* Future progress harder, struggle to find the cash

* Copenhagen striving to be first carbon-free capital

By Barbara Lewis

SAMSO, Denmark, May 17 (Reuters) – Over a beer or two, Danes like to tell a story that goes like this: One night the energy ministers of the countries around the North Sea got together to divide up its oil and gas wealth. The Danish minister got very drunk, but the Norwegian managed to stay sober. As a result, Norway carved out a jagged shape that included Ekofisk, which has proved to be a major field, and Denmark was left with the dregs.

Regarded as a model of how to spend oil and gas wealth wisely, Norway has stashed away surplus revenues from exports while hydropower caters for the bulk of its domestic electricity needs.

But Denmark has also found its own path to energy pragmatism, supplementing its relatively few oil rigs with wind turbines and a deep commitment to energy saving.

As awareness has grown, cities like Copenhagen and some of the nation’s hundreds of islands are vying for the accolade of “zero carbon” while Danes from across the social spectrum can tell you how much energy they use to the kilowatt.

Keeping up with the Joneses – or in this case Christensens – is all about using less fuel and having better solar panels.

“We get a bit competitive with our neighbours,” said Kalle Christensen, a computer engineer, who lives in a low-energy house in Stenlose South, just outside Copenhagen.

His is one of some 400 low-energy houses in a community expected to grow to at least 750. He said he was looking into buying solar panels that would allow him to sell more power back to the grid, although he already expects energy savings will more than make up the roughly 10,000 euro ($13,300) difference in price between his low-energy home and a standard house.

Stenlose South has the highest concentration of such homes, but low-energy houses are a growing trend across Denmark, which enforces strict efficiency standards on new building.

Together with his wife Anne Godiksen, a chemist, and two young children, Christensen uses around 5,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year compared with the 25,000 needed in their previous house.

Insulated walls, reinforced glass windows and technology tucked away in a control room ensure a constant temperature and re-use of heat from appliances. When it was minus 15 degrees Celsius outside last winter, it was a toasty 22 degrees inside.

Their neighbours are retired police inspector Ove Bendtsen and his wife Hanne Beer.

The couple had considered moving to a retirement village but Beer, a former municipal worker, had heard about the low-energy housing project through her job.

Surrounded by young kilowatt-counters, they now have no anxiety about utilities bills and no need to buy water softener for the washing machine that runs on collected rain water. “There are only advantages,” Beer said.

OIL CRISIS

For Denmark as a whole, the real energy sobering-up began in the 1970s when prices surged in the first oil crisis and the nation found itself almost 100 percent dependent on fossil fuel.

Now a world leader in wind power, Denmark gets a quarter of its electricity from wind and aims to increase that share to 50 percent by 2020.

As holder of the EU presidency until the end of June, the Danes are championing energy saving and green growth in the region, but convincing others can be a problem.

In principle, all 27 EU nations have backed a target to cut energy use by 20 percent by 2020, but in practice they balk at any upfront investment, even for building measures that create jobs and ultimately cut bills.

Harassed finance ministers tend to be the toughest opponents. In Denmark, however, a cross-party, low-carbon consensus extends to every government department. The finance minister backs green growth as heartily as the environment minister.

“If we don’t invest, it will be more expensive,” Danish Economic and Interior Minister Margrethe Vestager told Reuters when asked about energy savings measures and renewables. “For us, the alternative to renewables is still higher oil prices.”

High taxes for fossil fuel – such as 75 percent tax on heating oil – have helped to convince the Danish general public, while for business a stable regime of subsidies, feed-in tariffs and tax-deductible green investment has spurred renewables.

State-owned oil, gas and power company DONG still derives the bulk of its earnings from fossil fuel, driven by high oil prices, and green groups criticise Denmark for continued use of carbon-intensive coal.

In contrast to oil majors that have dipped into renewables but so far stuck with the fossil fuel business model they trust, however, DONG issues separate figures for green power and they show rising earnings from wind.

Between 2007 and 2011, profits from wind grew by nearly 200 percent from 81 million euro to 240 million, while the exploration and production sector rose nearly 140 percent from 321 million euros to 758 million.

GREEN COMPETITION

The Danish government has fostered a domestic green rivalry.

