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Tag Archives: anomalies
Titan’s Arrow
What Caused a Giant Arrow-Shaped Cloud On Saturn’s Moon Titan?
ScienceDaily (Aug. 15, 2011) — Why does Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, have what looks like an enormous white arrow about the size of Texas on its surface?
A research group led by Jonathan L. Mitchell, UCLA assistant professor of earth and space sciences and of atmospheric and oceanic sciences, has answered this question by using a global circulation model of Titan to demonstrate how planetary-scale atmospheric waves affect the moon’s weather patterns, leading to a “stenciling” effect that results in sharp and sometimes surprising cloud shapes.
“These atmospheric waves are somewhat like the natural, resonant vibration of a wine glass,” Mitchell said. “Individual clouds might ‘ring the bell,’ so to speak, and once the ringing starts, the clouds have to respond to that vibration.”
The fascinating clouds, including arrow-shaped ones, that result from the atmospheric waves can cause intense precipitation — sometimes more than 20 times Titan’s average seasonal rainfall — and could be essential in shaping Titan’s surface by erosion
to read more, go to: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110815194403.htm
Mama Whale now in River More than 50 Days
Hospitality not lacking as whale’s Klamath River stay reaches 50 days
By: Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com
If the large female gray whalethat has now resided in Northern California’s Klamath River for 50 days ever decides to leave, who knows what memories she’ll take.
Because of the peculiar cast of supporters she has attracted, they could include the rhythmic beat of native drums, courtesy of the Yurok Tribe; the reading of prayer, or harmonious tunes strummed on a ukulele by a man on a stand-up paddleboard.
The whale and her calf made headlines after they were first seen inside the river on June 23, having taken a right turn into the waterway instead of continuing north from Mexico’s nursing grounds to Arctic home waters. The whale is presently 3-4 miles upriver, just below the California-Oregon border, beneath the Highway 101 bridge.
Marine mammal experts, working with the Yurok Tribe, tried several methods — mostly after the calf swam out of the river two weeks ago — to persuade the mother to leave. These included banging on pipes, spraying water cannon and broadcasting the sounds of killer whales.
SEALS Killed in Afghanistan Helicopter Crash
Afghanistan Helicopter Crash: More Than 20 Navy SEAL Team 6 Members Killed
By KIMBERLY DOZIER and LOLITA C. BALDOR 08/ 6/11 12:07 PM ET 
WASHINGTON — The Associated Press has learned that more than 20 Navy SEALs from the unit that killed Osama bin Laden were among those lost in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.
The operators from SEAL Team Six were flown by a crew of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. That’s according to one current and one former U.S. official. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because families are still being notified of the loss of their loved ones.
One source says the team was thought to include 22 SEALs, three Air Force air controllers, seven Afghan Army troops, a dog and his handler, and a civilian interpreter, plus the helicopter crew.
The sources thought this was the largest single loss of life ever for SEAL Team Six, known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group.
to read more, go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/06/afghanistan-helicopter-crash-sources-navy-seals-killed_n_920147.html
hmmmmmm…………………..
Pre-Columbian Settlements in the Amazon
New discoveries concerning pre-Columbian settlements in the Amazon
October 25, 2010
The pre-Columbian Indian societies that once lived in the Amazon rainforests may have been much larger and more advanced than researchers previously realized.
Together with Brazilian colleagues, archaeologists from the University of Gothenburg have found the remains of approximately 90 settlements in an area South of the city of Santarém, in the Brazilian part of the Amazon.
“The most surprising thing is that many of these settlements are a long way from rivers, and are located in rainforest areas that extremely sparsely populated today,” says Per Stenborg from the Department of Historical Studies, who led the Swedish part of the archaeological investigations in the area over the summer.
Traditionally archaeologists have thought that these inland areas were sparsely populated also before the arrival of the Europeans in the 16th and 17th centuries. One reason for this assumption is that the soils found in the inland generally is quite infertile; another reason is that access to water is poor during dry periods as these areas are situated at long distances from the major watercourses. It has therefore been something of a mystery that the earliest historical account; from Spaniard Francisco de Orellana’s journey along the River Amazon in 1541-42, depicted the Amazon as a densely populated region with what the Spanish described as “towns”, situated not only along the river itself, but also in the inland.
