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Malayala Manorama Indian Newspaper of Malayalam Language from eight places in Kerela
Thursday,10 July 2008 18:14 hrs IST
Gen Y turns to religion
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New Delhi: Three out of four Indians pray at least once a day, says a study across 21 nations by a German research agency, adding young adults are more religious than is being assumed.
Surveying 21,000 people in 21 nations, the study released Thursday by the German Bertelsmann Foundation found that around 85 percent are religious and 14 percent are deeply so. Only 13 percent aren't religious.
Martin Rieger, project leader of the Bertelsmann Foundation's Religion Monitor said in a press statement: "The assumption that religious belief is dwindling continuously from generation to generation is clearly refuted by our worldwide surveys - even in many industrialised nations."
The study found that 90 percent of young adults in countries like Nigeria and Guatemala pray at least once a day, while three out of four do the same in India, Morocco and Turkey.
It also found that there are many more religious people in the US than in most other western countries. Fiftyseven percent of young Americans pray daily, the study notes.
However, the study says that there are marked differences in the trend between individual countries and denominations. Young adults in Islamic states are deeply religious whereas young Christians in Europe are not.
In contrast to the trend in India, Morocco and Turkey, the study found that just nine percent of young adults pray daily in France, in Russia the figure is eight percent while in Austria the number is seven percent.
Interestingly, the survey also found that in some countries like Britain, the younger population is turning to religion more frequently than the older generation. Also the younger Israeli population is more religious than their parents.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Priestly garments give Jews hope of new temple at Jerusalem
Indian Express - Indian Newspapers in English Language from five editions
Priestly garments give Jews hope of new temple at Jerusalem
Associated Press
Posted online: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 at 2229 hrs Print Email
JERUSALEM, July 7: In a stuffy basement off an Old City alleyway in Jerusalem, tailors using ancient texts as a blueprint have begun making a curious line of clothing that they hope will be worn by priests in a reconstructed Jewish Temple—the spiritual centre of Judaism destroyed by Roman legions two millennia ago.
The project, run by a Jerusalem group called the Temple Institute, is part of an ideology that advocates making practical preparations for the rebuilding of the ancient Temple on a disputed rectangle in Jerusalem sacred to both Jews and Muslims.
Jews call the site the Temple Mount and venerate it as their holiest place. The Temple itself was destroyed by Roman legions two millennia ago. For the past 1,300 years, the site has been home to Islam’s third-holiest shrine, the Noble Sanctuary, including the golden Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
These conflicting claims lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and past efforts to upset the status quo have erupted into violence.
The Temple Institute has made priestly garments in the past for display in the small museum it runs in the Jewish Quarter, but those were hand-sewn and cost upward of $10,000 each. The institute recently received rabbinic permission to begin using sewing machines for the first time, bringing the cost down and allowing them to produce dozens or hundreds of garments, depending on how many orders come in.
If you are a descendant of the Jewish priestly class, a full outfit, including an embroidered belt 32 biblical cubits (48 feet, 15 meters) long, can be yours for about $800. “Before, the clothes we made were to go on display. Now we’re engaged in the practical fulfillment of the divine commandment,” said Yehuda Glick, the Temple Institute’s director, at a ceremony marking the workshop’s opening last week.
The thread, six-ply flax, was purchased in India, and the diamond-patterned fabric was woven in Israel. The blue dye, which the Bible calls “tchelet,” is made from the secretions of a snail found in the Mediterranean Sea, and the red colour comes from an aphid found on local trees.
The priests, made up of descendants of the Biblical figure Aaron, were an elite group entrusted with the Temple and its rituals, such as sacrificing animals and making other offerings to God. The memory of belonging to that class has been preserved by Jews through the centuries. Their most common family name is “Cohen,” meaning priest.
The Temple Institute and similarly minded believers think those modern priests will soon have to resume the rituals of their ancestors in a rebuilt Temple, and that by preparing their garments they are bringing that day closer.
However, Adnan Husseini, formerly the top Muslim official at the site and now an adviser on Jerusalem affairs to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called the work of such groups a “provocation”. “If they talk about building the third Temple, what does it mean? It means they will destroy the Islamic mosques,” Husseini said.
