Anna and Sam travel South East Asia

Our travels around Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Kuluar Lumpur, Singapore and Dubai

This is the translation of an excerpt of a publication in Natuurwetenschap & Techniek (Science & Technology), a Dutch scientific magazine. The excerpt was written by Maarten Keulemans. The publication was made in the 11th edition of 2009.

Mayan ruins can be found all over the Yucatán Peninsula. The area stretches over the East of Mexico, Northern Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and the North-West of Honduras.

Ilya, the manatee who swam all the way up to Cape Cod from Florida this summer, may need to be rescued today from the stormy, cold waters off Elizabeth, NJ, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Chuck Underwood says. The endangered 1,000-pound manatee was positively identified yesterday from photos taken near a refinery in Elizabeth, a heavily industrial part of New York harbor near Staten Island.

For weeks biologists and manatee lovers wondered where Ilya was, hoping he was making it back down to Florida, where manatees need to spend the winter to keep warm enough. He was last seen in Milford, CT, on September 26. So, everyone figured--or at least hoped--that he would be down at least around the Carolinas by now.

MEXICO CITY – Apolinario Chile Pixtun is tired of being bombarded with frantic questions about the Mayan calendar supposedly "running out" on Dec. 21, 2012. After all, it's not the end of the world.

Or is it?

Feeding Frenzy: Manta Rays in the Maldives

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Batteries can power anything from small sensors to large systems. While scientists are finding ways to make them smaller but even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves. University of Missouri researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient.

We've all been cornered. The gauntlet thrown down by America's new economic realities: Change your evil, thriftless ways.

SIT on the steps of Mexico's El Castillo pyramid in Chichen Itza and you may hear a confusing sound. As other visitors climb the colossal staircase their footsteps begin to sound like raindrops falling into a bucket of water as they near the top. Were the Mayan temple builders trying to communicate with their gods?

Imagine doing this: Don snorkel gear and swim down to discover mysterious sculptures sunk into the ocean floor. Among colorful tropical fish, gaze at Jason de Caires Taylor's spooky grouping of concrete figures. See a circle of stone children, for instance, hidden beneath the waves.