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Surprise Finds at Egypt Temple "Change Everything" Steven Stanek in Luxor, Egypt for National Geographic NewsDecember 17, 2007 A series of surprising discoveries has been made at the foot of Egypt's famous Temple of Amun at Karnak, archaeologists say. The new finds include ancient ceremonial baths, a pharaoh's private entry ramp, and the remains of a massive wall built some 3,000 years ago to reinforce what was then the bank of the Nile River. A host of other artifacts, including hundreds of bronze coins, has also been found. Together the discoveries are causing experts to reconsider the history of the...

Why a Nile tadpole means a great dealAncient Egypt’s awkward numerical system was based largely on the natural worldNovember 22, 2007George Hart Recording numbers and quantities was one of the first requirements of the bureaucracy as soon as hieroglyphs had been invented. Items to be accounted for varied from enemies slain in battle and prisoners to how many jars of beer or bunches of onions were needed to accompany the Pharaoh into the afterlife. Inventories of equipment used in temples were kept meticulously and any damage noted down. The system of writing numbers was logical but cumbersome and took up...

Some had names like "Slayer of his Foes" and accompanied the pharaoh into battle. Thousands more were hunted as a ritual of bravery and strength. But only one apparently served as an eternal guardian. A French archaeologist says his discovery of the first preserved lion skeleton in an ancient Egyptian tomb demonstrates the exalted reputation enjoyed by the King of Beasts more than 3,000 years ago. "It confirms the status of the lion as a sacred animal," Alain Zivie reports in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. Zivie's research team discovered the lion's remains in 2001 as they excavated the...

LUXOR, Egypt - The face of King Tut was unshrouded in public for the first time on Sunday — 85 years after the 3,000-year-old boy pharaoh's golden enshrined tomb and mummy were discovered in Luxor's famed Valley of the Kings. Archeologists removed the mummy from his stone sarcophagus in his underground tomb, momentarily pulling aside a white linen covering to reveal a shriveled leathery black face and body. The mummy of the 19-year-old pharaoh, whose life and death has captivated people for nearly a century, was placed in a climate-controlled glass box in the tomb, with only the face and...

Canal Linking Ancient Egypt Quarry to Nile Found Steven Stanek in Cairo, Egypt for National Geographic NewsOctober 24, 2007 Experts have discovered a canal at an Aswan rock quarry that they believe was used to help float some of ancient Egypt's largest stone monuments to the Nile River. It has long been suspected that ancient workers moved the massive artifacts directly to their final destinations over waterways. Ancient artwork shows Egyptians using boats or barges to move large monuments like obelisks and statues, and canals have also been discovered at the Giza pyramids and the Luxor Temple. (Related: "Ancient Flowers...

Deadliness of West Nile virus explained 22 August 2007 NewScientist.com news service A single genetic mutation might explain why West Nile virus has, within a decade, switched from causing relatively mild infections in humans to outbreaks of deadly encephalitis. The virus, which can pass to humans via mosquitoes that feed on infected birds, didn't pose a serious threat until the mid-1990s, when outbreaks of deadly infection sprang up in Israel, Romania, Russia and eventually North America. Aaron Brault and colleagues at the University of California, Davis, discovered that these new strains have in common a mutation in the gene for...

CAIRO, Egypt - A ferry carrying a wedding party sank in the Nile south of Cairo on Friday and raised fears of casualties, but police later said they believed all passengers were accounted for. Hundreds of people were attending the late-night party on the Princess Hidy ferry when it began sinking in the river off Beni Sweif, a town some 125 miles south of Cairo, officials said. The boat, which was near the shore, went down around midnight as people were singing and dancing, said police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to...

West Nile virus surges with 27 casesOnly five had been reported by this time last year. Kern County is hit the hardest, with 22. Eighteen incidents were recorded just last week. By Marla Cone, Times Staff Writer July 22, 2007 West Nile virus, spread by mosquitoes, has taken an early hold on parts of California this summer, sickening 27 people statewide compared with only five last year at this time. Unusually high temperatures throughout the state in March triggered an earlier start to the West Nile virus season than in other years. Human illnesses have been documented in six counties,...

