finding the disappeared

Iran election: faces of the dead and detained
Faces of Iran's dead and detained, identify each of the hundreds – possibly thousands – killed or arrested since the Iranian election with the interactive graphic

火星

火星有湖泊證據確鑿 可能曾有生命
(法新社)2009年6月19日 星期五 13:35



（法新社華盛頓18日電） 美國科學家在火星發現古代湖泊遺跡，使他們對於掌握火星數十億年前生命存在證據，信心大增。

科羅拉多大學（University of Colorado）研究小組今天表示，這個34億年前的湖泊，面積似乎多達207平方公里，深500公尺。

研究助理狄艾奇里（Gaetano Di Achille）在最新一期「地球物理研究通訊」（Geophysical Research Letters）上表示：「這是火星表面存有岸線地帶的第一個確鑿證據。」

根據研究，湖泊據信存在於赫斯伯利亞紀（Hesperian era），延續到3億年前溫暖濕潤期結束後。

科學家相信，湖泊旁的三角洲可能握有火星生命秘密。

狄艾奇里說：「在地球，三角洲和湖泊是過去生命跡象最佳的蒐集和保存家。如果火星曾有生命，三角洲或許就是解開火星既往生物學之鑰。」

robots

'I got a new head, and I'm fine'
The bikes ... the robots ... the dream of man and machine in perfect harmony. How is the Kraftwerk vision of the future shaping up? Ralf Hütter gives a rare interview to John Harris

茄子

2009年6月16日
醒胃有營 涼拌茄子
【明報專訊】愛吃茄子的人，對它那軟綿綿的質感一定會大聲叫好。有一著名食府把茄子去皮蒸熟後，做成冰鎮的冷盤，酸中有甜，最合夏天吃。至於加上豆瓣醬來蒸，則是另一種我愛極的吃法。

含豐富鉀質

據美國農業部的營養資料庫指出，茄子九成是水分。礦物質中，以鉀質含量較突出，每100克（或1量杯）有123毫克，與另一種夏天常見的瓜類青瓜的含量（142毫克），不相伯仲。

今天的「新起點」菜式「涼拌茄子」，也是用蒸的方法來烹調。茄子幾乎不含油，食譜中亦不加油。平時在外用膳，攝取的油分並不少，這道菜夠清淡，正好平衡一下。



涼拌茄子

材料：

茄子1條

韭菜末2湯匙

新鮮冬菇2湯匙

番茄粒1/4杯

蒜蓉半茶匙

調味料﹕

天然醬油1湯匙

天然蜂蜜1湯匙

水1湯匙

製法﹕

1、茄子洗淨，去頭尾，切成一吋長段，置鍋中蒸熟，待涼

2、新鮮冬菇洗淨，蒸熟，切碎，待用

3、將調味料拌勻，加入其餘的材料，即可

「飲食新起點」提供健康飲食要點與天然材料製作的素菜食譜

螢火蟲

2009年6月13日
【明報專訊】晉朝車胤捕捉螢火蟲放在紗布袋裏，用微弱的光芒來夜讀。現代科技先進，已不需囊螢夜讀，但閃閃發光的螢火蟲亦因城市發展而愈來愈少。這種尾巴發光的小昆蟲，夜裏在田野洞穴間飛舞，照亮漆黑的夜空。茂朱郡南大川位於靜美郊區，自然風景優美，是韓國著名的螢火蟲棲息地。在茂朱螢火蟲節舉行期間，導遊每晚7時會帶領遊客往南大川上游的森林，參觀螢火蟲棲息地，近距離觀賞這種惹人喜愛的生物。


「愛之橋」有11萬顆綠色燈泡，旅客猶如置身螢火蟲群中。
（圖片由韓國觀光公社提供）

昆蟲標本逾13,500

在雪川面清涼里的螢火蟲樂園則設有昆蟲博物館，內有13,500多隻昆蟲標本。另外，在「愛之橋」，主辦單位更以11萬顆綠色燈泡，營造螢火蟲洞中繁蟲閃耀的情景，希望藉此宣揚愛護地球，支持生態保育信息。