A national competition in 1997 selected Samso – between the island of Zealand and the Jutland peninsula – to become Denmark’s first carbon-neutral island.

By 2005, Samso had achieved the goal, and the 114-sq-km island, with a dwindling population of around 4,000, is now a net exporter of green power, which means the fossil fuel it uses on ferry journeys and other transport is offset.

Burning wood chips, old blackcurrant bushes and straw in furnaces provide district heating. The island’s farmers are also wind farmers.

At Tyregaarden Farm, Jorgen Tranberg, who has 100 hectares and 130 dairy cows, proudly leads visitors into the base of his wind turbine where dials indicate how much power is being generated. What interests him are the hard economics.

“I sell more electricity than milk,” he said. “There’s no bad weather, if the wind’s blowing.”

Tranberg bought his wind turbine 12 years ago. It produces 2.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year – enough, he says, for 35 farms like his.

In seven years, he recouped the 6 million Danish crowns ($1.07 million) cost.

Tranberg also bought half of an offshore wind turbine in 2003 for 12 million crowns. Gigantic offshore turbines are much more expensive to buy and maintain than onshore – Tranberg faced a 4 million crowns repair bill when a gear box failed – but they also generate much more power.

In all, he sells 6.5 million kilowatts every year along with 1.4 million litres of milk.

NOW, THE HARD PART

Tranberg and others on Samso, who invested at the right time with the help of subsidies and tax incentives, are the lucky ones.

Agriculture Minister Mette Gjerskov is frank about the debts crippling many Danish farmers, debts that can be due partly to spending on renewable energy.

Even for those who have got it right, building on the progress will be hard: the global economic downturn and credit crisis mean finding the funds for shrewd, long-term investment is harder than ever, and the obvious changes have been made.

“It’s getting more and more difficult. It was difficult in the beginning because people rejected it. In the end they realised that this was not dangerous,” said Soren Hermansen, chief executive officer of the Samso Energy Academy, summing up the Samso experience.

“We had really good development of the project, but now we have done the easy things.”

The next step is to aim to be not just carbon-neutral, but carbon-free, which means tackling the issue of how to escape dependence on transport fuel.

Hermansen drives an electric car, but electric transport technology is still immature and more widespread development will require investment in power grid infrastructure.

The Energy Academy, which has become a magnet for “energy tourists” from all over the world, is working on solutions to these problems.

Hermansen has not lost his optimism that “radical changes ” r emain possible, including Copenhagen’s dream of becoming the world’s first carbon neutral capital by 2025. For Denmark’s centre-left government, becoming ever greener is non-negotiable.

“In spite of our economic crisis, the green economy is not just one way forward, it is the only way forward,” Ida Auken, Denmark’s environment minister, told journalists in April.

Then kings disappear from history in the southern Maya lowlands. I have told this story before. But now results from several field seasons increasingly demonstrate that something was going on between A.D. 800 and 900. That something is drought. Several multiyear droughts occurred, and all of the water jars date to this 100-year period. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Incredibly, Maya farmers persevered.

Lisa J. Lucero

Now, I will apply for grants to cover the next several seasons of underwater and above-ground explorations at Cara Blanca. Surface excavations will begin at Structure 1, the ceremonial building and possible water shrine. Looting, which continues to be a problem throughout the Maya area, has left it structurally compromised. Three of the six rooms have been destroyed and emptied of their contents. The untouched rooms we plan to excavate will reveal another side to the ceremonial story and tie in to what we find in the cenote.

Lisa J. LuceroAfter looting in 2010, the Structure 1 wall is mostly gone.

Archaeology is not just about human history. It is about the setting where humans live and its role in the history people create. For the Maya, this means the tropical environment, the annual wet and dry seasons, and how both the tropical setting and seasons affected social, political, economic and religious decision-making. These topics are important, especially when archaeologists cull lessons from the past. And with the world facing the increasing effects of global climate change, it’s worth looking at ancient societies whose farmers continue to survive. Sustainable farming practices got the Maya through the climate instability that perhaps brought an end to the Maya kings.

Lisa J. LuceroMarty with limb and ball joint fossils he collected; they were about to fall out of the sidewall 70 feet underwater.