After a night of desperate searching, a woman discovered the mutilated remains of her beloved cat on the muddy bank of a canal near her Cape Coral home. She believes a large, ravenous and invasive lizard committed the heinous act. A now infamous name among Cape households, Nile monitors are cold- blooded predators introduced into the city sometime before 1990. These reptiles, which grow to a length of 7 feet, have proliferated, devouring just about everything in their path, including small mammals, snakes, shellfish, eggs and even juvenile alligators. It was a Nile monitor that may have eaten Suzanne Spana's...

Amazon 'outgrows Nile' By Andrew Downie in Rio de Janeiro Last Updated: 1:09am BST 18/06/2007 Brazilian scientists claim to have found a new source of the river Amazon that extends its length to beat the Nile as the longest river in the world. Scientists discovered the new source at the top of the snow-capped Mismi mountain in neighbouring southern Peru, not in the north of the country as was previously believed. The discovery adds about 284km (176 miles) to the Amazon. This takes the river to 6,800km (4,225 miles) - 105km (65 miles) longer than the Nile - according to...

Lascaux on the NileOne of the newly discovered rocks featuring three bovids with horns Palaeolithic rock art depicting animal illustrations similar to those found in the Lascaux caves in France have been discovered in the Upper Egyptian town of Kom Ombo, reports Nevine El-Aref The discovery of huge rocks decorated with Palaeolithic illustrations at the village of Qurta on the northern edge of Kom Ombo has caused excitement among the scientific community. The art was found by a team of Belgian archaeologists and restorers and features groups of cattle similar to those drawn on the walls of the French Lascaux...

A Karnak discovery shows how ancient builders shielded temples from Nile water By Ahmed Maged First Published: April 22, 2007Courtesy of the Supreme Council of Antiquities New Karnak discovery sheds light on how the ancients protected their temples from water LUXOR: Remains of an ancient Egyptian wall used to prevent the leakage of the Nile flood waters from spreading over the Karnak temple in Luxor were discovered on Thursday at the temple’s eastern side, culture minister Farouk Hosni announced on Sunday. Hosni revealed that the wall was accidentally found by Egyptian excavators during an archeological inspection of the site undertaken...

NYUNGWE FOREST, Rwanda (Reuters) - Surviving a rebel attack and braving crocodile-infested waters, a group of explorers has completed an 80-day voyage down the world's longest river reaching what they say is the source of the Nile. The three explorers from Britain and New Zealand claim to be the first to have traveled the river from its mouth to its "true source" deep in Rwanda's lush Nyungwe rainforest. "History has been rewritten," British explorer Neil McGrigor told reporters on Friday. "This is the end of an 80 day amazing and exhausting journey." The expedition, dubbed "Ascend the Nile", traveled over...

Excavations in Egypt have unearthed a grisly massacre at an ancient royal cityArchaeologists have begun to piece together the story of a mysterious massacre more than 4,000 years ago in the former royal city of Mendes, which flourished for 20 centuries on a low mound overlooking the green fields and papyrus marshes of the Nile delta north of Cairo. Donald Redford of Pennsylvania State University had begun to excavate the foundations of a huge temple linked to Rameses II, the pharaoh traditionally linked to the biblical story of Moses, when he found an earlier structure destroyed by fire, and evidence...

"An elderly Fresno County man is the third person in the state to die from complications of West Nile virus this year."

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A Pitt County woman in her late-teens is the first in the state to be infected this year with the West Nile virus. The woman was hospitalized in late July, but is now recovering at her home, said state Health Director Leah Devlin. The virus caused an inflammation of the woman's brain and spinal cord. Most people infected with West Nile virus do not develop any disease at all, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms of the mosquito-borne illness may include headache, high fever, neck stiffness, loss of consciousness, tremors, convulsions, muscle...

