Gospel of Judas Pages Endured Long, Strange Journey

Kasser is an expert in Coptic, or Egyptian Christian, history and literature. He led the effort to piece together and translate the Gospel of Judas.

The surviving copy of the gospel was written in the third or fourth century A.D., but the text was known prior to A.D. 180.

In that year St. Irenaeus—then the bishop of what is now Lyon, France—published Against Heresies, a volume intended to help unify the Christian church.

St. Irenaeus's method was to savage alternative theological views and interpretations—including the Gospel of Judas—which he referred to as "fictitious histories."

In this gospel, the Apostle Judas Iscariot is not a traitor but a hero, the chosen disciple. Jesus Christ asks Judas to betray him to the authorities. (For more on the meaning of the gospel, see "Lost Gospel Revealed; Says Jesus Asked Judas to Betray Him.")

Diverse beliefs circulated during Christianity's early years. Many were suppressed in the early centuries A.D. as the religion coalesced into a more structured faith based on the New Testament Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Nonsanctioned texts, such as the Gospel of Judas, fell from favor. Scribes no longer copied them, and existing manuscripts were often destroyed. Those that survived were hidden for safekeeping.

The protectors of the newly revealed documents did their job well, stashing the ancient handwritten Coptic manuscripts so that it remained hidden for nearly 1,700 years.

Muslim Athletic Wear Covers Skin Without Cramping Style

The Koran requires women to cover everything except their faces, hands, and feet, says Tayyibah Taylor, editor-in-chief of Azizah Magazine, a publication geared toward Muslim-American women.

"The idea is that your modesty in dress and behavior is a passport to public space," Taylor said. "It makes the statement that a Muslim woman's body is not a part of the public conversation."

Recently Muslim women living in a Somali refugee camp in Kenya were given unique new volleyball uniforms.

Designed through a partnership between Nike and the United Nations, the uniforms permit the women athletes to dig, spike, and set while covering their bodies and heads in a way that remains true to their faith.

But don't look for such specialized gear at your local mall or sporting-goods store just yet.

Nike spokesperson Alan Marks says the Beaverton, Oregon, company currently has no plans to commercialize the product. And most other major sportswear manufacturers have no lines specifically targeting Muslim women.

Today a scattering of small companies is the only commercial source of sportswear for the modest-minded.

Modest Yet Fashionable

Finding appropriate exercise wear is something that Muslim women have struggled with for years, says Laila Al-Marayati, spokesperson for the Los Angeles, California-based Muslim Women's League.

She says some women and girls choose to work out in long-sleeved shirts and sweatpants, but that is only a partial solution.

"Muslim women sometimes will prefer to go to all-female gyms or work out at home, so they can exercise comfortably and not be overwhelmed with heat exhaustion," Al-Marayati said.

Family Walks on All Fours, May Offer Evolution Insight, Experts Say

Five adult siblings who can walk only on all fours have been found in Turkey, researchers say. These human quadrupeds may provide clues to how humans evolved to stand on two feet.

The three sisters and two brothers may offer insight into the way our apelike ancestors moved, according to scientists. Human ancestors are believed to have begun walking on two legs more than three million years ago.

(See "Fossil Pushes Upright Walking Back 2 Million Years, Study Says.")

Discovered in a remote area of southern Turkey last summer, the family of ethnic Kurds has sparked a scientific debate, which will be covered in a BBC television documentary that is set to air on March 17 in the United Kingdom. The family's exact location and last name have not been disclosed.

Born with a genetic brain abnormality, two of the sisters and one of the brothers are thought to have only walked on all fours their entire lives. The two other siblings can walk upright for short distances.

The siblings' parents are closely related and have had 19 children in all.

This bizarre case is not a hoax, according to experts who have studied the family.

The cause of the four-limbed locomotion, however, is a bone of contention among the researchers.

Uner Tan is a neurophysiologist—a doctor specializing in the functions of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves—at Cukurova University in Adana, Turkey.

He believes the siblings, who range in age from 18 to 34, are evolutionary throwbacks—a "missing link" to our forebears. (Related reading: "Was Darwin Wrong?")

