Rebuilding a Treasure Ship

In its 15th-century navy, China discovers a model for its new global ambitions.

Using many 15th-century techniques, shipbuilder Fang Jiebo works on what will become one of the ribs of a reproduction of a massive "treasure ship" captained by the Muslim eunuch explorer Zheng He. Modern Chinese officials want to use Zheng He's legacy to shape perceptions of their country's rise to global prominence. (Ariana Lindquist)

An improbably small worker in gray coveralls tugs at a thick iron chain, his mouth set in a resolute line. The chain extends to an overhead pulley and back down to the midpoint of a massive square log that the worker is slowly, excruciatingly trying to turn on its side. Few tasks are too gargantuan in today's China, but this is a bit much. The log is 52 feet long and weighs more than eight tons.

Finally, it tips over with a resounding thump. Once this log is sanded and varnished, it will become part of a titanic reproduction, based partly on archaeological evidence, of a boat captained by Zheng He, China's legendary fifteenth-century explorer. T. J. Jia smiles approvingly from under his white supervisor's hard hat. A good-humored man with wide-set eyes, his supple leather jacket and flawless English hint at a privileged background. He is a former Chinese foreign ministry official with an MBA from the Garvin School of International Management in Arizona. He stands in a large, hangar-like warehouse. Outside, the brown waters of the Yangtze River roil by. "We've had to import balau wood from Malaysia," Jia says apologetically. "We don't have it in China anymore. The forests are gone."

This is just a slight inconvenience. Jia is deputy general manager of Dragon Boat Development Company, which is overseeing the project with the city of Nanjing. With a $10 million budget and a three-year timeline, he can afford to import wood for historical accuracy. The company even uses many fifteenth-century construction methods, which explains why the tiny workman uses a pulley instead of a forklift.

Porcelain rice bowls, with workers' names painted on the bottom, were found at the site of a 15th-century shipyard. (Qi Haining, Deputy Director of the Nanjing Municipal Museum Archaeology Department)

China's leaders are seizing on history as a tool to influence the perception of the nation abroad. Through a careful, calculated celebration of Zheng He and his travels, the government hopes to project an image of itself as open and benevolent--a powerful but peaceful nation interested in trade, not domination. But history and archaeology don't always cooperate.

The story of the boat now being reconstructed begins in 1402, when a dynamic young prince named Zhu Di ousted his brother by force, usurping the Ming throne. For centuries, China had been dominated by Confucian advisors who convinced the emperors to spurn international commerce and look inward. Referred to as the Yongle (meaning "eternal happiness") emperor, Zhu Di wanted to reinstate foreign trade, invite in foreigners, and unite "the four seas"--what China then saw as the rest of the world. The following year, he ordered the construction of a fleet larger than any in history, with 317 boats. Its centerpieces were majestic "treasure ships," named for the wealth of goods they carried. According to historical sources, each ship boasted a tall, curled prow, nine staggered masts, and 12 red silk sails. Watertight compartments carried porcelain, silk, and tea for trading with distant lands. It is unclear how many such ships Zhu Di's initial fleet included--a novel from the period suggests there were four--but each was apparently more than 400 feet long, or four times the length of Columbus's Santa Maria.

The man the emperor chose to captain the voyages, a Chinese Muslim eunuch from among his closest advisors, was as imposing as the fleet he led. Standing over six feet tall, Admiral Zheng He had distinguished himself in an offensive against the Mongols in 1390 and again when the emperor seized China's throne. As head of the fleet from 1405 to 1433, Zheng He led explorations of Vietnam, Siam, Malacca, Java, India, Sri Lanka, Arabia, and other lands. He commanded 27,000 sailors, along with doctors, astrologers, translators, and pharmacologists. Eighty years before Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope, Zheng He reached eastern Africa. Before the death of the Yongle emperor and subsequent political shuffling put an end to his voyages, China ruled the seas. "We have traversed more than one hundred thousand li [around 25,000 miles] of immense waterspaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves, like mountains rising sky-high," boasts a tablet Zheng He had erected in Fujian in 1432, near the port from which he sailed.