■Info

日期﹕6月13至21日

地點﹕全羅北道茂朱郡寒風樓公園一帶、南大川水邊公園、螢火蟲樂園

網址﹕http://firefly.or.kr

火星恐撞地球

2009年6月12日 星期五

35億年後 火星恐撞地球

【明報專訊】地球可能與火星相撞！法國巴黎天文台周三公布一項研究顯示，一種稱為軌道混沌（orbital chaos）的力量，有可能使我們的太陽系陷入混亂，導致地球與火星乃至金星最快在35億年後相撞。但研究同時強調，出現相撞的機率甚低，約為1/2500。

軌道混沌力量致混亂

報告指出，在未來50億年，太陽系各行星仍有99％機率按規律運行，之後太陽很可能會逐步走向衰亡，膨脹成巨大紅火球，吞噬地球、水星、金星及火星。研究員拉斯卡爾（Jacques Laskar）利用強大電腦系統，得出未來50億年太陽系軌道不穩定的模擬數據，在2501個可能情中，有25個情顯示太陽系會發生嚴重混亂，「其中一個情是，火星與地球十分接近，相距只有794公里，如此近距離意味了相撞，兩行星都會撕裂，地球上的生命將滅絕」，若加入微細軌道調整推算，金星也可能會被捲入。

拉氏解釋，所有太陽系混亂的可能情，都是源於水星。「水星是導火線，因為它質量最小，將是首個失衡出軌的行星」，到某時刻，水星軌道還將受到木星軌道影響，失衡加劇，屆時木星的「角動量」（angular momentum）將破壞其他行星軌道。

天文學家很早就可精確計算行星幾百年甚至幾千年後的運動，但拉氏指出，要準確預測更遠日子後的天體運作，仍是超越人類所及，「準確預測太陽系行星軌道運動，最多只可預測至數千萬年後」。

法新社

光害

2009年6月12日 星期五

灣仔旺角光害超西貢500倍

【明報專訊】港大最新完成的研究發現，香港絕大部分地區的夜空已遭光害攻陷，當中以旺角及灣仔最嚴重，光度較全港最暗的西貢東部及大嶼山南部足足高出500倍，晚間抬頭觀看夜空，連一粒星也看不到，情非常惡劣。

研究又發現，晚上11時前後的夜空，光度有明顯分別。港大認為由於大部分室外照明都會在深夜關燈，因此出現愈夜愈暗現象，反映這些照明設施是本港光害的元兇。

該研究進行了18個月，向200多名學生及天文愛好者派發感光儀器，在各區每逢5、10、15、20、25及30日，每晚9時30分及11時30 分，各記錄一次光度，每次記錄下來的數據，都是進行多次量度得出的平均數。由於該研究目的是為了監測夜空的光度，參加者會到附近沒有光源直射的地區量度，例如大廈天台或公園，製作出來的光害地圖只反映夜空的光度，並非招牌或接近地面的光度。

元朗天水圍同「受害」

事實上，港大過去曾進行規模較小的研究，當時只比較港大及郊區的夜空光度，發現兩者只相差30倍。今次的全面研究共蒐集了2000組數據，遍及全港，發現本港「最光」及「最暗」的地點，光度足足相差500倍。最令港大物理學系助理教授潘振聲表示令人訝異的，是地圖上顯示光害嚴重的地點，除了鬧市，還遍布新界新市鎮如元朗、屯門及天水圍等，「我最初以為新界不會太嚴重，怎料新界地區亦已淪陷！」

旺角灣仔看不到1粒星

地圖顯示，光害最嚴重的旺角及灣仔以紅色標示，光度為13等每平方角秒，即是1粒恆星也看不到，只可看到月亮、金星及木星等行星。潘振聲表示，夜空至少要達到14.7（數字愈大代表愈暗），肉眼才僅可看到最亮的1等星，如牛郎及織女星等，而這類恆星只有寥寥7粒。至於市區的平均光度約15等每平方角秒，在天朗氣清的日子亦只可看到20粒星。

西貢東壩及大嶼山水口是全港最暗的地方，光度為20.1，但仍較國際最暗的標準21.6相差甚遠，估計與雲量及濕度等氣象因素有關。潘振星指出，本港其實還有一些地點可以觀星，例如赤柱、荃灣、梅窩及長洲，研究顯示光度平均值達到17，肉眼可見50粒星，適合觀星初學者。


