Risky descent into the Red Planet's massive Victoria Crater

NASA's Mars rover Opportunity is scheduled to begin a descent down a rock-paved slope into the Red Planet's massive Victoria Crater. This carries real risk for the long-lived robotic explorer, but NASA and the Mars Rover science team expect it to provide valuable science.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/28jun_descent.htm?list109322

Egyptologists think they have Hatshepsut's mummy

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptologists think they have identified with certainty the mummy of Hatshepsut, the most famous queen to rule ancient Egypt, found in a humble tomb in the Valley of the Kings, an archaeologist said on Monday.

Egypt's chief archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, will hold a news conference in Cairo on Wednesday. The Discovery Channel said he would announce what it called the most important find in the Valley of the Kings since the discovery of King Tutankhamun.

The archaeologist, who asked not to be named, said the candidate for identification as the mummy of Hatshepsut was one of two females found in 1903 in a small tomb believed to be that of Hatshepsut's wet-nurse, Sitre In.

Several Egyptologists have speculated over the years that one of the mummies was that of the queen, who ruled from between 1503 and 1482 BC -- at the height of ancient Egypt's power.

The archaeologist said Hawass would present new evidence for an identification but that not all Egyptologists are convinced he will be able to prove his case.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070625/sc_nm/egypt_mummy_dc_1;_ylt=Anfk0R9Wt0tEWD2n5f3sVyhFeQoB

Ancient gold unearthed in Sudan

A team of archaeologists has discovered a huge ancient gold processing centre and a graveyard along the River Nile in northern Sudan.

They were part of the 4,000-year-old Kush, or Nubian, kingdom.

The scholars say the finds show the empire was much bigger than previously thought and rivalled ancient Egypt.

The archaeologists are racing to dig up the Hosh el-Geruf area, some 225 miles from the capital, Khartoum, before the Merowe dam floods the area next year
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6767203.stm

Papers show Isaac Newton's religious side

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Three-century-old manuscripts by Isaac Newton calculating the exact date of the apocalypse, detailing the precise dimensions of the ancient temple in Jerusalem and interpreting passages of the Bible -- exhibited this week for the first time -- lay bare the little-known religious intensity of a man many consider history's greatest scientist.

Newton, who died 280 years ago, is known for laying much of the groundwork for modern physics, astronomy, math and optics. But in a new Jerusalem exhibit, he appears as a scholar of deep faith who also found time to write on Jewish law -- even penning a few phrases in careful Hebrew letters -- and combing the Old Testament's Book of Daniel for clues about the world's end.

The documents, purchased by a Jewish scholar at a Sotheby's auction in London in 1936, have been kept in safes at Israel's national library in Jerusalem since 1969. Available for decades only to a small number of scholars, they have never before been shown to the public.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/06/18/newton.papers.ap/index.html

Mars rover finds "puddles" on the planet's surface

Researchers have retracted their claim about the possibility of standing water on Mars after readers pointed out the terrain lies on the sloped wall of a crater – see our blog explaining what happened.

A new analysis of pictures taken by the exploration rover Opportunity reveals what appear to be small ponds of liquid water on the surface of Mars.

The report identifies specific spots that appear to have contained liquid water two years ago, when Opportunity was exploring a crater called Endurance. It is a highly controversial claim, as many scientists believe that liquid water cannot exist on the surface of Mars today because of the planet’s thin atmosphere.

If confirmed, the existence of such ponds would significantly boost the odds that living organisms could survive on or near the surface of Mars, says physicist Ron Levin, the report's lead author, who works in advanced image processing at the aerospace company Lockheed Martin in Arizona.
http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn12026-mars-rover-finds-puddles-on-the-planets-surface.html

The hills in Visoko are a natural formation and not pyramids, as Semir Osmanagic wishes to present them, says Bosnian Culture Minister. The Ministry of Culture of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina wants to put an end to the funding of the project “Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun.” Opinions on the subject as well as on the pyramid phenomenon are so divided in Bosnia that some public persons, who have denied the existence of pyramids, said that they would set themselves on fire if those were really proven to pyramids. Numerous politicans have given support to the research in Visoko, formerly a royal town. Experts have protested and the people find all this interesting. However, Culture Minister Gavrilo Grahovac decided to shut down the source of funding, at least this one, because this was not a serious archaeological research. The credibility of the people who collaborated on the project was “unreliable” and they have published their findings that were kept away from the experts.

