In a story worthy of Indiana Jones, a team of German archaeologists have finally decoded the ancient "Dresden Codex", a Mayan book originating from the 11th century. The team, led by Mayan expert Joachim Rittsteig, used  the new information to pinpoint the theoretical location of the Mayan capital of Atlan, submerged under Lake Izabal, the largest lake in Guatemala. The city was destroyed by an earthquake in 666 BC. Lost along with the city were 2,156 gold tablets upon which the ancient civilization recorded their laws.

Joachim Rittsteig has dedicated most of his life to translating the codex and we wish him the best of luck. The Dresden Codex contains most of what we know today of the lost Mayan civilization. The last chapter describes the apocalypse which it says will take place December 12th, 2012.

Here's an amusing look back in time by Popular Science magazine which summarizes 10 paranoid fears of humanity back in the 20th century.  Among humanity's freakouts include:

1) Destroyed by the dreaded death ray.

2) The Earth will spontaneously explode.

3) A doomsday device will be invented.

4) The Sun will grow too cold causing an ice age.

5) A wandering star will destroy our solar system.

6) The Sun will grow too hot causing us to burn up.

7) A comet could collide with the Earth.

8) Nuclear war armageddon.

9) Man will poison the oceans, causing the world to die.

10) The Moon could collide with the Earth.

Okay, not really, but here's an interesting article on Pop-Sci exploring the increasing responsibilities over life and death we are giving to robots.

This topic is a continual debate that we, as a society, will be forced to have over the next few decades. Warzone robots currently have the most autonomy, but the kill-order usually must still come from a human. Expect this to change in the years to come, as the U.S. suffers increasing budgetary woes. As the article states, each Predator drone requires a team of 68 personnel, most of them to analyze the massive amounts of incoming data.  But, down the road, if the Predator itself could distinguish an enemy...and gain kill authority...you've just saved on the salaries of 68 people and opened a nice, big Pandora's box.  Or opened it wider rather.

Poorer nations desperate to gain a military advantage ...

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When mainstream media covers uber-geek stuff (as opposed to normal geek), it's always good for a laugh. NPR decided to cover the topic of the Singularity and dubbed it a "rapture of the nerds". Robert Siegal of "All Things Considered" has posted a transcript and podcast of the show's interview with Keefe Roedersheimer and various others of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence.  You may also listen to the interview right here on Logic-cool below:

(h/t The Speculist)

British scientist Simon Conway Morris extrapolates his theories on warlike aliens from his observed behavior of life on Earth.  If life develops elsewhere similar to that of the Earth, we can expect aliens to be territorial and resource hungry...similar to humans as well as animals in the wild.  Famed scientist Stephen Hawking has also argued a similar point. Perhaps, the best course for humanity wouldn't be to seek contact with aliens through various programs like SETI. Instead, maybe we should assume humanity is like a babe in the wilderness and the best course would be to just "lay low" until we get a better feel for our immediate interstellar surroundings. You may review a summary of Earth's feeble attempts to find aliens here. 

On the other hand, aliens with access to enough energy to actually power travel between stars have little need for the energy resources of ...

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People following news sites have probably heard already of a mystery missile launched off the California coast.   Pentagon reports they have no clue whose missile it might be.  So, either one of two things is happening.   1) The missile is ours which means our government is so big and unwieldy, we have no clue what we're doing...or 2) The missile isn't ours.   Check out the video below.

Both the more innocent and ominous explanations fall under #2.  Those of you who follow national security issues over the last decade might recognize similarities to the EMP scenario, where a hostile nation launches a missile off the California coast using a submarine or merchant ship over the continental United States to detonate an EMP explosion.  Such an explosion would send the United States instantly back into pre-industrial society, and tens of millions would perish due to starvation because our ...

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