With this in mind, my plan is to bring in many different types of experts. A tropical tree specialist could help date and identify some of the hundreds of trees at pool bottoms to assess landscape change. A paleontologist would also be useful to help identify not only the varied megafauna species, but also to learn how these huge beasts lived and died. A paleobotanist could help conduct a botanical survey of the surrounding landscape to assess ancient forest management. This multipronged approach will bring us closer to understanding the Maya world and how they lived in it.

Ernesto VasquezThe 2012 team, from left: Marty, Lisa, Cleofo, Chip, Andrew, Juan Antonio, Stanley.

Until next year, we bid you farewell.

P.S. The world will not end on Dec. 21 or 23, 2012. The Maya calendar just starts at zero again.

Lisa J. Lucero, a professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is studying ancient Maya underwater offerings in central Belize under the auspices of the Belize Institute of Archaeology, National Institute of Culture and History.

-The Environment (*)
-Their Health (+)
-Save Money ($)

Choose one of the 10 green actions below to help the Earth today. Then select something different tomorrow, and the next day…….

HOME

1. *$-STOP Vampire Electricity Leaching is responsible for 10% of your electric bill. Keep that 10% for yourself by unplugging unused appliances and electronics when not in use (ie: toasters, hairdryers, printers, electric toothbrushes, dust busters, cell phone chargers, coffee grinders, etc).

BATHROOM

2. *$- Shorten your Showers. Every minute spent in the shower wastes approx 2.5 gallons of water. Cut your showers down from 10 minutes to the recommended 4 and cut your monthly water waste from 750 gallons to 300 gallons. Don’t forget that using less water means spending less on your water bill! 

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

KITCHEN

3. *+-Say No to Paper AND Plastic and choose Reusable. An estimated 900 million trees are cut down each year in order to serve the US paper industry. Between 500 million and 1 trillion plastic bags are used each year worldwide- many of which become “Urban Tumbleweeds” littering our streets or piling up in landfills. (Some stores are now charging per paper or plastic bag used at checkout). Stop the insanity and choose Reusable Bags.

4. *+$-Buy Local Ingredients. The average fruit, vegetable, meat, or fish traveled 1,500 miles before finally finding its way to your mouth. More than carbon emissions collected, ever wonder how many chemicals those once clean ingredients were exposed to en route? Picking up produce at your local farmer’s markets is both less expensive and chemical free.

TRY THIS SIMPLE GREEN FRY RECIPE (filled with any veggies in your fridge) 

5. *$-Store Leftovers in Glass Containers. About 48 million tons of food is tossed each year. It is estimated that as much as $31 billion worth of perfectly good food finds its way to landfills instead of your (and every other American’s) stomach. Boxing leftovers in glass (instead of plastic) containers will help minimize the waste and save money.

LAUNDRY ROOM

6. *$-Wash only full loads of laundry to save between 300 and 800 gallons of water a month.

YARD

7. *+-Plant Trees or Support Tree Planting. One single mature tree can absorb as much as 48 lbs of carbon dioxide each year and release enough clean oxygen into the atmosphere to sustain two people for a lifetime.

GYM

8. *+$-Green your Exercise Routine. You actually burn more calories and save electricity by getting off the treadmill and taking your workout outside thanks to natural (even if minimal) inclines and declines. More than changing your angle, when you are on the treadmill you have an electrically propelled belt pushing you forward. No treadmill but want to workout inside? Do a QuickieWorkout in Bed! Outside, you’ve got no belt so you have to work harder for every step. Just think of all of the money you will save by cancelling your gym membership! 

OFFICE

9. *$-Save Paper-The average office employee goes through 10,000 sheets of paper a year- the same amount of paper that one tree produces. If you have an office of 200 employees, there’s a good chance your company kills 200 trees a year. Save virgin paper by choosing recycled stock, them implement these printing procedures: 

10. *$-Decrease your Margins. You don’t need an empty inch and a half on either side of a document. For multiple page documents, decreasing your margins will reduce your page count and save paper.

EXTRA CREDIT

*+-CELEBRATE Earth Day by Drinking Organic Wine! According to a recently released report, wine and table grapes are charged with expending more agricultural chemicals (nearly 60 million pounds per year) than any other crop in California. Need even more reason to drink organic? Organic wine has fewer sulfates in the red wine- which translates to less wine headaches.

