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Scientists identify corridor in Great Pyramid of Giza using cosmic rays

NBC News
March 2, 2023, 6:33 AM EST
By Aina J. Khan

A once-hidden corridor has been identified inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, after a yearslong project using modern technology to reveal the secrets inside the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that is still standing.

An international research team used an imaging method based on cosmic rays to analyze a cavity behind the pyramid's north face that was first discovered in 2016. Their findings were announced at a news conference with Egyptian officials held outside the 456 feet tall pyramid on Thursday.

The passage-like space measures about 2 meters wide and 9 meters in length, officials said, adding that the corridor was likely designed to help relieve the weight of the vast structure, which was built as royal burial chambers around 2560 BC.

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The latest discovery is part of the international “ScanPyramids” project launched in Oct. 2015 by Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities, which seeks to peer inside the massive structures without using invasive drilling methods.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/great-pyramid-giza-corridor-identified-egypt-scientists-cosmic-rays-rcna73025

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Toyota accepts union demands for biggest wage hike in two decades

Source: CNN

Toyota Motor, the world’s biggest automaker, said on Wednesday it would accept a union demand for the biggest base salary increase in 20 years and a rise in bonus payments, as Japan steps up calls for businesses to hike pay.

As one of Japan’s biggest employers, Toyota (TM) has long served as a bellwether of the spring labor talks, which are in full swing at major companies. Many are expected to conclude swiftly as the government seeks inflation-beating wage hikes to ease burdens on consumers.

The automaker’s incoming president Koji Sato said the decision to accept the union’s demands in full at the first round of talks was meant not just for Toyota but “also for the industry as a whole, and in the hope that it will lead to frank discussions between labor and management at each company.”

Within hours of Toyota’s announcement, rival Honda (HMC) Motor said it had agreed to union demands for a 5% pay increase. The average monthly base salary rise of 12,500 yen ($92.70) at Honda (HMC) is the biggest jump since at least 1990.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/23/cars/toyota-wage-hike-hnk-intl/index.html

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More than a dozen hurt in industrial blast outside Cleveland

Source: NBC News

More than a dozen people were injured, at least one critically, in an industrial plant explosion outside Cleveland on Monday, NBC affiliate WKYC of Cleveland reported.

The late-morning blast at the I Schumann & Co. metal alloy manufacturer in Oakwood Village southeast of Cleveland was described by a captain with the Oakwood Fire Department as a "large explosion."

The official said at least one person was flown by helicopter to a hospital. The subsequent fire was under control Monday afternoon, but crews were still working on hot spots, the captain said.

The blast sent debris across the street, produced a crater in a building, and created a smoke plume that could be seen for miles, according to social media video reviewed by NBC News and as seen in affiliate footage from the scene.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dozen-injured-industrial-blast-cleveland-rcna71518

'Bond villain' DNA could transform cancer treatment, scientists say

Guardian

Scientists have pinpointed pieces of DNA which, they say, act like Bond villains in the way they help cancers spread. These microscopic agents have also been shown to be responsible for helping tumours gain resistance to anti-cancer drugs.

The discovery of these bits of genetic material – known as extrachromosomal DNA or ecDNA – could revolutionise the treatments of some of the most aggressive tumours that affect people today, add the researchers.

“The discovery of how these bits of DNA behave inside our bodies is a gamechanger,” said Professor Paul Mischel of California’s Stanford university, one of the leaders of the programme. “We believe they are responsible for a large number of the more advanced, most serious cancers affecting people today. If we can block their activities, we can block the spread of these cancers.”

Made up of tiny loops of DNA, these genetic villains survive outside the chromosomes which are our cells’ main repositories of genetic material and which direct the growth of our bodies and determine our individual characteristics. The existence of these smaller units was revealed years ago but their importance in cancer has only now been uncovered.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/feb/18/bond-villain-dna-could-transform-cancer-treatment-scientists-say

Discovery of 'superhighways' suggests early Mayan civilization was more advanced than previously tho

Discovery of ‘superhighways’ suggests early Mayan civilization was more advanced than previously thought

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN

With the thick vegetation of the northern Guatemala rainforests hiding its 2,000-year-old remnants, the full extent of the early Mayan way of life was once impossible to see. But laser technology has helped researchers discover a previously unknown 650-square-mile (1,683-square-kilometer) Maya site that offers startling new insights about ancient Mesoamericans and their civilization.

The researchers detected the vast site within the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin of northern Guatemala by using LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology, a laser mapping system that allows for structures to be detected below the thick tree canopies. The resulting map showed an area composed of 964 settlements broken down into 417 interconnected Mayan cities, towns and villages.

A 110-mile (177-kilometer) network of raised stone trails, or causeways, that linked the communities reveals that the early civilization was home to an even more complex society than previously thought, according to a recent analysis on the architecture groupings, published in the journal Ancient Mesoamerica.

“They’re the world’s first superhighway system that we have,” said lead study author Richard Hansen, a professor of anthropology at Idaho State University. “What’s amazing about (the causeways) is that they unite all these cities together like a spiderweb … which forms one of the earliest and first state societies in the Western Hemisphere.”

More:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/world/maya-civilization-causeways-lidar-discovery-scn

Ann Coulter tells Nikki Haley to 'go back to your own country' in racist rant

NBC News
By Sakshi Venkatraman

Conservative pundit Ann Coulter is under fire for a racist tirade against new Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley.

In an appearance on the "The Mark Simone Show" podcast this week, Coulter made several xenophobic comments about Haley, the former governor of South Carolina who was born in the U.S. to Indian immigrant parents. "Why don't you go back to your own country?" Coulter said.

Coulter, known for her racist and anti-immigrant stances, attacked India, as well.

"Her candidacy did remind me that I need to immigrate to India so I can demand they start taking down parts of their history," she said. "What's with the worshipping of the cows? They're all starving over there. Did you know they have a rat temple, where they worship rats?"

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/ann-coulter-tells-nikki-haley-go-back-country-racist-rant-new-gop-pres-rcna71119

Biden remains 'healthy, vigorous,' doctor says after physical exam

Source: Washington Post

President Biden remains “a healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male who is fit to successfully execute duties of the presidency,” his physician wrote in a memo released hours after the president underwent a routine annual physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Thursday morning.

Kevin O’Connor — who has been Biden’s primary care doctor since 2009 — wrote that the most notable update from Biden’s last physical in November 2021 was his covid-19 infection over the summer, but said the president has not experienced any lingering symptoms that could be characterized as “long covid.”

As part of the physical, Biden underwent routine skin cancer surveillance. O’Connor said one “small lesion” on the president’s chest was excised on Thursday and sent for traditional biopsy and that the results are pending. O’Connor noted that Biden spent a “good deal of time” in the sun when he was young and that he had several non-melanoma skin cancers removed before assuming the presidency.

Biden, who at age 80 is the first octogenarian president in American history, has faced repeated questions about his physical and mental fitness — inquiries that have intensified as he prepares for an expected reelection bid. He would be 82 at the start of a second term, and 86 at the end of eight years in the White House.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/16/biden-physical-exam/