Free Republic

Scientists adding human brain genes to monkeys — it’s the kind of thing you’d see in a movie like Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But Chinese researchers have done just that, improving the short-term memories of the monkeys in a study published in March in the Chinese journal National Science Review. While some experts downplayed the effects as minor, concerns linger over where the research may lead. The goal of the work, led by geneticist Bing Su of Kunming Institute of Zoology, was to investigate how a gene linked to brain size, MCPH1, might contribute to the evolution...

Archaeologists have discovered large quantities of treasure, which may be called ‘Atlantean treasures,’ in ancient Minoan-era buildings in Crete. Excavations conducted this year by Lasithi Antiquities Ephorate on the western part of the islet Chryssi, a municipality of Ierapetra, eastern Crete, have unearthed an ancient Minoan settlement, which according to the Greek Ministry of Culture , supported a “flourishing economy” so advanced it had built stone tanks in which marine species were cultivated.

Sundaland The cradle of human civilization may well have been the prehistoric lowlands of the Southeast Asian peninsula, rather than the Middle East. Since those lowlands ‘sank’ beneath the seas thousands of years ago (actually drowned by rising sea levels), humanity has remained unaware of their possible significance up through the early 21st century. Unaware except, that is, for a so-called myth perpetuated by a respected Greek philosopher named Plato, before 347 BC. Plato spoke of an advanced civilization named Atlantis, which sank below the seas perhaps around 9,000 BC. It may well be he wasn’t so far off after...

Now, with a suite of high-tech hardware at its disposal, a company called Merlin Burrows believes it might have finally pinpointed the location where the city once stood.... Bruce Blackburn says his company used satellite data to comb an area that the group believed may have been the location of the thriving city. Their work began years ago and, according to Blackburn, the location was chosen based on Plato’s writings as well as other texts. The spot, which is located near the coast in Spain’s Doñana National Park, was subsequently searched for clues. Merlin Burrows says it was then that...

Explanation: What on Earth is that? The Richat Structure in the Sahara Desert of Mauritania is easily visible from space because it is nearly 50 kilometers across. Once thought to be an impact crater, the Richat Structure's flat middle and lack of shock-altered rock indicates otherwise. The possibility that the Richat Structure was formed by a volcanic eruption also seems improbable because of the lack of a dome of igneous or volcanic rock. Rather, the layered sedimentary rock of the Richat structure is now thought by many to have been caused by uplifted rock sculpted by erosion. The above image...

THE lost city of Atlantis may have finally been uncovered after a structure was spotted poking through the ice of Antartica on Google Earth.Conspiracy theorists have long searched for the mythical city, which was first written about by philosopher Plato. Some believe it was a real place and was once the ruling power of the world before a natural disaster sank the entire island into the sea. But one man – Graham Maple, who runs YouTube channel Conspiracy Depot – may have brought an end to all the speculation after his amazing spot on the web mapping site. He believes...

More ingots of orichalcum, the ancient metal that was purported to be mined at the mythical island of Atlantis, have emerged from the seas of Sicily.

Atlantis Rising,” a new documentary by “Titanic” director James Cameron, argues the “mythical” city is the biblical Tarshish. Breaking News Israel reports the “lost city of Atlantis has been found, and it’s straight out of the Bible – at least according to a stunning new National Geographic documentary.” Emmy-winning journalist Simcha Jacobivici worked with Cameron on the newly released film. BIN reported the two followed “ancient clues through Greece, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic on a search for Atlantis.” “Along the way, they discover mind-blowing biblical connections to Atlantis, including a 3,000 year old carving that ties the mythical city...

Just a quick personal-joy vanity. I have released my 9th book into the wild and I feel so blessed that I live in a country and time where I can pursue a career based on my ability to entertain people through my writing. Almost four years ago, I lost my job and started this new stage of my life by releasing my first novel. Since then, I have had a few very successful books and a few unsuccessful books, but I am exceptionally proud of my newest one. With each book I become a stronger writer and story-teller, and my...

Europe went through a major population upheaval about 14,500 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, according to DNA from the bones of hunter-gatherers. Ancient DNA studies published in the last five years have transformed what we know about the early peopling of Europe. The picture they paint is one in which successive waves of immigration wash over the continent, bringing in new people, new genes and new technologies. These studies helped confirm that Europe's early hunter-gatherers - who arrived about 40,000 years ago - were largely replaced by farmers arriving from the Middle East about 8000...

Part 1 - Update On Deep Water Megalithic Stones and Structures Near Western Cuba © 2003 by Linda Moulton Howe   Northeast of Cabo San Antonio, marked in yellow, and down about one-half mile off the westerntip of Cuba are large stones in rectangular and pyramidal shapes. There are also huge unidentified structures that have 90 degree corners and are spread along straight corridors on the white sea floor sand.     Original high resolution side scan sonar images of large structures a half mile down on the white sand sea floor off the western tip of Cuba, received...