Meanwhile German geneticists believe the siblings' genetic abnormality may have knocked out the gene responsible for bipedalism, or two-legged walking, in humans.

"Lost World" Found in Indonesia Is Trove of New Species

"It really was like crossing some sort of time warp into a place that people hadn't been to," said Bruce Beehler of the wildlife expedition he co-led in December into the isolated Foja Mountains on the tropical South Pacific island of New Guinea.

During a 15-day stay at a camp they had cut out of the jungle, the conservationists found a trove of animals never before documented, from a new species of the honeyeater bird to more than 20 new species of frogs.

"We were like kids in a candy store," said Beehler, a bird expert with Conservation International in Washington, D.C. "Everywhere we looked we saw amazing things we had never seen before."

Boggy Lakebed

The team spent nearly a month in the Foja Mountains on the western side of New Guinea, the part belonging to Indonesia (map and country profile). They used the lowland village of Kwerba (population: 200) as a base from which to survey area wildlife and plants.

From Kwerba, one part of the team ventured by foot up the mountains. Another group helicoptered to a boggy lakebed near the range's high point.

Within minutes of landing, the scientists encountered a bizarre, orange-faced honeyeater bird. It proved to be a new bird species, the first discovered in New Guinea since 1939.

On the second day the lakebed group made another suprising find when a male and female Berlepsch's six-wired bird of paradise came into the camp to perform a mating dance.

Until now the homeland of this "lost" bird had been unknown. It was the first time Western scientists had even seen an adult male.

"We had forgotten it even existed," Beehler said.

Conservation International, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, and the National Geographic Society funded the expedition. (National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.) The 12-person team included U.S., Australian, and Indonesian scientists.

Murdered "Bog Men" Found With Hair Gel, Manicured Nails

Male grooming has an ancient history in Ireland, if the savagely murdered bodies of two ancient "bog men" are anything to go by.

One shows the first known example of Iron Age hair gel (see photo), experts say. The other wore manicured nails and stood 6 feet 6 inches (198 centimeters) tall.

Discovered in peat bogs in central Ireland, the well-preserved human remains were unveiled this month in Dublin.

Researchers say the men were probably wealthy, well-connected individuals. Living well over 2,000 years ago, both were tortured and killed while in their early 20s, possibly as ritual sacrifices.

The bodies were uncovered by accident in 2003 at separate commercial peat workings just 25 miles (40 kilometers) apart.

Peat wetlands in northwest Europe are well-known for their bog bodies. The wetlands provide cold, acidic, oxygen-free conditions, which prevent decay and mummify human flesh.

The two new Irish bog men were named after the places where they were found: Croghan Hill and Clonycavan.

Oldcroghan man was preserved so perfectly that his discovery sparked a police murder investigation before archaeologists were called in.

Radiocarbon dating showed that he lived between 362 B.C and 175 B.C., while Clonycavan man dates from 392 B.C. to 201 B.C.

A team lead by researchers at the National Museum of Ireland studied the two bodies. The scientists say the fingerprint whorls of Oldcroghan man are as clear as any living person's.

"He had very well manicured nails, and his fingertips and hands were indicative of somebody who didn't carry out any manual labor. So we presume he came from the upper echelons of society," said Isabella Mulhall, the museum's Bog Bodies Project coordinator.

"He had no scars on his body, either—just the equivalent of two small paper cuts to one of his hands," she added.

Temperate forests may worsen global warming, tropical forests fight higher temperatures

At this week's climate conference in Montreal there have been a number of proposals to plant trees for the purpose of absorbing carbon emissions and helping mitigate climate change. However, a new study from the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory says that careful consideration should be given as to where these forests are planted. Planting trees in temperate regions could actually contribute to global warming.

The study, using complex climate modeling software to simulate changes in forest cover and then measuring the impact on global climate, found that northern forests tend to warm the Earth because they absorb a lot of sunlight without losing much moisture. The situation is different in the tropics where higher temperatures result in higher rates of evapotranspiration, the process by which forests release water into the atmosphere. Tropical forests may have a net cooling impact relative to northern forests.

