Ship Graveyard Discovered Off The Coast Of Ancient City

Maritime archaeologists have recently discovered a massive 328-foot ship graveyard off the coast of the 2,000-year-old ancient Greek port city of Ptolemais, Libya.

Over the centuries, earthquakes caused the Mediterranean Sea to rise, submerging the ancient port of Ptolemais. Finally, after a 13-year hiatus due to the Libyan civil war, archaeologists from the University of Warsaw returned in 2023 to explore the remains of one of the largest ancient Greek cities in the Cyrenaica region.

In the last couple of years, researchers uncovered a wealth of finds, including ancient port infrastructure, ancient columns, traces of submerged roads, numerous dropped anchors, and probes used to explore the seabed in antiquity, according to Science in Poland.

The shining star of the dig thus far was the 328.084-foot-long ship graveyard they discovered in a shallow rock formation. The site contains remains from multiple vessels, suggesting a history of merchant ships that likely foundered in the same treacherous area while approaching the shore.

The discovered cargo fragments, amphorae, and artifacts speak of the cargo that once passed through these waters, continuing to reveal a long-under-researched world of the Greek empire. "Practically the entire city remains to be discovered," the archaeologists stated.

The extensive shipwreck stretching hundreds of feet along the seafloor marks multiple failed attempts to reach the port city; alas, these ships never docked. However, in a twist of fate, what was once a disaster zone for ships arriving from the east has become "a good starting point for long-term underwater research at Ptolemais," as per Science in Poland.

What these ships carried included amphorae, one of which held crystallized wine. Researchers also recovered a bronze aequipodium, a weight for a Roman balance scale shaped like a woman’s head and filled with lead. Archaeologists are currently analyzing these finds and awaiting the results of their study, according to Science in Poland.

Researchers made stunning discoveries on land, too. A separate team identified a road that led to the Acropolis, along with possible observation towers that made up the city’s defense walls. They even found a Greek inscription from the Severan dynasty dating to the 3rd century AD., Heritage Daily reports.

Read More......

A Sweater For Buildings To Boost Warmth Inside

A team of American researchers has developed a fabric-based solution that can help buildings retain heat, potentially reducing energy use and lowering heating bills.

The approach uses a photothermal dye applied to simple materials, allowing exterior panels to absorb sunlight and keep interiors warmer.

The system, created by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, works like a thermal layer for buildings.

When placed on outside walls, the panels can raise indoor temperatures by up to 8.64°F over a day, based on modeling results.

Heating buildings remains a major contributor to energy consumption and emissions. In the United States alone, residential and commercial buildings account for a large share of total energy use, while millions of households struggle to afford heating.

Instead of relying on costly renovations like new insulation or windows, the researchers focused on a low-cost, add-on solution that can be used even by renters.

The idea draws inspiration from clothing. "When you are cold, you put on a sweater," says Carolina Aragón. "So we started thinking: what would you do if you are a building?"

The team initially explored a blanket-like covering but eventually designed removable panels that can be attached to exterior walls. These panels are coated with a photothermal dye that captures and converts sunlight into heat.

"We can put this dye on anything," says Trisha Andrew. "It does not have to be on an expensive fabric." The team tested the concept using durable umbrella fabric, keeping costs low while maintaining performance.

Modeling results suggest the approach could reduce heating energy use by up to 15 percent in residential buildings and as much as 23 percent in larger apartment blocks. Traditional retrofit methods often deliver far smaller gains.

The technology could also address broader social challenges. Many renters are unable to make permanent upgrades to their homes, while renovations can sometimes lead to higher rents.

Read More......

A New Pump Can Reduce Salt Content From Seawater

Scientists have designed a revolutionary solution that could reshape desalination and water purification after making a membrane that can transport ions through water without relying on mechanical systems or chemical reactions.

The international research team, including scientists from Germany’s Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, introduced a novel type of io pump that uses ultra-thin metal layers on either side of a porous membrane.

These layers control the movement of electrically charged particles. In contrast to traditional electrochemical systems, which rely on energy-intensive reactions, this approach uses rapid electrical switching to promote ion flow.

"This work introduces a new way to drive continuous ion transport in water by harnessing ratchet mechanisms in nanoporous materials," Francesca Toma, PhD, head of the Hereon Institute of Functional Materials for Sustainability in Teltow, Germany, pointed out.

The innovation represents a significant advance in fundamental electrochemistry. It reportedly relies on a simple physical effect. When a low electrical voltage is applied and rapidly switched on and off, the metal interfaces undergo repeated charging and discharging cycles.

Small imbalances in this process generate a controlled flow of ions and effectively pump them without the need for chemical reactions or moving parts. This is the first time the effect has been used for ion transport.

"Controlling the movement of ions through liquids is critical for many technological and biological processes," the researchers emphasized.

To demonstrate the approach’s potential, the team integrated the membrane into a compact desalination system. In lab tests, the device was able to reduce the salt content of water by up to 50 percent while operating at very low voltages.

Importantly, the system achieved this without pumps, filters that require pressure, or chemical additives, all factors that typically drive up the energy cost, as well as the complexity of existing desalination technologies.

The project brought together researchers from the University of California, Irvine, Tel Aviv University, the University of Massachusetts Boston, as well as Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).

The results highlighted the membrane’s potential for developing highly energy-efficient water purification and desalination solutions. The membrane could also enable selective separation of ions with the same electric charge by exploiting subtle differences in how ions behave under an electric field.

Read More......

