#live science

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Hi everyone,

I found this cool article about some noise cancellation headphones scientists have made using AI. According to the article:

Scientists have built noise-canceling headphones that filter out specific types of sound in real-time — such as birds chirping or car horns blaring — thanks to a deep learning artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm.

The system, which researchers at the University of Washington dub "semantic hearing," streams all sounds captured by headphones to a smartphone, which cancels everything before letting wearers pick the specific types of audio they'd like to hear. They described the protoype in a paper published Oct. 29 in the journa IACM Digital Library.

Once sounds are streamed to the app, the deep learning algorithm embedded in the software means they can use voice commands, or the app itself, to choose between 20 categories of sound to allow. These include sirens, baby cries, vacuum cleaners, and bird chips among others. They chose these 20 categories because they felt humans could distinguish between them with reasonable accuracy, according to the paper. The time delay for this entire process is under one-hundredth of a second. 

The full article will be below if anyone wants to read it:

[trexalicious]

Mary River turtle: The green-haired oddball that can breathe through its butt for 72 hours. But why...🤔

[xtruss]

Fagradalsfjall Volcano Erupting in July. In 2021, Fagradalsfjall erupted for the first time in about 800 years, kickstarting a new era in volcanic activity in Iceland 🇮🇸. Image credit: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

'Time's Finally up': Impending Iceland Eruption is Part of Centuries-Long Volcanic Pulse

Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula is now in a new era of volcanic eruptions that will last for up to 500 years, and the building magma beneath Sundhnúkur and Grindavík is part of this millenia-long cycle.

— By Hannah Osborne | Live Science

Iceland's potentially imminent eruption in the Reykjanes Peninsula is part of a 1,000-year cycle of volcanic activity that will likely cause eruptions for centuries, scientists say.

"Time's finally up," Edward W. Marshall, a researcher at the University of Iceland's Nordic Volcanological Center, told Live Science in an email. "We can get ready for another few hundred years of eruptions on the Reykjanes."

Seismic activity began increasing in the south of the peninsula in October, with hundreds of earthquakes recorded there each day. On Nov. 10, authorities evacuated the town of Grindavík, with experts warning an volcanic eruption could take place in just days.

Infographic showing the seismic activity that has hit Iceland in recent weeks. Image credit: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

According to the Icelandic Met Office (IMO), a magma tunnel stretching 9.3 miles (15 kilometers) formed beneath the ground between Sundhnúkur in the north and Grindavík. The area affected also encompasses the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa — a tourist hotspot that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.

Magma in the tunnel — also known as a dike — appears to be rising to the surface, and there is a high risk of it breaking through. The greatest area of magma upwelling is currently close to Sundhnúkur, about 2 miles (3.5 km) northeast of Grindavík, according to the IMO. Researchers believe the amount of magma in the tunnel is "significantly more" than what was present during the eruptions at Fagradalsfjall, which sparked back to life in 2021 after more than 800 years of inactivity.

That 2021 eruption marked the start of a new cycle of volcanic activity on the Reykjanes Peninsula. Geological records show periods of inactivity last between 600 and 1,200 years, which is then followed by pulses of eruptions lasting between 200 and 500 years, Clive Oppenheimer, a professor of volcanology at the University of Cambridge in the U.K., told Live Science in an email.

"It looks like 2021 kicked off a new eruptive phase which might see the several fault zones crossing the [Reykjanes Peninsula] firing on and off for centuries," he said.

Grindavík has been evacuated over fears an eruption may take place in or near the town. Image credit: Kjartan Torbjoernsson/Getty Images

The Reykjanes Peninsula sits above two tectonic plates that are being pulled apart. The strain that builds up is released in bursts as part of the cycle. "We are now in one of these pulses," David Pyle, a volcanologist and professor of Earth sciences at the University of Oxford, U.K, told Live Science in an email. "Each eruption releases just a bit more of the stored-up strain, and eventually, when all of that strain has been released, then the eruptions will stop."

It is currently unclear if an eruption will take place as a result of the magma tunnel. "These sorts of dikes are actually a tectonic, not a magmatic feature. In other words, the lava is filling a fracture, not forcing its way into the rock," Marshall said.

Should a fissure emerge, an eruption could last for several weeks. The large amount of magma involved compared with previous eruptions in the region could result in more lava flow at the surface, Oppenheimer said.

