Tag Archives: egypt

Climate and Drought Lessons from Ancient Egypt

By Guest PostAugust 16, 2012Culture, Environment, Scienceachilles heel, ancient egypt, babylonian, benjamin horton, charcoal, christopher bernhardt, climate, climate change, drought, egypt, egyptian history, evolution of societies, geological record, giza, great pyramid, human history, jean daniel stanley, marcia mcnutt, microscopic charcoal, middle east, modern iraq, nile basin vegetation, nile delta, nile delta sediment, old kingdom, pollen, pyramid building time, spinx, syrian kingdom, ugarit kingdom, university of pennsylvania, uruk kingdom

Using Fossil Pollen to Augment Historical Records

Ancient pollen and charcoal preserved in deeply buried sediments in Egypt’s Nile Delta document the region’s ancient droughts and fires, including a huge drought 4,200 years ago associated with the demise of Egypt’s Old Kingdom, the era known as the pyramid-building time.

“Humans have a long history of having to deal with climate change,” said Christopher Bernhardt, a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey. “Along with other research, this study geologically reveals that the evolution of societies is sometimes tied to climate variability at all scales – whether decadal or millennial.” (more…)

Climate Change Led to Collapse of Ancient Indus Civilization, Study Finds

By Guest PostJune 2, 2012Environment, Sciencearabian sea, archaeological evidence, catastrophic floods, climate change, coring, dorian fuller, drilling, eastern afghanistan, egypt, ganges, geological evidence, geologist, geoscience, ghaggar hakra, goldilocks civilization, harappan civilization, harappan settlements, harappan times, himalaya, hindu mythology, indo gangetic plain, indus, james p m syvitski, liviu giosan, mesopotamia, northwest india, Pakistan, peter d clift, remains, river floods, romania, sarasvati, sediments, srtm, stefan constantinescu, topography, university college london, whoi

A new study combining the latest archaeological evidence with state-of-the-art geoscience technologies provides evidence that climate change was a key ingredient in the collapse of the great Indus or Harappan Civilization almost 4000 years ago. The study also resolves a long-standing debate over the source and fate of the Sarasvati, the sacred river of Hindu mythology.

Once extending more than 1 million square kilometers across the plains of the Indus River from the Arabian Sea to the Ganges, over what is now Pakistan, northwest India and eastern Afghanistan, the Indus civilization was the largest—but least known—of the first great urban cultures that also included Egypt and Mesopotamia. Like their contemporaries, the Harappans, named for one of their largest cities, lived next to rivers owing their livelihoods to the fertility of annually watered lands. (more…)

Muslim Brotherhood Candidate Trails in Race for Egypt’s Presidency: UMD Poll

By Guest PostMay 22, 2012Politics2011 revolution, abd al menem abul fotouh, ahmed shafiq, amr mousa, arab league chief, arabs, Economy, egypt, egyptians, gamal abdel nasser, hamdeen sabahi, iran, islamic sharia law, islamist moderate, Israel, king abdullah, middle east, mohamed morsi, muslim brotherhood, nasserist, palestinians, parliamentary election, political scientist, presidency, President Obama, prime minister, recep teyyib erdogan, salafi, saudi arabia, shibley telhami, syria, turkey, umd poll, university of maryland

Majority of Egyptians Faults Brotherhood Fielding its Own Candidate

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – As Egypt prepares this week to elect its first president since the 2011 revolution, a new University of Maryland poll finds the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate tied for fourth place. Researchers describe the race as fluid.

The poll confirms the strategic damage inflicted by the Brotherhood’s decision to field its own candidate, after saying it would not. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed (71 percent) called the decision a “mistake.”

The poll also shows Egyptians approaching the race differently from Parliamentary elections, focusing more on personal trust and the economy over party affiliation. (more…)

Imagine Cup Turns 10: A Decade of Inspiring Students to Dream Big

By Guest PostApril 20, 2012Technologyabhinav aj jambulingam, andrew dicken, annie ryu, australia, brazil, david gonzalez, digital infinity, egypt, evangelism group, final, france, imagine cup, imagine cup 2012, immunization checkup, Japan, jared wong, joy ming, karnataka, mark hindsbo, Microsoft, MIT, new york, nicaragua, pat yongpradit, puzzle, redmond, ronny ortiz, rural housing, silver spring, springbrook high, sydney, tablet pc, team remindavax, text message, tohoku earthquake, tsunami, visual studio 2010, windows phone

Heading into the U.S. national finals, Microsoft’s signature technology competition has reached 1.25 million students worldwide over the past 10 years.