由國際太空站拍攝的香港及鄰近珠江三角洲夜景，揭露了香港各處的夜空光度與人口的分佈有莫大關係。（美國太空總署）


國金二期（中）是「荒謬的燈09」網上選舉，其中一幢入圍的大廈。（地球之友提供）



國金強光向上射
被指「暴力式照明」

【明報專訊】隨覑城市發展，香港的觀星聖地已剩下大嶼山南部及西貢東部，若不推行保育措施，遲早亦會消失。對於港府正研究立法規管光污染，港大物理學系助理教授潘振聲提醒，不應忽略光害對周圍地區的影響，「設定保育區的界線沒有用，一幢大廈將燈光向上射，足以令大範圍的夜空淪陷。」環境局發言人預期今年底完成光污染的顧問研究，並會聽取環保團體的意見。

向上射影響範圍大增

地球之友蒐集去年所有政府部門接獲的光污染投訴數字，全年高達199宗，分別較前年及07年上升1倍及1.9倍。該組織環境事務經理朱漢強表示，最近有外地學者批評香港光害為「暴力式城市照明」，認為應盡快立法規管。他又透露，該組織剛完成的「荒謬的燈09」網上選舉，其中入圍的國際金融中心二期，便被網民批評該大廈向上照射的燈光是「自私的燈」。

專家：全球五分一人
看不見星空

【明報專訊】美國國家光學天文台專家沃克（Connie Walker）指出，光污染已令全球五分之一人（主要是歐洲大陸、英國和美國）在夜晚看不見銀河。他說：「夜賞銀河也屬於地球自然遺產。」

專家警告，光污染不僅令人們看不到星空，還會影響健康。光污染輕則擾亂生理時鐘導致睡眠困難，重則可致癌。科學家曾對以色列147個社區進行研究，發現住在光污染最嚴重地區的婦女，罹患乳癌的機會較大。這相信是由於晚上的非自然光影響婦女的荷爾蒙水平，例如令抑制癌症的褪黑激素分泌大減。此外，亦有專家指出，晚上輪班工作的女性，患乳癌的風險較其他在白天工作的婦女高五成。專家建議，若想減低光污染引致乳癌風險，人們每天晚上應在漆黑的房間睡9小時，避免讓室內外光線照到。

寒天

啖啖寒天 消消暑
2009年6月9日

【明報專訊】6月香港，政治是灰天冷地，氣溫則是火舞拦沙，炎熱一步一步的襲人而來，叫人無處躲避，或者只能躲避於空調之中。要消除暑氣，雪糕、刨冰、汽水未免一無益處，西瓜又好像太意料中事，或者可考慮一下稍為冷門的日本寒天和葛切。

寒天，唔，多麼富有意境的名字——寒冷、天氣，嘩，驟聽起來，已覺透心涼，熱氣都減了一半。據說，是江戶時代京都府的美濃屋旅館的主人太郎左衛門，在寒冬發現置於戶外的乾海藻有凝結的特性，而將其命名為寒天。

所以，唔怕生壞命，最怕改壞名，名字是多麼的重要。如果告訴閣下，寒天即是大菜，你對寒天的印象，定會至少打個88折吧。

上品大菜糕 減肥健美好幫手

事實上，寒天的而且確是我們從小到大都不怎樣重視的大菜糕。不過寒天又不等於大菜。像葡萄，有中國內地、加州、歐洲貨，也有巨峰，大家都是葡萄家族成員，但有品質高低之分，大菜亦有階級觀念，寒天就是上品的一種。

大菜只是一般的海藻萃取物，有說是「窮人燕窩」，以前的百姓吃不起，就以大菜作為心理安慰。雖說是愛的替身，但毫不失禮，因為有益，含水溶性纖維等各種成分，《本草綱目》都有說海藻有助紓緩支氣管炎、氣喘、咳嗽等問題，而且大菜吸收大量水分，加水溶解後就變得大大件，增加腸胃的飽滿感，是減肥人士的好朋友。

比大菜高出一等的寒天，是海底紅藻細胞壁所萃取，這種海藻生長於高緯度海域，生命力頑強，提煉出來的寒天的食物纖維含量比蒟蒻高出31倍，卻只有少量卡路里，還有降低血壓、膽固醇、預防大腸癌等功用，所以在日本很有人氣，在台灣更是紅爆，市面上大量湧現寒天粉、寒天糖、寒天膠囊、寒天餅乾、寒天蛋糕等，「寒天」二字，是減肥或健康網友熱烈討論的話題。

