Stories about Science from January, 2008
Russia: Osoaviakhim-1
De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis writes about the Soviet balloon Osoaviakhim-1, which reached the record altitude of 22,000 meters on Jan. 30, 1934, but crashed during the descent.
Russia: Ukok Princess
De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis writes about plans to re-bury the mummy of a Scythian princess in the capital of Russia's Altai Republic.
Burkina Faso: Rites, festivals and a new book
Like anywhere else in the world, there is a season to everything in Burkina Faso: rites of passage, camel and horse racing, literature and death.
Africa: Mathematics in African architecture
Afropolitan posts a video of Ron Eglash talking about mathematics in African architecture: “Mathmetician Ron Eglash traveled to Africa to do research on fractals. What he found was amazing, but not surprising to those of us who appreciate the ingenuity and creativeness in Africa.”
Africa: AfriGadget get a new look
AfriGadget has a new look: “We’re proud to announce a brand new design for AfriGadget! The old design was rather old and ugly, so thanks for putting up with it for the last 20 months. Actually, I think the reason that there are so many more RSS”
Uzbekistan: Perpetuum Mobile?
Ibragim says that a teenager from the academic school in Samarqand, Uzbekistan, allegedly invented a “perpetual” car engine powered by a very unusual kind of fuel – air.
Laos: Mysterious Plain of Jars
The South East Asian Archeology Newsblog looks at the mysterious Plain of Jars in Laos.
Lithuania: Edmundas Gedvilas’ Nobel Quest
Lituanica reports: “a Lithuanian man has started a procedure to contest the authorship of a physics law, which has been awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize and is ascribed to American scientists.”
Environment: ‘Green Deserts’ in China
Gaoming Jiang of China Dialogue writes of ‘green deserts’ characterized by poplar trees and nothing else. “The Chinese government should consider the needs of local species and biodiversity. We need to consider planting slow-growth but high-quality wood alongside faster-growing species. We must reduce the dominance of the poplar, allowing natural...
Russia: Nikolai Marr
De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis shares an extraordinary story of the life and work of Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr: “He became a great polyglot and could have become a great linguist, had it not been for the passion and obsession with his own unsubstantiated theories. He never even completed a single...
Morocco: Celebrating the New Year, Part 2
In my last post, I looked at Moroccan bloggers' wishes for 2008. Here is another look at the blogoma's hopes and dreams for the new year.
Singapore: Bathing Birds
Do birds take a water bath only when the weather is hot? asks YC at the Bird Ecology Study Group blog in Singapore.
Poland: NASA's Rival?
The beatroot writes about Poland's plans to set up “a Polish rival to NASA.”
