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,
"�?BR>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.