Pre-Inca temple uncovered in Peru

LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of an ancient temple, roadway and irrigation systems at a famed fortress overlooking the Inca capital of Cuzco, according to officials involved with the dig.

Archaeologists say the temple could predate Inca structures.

The temple on the periphery of the Sacsayhuaman fortress casts added light on pre-Inca cultures of Peru, showing that the site had religious as well as military aims, according to researchers.

It includes 11 rooms thought to have held mummies and idols, lead archaeologist Oscar Rodriguez told The Associated Press.

The team of archaeologists that made the discoveries believes the structures predated the Inca empire but were then significantly developed and expanded.

"It's from both the Inca and pre-Inca cultures; it has a sequence," Washington Camacho, director of the Sacsayhuaman Archaeological Park, told the AP on Thursday. "The Incas entered and changed the form of the temple, as it initially had a more rustic architecture."

Archaeologists are still waiting for carbon dating tests, but Camacho said their calculations about the facilities' age are supported by historical references such as ceramics and construction style.

Previous carbon-14 dating of Sacsayhuaman revealed that the Killke culture constructed the fortress in the 1100s, said Peruvian archaeologist Luis Lumbreras, former director of Peru's National Culture Institute and an expert on Cuzco's pre-Incan cultures. He was not involved in the dig.

The Killke occupied the region from 900 to 1200 A.D., prior to the arrival of the Incas.

"These recent discoveries add to our knowledge of Sacsayhuaman, confirming again the aggregate nature of the fortress," Lumbreras told The Associated Press.

The Inca empire, based in the ancient city of Cuzco, flourished along the western edge of South America during the 1400s, prior to the arrival of the Spanish.

Today, Cuzco is Peru's main tourism hub and a launching point for visitors to the jungle-shrouded ruins of Machu Picchu, 40 miles northwest.

The temple lies a little under a mile from zigzagging walls of the Sacsayhuaman fortress, alongside an enormous rock formation believed to be one of the fortress' burial mounds.

"The temple is one of the most important in the Sacsayhuaman site," Camacho said.

The discovery of the temple reveals "the sacred ceremonial nature of the Killke," Lumbreras said. "Previously we thought Sacsayhuaman was simply a military fortification, but we now see it was a very complex ceremonial center.

Lumbreras, now working with Peru's Institute for the Study of Cultural Patrimony, has extensively studied and excavated sites from the Wari culture, which flourished in Peru's southern highlands from 500 to 1200 A.D.

Part of the temple was destroyed by dynamite blasts in the early 20th century, when the site was used as a stone quarry.

The roadway, buried for hundreds of years under about three feet of soil, is believed to have formed part of a network connecting Sacsayhuaman's buildings, according to Camacho.

Archaeologists are also busy unearthing an advanced hydraulic system, which may have been used to supply water to Cuzco during the Inca empire.

The team also believes the Killke built the irrigation system, later used and expanded by the Incas. Remnants of Killke ceramics are scattered throughout the site.

The new excavations, directed by Cuzco's National Culture Institute, began in June 2007 and will continue for another five years, Camacho said.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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The best gadgets of CES 2008

More than 20,000 new gadgets and technologies from more than 2,700 companies will be on display at the Consumer Electronics Show.

We will be writing about the devices and gadgets that catch the eye throughout the show.

The device joins a crowded market of portable media players

Finding new music is always one of life's joys and web services like Slacker have helped. But now you can get access to undiscovered tunes on a portable device.

Slacker is releasing a portable media player which uses a wi-fi connection to help you discover new bands and musicians. It's being touted as the world's first personalised portable radio player.

It works by downloading new songs to your player, based on your music listening preferences, each time you enter a wi-fi hotspot or connect the device to your computer.

You can have 40 different "radio stations", holding up to 4,000 songs, on the player, which comes in 500MB, 1.5GB and 4GB flavours.

The service and player are only available in the US at the moment and is expected to be released at the end of January.

SMART GPS

The device has two-way internet connectivity

No longer content with simply providing directions from point to point, manufacturers are starting to pack more and more features into in-car GPS devices.