What happens next is a waiting game, Marshall said. "I predict — if an eruption occurs — that it will occur between a few days to threeish weeks. If it hasn't erupted in three weeks, I don't think it will happen. Cooling will begin to close the fractures."

— Hannah Osborne is the planet Earth and Snimals Editor at Live Science. She worked for several years at Newsweek and at International Business Times U.K. as the Science Editor. Hannah holds a Master's in Journalism from Goldsmith's, University of London.

[ashotasfireandasdeepastheocean1]

...🪴💚

.

[endusviolence]

Rowling isn't denying holocaust. She just pointed out that burning of transgender health books is a lie as that form of cosmetic surgery didn't exist. But of course you knew that already, didn't you?

I was thinking I'd probably see one of you! You're wrong :) Let's review the history a bit, shall we?

In this case, what we're talking about is the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, or in English, The Institute of Sexology. This Institute was founded and headed by a gay Jewish sexologist named Magnus Hirschfeld. It was founded in July of 1919 as the first sexology research clinic in the world, and was run as a private, non-profit clinic. Hirschfeld and the researchers who worked there would give out consultations, medical advice, and even treatments for free to their poorer clientele, as well as give thousands of lectures and build a unique library full of books on gender, sexuality, and eroticism. Of course, being a gay man, Hirschfeld focused a lot on the gay community and proving that homosexuality was natural and could not be "cured".

Hirschfeld was unique in his time because he believed that nobody's gender was either one or the other. Rather, he contended that everyone is a mixture of both male and female, with every individual having their own unique mix of traits.

This leads into the Institute's work with transgender patients. Hirschfeld was actually the one to coin the term "transsexual" in 1923, though this word didn't become popular phrasing until 30 years later when Harry Benjamin began expanding his research (I'll just be shortening it to trans for this brief overview.) For the Institute, their revolutionary work with gay men eventually began to attract other members of the LGBTA+, including of course trans people.

Contrary to what Anon says, sex reassignment surgery was first tested in 1912. It'd already being used on humans throughout Europe during the 1920's by the time a doctor at the Institute named Ludwig Levy-Lenz began performing it on patients in 1931. Hirschfeld was at first opposed, but he came around quickly because it lowered the rate of suicide among their trans patients. Not only was reassignment performed at the Institute, but both facial feminization and facial masculization surgery were also done.

The Institute employed some of these patients, gave them therapy to help with other issues, even gave some of the mentioned surgeries for free to this who could not afford it! They spoke out on their behalf to the public, even getting Berlin police to help them create "transvestite passes" to allow people to dress however they wanted without the threat of being arrested. They worked together to fight the law, including trying to strike down Paragraph 175, which made it illegal to be homosexual. The picture below is from their holiday party, Magnus Hirschfeld being the gentleman on the right with the fabulous mustache. Many of the other people in this photo are transgender.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of a group of people. Some are smiling at the camera, others have serious expressions. Either way, they all seem to be happy. On the right side, an older gentleman in glasses- Magnus Hirschfeld- is sitting. He has short hair and a bushy mustache. He is resting one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of him. His other hand is being held by a person to his left. Another person to his right is holding his shoulder.]

There was always push back against the Institute, especially from conservatives who saw all of this as a bad thing. But conservatism can't stop progress without destroying it. They weren't willing to go that far for a good while. It all ended in March of 1933, when a new Chancellor was elected. The Nazis did not like homosexuals for several reasons. Chief among them, we break the boundaries of "normal" society. Shortly after the election, on May 6th, the book burnings began. The Jewish, gay, and obviously liberal Magnus Hirschfeld and his library of boundary-breaking literature was one of the very first targets. Thankfully, Hirschfeld was spared by virtue of being in Paris at the time (he would die in 1935, before the Nazis were able to invade France). His library wasn't so lucky.

This famous picture of the book burnings was taken after the Institute of Sexology had been raided. That's their books. Literature on so much about sexuality, eroticism, and gender, yes including their new work on trans people. This is the trans community's Alexandria. We're incredibly lucky that enough of it survived for Harry Benjamin and everyone who came after him was able to build on the Institute's work.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of the May Nazi book burning of the Institute of Sexology's library. A soldier, back facing the camera, is throwing a stack of books into the fire. In the background of the right side, a crowd is watching.]

