Adjusting acidity with impunity

How do individual cells or proteins react to changing pH levels? Researchers have now developed a technique for ‘gently’ adjusting pH: in other words, without damaging biomolecules. This should soon allow them to measure the activity of a single enzyme as a function of pH.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 3:00 pm

Couples are better able to cope with health shocks than singles, study finds

Marital status plays a significant role in how individuals cope economically with disability and health shocks, according to new research.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 3:00 pm

One step closer to closure: Neuroscientists discover key to spinal cord defects

Spinal cord disorders like spina bifida arise during early development when future spinal cord cells growing in a flat layer fail to roll up into a tube. Researchers now report a never-before known link between protein transport and mouse spinal cord development, a discovery that opens new doors for research on all spinal defects.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 3:00 pm

Genetic causes identified for disturbances in lipid metabolism; implications for diabetes

Scientists have identified new gene variants associated with disturbances in the lipid metabolism. Some of these common human gene variants are already known to be risk factors for diabetes mellitus.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 3:00 pm

Why some continue to eat when full: Researchers find clues

New research in mice suggest that ghrelin might also work in the brain to make some people keep eating "pleasurable" foods when they're already full.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 3:00 pm

Seeing how evolutionary mechanisms yield biological diversity

A international team of scientists has discovered how changes in both gene expression and gene sequence led to the diversity of visual systems in African cichlid fish.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 3:00 pm

Stocks zigzag following retail sales data (AP)

AP - The stock market hovered around 2009 highs in light trading Monday on news of improved holiday sales and gains in commodities prices.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 12:29 pm

Health Tip: Protect Yourself From Air Pollution (HealthDay)

HealthDay - (HealthDay News) -- Air pollution can aggravate asthma symptoms, and make problems with the heart and lungs worse.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 12:02 pm

Microbes help mothers protect kids from allergies

A pregnant woman's exposure to microbes may protect her child from developing allergies later in life. Researchers in Germany find that exposure to environmental bacteria triggers a mild inflammatory response in pregnant mice that renders their offspring resistant to allergies.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 12:00 pm

Ladder-walking locusts use vision to climb, show big brains aren't always best

Scientists have shown for the first time that insects, like mammals, use vision rather than touch to find footholds. They made the discovery thanks to high-speed video cameras that they used to film desert locusts stepping along the rungs of a miniature ladder. The study sheds new light on insects' ability to perform complex tasks, such as visually guided limb control, usually associated with mammals.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 12:00 pm

As the world churns: Earth's liquid outer core is slowly 'stirred' in a series of decades-long waves

A new study confirms theories that Earth's liquid outer core is slowly "stirred" in a series of regularly occurring waves of motion that last for decades. Measurements of Earth's magnetic field from observatory stations on land and ships at sea were combined with satellite data to determine common patterns of movement within Earth's core. The findings give scientists new insights into Earth's internal structure, the mechanisms that generate its magnetic field, and its geology.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 12:00 pm

Miss whiplash with locking headrest, study suggests

Whiplash neck injuries among drivers and their passengers who have been shunted from behind are a major cause of long-term health problems and, in extreme cases, death. A new type of vehicle headrest promises to improve both safety and comfort.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 12:00 pm

Airport Security: Why It Failed (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Airport screening procedures failed for many reasons to catch the Nigerian man who aimed to blow up flight 253 as it approached Detroit. Scanners that might have spotted the explosives are not fully deployed, and even at airports where they exist, the scanners aren't used on all passengers.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 11:50 am

Airport Security: Why It Failed

Expect more delays and more widespread use of a new full-body screening method in response to the recent airplane bombing attempt.
Source: Livescience.com | 28 Dec 2009 | 11:38 am

Forensic DNA Identifies Wolf Serial Killer Suspect

A CSI-like investigation of a necklace made of wolf teeth leads to the arrest of a suspected poacher.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Dec 2009 | 11:30 am

Ancient Legendary Ruler's Tomb Found

Archaeologists believe they have found a nearly 1,800-year-old tomb of legendary ruler Cao Cao.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Dec 2009 | 11:05 am

Dinosaur-Killing Firestorm Theory Questioned (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - New research challenges the idea that the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs also sparked a global firestorm.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 11:00 am

