New surprising finds in Egypt

A series of surprising discoveries has been made at the foot of Egypt's famous Temple of Amun at Karnak, archaeologists say. The new finds include ancient ceremonial baths, a pharaoh's private entry ramp, and the remains of a massive wall built some 3,000 years ago to reinforce what was then the bank of the Nile River.

(Click picture to enlarge)

A host of other artifacts, including hundreds of bronze coins, has also been found. Together the discoveries are causing experts to reconsider the history of the largest religious complex from ancient Egyptian times. Archaeologists are particularly intrigued by the discovery of the embankment wall, which they say is the first evidence that the Nile once ran alongside the temple. The elaborate shrine to the god Amun-Re covers about 200 acres (81 hectares) near the present-day city of Luxor and sits 650 feet (200 meters) from where the river runs today.

Archaeologists discovered portions of the embankment accidentally while building a new plaza and performing routine maintenance near the temple's facade. The other artifacts and features were unearthed in the process of excavating the wall.
"[The discovery of the wall] changes the landscape [of Luxor]," said Mansour Boraik, general supervisor of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Luxor.

Changing History

The sandstone wall measures roughly 23 feet (7 meters) tall and 8 feet (2.5 meters) wide, but it may have been even higher in antiquity, said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities and a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence.
"This is the largest embankment ever built in any place in ancient Egypt," Hawass said.
"This embankment is very important because it protected the Temple [at] Karnak from the [annual] Nile flood."

The discovery of the wall also challenges conventional thinking about the temple's ancient facade, Boraik said. Previous theories about the facade and courtyard in front of temple were based on depictions found in private tombs dating back to the 18th dynasty (1550-1295 B.C.).

One depiction from the tomb of Neferhotep, an official from that period, depicted a large rectangular pool in front of the temple that was linked to the Nile by a canal. Archaeologists had first uncovered small parts of this wall in the 1970s but assumed it was the back wall of the pool, Boraik said. That theory held until January, when Egyptian archaeologists found a piece of the same wall several meters away, too far off to be part of the enclosed basin.
Now experts believe that the pool depicted in ancient drawings was backfilled in antiquity and that the temple was expanded on top of it, built to the edge of where the Nile flowed 3,000 years ago. "It means that the Nile was reaching the foot of Karnak in the time of the pharaohs," said Boraik. "It changes everything."

New Discoveries

While excavating the embankment, archaeologists also discovered two public baths and a jar holding more than 300 coins dating to the era of Macedonian rule of Egypt, from the first to the fourth centuries B.C. One of the giant circular baths has been completely excavated, revealing an intricate mosaic tile floor and seating for 16 people. The other partially excavated bath has been found to have seats flanked by statuettes of dolphins. The baths were found just outside the wall, and experts believe they were built on the plateau of silt left behind after the Nile moved to the west. The jar of bronze coins, featuring the likenesses of Macedonian rulers Ptolemy I, II, and III, were discovered near the baths and are currently being cleaned to reveal their inscriptions. The baths may have served as purification sites where visitors could wash before entering the temple complex. Other experts suspect they may be the first signs of a much larger residential area that has yet to be explored. Archaeologists have also excavated a giant ramp leading up to the temple complex that is inscribed with the name of the pharaoh Taharka (or Taharqa), who ruled in the late seventh century B.C.

The ramp probably served as the ruler's personal landing area, extending directly into the Nile to allow the pharaoh to transfer directly from his boat to the temple. This raises the prospect that parts of ancient boats may also be buried in the former riverbed, including pieces of the gigantic ceremonial barges known to have carried images of the gods during religious processions, the archaeologists said. "Now that we know the Nile has moved to the west, it means something is waiting for future generations of archaeologists and Egyptologists to possibly recover," Johnson of the University of Chicago said. "It's a wonderful gift now that you realize there is something down there."

Sony Corp stocks baught by DIB

Mumbai: Dubai International Capital, owned by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has made a "substantial investment" in Japanese electronics and entertainment firm Sony Corporation, the Dubai firm announced without giving the exact amount of investment. Dubai International Capital had said in July that it might buy stakes of up to $1.5 billion in one or two publicly listed companies in Japan. A $1.5 billion investment would be equivalent to 3 per cent stake in Sony, which has a market value of 5.52 trillion yen ($50.9 billion). Dubai International Capital's announcement follows a report by the Nikkei business daily about possible Chinese government investment in Tokyo market.

China's new sovereign wealth fund, which manages about $200 billion of foreign reserves, was likely to invest in Japanese stocks gave a brief boost to the yen and lifted Tokyo stocks, the report said. The investment could well be within five per cent as anyone buying more than five per cent of a listed company in Japan is required to report the stake to regulators within five business days. The announcement, however, boosted Sony shares which closed 4.6 per cent higher at 5,500 yen on Monday, outperforming the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index IELEC, which rose 1.95 per cent. Sony, which makes the PlayStation 3 game console and Bravia flat TVs, is in the final year of its three-year turnaround plan focussing on core operations such as the consumer electronics business. Tokyo-based Sony, already owned 52.6 per cent by foreign investors as of end-September, also reported a third quarter operating profit thanks to strong sales of PCs and digital cameras and a weaker yen.