As the Holocaust went on, the homosexuals of Germany became a targeted group. This did include transgender people, no matter what you say. To deny this reality is Holocaust denial. JK Rowling and everyone else who tries to pretend like this isn't reality is participating in that evil. You're agreeing with the Nazis.

But of course, you knew that already, didn't you?

Edit: Added image IDs. I apologize to those using screen readers for forgetting them. Please reblog this version instead.

[1comedyartist]

The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook: A Proven Way to Accept Yourself, Build Inner Strength, and Thrive

[hussyknee]

Link to thread.

Link to article.

Link to author's bio.

Alt text enabled on all images.

[rbbaileyjr]

One Hundred Days of Shovels, Baseball Bats, Etc...

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com “Picture this: it may sound intriguing to “Walking Dead” or “Thr33 Day Dead” fans, but for those of us who hesitate before taking a Makita chainsaw to grandpa, maybe we should think twice…” https://www.yahoo.com/news/zombies-wipe-humans-less-100-134700805.html

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

An interesting demonstration of how the human brain works.

But also something of a lesson regarding perception, and the unreliability of subjective perspective versus objective reality.

You can be extremely certain about how you perceive the world, your "lived experience," that which you "feel it in my heart." But that doesn't mean it's actually true. And it doesn't mean we have to endorse it, or ignore or outright deny objective reality.

That's a "you" thing, not a "we" thing.

[inkintheinternet]

Invisible Forces

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala 

Ink in the Internet

When we see something happen before our eyes it is easy to think about it intuitively or to deduce what is happening by using basic logic.

These are superficial observations but when we want to understand the root cause or the science and dynamics of what is happening our brains could encounter the challenge of counterintuitive thinking and here is where we might discover the unthinkable.

One of the things I find very interesting is the history and developing story of the interactions of electricity with biological living entities such as ourselves, and to add to this subject the effect of electromagnetic fields. As I began my research on these I was very surprised by what I found. Starting from the history to present day discoveries.

Why it is not only fascinating but important to have an understanding of this particular branches of science, is because modern age science is expanding in those fields. Especially when it comes to bioengineering in its many subcategories. And I stress its significance in the field of biomedical engineering, specifically to tackle the antibiotics resistance crises. In fact it could be that it is in physics we will find the components to improve the effectiveness of the medicine we have today or the treatments that are no longer effective against microorganisms or autoimmune diseases. We should also study these to find out if there are hidden adverse effects on our health.

The Electromagnetic Force is one of the four fundamental forces in nature as classified by scientists.

Gravitational 

Electromagnetic

Weak Force

Strong Force

Moreover there is the Weakelectro Force that is theorised to unify the Weak and Electromagnetic forces by them being different faucets of the WeakElectro Force.

Excluding gravity the other forces have been traced back to quantum particles. Making them all quantum forces. Gravity however, still continues to baffle scientists.

Unlike the other forces scientists have not been able to progress in their understanding of gravity beyond the theory of General Reletivity that was established by Albert Einstein in 1915.

While atmospheric pressure is not considered a fundamental force, I have written about how it effects us from earth up to space, where there is lack of it and the effect of that. 

The Strong Force

The atom was split for the first time in 1932.

By John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge in the UK. Also in Cambridge earlier James Chadwick discovered the neutron.

"After the discovery of the neutron it was clear that the atomic nucleus is made up from protons and neutrons. In such a system, electromagnetic forces cannot be the reason why the constituents of the nucleus are sticking together. Indeed, the repulsive electrical Coulomb force between the protons should blow the nucleus apart. Therefore, the concept of a new strong nuclear force was introduced." 

It is interesting to note that while the protons and neutrons are held together by the Strong Force, the electrons that spin around the nucleus in the atom, do not experience the Strong Force, and the SF gets stronger with distance instead of weaker. This is a bit counterintuitive when we think about it in comparison to gravity or magnetism.

(Side note; to be accurate electrons do not "spin" they have angular momentum).

While electrons do not feel the Strong Force, they are effected by the Weak Force.

An example of the WF is in beta decay. It has a combination of theories as to what is the source of the Weak Force, but its fundamental process is to turn neutrons into protons. 

