Free Republic

The sun was not necessary for Vikings to navigate, say researchers Vikings may have used a special crystal called a sunstone to help navigate the seas even when the sun was obscured by fog or cloud, a study has suggested. Researchers from Hungary ran a test with sunstones in the Arctic ocean, and found that the crystals can reveal the sun's position even in bad weather. This would have allowed the Vikings to navigate successfully, they say. The sunstone theory has been around for 40 years, but some academics have treated it with extreme scepticism. Researcher Gabor Horvath from...

CLEVELAND (AP) Scientists say it's a mirage. Others swear that when the weather is right, Clevelanders can see across Lake Erie and spot Canadian trees and buildings 50 miles away. Such eyewitness accounts have long been part of the city's history. ``The whole sweep of the Canadian shore stood out as if less than three miles away,'' a story in The Plain Dealer proclaimed in 1906. ``The distant points across the lake stood out for nearly an hour and then faded away.'' ``I can see how this could be possible,'' said Lawrence Krauss, chairman of the Physics Department at Case...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 September 2 Colorful Light Pillars Credit & Copyright: Walter Tape (Alaska Fairbanks), Figure 8-1, Atmospheric Halos Explanation: How can an aurora appear so near the ground? Pictured above are not aurora but nearby light pillars, a local phenomenon that can appear as a distant one. In most places on Earth, a lucky viewer can see a Sun-pillar, a column of light appearing to extend up from the...