Get ready for new TV era.

Since the first days of television, the method of beaming pictures into our living rooms hasn’t changed much. But on Feb. 17, 2009, television stations across the country will hit the off button on this time-tested technology and switch to new transmitters, sending computerized digital signals through the air. When the change comes, the estimated 30 million televisions that use traditional antennas will go to snow without a digital converter box. The cable industry is spending $200 million to educate customers, and Congress has set aside $1.5 billion to help subsidize the purchase of converter boxes.

Still, half of American viewers don’t know the storm is coming, according to a poll conducted last month by the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing. For the 1 in 5 American households that still use rabbit ears or antennas on the roof, “the day of reckoning is coming,” said Barry Umansky, a communications professor at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.

Not enough spectrum for all those signalsThe switch to all-digital television, and a similar switch in the wireless communications industry, is partly a repercussion of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when police and fire communications channels were clogged by too much traffic. The Federal Communications Commission first ordered the eventual transition in 1996, but Congress didn’t set a deadline until the the 9/11 Commission reported that first-responder systems needed a major upgrade.

The problem, said Umansky, a longtime broadcast industry lawyer, is that “America’s seemingly wide-open skies are chock full of radio signals, and there just aren’t enough frequencies for all the people who need to use them.” By taking back the analog frequencies, the government will “allow the nation’s airwaves to be used by firefighters, police and other first responders to help the nation when there might be a natural or manmade disaster,” said Todd Sedmak, communications director of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

iPhone in China?

News that Apple was talking with China’s largest mobile carrier, China Mobile, sent apple’s stock soaring 11.2% this afternoon [Tuesday]. An executive from China Mobile said that they had not made any concrete progress with Apple yet, but noted that both companies hope to bring the iPhone to the world’s largest developing market as soon as possible.

Many analysts say that the prospect of the iPhone entering the Chinese market yields endless possibilities for the company. The potential market size there is huge, and would be equivalent to another AT&T. The increase is stock price is probably warranted given the potential for Apple in the Chinese market, although many feel the large jump in share price wasn’t justified.

Green Lunar Station

Astronauts will probably miss out on the luxurious quarters and gourmet meals planned for space tourists, but moon living may be cushier than expected. Luna Gaia, a habitat designed by an international team of scientists, engineers and graduate students, provides up to a dozen astronauts with fresh vegetables, fish, spacious rooms and clean drinking water (albeit recycled from their own urine).

The group designed the self-sustaining habitat, which harvests solar energy and reuses all of its waste, while attending the summerlong Space Studies Program at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. Now, with interest in the moon accelerating thanks to NASA's focus and Google's new Lunar X Prize, Luna Gaia is proving to be more than just an academic exercise. In the past year, the team has presented the plan to several space programs, including NASA, which may incorporate ideas from Luna Gaia into its own lunar outpost, planned for sometime after 2020. "It's a really good stepping- stone toward designing an outpost on the moon," says William Marshall, a physicist at NASA's Ames Research Center.

According to the plans, Luna Gaia will be a complex divided into linked, studio-apartment-size pods. Situated in a crater to limit its inhabitants' exposure to solar radiation, it would include private and social areas, labs and exercise rooms, and greenhouses in which astronauts could grow the food necessary for a balanced diet. Filters, plants and bacteria will turn wash water and urine into potable water. Algae and other greenery turn carbon dioxide into oxygen. Overall, the group estimates, these systems would make Luna Gaia 90 to 95 percent sustainable, meaning fewer service trips, longer.

6 Steps to Clean Lunar Living:

FIND A BIG CRATER
Designs call for Luna Gaia to be built in a mile-wide crater near the moon's north pole. The crater wall casts a shadow that protects the astronauts from solar radiation.

GO SOLAR
A dozen mirrors, each 100 feet wide, sit on top of the crater's rim, an area that's nearly constantly bathed in sunlight. These direct light onto another set of mirrors that focus the beam on a water supply, creating steam that drives a turbine and generates electricity for the base.

INFLATE YOUR BEDROOM
Luna Gaia will consist of several inflatable modules made of Vectran, a flexible material that's more durable than Kevlar and can be compressed in transit to help keep delivery costs down. The greenhouses will be transparent, but living quarters will be covered with a layer of regolith, or lunar soil, to provide added protection from radiation.

GO FISHING
Tilapia are high in protein and thrive in a crowded tank. Astronauts will also dine on hydroponically grown wheat and a variety of vegetables, such as spinach and potatoes. The same algae that cleans up the crew's water will be a good source of protein.

URINATE OFTEN
Urine runs first through an ion-exchange filter that removes some contaminants and then into the algae tanks, where the algae drink it up and release water vapor that a condenser liquifies. This water either runs back to the crew quarters for washing or is further purified to make it drinkable.