Exclusive Morien Institute interview with - Dr Paul Weinzweig - Advanced Digital Communications Havana, Cuba On May 28 2002 National Geographic News reported on the many recent discoveries underwater on the coastal shelves around the world. The story focussed on the recent discovery of megalithic ruins some 2,200 ft below sea level off the coast of Cuba, interviewing geologist, Manuel Iturralde, the Director of Research at Cuba's Natural History Museum. He is the Consulting Geologist for the Canadian exploration company, Advanced Digital Communications (ADC), based in Havana, Cuba, which discovered the megalithic formations It has been suggested that what...

    Update About Cuba Underwater Megalithic Research 2002 by Linda Moulton Howe A half mile down in the waters of Cabo de San Antoniooff the western tip of Cuba's Guanahacabibes marked by red X is a 20-kilometersquare area of clean, white sand punctuated by tall, megalithic stones or structures first reported in May 2001 by Paulina Zelitsky, Ocean Engineer, Havana, Cuba. "They (megalithic stones) are very unique structures. They really are not easy to understand and I do not have any easy explanation for them in a natural geological process." ­ Manuel Iturralde-Vinent, Ph.D., Geologist, National Museum of...

Explorers View 'Lost City' Ruins Under Caribbean FROM REUTERS CUBA, Dec 8 (VNN) — Author: Andrew Cawthorne HAVANA (Reuters) - Explorers using a miniature submarine to probe the sea floor off the coast of Cuba said on Thursday they had confirmed the discovery of stone structures deep below the ocean surface that may have been built by an unknown human civilization thousands of years ago. Researchers with a Canadian exploration company said they filmed over the summer ruins of a possible submerged ''lost city'' off the Guanahacabibes Peninsula on the Caribbean island's western tip. The researchers cautioned that they did...

Mystery shrouds undersea structures Years of study haven’t solved a puzzle found off Cuba’s coast Russian offshore engineer Paulina Zelitsky speaks on a radiophone aboard her ship docked at Havana. Zelitsky is trying to determine whether megalithic structures beneath the ocean's surface were left behind by a vanished civilization. By Anita Snow ASSOCIATED PRESS HAVANA, May 21 — Floating aboard the Spanish trawler she chartered to explore the Cuban coast for shipwrecks, Paulina Zelitsky pores over yellowed tomes filled with sketches and tales of lost cities — just like the one she believes she has found deep off the coast...

HAVANA -- Peering through her glasses, ocean engineer Paulina Zelitsky spent months studying the grainy, black and white sonar images on her computer screen, searching for a scientific explanation for the fantastic geometric patterns she found beneath 2,000 feet of water. Suddenly her eyes caught a calendar by her desk featuring Mayan ruins. Something clicked. Could the massive structures Zelitsky and her husband, Paul Weinzweig, stumbled upon while hunting for sunken treasure really be remnants of an ancient city?

Cubans dismiss underwater city 14/12/2001 03:03 By Andrew Cawthorne HAVANA (Reuters) - There is no evidence a recently discovered "spectacular" rock formation on the seabed off Cuba's western tip was a lost city belonging to an unknown ancient civilisation, Cuban specialists have said. Canadian exploration company Advanced Digital Communications (ADC) had indicated the structures discovered at about 2,100 feet (650 metres) below the ocean surface might be ruins of a submerged urban centre from thousands of years ago. But local specialists warned it was too early to tell, and said the formation may have a natural explanation. "There are no ...

Sunken city made by nature, critics say By MICHAEL POSNER With a report from David Keys in Middlesex, England Saturday, December 8, 2001 – Print Edition, Page A16 The discovery of what may be an ancient underwater city off Cuba's western coast is causing heated controversy in the world of marine archeologists. It was reported yesterday that a team of Canadian and Cuban researchers had taken sonar scans and videotape footage of mammoth stones submerged in 600 to 700 metres of water that seemed to be arrayed in architecturally designed formations. Paul Weinzweig, a member of the Havana-based Advanced Digital ...

Scientists study possible submerged ancient city off Cuban coast -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Story Filed: Thursday, May 09, 2002 12:30 PM EST Havana, May 09, 2002 (EFE via COMTEX) -- Large rock formations that could be part of an ancient city that sank thousands of years ago off the western tip of Cuba continue to be a mystery to Cuban and Canadian scientists. "You can see coastal outlines, totally separated from Cuba. We could say it's an island apart from Cuba," Canadian marine engineer Paulina Zelitzky told Cuban television. Zelitzky, of British Columbia-based Advanced Digital Communications (ADC) and a member of the Exploramar...

A Spanish research team, using 3-D reflection seismology, has for the first time mapped the geomorphological features of the Ebro river basin 5 to 6 million years ago. The images obtained show that the surface analysed is today 2.5 or 3 kilometres below the sea bed. "The results shed light on the way in which the sea level fell during the Messinian (between 5.33 and 6 million years ago), and imply that the subsequent inundation of the river margins happened extremely quickly," says Roger Urgeles, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Department of Marine Geology of...