ON OUR RADAR:
The Shroud of Turin...

The eyes of the world turned to Torino, Italy in Febuary 2006, to watch the 100th Olympic Winter Games. This ancient city, also called Turin, is known as the home of an historic object believed to have been linked to Jesus of Nazareth.

Cloth that was thought to have wrapped the crucified body of Christ, now known as the Shroud of Turin, was discovered in this Italian city during the 1950's. The sacred relic, now on display in a Turin museum, has been the subject of numerous scientific tests over the years. What science has yet to explain is how the image of an adult man appeared on the burial cloth.

Some believe the material received a photograph-like impression of the body of Christ at the moment of His ascent from the tomb. It has also been reported that scientific tests revealed traces of pollen which come from a plant found only in Palestine and whose existence dates back to the time of Christ, were found on the fabric.

Other tests have shown that the cloth came from the twelfth century and could not have originated sooner, leading to a theory that the shroud was not that of Christ's but that of the last Knight of the Templar, from the 12th century, who was believed to have been killed in a mock crucifixion during the crusades.

Researchers have also investigated the possibility that some crude form of photographic process, likely present during the 12th century, could have produced the 3-D like impression of a human male body. Other scientists have suggested that the stain on the fabric, which creates the likeness of a body, could have come from chemicals which were available during the middle ages. In one recent experiment, scientists placed a length of material over a plaster likeness of a body, and then dabbed on chemicals which were available during that time period. The result was a likeness of the figure's features, similar to that found on the Shroud of Turin.

Most recently, DNA testing was performed on minute particles taken from the Shroud itself. The results of these tests, believed the most accurate data to date, will hopefully soon uncover the origin of the cloth and its mysterious image.

Look for an in-depth investigation by Dr. Richard Steinpach, on the Shroud of Turin in the next issue of GrailWorld Online.

ON OUR RADAR:
The Power of Living Roofs...

Although many in contemporary society live their lives far removed from nature, in bustling cities with state-of-the-art technological infrastructures, perhaps it will be the re-introduction of nature into the city that will secure a sustainable future for urban dwellers.

Living Roofs -- the first independent organization in the United Kingdom dedicated to specifically promote green roofs (roofs that are intentionally vegetated) will be organizing trips to Switzerland early this summer for both professionals and policy makers to visit the largest known photovoltaic roof in the world, constructed on the green roof of the Messe Hall in Basel.

Dusty Gedge, the founder of Living Roofs explains: “Photovoltaics work more efficiently on green roofs than on ordinary flat roofs. Green roofs are a sustainable technology and Switzerland is one of the first countries in Europe to make them a legal requirement on new developments. In the UK green roofs are still seen as the preserve of the ‘alternative’ community,” he says. “But many new, big, urban developments do have them, like the Barclays Building at Canary Wharf in London.”

With ever-increasing concern about Climate Change, green roofs are one of the simplest and immediate ways to help our cities adapt. They provide storm water storage, thus reducing the risk of floods and flash floods in urban areas. They also cool buildings, reducing the need for air conditioning and associated electricity and carbon costs.

If you are interested in more information, log on to www.livingroofs.com.

in part, from PositiveNews.com

ON OUR RADAR:
Milking Mozart for All He's Worth...

It has long been known that the vibrations produced by classical music can lower one's blood pressure, calm an agitated person, increase one's IQ and, in short, improve the quality of our lives. It has also been proven that plants grow better with classical music playing in the air. So why wouldn't animals respond the same way?

After hearing his dad, Earl, complain about weak milk production from their 300 cows, Daniel McElmurray, a 10-year-old student at Goshen Elementary in Augusta helped solve the problem with a prize-winning science fair project. He tested the effects of classical, country and rock music on the cows.

Daniel said he and his dad like to listen to music while they milk the cows, without giving the cows much say in the selection.

Turns out rock is their least favorite. After listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Shania Twain and a selection of classical music, the cows proved they prefer classical to country and rock by producing 1,000 pounds more milk.

"I guess a slower beat helps them relax," Daniel said Thursday, after learning he won first place in his region. He received a special award from the American Society of Mammalogists, an organization that supports the study of mammals.

One thing is for certain: great music has a positive effect on all life. Click here to listen to a radio program specifically about the power of music to heal our troubled souls.

in part, from CNN.com

ON OUR RADAR:
No Child Left Behind?...

The world keeps getting smaller. Here's a bold new initiative to create a level playing field for all children throughout the world. Through this program, might the next Einstein emerge from poverty-stricken Bangladesh? Or will the unique cultures of the world lose their individual flavors and homogenize? Time will tell what the consequences of this will be for future generations...

Nicholas Negroponte and other MIT luminaries have been working on a project to build a sub-$100, hand-cranked WiFi laptop, with the objective of supplying one apiece to every child in the developing world. They've done lots of cool stuff along the way -- for example, they've remained committed to providing entirely free and open operating systems for the machines, so that their owners can tinker with them, improve on them, and publish their improvements (they turned down an offer from Apple to supply OS X with every machine because it fails this test -- parts of Apple's OS are proprietary and can't lawfully be modified by users).

Now they've actually demoed a working prototype for the Secretary General of the UN, which cost just a hair more than the final price: $110. Wired News led a short interview with Negroponte on this milestone:

WN: Is the goal literally to make computers available to every child that wants one in the world?

Negroponte: It's every child in the world whether they want one or not. They may not know they want one.

WN: Do you have any thoughts on what the long-term impact of giving all these kids a programming environment and an open-source ethic might be?

Negroponte: Those are two different questions. Giving the kids a programming environment of any sort, whether it's a tool like Squeak or Scratch or Logo to write programs in a childish way -- and I mean that in the most generous sense of the word, that is, playing with and building things -- is one of the best ways to learn. Particularly to learn about thinking and algorithms and problem solving and so forth.

And providing the tools for some people -- it's going to be a very limited subset (who will use them) -- to develop software that will be redistributed and versioned and so forth out into the world is also important. It's part of the whole open-source movement.

in part, from WorldTransformation.com