REUSE EVERYTHING
Several different strains of bacteria break down feces into water, minerals and ammonium. These materials are converted into nutrient-rich fertilizer and pumped into the plant, fish and algae chambers.

Los Angeles auto show 2007

Audi Cross CabrioletThe TDI diesel-powered, oddly SUV-like Audi Cross Cabriolet concept car.

BMW 128i and 135iBMW's baby performance coupe, the 1 Series. The 128i and 135i both go on sale this spring. They'll each run on some variation of a 3.0-liter inline six—the 128i will get 230hp; the 135i, 300 hp. With 128i prices starting under 30 grand, the 1 Series is meant to bring new drivers into the BMW fold.

Chevy BeatThis cartoonish concept, first revealed last spring at the New York Auto Show, is actually going to see production. Well, a vehicle based on the Beat will see production, as GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz announced Wednesday at the show. GM held an online vote to select one of three concept cars to put into production, and the Beat won. Good thing it did, Lutz said—that's the one they intended to build all along.

Chevy Equinox100 fuel-cell Equinoxes like this one will be tested by everyday drivers in New York, D.C. and L.A. as part of Chevy's Project Driveway market-research initiative.

Ferrari F430 ScuderiaThis lighter, 510hp variation on the F430 made its North American debut at the L.A. show.

Honda FCX ClarityWednesday morning at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Honda unveiled the FCX Clarity fuel-cell vehicle. It's an entirely hydrogen-powered, zero-emissions vehicle set to hit streets—or rather, the streets of L.A., where Honda will begin to roll out the FCX in limited numbers—this summer.

Jaguar XFThis, the 2009 Jaguar XF, is the car that's supposed to save the beleaguered Jaguar brand.

Lexus IS-FLexus gets into the sport-sedan game with this beast, which is powered by a 5-liter V8 and has a top speed of 170 mph.

Mini ClubmanThis expanded variation on the Mini raised possibly the only philosophical question of the auto show: If a Mini gets bigger, is it still a Mini?

Nissan GT-RThe mythical, Porsche-killing, $70,000 2009 Nissan GT-R arrives in America at last. Its 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged V6 kicks out 480 hp and slingshots the GT-R from 0 to 60 in less than four seconds.Rear shot of the GT-R.

Porsche 911 GT2 This 530hp upgrade on Porsche's flagship ride is the meanest 911 yet.

LamborghiniThe Reventòn's downright belligerent appearance was modeled on the F-22 Raptor fighter jet.

Smart CabrioletThe Europeans are coming! In January, in fact. Here's the Smart ForTwo Passion Cabriolet. It's roomier than it looks, really.

Chevy Tahoe HybridThanks to its two-mode hybrid technology, this 6.0-liter, full-size SUV was named Green Car of the Year yesterday at the auto show. Is this a sign of the apocalypse? Perhaps.

Volvo RechargeTo my mind, this could be the car of the future. A "hot hatch" based on the C30 platform, the Volvo Recharge Concept is a plug-in hybrid powered by wheel motors and equipped with a small flex-fuel engine that can use any number of fuels—ethanol, biodiesel, whatever—to charge the battery. Too bad it's still very much a concept.

Crater From 1908 Russian Space Impact Found

Almost a century after a mysterious explosion in Russia flattened a huge swath of Siberian forest, scientists have found what they believe is a crater made by the cosmic object that made the blast.

The crater was discovered under a lake near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in western Siberia, where the cataclysm, known as the Tunguska event, took place on June 30, 1908, a ball of fire exploded about 6 miles (10 kilometers) above the ground in the sparsely populated region, scientists say. The blast released 15 megatons of energy—about a thousand times that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima—and flattened 770 square miles (2,000 square kilometers) of forest. Since then many teams of scientists have combed the site, but none was able to find any fragments of an object, like a rocky asteroid or a comet, that might have caused the event. In their new study, a team of Italian scientists used acoustic imagery to investigate the bottom of Lake Cheko, about five miles (eight kilometers) north of the explosion's suspected epicenter. "When our expedition [was at] Tunguska, we didn't have a clue that Lake Cheko might fill a crater," said Luca Gasperini, a geologist with the Marine Science Institute in Bologna who led the study. "We searched its bottom looking for extraterrestrial particles trapped in the mud. We mapped the basin and took samples. As we examined the data, we couldn't believe what they were suggesting. "The funnel-like shape of the basin and samples from its sedimentary deposits suggest that the lake fills an impact crater," Gasperini said.