The research has important implications for the greenhouse gas debate. The United States wants any future agreement on climate to include provisions for tradable carbon credits whereby industrial countries could exceed emissions limits by planting forests and exchanging carbon allotments with forested countries. These new findings suggest that reforestation programs should focus on planting trees in the tropics and not in temperate or boreal regions.

Papua New Guinea has made just such a proposal at the UN conference. The plan calls for wealthy countries to pay developing countries to preserve their rainforests arguing that these ecosystems store massive amounts of carbon dioxide as well as providing important ecological services and serving as a repository for most of the planet's biodiversity.

Head-to-head record, Nov 2005

Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday have met a total of 116 times in league and cup, stretching back to the very first meeting on 16 October 1893. The Blades hold the edge, with 42 wins to the Owls' 37, and 37 draws.

The very first match - in the old Division One - ended with honours even after a 1-1 draw, but it was the Blades who notched the first derby win in the second meeting just a month later, with a 2-1 victory on 13 November 1893.

The Owls had to wait until 7 September 1895 to post a first win over their city rivals, beating the Blades 1-0 in a league clash.

But their joy at getting one over the Blades was short-lived as the Owls would have to wait until the turn of the century and 11 matches before their next victory - a 1-0 success on 29 April 1901.

The teams have met six times in the FA Cup - with the Blades winning the first three meetings (1900, 1925, 1928) and the Owls the last three clashes (1954, 1960, 1993).

The very first meeting in the FA Cup was a second-round clash in 1900, which the Blades won 2-0 in a replay after a 1-1 draw in the first game.

The most recent FA Cup meeting - and perhaps the most famous Sheffield derby of them all - was the 1993 semi-final at Wembley, won 2-1 by the Owls after extra time.

Israeli agent inside Pentagon pleads guilty to spying on USA

Pentagon man guilty in spy probe

A former Pentagon analyst has pleaded guilty to passing classified information to pro-Israel lobbyists. Larry Franklin said he had been unhappy with aspects of US foreign policy and hoped the lobbyists would use their contacts to get things changed. Franklin, 58, said he had also given information to an Israeli diplomat, but played down its importance. He has agreed to help prosecutors, which means his sentence could be reduced when it is decided in January.

Israel has denied any involvement.

'Nothing new'

Franklin told the Virginia court on Wednesday that he had given defence information to two officials from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) from 2002 to 2004. Franklin also said he had met the political officer from the Israeli embassy at least nine times during the same period. But he said he believed the Israeli government was already in possession of the information.

"He gave me far more information than I gave him," he said.

"It was never my intention to harm the United States, not even for a second."

He did not specify what US policy he was particularly frustrated with.

The two Aipac officials have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to communicate the information given to them by Franklin.

NASA Finds Evidence Some Comets May Have Become Asteroids

Some asteroids that have comet-like orbits may actually be comets that have lost gases and other easily vaporized substances, according to a NASA research team.

The team will present its findings at the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences annual meeting in Cambridge, England, on Sept. 5.

"Several objects classified as asteroids have orbits that are dynamically similar to those of comets," said Dale Cruikshank, an astronomer at NASA Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley and a member of the research team. These asteroids may be comets that have lost gases and other materials by repeated passages through the inner solar system, according to Cruikshank.

The team studied infrared light from 55 asteroids using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to "better understand possible links between asteroids and comets," according to the authors. In addition to co-author Cruikshank, Joshua Emery who also works at NASA Ames and is an employee of the SETI Institute, Mountain View, Calif. is the principal author; and Jeffrey Van Cleve of Ball Aerospace, Boulder, Colo., is the other co-author.

"The suggestion that some asteroids originated as comets has been made before, but the new Spitzer Space Telescope observations provide the first chance to really test this suggestion," Emery noted. "Most of the objects observed in our program appear to be typical asteroids, but a few have surface compositions and textures that are more similar to comets," Emery added.

"The infrared light we are studying gives us information about the composition and surface textures of solid bodies in the solar system." Cruikshank said.

The research team reports that some of the asteroids have very fine-grained surfaces. "We think this fine-graininess is a characteristic of comets," Cruikshank explained.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

Robert Moog, Ph.D. '64, inventor of the music synthesizer, dies of brain cancer

Robert Moog, Cornell University Ph.D '64, whose name became synonymous with the many forms of the music synthesizer he originally invented and manufactured in a Trumansburg, N.Y., storefront from 1964 to 1971, died Aug. 21. He was 71.

