1500-year-old Mayan paint job peeled back

 Brisbane physical and chemical sciences PhD student Rosemary Goodall used an infrared analysis technique, FTIR-ATR spectral imaging, never before applied in archeology.It revealed a map of the painted surfaces of stucco masks that adorn the corners of the Rosalila temple, built in about AD550.Mrs Goodall found that the Mayans mixed finely ground muscovite mica in their paint, which would have made parts of the building glitter in the sun.But visualising the buildings is only part of the brief for the former oil industry chemist, who is completing her doctorate jointly at the University of Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology.”We need an idea of the paint technology and techniques and how the people were doing these things,” Mrs Goodall said.

Having temples and other public buildings glitter in the Sun only enhanced the citys’ king’s power and charisma. Mayan rulers were master showmen.
 

Move over US — China to be new driver of world’s economy and innovation

The study’s indicators predict that China will soon pass the United States in the critical ability to develop basic science and technology, turn those developments into products and services – and then market them to the world. Though China is often seen as just a low-cost producer of manufactured goods, the new “High Tech Indicators” study done by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology clearly shows that the Asian powerhouse has much bigger aspirations.

“For the first time in nearly a century, we see leadership in basic research and the economic ability to pursue the benefits of that research – to create and market products based on research – in more than one place on the planet,” said Nils Newman, co-author of the National Science Foundation-supported study. “Since World War II, the United States has been the main driver of the global economy. Now we have a situation in which technology products are going to be appearing in the marketplace that were not developed or commercialized here. We won’t have had any involvement with them and may not even know they are coming.”

I wonder how the Project For A New American Century crowd feels about this? Probably they haven’t even noticed. Perle, Feith, Wolfowitz, Kagan, et al., create their own realities.

Israel Eyes Thinking Machines to Fight ‘Doomsday’ Missile Strikes

Israel has been hit in recent years by thousands and thousands of rockets, mortar shells, and missiles.  And that could be just a preview of the onslaught Iran may one day unleash. So Israeli military leaders have begun early planning for a new, robotic defense system, armed with enough artificial intelligence that it “could take over completely” from flesh-and-blood operators.   “It will be designed for… autonomous operations,’ Brig. Gen. Daniel Milo, commander of Israel’s air defense forces, tells Defense News‘ Barbara Opall-Rome.  And in the event of a “doomsday” strike, Opall-Rome notes, the system could handle “attacks that exceed physiological limits of human command.”How do you say “Skynet” in Hebrew, again?   

 Heh, probably in the same mouth they say “shalom”.