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World's largest telescope underway, scientists definitely observe big bang
Once again astronomers are observing formative explosions, but this time a little bit closer to home. Three million cubic feet of planet earth is being blasted from the Chilean Andes as work on what will be the world's largest telescope begins. The location is the Carnegie Institution's Las Campanas Observatory, and the project is a collaboration between South Korean, Australian and American institutions to create the Giant Magellan Telescope. The first mirror segment is just being completed, and is so precise, it matches its optical prescription to within a millionth of an inch. The project will cost $700 million once complete, small change we say for a chance to glimpse light from the edge of the Universe.
Ancient acoustic engineers used stucco, drugs, and architecture to rock and confuse audiences
It's always fun when scientists discover new stuff about really old cultures, especially when it has to do with getting weird and rocking out. Recent research suggests temples built around 600 A.D. in Palenque, Mexico were designed with projection rooms that shot the sound of voices and instruments 300 feet away with the help of stucco-coated surfaces. 1600 years before that, in the Peruvian Andes, a pre-Incan society in Chavín was constructing a nightmarish Gallery of Labyrinths to play "strange acoustic tricks" during cult initiations: animal-like roars from horns, disorienting echoes, and maybe even choirs designed to produce otherworldly effects. And all of this while the poor inductees were being fed psychedelic San Pedro cacti. Yikes! To a certain extent this is all speculation, but we can tell you that if we were ancient priests with this kind of gear at our disposal we'd be using it for mind-controlling purposes too. Just because! [Photo adapted from Jenny Pansing's flickr]
