Trudy Myers's Blog, page 6
August 1, 2024
Prehistoric Human Brains Baffle Scientists
The most delicate organin the human body is the brain, which is why it’s protected by a thick-bonedskull. What’s baffling is that this squishy mass, out of all the organs, cansurvive the most time without decay.
Researchers havecataloged over 4,000 naturally preserved human brains, some as old as 12,000years. This archive includes Inca sacrificial victims, prehistoric people, andNorth Pole explorers. And yet, the discovery of a preserved brain is perceivedto be a very rare incident.
Human soft tissue,including the brain, can be preserved by some well-understood processes such asdehydration, freezing, and tanning. These methods can be the result of humanactions or natural factors. It’s not unusual for brains to survive when other internalorgans are well-preserved, such as in dried-out remains of desert burials,frozen bodies from mountain passes, and tanned bodies from bogs.
However, preservedbrains have been found without other soft tissues, such as floating alongsidebones in sunken shipwrecks, or sitting alongside ancient bones from a swampypond.
Until now, there hasbeen no systemic study to determine why brains last longer than other softtissues.
This new archiveallowed researchers to determine the prevalence of intact brains, to study howthey persisted, and the diversity of their preservation conditions. They alsomapped their distribution worldwide across time. Finally, the researchersstudied the brains to understand ancient diseases and genetics.
About a quarter of thebrains were discovered in bodies lacking any other preserved soft tissue. Knownprocesses that preserve all types of tissue can’t explain why these brainsendured.
The reason why thesebrains were preserved is a mystery, but it might be because of the brain’schemical composition. The brain has a 1-to-1 ratio of proteins to lipids, whileother soft tissues have different ratios. This ratio could mean that if metalslike iron are introduced, it could cause the proteins and lipids to bindtogether and last longer. Many preserved brains were found to contain ironoxide (rust).
The team is employingnew techniques to study the molecular interactions leading to the preservationof brains. The brains could also offer an opportunity to study neurologicaldiseases in ancient humans.
July 25, 2024
Strange Metal Relic
An awe-inspiring metal column has perplexed experts forover a century.
The 1,600-year-old pillar stands amid the ruins of a worldheritage-listed temple in Delhi. It’s made of iron, but it never rusts.Normally, iron is very susceptible to the elements and develops a coat ofreddish-brown rust at the hint of water.
The pillar’s resistance to erosion has invited severaltheories over the years, but none of them could be proven. Only recently has itbeen discovered that the structure’s power is due to ancient Indians’ skills.Researchers have analyzed the pillar to work out its complex chemistry.
The towering column stands almost 24 feet tall. The base isaround 16.4 inches in diameter and tapers to around 12 inches at the top, wherean ornamental structure sits.
Despite being made of 6.5 tons of solid wrought iron, itwas dragged across India several times over the centuries as spoils of battle.
Around 1333 AD, a Moroccan explorer was told the pillar wasmade of seven metals, but that no one knew what those seven metals were.
It has several inscriptions etched on its surface, theoldest of which is written in the ancient Indian language Brahmi and names aking called Chandra. Researchers say the style and form of the Sanskrit textsuggest it was inscribed during the reign of King Chandragupta II Vikramaditya,who ruled the Gupta empire between 375 and 415 AD.
But what made the pillar so resistant?
Experts wrote that the pillar is a monument demonstratingthe metallurgical and engineering skills of the ancient Indians, who purifiedtheir ironwork to a remarkable 98%. However, how they managed this was aclosely guarded secret handed down through a family from generation togeneration.
The heat used during these processes was not sufficient tomelt the metal, so it was extracted as a soft spongy mass which was thenhammered into the desired shape. Lumps of this spongy iron were laid out andrepeatedly hammered to separate the mineral impurities, forming it into asequence of ‘pancakes’. The heated iron pancakes were joined by hammering.
Microstructual analysis of this structure revealed aconvergence of properties that resulted in the metal’s resistance to corrosion.It turns out the hammering did not remove the impurities evenly. It left apatchwork of tiny phosphorus-rich particles in the iron. This created a networkof electrical conductors, which triggered certain chemical reactions.
The phosphorus present in the impurities are oxidized tophosphate. This acts as an inhibitor and promotes the formation of protectiveoxide films for preventing corrosion.