DO YOUR PART TO HELP GREEN THIS PLANET… SHARE AND FORWARD THIS POST TO YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, AND CO-WORKERS!

xx
Laurel

Laurel House is a Fit Living Expert, 3x published author, and believer in living a life of balance. See more of her “Quickie Tips” on her website QuickieChick.com. Her 4th book- “QuickieChick’s Cheat Sheet to Life, Love, Food, Fitness, Fashion and Finance on a Less than Fabulous Budget” (St. Martin’s, May 2012) is available NOW for PRE-ORDER.

Cathy was one of two patients on the study, which was recently reported in Nature, who suffer from tetraplegia, a condition in which communication between the brain and the rest of the body is disconnected either through a stroke or damage to the spinal cord. Prof. John Donoghue, principal investigator on the BrainGate project, described their approach to Nature: “Our idea is to bypass that damaged nervous system and go directly from the brain to the outside world, so the brain signals cannot control muscles but machines and devices, like a computer or a robotic limb.” When Cathy controlled the arm with her mind to bring the coffee over for her to drink, the team was amazed.

Check out the video to see the moment for yourself:

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

As we previously introduced, BrainGate2 has three components: a sensor, a decoder, and assistive technology. The sensor consists of an array of 96 hair-thin electrodes the size of a children’s aspirin that is surgically implanted into the motor cortex, the part of the brain that controls body movements. Neural activity is relayed through a gold wire to a computer (the decoder), which interprets the signals and produces a command for the robot arm. Two robotic arms have been tested in the study: the DEKA Arm System and the heavier DLR Light-Weight Robot III arm from the German Aerospace Centre.

Cathy has had the BrainGate sensor implanted in her brain for the last five years, as she was involved in previous studies with the system. During testing that took place one year ago, Cathy was able to successfully raise the coffee and drink from it using BrainGate2 four times out of six attempts. In another test of the BrainGate2 system, the two patients had to reach out and grab a ball in a 30-second window, and Cathy experienced better success with the DEKA arm (46 percent success rate) than the DLR arm (21 percent).

Prof. Donoghue explained to Nature that controlling the robotic arm is much more complicated than moving the cursor on a screen in the original BrainGate study: “To move from this type of two-dimensional movement to movements involving reaching out for an object, grasping it and then guiding it in three-dimensional space is a huge step for us. It seems like more than one additional dimension in complexity.” He emphasized that a lot of work needed to be done to improve the rate and accuracy of motion as well as improving the decoding algorithms for more complex motions.

The Brown researchers already have plans to make the sensor wireless and improve the robotic arm to allow for more complicated tasks, such as brushing teeth. In the long term, an alternative approach is being considered in which the signals from the decoder are transmitted to the patient’s muscles, allowing them to reuse their own limbs.

This is a huge stride for the field of brain-computer interfaces, and will undoubtedly inspire more surgical and nonsurgical approaches. Controlling objects with the mind makes for great science fiction, but people who suffer from conditions that prohibit motion due to spinal cord damage are on the cusp of regaining a part of themselves that they thought was lost forever. Furthermore, similar technologies will open up even more possibilities for mind control of objects as the programs that can translate neural signals into instructions become more sophisticated.

“All of us were standing in awe, more or less, because we’re watching her drinking the coffee,” Prof. Donoghue commented in the video. “It was really such a stunning scene.”

Courses will be delivered through the open source MITx platform in development to host courses that were previously part of the OpenCourseWare program.

As with the MITx initiative, edX plans to issue certificates (possibly costing a small fee) to students for completing courses; however, course completion will not earn college credits at either institution and the certificates will be issued from edX, not through either university.

The initiative hopes that other prestigious universities will join the venture to make the educational behemoth even stronger.

Susan Hockfield, president of MIT, gave an insight into the philosophy of the move poignantly saying, “You can choose to view this era as one of threatening change and unsettling volatility, or you can see it as a moment charged with the most exciting possibilities presented to educators in our lifetimes.’’