在日本，常常都吃到寒天，水準和價錢有高有低。創業於1886年的京都老字號栖園，每年夏天便推出品質上乘的「琥珀流」，即是寒天拌糖水和水果，味道清新爽涼。類似的東西，在香港的麻布茶房的櫥窗也找到，不過仔細看，發覺文字說明為「gelatine」（魚膠）。儘管都是透明的滑滑的東西，不過跟寒天就離題萬丈了，倒是要讚店舖夠坦白。在無印良品和city'super有一些寒天產品，有粉末有粉條也有甜品，悉隨尊便。

彈牙有口感 葛切鹹甜皆宜

夏日的白色透明狀日本名物，除了寒天，還有一種喚作葛切（くずきり），是由葛粉製成，有退熱生津、止渴止瀉、提升陽氣、降糖降脂等多種功效。葛切比寒天昂貴，也更有彈性的口感，而且鹹甜皆宜。在崇光超市可找到幼幼的葛條，既可入火鍋，又可加黑蜜做甜品；源吉兆庵的抹茶葛切，更是充滿東洋風味。

但啊，最好吃的葛切，還看開業逾300年的京都甜品老舖鍵善良房，以奈良縣吉野山種植的頂級葛製成（中國貨色被指有農藥殘留問題，不受名店採用），吃的時候也煞有介事：以精美的雙層漆盒盛載，上層是黑糖蜜汁，下層是浮游在冰水與冰塊之間的葛切，食客細心地從下層夾起葛切，蘸一點黑蜜，就可入口，感受到難得的彈力十足與清爽無垠。吃過那麼優秀的葛切，夏天不再一樣了。

■實用資料

鍵善良房（京都）：www.kagizen.co.jp

栖園（京都）：www.ochaya.com/daigokuden.htm

太空旅遊團

hummingbird

Hummingbirds outpace fighter pilots
The birds are faster than fighter jets relative to size and withstand g-forces that would make the average human black out


Composite photo of an Anna's hummingbird executing a high-speed dive. The males make the dives to impress females.

Hummingbirds are the fastest animals on Earth, relative to their body size. They can cover more body lengths per second than any other vertebrate and for their size can even outpace fighter jets and the space shuttle – while withstanding g-forces that would make a fighter pilot black out.

Christopher James Clark, a zoologist at the University of California, Berkeley, took high-speed pictures of male Anna's hummingbirds performing dives as part of their courtship ritual. He measured them moving at up to 385 body lengths per second (blps), which is around 27.3 metres per second.

This is the highest speed ever recorded for a vertebrate, relative to its size. The only animals that can move faster relative to their body size are insects such as fleas...

future gardens

Future Gardens: a first view
James Alexander-Sinclair on a new show that has spawned some stunning gardens

climate change in the Himalayas

Captured on camera: 50 years of climate change in the Himalayas
Series of before and after panoramas of Imja glacier taken five decades apart highlights dramatic reduction of Himalayan ice


A very deep layer of ice covered the Imja glacier in the 1950s (top photo). Over the next 50 years, small meltwater ponds continued to grow and merge, and by the mid 1970s had formed the Imja lake. By 2007, the lake had grown to around 1km long.

When Fritz Müller and Erwin Schneider battled ice storms, altitude sickness and snow blindness in the 1950s to map, measure and photograph the Imja glacier in the Himalayas, they could never have foreseen that the gigantic tongue of millennia-old glacial ice would be reduced to a lake within 50 years.

But half a century later, American mountain geographer Alton Byers returned to the precise locations of the original pictures and replicated 40 panoramas taken by explorers Müller and Schneider. Placed together, the juxtaposed images are not only visually stunning but also of significant scientific value.

The photos have now been united for the first time in an exhibition organised by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (Icimod) and are printed here for the first time in Britain.

The Himalaya – Changing Landscapes exhibition opened in Bonn this week as delegates gathered ifor the next round of UN talks aimed at delivering a global deal on tackling global warming. The series of pictures tell a story not only about the dramatic reductions in glacial ice in the Himalayas, but also the effects of climate change on the people who live there.

