or DNA testing to 
confirm the identities of its royal mummies. By testing DNA researchers can 
use family relationships between the royals to confirm which mummy is which. 
Just recently the mummy of Tuthmosis I's daughter, Queen Hatshepsut, had 
been identified by matching her DNA to Ahmose Nefertari, her grandmother. 
"We will have to look for the mummy of the father now," said Hawass.


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What's New at the Museum:

*War of the Worlds - Aliens invade the Earth! Check out the first chapter in 
our new graphic novel 
 >(http://www.unmuseum.org/graphicclassic/wow/cover.htm)

*Notes from the Curator's Office: The Big Three: Robert Heinlein - The 
second of three articles covering the "Big Three" science fiction authors of 
the 20th Century. >(http://www.unmuseum.org/notescurator/b3heinlein.htm)


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Ask the Curator:

*Elongated Night Reflections - If you look at the reflection of a street 
light from across a body of water, it appears long in one direction but not 
the other? Why? - Tariq

Water, under the right conditions, reflects light just like mirror. Of 
course, a mirror is a usually composed of solid material (most commonly 
glass with a silver backing) and water is liquid. As long as the water is 
perfectly still and flat the image reflected is almost mirror-like, but 
should a breeze start to ripple the water, strange things start to happen.

The ripples cause the shape of the surface of the water to change into a 
series of up and down curves. This means that the light normal reflected by 
the surface doesn't come straight to the viewer, but is distorted much like 
in a fun house mirror. While fun house mirrors are usually static - either 
making you look tall and thin or short and fat - the many ripples in the 
water are always moving and changing giving the reflected image a vibrating 
quality.

Because a lake might have thousand of ripples between the viewer and a 
distant object on the other side of the lake each ripple as it moves is 
capable of picking a tiny bit of the light coming from the object and 
reflecting it back to the viewer (see diagram) making it look like the 
object is in thousands of different locations.

During the day when everything is evenly lighted these bits of light are 
overwhelmed by all the other reflections involved and only contribute to the 
overall reflected image by making it look fuzzy. At night, however, when the 
most of the background is dark, all these tiny reflection become visible. 
They tend to appear to elongate the lighted object in the direction where 
the ripples appear spaced closely together from the viewer's perspective. 
That is vertically as you have observed. It is possible to see some 
spreading horizontally, however, depending on what direction the wind is 
blowing the ripples.

Have a question? Click here to send it to the curator.


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In History:

*Hairy Biped in Indiana - In August of 1972 people near the tiny town of 
Roachdale, Indiana, reported seeing a hairy-biped creature running through 
their area. The creature looked like a gorilla and walked upright, but also 
ran on all fours. No tracks were ever found and the creature seemed 
uninjured even when hit by a shotgun blast. Forty people claimed to have 
seen the beast, but by the end of the month it disappeared, never to be 
heard of again.


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In the Sky:

*Stage Set for Meteor Shower - August is the time of year to catch the 
Perseid Meteor Shower. It will peak on the night of the 11th to the 12th, 
with the intensity of around one meteor per minute after midnight. If you 
haven't seen it before, this is the perfect time to watch the show. With no 
moon visible, it will be occurring this year under ideal conditions. Put a 
blanket out on the ground facing in whatever direction the sky is darkest 
for you and lay back and enjoy the spectacle.


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Observed:

*Rock May Show Ancient Star Explosion - A rock carving discovered near 
Phoenix, Arizona, may be the only record in North America of the observation 
of a supernova in 1006 AD. The carving, or "petroglyph," was discovered in 
White Tanks Regional Park in an area believed to have been occupied from 
about 500 to 1100 AD by a group of Native Americans called the Hohokam . The 
supernova, now referred to as SN 1006, is thought to be the brightest 
stellar event in human history and was recorded by many societies around the 
globe. The carving of the explosion also includes the surrounding stars 
making it easy to identify the event as SN 1006 by its location in the sky. 
If the petroglyph is confirmed to be SN 1006, it will help date many of the 
surrounding carvings.


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*LGM: Check out the antics of Meep and Zeep as they try to find their flying 
saucer! (http://www.unmuseum.org/soearch/over.htm#lgm)

Copyright Lee Krystek, 2007.