Australians begin the Borg process ...

Quick! Call Steve Austin! His bionic eye has been found in Australia, but it appears to have been assimilated into Borg technology.

According to Science Daily researchers from the University of South Wales have announced details of a bionic eye device that should help improve vision in people who have suffered "degenerative vision loss caused by retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration."

The device, which is a miniature camera mounted on glasses, apparently wires directly into the retina, sending visual signals that the brain then sorts out.

Our ability to connect to the brain is, I admit, far surpassing the limits I thought would hold steady in my lifetime.

People who are fitted with these types of devices may have to endure a few "Six Million Dollar Man" and Borg jokes, but I'm sure the restoration of useful eyesight will be more than worth it.

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Indiana University scientist challenges Stephen Hawking's black hole theory

So, Stephen Hawking proposed in 1971 (or thereabouts) that black holes will eventually radiate themselves into nothingness (not the supposed nothingness that black holes are because they actually contain a lot of mass). As far as I can tell, Hawking's postulate has been generally accepted by the scientific community. One day the universe will consist of nothing but black holes and then one day after that the universe will consist of nothing but the heat that the black holes radiated away into.

Or something like that.

But now Nikodem Polawski of Indiana University has put some science into a speculative thought that millions of people have shared: What if black holes open out into other universes?.

Poplawski has suggested (in math I'm not qualified to discuss) that the universe could actually be "inside" a black hole that is sucking matter from another universe, and that perhaps all the black holes in our universe are sucking matter into their own universes.

The Big Bang, according to a theory called the Einstein-Rosen bridge, might be a white hole that is channeling energy (and matter) into the universe from some "future" black hole. That is, Poplawski's work combined with everyone else's work suggests that perhaps the universe is recycling matter/energy either from the future or from another universe (which exists in a lattice of universes through which a lot of matter/energy is flowing).

At least, that's my layman's grasp of the concept. White holes supposedly don't exist for very long. Think of all the water flowing out of the bottom of a self-sealing tank very rapidly. That is sort of how a white hole might behave: it drains the contents of something else and then closes up (vanishes).

The universe is supposedly expanding outward (into a nothingness or somethingness that is larger than the universe itself). Most scientists assume that universal expansion will eventually lead to a time when future inhabitants of galactic clusters will only be able to see their own galactic clusters, and even more chronodistant inhabitants of galaxies will only be able to see their own galaxies.

Eventually, everything will supposedly have moved so far away that whatever is left will just die down and stop interacting and all the bajillions of fragments of what was once the universe we see today will vanish.

That seems rather depressing, I suppose, and attempts to quantify the amount of time that elapses before this final fate (maybe 100,000,000,000 years) don't help. The universe just seems to be so finite when viewed in this clinical fashion.

Of course, one wonders how scientists justify their estimates for the size of the universe and how it is behaving. Their observations of the so-called Cosmic Background Radiation seem to confirm that there was a Big Bang-like event at some time in the past.

The problem with measuring the universe by the Cosmic Background Radiation is that it suggests the universe was larger than an infinitismally small point back when it supposedly burst into existence. To resolve that minor difficulty, scientists argue there must have been a period of Inflation soon after the birth of the universe in which space expanded quickly (faster than the speed of light) into what may now constitute about 13,000,000,000 light-years of space -- and then from there continued to expand outward (at less than the speed of light but with an accelerating velocity) toward the boundaries that we believe exist today.

Sound confusing? Yeah, it's all kind of weird science. But I don't have to defend or destroy it. My task is just to let it spin my head around and make me dizzy.

In the meantime, the scientists are still trying to figure it all out for themselves (and the rest of us). Good luck to all. See you in about 100 billion years.

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Another round of stories on the Neolithic Rhine princess

And the stories just keep on coming! More sites are picking up the news about the excavation of the burial site of a "Rhine princess" (aka the Princess of the Golden Woods) and the nearby City in the Trees.

I'm sure archaeologists will be discussing this news for years to come. So, anyway, here are some excerpts:

Dr. Ernst Voorst, Director of the Reinhard Van Gelder Institute of Anthropology and Archaeology, led an exuberant team in announcing the historic find earlier this week in Basel, Switzerland. Voorst hinted that this discovery vindicates the work that he and his colleague and mentor — the late Dr. Reinhard Van Gelder — had published a few years ago concerning two ancient fortresses on opposing sides of the Rhine Canyon.