Those on show at CES include the ability to download movie times, find a parking spot and avoid the traffic.

One company, Dash Navigation, has launched a unit called the Dash Express which aims to harness the power of its community to avoid traffic jams.

The unit has the ability to receive real-time traffic data from different sources, including units belonging to other owners.

In effect, each unit works as a traffic sensor sending a user's speed and location over a permanent internet connection.

Back at Dash HQ, the company calculates up-to-the-minute traffic conditions and suggests alternative routes if there is a traffic snarl ahead.

In theory, the device should get better as more Dash users hit the roads.

The device has been developed in collaboration with Yahoo and allows the users to conduct web searches for locations or even the cheapest fuel.

The US service costs from $10 a month.

WIRELESS MEMORIES

The card can automatically upload photos to the web

But for those people who do not want to invest in a new device help is at hand.

A company called Eye-Fi have developed a series of memory cards with built in wi-fi that automatically convert your camera into a wireless device.

The 2GB cards automatically connect to a wi-fi network and can dump photos to a folder on a PC or upload them to social networks or photo-sharing sites.

The firm has done deals with the likes of Flickr, Photobucket and Facebook.

The associated software takes care of log-ins and passwords and can even automatically resize pictures if the site requires it.

To send them to a computer the PC must be turned on and running the companies photo managing software.

Currently they are only available in the US but should be on sale in Europe later this year.

AIR GUITAR

There have been three versions of the Guitar Hero game

The battery operated toy is the first licensed product not associated with the popular PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 game.

The setup allows players to rock out anytime, anywhere.

When the pick is waved in front of the buckle a guitar chord is unleashed. The tempo of the music is controlled by how quickly the player strums the pick in front of the buckle.

It consists of a battery operated guitar pick, belt buckle and wearable mini amplifier.

The amp comes preloaded with tracks from Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Motorhead, Van Halen and Boston.

The $29.99 (17) toy will be available later this year.

Eee GOES WIMAX

The Eee PC is getting wi-fi on steroids

It has won admirers for its four gigabyte solid state drive, small form factor and attractive price. It runs the Linux operating system, but can also run Windows XP.

The company has now announced new models - 7, 8 and 9 inch - but crucially, they will have Wimax built in - giving it increased wireless capabilities.

In truth, there are not that many Wimax-enabled areas anywhere in the world, although 70 different countries are running pilots.

But Intel is betting heavily on Wimax as the winning next generation wireless network and so Asus has taken the plunge - at least, in North America.

The entry level Eee with Wimax will cost about $999, according to reports, though Asus has so far remained tight-lipped on exact prices.

FEEL THE FORCE

The vest is packed with air bladders that can rapidly inflate

TN games has designed a wardrobe for gamers that recreate on screen action in the real world.

The vests are based on technology that was originally designed for use by doctors to remotely examine patients.

The vests, connected to the computer by USB, consist of a light weight air compressor that pumps air into bladders.

A version designed for first person shooters contains eight cells that are able to recreate the direction and force of bullet fire.

Another version recreate the G-forces felt whilst driving and flying.

When the player accelerates, the cells inflate in the chest. Faster acceleration causes the cells to inflate quicker, whilst braking causes the back cells to activate.

The firm has also designed sleeves, leg covers and a helmet that plug into the vests to deliver what it says is a "full body gaming experience".

AD REMOVER

The software also includes video editing tools

The same is now true of programmes recorded digitally through a TV tuner in a PC.

But a company called VideoReDo has developed a piece of software that automatically strips out the adverts.

A trial download of the TV suite software which includes the ad remover is available for free.

It works by looking for clues from what is on screen- such as the black screen between adverts - before cutting out the relevant section.

The original version of the software - which includes a video editing suite - is nearly three years old.

But the newest version incorporates useful features such as the ability to record the edited programmes to DVD.

According to the firm the next version, out later this year, will let users encode the video to a format suitable for viewing on iPods.

ROBOT TOYS

The robot can be controlled from a mobile phone

Woowee, the company behind the best selling Robosapian robot, launched a series of robots packed with gadgetry.