REDMOND, Wash. — April 20, 2012 — Across every industry — from healthcare to transportation and agriculture to infrastructure — the world has a never-ending need for inspired minds to find creative solutions that solve tough challenges. Yet it’s been estimated that 1 million science and engineering jobs will go unfilled in the U.S. alone over the next three to five years.

According to Mark Hindsbo, vice president of Microsoft’s U.S. Developer & Platform Evangelism Group, that’s why programs like the Imagine Cup are so important. Encouraging students to develop technology-based solutions for real-world issues, and inspiring them to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, has been the mission of Microsoft’s signature technology competition for the past decade. Hindsbo has been involved with the competition since its beginnings. Every year, he says, the judges are amazed by the contestants’ projects and enthusiasm. (more…)

Rare Animal-Shaped Mounds Discovered in Peru by MU Anthropologist

By Guest PostApril 3, 2012Scienceandres ocas, animal shaped, bernardino ojeda, chan chan, charcoal eye, chillon valley, condor, egypt, google earth, image, june solstice, lucio laura, Milky Way, monstrous caiman, mounds, nazca, North America, ohio, omar ventocilla, peru, peruvian mounds, pyramids, robert benfer, serpent mound, south america, university of missouri

*Anthropology Helps Us Understand the Past and Allows for a Deeper Understanding of the Future.*

COLUMBIA, Mo. — For more than a century and a half, scientists and tourists have visited massive animal-shaped mounds, such as Serpent Mound in Ohio, created by the indigenous people of North America. But few animal effigy mounds had been found in South America until University of Missouri anthropology professor emeritus Robert Benfer identified numerous earthen animals rising above the coastal plains of Peru, a region already renowned for the Nazca lines, the ruined city of Chan Chan, and other cultural treasures.

“The mounds will draw tourists, one day,” Benfer said. “Some of them are more than 4,000 years old. Compare that to the effigy mounds of North America, which date to between 400 and 1200 AD. The oldest Peruvian mounds were being built at the same time as the pyramids in Egypt.” (more…)

Statue, Chapels and Animal Mummies Found in Egypt by U of T Team

By Guest PostMarch 14, 2012Scienceabydos, amber hutchinson, animal mummies, ayman damarany, barakat eid ahmed, christina geisen, egypt, egyptian antiquities, egyptian pharaoh, female pharaoh, god amon re, jackal god, janet khuu, jessica lewis, king, king hatshepsut, mahmoud mohamed, mary ann pouls wegner, meredith brand, middle kingdom, ramesside period, royal ancestor, royal chapel, temple of osiris, tomb, university of toronto, wepwawet, wood statue

Rare wood statue may be female pharaoh

A wooden statue of a king, a private offering chapel, a monumental building and remains of over 80 animal mummies found by a University of Toronto-led team in Abydos, Egypt reveal intriguing information about ritual activity associated with the great gods.

Professor Mary-Ann Pouls Wegner of the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations presented her team’s findings at a recent meeting of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities. (more…)

Egyptians Want Democracy, But Not U.S. Efforts to Promote It

By Guest PostMarch 3, 2012Politicsamerican, arab barometer, arab nations, democracy, egypt, egyptian politics, egyptian trial, hosni mubarak, iri, islamist platform, mark tessler, middle east policy, ndi, ray lahood, sam lahood, united states, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— The Egyptian trial of employees of four American groups that were promoting democracy was abruptly postponed earlier this week. But the crisis in U.S.-Egyptian relations continues, for reasons, according to a University of Michigan researcher, that have a lot to do both with domestic Egyptian politics and with American Middle East policy.

“Many Americans believed that Egyptians would welcome American democracy promotion efforts since there has been broad public support in Egypt for both democracy in general and the ouster of the anti-democratic regime of Hosni Mubarak in particular,” said U-M political scientist Mark Tessler, who co-directs the Arab Barometer Study, which surveys public attitudes in 11 Arab nations. (more…)

Biologically Best

By Guest PostJanuary 28, 2012Educationalex walter, article, bacterial protein, baylor university, becky maki, biologist, blood, cairo, cincinnati, egypt, evolutionary biology, florida, foundations of biology, fungal lineage, gretchen floan, iraqi war veteran, jonathan christenson, lisa hirsch, mark decker, mcgill university, mysterious, natural selection, nature of life, oklahoma, practicing biologists, robin wright, student, toxic metal, university of minnesota

*The U’s active learning biology courses garner attention*

What if you could remove lead from a person’s blood with a bacterial protein that snags the toxic metal?

Or treat spinal cord injury by shutting off a gene that prevents nerve regrowth?

Ideas like these used to be the exclusive province of practicing biologists. But they are among 14 ideas conceived and presented recently by students in the University of Minnesota’s introductory biology course. (more…)