17 New Pyramids found in Egypt (video)

The mysterious pyramids of Egypt are much older than reported. And it seems clear they were not planned and implemented by and for human motives (sbwestfordk12.us).

• BBC VIDEO: Pyramids found by infrared satellite
  

An infrared satellite survey of Egypt has revealed 17 lost pyramids and thousands of ancient tombs and other structures (Image: Courtesy of the Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham)

Seventeen lost pyramids and thousands of ancient tombs and other structures have been revealed in an infrared satellite survey of Egypt.

University of Alabama at Birmingham Egyptologist Sarah Parcak and colleagues used NASA and commercial satellites orbiting 430 miles above Egypt to show mud-brick structures under the surface. The stunning findings include more than 1,000 tombs and 3,100 settlements.

"This hints at the possibilities of discoveries to come," Parcak was quoted as saying by her university. "I am excited for my generation and the generations to come. There is enough to be excavated for 50 generations to come."

Preliminary excavations by a French team have confirmed the presence of at least two possible pyramids. The findings at Saqqara (Sakkara) could be one of the most important sites in Egypt.

The work will be profiled in the BBC documentary "Egypt's Lost Cities," airing Monday on the BBC. The documentary will also be broadcast on the Discovery Channel in the U.S. More

Scepticism over Osama bin Laden video

This is Akbar Khan, the owner of the house, watching Osama bin Laden on TV according to neighbors who knew him before Pres. Obama ordered his murder, according to the BBC.

(BBC News, May 8, 2011) The release of video footage seized [allegedly] from Osama bin Laden's compound in northern Pakistan was part of the continuing effort by the US to convince doubters that the al-Qaeda leader was killed in last Monday's raid. But people in Abbottabad seem sceptical about the authenticity of the films, as the BBC's Orla Guerin discovered when she took to the streets of the town where bin Laden was said to have been hiding. Source

• US releases Bin Laden home videos

Osama bin Laden died in 2001

(Uniorb.com) Although the corpse of bin Laden would never be found, various sources alluded to the circumstances that led to his death in the Middle East.

According to United Press International (Oct. 31, 2001), bin Laden underwent clandestine kidney treatment by Dr. Terry Calloway (Canadian urologist) for 11 days in July at the American Hospital in Dubai. During his hospital stay, bin Laden met with a U.S. CIA agent, according to French daily Le Figaro and Radio France International. The day before the infamous September 11 terrorist attacks, bin Laden entered a military hospital for further kidney dialysis treatment in Raqalpindi, Pakistan, reported by CBS (Jan. 28, 2002).

In an interview with CNN (Jan. 19, 2002), Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf hinted, “He (bin Laden) is dead for the reason he is a ...kidney patient.” Musharraf also mentioned that bin Laden took two dialysis machines with him into Afghanistan.

A few days later, Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN (Jan. 21, 2002) gave his professional assessment of bin Laden’s medical condition based on the videotape broadcast by al Jazeera on December 27, 2001. He explained that bin Laden’s ghastly appearance -- “grayness of beard, paleness of skin, very gaunt sort of features” -- is often associated with chronic kidney failure or renal failure. He also noted that bin Laden couldn’t move his left arm probably due to a stroke because people suffering from kidney failures have a higher risk for stroke. Dr. Gupta pointed out that dialysis machines require electricity, clean water and a sterile environment to function properly. Without an operational machine, a patient could only survive for less than a week.

During December 2001, the U.S. Air Force, after cornering the Taliban combatants in the mountainous Tora Bora, relentlessly blasted the area for days, unleashing an estimated 1.8 million kg of explosives, including the deadly bunker-busting bombs to implode caves. According to the Pentagon, radio transmissions of bin Laden's voice were detected regularly until December 14, 2001.

An Egyptian paper posted on December 26, 2001, ran an obituary on Osama bin Laden whose death resulted from lack of proper medical care for “serious lung complications.” A Taliban official told the Pakistan Observer that he saw bin Laden’s face before the burial in Tora Bora where some members of bin Laden’s family, friends and al Qaeda fighters gathered for his funeral. Asked whether he could pinpoint the spot where bin Laden was buried, he answered, "I am sure that like other places in Tora Bora that particular place too must have vanished," implying that it was obliterated by U.S. aerial bombing. More

Brains of meditating monks get MRI scans

Matt Danzico (BBC News, New York)

VIDEO: Meditating Buddhist monk submits to brain scan in fMRI

In a laboratory tucked away off a noisy New York City street, a soft-spoken neuroscientist has been placing Tibetan monks into a car-sized brain scanner to better understand the ancient practice of Buddhist meditation.

But could this unusual research not only unravel the secrets of leading a harmonious life but also shed light on some of the world's more mysterious diseases?

Zoran Josipovic, a research scientist and adjunct professor at New York University, says he has been peering into the brains of monks while they meditate in an attempt to understand how their brains reorganize themselves during the exercise.

Since 2008, the researcher has been placing the minds and bodies of prominent Buddhist figures into a five-tonne (5,000 kg) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine.

The scanner tracks blood flow within the monks' heads as they meditate inside its clunky walls, which echoes a musical rhythm when the machine is operating.

Dr. Josipovic, who also moonlights as a Buddhist monk, says he is hoping to find how some meditators achieve a state of "nonduality" or "oneness" with the world, a unifying consciousness between a person and his/her environment.

Zoran Josipovic looking at brain scans on a computer. The study specifically looks at the default network in the brain, which controls self-reflective thoughts.

"One thing that meditation does for those who practice it a lot is that it cultivates attentional skills," Dr. Josipovic says, adding that those harnessed skills can help lead to a more tranquil and happier way of being.

"Meditation research, particularly in the last 10 years or so, has shown to be very promising because it points to an ability of the brain to change and optimize in a way we didn't know previously was possible."

When one relaxes into a state of oneness, the neural networks in experienced practitioners change as they lower the psychological wall between themselves and their environments, Dr. Josipovic says.

And this reorganization in the brain may lead to what some meditators claim to be a deep harmony between themselves and their surroundings.

Shifting attention
Dr. Josipovic's research is part of a larger effort better to understand what scientists have dubbed the default network in the brain. More