The Beatles, Mick Jagger and jazz bandleader-composer Sun Ra were among the first customers for Moog's then-$11,000 instrument. In 1969, the album "Switched on Bach," performed by Walter (later Wendy) Carlos on a Moog synthesizer, became a Grammy winner and one of the best-selling classical albums in history. Today the once-cumbersome synthesizer fits on a microchip. Car alarms, computer chimes and the sound signatures of products like Maxwell House coffee are all sonic concatenations of Moog's original works.

"His invention is ubiquitous and has had as much if not more impact than the invention of the piano," said David Borden, former director of the Cornell Digital Music Program. "He's probably one of the most important musical instrument makers in history."

Borden worked alongside Moog in his Trumansburg studios and later founded Mother Mallard, the first live synthesizer ensemble. The ensemble premiered in 1969 at Barnes Hall on campus under the name Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co., brandishing some of the latest musical technology engineered by Moog. In 2000 Mother Mallard performed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., in an event honoring Moog called "The Keyboard Meets Modern Technology." Keith Emerson, formerly of the rock music trio Emerson, Lake and Palmer, also performed.

Borden recalls helping Moog "idiot-proof" some of his early machines, which resembled banks of old-fashioned telephone switchboards, with ganglia of patch cords and circuit boards connected to a keyboard. Moog made improvements that led to the compact Minimoog, precursor of the Micromoog.

"With the Minimoog, he took the synthesizer out of the studio and put it into the concert hall," said Borden.

Moog set up his first company, R.A. Moog Co., in the old Baldwin furniture building on Main Street in Trumansburg in 1963. But the business went belly-up just as Moog was becoming a household name. In 1971 the company name was changed to Moog Music Inc., which became a division of Norlin Music Inc. in 1973. In 1978 Moog moved to North Carolina, where he founded Big Briar Inc., which designs and builds novel electronic music equipment.

Moog was born in Flushing, Queens; his father was an electronics hobbyist, and Moog enthusiastically followed suit. Moog's mother taught her son to play the piano, but in a Cornell Alumni Magazine article in 2000, he said, "You wouldn't pay money to hear me." At 14 he built his own theremin -- the first electronic instrument, named for its inventor, Leon Theremin -- based on descriptions in a hobby magazine. Moog attended the Bronx High School of Science, Queens College and Columbia University's engineering school. He ran his synthesizer business while pursuing a Cornell doctorate in solid state physics. In an interview with the Cornell Chronicle in 2000, Moog recalled his parallel efforts as a businessman trying to finish his Ph.D.

"I really tried the patience of Dr. Henri Sack, my thesis adviser. One evening in July 1965, several of us were working overtime [in the Trumansburg shop] on a custom project and it was going badly."

The phone rang. It was Sack. Moog described the call: "'Moog,' he said to me, 'Whatever's not on my desk by 10 a.m. tomorrow morning is not going in your thesis. Goodbye.' I worked all night and handed in what got done the next morning."

But then Moog almost missed his dissertation defense. Trevor Pinch, Cornell professor of science and technology studies, who got to know Moog while writing his book "Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer," described the rest of the story.

"As Bob rode the elevator up [to his defense] he wasn't thinking about solid state physics ... he wondered what the resonance of the elevator was, and he literally jumped up and down to find it."

The elevator lurched to halt between the fourth and fifth floors of Clark Hall. Moog was four hours late for his defense. He passed.

Moog had no idea how big his invention would become.

"When I opened the T-burg shop, I thought I was going into the electronic kit business," Moog told the Chronicle. "Then I met a composer who wanted to make electronic music on tape. We got together just for fun."

He elaborated: "The Moog synthesizer is not a single invention, activity or achievement, but rather a whole selection of related products. I've designed dozens of instruments."

Pinch said Moog's true gift was his willingness to bring performing musicians of every caliber into the process of refining his invention. From the outset, he wanted a user-friendly instrument.

That, and much more, he certainly achieved.