Although MIT’s online courses have been well publicized, Harvard was just getting into the game and weighed the best direction to go in, especially in light of competitive programs moving into the space, such as the for-profits Udacity, the Minerva Project and Coursera. Officials at Harvard ultimately opted to keep the program not-for-profit and partnered with MIT to utilize its technology, which is being designed to be much more interactive and supportive than previous course platforms are known to be. Additionally, the MITx technology will include automated grading software, also known as roboreaders, to grade the thousands to hundreds of thousands of essays expected from the sheer number of students in the program.

For either university, giving away its most valuable content for free seems to be the surest way to dilute their programs and on-campus experiences, but the reality is that the universities have much more to gain than to lose. First, MIT has spent years building a much more public educational brand by allowing anyone to take courses through OpenCourseWare, so edX is a way for Harvard to build on that marketing while offering the quality that is associated with the institution. Second, the MITx technology under development is an evolution of the online course software that both institutions have invested in over the years, so they come into this initiative with a clearer idea of what students need. Furthermore, by making the software open source, the global community is only going to help make the technology even better.

But one of the biggest hidden bonuses of this initiative is the research opportunities in education, technology, and online learning provided by such an enormous student base. The initiative is a giant virtual lab that will draw researchers from around the world who are interested in the future of online education and all the areas that it overlaps with.

Online education is ramping up and it’s quickly becoming about which platforms are going to dominate the landscape over the long term. Stanford University has already had some amazing success with online education, with over 100,000 students enrolling in a single artificial intelligence class last August. Although the world could benefit from having multiple options for free education, the possibility of Stanford joining edX would make even the Superfriends jealous.

Video streaming by Ustream

For several years now, Elon Musk of SpaceX and Robert Bigelow, a construction entrepreneur who owns Budget Suites of America, have discussed forming a partnership to transport Bigelow customers. Bigelow originally licensed the TransHab technology from NASA after it was dropped from Space Station plans due to funding shortages, and founded his eponymous company to develop the inflatable habitats. It made rapid progress, and in 2006 and 2007, launched Genesis proof-of-concept modules on Russian Dnepr rockets (which are converted surplus ICBMs). The two 11.5 cubic meter modules were a success, and large for their cost. Inflatable habitats are much lighter and can be every bit as well-shielded as their smaller aluminum predecessors.

Since that time, Bigelow Aerospace has developed commercial space station designs while waiting for launch technology to catch up. They built a 181,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant in North Las Vegas, Nevada, and they also built Boeing’s CST-100 test capsule under NASA’s Commercial Crew program.

Bigelow has reserved a Falcon 9 for launch in 2014, but no one is quite sure what it will be for. It now looks as if it might launch a Dragon spacecraft, but that’s still speculation.

Regardless of how the big modules make it into space (BA-330 is 20,000 kg and 330 cubic meters), Falcon 9 and Dragon should be low-cost passenger carriers. Bigelow and SpaceX state in the press release that they plan to market the new services in Japan first, right after the SpaceX attempt to berth Dragon at the International Space Station on May 19. Until that time, everyone at SpaceX is probably too occupied getting ready for the launch to pay attention to anything else.

From Japan, the two companies may move on to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, where Bigelow signed a memorandum of understanding in 2011 to work on microgravity research and development. Bigelow’s large, private spacecraft give many countries the ability to do space station research at a small fraction of the cost that was required to build the International Space Station. Bigelow has spoken of leasing them as well, dropping the price for space station access even further.

When asked whether SpaceX had announced the agreement with Bigelow Aerospace in response toyesterday’s news from ATK, SpaceX spokeswoman Kirstin Brost Grantham replied that the deal had been planned for some time and was unrelated to other news. Some industry speculation is that the alliance will help speed the process of getting Dragon approved for human use. It gives SpaceX a new private market for a human-rated spacecraft and may allow the company to bring a manned Dragon online sooner.

ATK may have applied some pressure there, as it stated on Wednesday that it would be able to begin carrying astronauts to the Space Station in 2015, two years sooner than has been predicted for their competition, including SpaceX.  ATK has capitalized on government-developed and government-sponsored pieces for its new entry into the commercial market.