Story in Photos: DNA Identifies Wolf Serial Killer Suspect

Today at Discovery News you can learn how forensic DNA was used to identify a wolf serial killer suspect. It is the first time that DNA has helped to reveal a possible wolf killer. The suspect, a man living in ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Dec 2009 | 10:54 am

Chavez says Obama "illusion" over (Reuters)

Reuters - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said in a New Year's message the "illusion" around President Barack Obama was over and rich nations had left the world on the verge of ecological disaster.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 10:33 am

Sun & Moon Trigger Earthly Tremors

The faint tug of the sun and moon on the San Andreas Fault stimulates tremors deep underground.
Source: Livescience.com | 28 Dec 2009 | 10:01 am

'Back to nature' cuts flood risks

Reconnecting flood-plains to rivers will help reduce the risk of future flooding, a study by US researchers suggests.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 28 Dec 2009 | 9:41 am

Wildlife Footage from 2009 in Review by Mark Fraser

Today naturalist Mark Fraser looks back on the year 2009. Mark says, "There were so many incredible wildlife adventures to reflect upon this past year and I could not wait to share these with all of you. This film is ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Dec 2009 | 9:35 am

280-Million-Year-Old Reptiles' Last Meal Preserved

Scientists have just found insect parts stuck between the teeth of two Paleozoic reptiles. This strongly suggests that the pre-Dinosaur Era equivalent of today's lizards feasted on insects, and it's the first known evidence for this behavior among vertebrates. The ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Dec 2009 | 9:21 am

Warming Heats Up Insect Breeding

Extra generations of insects are turning up as temperatures increase.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Dec 2009 | 9:15 am

Robot Helps Grandma Shop

Robovie monitors your Grandma's health and even suggests specific dishes to improve health.
Source: Livescience.com | 28 Dec 2009 | 9:12 am

Tsunamis From Space

Five years after the horrific Sumatra-Andaman megathrust earthquake and the tsunamis that it launched across the Indian Ocean (see our package on it here), researchers are more determined than ever to find ways to detect such events as early as ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Dec 2009 | 9:08 am

Ukraine wants to change Russia oil transit deal (AFP)

AFP - Ukraine wants to modify the current contract under which its transits Russian oil shipments to the EU, a spokesman for Ukraine's state oil pipeline operator Ukrtransnafta told AFP Monday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 8:29 am

Neutrino May Have Triggered Dark Energy

A new theory may explain the mysterious force that is causing our universe to expand at a faster and faster rate.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Dec 2009 | 8:05 am

High-Tech Glitter to Create Flexible Solar Panels

Scientists have created highly efficient, glitter-sized solar cells that could fit virtually any object and be woven into clothing.
Source: Livescience.com | 28 Dec 2009 | 8:03 am

Golden ratio shows maths and art come from the same place in our minds

The beauty of the golden ratio, surely, lies in the discovery of harmony in imbalance – that is, it's not a symmetrical division, it's not 1+1, but a bit more interesting and lively. In architecture, the piers and windows of Durham Cathedral seem to apply it as assiduously as in the Parthenon in Athens. But why such mystique?

The ancient Greek thinker Pythagoras was moved to find that a string only produces perfect musical notes when divided by exact mathematical fractions. He saw this as a revelation of divine beauty. This attitude to number (that it is the key to the secret harmony of the universe) survived in the middle ages in Muslim and Christian architecture.

In the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci took it to new extremes, analysing the perfect proportions of a horse and a human and finding number at the heart of nature. In 1504 he was designing fortifications for an Italian town. While researching this for a forthcoming book, I puzzled over diagrams of pyramids that keep interrupting plans for towers – until I understood that Leonardo believed so passionately in the power of proportion that he thought it could make a castle invulnerable. He illustrated his friend Fra Luca Pacioli's book The Divine Proportion, which praises the golden ratio, and so helped to create one of the most persistent cults in maths and art.

Whether or not the golden ratio really has any special significance in human psychology, it has been given that status by artists like Leonardo. Another is surely the great 15th-century painter Piero della Francesca, whose geometrically pleasing art is rooted in mathematics. The persistent pursuit of this proportion right down to Le Corbusier proves that mathematics and art come from the same beautiful place in our minds.

So how do you find this special proportion? Divide a straight line in two so that the ratio of the whole length to the larger part is the same as the ratio of the larger part to the smaller part. The result (roughly 1.62 to 1) is the golden ratio.