A "Soft Crash"

The basin of Lake Cheko is not circular, deep, and steep like a typical impact crater, the scientists say. Instead it's elongated and shallow, about 1,640 feet (500 meters) long with a maximum depth of only 165 feet (50 meters). Gasperini's team says that the basin's unusual shape is the result of a fragment thrown from the Tunguska explosion that plowed into the ground, leaving a long, trenchlike depression. "We suggest that a 10-meter-wide [33-foot-wide] fragment of the object escaped the explosion and kept going in the same direction. It was relatively slow, about 1 kilometer a second [0.6 mile a second]," Gasperini said. The lake is located along the most probable track of the cosmic body, he added, which likely made a "soft crash" in the marshy terrain. "It splashed on the soft, swampy soil and melted the underlying permafrost layer, releasing CO2 [carbon dioxide], water vapor, and methane that broadened the hole, hence the shape and size of the basin, unusual for an impact crater. "Our hypothesis is the only one that accounts for the funnel-like morphology of Lake Cheko's bottom," he added. In a previous expedition, Russian scientists studied Lake Cheko and concluded that it had formed before 1908, indicating that it was not formed by the Tunguska event. The team had measured sediments on the bottom of the lake and determined that the deposits were accumulating there at about 0.4 inch (1 centimeter) a year. This suggested that Lake Cheko was several centuries old. But Gasperini's team argues that the older deposits found by the Russians were already there when the explosion took place. "We found evidence that only the topmost, one-meter-deep [three-foot-deep] layer of debris actually came from the inflowing river," Gasperini said. "[The] deeper sediments are deposits that predate 1908. They were the target over which the impact took place, so Lake Cheko is only one century old." The team's findings are based on a 1999 expedition to Tunguska and appeared in the August issue of the journal Terra Nova.

Asteroid or Comet?

William Hartmann, senior scientist of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, said the new findings are compelling but do not address all of the lingering questions about the event. "It's an exciting result that might shed new light on the Tunguska explosion," he said. "Certainly it warrants new studies of the area. "But it raises a question in my mind: If one large fragment hit the ground, we would normally expect thousands of smaller fragments also to hit the ground along the path, and many searches have failed to find such meteorite fragments. So, why no smaller pieces?" Finding fragments from the explosion is considered key to determining what kind of object made the impact. An asteroid would probably leave some remains, while a comet might be annihilated in the blast, Hartmann said. "Our crater hypothesis is consistent with both possibilities," Gasperini said. "If the body was an asteroid, a surviving fragment may be buried beneath the lake. If it was a comet, its chemical signature should be found in the deepest layers of sediments." Gasperini and his colleagues are planning to go back to Siberia next year to search for more, and perhaps more conclusive, clues to the century-old puzzle. "We want to dig deeply in the bottom of the lake to definitively test our hypothesis and try to solve the Tunguska mystery," he stated.

Aliens Can Survive Trip to Earth

We could have alien origins, say scientists who sent fossilized microscopic life-forms into space and back inside an artificial meteorite.
The researchers attached the baseball-size rock to the outside of the European Space Agency's Foton M3 spacecraft to test whether biological material could survive the round-trip journey. Sculpted from stone from the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland, the rock containedfossilized microbes and the molecular signatures of microbes. The unmanned spacecraft was launched by rocket from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying 43 experiments. The craft landed in Kazakhstan on September 26 after orbiting the planet for 12 days. "In the bit of rock we got back, some biological compounds have survived," said project leader John Parnell from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. Preliminary findings suggest that it's possible simple organisms could arrive via meteorites, he said. The research also suggests that living microbes would likely have survived in a slightly bigger rock, he added. "This study of organic material is completely new," he said. Previous artificial meteorite experiments have examined only the degree to which rocks melt upon entering the atmosphere. The new experiment is part of European Space Agency's STONE program, which tests effects of reentry on artificial meteorites. "It was shielded when it went up into space but exposed when it came back," Parnell said. The rock had similar properties to a type of meteorite known as a carbonaceous chondrite. Such meteorites contain water and carbon compounds, both essential to life. "We wanted to see if a rock that was rich in carbon and water would suffer a lot of mass loss," Parnell said. "That was certainly the case. About three-quarters of the mass of our sample disappeared." Living microbes probably wouldn't have survived in a meteorite this size because it reached temperatures of about 392 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius), the project leader said. But "if our rock was bigger, say 20 centimeters (about 8 inches) across, then we can be quite confident that [the] temperature would not penetrate to the middle, so that if anything had been living there, it would have survived." A much larger meteorite, however, would completely melt and vaporize on impact, according to Parnell. "There's a sort of window of opportunity in terms of size, between being too small and too big," he added. Microbes are known to live deep inside rocks, and are found several kilometers down in Earth's crust, Parnell noted.

Mars Origins?

The theory that says interplanetary organisms seeded life on different planets, such as Earth, is known as panspermia. If panspermia explains the origins of life on Earth, astrobiologists believe that Mars is the most likely source. For instance, studies suggest about 5 percent of meteorites from Mars eventually end up hitting Earth.

"That journey can take anything up to 15 million years, but there are a few that will make it very quickly," Parnell said.

"A very few will make it in a year or so. Those are the ones which could conceivably bring something interesting with them."