NEW DISCOVERIES COULD CHANGE PREVIOUS IDEAS
to read more, go to: http://www.greatnewsnetwork.org/index.php/news/article/new_discoveries_concerning_pre_columbian_settlements_in_the_amazon/
Search on For Missing Island
Missing ‘Island’ Floating In Earth’s Atmosphere
Natalie Wolchover, Life’s Little Mysteries Staff Writer
Date: 03 August 2011 Time: 05:53 PM ET
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| Illustration of the floating island of Laputa, a strange land in Jonathan Swift’s ‘Guliver’sTravels.’ CREDIT: Public domain image |
A floating “island” is at large somewhere in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The 23-foot-wide, helium-filled model of a desert island
was constructed by two artists for a festival in Cambridgeshire, England. Tethered by ropes, it hovered above a lake on the grounds of the Secret Garden Party festival until the wee hours of July 24, when vandals let it loose. Reminiscent of the airborne island of Laputa in “Gulliver’s Travels,” it floated away.
Based on meteorological data, the inflatable’s creators say “Is Land,” as they call their art piece, may be hovering in the troposphere above the Czech Republic by now. They’ve asked for help retrieving it via their websi te
to read more, and join in, go to: http://www.livescience.com/15387-missing-island-floating-earth-atmosphere.html
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Images from the Bermuda Triangle
Gallery: Lost in the Bermuda Triangle
Welcome to the Bermuda TriangleCredit: doctorjools | dreamstimeThe Bermuda Triangle is infamous for making everything from cargo ships to airplanes disappear. The mysterious body of water is clouded with rumors of suspicions — if not supernatural — activity. Over the past century, the Bermuda Triangle has been “swallowing” vessels and is blamed for the loss of hundreds of lives. Here, we recap its strangest disappearances. Explore if you dare…
to see the pictures, go to: http://www.livescience.com/15177-gallery-bermuda-triangle.html
Manhattanhenge????
Just what is Manhattanhenge?
By Virginia BrownBBC News Magazine
New Yorkers have witnessed an urban solar phenomenon, with the Sun setting in alignment with the city’s skyscrapers and giving an effect fans say is reminiscent of Wiltshire’s Stonehenge. Welcome to Manhattanhenge.
Twice every year amateur photographers gather in carefully-selected spots to set up tripods and wait to capture the ultimate sunset.
On Wednesday night at 2025 local time (0125 BST), the east-west lying streets of the city’s famous grid system neatly framed the setting sun, creating golden glows New Yorkers rarely see.
During the phenomenon, the Sun appears to be nestled perfectly between the skyscraper corridors, illuminating the north and south sides of the streets.
to read more, go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14150550
History’s Mysteries
History’s Most Overlooked Mysteries
Tuan C. Nguyen
Disappearance of the Indus Valley Civilization
Credit: harappa.com
With a culture that stretched from western India to Afghanistan and a population numbering over five million, the ancient Indus Valley people—India’s oldest known civilization—were an impressive and apparently sanitary bronze-age bunch. The scale of their baffling and abrupt collapse rivals that of the great Mayan decline. But it wasn’t until 1922 that excavations revealed a hygienically-advanced culture which maintained a sophisticated sewage drainage system and immaculate bathrooms. Strangely, there is no archaeological evidence of armies, slaves, social conflicts or other vices prevalent in ancient societies. Even to the very end, it seems, they kept it clean.
for more, go to: http://www.livescience.com/11361-history-overlooked-mysteries.html
Atlantis – Off the Orkney Islands?
A Lost World? Atlantis-Like Landscape Discovered
By Wynne Parry
updated 7/10/2011 1:18:35 PM ET
Buried deep beneath the sediment of the North Atlantic Ocean lies an ancient, lost landscape with furrows cut by rivers and peaks that once belonged to mountains. Geologists recently discovered this roughly 56-million-year-old landscape using data gathered for oil companies.
“It looks for all the world like a map of a bit of a country onshore,” said Nicky White, the senior researcher. “It is like an ancient fossil landscape preserved 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) beneath the seabed.”
So far, the data have revealed a landscape about 3,861 square miles (10,000 square km) west of the Orkney-Shetland Islands that stretched above sea level by almost as much as 0.6 miles (1 km). White and colleagues suspect it is part of a larger region that merged with what is now Scotland and may have extended toward Norway in a hot, prehuman world.
History beneath the seafloor
to read more, go to: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43703459/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/lost-world-atlantis-like-landscape-discovered/