All of the trial participants were made blind by retinitis pigmentosa in which the light-sensitive rods and cones of the retina deteriorate. British participants Robin Millar and Chris James, whose retinas had not responded to light in over a decade, were able to see immediately after the chip was turned on. Seeing the first flashes of light, James told the BBC, was a “magic moment.” Before receiving the implant neither participant was capable of detecting any light at all. The chip now allows James to distinguish between curves and straight lines. And Millar’s magic moment came when he began detecting light coming in through the windows. Professor Robert MacLaren, of Oxford Eye Hospital who co-led the study with Tim Jackson of King’s College Hospital, said the regained vision was a first for a completely blind Brit.

China scores its own first with Tsang Wu Suet Yun. Like James and Millar, Mrs. Tsang had lost her sight to retinitis pigmetnosa. She had been legally blind for 15 years, barely able to detect light. After receiving the same implant as James and Millar, she was able to read letters projected onto a screen.

The following is 2010 footage of a Finnish man who had regained partial vision after receiving an implant from Retina.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The implants act as a replacement for the lost retinal cells by detecting light and then stimulating neurons which send the signal to the brain. Developed by the world leader in retinal implants,Retina Implant Ag, the devices are tiny microchips 5 mm on each side and a tenth of a mm thick, which are implanted just below the retina. The chip’s surface is covered by a microphotodiode array containing 1,500 light-sensitive units. The light intensity of each point is translated into electrical impulses used to stimulate the underlying neurons. The chip is powered by a wireless power unit connected via a cable that runs over the ear and then under the skin to reach the eye. Settings on the power unit can be adjusted to modify the light sensitivity of the array and maximize its effectiveness for individual patients.

The brain needs a period of time to learn how to interpret the “unnatural” signals sent from the chip.

The implant has been involved in retinal trials for six years now, and the current encouraging results could be just the beginning. Results from the first two trials were published in 2010 and prompted the expansion of the trial to sites outside of Germany, including the UK and China.

Being able to distinguish between straight and curved lines or detecting light through a window may not sound like much but, as Prof. MacLaren points out, just being able to enter a room and know where the doors and tables would be is incredibly useful to a blind person. The vibrant colors of the world, however, will remain hidden for the moment. As the implants only convey light contrast they only see in black-and-white. But one unexpected development that’s as much a benefit to Millar as it is a neuroscience curiosity, he’s dreaming in color for the first time in 25 years.

It’s hard to tell without a direct comparison, but Retina’s chip has the potential to out-see theArgus II implant that is already commercially available and helping the blind to see. The Argus II chip doesn’t receive light directly, but relays signals from a glasses-mounted camera. And the chip only has about 60 electrodes with which to stimulate optic nerves and transmit the signal to the brain. Retina’s 1,500 adjustable, light sensing/nerve stimulating units could potentially work so much better.

To reiterate, the current results are part of a clinical trial and the chip is not yet available as a treatment. Replacing dead or non-functional cells with new ones through stem cell therapies would be the ideal treatment. While these therapies have shown great promise recently, there’s no telling just when they’ll deliver on restoring full vision to the blind, if ever. But the results from the current trial are just getting underway. Hopefully it will be more of the same.

[image credits: Retina Implant Ag and Proceedings of The Royal Society]
[video credit: Channel 4 News via YouTube]
images: Retina Implant Ag, Royal Society
video: Retinal Implant Ag

Dallas was so moved by his story, he began emailing and speaking on the phone with Arthur throughout his journey – he encouraged Arthur to keep going and to believe that anything was possible. Even though doctors told him walking would never happen, Arthur was persistent. He fell many times, but kept going.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Arthur was getting stronger rapidly, and he was losing weight at an incredible rate! Because of DDP’s specialized workout, he gained tremendous balance and flexibility — which gave him hope that maybe someday, he’d be able to walk again.

His story is proof, that we cannot place limits on what we are capable of doing, because we often do not know our own potential. Niether Arthur, nor Dallas knew what he would go on to accomplish, but this video speaks for itself. In less than a year, Arthur completely transformed his life. If only he had known what he was capable of, 15 years earlier.

Do not waste any time thinking you are stuck – you can take control over your life, and change it faster than you might think. 

Hopefully this story can inspire you to follow your dreams – whatever they may be.
Anything is Possible!