July 19, 2024
New Ancient Temple Found in Peru
In Peru, archaeologistshave unearthed what they believe are a 4,000-year-old temple and theater,shining some light on the origins of complex religions in the region.
Last year, the localgovernment of La Otra Banda, Cerro Las Animas, alerted scientists that lootinghad taken place near the northern Peruvian town of Zana. A team began studyingthe new site in June.
The team excavated aplot roughly 33 feet by 33 feet and found ancient walls made of mud and clay atjust 6 feet deep. Surprised to find ancient structures so close to the modernsurface, they dug deeper. They found a section of a large temple. But the mostexciting find was a small theater with a backstage area and stairs that led tothe stage. They postulate the stage could have been used to perform ritualperformances.
One staircase wasflanked by mud panels with an elaborately carved design of a mythological bird.The figure resembled other images dating to the Initial Period, around 2,000 to900 BC, which gave clues about when the temple was built.
The Initial Period iswhen scientists have evidence of institutionalized religion in Peru. They stillknow little about how complex belief systems emerged in the Andes, but now theyhave evidence about some of the earliest religious spaces that were created inthis part of the world.
Peru’s best-knownarchaeological site, Machu Picchu, was built by the Inca Empire in the 15thcentury. This new site is 3,500 years older, and also predates the pre-Incacultures of Moche and Nazca.
Scientists don’t yethave a name for these people. All they know at this point is from their houses,temples and funerary goods. It is believed their complex religious system wasan important aspect of political authority.
The archaeologists alsofound several large murals painted on the walls. They collected paint samplesto analyze in a lab, as well as for carbon dating to confirm the site’s age.
July 13, 2024
Found: Ancient South American Culture
Archaeologists havediscovered evidence of a previously unknown ancient culture in Venezuela’sCanaima National Park, where they discovered 30 rock art sites dating backthousands of years.
Canaima National Parkis huge, about the size of Belgium. It is made up of forests and mountainousterrain. The most famous feature is Angel Falls, the tallest waterfall in theworld.
The park may have beenwhere this culture first developed. Later, it may have moved on to the Amazonriver, the Guianas and even southern Colombia, for all of these places housesimilar artwork to the newly found example in Venezuela. Similar artwork in Brazilhas been dated to 4,000 years ago, but the newly discovered artwork may be evenolder.
The newly discoveredpictograms and petroglyphs include depictions of leaves and stick figuredrawings of people, star-shaped patterns and other geometric designs. It isthought that the images had a ritual meaning, and may have been related tobirth, diseases, or prosperous hunting.
July 4, 2024
Finding the Americas
There have been severaltheories about how mankind found their way to the Americas. I’m not going to gothrough all of them in this blog post. But a couple theories keep gettingtweaked as scientists find new evidence.
Two theories postulatethat mankind made its way to Alaska by way of following a land bridge fromSiberia into Alaska. The land bridge existed due to a much lower sea levelduring the last ice age. There are two theories because some scientists believethe people followed the edge of the land bridge by boat, keeping the land intheir sight all along the way. Another group of scientists believe the peoplefollowed game animals as they walked across the land bridge. Which groupreached Alaska first? I don’t think anybody knows.
According to data gleanedfrom sediment and fossilized marine life, the first Siberians might havetraveled to the New World more than 10,000 years before the First Nationspeople are thought to have arrived. Such an early migration would have been alot easier because of sea ice. It’s been suggested that expanses of winter icemay have facilitated travel by foot when passage by boat would have beentreacherous.
For about five decades,archaeologists thought the Clovis people as the original pioneers of the NorthAmerican continent. This theory stated that families trekked across the landbridge around 13,000 years ago.
Yet recent discoverieshave pushed back the arrival of humans in the Americas to more than 25,000years ago.
But could they reallyhave walked all that way? The sea level was probably low enough to expose asolid bridge as far back as 36,000 years ago. However, the rugged cap of snowand glacier covering the bridge might not have been traversable.
However, once glaciersbegan to retreat, a thin strip of coastal ecosystems could have providedresources for traveling by boat. A 14,000-year-old settlement on Canada’swestern coast implies that pre-Clovis people were inching their way along thewater’s edge.