Jonathan Jones's book about Leonardo da Vinci will be published by Simon and Schuster in April 2010.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 28 Dec 2009 | 8:01 am

Earth Top 10: No. 4 - Katrina & Hurricane Science

[Editor's note: See the rest of the Decade's Top 10 Earth Stories] The hurricane that made landfall the morning of August 29, 2005, at the mouth of the Mississippi River practically wiped out New Orleans. The giant Katrina whipped up ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Dec 2009 | 7:48 am

Hubble's Glitter Globe

Here's one ornament you won't find on a Christmas tree. It's the Hubble Space Telescope's view of a globular cluster known as M13, located about 25,0000 light years away in the constellation Hercules. About 100,000 stars live in M13, New ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Dec 2009 | 7:47 am

Body of Sea Urchin is One Big Eye

Sea urchins may use the whole surface of their bodies as eyes, scientists now suggest.
Source: Livescience.com | 28 Dec 2009 | 7:47 am

Disinfectants Cause Some Bacteria to Adapt, Thrive

A bacterial species can adapt to resist antibiotics without being exposed to them.
Source: Livescience.com | 28 Dec 2009 | 7:37 am

Why golden ratio pleases the eye: US academic says he knows art secret

Many artists have proportioned work in shapes that facilitate scanning of images to brain, says professor

From Leonardo da Vinci to Le Corbusier, the golden ratio is believed to have guided artists and architects over the centuries.

Leonardo is thought to have used the golden ratio, a geometric proportion regarded as the key to creating aesthetically pleasing art, when painting the Mona Lisa. The Dutch painter Mondrian used it in his abstract compositions, as did Salvador Dali in his masterpiece The Sacrament of the Last Supper.

Now a US academic believes he has discovered the reason why it pleases the eye. According to Adrian Bejan, professor of mechanical engineering at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina, the human eye is capable of interpreting an image featuring the golden ratio faster than any other.

Bejan argues that an animal's world – whether you are a human being in an art gallery or an antelope on the savannah – is orientated on the horizontal. For the antelope scanning the horizon, danger primarily comes from the sides or from behind, not from below or above, so the scope of its vision evolved accordingly. As vision developed, he argues, animals got "smarter" and safer by seeing better and moving faster as a result.

"It is well known that the eyes take in information more efficiently when they scan side to side, as opposed to up and down. When you look at what so many people have been drawing and building, you see these proportions everywhere."

Many artists since the Renaissance have proportioned their work in accordance with the golden ratio or "divine proportion", particularly in the form of the golden rectangle, which has informed Leonardo's work. It describes a rectangle with a length roughly one and a half times its width.

Works most usually associated with it are the Mona Lisa and the Parthenon in Athens, although Swiss architect Le Corbusier relied on it for his Modulor system for the scale of architectural proportion and Dali explicitly used it in The Sacrament of the Last Supper. The Parthenon's facade is said to be circumscribed by golden rectangles, though some scholars argue that this is a coincidence.

According to Bejan, these arguments are academic. Whether intentional or not, the ratio represents the best proportions to transfer to the brain. "This is the best flowing configuration for images from plane to brain and it manifests itself frequently in human-made shapes that give the impression they were 'designed' according to the golden ratio," said Bejan.

"We really want to get on, we don't want to get headaches while we are scanning and recording and understanding things," he said. "Shapes that resemble the golden ratio facilitate the scanning of images and their transmission through vision organs to the brain. Animals are wired to feel better and better when they are helped and so they feel pleasure when they find food or shelter or a mate. When we see the proportions in the golden ratio, we are helped. We feel pleasure and we call it beauty."

Bejan, an award-winning engineer who developed a new law of physics governing the design of matter as it moves through air and water in 1996, believes this "constructal law" governs systems that evolve in time, from cars in traffic to blood in the circulation, to how vision develops.

Vision and cognition evolved together, he said. "Cognition is the name of the constructal evolution of the brain's architecture, every minute and every moment," Bejan said. "This is the phenomenon of thinking, knowing, and then thinking again more efficiently. Getting smarter is the constructal law in action."