The scientific research team has proved that the hill Visocica is a natural geological formation and its relief is the consequence of natural tectonic movement. The present appearance of Visocica is the result of structural factors and climate changes at work. By acting on its own initiative, the foundation does not act in keeping with the existing regulations of archaeology, in spite of being registered at the B-H Justice Ministry, and its registration itself ought to be looked into.
http://www.javno.com/en/world/clanak.php?id=52124

Study Points to Human Sacrifice in Europe

Europe's prehistoric hunter-gatherers may have practiced human sacrifice , a new study claims

Investigating a collection of graves from the Upper Paleolithic (about 26,000 to 8,000 BC), archaeologists found several that contained pairs or even groups of people with rich burial offerings and decoration. Many of the remains were young or had deformities, such as dwarfism.

The diversity of the individuals buried together and the special treatment they received could be a sign of ritual killing, said Vincenzo Formicola of the University of Pisa, Italy.

"These findings point to the possibility that human sacrifices were part of the ritual activity of these populations," Formicola wrote in a recent edition of the journal Current Anthropology.

http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/study-points-to-human-sacrifice-in/20070611165609990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

Mystery skeleton seen sticking out of iceberg near Newfoundland

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. (CP) - Marine scientists in Canada and abroad are puzzled by bizarre photographs that appear to show the skeleton of a large mammal jutting out of an iceberg that recently drifted past Newfoundland's east coast.

The six pictures show what looks like a brown rib cage and spinal column, slightly bent, sticking out of a crust of ice.

But researchers throughout Canada, Greenland and Norway are unable to determine the origin of the skeleton, said Garry Stenson, a marine mammal scientist with the federal Fisheries Department.

"It's definitely unusual," Stenson said Monday. "It's not something that I've encountered before."
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=f41cf10e-a9bc-497a-81c0-65860314cb2c&k=78707

Satellites hovering above Egypt have zoomed in on a 1,600-year-old metropolis, archaeologists say.

Images captured from space pinpoint telltale signs of previous habitation in the swatch of land 200 miles south of Cairo, which digging recently confirmed as an ancient settlement dating from about 400 A.D.

The find is part of a larger project aiming to map as much of ancient Egypt's archaeological sites, or "tells," as possible before they are destroyed or covered by modern development.
http://www.livescience.com/history/070605_satellite_egypt2.html

Where ancient gods and royalty walked

MEROE, SUDAN–More royal pyramids stand in the deserts of northern Sudan than in all of Egypt.

For 3,000 years, a succession of African civilizations rose and fell along the Nile River in ancient Nubia, at one point expanding north to the Mediterranean Sea.

Relatively little is known about these peoples. While Egypt hosts up to 200 foreign archeological teams a year, Sudan until recently has averaged 10 to 12.

Among the pioneers is Krzysztof Grzymski, head of world cultures at the Royal Ontario Museum, and known to local villagers as simply "Chris."
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/219734

Fungi could eat dangerous radiation to survive, an unexpected finding that could one day help feed astronauts in space.

Or at least astronauts willing to eat a crawling fungus.

The research began with the discovery of black fungus growing on the walls of Chernobyl's damaged, highly radioactive nuclear reactor and collected by robots. The fungus was rich with melanin, the same pigment that gives human skin its color, protecting the skin from solar and ultraviolet radiation. Melanin is found in many, if not most, fungal species.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070529_fungus_radiation.html