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In search for remains of most famous portrait-sitter Intelligence takes a cocktail of right genes
THIS UNIVERSE |
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In search for remains of most famous portrait-sitter THERE’s no trace of that celebrated, knowing expression, but archaeologists hope that one of two skeletons unearthed in a Tuscan convent will be shown to be that of the model who became Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. In their hunt for the remains of the most famous portrait-sitter in history, experts have been digging in the former convent of St Ursula in Florence since April. They have previously found and disregarded the bones of five other people. But the team, led by Silvano Vinceti, head of the National Committee for the Promotion of Historic and Cultural Heritage, Italy, is convinced that remains of Mona Lisa, or Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, are buried in the basement of the building. He said armed with the skull of Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy Renaissance silk merchant, he would be able to make an accurate reconstruction of the sitter’s face. “If everything goes as planned, we will find Gherardini and with her skull we will be able to reconstruct her face thanks to some sophisticated technology,” Vinceti said. “After that we will be able to compare the face to that of Mona Lisa and maybe for the first time will get an answer that will be based on highly sophisticated technology that does not make errors,” he told Sky TV. “With this reconstruction of the face there is a margin of error between four and eight per cent so we will know whether Leonardo used Gherardini or we will be able to draw other conclusions.” The latest two skeletons, one of which was in fragments, were discovered in the same grave in the convent’s basement. Researchers say that Gherardini spent the last years of her life at the convent, looked after by her two daughters who were nuns, and was buried there when she died in 1542, aged 63. One of his colleagues, anthropologist Irene Baldi, said the project would provide useful information about the all the people buried there. “Whether the bodies were moved here from another place or buried in a container, if there was a coffin or not, or a cushion under the head, this is the information that we are searching for,” she said. But not all experts are convinced by the claims of Dr Vinceti and his team. Dr Kristina Killgrove, an anthropologist at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the US, said on her blog: “Although the excavation is being carried out in a professional manner, Vinceti’s quest to dig up the ‘real’ Mona Lisa is not grounded in scientific research methodology.” She added: “The news media’s breathless coverage of it threatens to signal to the public that archaeologists are frivolous with their time, energy, and research money.” And one of Gherardini’s descendants, the Italian aristocrat Natalia Guicciadini Strozzi, has described the researchers’ grave-digging project as a “sacrilegious act”. “What difference would finding her remains make to the allure of Leonardo’s painting?” she said recently. But Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, which the Renaissance genius began painting in 1503 before taking it with him to France, appears to be almost an obsession for Vinceti. Last month it emerged he had handed over 1,50,000 Italian signatures to the French Minister of Culture, Aurelie Filippetti, calling on the Louvre to hand over the painting to its “home city” of Florence. But the Louvre has already said it has no intention of returning the masterpiece. — The Independent |
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Intelligence takes a cocktail of right genes IT had long been believed on the basis of studies of identical and fraternal twins that intelligence is an inheritable trait. A new research has confirmed that conclusion, but it reveals the surprising fact that most of the specific genes long thought to be linked to intelligence probably have no bearing on one’s IQ. Psychological scientist Christopher Chabris of Union College and David Laibson, a Harvard economist, led an international team of researchers that analysed a dozen genes using large data sets that included both intelligence testing and genetic data. In nearly every case, the researchers found that intelligence could not be linked to the specific genes that were tested. “In all of our tests we only found one gene that appeared to be associated with intelligence, and it was a very small effect. This does not mean intelligence does not have a genetic component. It means it’s a lot harder to find the particular genes, or the particular genetic variants, that influence the differences in intelligence,” said Chabris. Older studies that picked out specific genes had flaws, Chabris said, primarily because of technological limits that prevented researchers from probing more than a few locations in the human genome to find genes that affected intelligence. “We want to emphasise that we are not saying the people who did earlier research in this area were foolish or wrong,” Chabris said. “They were using the best technology and information they had available. At the time, it was believed that individual genes would have a much larger effect — they were expecting to find genes that might each account for several IQ points,” he stated. Chabris said additional research is needed to determine the exact role genes play in intelligence. “As is the case with other traits, like height, there are probably thousands of genes and their variants that are associated with intelligence,” he said. “And there may be other genetic effects beyond the single gene effects. There could be interactions among genes, or interactions between genes and the environment. Our results show that the way researchers have been looking for genes that may be related to intelligence — the candidate gene method — is fairly likely to result in false positives, so other methods should be used,” he concluded. The results are published online in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
— ANI
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THIS UNIVERSE We are able to transmit signals to cell phones, radio, television, wireless devices, etc., via electromagnetic waves carrying electrical energy. Why can’t we transmit electric power by modulating and encrypting electricity directly from the powerhouse? Yes, the electric power from the powerhouse can be transmitted by radiation. Since once transmitted, this power cannot be directed to another place. So it is not a good way of transmitting power across the country. Also unless well directed by large antennae, this power would spread out and be lost. Therefore, it is preferable to use cables. How is the Earth hanging in the atmosphere? The Earth is not hanging in the atmosphere. The atmosphere is part of the Earth and is moving with it. The Earth is a celestial body like the Sun, the Moon and other planets. They are all in space and are kept in their tracks by orbital forces.
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Russia says first year-long ISS mission planned for 2015 UK plan to merge Antarctic, ocean research stirs science row |