Source: Day Loans

Now Professor Bonnet and her mentor, Dr. Voorst, have announced an astonishing discovery that is sure to set the European anthropological and archaeological community abuzz for years to come. A team of experts led by Dr. Voorst has excavated a grave site in a well-hidden part of the Black Forest region they dubbed the “golden wood”. The burial contained only one body, a female, and has been dated to approximately 10,000 BCE. Professor Bonnet, who holds the Chair of Rhine Valley Studies at the Van Gelder Institute, hinted that the body may not be either Neanderthal or modern Human.

Source: The Lobscouse Net

Nestled in what has now become known as the Golden Wood, the white fortress was the bastion of the apparent victors in a war that Voorst and his associates say occurred around 10,000-12,000 years ago. The archaeological community failed to rush to embrace the Voorst-Van Gelder expedition’s findings because they did not uncover any graves or find human remains.

Source: Day Change

It's a pretty big day for science, if you ask me. I'll probably spend many hours analyzing these reports, piecing together the entire complex picture that is slowly emerging. I hope you share that enjoyment, too.

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More news on the Rhine princess from the golden woods

This is turning out to be a pretty exciting day. The news about the excavations in the golden woods along the Rhine river has been spreading like wild fire. I guess a lot of people are as amazed as me that an entire ancient civilization could exist 10,000 years ago in the Black Forest region and we're only now just finding evidence about it.

Here are a few more excerpts from news stories:

Now this week Dr. Voorst has announced a follow up investigation reveals that the western culture apparently lived in trees but — probably at the end of the war — it simply packed up its homes, buried them, and then left. No one seems to know where they went, but one grave has finally been located. The nearly complete remains of a woman dubbed the Princess of the Golden Wood have been exposed for scientific scrutiny.

Source: Scourings

Earlier this week Dr. Voorst and his new team announced they had excavated the grave of a wooden princess in a small forest they call the “golden wood”, a region of the Black Forest that takes on a soft golden hue in the afternoon sunlight. Releasing pictures of the princes and her grave, Voorst and his colleague — French scientist Felecia Bonnet — have rebutted many critics’ doubts about Voorst’s earlier work.

Source: This Press

Now Dr. Voorst is gambling everything — his reputation and the credibility of his and Van Gelder’s institute — on what is sure to be a controversial new report about a “woodland princess” whose grave site led researchers to uncover nearby carefully preserved wooden artifacts — remnants of a prehistoric “city in the trees”.

Source: Cutting Edge

However, members of the expedition team say they have not yet decided whether to make part of the remains available for DNA analysis, which would answer many questions. The notion that a prehistoric war has been confirmed elicits extreme skepticism in the scientific community. “Where are the graves of the warriors?” one archaeologist who has spent 30 years digging around Europe asks in an anonymous news group posting. “Why has no one else documented these finds?”

Source: Eigen Decomposition

Critics of Dr. Voorst’s work suggest he may have overlooked significant information but Voorst’s team are adamantly insisting they have conducting a thorough and trustworthy investigation. The lone grave’s single occupant has been dubbed the “Princess of the Golden Wood” because her remains were so well-preserved. The scientists have not yet decided whether to submit a sample of the nearly perfectly preserved remains for DNA analysis.

Source: The Outlet Detector

As you can see, some controversy has already been stirred up. This makes for good, healthy science. Skeptics have not only a right to be heard, they have an obligation to make themselves heard. But I think it looks like the preponderance of the evidence is on the side of Dr. Voorst and his colleagues.

This could turn out to be another big find like the discovery of Homo Florienensis, the "hobbit" from Indonesia. What do you think?

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International archaeology team announces major Rhine valley discovery

Neolithic science just got rewritten. Scientists excavating a lone grave in a copse of woods that make up part of the Black Forest have announced a fascinating new discovery. Here are a few excerpts from articles I've found across the Web:

The grave site for the supposed princess reportedly led Professor Felecia Bonnet, a French anthropologist who teaches at the Van Gelder Institute, to discover buried ancient wooden platforms, walls, and other artifacts associated with a City in the Trees. The tree-dwelling humans appear to have lived in the region for many thousands of years and were closely associated with the white fortress on the western side of the Rhine. Excited members of the team uncovered and restored a road leading to the city and built a replica of its largest surviving house.