Earlier this year, in a paper published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, Bejan demonstrated how this law was behind his theory of how elite athletes had got taller, bigger and thus faster in the past 100 years. His latest application of constructal law to explain the golden ratio is published online in the International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 28 Dec 2009 | 7:21 am

In pictures: Wasps thrive, but other UK species struggle in 2009

Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 28 Dec 2009 | 6:37 am

Putin launches new Russia oil route to Asia (AFP)

AFP - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin launched Russia's long-awaited Siberian oil export route Monday, giving energy-hungry Asia a new supply source from the world's largest crude exporter seeking to diversify its client base away from Europe.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 5:42 am

Blame Denmark, not China, for Copenhagen failure | Martin Khor

The decision to override the multilateral process and hold a secret meeting of select nations ruined any chance of success

It's been several days since the chaotic end to the Copenhagen climate conference but the aftershocks from its failure are still reverberating. As John Prescott points out in his letter to the Guardian, the pointing of fingers in the blame game does not help the regaining of trust needed for the positive resumption of talks early next year and to complete them by December 2010, the new deadline agreed to in Copenhagen.

First, the misinformation put out in the past few days has to be corrected. The UK climate secretary, Ed Miliband, backed by individuals such as Mark Lynas (both writing in the Guardian) have turned on China as the villain that "hijacked" the conference. The main "evidence" they gave was that China vetoed an "agreement" on a 50% reduction in global emissions by 2050 and an 80% reduction by developed countries, in the small meeting of 26 leaders on Copenhagen's final day.

There was indeed a "hijack" in Copenhagen, but it was not by China. The hijack was organised by the host government, Denmark, whose prime minister convened a meeting of 26 leaders in the last two days of the conference, in an attempt to override the painstaking negotiations taking place among 193 countries throughout the two weeks and in fact in the past two to four years.

That exclusive meeting was not mandated by the UN climate convention. Indeed, the developing countries had warned the Danish prime minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, not to come up with his own "Danish text" to be negotiated by a small group that he himself would select, as this would violate the multilateral treaty-based process, and would replace the documents carefully negotiated by all countries with one unilaterally issued by the host country.

Despite this, the Danish government produced just such a document, and it convened exactly the kind of exclusive group that would undermine the UN climate convention's multilateral and democratic process. Under that process, the 193 countries had been collectively working on coming to a conclusion on the many aspects of the climate deal.

Weeks before, it had become clear that Copenhagen could not adopt a full agreement because many basic differences remained. Copenhagen should have been designed as a stepping stone to a future successful outcome accepted by all. Unfortunately, the host country Denmark selected a small number of the 110 top leaders who came, to meet in secret, without the mandate or even knowledge of the convention's membership.

The selected leaders were given a draft Danish document that mainly represented the developed countries' positions, thereby marginalising the developing countries' views tabled at the two-year negotiations.

Meanwhile, most of the thousands of delegates were working for two weeks on producing two reports representing the latest state of play, indicating areas of agreement and those where final decisions still had to be taken.

These reports were finally adopted by the conference. They should have been announced as the real outcome of Copenhagen, together with a decision to resume and complete work next year. It would not have been a resounding success, but it would have been an honest ending that would not have been termed a failure.

Instead, the Copenhagen accord was criticised by the final plenary of members and not adopted. The unwise attempt by the Danish presidency to impose a non-legitimate meeting to override the legitimate multilateral process was the reason why Copenhagen will be considered a disaster.

The accord itself is weak mainly because it does not contain any commitments by the developed countries to cut their emissions in the medium term. Perhaps the reason for this most glaring omission is that the national pledges so far announced amount to only a 11-19% overall reduction by the developed countries by 2020 (compared to 1990), a far cry from the over 40% target demanded by the developing countries and recent science.

To deflect from this great failure on their part, the developed countries tried to inject long-term emission-reduction goals of 50% for the world and 80% for themselves, by 2050 compared to 1990. When this failed to get through the 26-country meeting, some countries, especially the UK, began to blame China for the failure of Copenhagen.

In fact, these targets, especially taken together, have been highly contentious during the two years of discussions, and for good reasons. They would result in a highly inequitable outcome where developed countries get off from their responsibilities and push the burden of adjustment onto the developing countries.