For more information about DDP YOGA, visit http://www.ddpyoga.com

To contact Arthur or Dallas Page about this incredible story, please visithttp://www.ddpbang.com and contact them.

Arthur’s story is featured in the upcoming documentary,http://www.inspiredthemovie.com
(Thanks to filmmaker Steve Yu for putting this inspirational video together!)

An extended cut of this story can be viewed here! http://bit.ly/IPfpwI

Archaeologists working at the Xultun ruins of the Mayan civilisation have reported striking finds, including the oldest-known Mayan astronomical tables.

The site, in Guatemala, includes the first known instance of Mayan art painted on the walls of a dwelling.

A report in Science says it dates from the early 9th Century, pre-dating other Mayan calendars by centuries.

Such calendars rose to prominence recently amid claims they predicted the end of the world in 2012.

The Mayan civilisation occupied Central America from about 2000BC until its decline and assimilation following the colonisation by the Spanish from the 15th Century onwards. It still holds fascination, with many early Mayan sites still hidden or uncatalogued.

The ruins at Xultun were first discovered in 1912 and mapping efforts in the 1920s and 1970s laid out much of the site’s structure.

Three of the four walls of the structure are remarkably well preserved

Archaeologists have catalogued the site’s features, including a 35m-tall pyramid, but thousands of structures on the 30 sq km site remain unexplored.

In 2005, William Saturno, then at the University of New Hampshire, discovered the oldest-known Mayan murals at a site just a few kilometres away called San Bartolo.

in 2010, one of Dr Saturno’s students was following the tracks of more recent looters at Xultun when he discovered the vegetation-covered structure that has now been excavated.

When Mayans renovated an old structure, they typically collapsed its roof and built on top of the rubble. But for some reason, the new Xultun find had been filled in through its doorway, with the roof left intact.

Dr Saturno, who is now based at Boston University, explained that despite it being under just a metre of soil today, that served to preserve the site after more than a millennium of rainy seasons, insect traffic and encroaching plant and tree roots.

“We found that three of the room’s four walls were well preserved and that the ceilings were also in good shape in terms of the paintings on them, so we got an awful lot more than we bargained for,” he said.

‘Different mindset’

The excavation was carried out using grants from the National Geographic Society, which has prepared a high-resolution photographic tour of the room.

It measures about 2m on each side with a 3m, vaulted ceiling, and is dominated by a stone bench, suggesting the room was a meeting place.

The east wall features a number of seated figures, nearly life-sized, dressed in black and wearing elaborate headdresses similar to a bishop’s mitre.

They all look toward the north wall, on which a more elaborately dressed figure in orange holds a stylus in a hand outstretched toward a figure that Dr Saturno believes represented the king of Xultun.

The astronomical cycles and corrections were used to predict lunar eclipses far into the future

“The seated figures that we see around them are involved in some narrative in which the king is being portrayed impersonating a Mayan deity and these guys are in attendance at that impersonation,” Dr Saturno explained.

The relevance of the figure with the stylus seems clear: “We think this room was used as a writing room, that it’s part of a complex associated with the work being done by Maya scribes.”

Perhaps most intriguing among the finds were several finds related to astronomical tables, including four long numbers on the east wall that represent a cycle lasting up to 2.5 million days.

The east wall is mostly covered by tabulations of black symbols or “glyphs” that map out various astronomical cycles: that of Mars and Venus and the lunar eclipses.

The wall also features red marks that appear to be notes and corrections to the calculations; Dr Saturno said that the scribes “seem to be using it like a blackboard”.

The Xultun find is the first place that all of the cycles have been found tied mathematically together in one place, representing a calendar that stretches more than 7,000 years into the future.

The Mayan numbering system for dates is a complex one in base-18 and base-20 numbers that, in modern-day terms, would “turn over” at the end of 2012.

But Dr Saturno points out that the new finds serve to further undermine the fallacy that this is tantamount to a prediction of the end of the world.

“The ancient Maya predicted the world would continue, that 7,000 years from now, things would be exactly like this,” he said.

“We keep looking for endings. The Maya were looking for a guarantee that nothing would change. It’s an entirely different mindset.”