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Monday, 27 April 2026

Some of myy poems to music

I would really appreciate likes and comments on the YouTube site - the songs are set to autoplay one after another

First time I've seen these pollinators, Saint Mark's Flies, that don't look nice to me but are apparently harmless (beneficial for the garden) - they appear around Saint Mark's Day, April 26th, in England

- St Mark being the supposed author of the second Gospel.

Scientists Discover Previously Unknown Pyramid Chamber

These structures still have plenty of secrets

By Tobias Carroll April 25, 2026

You might think that a structure that’s more than 4,000 years old would hold no secrets at this point in history. And yet, when it comes to the pyramids built by ancient Egyptians at Giza, it turns out there are still some secrets left to uncover. In a paper published in the journal NDT & E International, researchers conclude that there is a room within the Menkaure Pyramid that has eluded previous groups of scientists and explorers.

The paper’s authors stress early on that the methods that they used to locate this space had no physical effect on the pyramid; instead, they used technology like ground-penatrating radar, which has been very useful to acheologists as they map ancient and historic structures without disrupting the landscape.

As the researchers scanned the pyramid’s eastern face, they noticed something out of the ordinary. In their paper, they described it as “two anomalies directly behind the polished granite blocks, which would indicate the presence of air-filled voids.”

The paper also helps explain why this pyramid may still contain some secrets, as opposed to neighboring structures. The authors note that archaeologist George Reisner explored the pyramid complex in the early 20th century, but that much of the exploration since then has focused on the Khufu Pyramid (also known as the Great Pyramid). “[N]o work has been done on the Menkaure Pyramid since Reisner’s work,” the authors write.

This discovery was made as part of the ScanPyramids project, which has made several discoveries in ancient structures, including one in the Great Pyramid in recent years. In a statement, Christian Grosse of the Technical University of Munich — one of the paper’s authors — pointed to one possible answer to the question of what this new finding could represent.

“The testing methodology we developed allows very precise conclusions to be drawn about the nature of the pyramid’s interior without damaging the valuable structure,” Grosse said. “The hypothesis of another entrance is very plausible, and our results take us a big step closer to confirming it.”

Archaeologists discover 'miracle' hidden in ancient Egyptian tomb

Catherine Shuttleworth, April 27 2026

Underneath a temple in th ancient ruined city of Taposiris Magna, archeologists discovered a vast tunnel, referred to by experts as a "geometric miracle".

The structure was discovered 13 metres (43 feet) below the ground by Kathleen Martinez of the University of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and colleagues during an ongoing excavation of the temple. The 2-metre tall tunnel had been hewn through an incredible 1,305 metres (4,281 feet) of sandstone.

According to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the tunnel's design is similar to the 1,306-metre Tunnel of Eupalinos - a 6th-century BC aqueduct on the Greek island of Samos, often referred to as a marvel of engineering.

And it seems the Taposiris Magna tunnel is just as impressive.

The tunnel's purpose is currently unknown, with parts of it submerged in water.

Martinez, who has been working in Taposiris Magna since 2004 in search of the lost tomb of Cleopatra VII, believes the tunnel to be a promising lead.

Taposiris Magna was founded around 280 BCE by Ptolemy II, the son of Alexander the Great's renowned general and one of Cleopatra's forebears.

The team believes the temple was dedicated to the god Osiris and his queen, the goddess Isis - the deity with whom Cleopatra courted a strong association. Figurines of Isis, as well as coins bearing the names and likenesses of Cleopatra and Alexander the Great, have been found there.

Future work could give us more information on whether the new tunnel could lead to these long-lost tombs.

The next steps include exploring the nearby Mediterranean Sea. Between 320 and 1303 CE, a series of earthquakes hit the coast, causing part of the temple to collapse and be swallowed by the waves. Previous excavations have revealed a network of tunnels stretching from Lake Mariout to the Mediterranean.

The tunnel has already yielded some treasures: a rectangular block of limestone and pieces of pottery.

In 2009, then-Minister for Antiquities Zahi Hawass said, "If we discover the tomb of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, it will be the most important discovery of the 21st century. If we did not discover the tomb of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, we made major discoveries here, inside the temple and outside the temple."