Together, they imply that developing countries would have to cut their emissions overall by about 20% in absolute terms and at least 60% in per capita terms. By 2050, developed countries with high per capita emissions – such as the US – would be allowed to have two to five times higher per capita emission levels than developing countries. The latter would have to severely curb not only their emissions but also their economic growth, especially since there is, up to now, no credible plans let alone commitments for financial and technology transfers to help them shift to a low-emissions development path.

The developed countries have already completed their industrialisation on the basis of cheap carbon-based energy and can afford to take on an 80% goal for 2050, especially since they now have the technological and organisational capacity and infrastructure. For a minimally equitable deal, they should commit to cuts of at least 200-400%, or move into negative emission territory, with net re-absorption of greenhouse gases, to enable developing countries the atmospheric space to develop.

The acceptance of the two targets would also have locked in a most unfair sharing of the remaining global carbon budget as it would have allowed the developed countries to get off free from their historical responsibility and their carbon debt. They would have been allocated the rights to a large amount of "carbon space", historically and in the future, without being given the obligation and responsibility to undertake adequate emission cuts nor to make adequate financial and technology transfers to developing countries.

Fortunately these targets are absent from the accord. The imperative for the negotiations next year is to agree on what science says is necessary for the world to do (in terms of limits to temperature rise or in global emissions cut) but also on what is a just and equitable formula for sharing the costs and burdens of adjustment, and to decide on both simultaneously. By asking for agreement on only a global goal and a very low commitment figure for their own obligatory cut, the developed countries were attempting to fix a global carbon budget distribution that enables them to get away with the hijacking of atmospheric space, a resource worth many trillions of dollars.

Learning from Copenhagen's mistakes, the countries should return to the multilateral track and resume negotiations in the climate convention's two working groups as early as possible.

They can start with the two reports passed at Copenhagen as reference points. There should not be more attempts to hijack this multilateral process, which represents our best hope to achieve final results.

The bottom-up democratic process is slower but also steadier, compared to the top-down attempt to impose a solution by a few powers that will always lack legitimacy in decision-making and success or sustainability in implementation.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 28 Dec 2009 | 5:11 am

125 pilot whales die on NZ beaches, 43 saved (AP)

AP - Some 125 pilot whales died in New Zealand after stranding on beaches over the weekend — but vacationers and conservation workers managed to coax 43 others back out to sea.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 3:44 am

The nation's weather (AP)

AP - Wintry weather was forecast to persist over the Great Lakes and Northeast as a low pressure system hovered over the region.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 2:53 am

Indian sand Santa sculptures spread green message

Well-known Indian sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik creates 100 Santa Clauses on a beach in the tourist town of Puri.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 28 Dec 2009 | 1:57 am

China says discovers tomb of famed general Cao Cao

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese archeologists have unearthed a large third-century tomb, which they say could be that of Cao Cao, the legendary politician and general famous throughout East Asia for his Machiavellian tactics.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 28 Dec 2009 | 12:54 am

New year's resolutions doomed to failure, say psychologists

Many of the 78% who fail in their plans are focusing on downside of not achieving goals, research finds

It's part of the new year ritual – an annual attempt to start afresh and turn over a new leaf. But making resolutions is a near pointless exercise, psychologists say. We break them, become dispirited in the process and finally more despondent than we were before.

Less than a quarter of those asked for a university study had managed to stick to their resolutions. Of those who failed, many had followed the spurious advice of self-help gurus – which almost guarantees disaster, apparently.

Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, who led the analysis, said he and his team had asked 700 people about their strategies for achieving new year resolutions. Their goals ranged from losing weight or giving up smoking to gaining a qualification or starting a better relationship.

Of the 78% who failed, many had focused on the downside of not achieving the goals; they had suppressed their cravings, fantasised about being successful, and adopted a role model or relied on willpower alone.

"Many of these ideas are frequently recommended by self-help experts but our results suggest that they simply don't work," Wiseman said. "If you are trying to lose weight, it's not enough to stick a picture of a model on your fridge or fantasise about being slimmer."

On the other hand, people who kept their resolutions tended to have broken their goal into smaller steps and rewarded themselves when they achieved one of these. They also told their friends about their goals, focused on the benefits of success and kept a diary of their progress.

People who planned a series of smaller goals had an average success rate of 35%, while those who followed all five of the above strategies had a 50% chance of success, the study found.