Worker Fang Zaihua planes one of the 6 masts of the Zheng He ship reconstruction. The original ships had 12 masts, but this one has been scaled down to meet today's Chinese maritime regulations. (Ariana Lindquist)

In 1424, the Yongle emperor died. Zheng He followed him in 1433, at age 62, dying at sea of unknown causes. In the next few decades, the Chinese elite began to question the cost of maintaining a large fleet. Just as Europe was launching its own maritime expeditions, power reverted to the Confucians, who scaled back the shipyard's operations and eventually banned maritime trade altogether. By the next century, China had again closed out the world.

Zheng He's legacy endures in the Fujian tablet, which was erected shortly before his death. "We have set eyes on barbarian regions far away," it reads, "hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds day and night, continued their course [as rapidly as] a star, traversing the savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare."

Once the replica treasure ship is completed, its planners intend it to follow a similar course, retracing Zheng He's voyages. And, like its Ming predecessors, the ship will one day be part of a fleet. Dragon Boat is already fielding orders--a cultural bureau from New York's Chinatown is among those expressing interest. When asked about the future, Jia smiles. "We will build another one," he says. "And another one. And another one."

Nefertiti's Eyes

Did the queen's distinctive feature become a symbol of Egyptian royalty?

Found in 1912 in the studio of the sculptor Tuthmosis at Amarna, and now in Berlin, this painted bust of Queen Nefertiti shows her with unusually shaped eyes, probably an actual physical trait. (Nina Aldin Thune)

All eyes were on the Valley of the Kings the morning of February 5, 2006, when our expedition first looked into the chamber now known as KV63, the first tomb found in Egypt's Valley of the Kings since that of Tutankhamun (KV62) in 1922.

Press speculation was rampant over what the tomb might hold. Would our expedition find the mummies of royal women from the late 18th Dynasty, such as Queen Nefertiti, thought by some to be Tut's mother? Or the six princesses she bore to the pharaoh Akhenaten, including Tut's queen, Ankhesenamun? The mummies of these women have either not been found or identified. Perhaps they were removed from Akhenaten's capital at Amarna when a later king, presumably Tut, returned to the traditional capital of Thebes on the Nile opposite the Valley of the Kings. Did Tut rebury them in the Valley?

After taking out several stones blocking the doorway from the tomb shaft into the chamber, we peered through the narrow opening. Inside, we could see many large ceramic jars and several wooden coffins, some with yellow-painted faces. The press speculation was incorrect on all counts. We found no mummies in any of the tomb's seven coffins and no inscriptions to tell us for whom these coffins were initially intended.

But while studying the coffins, I discovered--in the eyes of faces painted on three of them--an intriguing link to Nefertiti, the queen whose name means, simply, "the beautiful one has come." While none of the coffins held Nefertiti's remains, the eyes may tell us something unexpected about her celebrated beauty. Was it in part the result of a genetic syndrome?

If not a royal tomb, what was KV63? Finds include the seven coffins, a small gilt coffinette, two large alabaster vessels, floral garlands, pillows, natron (the natural salt used in mummification), and many ceramics. It seems to have been a cache of material used by embalmers, but including coffins, unused or salvaged from disturbed burials, suitable for upper-class, but not elite or royal, funerals.

Although KV63 didn't yield the mummies of Nefertiti, Ankhesenamun, and the rest, the tomb is linked to Tutankhamun's time. Seal impressions found there match some discovered in Tut's tomb, which is just 50 feet away. KV63's date should fall within or close to Tut's reign (1343-1333 B.C.), but association with his burial is uncertain at this point. Perhaps we will gain further evidence for the date of KV63 from the contents of the remaining 16, of 28 total, storage jars that we plan to open this season.

Otto Schaden, our expedition director, asked me, as staff art historian and object analyst, if any information could be gleaned from the coffins to narrow this date range. I began with the four coffins that had yellow-painted faces. The KV63 coffins were almost totally destroyed by termites, but the faces were made separately. Faces on coffins were often covered with thin plaster or gesso as a base for gilding or painting (as in the KV63 coffins). The termites seem to prefer untreated wood, so while the remainder of the coffins were mostly consumed, the gessoed and painted faces survived.