Priestly garments give Jews hope of new temple at Jerusalem
Associated Press
Posted online: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 at 2229 hrs Print Email
JERUSALEM, July 7: In a stuffy basement off an Old City alleyway in Jerusalem, tailors using ancient texts as a blueprint have begun making a curious line of clothing that they hope will be worn by priests in a reconstructed Jewish Temple—the spiritual centre of Judaism destroyed by Roman legions two millennia ago.
The project, run by a Jerusalem group called the Temple Institute, is part of an ideology that advocates making practical preparations for the rebuilding of the ancient Temple on a disputed rectangle in Jerusalem sacred to both Jews and Muslims.
Jews call the site the Temple Mount and venerate it as their holiest place. The Temple itself was destroyed by Roman legions two millennia ago. For the past 1,300 years, the site has been home to Islam’s third-holiest shrine, the Noble Sanctuary, including the golden Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
These conflicting claims lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and past efforts to upset the status quo have erupted into violence.
The Temple Institute has made priestly garments in the past for display in the small museum it runs in the Jewish Quarter, but those were hand-sewn and cost upward of $10,000 each. The institute recently received rabbinic permission to begin using sewing machines for the first time, bringing the cost down and allowing them to produce dozens or hundreds of garments, depending on how many orders come in.
If you are a descendant of the Jewish priestly class, a full outfit, including an embroidered belt 32 biblical cubits (48 feet, 15 meters) long, can be yours for about $800. “Before, the clothes we made were to go on display. Now we’re engaged in the practical fulfillment of the divine commandment,” said Yehuda Glick, the Temple Institute’s director, at a ceremony marking the workshop’s opening last week.
The thread, six-ply flax, was purchased in India, and the diamond-patterned fabric was woven in Israel. The blue dye, which the Bible calls “tchelet,” is made from the secretions of a snail found in the Mediterranean Sea, and the red colour comes from an aphid found on local trees.
The priests, made up of descendants of the Biblical figure Aaron, were an elite group entrusted with the Temple and its rituals, such as sacrificing animals and making other offerings to God. The memory of belonging to that class has been preserved by Jews through the centuries. Their most common family name is “Cohen,” meaning priest.
The Temple Institute and similarly minded believers think those modern priests will soon have to resume the rituals of their ancestors in a rebuilt Temple, and that by preparing their garments they are bringing that day closer.
However, Adnan Husseini, formerly the top Muslim official at the site and now an adviser on Jerusalem affairs to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called the work of such groups a “provocation”. “If they talk about building the third Temple, what does it mean? It means they will destroy the Islamic mosques,” Husseini said.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Solar System Is Dented, Not Round: need to change the solar system models
Space Probes Show Solar System Dented, Not Round
Astronomers say they'll have to change their solar system models
By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON July 2, 2008 (AP)
The Associated Press
When viewed from the rest of the galaxy, the edge of our solar system appears slightly dented as if a giant hand is pushing one edge of it inward, far-traveling NASA probes reveal.
Information from Earth's first space probes to hit the thick edge of the solar system — called the heliosheath where the solar wind slows abruptly — paint a picture that is not the simple circle that astronomers long thought, according to several studies published Thursday in the journal Nature. Surprised astronomers said they will have to change their models for what the solar system looks like.
In 1977, NASA launched two space probes on missions beyond the solar system. Voyager 1 went north and Voyager 2 went south. What startled astronomers is that when the two of them hit the heliosheath they did so at different distances from the sun.
Voyager 2 hit the southern edge of the solar system nearly 1 billion miles closer to the sun than Voyager 1 did to the north. Voyager 2 hit the edge at 7.8 billion miles from the sun.
"We used to assume that it's all symmetric and simple," said Leonard Burlaga, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "It's literally like a hand pushing."
That push is from the magnetic field that lies between star systems in the Milky Way. The magnetic field hits the solar system at a different angle on the south than on the north, probably because of interstellar turbulence from star explosions, said Voyager project scientist Ed Stone.
Both spacecraft still have several more years before they completely exit the solar system and continue deeper into the space between stars, said Stone, former director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab.
———
Astronomers say they'll have to change their solar system models
By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON July 2, 2008 (AP)
The Associated Press
When viewed from the rest of the galaxy, the edge of our solar system appears slightly dented as if a giant hand is pushing one edge of it inward, far-traveling NASA probes reveal.