"Many of the most successful techniques involve making a plan and helping yourself stick to it," Wiseman said.

Making new year resolutions at the last minute can backfire, he warned, because such decisions tend to be less genuinely motivated. "If you do it on the spur of the moment, it probably doesn't mean that much to you and you won't give it your all. Failing to achieve your ambitions is often psychologically harmful because it can rob people of a sense of self control."

Other strategies that helped people to achieve their goals included making only one resolution at a time and treating occasional lapses in the plan as just temporary setbacks.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 27 Dec 2009 | 6:32 pm

Disinfectants 'train' superbugs

Disinfectants could effectively train bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics, scientists suggest.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 27 Dec 2009 | 5:42 pm

Science Weekly: When plants bite back

Prof Sue Hartley comes into the studio to discuss the battle between flora and flora. Sue is an ecologist at the University of Sussex specialising in the study of plant-animal interactions and will be presenting The 300 Million Year War: this year's Royal Institution Christmas lectures.

This holiday season spare a thought for those who can't be with their loved ones ... especially those who are not even on this planet. Gregory Vogt, one of the authors of The Astronaut's Cookbook, tells us how to eat like a spaceman or woman.

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Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 27 Dec 2009 | 5:01 pm

Chinese archaeologists 'discover' tomb of notorious pantomime villain Cao Cao

• Henan dig 'yields bones' of warlord depicted as tyrant
• Sceptics say more tests needed to confirm find

Chinese archaeologists claimed today to have found the tomb of one of the country's oldest and most notorious pantomime villains.

The bones of Cao Cao, who is a byword for treachery in Peking opera, may been located near the ancient capital of Anyang, in Henan province, the state-run broadcaster announced.

An epitaph and inscription were also found in the tomb that appear to identify the warlord, who helped to unify northern China.

If confirmed, the discovery would solve one of China's greatest historical puzzles.

Cao Cao, also known as the Emperor Wu of Wei, was a politician, general and poet whose brilliance as a military strategist and wordsmith was tarnished forever by the novel The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

In that classic, he is portrayed as a scheming, merciless tyrant who is so suspicious of everyone he meets that he mistakes a plan to slaughter a pig in his honour as an assassination plot – and responds by killing everyone involved, including women and children.

In Peking opera he is almost unique as a emperor with a white face, which signifies betrayal. A common saying, "speak of Cao Cao and he appears", is the the equivalent of the English phrase "speak of the devil".

Cao Cao is said to have died in the year 220, of an unknown illness. According to one myth, he refused medical treatment and was so paranoid about being poisoned that he jailed his doctor, who subsequently perished in prison. But before the warrior passed away, he gave very specific instructions on where and how he should be buried: in simple style among the hills west of Yecheng in Henan.

Dismissing ancient rumours that he ordered the construction of 72 tombs to hide the real location, historians have homed in on the location in recent years.

In 1998, a stone tablet unearthed nearby revealed that the resting place of the Emperor Wu of Wei could be found 1,420 steps west from Gaojue bridge, and then 170 steps south.

Further discoveries have since been made by engineers involved in the south-north water diversion project, a huge project that involved excavating vast tracts of Henan and neighbouring Hubei.

As archaeologists closed in, the state broadcaster, China Central Television (CCTV), has run lengthy documentaries on the search for the tomb of Cao Cao, whose ruthlessness is now seen in revisionist terms as a necessary step towards the unification of China.

Despite today's announcement, it is still far from certain that the warlord's resting place had been found. Tests on the bones at the site suggest that the man died in his sixties, which roughly matches Cao Cao's demise. But there are many tombs in the same area, which is the cradle of Chinese civilisation. Without more conclusive proof, many remain sceptical that the ancient puzzle has been solved.

Wang Shuo, executive editor of Caijing magazine, said that if the oldest bones in the tomb were those of Cao Cao then the others must have been those of two classical beauties of the era, Daqiao and Xiaoqiao. The implication is that CCTV, which has invested a great deal in this dig, is determined to announce a star-studded conclusion to the tomb raiding.

Whether Cao Cao deserves the attention — either as villain or hero -should be clearer after more detailed studies. But, if his poems are any guide, he will not be too bothered either way. As one of his most famous lines note: "Man's life is but the morning dew, past days many, future ones few."

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 27 Dec 2009 | 11:58 am