Coffin F is one of three from KV63, an embalmer's cache from around the time of Tutankhamun, that shows faces with eyes shaped similarly to Nefertiti's. (Heather Alexander/Amenmesse Project)

In the art of the ancient Near East, including Egypt, females were generally depicted with lighter skin than males. Were the coffins with light yellow faces made for women? Two such coffins in museum collections, however, were inscribed for males. Furthermore, a painting in a tomb in Thebes shows coffins of Nebamun and Ipuky, sculptors who worked during the reigns of kings Amenhotep III and his son Akhenaten. Each of their black coffins has a yellow-painted face. So rather than indicating the coffins were for females, the yellow faces probably copied those of the very wealthy, who could afford gold faces on their coffins.

With no inscriptions and the ambiguous nature of the yellow face color, I began looking at other characteristics that might prove helpful, such as the shape and details of the faces. In doing that, the eyes on three of the painted KV63 coffins brought me back to Nefertiti.

Nefertiti is best known from the painted bust of her found at Amarna and now in Berlin. Her parentage is not entirely certain, but most Egyptologists believe she was the daughter of the powerful courtier Ay, who eventually succeeded Tutankhamun.

The face of one, which we designated coffin A, had eyes rimmed with blue glass in a traditional shape, unlike the other three coffins with yellow faces, designated B, F, and G. What links the eyes of these three coffins, beside the fact that all are painted, is that the inner canthus--the corner of the eye near the nose--descends abruptly and abuts the upper lid, giving them an East Asian appearance. Nefertiti's famous bust illustrates this eye shape better than words. Both her proper right eye and the empty socket of the left show this form. What is the meaning of this eye shape?

Art of the Amarna period, when Akhenaten and Nefertiti reigned, is noted for its naturalistic depiction of plants and animals and, in some cases, candid scenes of daily life. So one might suggest that the shape of Nefertiti's eyes may be an attempt to render her features as they actually appeared.

One of the earliest appearances of Nefertiti's unusual eye shape is on a stela showing the royal family. Found at Amarna and now in Berlin, it is dated by an inscription to before years 8 through 12 of Akhenaten's reign, or around 1350 B.C. On the stela, however, Akhenaten's eye shape is "normal" and resembles those seen on sculptures of him in Thebes, but Nefertiti's is not. So this stela may show a real, physical condition.

It could be that Nefertiti had an epicanthic fold, a piece of skin from the upper eyelid covering the inner edge of the eye. This feature is found not just in people of East Asian descent, but also in individuals with a number of different syndromes--groups of symptoms characteristic of an abnormality--some of which are genetically based. Some syndromes are debilitating, others less so, and still others are passed only from mothers to daughters. We are currently investigating the possibility that Nefertiti's eyes reflect such an underlying physical condition, but without her remains no diagnosis can be made (and the evidence may have been destroyed or altered during mummification).

If a genetically based physical trait was the basis for this eye shape, did Nefertiti pass it on to her children and was it recorded in the appearance of their eyes in artwork? Images of Nefertiti show the trait more frequently and markedly than those of any other individual portrayed at Amarna. German excavators at Amarna in 1912 found many representations of Nefertiti and her daughters in the studio of an artist named Tuthmosis, including the painted bust of Nefertiti. Many of these representations are in various stages of completion, but their distinctive eyes are easily noticed. This is especially clear in a relief, now in the Brooklyn Museum, that may show Meritaten, the queen's eldest daughter.

It is possible that Nefertiti was Tutankhamun's mother. If so, it wouldn't be surprising if he were shown with an eye shape similar to hers. This is the case with some depictions, such as a wooden head of the young pharaoh that was found in his tomb. It shows his head, sprouting from a lotus bloom, with eyes that match those of Nefertiti. Other explanations for its appearance with Tut include the possibility that his mother was not Nefertiti but perhaps a woman of the extended royal family who also carried the trait. And it could even be that Tut did not have the eye shape himself, if his mother was a woman other than Nefertiti who did not have it or if the trait was passed only from mothers to daughters. In either case, Tut could be shown with it simply as an artistic continuance of the characteristic.