Information from Earth's first space probes to hit the thick edge of the solar system — called the heliosheath where the solar wind slows abruptly — paint a picture that is not the simple circle that astronomers long thought, according to several studies published Thursday in the journal Nature. Surprised astronomers said they will have to change their models for what the solar system looks like.
In 1977, NASA launched two space probes on missions beyond the solar system. Voyager 1 went north and Voyager 2 went south. What startled astronomers is that when the two of them hit the heliosheath they did so at different distances from the sun.
Voyager 2 hit the southern edge of the solar system nearly 1 billion miles closer to the sun than Voyager 1 did to the north. Voyager 2 hit the edge at 7.8 billion miles from the sun.
"We used to assume that it's all symmetric and simple," said Leonard Burlaga, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "It's literally like a hand pushing."
That push is from the magnetic field that lies between star systems in the Milky Way. The magnetic field hits the solar system at a different angle on the south than on the north, probably because of interstellar turbulence from star explosions, said Voyager project scientist Ed Stone.
Both spacecraft still have several more years before they completely exit the solar system and continue deeper into the space between stars, said Stone, former director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab.
———
Diamonds hint at 'earliest life':BBC
Diamonds hint at 'earliest life'
By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News
Zircon with diamond inclusion (Martina Menneken)
Some zircon crystals have been dated to 4.4bn years ago
Tiny slivers of diamond forged on an infant Earth may contain the earliest traces of life, a study has shown.
Analysis of the crystals showed they contain a form of carbon often associated with plants and bacteria.
The rare gems were found inside zircon crystals, formed a few hundred million years after the Earth came into being.
Writing in the journal Nature, the researchers caution that their results are not definitive proof of early life but do "not exclude" the possibility.
"We're all a little sceptical," said Dr Martin Whitehouse of the Swedish Museum of Natural History and one of the authors of the paper.
If the carbon was derived from primitive organisms, it would push back the date for life appearing on Earth by around 500 million years, to beyond 4.25 billion years ago. The Earth itself is just 4.6 billion years old.
"When you look at the carbon isotopes, they could be interpreted as biogenic because we know that biologic processes do generate light carbon isotopes. But of course there are other processes that can do that," Dr Whitehouse told BBC News.
"The most common way to form light carbon on the modern Earth is photosynthesis
Alexander Nemchin
Other possibilities include chemical reactions involving carbon oxides or even the material being delivered from space by meteorites.
However, some observers have raised the possibility that the diamonds may be contamination, introduced during polishing of the zircons.
"If you look at the photos that they present, you always see these diamonds sat in cracks and fissures and cavities," Professor Minik Rosing of the University of Copenhagen told BBC News.
If they were original features, he said, you would expect at least some to be embedded within the structure of the crystals.
"There is always fear that they might actually not be primary."
However, Dr Rosing explained, the possibility that the signatures were from early Life was "tantalising".
Time capsules
The tiny zircon crystals - just 0.3mm across - were found in the Jack Hills of Western Australia. They are the tough remnants of ancient rocks that have long since disappeared.
Map of Jack hills (BBC)
"We don't have the rocks. These zircons are just little fragments of something that was broken up, weathered and redeposited as sediments," explained Dr Whitehouse.
Radioactive dating has suggested that some of the crystals formed as far back as 4.4 billion years ago.
Scientists describe this phase in Earth history as the Hadean, and it has long been thought that it would be impossible for life to begin at this time because of the inhospitable conditions on the young planet.
But the Jack Hills zircons have begun to cast doubt on this theory.
Earlier work raised the intriguing possibility that the infant Earth would have been cooler and wetter than previously thought as the crystals show evidence of growing out of a low-temperature magma that had been in contact with water.
The new analysis of the diamond and graphite inclusions in the crystals could lend further weight to this theory.
"I think there is an interesting possibility here," said Dr Whitehouse.
Deep understanding
The scientists analysed 22 graphite and diamond inclusions in 18 zircon crystals.
The results showed that the capsules had unusual levels of a light form, or isotope, of carbon, known as carbon 12.
"The most common way to form light carbon on the modern Earth is photosynthesis," explained Dr Alexander Nemchin of the Curtin University of Technology, Australia, and another author of the paper.
During this process organisms preferentially extract light carbon, leaving heavier forms in the atmosphere.
