Adventure Ausrama Blog

Anthropology: Cat mummy in Western Australian Museum a fake. It is known that ancient Egyptians made counterfeit mummies, particularly of birds and cats who were given as offerings to the gods. In 1982 an X-ray of a cat mummy showed that it was a fake, probably made in the early 20th century. Staff of the Western Australia Museum who were custodians of the "mummy" were shocked and disappointed by the discovery. A recent CT scan of the "mummy" highlights a human femur broken in the middle then molded to take the shape of a cat. The scan has been sent to Cairo for further study. To solve this problem once and for all a determination of its real age needs to be done. Why waste time looking and re-interpreting?  The WA Museum is still so ashamed of the issue that is has never released a photo of the fake cat mummy nor will show the X-ray or scan to the public. Genuine fake-cat mummy from Saqqara in  Egyp Genuine mummies are on display today at the WA M...

It is possible to see through sticky tape. But such tape can also help you see through things! The action of peeling tape off a roll actually produces x-rays.If the tape is quickly stuck to a finger bones become visible. This was not discovered by someone actually seeing that this happens, even though it has been obvious for anyone to see for years. People are funny that way - put something under their nose and they won't see it. Actually, it was discovered by Russian scientists who noticed that peeling tape from a roll created bursts of x-rays seen on a meter. The Russians increased x-ray emissions by peeling the tape off in a vacuum. The scientists were shocked to make the discovery. They could not believe that no one had actually observed this occurring by trial and error. It works by triboluminescence. When tape is pulled from the roll the sticky acrylic becomes positively charged, while the roll remains negatively charged. For a billionth of a second the negative ions on t...