In an atom the nucleus that is made of neutrons and protons, in each of them are three elementary particles (particles so small scientists have not been able to split them) these are called quarks. A proton has 2 'up quarks' and 1 'down quark.'

While the neutrons have 1 up quark and 2 down quarks. The up and down is according to their spin. What the Weak Force does is that it changes the spin of the quarks which turn the neutron into a proton and an electron gets emitted. In this context the electron is called a "beta particle."

The Electromagnetic Force is very interesting. The simplest example of its occurance is when there is a live wire the motion of the electricity generates around the wire an Electromagnetic Field. 

You can think of the field itself as quantum waves. Mechanical waves such as sound waves and water waves need a medium to transport them. But quantum waves can travel even through the vaccumme of space.

The study of field theories is one of the most difficult in physics, and is still in its infancy.

Powerlines, mobile phones, and any electrical device generates electromagnetic fields. 

Our mobile phones are perhaps the device by which we get the most exposure to EMFs and the brain is most sensitive to these signals. I did research on brain diseases and I found statistics that suggest there might be a correlation between the rise of Alzheimer's disease in the past 20 years and the increase in dependency on mobile phone usage.

"Deaths from Alzheimer’s have more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, while those from heart disease — the leading cause of death — have decreased," according to the Alzheimer Association.

What is Alzheimer’s Disease and how is it dangerous?

"Alzheimer's disease is a brain disorder that gets worse over time. It's characterized by changes in the brain that lead to deposits of certain proteins. Alzheimer's disease causes the brain to shrink and brain cells to eventually die. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia — a gradual decline in memory, thinking, behavior and social skills. These changes affect a person's ability to function." - Mayo Clinic.

In the advanced stages it can cause dehydration, malnutrition, and infections, these can result in death.

We are generally aware of how neurons in the brain function by electrical signals. This apparent electricity in the body has an interesting history.

It is said that in ancient Rome and Egypt eels were the first living things to be acknowledged having this mysterious source of energy.

In the 1770s Italian Physicist and Physician Luigi Galvani believed and investigated what he thought was "animal electricity." He had made a dead frog's muscles move using metals and an Electrostatic Machine and a Leyden Jar - a glass jar to store static electricity. 

Galvani's experiment was at the time a step towards discovering how living tissue uses electricity. He was of course wrong about the frog being the source of the electricity, it was a conductor.

Using first the Leyden Jar and then the first primitive battery - Voltaic Pile scientists were able to store electricity and use it for experiments.

"The Italian physicist Alessandro Volta is generally credited with having developed the first operable battery. Following up on the earlier work of his compatriot Luigi Galvani, Volta performed a series of experiments on electrochemical phenomena during the 1790s." Britannica.

Alessandro Volta had presented his invention in Napoleon's Court and impressed the French leader so much that Volta was appointed his science adviser.

Humanity had however just scratched the surface of what was to come in the study of electricity.

In a potential hypothesis it is said that brain-to-brain communication maybe possible in humans and animals. This sounds funny as I don't believe we can talk to animals other than our pets. But the hypothesis has an interesting aspect regarding how the cryptochrome in the retina can perceive magnetic fields.

"The validation of DBBC (Direct Brain-toBrain Communication) has been documented via recording similar pattern of action potentials occurring in the brain cortex of two animals. With regard to action potentials in brain neurons, the magnetic field resulting from the action potentials created in neurons is one of the tools where the brain of one animal can affect the brain of another. It has been shown that different animals, even humans, have the power to understand the magnetic field. Cryptochrome, which exists in the retina and in different regions of the brain, has been confirmed to be able to perceive magnetic fields and convert magnetic fields to action potentials." - National Library of Medicine.

Birds have in their retinas magnetic field receptors.

"Birds can use two kinds of information from the geomagnetic field for navigation: the direction of the field lines as a compass and probably magnetic intensity as a component of the navigational ‘map’. The direction of the magnetic field appears to be sensed via radical pair processes in the eyes, with the crucial radical pairs formed by cryptochrome. It is transmitted by the optic nerve to the brain, where parts of the visual system seem to process the respective information." - Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

Bacteria surprisingly communicate via brainlike bursts of electricity.