If the sculptor Tuthmosis were responsible for recording and then re-creating this eye shape, perhaps he extended its use from those who actually had it to--as an artistic convention--a "royal marker" to distinguish images of the king and a few select nobles. For example, this eye shape is also seen on a representation of King Amenhotep III, Akhenaten's father, seated in a relaxed pose with his wife Queen Tiy on a stela found at Amarna, and now in the British Museum. Amenhotep III was Nefertiti's father-in-law, but this stela was probably carved after his death, so the eye shape does not predate its appearance on Nefertiti. It is also used in the 19th Dynasty, such as in depictions of the pharaoh Seti I at Abydos and of Nefertari, queen of Rameses II, who died around 1254 B.C.

And this brings us back to KV63, with its upper-class coffins. Like the yellow faces meant to represent gilding, did the eye shape seek to portray a "royal marker" derived from Nefertiti's own eyes?

The final word is not yet in, but there seems to be a high probability that Nefertiti herself had eyes with epicanthic folds or eyes with a similar shape with descending inner canthi. Eyes of this type undoubtedly created what must have been quite a striking feature to all who saw her. This may have been passed along to some of her royal offspring. Moreover, in the sun cult that they fostered, both Nefertiti and her husband Akhenaten were the only ones through whom prayers could be directed to the solar god Aten. This divine or semi-divine status may have accounted for this eye shape being transformed into an artistic convention that was copied by high-ranking officials and subsequent rulers.

'Six-way' kidney transplant first

The transplants are carried out at once to stop donors backing out US doctors have carried out what is believed to be the world's first simultaneous six-way kidney transplant. Six recipients received organs from six donors in operations at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland. The procedure was made possible after an altruistic donor - neither a friend nor relative of any of the six patients - was found to match one of them. Five patients had a willing donor whose kidney was incompatible with theirs, but it did match another in the group. We want to spread the word about this sort of group surgery and living organ donation Jeanne Heise Recipient This meant that suddenly, there were six people who could receive an organ. The operations were carried out simultaneously to make sure no-one backed out after their loved one had received a kidney. "All 12 are doing great, the six kidneys are working well," said Dr Robert Montgomery, director of the transplant centre at the Johns Hopkins hospital. Team effort The hospital has been one of the pioneers of this system which matches up several groups of people at one time. It aims to circumvent the problem of altruistic donors ending up in arbitrary allocation systems where only a single patient's needs are served. The hospital has been carrying out these simultaneous transplants for three years: in 2005, the first triple procedure was performed, a year later, the first five-way. Nearly 100 medical professionals were needed to make the complex series of transplants possible, from immunogeneticists to hinder rejection to psychologists. If all goes to plan, each patient can expect their new kidney to last for as long as 20 years. Recipient Jeanne Heise, whose husband donated to another patient, said more people should know about the system. "The waiting list for a kidney is very long and too many people die while waiting," she said. "With this group procedure, more and more people can beat kidney disease and live long productive lives." The UK has so far carried out only two-way transplants, with the most recent - the third - just this week. The prospect of three-way transplants is currently being examined. A spokesman for UK transplant welcomed the news that the US had achieved a six-way procedure, but said the organisation and logistics required for such a process meant it was still a "very long way off" for the UK.

Life Not as We Know It

The search for extraterrestrials must look beyond life as we know it, scientists have advised NASA. The space agency mostly hunts for life that, like on Earth, is based on water, carbon and DNA, a National Research Council committee found. The dozen committee members—specialists in genetics, chemistry, biology and other fields instead recommend NASA consider what they call “bizarre life.” For instance, synthetic biology experiments have devised molecules that encode genetic databut that have more nucleotidesthan DNA or RNAdo. Instead of water, aliens might employammonia or sulfuricacid as the basisfor their life-sustaining biochemical reactions. Novelorganisms might use minerals as catalysts,rather than enzymes.In their July 6 report,the council scientists singled out Saturn’s moon Titan(photograph) as especially deserving of a follow-up mission because of evidence of mixtures of liquid ammonia and water in its interior.

The energy [r]evolution starts here

Developing countries like China can develop and grow using renewable energy to avoid the mistakes of old climate-changing energy economies of developed countries.

