Dead Sea Fun

Israel Education Ministry Hosts Virtual Classroom on Dead Sea

Students and teachers around the country logged online on Tuesday morning for 40 minutes of virtual learning about the Dead Sea, as part of the government's broad campaign to make the salty body of water one of the internationally recognized "New 7 Wonders of Nature."

The program, organized by the Education Ministry, provided students with scientific information and historical details of the sea, emphasizing its shared importance among Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority and featuring introductions from both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar.

Read the full article at JerusalemPost.com

Counting Down to 11.11.11 in Tel Aviv

A giant counter showing the time left to vote in the New7Wonders of Nature can now be seen on top of the Azrieli Tower in Tel Aviv. When Israel's Tourism Minister, Stas Meseznikov, pressed a button last night, the top of the building lit up with a golden "616:45:38", indicating that there were exactly 616 hours, 45 minutes and 38 seconds until the campaign closed.

Voting for the New7Wonders of Nature ends on 11 November at 11:11 GMT.

Read the full article at New 7 Wonders Newsroom

Computers Piece Together Scattered Medieval Scrolls

It's like something out of "The Da Vinci Code": Hundreds of thousands of fragments from medieval religious scrolls are scattered across the globe. How will scholars put them back together?

The answer, according to scientists at Tel Aviv University, is to use computer software based on facial recognition technology. But instead of recognizing faces, this software recognizes fragments thought to be part of the same work. Then, the program virtually "glues" the pieces back together.

Read the full article at LiveScience.com

Unexpected Forms of Life Found in the Dead Sea

Researchers found green and white mats of bacteria on the bottom of the Dead Sea during a scuba diving expedition that may reveal new insights into the nature of life in extreme environments.

The sprawling communities of bacteria were found near a series of submarine freshwater springs that had never been directly observed by scientists before the summer 2010 expedition. Freshwater from a nearby aquifer must travel through several hundred feet of salty soil before emerging in the sea, creating an unusual chemical mix at the bottom of what is one of the saltiest bodies of water on the planet.

Meseznikov Inaugurates Countdown 7 Wonders Contest Decision

As Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov pressed a button from his podium at the open-air Azrieli amphitheater, the top of Tel Aviv's Crown Plaza City Center building lit up with a golden "616:45:38" on Sunday night.

There are 616 hours, 45 minutes and 38 seconds until the international vote for the New Seven Wonders of Nature draws to a close.

Meseznikov was partaking in the official inauguration event of a huge projection countdown clock that will tick away the remaining days, minutes and seconds until the competition's end on November 11.

Read the full article at JerusalemPost.com

6,000 Christians to vote Dead Sea for New 7 Wonder

Over 6,000 Christian pilgrims, in Israel from October 11 through 18 for the Feast of Tabernacles, will vote for the Dead Sea on Friday in the New 7 Wonders of Nature campaign, the Tourism Ministry said on Tuesday night.

Read the full article at JerusalemPost.com

Dead Sea Scrolls Online - Your Mouse Pointer Instantly Translates into English

The Dead Sea Scrolls, the world's oldest known biblical documents, are now available to read online - and simply scrolling over phrases from one of the 2000-year-old scrolls instantly translates them into English.

Check out the excellent photos in this article MailOnline.com

Google's Dead Sea Scrolls is Latest Crowdsourcing Project

For the religious scholar, seeing the fragile animal skin written on between the third and first centuries BCE now known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, would have required a trip to Jerusalem until the scrolls went online last month as a project between Google and the Israel Museum.

While Google touts these projects as part of its mission to make all the world's information available online, the scrolls' existence in digital form serves a secondary purpose: allowing amateur detectives to seek clues that elude scholarly academics.

Read the full article at WashingtonPost.com