Rock of the Isua Belt
The Isua Belt may contain chemical traces of ancient life
Oldest evidence of photosynthesis
Diamond record of ancient Earth
"When they die, they preserve that signature," he said.
The results of the team's experiments show that the carbon inclusions have a range of isotopes, which suggested, they said, that the carbon reservoir was "heterogeneous".
This would then have had to be buried deep inside the Earth to generate the extreme pressures required to turn it into diamond.
"If this stuff was life - which then would have presumably formed on the surface - you do then need a process to take it down to something like 150km or 200km," said Dr Whitehouse.
On the modern Earth, crust is recycled at depth in so-called subduction zones, such as those found along the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Here, cool, dense oceanic crust plunges under the buoyant and long-lived continental crust.
Previous work on the diamonds supports the notion that similar processes were occurring on the Hadean Earth.
But not all scientists agree; instead they suggest that the early crust was relatively stable. Either way, Dr Whitehouse does not believe that this rules out a biogenic origin for the carbon.
"All this tells you is that there could have been a process that put things down to 200km," he said. "There may have been other things happening that we don't know about."
Open questions
However, the team readily admit that the conclusion is not definitive.
Currently, what is thought to be the oldest signature of life by some - dated at around 3.7bn years old - was discovered by Professor Rosing in an area of intensely deformed rocks in West Greenland known as the Isua Belt.
That to me is completely the opposite of a biological signature
Minik Rosing
Here, chemical traces again suggest the presence of photosynthetic life forms. But crucially the signature is seen in a complete sequence of rocks rather than isolated crystals.
This gives geologists clues about the environment in which the rocks were laid down and whether or not they could feasibly have contained life.
"The problem with the Jack Hills is that we don't have the rock," admits Dr Whitehouse "The carbon isotopes alone are not a distinct biosignature."
As a result they have suggested other possibilities for the origin of the carbon including inorganic chemical reactions, similar to those that take place in the catalytic converter of a car.
Professor Rosing believes that this is the mostly likely explanation. He points to the range of carbon values that were found in the inclusions.
"That to me is completely the opposite of a biological signature," he said. "That's the signature of some chemistry - a fractionation process or something."
Photosynthesis, he explained, would produce constant values for the carbon isotope ratios. Another possibility, the team suggests, is that the carbon came from so-called "chondritic" meteorites, which also have a similar chemical signature.
This theory is appealing as the Hadean is thought to have ended roughly 3.8bn years ago with a period of intense bombardment believed by some to have initiated the emergence of life on Earth.
However, according to Professor Rosing, if the diamonds and zircons are extraterrestrial it undermines every other theory related to the zircons, including the possibility of a cooler, more habitable early Earth.
"If that is the case, then every other argument about these zircons falls apart, he said. "Then we don't know anything."
By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News
Zircon with diamond inclusion (Martina Menneken)
Some zircon crystals have been dated to 4.4bn years ago
Tiny slivers of diamond forged on an infant Earth may contain the earliest traces of life, a study has shown.
Analysis of the crystals showed they contain a form of carbon often associated with plants and bacteria.
The rare gems were found inside zircon crystals, formed a few hundred million years after the Earth came into being.
Writing in the journal Nature, the researchers caution that their results are not definitive proof of early life but do "not exclude" the possibility.
"We're all a little sceptical," said Dr Martin Whitehouse of the Swedish Museum of Natural History and one of the authors of the paper.
If the carbon was derived from primitive organisms, it would push back the date for life appearing on Earth by around 500 million years, to beyond 4.25 billion years ago. The Earth itself is just 4.6 billion years old.
"When you look at the carbon isotopes, they could be interpreted as biogenic because we know that biologic processes do generate light carbon isotopes. But of course there are other processes that can do that," Dr Whitehouse told BBC News.
"The most common way to form light carbon on the modern Earth is photosynthesis
Alexander Nemchin
Other possibilities include chemical reactions involving carbon oxides or even the material being delivered from space by meteorites.
However, some observers have raised the possibility that the diamonds may be contamination, introduced during polishing of the zircons.
"If you look at the photos that they present, you always see these diamonds sat in cracks and fissures and cavities," Professor Minik Rosing of the University of Copenhagen told BBC News.
If they were original features, he said, you would expect at least some to be embedded within the structure of the crystals.
"There is always fear that they might actually not be primary."