Tackling dangerous climate change is the biggest challenge facing us all. Fortunately there is an answer to this challenge. Our report: ‘energy [r]evolution’, details how to halve global CO2 emissions by 2050, using existing technology and still providing affordable energy and economic growth. In short - a revolution in energy policy and an evolution in how we use energy.

The debate about climate change is over. Solutions are needed now. The energy [r]evolution is the road map for how to provide power for everyone without fuelling climate change.

We don't need to freeze in the dark. We don't need to build nuclear power plants. We don't need to cripple economic growth. We can make a safe and sustainable world energy scenario a reality.

We can have reliable renewable energy, and use energy more smartly to achieve the cuts in carbon emissions required to prevent dangerous climate change. Crucially this can be done while phasing out damaging and dangerous coal and nuclear energy.

Sven Teske, our energy expert, took a leading role in producing the report: “The Energy Revolution scenario comes as the world is crying out for a road map for tackling the dilemma of how to provide the power we all need, without fuelling climate change. “Renewable energies are competitive, if government's phase-out subsidies for fossil and nuclear fuels and introduce the `polluter-pays principle`. We urge politicians to ban those subsidies by 2010.”

Chinese woman works below 21st century renewable energy technology.

The plan also details how large developing countries like India, China and Brazil can develop and grow using renewable energy to avoid the mistakes of old climate-changing energy economies of developed countries.

The Energy Revolution is not just our vision for the future. It was written with the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) and in conjunction with specialists from the German Space Agency and more than 30 scientists and engineers from universities, institutes and the renewable energy industry around the world.

Revolution in energy policy

"The stone age did not end for lack of stone, and the oil age will end long before the world runs out of oil."

Sheikh Zaki Yamani, former Saudi oil minister.

It is clear that current 'business as usual' approach to energy supply cannot continue. However the longer we delay making significant change, the tougher those changes will need to be. In the next three years, major energy investment will be made in countries around the world. We have the opportunity to say farewell to old, polluting energy sources and to welcome in a new, more efficient and conflict-free energy future.

Politicians need to grasp this chance with both hands or be the ones whose negligence helped ensure dangerous climate change to be inevitable. You can help ensure a change by voting for politicians who support the Energy [R]evolution.

Evolution in energy use

Governments and industry need to drive a massive change in the way energy is produced. But we as individuals also have to drive a massive change in the way we use energy.

Using energy smartly can double energy efficiency by 2050. With a few simple steps, every one of us can do our bit.

Revolution and evolution are unforgiving forces. Nobody wants to be on the wrong side of either one. But it's time to choose: all of us are either part of the [r]evolution, or we're part of the problem. And unless all of us are part of the solution, all of us have a problem.

Illegal Carve-up of Congo Rainforests

Illegal Carve-up of Congo Rainforests

More than 21 million hectares of rainforest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are now illegally logged, an area nearly seven times the size of Belgium.

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The second largest rainforest in the world -- after the Amazon -- sits in the Congo basin of Africa. Around 21 million hectares (over 51 million acres) of this pristine forest are being illegally logged. We've released new evidence of the extent of this forest crime.

The Congo Government introduced a moratorium in 2002 forbidding the allocation, extension and renewal of logging titles. But despite the original moratorium being reaffirmed by Presidential decree, it has been widely ignored. We are demanding that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the World Bank, and other stakeholders take urgent action to stop the expansion of the logging industry in Congo's rainforests, and to fund alternatives to deforestation.

The Congo Rainforest is a critical habitat for the endangered bonobo (a relative of the chimpanzee) and other threatened species such as the forest elephant and the hippopotamus. It is considered to be a priority region for conservation, and is also home to numerous communities of the Twa and Bantu ethnic groups.

A bonobo swings on a tree in a bonobo sanctuary. Bonobos were the last of the great apes to be discovered. They live exclusively in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are considered to be man's closest relative and organise themselves in sophisticated social groups. They are highly endangered from hunting and loss of habitat.

Greenpeace is highlighting one company which has breached the 2002 moratorium. ITB (Industrie de Transformation de Bois) is actively logging in the region of Lac Tumba, with two logging permits covering 294,000 hectares (726,489 acres) of forests. Both permits were issued after the moratorium was enacted. ITB logs with no forest management plan as it extracts high value species such as Wenge for export to the European market.