However, windows ofopportunity may have closed during warm periods, when melting snow and icewould have sent currents swirling in the wrong direction for migratingpaddlers. An analysis of climate models says high winds and lower sea levelswould have made ocean currents 20,000 years ago twice as strong as they aretoday.
Records also suggestthat winter sea ice would have been present until 15,000 years ago, whichmigrants could have walked across, or even sledded. Researchers identified 24.5to 22 thousand years ago and 16.4 to 14.8 thousand years ago as the most likelyperiods for early migration along the Alaskan coast, possibly aided by a“Sea-ice Highway.”
Emerging signs thathumans ventured as far south as New Mexico more than 20,000 years ago implythere may have been a relatively safe and open path for them to get there.
June 27, 2024
Amazonian Ancient City
Scientists havediscovered an ancient city in Eastern Ecuador using LIDAR. The Light Detectionand Ranging technology (LIDAR) was used to map 115 square miles of Ecuador’sUpano Valley, along the foothills of the Andes. They found evidence of asettlement named Sangay, which could have been home to as many as 100,000people.
One scientist remarkedthat this discovery changed the way to think about Amazonian cultures. Insteadof small groups living in huts, at least some of them lived in complicatedurban environments.
The system discoveredat Sangay connected various urban centers. The road are nearly straight andcontain right angles, which would be difficult in the Amazonian terrain.
We don’t know muchabout the people, archeologists also detected traces of fields where theylikely grew maize, beans, sweet potatoes and cassava. And at the end of a hardday, they probably enjoyed a kind of sweet beer called ‘chicha’.
They have dated Sangayto have been active from 500BCE to possibly 600CE. The LIDAR scans haverevealed various platforms, plazas, streets, and drains. But one unique aspectof Sangay is the complex road system that extends nearly 6 miles.
I am always interestedin such discoveries. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for more information aboutSangay.
June 21, 2024
Formatting Manuscripts
Finally, I got someactual instructions from Draft2Digital on how to prepare a manuscript to beuploaded for publication! Their instructions are vastly simpler than what I hadto do for Smashwords, but I have made some mistakes that would make thefinished ebook come out wonky.
For instance, I placed4 hard returns before each chapter heading, to push it down a nice distance onthe page. But now I know that 4 hard returns in a row will be changed to a pagebreak. I don’t want that, because I already put in a page break to get the newchapter to start on a new page. It would wind up with blank pages before eachchapter if I don’t go through and remove 3 of those hard returns.
I also carefullycreated a Table of Contents. But their software will create one for me, so Ineed to yank mine out.
There are other placeswhere I’ve got multiple hard returns as I tried to get the front mattersomewhat symmetrical. Now I have to spend a few minutes figuring out how toplace the front matter pleasingly on the page without using a bunch of hardreturns. Because just 2 hard returns in a row will be converted to a sectionbreak, which I don’t want cluttering up my title page.
There are 60 chaptersin the book I’m trying to get published. It will take me 2 or 3 days to gothrough and straighten those out. Another day to figure out the title page, andtime to work on a couple other pages that have a picture involved. And I’mstill in the middle of classes that take up far more time than I thought theywould. So, it’s beginning to look like this book might not go on sale untilAugust 1.
Still, I’m making progress,however slowly.
June 15, 2024
Not Enough Time
I wish there were twoof me. Identical twins who can finish each other’s sentences and know what theother one is thinking.
That way, maybe I couldget some things done.
I’m not sure how I gotmyself in this predicament. There for a long time, I was over-busy arranging myhubby’s doctor appointments and seeing that he got to them, that he had hismedicines, that he had food to eat… in other words, I was his caregiver.
Then, suddenly, Istarted having my own health issues, and I was juggling appointments for bothof us, researching my new diet, keeping track of my own medicines… I was nowcaregiver to both of us.
Consequently, I didn’tget much business or writing done. Oh, if I had an odd hour free in any givenday, I would edit a chapter or two of a book that was waiting to be published.In the evenings, I would try to write. For the most part, writing was the onlypleasure I had.
Then I discoveredonline classes, called challenges. They involved watching a short video (under10 minutes) and following the simple instructions. Homework probably took 10minutes or less to complete. I was very happy with the results of the first oneI took, and it only lasted 5 days.
