Archive for February, 2006
[inspic=19,right,fullscreen,thumb]Researchers have discovered a huge cave in southern Venezuela.
The cave named “Cueva del Fantasma” – Spanish for “Cave of the Ghost” is so large, you’re able to fly not one but two helicopters inside, and land them easily at the base of a towering waterfall.
Technically, the cave isn’t really a cave at all, but is a huge, collapsed gorge, and was found on the slopes of the Aprada tepui in southeastern Venezuela, near the Brazilian and Guyanese borders. This area is considered to be one of the most inaccessible and unexplored regions of the world.
The researchers also discovered a new species of dendrobatid frog, Colostethus breweri is named after the frog’s identifier, Charles Brewer-CarÃas. Dendrobatid frogs make up the group of amphibians commonly known as “poison dart” frogs.
[inspic=18,right,fullscreen,thumb]This is the eighteenth species of Colostethus discovered in Venezuelan Guiana, and is described as a fast-moving frog that lives in creeks and quiet pools near the cave.
The Tepuis, are huge mesas, similar to those found in the American Southwest, that rise sharply out of the rainforest floor. On their cool, misty tops live uncounted unique species, totally cut off from the warm jungle below.
The tepuis, and the area’s general isolation, make the Venezuelan Guiana, and corresponding sections in neighboring countries, one of the most biologically rich, geologically ancient and unspoiled parts of the world.
Related Links:
Explorers Discover Huge in Venezuela
Huge Cave and Poison-Dart Frog Found
MSNBC Science
Tepuy Expedition
Researchers clam The Ark of the Covenant is an Ancient Electrical Power Generator, and probably part of a much larger machine!
[inspic=5,right,,thumb]Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones blockbuster Raiders of the Lost Ark brought the Ark of the Covenant to a mass audience, this ancient mystery was only known through the cryptic old pages of the Old Testament in the Bible. Here, the Ark is described as containing the awesome destructive powers of a jealous and vengeful God – but what was the real source of the Ark’s lethal powers, and how was it harnessed by Moses and his priests?
An article by Michael Blackburn and Mark Bennett reveal they used the bible itself as a research source to cleverly decode the design of the Ark of the Covenant, revealing that it was an ancient form of the modern electrical device called a capacitor, capable of storing vast amounts of potentially deadly electricity. This technology has been a staple of modern science since the 18th century, but the author’s analysis and explanation of this extraordinary piece of apparatus shows that knowledge of electricity was being used 3,000 years ago to create a ‘shock and awe’ style demonstration of the power of God!
[inspic=6,right,fullscreen,thumb]“Re-engineering the Ark” is the first serious documentation upon the subject and explains just how it really is possible to catch the power of God in a jar, and demonstrates how we might be able to rebuild the Ark today. The article also looks at the implications of the concept of the Ark in relation to religion and mankind’s own evolution as a species.
Articles Key Points:
- The Ark of the Covenant was made by man for a specific purpose
- It is part of a much, much larger machine
- It is part of a much, much larger machine
- It did not contain the power of God but naturally occurring electricity – It is possible to re-build the Ark using Old Testament information
- technology of the Ark is now a staple of modern electronics
- Implications of findings are more controversial than the Da Vinci Code
Reference:
Fortean Times magazine Press Release Newswire
[inspic=61,right,,thumb]Archaeologists uncover new tomb in Valley of the Kings
This is the first complete tomb to be opened in the Valley of the Kings (Luxor, Egypt) since the discovery of Tutankhamun in 1922.
The tomb was discovered approximately four metres below ground level and appears to contain five complete mummies in their sarcophagi. Other items included more than 20 large storage jars bearing Pharaonic seals.
The archaeologists have not been able to identify the mummies yet, but Egypt’s chief archaeologist Zahi Hawes said they “might be royals or nobles” moved from “original graves to protect them from grave robbers”.
The tomb, the 63rd discovered since explorers first started mapping the area more than 300 years ago, is thought to date from the 18th Pharaonic Dynasty, the first dynasty of the New Kingdom which ruled between 1539BC and 1292BC and made its capital in Thebes, now Luxor.
The Valley of the Kings was used for burials for around 500 years from 1540BC onwards. The site was not properly charted until the 18th century, when the early Egyptologists confirmed the presence of 47 tombs – although many artifacts were plundered. In 1922 Howard Carter found King Tut’s tomb, the first that was still largely intact.
Useful links:
The Theban Mapping Project
Scientists Discover Dozens of New Species in “Lost World†of Western New Guinea!
[inspic=52,right,,thumb]Lost Bird of Paradise Found in Isolated Foja Mountains of Papua, Along With New Honeyeater Bird, New Frogs and a Rare Tree Kangaroo.
The international team of scientists say they have found a “lost world” in the Indonesian jungle.
The team captured the first photos ever seen of exotic birds such as a male Berlepsch’s Six-Wired Bird of Paradise (Parotia berlepschi). It also found a new large mammal for Indonesia – the Golden-mantled Tree Kangaroo (Dendrolagus pulcherrimus), formerly known from only a single mountain in neighboring Papua New Guinea.
[inspic=43,right,,thumb]“It’s as close to the Garden of Eden as you’re going to find on Earth”marveled Bruce Beehler, vice president of CI’s Melanesia Center for Biodiversity Conservation and a co-leader of the expedition. “The first bird we saw at our camp was a new species. Large mammals that have been hunted to near extinction elsewhere were here in abundance. We were able to simply pick up two Long-Beaked Echidnas, a primitive egg-laying mammal that is little known.”
The discoveries solved one major ornithological mystery – the location of the homeland of Berlepsch’s Six-Wired Bird of Paradise. First described in the late 19th century through specimens collected by indigenous hunters from an unknown location on New Guinea, the species had been the focus of several subsequent expeditions that failed to find it.
On the second day of the recent month-long expedition, amazed scientists watched as a male Berlepsch’s bird of paradise performed a mating dance for an attending female in the field camp. This was the first time a live male of the species had been observed by Western scientists, and proved that the Foja Mountains was the species’ true home.
[inspic=53,right,,thumb]A new species of honeyeater, the first new bird discovered on the island of New Guinea since 1939, has a bright orange face-patch with a pendant wattle under each eye. Other discoveries included what may be the largest rhododendron flower on record – almost six inches across – along with more than 20 new frogs and four new butterflies.
Local Kwerba and Papasena people, customary landowners of the forest, welcomed the Conservation International team and served as guides and naturalists on the expedition into the vast jungle tract. These people told the team that game was hunted in abundance within an hour’s walk of the village.
Such abundance of food and other resources means the mountain range’s interior – more than 300,000 hectares of old growth tropical forest – remains untouched by humans, and the entire Foja forest tract of more than 1 million hectares constitutes the largest essentially pristine tropical forest in Asia and an important region for biodiversity conservation.
A summary of the team’s main discoveries:
- A new species of honeyeater, the first new bird species discovered on the island of New Guinea since 1939
- The formerly unknown breeding grounds of a “lost” bird of paradise – the six-wired bird of paradise (Parotia berlepschi)
- First photographs of the golden-fronted bowerbird displaying at its bower.
- A new large mammal for Indonesia, the golden-mantled tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus pulcherrimus)
- More than 20 new species of frogs, including a tiny microhylid frog less than 14mm long
- A series of previously undescribed plant species, including five new species of palms
- A remarkable white-flowered rhododendron with flower about 15cm across
- Four new butterfly species
The team says it did not have nearly enough time during its expedition to survey the area completely and intends to return later in the year.
Related Links:
Conservation International
Expedition Irian Jaya