Delegates from the Congolese Government, donor community and civil society will meet next week in Brussels to discuss the sustainable management of the forests of the DRC. Greenpeace is demanding that all forest titles allocated by the government -- in breach of its own moratorium -- are cancelled. This would include ITB's. We want an ongoing legal review of all logging titles and an extension of the moratorium until comprehensive land-use planning and sufficient governance capacity is in place in the DRC forest sector.

"Logging companies promise us wonders: work, schools, hospitals, but actually, they seem to be only interested in their own short term profits. What will happen when our forests have been emptied? They will leave and we'll be the ones left with damaged roads, schools with no roofs and hospitals without medicine," said Pasteur Matthieu Yela Bonketo, coordinator of CEDEN, a Congolese NGO active in Equateur province who will be in Brussels for next week's conference. "Industrial logging doesn't bring benefits. The Twa and Bantu people who totally depend on our forests and the local communities who live in them are suffering because of the presence of the industry," he concluded.

The ESA Planck Surveyor Mission

The ESA Planck Surveyor Mission

Since the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) by Penzias and Wilson in 1965, the phenomenon has been studied intensively. By measuring intensity fluctuations in the CMBR, we can obtain unique information on the physical conditions in the early Universe. Just after Big Bang these physical conditions were very extreme, but the expansion of the Universe caused the temperature and density to decrease rapidly. The matter was completely ionised, and, due to the Thomson scattering by the free electrons, the Universe was completely opaque to electromagnetic radiation. Approx. 300.000 years after Big Bang, the temperature has decreased to about 3.000 K. The nuclei (mostly protons) and the free electrons re-combined to form neutral atoms and the Universe were suddenly completely transparent to photons. All these photons have travelled undisturbed through the Universe ever since and are now seen as the cosmic microwave background radiation.

The study of the early evolution of the Universe is a high-priority scientific area in Denmark. In order to combine both the theoretical and the observational efforts, a co-operation between DSRI, Theoretical Astrophysics Center (TAC) and the Niels Bohr Institute for Astronomy, Physics and Geophysics (NBIfAFG) was formed in 1995. As the first observational project, DSRI engaged itself in the US balloon experiment TopHat, described in section 2.5.1 below.

In April 1996, the Planck Surveyor mission was selected as the next ESA medium size mission. The main scientific objective is to study the CMBR with unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution. DSRI has participated in the preparation of the Planck Surveyor mission since the early phases of the project. As a part of the preparation an appropriation from the Danish Ministry of Research was given to produce a carbon fibre test mirror, in order to demonstrate the Danish capability to produce the optical elements of the required quality. The test mirror was produced by Terma Industries, Grenaa.

The test mirror has been carefully tested. It has been demonstrated that the mirror fulfils the requirements concerning deviations from the optimal surface (rms. <>

Figure 9: The Planck Surveyor Test Mirror

Planck Surveyor is defined as a "principal investigator" mission, implying that only the parties responsible for the delivery of scientific instrumentation will have access to the scientific data during the long period from the time the data are collected and analysed, till the final maps are delivered to the general astronomical community. In this case, the mirror system is considered a scientific instrument. An agreement on the delivery of the mirror system has been signed between DSRI and ESA. The final approval by the ESA Council was given at the June 2000 meeting. ESA has decided to combine the Planck Surveyor mission and the FIRST missions on the same ARIANE 5 launch, planned for the first quarter of 2007.

A Danish Planck consortium with 3 member institutes as those taking part in the TopHat project has been established. The consortium is led by a steering committee with 2 representatives from each institute. Support has been obtained from the Danish Natural Science Research Council and the Danish Committee for ESA-related research.

UW scientists unlock major number theory puzzle

Mathematicians have finally laid to rest the legendary mystery surrounding an elusive group of numerical expressions known as the "mock theta functions."

Number theorists have struggled to understand the functions ever since the great Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan first alluded to them in a letter written on his deathbed, in 1920.

