World's first underwater museum

A proposed underwater museum in Alexandria, Egypt, came closer to reality when the UN established a committee to aid the design process with the Egyptian government

Shown with a 2008 illustration of the proposed underwater museum, the Bay of Alexandria once contained Cleopatra's island palace and the Pharos of Alexandria lighthouse , one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Both of them were done in centuries ago by earthquakes. 

The proposed museum's underwater facility (at bottom in architect Jacques Rougerie's conception) will be difficult and expensive to build and is the focus of the just launched two-year feasibility study. But planners believe that the benefits of plunging visitors into the historical context of the objects--on the sunken island that once held Cleopatra's palace--will be worth the trouble.

The marble head of Roman princess Antonia Minor, mother of Emperor Claudius, rests on sand at the now sunken site of Cleopatra's Alexandria, Egypt, palace in 1998. Behind the head is a toppled statue of a Ptolemaic, or Greco-Egyptian, king in the guise of Hermes-Thoth, messenger of the gods.

An eroded sphinx, shown in 1998, isn't much more than a silhouette in the Bay of Alexandria's dusky waters. Visitors to the proposed underwater museum should be able to view these artifacts in situ, despite the current cloudiness. 

As part of a project to identify and preserve artifacts in the Bay of Alexandria, divers raise a 4-foot-tall (1.5-meter-tall), granite, first-century A.D. statue of a priest of Isis from in 1998. (AP Photo)

Laser security for the Internet developed

Experts have come up with a new security system for Internet using a special laser that may help keep hackers’ prying eyes off for good.

Scientists at Tel Aviv University have developed a digital security tool with existing fiber optic and computer technology that transmits binary lock-and-key information in the form of light pulses.

The device, invented by Dr. Jacob Scheuer, TAU’s School of Electrical Engineering, allegedly ensures that a shared key code can be unlocked by the sender and receiver, and absolutely nobody else.

Dr. Scheuer explained: "Rather than developing the lock or the key, we've developed a system which acts as a type of key bearer.”

The researchers continued: "The trick is for those at either end of the fibre optic link to send different laser signals they can distinguish between, but which look identical to an eavesdropper."

Dr. Scheuer added: "We've already published the theoretical idea and now have developed a preliminary demonstration in my lab. Once both parties have the key they need, they could send information without any chance of detection. We were able to demonstrate that, if it's done right, the system could be absolutely secure. Even with a quantum computer of the future, a hacker couldn't decipher the key.”

The findings were due to be presented at the next laser and electro-optics conference at the Conference for Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) in San Jose, California.

Why hot water freezes faster than cold

In a new research, scientists have suggested that hot water may sometimes freeze faster than cold because of random impurities in the water.

Fast-freezing of hot water is known as the Mpemba effect, after a Tanzanian schoolboy called Erasto Mpemba.

Physicists have come up with several possible explanations, including faster evaporation reducing the volume of hot water, a layer of frost insulating the cooler water, and differing concentration of solutes.

But the answer has been very hard to pin down because the effect is unreliable - cold water is just as likely to freeze faster.

According to a report in New Scientist, James Brownridge, who is radiation safety officer for the State University of New York at Binghamton, believes that this randomness is crucial.

Over the past 10 years, he has carried out hundreds of experiments on the Mpemba effect in his spare time, and has evidence that the effect is based on the shifty phenomenon of supercooling.

“Water hardly ever freezes at 0 degree Celsius. It usually supercools, and only begins freezing at a lower temperature,” said Brownridge.

The freezing point depends on impurities in the water which seed the formation of ice crystals.

Typically, water may contain several types of impurity, from dust particles to dissolved salts and bacteria, each of which triggers freezing at a characteristic temperature.

The impurity with the highest nucleation temperature determines the temperature at which the water freezes.

Brownridge starts with two samples of water at the same temperature - say, tap water at 20 degrees C - in covered test tubes and cools them in a freezer.

One will freeze first, presumably because its random mix of impurities give it a higher freezing point.

If the difference is large enough, the Mpemba effect will appear.

Brownridge selects the sample with the higher natural freezing temperature to heat to 80 degrees C, warming the other to only room temperature, then puts the test tubes back in the freezer.

“The hot water will always freeze faster than the cold water if its freezing point is at least 5 degrees C higher,” Brownridge said.

The bigger the temperature difference between an object and its surroundings, the faster it cools.

So, the hot sample will do most of its cooling very quickly, helping it to reach its own freezing point of -2 degrees C, say, before the cooler water gets to its freezing point of -7 degrees C.

No more dead skin cells!

The structure of the human skin is basically divided into two general layers, the dermis and the epidermis.
The latter is divided further into five layers. The layer at the very surface of the skin is called the Stratum corneum, which consists mainly of dead skin cells.

The body sheds these dead skin cells on its own accord, however, one needs to take care and sometimes use certain remedies to get rid of this skin.

Dead skin cells impact the skin's health. As the dead skin cells build up on the surface of the skin, they can act as a barrier to absorption of nutrients from nourishing creams.

Also, they tend to block sweat glands, which can result in whiteheads, blackheads or acne.

Here are a few ways one can get rid of dead skin...

• An exfoliating scrub is the easiest way of getting rid of dead skin cells on your face. Use one with almonds as an ingredient. The essential oil of almonds will help repair your skin.
• Lather soap on your face, or acne wash if you have acne too, and scrub with a sponge.
• Apply a thick layer of lotion on dead skin on the heels. Let it stay for a few minutes, so that the skin is softened. Apply some more lotion, and then, with the razor you use to shave your arms and legs, gently scrape off the skin. Be gentle and careful, and repeat if you need to.
• The 'before sleep CTM (cleansing-toning-moisturising) routine' will help you through this changing weather too. Splash water on your face, apply cleansing lotion, wipe it off, then with the help of cotton wool, apply toner. After a while, use a cream (or an oil free lotion in case of oily skin) on your face and go to sleep. This will nourish your skin on a daily basis, thereby preventing scope of dead skin in future