"The surface of Mars is quite inhospitable, due to dryness and low temperature, but one could conceive of subsurface life still being on Mars," he added. In the experiment, microbes were also dried onto the undersides of several artificial meteorites. "This biological material didn't survive, but it may have been preserved, or its signatures may have been preserved," said STONE scientist Charles Cockell of the Open University in the United Kingdom. The rocks are still being analyzed, Cockell added."We know that life can make it from continent to continent, but what about from planet to planet?" he said. "Of course, at the moment we don't know of life on another planet, but this experiment is an intriguing test of an interplanetary version of an old ecological question." David Morrison is a senior scientist at the NASA Astrobiology Institute in Moffett Field, California. Parnell's project lends credibility to the idea that meteors from outer space can give rides to hitchhiking microbes, he told National Geographic News by email. Whether exchange of life has ever occurred following the meteorites' impact is a more complex question, but "we should be open to the possibility that there is microbial life on Mars that shares a common ancestor with Earth life," he said. "It may not be likely, but we cannot exclude the possibility that we are, in effect, all Martians."

Strange creatures found in Atlantic ocean

With a fearsome grin fit for a movie monster, this viperfish is a real-life predator that lurks in one of the world's most remote locations. An international team of 31 researchers found this and other strange animals while exploring the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, an underwater mountain range that runs from Iceland to the Azores islands west of Portugal (see Europe map). Over the course of five weeks, the team cataloged a host of exotic worms, colorful corals, unusual sea cucumbers, and weird fish. Clearly, viperfish has plenty to eat. Many of the species found on the ridge are rare and had only been discovered in recent years, scientists said. At least one species found during the survey—a tiny crustacean called a seed shrimp—is thought to be new to science.

Despite its delicate, decorated appearance, this jewel squid was found 1,650 lung-crushing feet (500 meters) beneath the surface of the North Atlantic. Scientists on a recent deep-sea expedition found the squid, called Histioteuthis, along with an abundance of other species thought to be very rare, if not unknown, elsewhere. Jewel squid are known for their mismatched eyes, one of which is larger than the other to scope for prey in the deep's darkness.



With its polka-dot mantle and cartoonish expression, this glass squid brings out a lighter side of the inky ocean deep. Scientists found the squid and other species while mapping more than 1,500 square miles (3,900 square kilometers) of an undersea mountain range in the North Atlantic. Until now the region had scarcely been explored because of its remoteness and depth. But the new survey shows that the ridge is teeming with life, said Monty Priede, expedition leader and director of the University of Aberdeen's Oceanlab research center. "The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is roughly equivalent in size to the European Alps and is one of the largest areas of habitat available in the ocean," Priede said.

In an ironic strategy for survival, a tiny shrimplike creature called an amphipod shows everything it has, inside and out, in an attempt to disappear. The unusual animal, called Phronima, is one of the many strange species recently found on an expedition to a deep-sea mountain range in the North Atlantic. Many small deep-sea creatures are transparent, or nearly so, to better camouflage themselves in their murky surroundings, scientists say.

Flying Fox Discovered

This unusual species of flying fox was recently discovered in the Philippines not long after it was deemed not to exist. Jake Esselstyn, a biologist with the University of Kansas, was among a team of researchers that found the animal, a type of fruit bat, last year while surveying forest life on the island of Mindoro. "When we first arrived on Mindoro, a local resident that we hired as a guide described the bat to me in great detail, and he asked me what it was called," Esselstyn said. "I politely told him that there was no such bat. I was wrong." Several days into the survey, the scientists accidentally captured a creature in a net that fit the guide's description: a large flying fox with bright orange fur and distinctive white stripes across its brow and jaw. "Our guide's description of the animal was quite accurate, and I had to apologize for not believing him," Esselstyn said, adding that the animal is now known as the Mindoro stripe-faced fruit bat. In his own defense, the scientist pointed out that the species' closest known relative lives some 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) away on an island in Indonesia. "It makes you wonder if there are other related species on islands between [the two]," he said. "It also makes you realize how there are probably many more species which have yet to be discovered—in the Philippines and elsewhere," Esselstyn added. "This discovery emphasizes the need for a great deal more basic biodiversity inventory research."

Asian ''Atlantis'' buildings

Submerged stone structures lying just below the waters off Yonaguni Jima are actually the ruins of a Japanese Atlantis—an ancient city sunk by an earthquake about 2,000 years ago. That's the belief of Masaaki Kimura, a marine geologist at the University of the Ryukyus in Japan who has been diving at the site to measure and map its formations for more than 15 years. Each time he returns to the dive boat, Kimura said, he is more convinced than ever that below him rest the remains of a 5,000-year-old city. "The largest structure looks like a complicated, monolithic, stepped pyramid that rises from a depth of 25 meters [82 feet]," said Kimura, who presented his latest theories about the site at a scientific conference in June. But like other stories of sunken cities, Kimura's claims have attracted controversy. "I'm not convinced that any of the major features or structures are manmade steps or terraces, but that they're all natural," said Robert Schoch, a professor of science and mathematics at Boston University who has dived at the site. "It's basic geology and classic stratigraphy for sandstones, which tend to break along planes and give you these very straight edges, particularly in an area with lots of faults and tectonic activity." And neither the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs nor the government of Okinawa Prefecture recognize the remains off Yonaguni as an important cultural property, said agency spokesperson Emiko Ishida. Neither of the government groups has carried out research or preservation work on the sites, she added, instead leaving any such efforts to professors and other interested individuals.