River of data decodes Nile cycles The Old Testament may seem like an unlikely source from which to draw inspiration for a modern-day climatology study. But a story from the book of Genesis — in which Joseph predicts seven years of abundant crops, followed by seven years of famine for Egypt — drove researchers to scour centuries of water-level data for the Nile River to determine if such a cycle actually exists, and if so, what causes it. This Byzantine-period mosaic from northern Israel shows a man carving on a “nilometer” the highest level the Nile reached in that year....

This month, the New Jersey Pest Management Association issued a news release to warn against the prospect of billions of mosquitoes and threat of West Nile Fever they pose. West Nile Fever arrived in New York City in 1999 and, within three years, it had spread to California. In Washington, an executive order was signed recently to insure that avian flu does not reach these shores and, when a single case of Mad Cow Disease was discovered, the border was shut to Canadian beef. When SARS broke out in Red China a few years ago, it too was quickly quarantined....

Robot made in Singapore to reveal secrets of pyramids August 07, 2004 The Supreme Council of Antiquities SCA Secretary-General Dr. Zahi Hawwas said the secrets of the pyramids will be revealed next year, noting that the council agreed with a Singaporean University to manufacture a robot for revealing what are behind the secret doors inside the pyramid, especially the second and the third ones. He added that work is underway in the radar project that will be used in revealing what is inside the ground between the second Pyramid and the Sphinx. This came during the meeting that was held...

State health officials are working with local animal control agencies to collect and dispose of dead birds in an effort to track and contain the spread of West Nile virus in California. The California Department of Health Services Web site (www.westnile.ca.gov) reports that there has been one case of a bird infected with West Nile in San Joaquin County, a dead barn owl found north of Stockton. Lodi Animal Shelter workers say they receive an average of three calls a day about dead birds. They refer the callers to the state health department's hotline (877-968-2473) to determine if the bird...

The EU's 25 foreign ministers urged the Sudanese government to implement a July 3 promise to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to crack down on pro-government Arab militias, improve security and provide better access for relief efforts.

West Preparing for Return of West Nile By DAN D'AMBROSIO, Associated Press Writer DELTA, Colo. - Insects are shaking off the winter cold in the West, promising another season of the West Nile virus, the mosquito-borne killer that has infected thousands of people — killing 564 of them — since the first domestic case turned up in New York in 1999. For two-thirds of the country, the crisis has largely passed. But in the West, health officials are drawing up battle plans from the apple orchards of western Colorado to the California coast. Carried by birds bitten by infected mosquitos,...

A letter written by English explorer David Livingstone which was left at the mouth of the Zambezi River in a bottle urgently requesting provisions from any passing ship that found it. The letter was written on May 25, 1859, and is expected to fetch up to $50,000 when it's auctioned later this year. Photo: AFP London: A message in a bottle left at the mouth of an African river by legendary explorer Dr David Livingstone almost 150 years ago is expected to fetch as much as $50,000 when it is auctioned later this year. The note, penned by Dr...

A battle for control over the Nile has broken out between Egypt, which regards the world's longest river as its lifeblood, and the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, which complain that they are denied a fair share of its water. In the latest escalation in the dispute, which some observers believe could lead to a new conflict in east Africa, Tanzania has announced plans to build a 105-mile pipeline drawing water from Lake Victoria, which feeds the Nile. The project flouts a treaty giving Egypt a right of veto over any work which might threaten the flow of the river. The...

Panel wonders if West Nile is bioterrorism, Diana Washington Valdez El Paso Times -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is West Nile virus bioterror? The U.S.-Mexico Border Commission plans to take up as one of its topics later this year the West Nile virus. Dr. Laurance Nickey, one of the commissioners, said experts are projecting a favorable season for the mosquito that transmits the virus. It is intriguing that the Centers for Disease Control says on its Web site that the virus was not detected in the Western Hemisphere until 1999, when it hit New York City. Before that, the CDC reports, the virus was...