"Scientists are now finding that bacteria in biofilms can also talk to one another electrically. Biofilms appear to use electrically charged particles to organize and synchronize activities across large expanses. This electrical exchange has proved so powerful that biofilms even use it to recruit new bacteria from their surroundings, and to negotiate with neighboring biofilms for their mutual well-being." - Scientific American.

Fascinating aspect of biological use of electric fields.

"Electrotaxis is the property of cells to sense electric fields and use them to orient their displacement. This property has been widely investigated with eukaryotic cells but it remains unclear whether or not bacterial cells can sense an electric field." Science Direct.

Electric fields play a significant part in the healing of wounds.

"Weak electric fields applied to the wound or in the wound dressing can also improve wound healing.59–63

Finally, electric charge and biological electrodynamic field permeate several phases of wound healing, driving cells and molecules and maintaining the flow of oxygen and nutrients, necessary to heal the wound. The knowledge of the electric physiology of wound healing can also help develop new and more efficient treatments." National Library of Medicine.

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2023

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent researcher in science. Twitter/Instagram: Spellrainia 

Email: arjuwan.writer@gmail.com

Sources:

National Library of Medicine - Adv Wound Care (New Rochelle). August 2021; 10(8): 461–476. 

Published online 2021 Jun 17. doi: 10.1089/wound.2019.1114

PMCID: PMC8236302

PMID: 32870772

Electric Factors in Wound Healing

Paulo Luiz Farber,1,* Felipe Contoli Isoldi,2 and Lydia Masako Ferreira2

Science Direct - How bacteria use electric fields to reach surfaces

Author links open overlay panelPoehere Chong, Benjamin Erable, Alain BergelLaboratoire de Génie Chimique, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INP, UPS, Toulouse, France

Received 24 December 2020, Revised 15 March 2021, Accepted 28 March 2021, Available online 8 April 2021, Version of Record 20 April 2021.

Scientific American - Bacteria Use Brainlike Bursts of Electricity to Communicate

With electrical signals, cells can organize themselves into complex societies and negotiate with other colonies

BY QUANTA MAGAZINE & GABRIEL POPKIN

National Library of Medicine - Heliyon. 2021 Mar; 7(3): e06363. 

Published online 2021 Mar 1. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06363

PMCID: PMC7937662

PMID: 33732922

Brain-to-brain communication: the possible role of brain electromagnetic fields (As a Potential Hypothesis)

Ehsan Hosseini

Journal of the Royal Society Interface - Magnetoreception in birds

Roswitha Wiltschko

 and 

Wolfgang Wiltschko

Published:04 September 2019https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2019.0295

Of Particular Significance

Conversations About Science with Theoretical Physicist Matt Strassler

Cambridge University - What is Quantum Field Theory?

NASA - Anatomy of an Electromagnetic Wave

UCR Education - Original by Matt McIrvin, 1994.

Some Frequently Asked Questions About Virtual Particles

Britannica - electromagnetic field

physics

Actions

Written and fact-checked by

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Nov 17, 2023 • Article History

United States Environmental Protection Agency - Electric and Magnetic Fields from Power Lines

Live Science - 'Virtual' Particles Are Just 'Wiggles' in the Electromagnetic Field

News

By Paul Sutter

 published August 22, 2016

Live Science - What Is the Weak Force?

References

By Jim Lucas

 published December 24, 2014

Britannica - electroweak theory

physics

Actions

Also known as: Salam-Weinberg theory, Weinberg-Salam theory, electroweak unification theory

Written by 

Christine Sutton

Fact-checked by 

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Article History

Britainnica - Electroweak theory: Describing the weak force

Britannica - strong force

physics

Actions

Also known as: nuclear force, strong interaction, strong nuclear force

Written by 

Christine Sutton

Fact-checked by 

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Nov 23, 2023 • Article History

CernCourier - Cockcroft’s subatomic legacy: splitting the atom

Nuclear Forces - Scholarpedia

Space.com - The four fundamental forces of nature

By Jeremy Rehm, Ben Biggs

 published December 23, 2021

HistoryQA - What were electric eels called before electricity?