Now, using mathematical techniques that emerged well after Ramanujan's death, two number theorists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have pieced together an explanatory framework that for the first time illustrates what mock theta functions are, and exactly how to derive them.

Their new theory is proving invaluable in the resolution of long-standing open questions in number theory. In addition, the UW-Madison advance will for the first time enable researchers to apply mock theta functions to problems in a variety of fields, including physics, chemistry and several branches of mathematics. The findings appear in a series of three papers, the third appearing today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"It's extremely gratifying to be able to say we solved the 'final problem' of Ramanujan," says co-author Ken Ono, UW-Madison Manasse Professor of Letters and Science, who is widely noted for contributions to number theory. "We simply got really lucky."

Ono worked in collaboration with German mathematician Kathrin Bringmann, a postdoctoral researcher at UW-Madison.

"This is something I really didn't expect anybody to do," says George Andrews, a leading number theorist at Pennsylvania State University who in 2000 called mock theta functions one of the most difficult math puzzles of the new millennium. "It is an outstanding piece of work, a breathtakingly wonderful achievement."

Working from Ramanujan's letter, number theorists believed that mock theta functions are related to a well-understood class of mathematical expressions-the 'theta' functions-that have been in use for centuries. Theta functions constitute a certain sequence of numbers that has proved useful in various problems of mathematical analysis.

Mock theta functions similarly constitute an infinite series of numbers. But what has been completely baffling is what it is about mock theta series that make them so rich and powerful. Over the decades-much to the amazement of mathematicians everywhere-mock theta functions have cropped up amidst calculations in a number of fields, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, and even cancer research.

What made mock theta functions all the more inscrutable was the fact that the first few pages of Ramanujan's letter were lost. Those pages may have contained more clues, but in their absence, the letter merely presented 17 examples of the functions. What's missing is any definition of what the functions are, any hints on how to derive them, and any indication of why they are even important. All those secrets died with Ramanujan just two months after he wrote the letter, when he succumbed to tuberculosis at the age of 32.

"Imagine stringing together a thousand random words and then saying you've come up with the most beautiful poetry," says Ono. "That's essentially what Ramanujan did to us."

Bringmann and Ono made sense of it all by finding a way to represent the power of mock theta functions through another relatively new family of mathematical expressions known as the Harmonic Maass Forms.

A Dutch mathematician named Sander Zwegers had already made that important connection in 2002, but he had focused only on Ramanujan's examples.

It was during a flight to New Hampshire that Ono realized the full depth and meaning of Zwegers' work. Skimming a journal to pass the time, Ono happened upon an old article by George Andrews on mock theta functions. Suddenly, he noticed that some of the mathematics in the paper seemed to resonate with parts of the Harmonic Maass theory, which he and Bringmann just happened to be developing at the time, for other reasons.

The mathematicians found the connection held up beautifully. "We knew we were onto something right away," says Ono. "It was an uncanny set of coincidences that lead us to this solution. It was as if it all just fell into our lap and now we are serendipitously applying our theory to longstanding open problems."