"Only five decades have passed between the old and the new photographs and the changes are dramatic," says Byers. "Many small glaciers at low altitudes have disappeared entirely and many larger ones have lost around half of their volume. Some have formed huge glacial lakes at the foot of the glacier, threatening downstream communities in case of an outburst."

His scientific results were published in the Himalayan Journal of Sciences and he is now in the Cordillera Blanca mountains in Peru where he will replicate Schneider's 1930 photos of glaciers.

"Much remains uncertain about the melting of glaciers and future water supplies," he said. "But what is certain is that by promoting the conservation and restoration of mountain watersheds we can counter many of the impacts of warming trends, by creating cooler environments, saving biodiversity and protecting water supplies."

The effects of climate change are dramatically illustrated at the world's "third pole", so-called because the mountain range locks away the highest volume of frozen water after the north and south poles.

The 1956 photograph of the Imja glacier, then one of the largest glaciers at an altitude of around 5,000m, shows a layer of thick ice with small meltwater ponds. But by the time Byers took his shot in 2007, much of the glacier had melted into a vast but stunning blue lake. Today, the Imja glacier, which is just 6km from Everest, continues to recede at a rate of 74m a year - the fastest rate of all the Himayalan glaciers.

Nepal's average temperature has increased by 1.5C since 1975 . A major UN Environment Programme report last year warned that at current rates of global warming, the Himalayan glaciers could shrink from 500,000 square kilometres to 100,000 square kilometres by the 2030s - a prediction supported by the rate of retreat seen in Byers' pictures.

Imja is one of 27 glacial lakes in Nepal classified as potentially dangerous. If the moraines which dam the lake are breached, thousands of lives in the most densely populated Sherpa valley in Nepal are at risk from flooding and landslides.

Himalayan glaciers also feed into major Asian river systems including the Ganges, Indus, Mekong and Yangtze. If glacial meltwaters turn to a trickle, widespread droughts will threaten the 1.3 billion people that depend on water flowing in those rivers .

Andreas Schild, the director general of Icimod, said the photographs reveal just "the tip of the iceberg".

"Scientific evidence shows that the effects of globalisation and climate change are being felt in even the most remote Himalayan environments," he said. "While climate change is mostly caused by the highly industrialised parts of the world, the effects are taking their toll in the sensitive mountain areas. The signs are visible, but the in-depth knowledge and data from the Himalayan region is largely missing. What happens in this remote mountain region is a serious concern for the whole world."

crop circles

'It's raining shapes every day'
For a while there it looked as if crop circles were dying out. Had people lost interest in making them - or did the aliens stop coming? Well now the circles are back, bigger and bolder than ever. John Vidal reports




Kingston Coombes, Oxfordshire.

Raining shapes
John Vidal on the bizarre revival of the crop circle

Adrian Potts, landlord of the Barge Inn outside Pewsey in Wiltshire, was pretty cheerful yesterday morning. The pub, on the Avon Kennet canal, is the centre of the British crop circle industry and each year, starting in early May and running for about four months, circle fans (and circle-makers) turn up from round the world. The backroom of the pub has circles on the ceiling, news of the latest formations is posted, and the chat revolves around the images that have been appearing for more than 20 years in the fields of southern England.

Potts has sold many pints on the back of crop circles, but for the last few years the Barge has been quiet. "In the late 1990s and through to 2002, [the crop circle trade] was massive. On a sunny day we'd have people here by 10am. But it dropped off and the last few years have been dreadful. The last two summers have been terrible - both in terms of weather and of circles," he says.

There are many explanations as to why the circles barely appeared in Wiltshire. The suicide of one of the chief circle-makers in 2006 and the death of two others, as well as boredom in the ranks of pranksters, have all been cited. Mostly, though, it is thought that heavy rain and high winds have made crops hard to handle and have deterred aliens and humans alike.

But just as the demise of the peculiarly English rural tradition was predicted, the circles - which can take the shape of DNA structures, scorpions, snowflakes, helices, webs, knots and complex geometric patterns - have abruptly returned in force.