Ancient Medieval Polish City Discovered

The search for the forgotten Polish city of Stolzenberg was inspired by a piece of turn-of-the-century German writing. Researchers from the Relicta Foundation found mention of the deserted city in a 1909 text highlighting historical towns, indicating that the lost settlement was just outside present-day Slawoborze.

An exploration group had picked up more than 400 metal artifacts in that region in 2020 and 2021, everything from belt fittings to medieval coins, including a 13th century denarius from Pomeranian Duke Barnim II, and this gave the Relicta Foundation reason to probe further. They brought in drones equipped with LiDAR and began drilling geological wells over six feet deep to search the northwestern Polish forests for remnants of the city.

The team found a clue in the terrain, a horseshoe-shaped ditch that had been part of a rampart near a moat. Soon, the team identified a second moat not far away. These pieces of terrestrial evidence allowed the team to determine where certain architectural features of the city may have been, or may indeed still be beneath the ground.

Piotr Wroniecki, archaeologist with the foundation, told the Polish Press Agency:

"In an area of approximately six hectares, surrounded by a rampart and moat, we recorded over 1,500 anomalies, or unusual terrain features, suggesting the presence of structures hidden underground, such as ancient buildings. Drilling confirmed the presence of such layers, exceeding two meters in depth. Some of them form a regular layout typical of towns founded under German law. In the central part, a probable market square is visible, surrounded by burgher plots, only some of which have been built on, and the course of the main street leading to the city gate."

Radiocarbon dating of the site set it back to the late 13th or early 14th century, but the city did not remain populated for terribly long. Stolzenberg was known to be abandoned by the 19th century, with the historical record calling it a "dead" town.

Archaeologists believe the site was likely founded as a border town, possibly by members of nobility known as the Brandenburg margraves, military commanders charged with guarding the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. This conclusion is far from a certainty, however; others have speculated that the city could have been created by the bishops of Kamie, a Roman Catholic diocese in the Duchy of Pomerania from the 12th to 16th centuries.

"We cannot say what its population was or why the town was abandoned," Marcin Krzepkowski of the Relicta Foundation, told the PPA. "Usually, more than one factor determines the decline of a town. Sometimes natural causes such as flooding or changes in transport routes reduce a town’s activity, leading to the collapse of trade and crafts and the impoverishment of its residents. Sometimes these are military events, wars, or invasions."

The foundation, co-financed by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, plans to continue studying the site, using non-invasive surveys to pinpoint where the city was located as it hopes to find reasons for its abandonment. Historical documents from 1291 mention both a church and cemetery in the area, and the team hopes that finding that site could provide further insight into the abandonment of Stolzenberg.

Read More......

Can Scientist Grow Plants From Martian Dust?

Anyone can imagine landing on Mars and growing their lunch — not with supplies from Earth, but using dust, air, and microbes already there. This idea has long sounded like science fiction, mainly because Mars lacks one critical ingredient, fertile soil. Its dusty surface contains minerals, but not the organic nutrients plants need to grow.

Now, researchers in Germany have found a clever solution that involves turning Martian-like dust and hardy microbes into a working fertilizer system that can produce edible plants. It’s a small but powerful step toward making Mars missions self-sustaining.

At the heart of the proposed system are cyanobacteria, often called blue-green algae. These microscopic organisms are tough enough to survive in extreme environments. More importantly, they can use carbon dioxide, plentiful in the Martian atmosphere, to grow, while also producing oxygen and pulling nutrients out of mineral-rich dust.

To show how this idea could work, the researchers recreate Martian conditions using a regolith simulant called MGS-1, which mimics the composition of Martian soil. They cultivated cyanobacteria using this artificial dust along with carbon dioxide, allowing the microbes to build up biomass using only resources that could realistically exist on Mars.

Once enough cyanobacteria were grown, the next challenge was converting them into something plants could use. The team achieved this through anaerobic fermentation — a process where microbes break down organic matter without oxygen, releasing nutrients in the system.

They fine-tuned this step carefully. Heating the biomass beforehand helped it decompose faster, and maintaining the system at around 35°C produced the best results. The researchers also calculated the right balance between cyanobacterial biomass and ammonium output, ensuring the final product had enough of this key nutrient for plant growth.

The resulting fertilizer was then tested on duckweed (Lemna sp.), a fast-growing aquatic plant rich in protein and already consumed in some parts of the world. The outcome was impressive: just one gram of dried cyanobacteria generated enough nutrients to grow 27 grams of fresh, edible plant mass.

"Despite challenges, the digestate enabled high Lemna sp. biomass yields of 27 g wet mass per gram of cyanobacterial dry mass, demonstrating its potential as a hydroponic fertilizer," the study authors added.

Moreover, as a bonus, the fermentation process produced methane—an energy-rich gas that could be captured and used as fuel, adding another layer of usefulness to the system.

This research points toward a future where astronauts could rely far less on Earth. By combining microbes, local dust, and simple biological processes, it may be possible to create closed-loop systems that produce food, oxygen, and even energy on Mars.

"You can imagine a vegetable garden on Mars that is run entirely from local resources — without bringing soil, fertilizer, or water. This self-sufficiency is important to make future Martian settlements as sustainable as possible," Tiago Ramalho, lead researcher and a PhD student at the University of Bremen, said.

However, the work is not complete. These experiments were carried out under controlled, Earth-based conditions, not the harsh realities of Mars, where radiation, low gravity, and extreme temperatures could affect the system.

Next, researchers aim to test and integrate this system with other life-support technologies, moving closer to a fully self-sufficient habitat. If it works, the same approach could also be used for sustainable farming on Earth—especially in regions where soil quality is poor.

Read More......