"As West Nile Virus returns for another vicious season in the United States, the ignorance of politicians and the general American population comes to light. When a few politicians began to question the origin of the virus, it became the hit joke of late-night TV. But how many comedians really research what they are discreetly condemning? In fact, how many of the investigators fighting the disease are researching the potentially controversial origins of the disease? Needless to say, only the experts have even heard of West Nile Virus ever being created into a biological weapon by enemy countries, even though...

Source: NIH/National Institute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases Date: 2003-08-19 Promising West Nile Virus Vaccine Protects Monkeys Scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have created a promising vaccine against West Nile virus by replacing parts of a distantly related virus with proteins from the West Nile virus. The NIAID research team replaced proteins in a virus known as dengue type 4 with the corresponding West Nile virus proteins, creating a hybrid virus vaccine that protects monkeys from West Nile infection, they report in a paper to be published in the September issue of the journal...

West Nile Virus set for fresh rampage across US 16:18 08 August 03 NewScientist.com news service Cases of West Nile Virus in the US have tripled in a week, prompting officials to warn that the 2003 outbreak may well surpass the previous year's record levels. At least 164 people in 16 different states are infected with the deadly virus, compared with 59 a week ago. Seven people have died so far in 2003 from WNV. The virus's spread also appears more extensive this year - by 7 August 2002, there had been 112 human cases in only four states, Julie...

Alabama has year's first West Nile death Five new cases are announced 07/29/03 By CHRISTMAS McGAUGHEY Staff Reporter Alabama's health agency announced Monday five new cases of West Nile virus in people ranging from ages 5 to 83, including the state's first death this year from the mosquito-transmitted virus. One of the new cases is in Baldwin County, while another is in Monroe County. The Baldwin victim's wife, who spoke with the Mobile Register, said her 81-year-old husband was in critical condition Monday evening at a Baldwin hospital. The Monroe victim was reported by the state to be recovering at...

West Nile was worse than thought April 1, 2003 BY JIM RITTER HEALTH REPORTER The mosquito-borne West Nile virus hit harder than previously believed, with more than half of hospitalized patients suffering serious nerve damage, a new study has found. Fifty-four percent of patients admitted to three Chicago hospitals last year suffered from symptoms including vision loss, paralysis of more than half the body, muscle weakness, abnormally slow movement, numbness and an unstable walk, the study released Monday found--symptoms similar to those of Parkinson's disease, stroke, polio and other diseases that damage nerves. "It was worse than what I was...

After West Nile VirusWhat will it do to the birds and beasts of North America? Susan Milius The alligators at Clabrook Farm were under the weather last fall. Some seemed depressed, others were wobbly, and a few crawled in circles. Within a few days of first showing such symptoms, alligators at the farm near Christmas, Fla., sank into neurological meltdown and died. During September and October, the farm lost about 300 of the 9,000 gators that it was raising for meat and hide. CAN'T HIDE. The American alligator's thick skin doesn't protect it from West Nile virus, at least not...

West Nile Virus Can Cause Polio-like Symptoms HONOLULU, HI – More evidence shows that West Nile virus can cause a polio-like syndrome with paralysis and impaired breathing. Researchers conducted tests on the bodies of four people who died after developing polio-like symptoms along with West Nile virus infections. The research, which is being presented during the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting in Honolulu, March 29-April 5, 2003, provided further evidence that West Nile virus can cause the polio-like symptoms of muscle weakness, acute paralysis and impaired breathing. "As we head into another season with this virus, it's very important...

Woman Claims West Nile From Sex Wednesday October 30, 2002 1:10 AM DENVER (AP) - A Colorado woman said Tuesday she believes she contracted the West Nile virus through sexual contact with her infected husband. Health officials said they have no evidence the disease can be spread sexually, but won't rule out the possibility. ``We aren't going to be able to confirm or rule out that possibility since she was also in the area where her husband and son may have been infected. She was probably infected by a mosquito,'' said John Pape, an epidemiologist with the state Department of...

