Anna and Sam travel South East Asia

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

Document from Issuu

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.

The movie 2012, which premieres this month, shows the viewer cities and continents being whiped from the face of the earth when the world comes to an end. However, research has just shown that the 'end of time' of the 21st of December 2012 has been miscalculated by two centuries.

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.

The map above displays only a few sites. Mayan ruins can be found all over the place in this region, even on islands such as Cozumel in the Caribbean and Topoxte island in a Guatemalan lake.

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.

Then yesterday, Underwood says, the Wildlife Service got a call: "We've got your manatee." A quick consultation with U.S. Geological Survey NOAA, which keeps an elaborate database of 2,000-some manatees known by their boating scars, confirmed it was Ilya. His run in with boats have made him easy to ID: he has a big chunk taken out of his tail and a white scar on his head. Nicole Adimey, who runs the manatee rescue and rehabilitation program says that he still is relatively lucky for a manatee: he's never before had to be brought in for treatment.

Right now the wildlife service is trying to keep Ilya in place at a private, undisclosed refinery while a Nor'easter storm blows through. He was attracted to the spot because the run-off makes it warm. It's about 70 degrees right in his microclimate, Underwood says. Meanwhile the rest of the harbor, as you can see from this water temperature map, is dipping into the 50s and 60s. They've authorized the people at the private refinery to give Ilya vegetables and a hose for fresh water in hopes that will make him stay put. They have a net and may attempt a rescue today, Underwood says.

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?

Definitely not, the Mayan Indian elder insists. "I came back from England last year and, man, they had me fed up with this stuff."

It can only get worse for him. Next month Hollywood's "2012" opens in cinemas, featuring earthquakes, meteor showers and a tsunami dumping an aircraft carrier on the White House.

Feeding Frenzy: Manta Rays in the Maldives

Manta Rays and Whale Sharks feeding on the plankton. See more whale shark pictures here.

More information:

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.

“To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density,” said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU. “The radioisotope battery can provide power density that is six orders of magnitude higher than chemical batteries.”

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

But making do with less doesn't have to mean cutting out a well-deserved tropical holiday. Economizing doesn't require staying at backpacker crash pads and dining on hot dogs. Because an empty hotel room or vacant airplane seat generates no revenue, the travel industry has an urgent incentive to roll out the deals.

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?

The discovery of the raindrop "music" in another pyramid suggests that at least some of Mexico's pyramids were deliberately built for this purpose. Some of the structures consist of a combination of steps and platforms, while others, like El Castillo, resemble the more even-stepped Egyptian pyramids.

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.

This dream is about to become a reality. In November, Mexico debuts off the shores of Cancun the first stage of largest underwater museum in the world.

The Subaquatic Sculpture Museum will be submerged at the West Coast National Park/Parque Nacional Costa Occidental, near Mujeres Island, Punta Cancun, and Punta Nizuc.