Then I signed up for a2nd one, which sounded even more intriguing than the first had. Ithink that’s where I made my mistake.
This challenge lastsfor 5 weeks, with new videos to watch each week, and new homework to do by theend of the week. And it wasn’t just 1 video to watch, but multiples. If youhave to watch 7 or 8 videos at the beginning of the week, that time adds up,even if most of them are under 10 minutes. And then there’s bonus videos towatch, at an hour or two a pop. There were Q&A sessions (2 hours ea) everyThursday afternoon, which I never got to join because of doctor appointments.Deep into week 3, I am now behind on watching 3 Q&A sessions. This challengeis sucking up every spare moment I’ve got and demanding more.
I’ve thought aboutquitting the challenge. But I really want to learn the subject!
It’s only 3 more weeks.(We get a few extra days at the end to catch up.) So I guess I’ll keep doingthe best I can. Maybe I don’t need those Q&A sessions, or the hour-longbonus videos.
I’ve got a book I’vebeen trying to get published for the last 2 weeks. Maybe, when we get back fromour appointments tomorrow, I will publish it before I return to workingon this week’s challenge.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Big Sale Coming!
MoonPhaze is excited to announce that most of our bookswill be available as part of a promotion on Smashwords for the month of July aspart of their Annual Summer/Winter Sale! This is a chance to get our books,along with books from many other great authors, at a discount so you can getright to reading.
You will find the promo here starting on July 1, so savethe link:
https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos/
Please share this promo with friends and family. Not to mention the avid readers in your life!
Thank you for your help and support!
Happy reading!
June 6, 2024
Writing Ups and Downs
I’ve been working on ashort story the last couple of weeks. The guidelines said a minimum of 3,000words, which is a little less than most shorts I write, but I thought I coulddo it in about that many words.
The first week, I thoughtI would never get to 3 thousand words! It seemed like I wrote and Iwrote, and the word count barely moved.
Now I’ve reached 3k,and it seems like the story will never come to an end! I’m so close, andyet I’ve got to go through so many details before I finally end it. I ratherdread working on it, but if I don’t, it won’t get done. It’s not going to writeitself.
I just noticed thedeadline is August 1st, so I’ve got some time. But I can hardly waituntil I can revise the rough draft into a 2nd draft. I’ve alreadyseen places where I’ve used too many words, scenes that could be shortened.
I think my problem isthat I’m not sure of the subject matter. But they wanted stories where a zombiepresence is the new normal. So I’m writing zombies. I’ve only ever read onebook about zombies. I used to watch the Walking Dead, and that scared me halfto death, some episodes. It’s a fine line that I’m walking to be writing aboutzombies.
Well, I’ll be that muchhappier when I get it done and can submit it. Then I can return to working onmy longer Work in Progress, which is waiting impatiently.
PS. I finished thezombie rough draft Wednesday night. The word count is now 4,500 words. I’m takinga couple days off from it before I start revisions.
June 1, 2024
Publishing Made Simpler
A few months ago, Imade some changes to one of John’s books, and then I tried to republish it.Unfortunately, I made some errors in the formatting as I got ready to republishit, and when I sent the new manuscript to smashwords’ publishing software,those formatting errors were obvious. So I listed that book as ‘unpublished’,thinking it wouldn’t take me long to fix the formatting errors.
I was wrong. Whatever Ihad done wrong, it was there to stay, so I had to remove ALL the formatting andthen put correct formatting back in. Usually, this takes me about a week, if Ican spend most of my time concentrating on it. But I couldn’t focus on it likethat. John’s health wasn’t good, and then I started having my own healthissues, and months went by where I couldn’t focus on that book at all.
But I kept picking atit, doing a chapter here and there, and I finally got the formatting done. Iwas ready to republish!
Meanwhile, smashwordsand Draft2Digital merged. I was notified that Draft2Digital would be doing thepublishing, and smashwords would only be a storefront. My first thought was asarcastic, “Great, now I have to learn how to format books for Draft2Digital’spublishing software.” I have to admit that I procrastinated looking atDraft2Digital’s formatting requirements for a few days. I didn’t want to gothrough and reformat that book again.
But I finally took afew minutes to look it up, and their requirements were vastly simpler thansmashwords’ had been! I was still ready to republish!
It’s always good when anew process is simpler than the old process.