Ruins Point

Yonaguni Jima is an island that lies near the southern tip of Japan's Ryukyu archipelago, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) off the eastern coast of Taiwan (see map). A local diver first noticed the Yonaguni formations in 1986, after which a promontory on the island was unofficially renamed Iseki Hanto, or Ruins Point. The district of Yonaguni officially owns the formations, and tourists and researchers can freely dive at the site. Some experts believe that the structures could be all that's left of Mu, a fabled Pacific civilization rumored to have vanished beneath the waves. On hearing about the find, Kimura said, his initial impression was that the formations could be natural. But he changed his mind after his first dive. "I think it's very difficult to explain away their origin as being purely natural, because of the vast amount of evidence of man's influence on the structures," he said. For example, Kimura said, he has identified quarry marks in the stone, rudimentary characters etched onto carved faces, and rocks sculpted into the likenesses of animals. "The characters and animal monuments in the water, which I have been able to partially recover in my laboratory, suggest the culture comes from the Asian continent," he said. "One example I have described as an underwater sphinx resembles a Chinese or ancient Okinawan king." Whoever created the city, most of it apparently sank in one of the huge seismic events that this part of the Pacific Rim is famous for, Kimura said. The world's largest recorded tsunami struck Yonaguni Jima in April 1771 with an estimated height of more than 131 feet (40 meters), he noted, so such a fate might also have befallen the ancient civilization. Kimura said he has identified ten structures off Yonaguni and a further five related structures off the main island of Okinawa. In total the ruins cover an area spanning 984 feet by 492 feet (300 meters by 150 meters). The structures include the ruins of a castle, a triumphal arch, five temples, and at least one large stadium, all of which are connected by roads and water channels and are partly shielded by what could be huge retaining walls. Kimura believes the ruins date back to at least 5,000 years, based on the dates of stalactites found inside underwater caves that he says sank with the city. And structures similar to the ruins sitting on the nearby coast have yielded charcoal dated to 1,600 years ago—a possible indication of ancient human inhabitants, Kimura added. But more direct evidence of human involvement with the site has been harder to come by. "Pottery and wood do not last on the bottom of the ocean, but we are interested in further research on a relief at the site that is apparently painted and resembles a cow," Kimura said. "We want to determine the makeup of the paint. I would also like to carry out subsurface research."

Natural Forces

Toru Ouchi, an associate professor of seismology at Kobe University, supports Kimura's hypothesis. Ouchi said that he has never seen tectonic activity having such an effect on a landscape either above or below the water. "I've dived there as well and touched the pyramid," he said. "What Professor Kimura says is not exaggerated at all. It's easy to tell that those relics were not caused by earthquakes." Boston University's Schoch, meanwhile, is just as certain that the Yonaguni formations are natural. He suggests that holes in the rock, which Kimura believes were used to support posts, were merely created by underwater eddies scouring at depressions. Lines of smaller holes were formed by marine creatures exploiting a seam in the rock, he said. "The first time I dived there, I knew it was not artificial," Schoch said. "It's not as regular as many people claim, and the right angles and symmetry don't add up in many places." He emphasizes that he is not accusing anyone of deliberately falsifying evidence. But many of the photos tend to give a perfect view of the site, making the lines look as regular as possible, he said. Schoch also says he has seen what Kimura believes to be renderings of animals and human faces at the site. "Professor Kimura says he has seen some kind of writing or images, but they are just scratches on a rock that are natural," he said. "He interprets them as being manmade, but I don't know where he's coming from." But Kimura is undeterred by critics, adding that the new governor of Okinawa Prefecture and officials from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization have recently expressed interest in verifying the site. "The best way to get a definitive answer about their origins is to keep going back and collecting more evidence," he continued. "If I'd not had a chance to see these structures for myself, I might be skeptical as well."

new 7 world wonders

Christ the Redeemer
The 105-foot-tall (38-meter-tall) "Christ the Redeemer" statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was among the "new seven wonders of the world" announced July 7 following a global poll to decide a new list of human-made marvels. The winners were voted for by Internet and phone, American Idol style. The other six new wonders are the Colosseum in Rome, India's Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, Jordan's ancient city of Petra, the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, and the ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá in Mexico. The contest was organized by the New7Wonders Foundation—the brainchild of Swiss filmmaker and museum curator Bernard Weber—in order to "protect humankind's heritage across the globe." The foundation says the poll attracted almost a hundred million votes. Yet the competition has proved controversial, drawing criticism from the United Nations' cultural organization UNESCO, which administers the World Heritage sites program. "This initiative cannot, in any significant and sustainable manner, contribute to the preservation of sites elected by public," UNESCO said in a statement.

