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Antikythera Mechanism keyword, sorted newest to oldest, excluding this current topic, but including the duplicate topic I posted a few years back [blush]:

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Astronomy Picture of the day

An Ancient Computer Surprises Scientists (2200yo Roman computer!) [2006] -- The Antikythera Mechanism, sometimes called the world's first computer, has now been examined with the latest in high-resolution imaging systems and three-dimensional X-ray tomography. A team of British, Greek and American researchers was able to decipher many inscriptions and reconstruct the gear functions, revealing, they said, "an unexpected degree of technical sophistication for the period." The researchers, led by Tony Freeth and Mike G. Edmunds... said their findings showed that the inscriptions related to lunar-solar motions and the gears were a mechanical representation of the irregularities of the Moon's orbital course across the sky, as theorized by the astronomer Hipparchos. They established the date of the mechanism at 150-100 B.C.
Scientists Unravel Mystery of Ancient Greek Machine [2006] -- ...The researchers used three-dimensional X-ray scanners to reconstruct the workings of the device's gears and high-resolution surface imaging to enhance faded inscriptions on its surface... The new analysis reveals that the device's front dials had pointers for the sun and Moon -- called the "golden little sphere" and "little sphere," respectively -- and markings which coincided with the zodiac and solar calendars. The back dials, meanwhile, appear to have been used for predicting solar and lunar eclipses. The researchers also show that the device could mechanically replicate the irregular motions of the Moon, caused by its elliptical orbit around the Earth, using a clever design involving two superimposed gear-wheels, one slightly off-center, that are connected by a pin-and-slot device... The team's reconstruction also involves 37 gear wheels, seven of which are hypothetical... Newly revealed inscriptions also appear to confirm previous speculations that the device could also calculate the positions of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn -- the other planets known at the time.
Discovering How Greeks Computed in 100 B.C. [2008] -- ...applying high-resolution imaging systems and three-dimensional X-ray tomography, have experts been able to decipher inscriptions and reconstruct functions of the bronze gears on the mechanism. The latest research has revealed details of dials on the instrument's back side, including the names of all 12 months of an ancient calendar... No month names on what is called the Metonic calendar were previously known, the researchers noted. Such a calendar, as well as other knowledge displayed on the mechanism, illustrated the influence of Babylonian astronomy on the Greeks. The calendar was used by Babylonians from at least the early fifth century B.C.

In search of lost time (Antikythera Mechanism) [2006] -- Coins found at the site by Jacques Cousteau in the 1970s have allowed the shipwreck to be dated sometime shortly after 85 BC... Hipparchus, arguably the greatest Greek astronomer, is thought to have worked on the island [Rhodes] from around 140 BC until his death in around 120 BC... Cicero studied on Rhodes and wrote later that Posidonius had made an instrument "which at each revolution reproduces the same motions of the Sun, the Moon and the five planets that take place in the heavens every day and night". The discovery of the Antikythera Mechanism makes it tempting to believe the story is true. And Edmunds now has another reason to think the device was made by Hipparchus or his followers on Rhodes...