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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
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BLOCK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. THE GREAT PYRAMIDS OF GIZA: EVEN AFTER 45-HUNDRED YEARS, THEIR CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES TO PUZZLE AND INTRIGUE US. NOW, THERE'S NEWS ON HOW THE BLOCKS THAT MAKE UP THE PYRAMIDS WERE CREATED. 20 YEARS AGO, A FRENCH SCIENTIST PUT IT OUT THERE THAT--RATHER THAN BEING CARVED FROM SOLID LIMESTONE--THE BLOCKS WERE ACTUALLY CAST FROM AN EARLY FORM OF CONCRETE. ODDLY ENOUGH, THE THEORY WAS NEVER TESTED--NOT UNTIL A TEAM LED BY MICHEL BARSOUM, A MATERIALS-SCIENCE PROFESSOR AT DREXEL, WAS ASKED TO COME UP WITH SOME "CONCRETE" FINDINGS. SCANNING-ELECTRON-MICROSCOPE RESULTS AND OTHER TESTS NOW CONFIRM THAT THE BLOCKS ARE AN ANCIENT CONCRETE--OF LIMESTONE, LIME, AND DIATOMACEOUS EARTH--SO SIMILAR TO NATURAL LIMESTONE THAT IT MISLED GENERATIONS OF EGYPTOLOGISTS AND GEOLOGISTS. BARSOUM POINTS OUT THAT THIS RESEARCH IS NOT ABOUT THE PAST, BUT INSTEAD ABOUT THE FUTURE. IF WE WERE TO ADOPT THIS SIMPLE ANCIENT RECIPE AS A MODERN BUILDING MATERIAL, WE COULD CUT WAY BACK ON THE SIX-BILLION TONS OF "C-O-TWO" GENERATED ANNUALLY IN MAKING TODAY'S COMMON CEMENT. THAT'S REAL PYRAMID POWER--AND IT COMES WITH A 45-HUNDRED-YEAR GUARANTEE. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
