Saturday, January 8, 2011

An electric battery that is more than two thousand years old?

Archaeologists in Iraq have found what appears to be an ancient electric battery. The object, dating from roughly 230 BC, was found in an excavation of a Parthian village in 1936. It consists of a small vase containing a copper cylinder surrounding an iron rod. Sceptics insist that it is a scroll case. However, it cannot be denied that if an acid, such as lemon juice, is poured into such a vase, an electric current is created. In fact, the current is sufficient to be used to electroplate metal objects suspended in the correct metal solution.

If the battery was indeed used for this purpose, it may mean that much of what modern museums classify as ancient gold objects may only be gold plated objects...

Vending machines that kill

Between 1983 and 1988, five American servicemen were killed and thirty-nine injured by a hitherto unknown menace: soft drink vending machines. The accidents usually occured when soldiers attacked the machines, either hoping to get a free drink, or trying to take revenge on the machine for eating their money without delivering the requisite refreshment. In most cases the machine then fell on the assailant.

Drinking to excess

One night in 1990, a woman of Van Nuys, California, USA, stepped out of her bed and onto something large and apparently asleep on her rug. It turned out to be a burglar, who, overcome by the twenty cans of beer which he had drunk to fortify his courage, had passed out.

Gender imbalance

The death of thousands of goldfish in the ponds of Britain in the spring of 1977 has been attributed to sex-crazed toads. That spring, male toads found themselves in a ten to one majority over female toads. The resulting dearth of breeding partners left the males mating with anything: water-lilies, sticks, and also pets. The grip of a mating male toad is easily sufficient to crush an average goldfish.