Vox - How Alessandro Volta invented the battery and won over Napoleon

By Phil Edwards@PhilEdwardsIncphil.edwards@vox.com 

National Maglab - Voltaic Pile – 1800

Britannica - Leyden jar

electrical instrument

Actions

Written and fact-checked by 

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Article History

Britannica - Luigi Galvani

Italian physician and physicist

Actions

Written by 

Bern Dibner

Fact-checked by 

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Article History

Science Direct - On the Use of Boundary Integral Methods in Bioelectromagnetics

D. Poljak, in Numerical Methods and Advanced Simulation in Biomechanics and Biological Processes, 2018

National Library of Medicine - J Biomed Phys Eng. 2022 Aug; 12(4): 387–394. 

Published online 2022 Aug 1. doi: 10.31661/jbpe.v0i0.1268

PMCID: PMC9395628

PMID: 36059281

Effects of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields Emitted from Mobile Phones and Wi-Fi Router on the Growth Rate and Susceptibility of Enterococcus faecalis to Antibiotics

Seyed Mohammad Javad Mortazavi,1,2 Mohammad Taheri,3 Maryam Paknahad,4,5* and Salar Khandadash6

National Library of Medicine -

Bactericidal effects of low-intensity extremely high frequency electromagnetic field: an overview with phenomenon, mechanisms, targets and consequences

Heghine Torgomyan et al. Crit Rev Microbiol. 2013 Feb.

National Library of Medicine - Trends Microbiol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2012 Mar 1.

Published in final edited form as:

Trends Microbiol. 2011 Mar; 19(3): 105–113. 

Published online 2011 Jan 14. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2010.12.007

PMCID: PMC3057284

NIHMSID: NIHMS266083

PMID: 21239171

When microbial conversations get physical

Gemma Reguera

Science Direct - Chinese Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Volume 3, Issue 2, June 2021, Pages 95-102

Review

Electric Field: A Key Signal in Wound Healing

Author links open overlay panelNaixin JIA 1 #, Jinrui YANG 1 #, Jie LIU 1, Jiaping ZHANG 1

Britannica - magnetic dipole

physics

Actions

Also known as: electrostatic dipole

Written and fact-checked by 

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Article History

The Spin of an Up Quark

San José State University applet-magic.com

Thayer Watkins

Silicon Valley,

Tornado Alley

& the Gateway

to the Rockies

Britannica - asymptotic freedom

Science Photo Library - Credit

GREGOIRE CIRADE / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Medium - Exploring EMF ‘Electromagnetic Fields’ Toxicity Symptoms on the Human Brain

Science Direct - Electromagnetic Pollution

The rising electromagnetic pollution from electronic devices causes malfunctioning of neighboring sensitive devices and negative impact on human life.

From: Mxenes and their Composites, 2022

Better Health Channel - Electromagnetic fields (EMF) and health issues

Britannica - Coulomb's Law

[xtruss]

How Old Are The Egyptian Pyramids? And Why Did The Ancient Egyptians Build Pyramids In The First Place?

— By Owen Jarus | August 30th, 2023

The Pyramids of Giza, seen here with the Milky Way in the background, are not Egypt's oldest Pyramids. Image Credit: Getty Images

Pyramids are iconic symbols of the ancient pharaohs' power and technological prowess that still dominate the Egyptian skyline. But when were pyramids first built? And why were they constructed in the first place?

The first pyramid in Egypt was built by the pharaoh Djoser, who reigned nearly 4,700 years ago. More than a millennium later, ancient Egypt's last pyramid built for a pharaoh was constructed for Ahmose I around 3,500 years ago. After that, Egyptian rulers were buried in underground tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

Put another way, the ancient Egyptian pyramids were built between about roughly 2700 B.C. and 1500 B.C. This makes the earliest pyramids about the same age as Stonehenge, which was initially built between 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. But the pyramids are much older than other ancient structures, including the Parthenon (447 B.C.), the Great Wall of China (220 B.C.) and the Colosseum (A.D. 80). The Neolithic temple Gobekli Tepe in Turkey, however, is older from 11,000 to 12,000 years ago.

Egypt's First Pyramid

Djoser's pyramid is made up of six layers and was originally built as a type of rectangular tomb known today as a mastaba (an Arabic word meaning "bench") before being expanded into a step pyramid.