Great Wall of China

This newly elected world wonder was built along Chinas's northern border over many centuries to keep out invading Mongol tribes. Constructed between the fifth century B.C. and the 16th century, the Great Wall is the world's longest human-made structure, stretching some 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers). The best known section was built around 200 B.C. by the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang Di. The wall was among the winners of the New7Wonders poll announced during a televised ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal. However the Chinese state broadcaster chose not to broadcast the event, and Chinese state heritage officials refused to endorse the competition.It was a different story for some of the other candidates. In Brazil, for example, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva encouraged his compatriots to vote for Rio de Janeiro's mountaintop statue of Jesus Christ.

Taj Mahal, India

The Taj Mahal, in Agra, Inatia, is the spectacular mausoleum built by Muslim Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to honor the memory of his beloved late wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Construction began in 1632 and took about 15 years to complete. The opulent, domed mausoleum, which stands in formal walled gardens, is generally regarded as finest example of Mughal art and architecture. It includes four minarets, each more than 13 stories tall. Shah Jahan was deposed and put under house arrest by one of his sons soon after the Taj Mahal's completion. It's said that he spent the rest of his days gazing at the Taj Mahal from a window.

The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, Turkey

The famous tomb at Halicarnassus—now the city of Bodrum—was built between 370 and 350 B.C. for King Mausolus of Caria, a region in the southwest of modern Turkey. Legend says that the king's grieving wife Artemisia II had the tomb constructed as a memorial to their love. Mausolus was a satrap, or governor, in the Persian Empire, and his fabled tomb is the source of the word "mausoleum." The structure measured 120 feet (40 meters) long and 140 feet (45 meters) tall. The tomb was most admired for its architectural beauty and splendor. The central burial chamber was decorated in gold, while the exterior was adorned with ornate stone friezes and sculptures created by four Greek artists. The mausoleum stood intact until the early 15th century, when Christian Crusaders dismantled it for building material for a new castle. Some of the sculptures and frieze sections survived and can be seen today at the British Museum in London, England.

Chichén Itzá, Mexico

Chichén Itzá is possibly the most famous temple city of the Mayas, a pre-Columbian civilization that lived in present day Central America. It was the political and religious center of Maya civilization during the period from A.D. 750 to 1200. At the city's heart lies the Temple of Kukulkan (pictured)—which rises to a height of 79 feet (24 meters). Each of its four sides has 91 steps—one step for each day of the year, with the 365th day represented by the platform on the top.

Machu Picchu, Peru

One of three successful candidates from Latin America, Machu Picchu is a 15th-century mountain settlement in the Amazon region of Peru. The ruined city is among the best known remnants of the Inca civilization, which flourished in the Andes region of western South America. The city is thought to have been abandoned following an outbreak of deadly smallpox, a disease introduced in the 1500s by invading Spanish forces. Hundreds of people gathered at the remote, 7,970-foot-high (2,430-meter-high) site on Saturday to celebrate Machu Picchu's new “seven wonders” status.

Petra, Jordan

Perched on the edge of the Arabian Desert, Petra was the capital of the Nabataean kingdom of King Aretas IV (9 B.C. to A.D. 40). Petra is famous for its many stone structures such as a 138-foot-tall (42-meter-tall) temple carved with classical facades into rose-colored rock. The ancient city also included tunnels, water chambers, and an amphitheater, which held 4,000 people. The desert site wasn't known to the West until Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt came across it in 1812.

Frankfurt autoshow

Europe's largest car show has long been a source for fantastic debuts. This year marked a trend reversal for many carmakers, as small-car companies like Mini and Peugeot introduced more comfortable models, while large-car makers scaled things down. Several breathtaking designs were also on display, like Lamborghini's futuristic $1.4-million carbon-fiber Reventon. But the mantra of the show was "fuel efficiency." From hybrid-diesel engines, to ultracompacts, to plug-ins that could power a house in a brownout, Frankfurt's carmakers had gas-sipping on the brain in 2007.

BMW X6 Concept ActiveHybrid: Hybrid Crossover Coupe

BMW's latest concept is a new kind of car: the sport activity coupe. It's basically a four-door sedan with a sloping coupe-like roofline and a jacked-up four-wheel-drive undercarriage. The concept also features a version of the fuel-saving two-mode hybrid-electric transmission that BMW has jointly developed with General Motors and DaimlerChrysler.

BMW 1-Series: Compact Fun

BMW returns to its roots with a light, compact sport sedan for a new generation of customers who don't desire the company's big, thirsty, gadget-laden models. Engine options include a pair of diesels and a 304-horsepower gasoline twin-turbo inline-six for world markets. In the U.S., we will get the twin-turbo 135i and a less-powerful 128i gas engine.

Fiat 500: Minicar Depicted as Children's Ride

Fiat's tiny 500 has long held a warm place in the hearts of European drivers. The company hopes to capitalize on that goodwill with a new 500 subcompact that promises outstanding fuel economy from 1.2- and 1.4-liter engines and five-star safety ratings, thanks to seven standard airbags.

Ford Verve: Future Ford Compact

The Verve concept forecasts the company’s plans for an upcoming compact model. This is basically a styling exercise; technology innovation is limited to little touches like LED lighting.