'Doomsday' vault design unveiled

'Doomsday' vault design unveiled

By Mark Kinver Science and nature reporter, BBC News Artist's impression of the entrance to the vault Enlarge Image The final design for a "doomsday" vault that will house seeds from all known varieties of food crops has been unveiled by the Norwegian government. The Svalbard International Seed Vault will be built into a mountainside on a remote island near the North Pole. The vault aims to safeguard the world's agriculture from future catastrophes, such as nuclear war, asteroid strikes and climate change. Construction begins in March, and the seed bank is scheduled to open in 2008. The Norwegian government is paying the $5m (£2.5m) construction costs of the vault, which will have enough space to house three million seed samples. See inside the Svalbard International Seed Vault The collection and maintenance of the collection is being organised by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which has responsibility of ensuring the "conservation of crop diversity in perpetuity". "We want a safety net because we do not want to take too many chances with crop biodiversity," said Cary Fowler, the Trust's executive director. "Can you imagine an effective, efficient, sustainable response to climate change, water shortages, food security issues without what is going to go in the vault - it is the raw material of agriculture." Future proof The seed vault will be built 120m (364ft) inside a mountain on Spitsbergen, one of four islands that make up Svalbard. Dr Fowler said Svalbard, 1,000km (621 miles) north of mainland Norway, was chosen as the location for the vault because it was very remote and it also offered the level of stability required for the long-term project. "We looked very far into the future. We looked at radiation levels inside the mountain, and we looked at the area's geological structure," he told BBC News. "We also modelled climate change in a drastic form 200 years into future, which included the melting of ice sheets at the North and South Poles, and Greenland, to make sure that this site was above the resulting water level." By building the vault deep inside the mountain, the surrounding permafrost would continue to provide natural refrigeration if the mechanical system failed, explained Dr Fowler. 'Living Fort Knox' The Arctic vault will act as a back-up store for a global network of seed banks financially supported by the trust. Dr Fowler said that a proportion of the seeds housed at these banks would be deposited at Svalbard, which will act as a "living Fort Knox". Although the vault was designed to protect the specimens from catastrophic events, he added that it could also be used to replenish national seed banks. "One example happened in September when a typhoon ripped through the Philippines and destroyed its seed bank," Dr Fowler recalled. "The storm brought two feet of water and mud into the bank, and that is the last thing you want in a seed bank." Low maintenance Once inside the vault, the samples will be stored at -18C (0F). The length of time that seeds kept in a frozen state maintain their ability to germinate depends on the species. The Arctic conditions will help keep the seeds in a frozen state Some crops, such as peas, may only survive for 20-30 years. Others, such as sunflowers and grain crops, are understood to last for many decades or even hundreds of years. Once the collection has been established at Svalbard, Dr Fowler said the facility would operate with very little human intervention. "Somebody will go up there once every year to physically check inside to see that everything is OK, but there will be no full-time staff," he explained. "If you design a facility to be used in worst-case scenarios, then you cannot actually have too much dependency on human beings."

Brain scan 'can read your mind'

Brain scan 'can read your mind'

An fMRI scan of the brain

The researchers used scans of the brain to predict decisions
Brain scans have been developed which it is claimed can predict what a person is about to do.

German, British and Japanese scientists were able to "read minds" using sophisticated functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) and computer programs.

Current Biology reported people were asked to think about adding or subtracting - scientists were able to read intentions in 70% of cases.

A UK expert advised caution, but said such technologies would develop.


We shouldn't go overboard about the power of these technologies at the moment
Professor Colin Blakemore, Medical Research Council

Such techniques could be used to help people who are paralysed - there are already some steps being taken towards helping people using computer-assisted prosthetic devices linked to computers.

But this research might also allow abstract thoughts and intentions to be read.

It may even be possible to carry out instructions such as "send email" simply by thinking them - with a scanner picking up the wish and translating it in a way that the computer can act on.

'Spatial pattern'

The researchers, led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, in Leipzig, asked people to hold their mathematical decision in their minds until they were shown two numbers on a computer screen.

The fMRI scans monitored brain activity for the few seconds they were thinking about their sum, and it was on this information that the scientists made their predictions.

The researchers used a method called "multivariate pattern recognition".

A computer is programmed to recognise characteristic activation patterns in the brain that typically occur in association with specific thoughts.

Once this computer has been "trained" it can be used to predict the decisions of subjects solely from their brain activity alone.

Dr John-Dylan Haynes, who led the research, said: "It has been previously assumed that freely selected plans might be stored in the middle regions of the prefrontal cortex, whereas plans following external instructions could be stored on the surface of the brain.

"We were able to confirm this theory in our experiments."

He added: "The experiments show that intentions are not encoded in single neurons but in a whole spatial pattern of brain activity."

It appears regions towards the front of the brain store the intention until it is executed, whereas regions further back take over when subjects become active and start doing the calculation.

Professor Colin Blakemore, director of the Medical Research Council, said: "We shouldn't go overboard about the power of these technologies at the moment.

"But what you can be absolutely sure of is that these will continue to roll out and we will have more and more ability to probe people's intentions, minds, background thoughts, hopes and emotions."

He added: "Some of that is extremely desirable, because it will help with diagnosis, education and so on, but we need to be thinking the ethical issues through.

"It adds a whole new gloss to personal medical data and how it can be used."