However, Dr Rosing explained, the possibility that the signatures were from early Life was "tantalising".
Time capsules
The tiny zircon crystals - just 0.3mm across - were found in the Jack Hills of Western Australia. They are the tough remnants of ancient rocks that have long since disappeared.
Map of Jack hills (BBC)
"We don't have the rocks. These zircons are just little fragments of something that was broken up, weathered and redeposited as sediments," explained Dr Whitehouse.
Radioactive dating has suggested that some of the crystals formed as far back as 4.4 billion years ago.
Scientists describe this phase in Earth history as the Hadean, and it has long been thought that it would be impossible for life to begin at this time because of the inhospitable conditions on the young planet.
But the Jack Hills zircons have begun to cast doubt on this theory.
Earlier work raised the intriguing possibility that the infant Earth would have been cooler and wetter than previously thought as the crystals show evidence of growing out of a low-temperature magma that had been in contact with water.
The new analysis of the diamond and graphite inclusions in the crystals could lend further weight to this theory.
"I think there is an interesting possibility here," said Dr Whitehouse.
Deep understanding
The scientists analysed 22 graphite and diamond inclusions in 18 zircon crystals.
The results showed that the capsules had unusual levels of a light form, or isotope, of carbon, known as carbon 12.
"The most common way to form light carbon on the modern Earth is photosynthesis," explained Dr Alexander Nemchin of the Curtin University of Technology, Australia, and another author of the paper.
During this process organisms preferentially extract light carbon, leaving heavier forms in the atmosphere.
Rock of the Isua Belt
The Isua Belt may contain chemical traces of ancient life
Oldest evidence of photosynthesis
Diamond record of ancient Earth
"When they die, they preserve that signature," he said.
The results of the team's experiments show that the carbon inclusions have a range of isotopes, which suggested, they said, that the carbon reservoir was "heterogeneous".
This would then have had to be buried deep inside the Earth to generate the extreme pressures required to turn it into diamond.
"If this stuff was life - which then would have presumably formed on the surface - you do then need a process to take it down to something like 150km or 200km," said Dr Whitehouse.
On the modern Earth, crust is recycled at depth in so-called subduction zones, such as those found along the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Here, cool, dense oceanic crust plunges under the buoyant and long-lived continental crust.
Previous work on the diamonds supports the notion that similar processes were occurring on the Hadean Earth.
But not all scientists agree; instead they suggest that the early crust was relatively stable. Either way, Dr Whitehouse does not believe that this rules out a biogenic origin for the carbon.
"All this tells you is that there could have been a process that put things down to 200km," he said. "There may have been other things happening that we don't know about."
Open questions
However, the team readily admit that the conclusion is not definitive.
Currently, what is thought to be the oldest signature of life by some - dated at around 3.7bn years old - was discovered by Professor Rosing in an area of intensely deformed rocks in West Greenland known as the Isua Belt.
That to me is completely the opposite of a biological signature
Minik Rosing
Here, chemical traces again suggest the presence of photosynthetic life forms. But crucially the signature is seen in a complete sequence of rocks rather than isolated crystals.
This gives geologists clues about the environment in which the rocks were laid down and whether or not they could feasibly have contained life.
"The problem with the Jack Hills is that we don't have the rock," admits Dr Whitehouse "The carbon isotopes alone are not a distinct biosignature."
As a result they have suggested other possibilities for the origin of the carbon including inorganic chemical reactions, similar to those that take place in the catalytic converter of a car.
Professor Rosing believes that this is the mostly likely explanation. He points to the range of carbon values that were found in the inclusions.
"That to me is completely the opposite of a biological signature," he said. "That's the signature of some chemistry - a fractionation process or something."
Photosynthesis, he explained, would produce constant values for the carbon isotope ratios. Another possibility, the team suggests, is that the carbon came from so-called "chondritic" meteorites, which also have a similar chemical signature.
This theory is appealing as the Hadean is thought to have ended roughly 3.8bn years ago with a period of intense bombardment believed by some to have initiated the emergence of life on Earth.
However, according to Professor Rosing, if the diamonds and zircons are extraterrestrial it undermines every other theory related to the zircons, including the possibility of a cooler, more habitable early Earth.
"If that is the case, then every other argument about these zircons falls apart, he said. "Then we don't know anything."
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