Dredged up from the murky depths of the Rhône River, beneath a heap of wrecked cars, rotting tires and more than 20 centuries of silt, the statue's white marble visage was plain as day. "My God, it's Caesar!" Luc Long remembers shouting after his team of archaeologists and divers discovered the statue in 2007. The Roman appears with little hair, a wrinkled forehead, a prominent Adam's apple and features that, for Mr. Long, "seem carved in human flesh." But Mr. Long did not realize at the time that he had discovered what he said was "the first portrait made of Caesar when he was alive." The bust, which France's Culture Ministry now dates from 46 B.C., is thought to be the only known surviving statue of Julius Caesar carved during his lifetime.
"My God, it's Caesar!" Luc Long remembers shouting after his team of archaeologists and divers discovered the statue in 2007.
The Roman appears with little hair, a wrinkled forehead, a prominent Adam's apple and features that, for Mr. Long, "seem carved in human flesh." But Mr. Long did not realize at the time that he had discovered what he said was "the first portrait made of Caesar when he was alive." The bust, which France's Culture Ministry now dates from 46 B.C., is thought to be the only known surviving statue of Julius Caesar carved during his lifetime.
Middle-aged men and women may be risking arthritis if they overdo their exercise regime, research suggests. A US study of more than 200 people aged 45 to 55 and of "normal" weight found those doing the most exercise were the most likely to suffer knee damage. Running and jumping may also do more damage to cartilage and ligaments than swimming and cycling, researchers said. One arthritis charity said it was important to keep fit and most people would not have any problems.
A US study of more than 200 people aged 45 to 55 and of "normal" weight found those doing the most exercise were the most likely to suffer knee damage.
Running and jumping may also do more damage to cartilage and ligaments than swimming and cycling, researchers said.
One arthritis charity said it was important to keep fit and most people would not have any problems.
The "Big Bang" experiment at CERN near Geneva scored a world record on Monday by accelerating beams to the highest energy ever achieved in a particle collider, the research center announced. Scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, said the achievement marked a major milestone on the way to tests next year which they hope will unlock secrets of the origins and make-up of the universe. The energy of the twin beams circulated around 27-km tunnels deep underground went, at 1.18 trillion electric volts (TeV), well past the previous highest -- just under 1 TeV -- in a collider at the U.S. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
Scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, said the achievement marked a major milestone on the way to tests next year which they hope will unlock secrets of the origins and make-up of the universe.
The energy of the twin beams circulated around 27-km tunnels deep underground went, at 1.18 trillion electric volts (TeV), well past the previous highest -- just under 1 TeV -- in a collider at the U.S. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
British Telecom (BT) has admitted its chairman is the only person in a village on the Oxfordshire-Buckinghamshire border with broadband.Other people in Hambleden were told they could not have broadband because of the distance to the exchange. BT said Sir Michael Rake's connection was part of a trial of new technology, and no company could afford to provide broadband to the area. One local resident said it was not fair and that Sir Michael should resign.
British Telecom (BT) has admitted its chairman is the only person in a village on the Oxfordshire-Buckinghamshire border with broadband.
Other people in Hambleden were told they could not have broadband because of the distance to the exchange.
BT said Sir Michael Rake's connection was part of a trial of new technology, and no company could afford to provide broadband to the area.
One local resident said it was not fair and that Sir Michael should resign.
... When infants 18 months old see an unrelated adult whose hands are full and who needs assistance opening a door or picking up a dropped clothespin, they will immediately help, Michael Tomasello writes in "Why We Cooperate," a book published in October. Dr. Tomasello, a developmental psychologist, is co-director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.The helping behavior seems to be innate because it appears so early and before many parents start teaching children the rules of polite behavior. <...> ... Dr. Tomasello finds the helping is not enhanced by rewards, suggesting that it is not influenced by training. It seems to occur across cultures that have different timetables for teaching social rules. And helping behavior can even be seen in infant chimpanzees under the right experimental conditions. For all these reasons, Dr. Tomasello concludes that helping is a natural inclination, not something imposed by parents or culture. <...> "We're preprogrammed to reach out," Dr. [Frans] de Waal writes. "Empathy is an automated response over which we have limited control." The only people emotionally immune to another's situation, he notes, are psychopaths. Indeed, it is in our biological nature, not our political institutions, that we should put our trust, in his view. Our empathy is innate and cannot be changed or long suppressed. "In fact," Dr. de Waal writes, "I'd argue that biology constitutes our greatest hope. One can only shudder at the thought that the humaneness of our societies would depend on the whims of politics, culture or religion." ...
... When infants 18 months old see an unrelated adult whose hands are full and who needs assistance opening a door or picking up a dropped clothespin, they will immediately help, Michael Tomasello writes in "Why We Cooperate," a book published in October. Dr. Tomasello, a developmental psychologist, is co-director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
The helping behavior seems to be innate because it appears so early and before many parents start teaching children the rules of polite behavior.
<...>
... Dr. Tomasello finds the helping is not enhanced by rewards, suggesting that it is not influenced by training. It seems to occur across cultures that have different timetables for teaching social rules. And helping behavior can even be seen in infant chimpanzees under the right experimental conditions. For all these reasons, Dr. Tomasello concludes that helping is a natural inclination, not something imposed by parents or culture.
"We're preprogrammed to reach out," Dr. [Frans] de Waal writes. "Empathy is an automated response over which we have limited control." The only people emotionally immune to another's situation, he notes, are psychopaths.
Indeed, it is in our biological nature, not our political institutions, that we should put our trust, in his view. Our empathy is innate and cannot be changed or long suppressed. "In fact," Dr. de Waal writes, "I'd argue that biology constitutes our greatest hope. One can only shudder at the thought that the humaneness of our societies would depend on the whims of politics, culture or religion." ...
The only people emotionally immune to another's situation, he notes, are psychopaths and Republicans.
There, fixed it. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
David Brooks: Gail, I don't know if you had a chance to see my column Tuesday, but China always gets me thinking big. I look at the long history and bright future of that civilization-state and suddenly you've got to chase me down with a butterfly net to impose the grip of reality on my grandiose and free-floating ideas. It's runaway Spengler Syndrome. But I do have one more Grand Historical Theory to spin out for you, and it involves thinking styles. Different cultures and groups have different styles of thinking, or to be more precise, the average behavior is different from one group to another. So is it possible that Westerners, on average, have thinking styles that make them ill-suited for the problems of the future while Asians have styles that make them better suited?
But I do have one more Grand Historical Theory to spin out for you, and it involves thinking styles. Different cultures and groups have different styles of thinking, or to be more precise, the average behavior is different from one group to another. So is it possible that Westerners, on average, have thinking styles that make them ill-suited for the problems of the future while Asians have styles that make them better suited?