Source: Cornell University (http://www.cornell.edu) Date: Posted 10/8/2002 Watch Bird Feeders For Impact Of West Nile Virus, Cornell Lab Of Ornithology Advises 17,000 Citizen-Scientist Volunteers ITHACA, N.Y. -- Thousands of volunteers have a new assignment from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology -- documenting the impact of West Nile virus while counting birds for the 2002-03 season of Project FeederWatch. This is the second time the volunteers have been asked to help scientists track an epidemic. Previously they kept notes on the spread of house finch conjunctivitis. Since 1987 the Cornell lab has run the winter FeederWatch survey, asking bird enthusiasts of...

Another Polio? Alarming West Nile fever risks emerge John Pickrell and Janet Raloff Having struck nearly 2,100 people and killed 98 in the United States so far this year, West Nile virus infection amounts to an epidemic. Now, medical workers have found poliolike symptoms in a few victims, and last week, federal officials said that blood transfusions appear to have infected some people. The first U.S. cases of West Nile fever were reported in 1999 in New York. Since then, it's hit 35 other states. The disease is generally transmitted by mosquitoes. Though flulike symptoms are most common, some severe...

STAMFORD, Conn. -- A 65-year-old man who contracted the West Nile virus was released Monday from Stamford Hospital. The Stamford resident was admitted Sept. 14 with a high fever, disorientation and trouble walking, said hospital spokesman Scott Orstad. He was treated with the drug alpha interferon, but doctors don't know if the drug _ normally used to treat hepatitis patients _ is responsible for his recovery, Orstad said. "We're not sure if the drug, his immune system or the combination of the two are responsible," he said. Doctors participating in a national study have experienced some success in treating West...

Experts worry that West Nile risk has been exaggerated 09/01/02 By BILL FINCH Environment Editor Alabamians are spraying insecticide, begging for federal dollars, even raising property taxes in hopes of combating an epidemic of West Nile, the mosquito-borne virus that during this year alone has been diagnosed in at least 555 people nationally and resulted in 28 deaths. But Mobile doctors say they're more worried about how they'll combat another, far more deadly disease that is expected to hit North America in a few short months. This winter, scientists say, Alabamians will be fighting to survive a new strain of...

Genetic susceptibility to West Nile virus 22:00 19 August 02 NewScientist.com news service A genetic mutation might explain why only one fifth of people infected with West Nile virus go on to develop symptoms - and why only one fifth of these people develop a severe, often fatal, brain inflammation, say French researchers. West Nile virus, named after the area in Uganda where it was first detected, is mosquito-borne. It belongs to the family of flaviviruses, which includes dengue and yellow fever. And it is currently sweeping across the US, with the first recorded infection on the west coast reported...

West Nile Kills Fifth Person in Louisiana Tue Aug 6, 5:02 PM ET By Michael Depp NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - The West Nile virus ( news - web sites) has killed a fifth person in Louisiana and nearly a dozen more have contracted the disease, making the state's outbreak the largest ever in the United States, state health officials said on Tuesday. Reuters Slideshow: West Nile Virus Officials said a 76-year-old woman was the fifth fatality from the disease, which has infected 71 people in the state. Since there are three more months left in swampy Louisiana's hot season, officials...

West Nile virus will sweep across whole US 18:15 06 August 02 NewScientist.com news service West Nile virus is continuing to sweep westwards across the US, with 88 confirmed cases and five human deaths so far in 2002. The mosquito-borne disease was first recorded in the US in New York in 1999 and experts think it will have swept across the entire continent by the end of this summer, or the next. But climate-based "risk maps" are helping public health officials predict precisely which areas will be hit. "These are a big advance on what we had," says zoologist David...