Source: Flanitos

The University of the Rhine accepted a bequest from Van Gelder’s will to establish the Reinhard Van Gelder Institute of Anthropology and Archaeology, which is now headed by Van Gelder’s longtime student and friend, Dr. Ernst Voorst. Voorst made headlines this week when he announced that further work in the Golden Wood had led to the discovery and excavation of a grave site for a female human from about 10,000 years ago. Dubbed the Princess of the Golden Wood, her burial led researchers to uncover wooden artifacts that are believed to have been used to construct homes in the treetops.

Source: Singona

The excavation of the female’s grave led to a stunning discovery of carefully preserved wooden structures that, the team concluded, had once adorned majestic trees in the ancient world. The team reconstructed one such home and dubbed it the Palace of the Princess from the City of the Trees in the Golden Wood. Initial reaction to the announcement has been guarded but hopeful. Some experts insist that Dr. Voorst’s work will have to be confirmed by other experts in the field who have not been tainted by the controversy.

Source: Info-Monster

The Voorst expedition returned to the Golden Wood and uncovered a remarkable deposit of carefully preserved wooden artifacts from the era. It is almost as if the inhabitants of the Golden Wood disassembled their homes and left the area about 10,000 years ago. They may have planned to return because they left enough material to rebuild at least a few of the houses that were once supported by ancient trees of monumental height.

Source: GeoStatics

One of the more amazing pictures associated with this story depicts a restored roadway through the Golden Woods.



I'm sure there will be more stories. It seems like this party is just getting started!

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Scientists create crate-sized waste water treatment

This is no longer the stuff of science fiction. Wired is carrying a story about a bacteria-driven waste water treatment unit designed at Sam Houston State University. Two units are being sent to Afghanistan and another may be sent to Haiti.

These crate-sized units use common ground bacteria to clean waste water in about 24 hours without producing any toxic byproducts. Modern waste treatment plants don't even come close to that kind of efficiency.

Once commercial production begins for this technology, it will probably be used on planes, trains, buses, ships, and in remote outposts. But it could also be combined with other technologies such as drawing water from humidity that harvest moisture even from desert air. Desert communities and homesteads can be built that work somewhat like Star Wars' "moisture farms" on the arid planet Tattooine (where Anakin Skywalker was born and his son Luke was later raised in secret by Owen and Beru Lars).

Numerous proposals have been put forward for decreasing salinity in salt lakes and using waste water treatment to produce electricity. Water desalination and treatment is expensive, time-consuming, and requires a lot of energy.

Solar-based and bacterial initiatives may help reduce the costs of producing or recovering potable water from waste and salty water sources (lakes and seas). The military and disaster-recovery markets will probably lead the way as they have high demand for low-cost water production and management technologies, but eventually there will be industrial, residential, and even perhaps ecological benefits from the technology.

I believe firmly that we should be transforming our deserts into habitable lands for ourselves and wildlife. Southeast Australia, one of the greenest areas of the southern continent, began drying out 15 years ago.

In a matter of decades, environmentalists will no longer be charged with preserving natural desert habitats -- they will be mandated with creating new habitats to keep our ecosystem alive. That transformation cannot begin until people change the way they think about the environment and how man can and should interact with it. We're not going away any time soon (I hope), and we are part of the environment, not outside of it.

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From The Daily Tell - Video games helping students

Educators are turning to video game technology to help today's students learn how to manage their finances and study natural history.

In two stories published by The Daily Tell, an online news resource that focuses on American business initiatives that benefit society, we learn that educators are putting video game technology to use in innovative ways.

Two geology professors help students learn natural history through a Second Life "island" where student can interact with natural history elements and watch videos. Second Life allows you to create virtual habitats within its virtual world.

NTV is helping students learn how to manage savings, reduce debt, and maintain a satisfactory life style by planning the finances for "Piggy Banks".

We have an ongoing discussion about these uses of video game technologies in the Video games being used to teach students finance, natural history thread at SF-Fandom.

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