Its wi-fi enabled Rovio robot packs an omni-directional webcam which can be controlled remotely using any web accessible device, such as a cell phone, PC or games console.

The company has also launched a new version of Robosapien.

Tribot is a three wheeled machine controlled by a tilt sensor that is able to tell jokes, read stories and play games.

The firm's line-up also included machines that dumped the cold, hard exteriors normally associated with robots in favour of fur and cute expressions.

Known as the Woowee Alive series, the cute animals, which include pandas, polar bears and tigers all feature animated faces, and realistic noises activated by touch and tilt sensors.

The lion cub also has other lifelike behaviours - leave it on its own for five minutes and the cub purrs itself to sleep. Pick it up by the scruff of the neck and its legs go limp.

Other hi-tech toys included a flying robot packed with infra red sensors to allow it to fly autonomously.

RADIO FOR DEAF PEOPLE

Radio demonstration

But a new initiative by National Public Radio, technology firm Harris Corporation and Towson University aims to change that.

The consortium is developing radio for deaf people, a counter-intuitive sounding system that translates speech radio into text in real time.

At the moment the voice to text conversion has to be done by typists but could one day be automatic.

The information is then broadcast alongside the voice transmission and displayed on a screen on the radio.

The consortium will transmit the first live broadcast at CES using a prototype radio that has a screen large enough to display big swathes of text.

They expect the first commercial radios to be available towards the end of this year.

WIRELESS HDTV

The TV is able to receive the signal from several metres away

LCD TV manufacturer Westinghouse, working with networking firm Pulse-Link, have shown off what they say is the world's first integrated wireless HDTV.

The 47-inch television looks like any other but has an in-built receiver that takes a signal from an ultra wideband transmitter plugged into a high definition DVD player.

The setup at CES was streaming the James Bond film Casino Royale from a Samsung Blu-ray player.

The firm claims that the secure connection has no lag and is able to stream a range of high definition formats including the highest resolution TV format available today, known as 1080p.

The first sets are aimed at business, but the technology will soon make it into the home when it becomes cheaper.

MOBILE HOME

The mobile standards are already used in Japan

The P2P Universal Computing Consortium (PUCC) has developed a set of networking standards that allow mobiles to remotely control domestic appliances from afar.

At CES the consortium showed off an iPhone application that allowed a user to control a flat in Tokyo.

The user could switch lights on and off, control the air conditioning and even turn the washing machine on.

The technology is already available in Japan where users of the NTT DoCoMo network can keep an eye on their home from afar.

The consortium has also shown off healthcare applications including a wireless nappy for use by bedridden patients and a heart monitor that allows a doctor to monitor a patient from afar.

Later this year the group will release software that will allow anybody to build applications using the standards.

In pictures Fighting back Human sacrifice

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

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Tests reveal high chemical levels in kids' bodies

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Michelle Hammond and Jeremiah Holland were intrigued when a friend at the Oakland Tribune asked them and their two young children to take part in a cutting-edge study to measure the industrial chemicals in their bodies.

Tests showed Rowan's blood had high levels of a chemical that can cause thyroid dysfunction in rats.

"In the beginning, I wasn't worried at all; I was fascinated," Hammond, 37, recalled.

But that fascination soon changed to fear, as tests revealed that their children -- Rowan, then 18 months, and Mikaela, then 5 -- had chemical exposure levels up to seven times those of their parents.

"[Rowan's] been on this planet for 18 months, and he's loaded with a chemical I've never heard of," Holland, 37, said. "He had two to three times the level of flame retardants in his body that's been known to cause thyroid dysfunction in lab rats."

The technology to test for these flame retardants -- known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) -- and other industrial chemicals is less than 10 years old. Environmentalists call it "body burden" testing, an allusion to the chemical "burden," or legacy of toxins, running through our bloodstream. Scientists refer to this testing as "biomonitoring."

Most Americans haven't heard of body burden testing, but it's a hot topic among environmentalists and public health experts who warn that the industrial chemicals we come into contact with every day are accumulating in our bodies and endangering our health in ways we have yet to understand.

