Sunday, February 22, 2009

Famous Lucy Fossil Scanned in Texas

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Archaeologists at the University of Texas at Austin were given a top secret look at Lucy, one of the world's most famous fossils.

The 3.2 million-year-old hominid skeleton, found in Ethiopia in 1974, made a 10-day stop at UTA's High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility in September after an eight-month exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences.

With guards standing close watch, UT scientists were allowed to make 35,000 computed tomography images of the ancient fossil. While U.S. researchers conducted a scan on the fossil in the 1970s, the new scans provide the first high-resolution data on the early human ancestor, the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman newspaper said Friday.

The fossil of a 3-foot-tall Australopithecus Francis is considered a national treasure in Ethiopia, where she is called Dinkenesh, which means "You are beautiful." Only her Ethiopian curator was allowed to touch any of the fossilized remains, the San Antonio Express-News said.

UT researchers said the scans allowed them to see inside the fossil without causing harm and should provide new information about human evolution.

Ethiopia: Bealu Girma Foundation Launched

Ethiopia: Bealu Girma Foundation Launched
17 February 2009

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Addis Abeba — Baalu Girma Foundation has been founded by the daughter of the prominent author and journalist Baalu Girma twenty five years after he went missing during the Dergue Marxist regime.

According to Meskerem Bealu Girma, the Foundation will be based in Michigan in the US and would strive to empower creative writers and journalists underrepresented in East Africa.

She said the foundation-a non-profit organisation established to promote learning- intends to achieve its mission through long-term and short-term projects, workshops, and talent-based academic awards.

"It was 25 years ago today that the famous Ethiopian writer and journalist, Baalu Girma, was abducted by the military junta (Dergue) in Ethiopia. He hasn't been heard from since, but his legacy continues," Meskerem said in remarks about her slain father.

Bealu is widely known in Ethiopia for his brave and skillful criticism of prominent members of Ethiopia's former government in a famous book known as Oromai.

The book which was circulated underground after the socialist government put a ban on it, skillfully details the widespread corruption among top-government officials and Generals of the Army.

"Throughout his life, Baalu was a true pioneer in the field; he had a lifelong passion for journalism and writing. But, his fascinating personal life and his selfless contributions to Ethiopian journalism and literature deserve to be published on their own," the newly-formed foundation's official website-www.baalugirmafoundation.org.-wrote.