The 2009 season began in April with an unprecedented six formations. The first was a series of simple circles in a field of rape; then came a 350ft yin-yang symbol in a barley field near Devizes. Three ambitious formations were reported over the last bank holiday and on Tuesday this week a giant 600ft jellyfish was found in a barley field on Bill and Sally Ann Spence's farm near Kingston Coombes in Oxfordshire.

As of yesterday, there have been more than 20 major formations spotted. Potts, who could claim to be something of an expert on the subject, has a hunch that this will be a good summer for circles: "The crops are not true enough yet. Weather permitting, I'd say the best ones will start now. In the next two weeks there should be a burst of activity."

Francine Blake, who founded the Wiltshire crop circle study group in 1995, shares Potts's optimism. She and other self-appointed investigators identify, measure, photograph, and report on all formations. They go circle-spotting at night in likely places, send crop stalks for chemical analysis in university laboratories (yes, really), and have more than 6,000 crop circles on their database.

She was excited by the jellyfish: "It's fantastic. When we look at it, it's got seven small circles, or moon shapes. It's describing the magnetic field of Earth," she says. She too is optimistic about the summer ahead: "This year started much earlier. There's one every day now. It is very intense already. I have never seen such complex designs in rape in all my years of studying this subject. Usually, the season starts with a nice little pattern, a tri-petal flower or such like, one or maybe two in rape if we are lucky. But this year they are big, complex and numerous right from the start."

"What does this mean?" Blake asks on her blog. "It means that we have to take note that something extraordinary is happening. Crop circles are not normal occurrences, they do not fit in too well with our usual beliefs. This of course is not to everyone's liking - it is not easy to face the unknown."

From this you may gather that Blake eschews more prosaic explanations for the circles. In fact the professional circle world divides neatly. One hemisphere is occupied by questors, spiritualists and paranormalists, such as Blake; the other by makers, tricksters and artists.

The first group can tell from post-holes, foot tracks, and other clear signs that the majority are made by humans. But they argue that many crop circles - perhaps 20% - defy rational explanation. Their research suggests that "true circles" are created in a very few minutes by a blast of energy. According to some, the crop cells become swollen and are bent down at the nodes, or joints. Others say the cellular structure of the plants is affected and that the composition of the soil is altered. A few circles, they say, display a phenomenal level of complexity and would be difficult to draw on paper, let alone in a field after dark.

When they cannot explain what they see, they turn to UFOs, aliens, symbols, alchemy, ancient wisdom, sacred geometry, whirlwinds, the fingerprints of God or unknown "entities" to explain what they say are messages from extra-terrestrials or signs and portents of the times.

The second group is made up of artists and pranksters. What began in the late 1970s with two Wiltshire watercolour artists, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, going into the fields for a laugh to create simple circles to tease those who believe in UFOs, was picked up by London-based artists and sculptors in the mid-1990s.

One group, now calling themselves the Circlemakers, includes situationist artists Rod Dickinson and John Lundberg, the sculptor Gavin Turk, Rob Irving and others. They say on their website that they latched on to the circle believers, created images from reading the same books that the believers read, and that they now team up with other teams of circle-makers to create ambitious formations. Together they say they have made crop circles an essential part of our popular culture, part of the myth of the English countryside.

"We weren't pushing paint around on a canvas that sat in a sterile gallery environment; we were quite literally forming and shaping the culture that surrounded us," Lundberg said in 2004. "We are the heretics, calling their belief system into question by the mere fact that we exist and talk about our circle-making activities. Sometimes this spills over into threatening behaviour on the part of the believer. We've had potatoes stuck up our exhausts, wing mirrors ripped off of our cars, and threats of physical violence, in person, over the phone, via email and through our letterboxes."

For a long time the Circlemakers kept their identities secret but they now openly claim to have made many hundreds of circles. However, they play the game that there is some inexplicable force out there by not claiming to have made them all, and never revealing which particular ones they created.

Those in the other camp are adamant the Circlemakers are destructive. "They used to call themselves Team Satan. They live in south London and it takes them days to make them even in daylight. They have nothing to do with the phenomenon," says Blake.

