Profiles & Biographies

Two mummified fetuses found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun will undergo DNA testing to determine their relation to the famous pharaoh, Egyptian officials announced today. The fetuses may also solve a longtime puzzle: the identity of King Tut"s mother. The young Tut, who reigned from 1336 to 1337 B.C., is controversially thought to be the son of Pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife Kiya. But some archaeologists believe he could be the son of Akhenaten"s otherwife, the powerful Queen Nefertiti.

"The fetuses will help us determine whether [King Tut"s wife and daughter of Nefertiti] Ankhesenamun was a half sister or a full sister," said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt"s Supreme Council of Antiquities. "If the fetus DNA matches King Tut"s DNA and Ankhesenamun["s DNA], then they shared the same mother." The testing will also reveal whether the fetuses are offspring of Ankhesenamun and Tut. Scientists caution, however, that they will probably not establish a direct link between the fetuses and Tut because suchgenetic matches are extremely difficult to prove. Additionally, mummies of fetuses found in a tomb are not necessarily the children of the buried pharaoh. "I personally feel they are not the sons of Tutankhamun," said Hawass, who is also a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence.

View: Full Article | Source: National Geographic

Ralph A. Multer recalls his experiences transporting wreckage from the infamous Roswell UFO crash in 1947.Multer and two other drivers had been asked to pick up two loads from a railway yard, the trucks were escorted by officials and allegedly contained parts of the UFO wreckage recovered in the crash. Multer said he and twoother drivers were asked to pick up loads at a railroad yard.

Three flatbed trucks, covered with canvas, carried the loads. The load on Multer’s truck was the largest. The convoy of trucks was escorted by officials of some type. Multer had some level of security clearance at the company.

View: Full article | Source: ContonRep

Antisa Khvichava is officially 130 today according to authorities in the Soviet republic of Georgia. Authorities in the former Soviet republic of Georgia claim a woman from a remote mountain village turned 130, making her the oldest person on Earth. The woman, who lives with her40-year-old grandson in an idyllic vine-covered country house in the mountains, retired from her job as a tea and corn picker in 1965, when she was 85, records say.



View: Full article | Source: DailyMail

The undecipherable wording on a letter written by David Livingstone has been decoded for the first time. The contents of an "indecipherable" letter written by David Livingstone shortly before he met Henry Stanley have been revealed forthe first time.

Livingstone"s writing had faded so badly it was impossible to read but scientists used spectral imaging technology to recover the text.

View: Full article | Source: BBC News