Jaguar XF: Facing the Future

The XF marks Jaguar's first serious effort to remake itself as a contemporary manufacturer competing on the merit of its products rather than trading on nostalgia. The supercharged 4.2-liter V-8 cat will compete against sleek sedans like the Mercedes CLS-Class.

Kia Kee: Four-Seat Coupe Concept

Kia is ready to announce its graduation from economy cars to luxury models. The Kee sport coupe features a 197-horsepower V-6 engine and six-speed manual transmission wrapped in a sleek "2+2" body (with tiny rear seats) courtesy of the company's new German design center.

Lamborghini Reventon: Million-dollar Supercar

If you had a spare million-plus dollars and were already a favorite Lamborghini customer, you might have made the list of 20 buyers for the Reventon, a flat-black car resembling a cross between a stealth fighter and the Batmobile. It's essentially the 640-horsepower, $356,600 Murcielago model with a lightweight carbon-fiber body.

Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG: Compact V-8 Thunder

It is obligatory for manufacturers of sport sedans to challenge the BMW M3. And this time, Mercedes has a shot at succeeding. The C63 AMG is armed with 457 horsepower and a thumping 442 pound-feet of torque, along with taut handling and a smart seven-speed transmission that may help it beat the Beamer's lap times.

Mercedes F700 Concept: Efficient Luxury

The F700 offers a preview of the future of large luxury sedans. A 238-horsepower twin-turbo 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine and 20-horsepower electric motor will propel the car to 60 mph in 7.5 seconds, while squeezing out 44 miles per gallon. A forward laser scans the road ahead so the F700 can adjust its active suspension for conditions to come.

Mini Clubman: Stretched 3-Door

The Clubman was possibly the most highly anticipated debut at the show. This stretched Mini features a larger backseat and a bigger rear cargo area.



Mitsubishi Concept cX: Clean Diesel

The Concept-cX shows Mitsubishi's notion of high performance in an environmentally conscious world. The cX is a turbocharged all-wheel-drive sporty compact SUV employing a dual-clutch transmission for maximum power to the road. But the engine is a fuel-efficient 1.8-liter clean diesel featuring a variable geometry turbocharger that maximizes turbo boost, plus a catalytic converter (new for diesel cars) and a particulate filter to minimize emissions.

Nissan Mixim: Scissor-Door Three-Seater Concept

Nissan is targeting this all-wheel-drive electric subcompact at younger buyers more accustomed to PlayStation than to Plymouth. The Mixim puts the driver in the center of the car, with two full-size rear seats and a little child's seat/parcel shelf behind the driver. Passengers enter through large scissor-style doors that lift out of the way.

Opel Flexstreme Concept: Stows Segway

As more cities consider fees for driving into congested areas, models like the Opel Flexstreme make a lot of sense. This concept car is designed to carry a pair of folding Segway scooters that can take the driver and a passenger from the car's remote parking place straight to the office. The car itself is a plug-in hybrid electric diesel.

Peugeot 308 RC Concept: French Sport Coupe

Small cars are efficient, affordable and practical—but not exciting. So as Peugeot launches its new 308 subcompact in Europe this fall, it's trying to stoke interest by also showing a concept sport coupe based on the same platform. The backseat is of questionable utility, but the company claims the trunk will hold a mountain bike.

Porsche 911 GT2: Turbo Track Weapon

A Porsche press announcement calls this car "the fastest and most powerful 911 homologated for the road ever to see the light of day." Translation: 530-horsepower driving through all four wheels.

Suzuki Concept Kizashi: Full-Size Sport Sedan

While the rest of the industry rushes toward the kind of small cars Suzuki's famous for, the automaker tries to bust out of its stereotype with a massive sport wagon that looks like a hot-rodded Dodge Magnum.

Toyota IQ Concept: The Minicar Future

The challenge of urban parking drove Toyota's design for the IQ concept car, which is less than 10 feet in length. Helping achieve that small size is a 3+1 seating arrangement: The seat directly behind the driver is for short-term riders or small children, while the other three are designed for adults.

Volvo ReCharge Concept: Plug-in Hybrid

Volvo exhibited a plug-in hybrid electric concept that uses wheel-mounted electric motors for propulsion. Juice comes from lithium-ion batteries than can be charged by a wall socket or by the on-board flex-fuel 1.6-liter internal combustion engine. Able to run 60 miles on batteries alone, it gets a long-range fuel efficiency of 124 miles per gallon. And the car can literally power a house if the electric grid goes down.

VW Up! Concept: Rear-Engine Microcar

After years of identity crises, VW has remembered that it was a small, affordable, rear-engine vehicle that made the company's name. The Up! brings Volkswagen back to its roots, with a tiny, cheap-to-manufacture car. The company is already plotting variants such as a mini-bus.

Audi RS6 Avant: Twin-Turbo V-10 Wagon

When the baby is crying and you need those diapers fast, Audi has your car. To build the RS6, the company stuffed a 580-horsepower twin-turbo V-10 engine into its A6 Avant wagon. The result: the speediest grocery-getter ever built.