The other reason why there may have been fewer circles in recent years is that leading circle-makers are growing up, and can now command big money. Formations are now regularly commissioned by multinational companies, advertising agencies and the media. Nike, Pepsi, BBC1, Greenpeace, Sky, Weetabix, Big Brother, Mitsubishi, Thompson Holidays and O2 have all paid circle-makers tens of thousands of pounds for a night's work. They have been made for pop videos, corporate parties, TV dramas and ads. The Sun paid for one to publicise its campaign to bring the Olympics to Britain.

From being genuinely intriguing, amusing and innocent folk art, the formations have become worth millions of pounds to the Wiltshire tourist industry. Farmers, too, can make thousands of pounds, either in compensation from companies wanting to have their logos plastered in their fields, or from charging people £2 each to walk in a circled field. One farmer near Stonehenge is said to have made about £30,000 by charging tourists to visit circles on his land.

The "believers" also make money from conferences, books, magazines, and calendars, lectures and sightseeing tours. "A good aerial picture of a sophisticated circle picked up by TV or the press can make tens of thousands of pounds," says the head of one picture agency, who asked not to be named. "Everyone is at it."

Of course some farmers are furious to find their crops flattened. They do tend to stand up again, however, after they've been bent over; normally this is enough to smooth most feathers. And no one is suggesting that this year's circles have been commissioned by tourist boards, or have been sponsored by corporations. But it's more than likely that someone will make money from the photographs, the field, or the design of these latest additions to the oeuvre.

Blake dismisses any idea that the phenomenon is driven by art or by money. "Something important is happening. It's raining shapes every day now. Nothing man-made could be like this. That's why people can't get their heads round it."

How to make a crop circle

• Prepare a detailed drawing. Keep it simple. Circles and triangles are relatively easy to make. Advanced curves, spirals, straight lines, fractals and pictures can take a long time to mark out and work.

• You will need helpers; decide who will do what and in what order the image needs to be constructed.

• You will need a marked rope or a 100ft measuring tape to mark out the site, and a foot-wide wooden board about 4ft long to do the flattening. The board should have ropes attached to each end so you can loop it over your neck.

• Ask permission from a farmer and be prepared to pay compensation. A crop circle can cause hundreds of pounds of damage.

• Wait for a moonlit night when it is dry. Enter the field by the tramlines, or marks left by tractors.

• Mark out the field carefully. Some circle makers use sticks or poles but these can leave tell-tale holes of human intervention.

• Put the rope round your neck, with the board on the ground in front of you; press down with your right foot, move it forward, press it down again, and so on.

• Leave the field the same way you entered.

• Hide your tracks.

space shuttle and telescope speeding across the sun

Solar powered: Amateur astronomer snaps space shuttle and telescope speeding across the sun
At first glance it appears like a giant tennis ball with a speck of dirt.

But this extraordinary image, taken by an amateur astronomer, shows the Space Shuttle Atlantis and the Hubble Telescope passing in front of the sun.

It is the first time they have been photographed together making a 'solar transit' and came several minutes before Atlantis made contact with the telescope and attached to it.


The Space Shuttle Atlantis and the Hubble Space Telescope are seen in silhouette (lower left hand corner). The sun appears ghostly because in order for the picture to be taken a prism attached to the camera filtered out most of the sunlight


In this close up of the above image, the Space Shuttle can be seen just above the Hubble Space Telescope


In this image only the silhouette of the Space Shuttle can be seen. It launched from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday and was pictured passing across the Sun on Wednesday


Thierry Legault in his back garden in Paris. The astrophotographer has captured impressive pictures of the sun


Astronaut Andrew Feustel works on the Hubble Space Telescope on the first of five STS-125 spacewalks


The Hubble Space Telescope has been in orbit 350miles above Earth since 1990


The Hubble Space Telescope will be replaced in 2014 by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope

asperatus clouds 雲彩

Asperatus: gathering storm to force new cloud name
No new cloud type has been officially classified since 1951 but Gavin Pretor-Pinney who runs the Cloud Appreciation Society believes that there is a new cloud that deserves international recognition. He calls it asperatus, which means rough in Latin, and he is working with the Royal Meteorological Society to have it officially classified by the World Meteorological Organisation in Geneva


Asperatus clouds over Cedar Rapids in Iowa, US. Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society is working with the Royal Meteorological Society to get them officially designated as a new cloud type


Schiehallion in Perthshire, Scotland. The name asperatus comes from the Latin for to roughen or agitate. Virgil used the word in a poem to describe the surface of the sea whipped up by the north wind