Ancient inscriptions indicate that a man named Imhotep directed the step pyramid's construction. "Imhotep is usually regarded as the first architect in Egypt to build in stone and is credited with the building of Djoser's step pyramid complex" Marc Van De Mieroop, a professor of history at Columbia University, told Live Science in an email. "There's an inscription with his name combined with that of Djoser in which he is called chief of sculptors. In later ancient Egypt he was considered a sage," Van De Mieroop added.

The Step Pyramid of Djoser is the oldest Pyramid in Egypt. Image Credit: Anton Petrus / Getty Images

Why Did The Egyptians Build Pyramids?

Researchers are still unsure exactly why pharaohs chose to use pyramids for their burials.

One reason may have been to provide added protection against tomb robbers. In earlier times robbers plundered pharaohs' low-rising mastaba tombs by burrowing in from the top, Egyptologist Reg Clark wrote in his book "Securing Eternity: Ancient Egyptian Tomb Protection from Prehistory to the Pyramids" (American University in Cairo Press, 2019). The step pyramid, with its six layers on top of each other, would have offered protection from this method, Clark wrote. "Many Egyptologists have suggested that the step pyramid formed a kind of 'stairway' for the king to ascend to the sky, but I suggest that [it was built] because it is the most efficient and economical way to create a virtual 'hemisphere' of protection over the underlying substructure," Clark told Live Science in an email.

Another important innovation was that stone was used to build the step pyramid, whereas the mastabas used by previous pharaoh were made of mudbrick; this was important as stone is harder to infiltrate, Clark noted.

Religious reasons may also have been an important factor. Miroslav Verner, a professor emeritus of Egyptology at Charles University in the Czech Republic, told Live Science in an email that "probably religious reasons were behind" the idea to build pyramids.

When Djoser came to power, the influence of the sun cult and the sun god Ra (also spelled Re) was increasing, Verner wrote in his book "The Pyramids: The Archaeology and History of Egypt's Iconic Monuments" (American University in Cairo Press, 2021). The sun cult's growing influence may have led to a desire to build structures that reached higher into the sky. Verner noted that a passage from a text dating back around 4,400 years said "may the sky make the sunlight strong for you, may you rise up to the sky as the Eye of Re" (Translation by Raymond Faulkner).

One question is whether a growing interest in the sun cult brought about the construction of the step pyramid, or whether the construction of the step pyramid brought about an increasing interest in the sun cult. "What came first, the egg or the chicken?" Massimiliano Nuzzolo, a researcher at the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, told Live Science in an email.

Nuzzolo thinks that interest in the solar cult grew after the construction of the step pyramid. "This incredible architectural enterprise may have also affected and somehow even pushed for a change in the religious ideology, eventually reflected on a major emphasis on the solar aspects of the kingship," Nuzzolo said.

The Bent Pyramid, built under ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Sneferu, is named for its unique angles. Image Credit: Getty Images

Built For A Millennium

Whatever the reasons for building pyramids, Egyptian pharaohs constructed them for more than a millennium. The pharaoh Sneferu (reign circa 2575 to 2551 B.C.) built the first true pyramids (pyramids with flat sides) at Dahshur. These consisted of the Bent Pyramid (so named because of its unusual angle) and the Red Pyramid (named after its color). The Great Pyramid at Giza, the only one of the seven ancient wonders of the world that still stands, was built by Khufu (reign circa 2551 to 2528 B.C.) while Khafre (reign circa 2520 to 2494 B.C.) built another large pyramid, along with the Great Sphinx, at Giza.

It's not clear why Egyptian pharaohs stopped building pyramids, but security concerns may have been part of it. Despite likely being harder to loot than mastabas, Egyptian pyramids were plundered in ancient times, and pharaohs may have hoped that building their tombs in the Valley of the Kings would make them harder to ransack. Additionally, the topography of the valley has a peak that today is called el-Qurn (sometimes spelled Gurn), which looks a bit like a natural pyramid.

[wynnd-citrus]

Boy’s night in: cuddles, popcorn, and movies hehe

This drawings actually my Instagram 20k DTIYS celebration, so everyone’s welcome to redraw it and I can share it on my IG story highlights :3

If you guys wanna check out all of the redraws for this DTIYS, go to #WCIDDTIYS20K on IG!! :D

[alienssstufff]

from that one convo they had in the 12 Hour Limited Life special

The sprites (updated their liml designs a lil)