"We are the humans in a dangerous and unnatural experiment in the United States, and I think it's unconscionable," said Dr. Leo Trasande, assistant director of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

Trasande says that industrial toxins could be leading to more childhood disease and disorders.

"We are in an epidemic of environmentally mediated disease among American children today," he said. "Rates of asthma, childhood cancers, birth defects and developmental disorders have exponentially increased, and it can't be explained by changes in the human genome. So what has changed? All the chemicals we're being exposed to."

Elizabeth Whelan, president of the American Council on Science and Health, a public health advocacy group, disagrees.

"My concern about this trend about measuring chemicals in the blood is it's leading people to believe that the mere ability to detect chemicals is the same as proving a hazard, that if you have this chemical, you are at risk of a disease, and that is false," she said. Whelan contends that trace levels of industrial chemicals in our bodies do not necessarily pose health risks.

In 2004, the Hollands became the first intact nuclear family in the United States to undergo body burden testing. Rowan, at just 1 years old, became the youngest child in the U.S. to be tested for chemical exposure with this method.

Rowan's extraordinarily high levels of PBDEs frightened his parents and left them with a looming question: If PBDEs are causing neurological damage to lab rats, could they be doing the same thing to Rowan? The answer is that no one knows for sure. In the three years since he was tested, no developmental problems have been found in Rowan's neurological system.

Trasande said children up to six years old are most at risk because their vital organs and immune system are still developing and because they depend more heavily on their environments than adults do.

"Pound for pound, they eat more food, they drink more water, they breathe in more air," he said. "And so [children] carry a higher body burden than we do."

Studies on the health effects of PBDEs are only just beginning, but many countries have heeded the warning signs they see in animal studies. Sweden banned PBDEs in 1998. The European Union banned most PBDEs in 2004. In the United States, the sole manufacturer of two kinds of PBDEs voluntarily stopped making them in 2004. A third kind, Deca, is still used in the U.S. in electrical equipment, construction material, mattresses and textiles.

Another class of chemicals that showed up in high levels in the Holland children is known as phthalates. These are plasticizers, the softening agents found in many plastic bottles, kitchenware, toys, medical devices, personal care products and cosmetics. In lab animals, phthalates have been associated with reproductive defects, obesity and early puberty. But like PBDEs, little is known about what they do to humans and specifically children.

Russ Hauser, an associate professor of environmental and occupational epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, has done some of the few human studies on low-level phthalate exposure. His preliminary research shows that phthalates may contribute to infertility in men. A study led by Shanna Swan of the University of Rochester in New York shows that prenatal exposure to phthalates in males may be associated with impaired testicular function and with a defect that shortens the space between the genitals and anus.

The Environmental Protection Agency does not require chemical manufacturers to conduct human toxicity studies before approving their chemicals for use in the market. A manufacturer simply has to submit paperwork on a chemical, all the data that exists on that chemical to date, and wait 90 days for approval.

Jennifer Wood, an EPA spokeswoman, insists the agency has the tools to ensure safe oversight.

"If during the new-chemical review process, EPA determines that it may have concerns regarding risk or exposure, the EPA has the authority to require additional testing," she said. EPA records show that of the 1,500 new chemicals submitted each year, the agency asks for additional testing roughly 10 percent of the time. The EPA has set up a voluntary testing program with the major chemical manufacturers to retroactively test some of the 3,000 most widely used chemicals.

Trasande believes that is too little, too late.

"The problem with these tests is that they are really baseline tests that don't measure for the kind of subtle health problems that we're seeing," Dr. Trasande said.

In the three years since her family went through body burden testing, Michelle Hammond has become an activist on the issue. She's testified twice in the California legislature to support a statewide body burden testing program, a bill that passed last year. Michelle also speaks to various public health groups about her experience, taking Mikaela, now 8, and Rowan, now 5, with her. So far, her children show no health problems associated with the industrial chemicals in their bodies.

"I'm angry at my government for failing to regulate chemicals that are in mass production and in consumer products." Hammond says. "I don't think it should have to be up to me to worry about what's in my couch."

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