Burnie in Tasmania, Australia. “They don't seem to fit very easily into the existing classifications,” said Gavin Pretor-Pinney who runs the Cloud Appreciation Society


Combe Head, Salcombe Regis, Sidmouth, Devon. The last new cloud type to be classified was cirrus intortus in 1951. The last time the classification system was changed at all was in 1953


Asperatus clouds over Illinois, US. The Royal Meteorological Society would need more information about weather patterns that form so-called asperatus cloud to define it as distinct from undulatus clouds, which means wavelike in Latin


Asperatus clouds over Nîmes, France. It will now take some time to check that these clouds do not fit into existing categories. Then the Royal Meteorological Society will take a case to the World Meterological Organisation in Geneva. “We have still got some investigation to do,” said a spokesperson for the RMS. “We are a few months away from taking anything to the WMO.”


Hanmer Springs, South Island, New Zealand

cattle products connected to deforestation

British supermarkets accused over destruction of Amazon rainforest
Greenpeace calls on top brands to stop buying Brazilian cattle products connected to deforestation

Amazon rainforests pay the price as demand for beef soars (video)
Inquiry highlights concerns over ranching in heartland of Brazil
A three-year survey by Greenpeace shows that western demand for beef and leather and an increase in cattle ranching is leading to intensified deforestation in the Amazon.

How the west's appetite for beef is felling the Amazon (pictures)
British supermarkets are driving a new wave of rapid destruction of the Amazon rainforest by using meat from farms responsible for illegal deforestation, according to a three-year investigation by Greenpeace

創造星球

美實驗室超級雷射亮相 可製造星球核心高溫
(法新社)2009年5月30日 星期六 22:20



（法新社舊金山30日電） 美國武器實驗室「國家點燃設施」（National Ignition Facility, NIF）的超級雷射今天首度亮相，這個系統可以製造與恆星核心溫度相當的高溫。

國家點燃設施建立的主要目的，是做為評估美國核武可靠性與安全性的工具，但是科學家表示，這個設施可能在安全核融合能量上獲得突破。

演員從政的加州州長阿諾．史瓦辛格（Arnold Schwarzenegger）在落成典禮上表示：「我們發明了世界最大的雷射系統。」數千人參與了這項典禮，包括加州與國家官員。

阿諾說：「我們在地球上就可以創造星球。我已可預見我的好萊塢朋友非常沮喪，因為他們在大螢幕展現的東西已經過時。我們這裡有真實的東西。」

國家點燃設施被誇稱是世界能量最高的雷射系統，這個設施位於勞倫斯利佛摩國家實驗室（Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory）內，距離舊金山約一個小時車程。

一個連結房子大小球體的設備，可以將192道雷射光集中在一個小點，產生如同恆星或大行星 核心的溫度和壓力。

根據NIF，這個實驗室可製造此前地球不可能有的條件，並進行以前不可能在地球進行的實驗。

NIF主任摩西（Edward Moses）表示，超級雷射撞擊氫原子引發的融合反應，製造的能量超過引起「燃燒」所需要的能量。

摩西指出：「這是長久以來所追求的﹃能源收益﹄目標，也是核融合研究人員半個多世紀來一直追求的目標。」

他說：「NIF的成功將是具有歷史意義的科學突破，也是首度在實驗室的環境下展現融合點燃，在地球複製提供星球動力的過程。」

NIF是1997年開始興建，由美國能源部國家核子安全管理局（National Nuclear SecurityAdministration ，NNSA）資助。

NNSA局長達格斯提諾（Tom D'Agostino）表示：「NIF是國家核子安全管理局在不用核子試爆情況下，維持我們核子嚇阻威力的行動基石，它在21世紀重新塑造國家安全上將扮演重要角色。」

他說：「這個獨一無二的設施，是世界上有能力提供一些最關鍵的技術工具，以安全的維持國家核武可靠性的唯一地方。」

實驗室科學家堅稱，NIF憑藉重新創造超新星、黑洞和巨大行星核心的狀態，也可能在行星科學和天體物理學有開創性的發現。

實驗室官員指出，由類似太陽上的融合反應所取得的電力，可能有助於滿足人類對乾淨能源與日俱增的需求。