Month: September 2017

The awards and rewards of grasping infinity

We may “know” infinity.

From a 2017 opinion article by the editorial board of CSMonitor:

A discovery in theoretical math, by two mathematicians in 2016, illustrates a steadily growing  recognition among scholars that infinity may be knowable.

The award, called the Hausdorff medal, was given to Maryanthe Malliaris of the University of Chicago and Saharon Shelah of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Rutgers University for a 2016 paper in the Journal of the American Mathematical Society.”

The two scholars solved a problem that has stumped mathematicians for seven decades: whether two variations of infinity expressed in sets of numbers are the same . . . .

Says the opinion piece: “By its very nature, infinity is inexhaustible and has been a source of wonder since ancient times. The desire to grasp infinity has contributed to progress in many fields, from science to religion. In fact, the ability to come up with new understandings about reality may itself be infinite.”

For the entire article visit the link below.

https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2017/0919/The-awards-and-rewards-of-grasping-infinity?cmpid=FB

The Hasanlu Lovers: Skeletons Locked In An Eternal Kiss

Published on the site All That Is Interesting, the story linked below touches on two skeletons among hundreds discovered in an ancienty city in what is now northwest Iran. The city, it seems, was wiped out by an invading army over 2,800 years ago and the two may have taken refuge in the grain bin in which they were ultimately found.

Scientists don’t know if the two figures were lovers, a father and son, or a mother and son.  At the end, they died in an embrace comforting one another. Such a sad story that connects us to the humanity of those in the past. We often forget that they are not just archeological finds but the remains of living human beings.

By Gabe Paoletti
Published September 21, 2017
Updated December 20, 2017

“The University of Pennsylvania first discovered this skeletal couple during an archeological excavation of an ancient city in northwest Iran in the 1970s. The two skeletons were discovered in the remains of the ancient city of Teppe Hasanlu, which stood in the area that is now Iran 2,800 years ago.”

For the story in its entirety, visit the link below.

http://all-that-is-interesting.com/hasanlu-lovers?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fbsmith

The fanged, faceless sea creature that washed ashore during Harvey has been identified

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
The fanged, faceless sea creature that washed ashore during Harvey has been identified.

From a picture posted by Preeti Desai on Twitter. https://twitter.com/preetalina/status/905578912348024834/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnews%2Fspeaking-of-science%2Fwp%2F2017%2F09%2F14%2Fthe-fanged-faceless-sea-creature-that-washed-ashore-during-harvey-has-been-identified%2F

In an article by Lindsey Bever published on September 14, 2017, the identify of the mysterious creature that washed ashore in Texas City, about 15 miles from Galveston, TX was revealed.

Kenneth Tighe, a biologist and eel-expert with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, identifed the creature as ” most likely a fangtooth snake-eel, or Aplatophis chauliodus.”

http://wapo.st/2wrIWaz