Beyond The Bricks (Week of February 21)

Seas Are Rising at Fastest Rate in Last 28 Centuries

Emissions of greenhouse gases such as the burning of fossil fuels have been causing the ocean to rise faster since the founding of ancient Rome, according to the New York Times. Without human interruption with these emissions, the ocean surface would be rising less dramatically and possibly could fall. As a result, flooding becomes more common making coastline cities harder to live in.

“We need a new way to think about most coastal flooding," says Benjamin H. Strauss, a researcher studying the rising sea levels. "It's not the tide, its not the wind – it’s us.” The rise in the sea level has been increasing to a rate of about a foot per century and with this continuous rise, erosion is starting to cause damage worldwide.

In terms of how long it would take for the sea to even reach five feet or more, the answer is still vague. While it would take a while for the sea to rise, the melting of Greenland and Antarctica pushes it to rise more.

North Korea Offered, Then Rebuffed Talks with U.S. 

In the fall of 2015, North Korea reached out quietly to U.S. officials through the United Nations to propose peace talks on ending the Korean War. “President Barack Obama’s comment was that the U.S. was willing to engage Pyongyang as it has with other rogue regimes,” CNN stated. 

The effort didn’t last, however, as North Korea refused to include this nuclear program in any negotiations. As much as the effort failed, it did represent a new step from the Obama administration as they tried to lure out North Korea from being a hermit country and extend its record of successful negotiations with other nations such as Iran and Cuba. 

As much as the U.S. is happy to discuss peace negotiations, North Korea refuses to allow nuclear issues to be a part of the talk, causing a halt in the progress. “They [North Korea] periodically raise the idea and it never really gets far,” mentioned State Department spokesman John Kirby. As soon as relations begin to improve, the U.S. appears to be more than willing to have a serious conversation about denuclearization. The issue is when.

3,000 Year-Old Finger Prints Found on Ancient Egyptian Coffin Lid

Researchers at Cambridge Fitzwilliam Museum in the U.K. have found 3,000 year-old fingerprints on the lid of an Egyptian coffin. The discovery was made in 2005 but was only publicized recently. 

According to CNN, the museum stated that the finding “brings us closer to the people who made the coffins.” The coffins date back to 1,000 B.C. and went under extensive examinations which revealed information about how the coffins were made roughly 3,000 years ago.

"The inner coffin box is made up of a multitude of pieces of wood, including sections from at least one older coffin," mentioned Julie Dawson, the Museum's Head of Conservation. This is evident with visible re-use that includes cuts across dowel holes and patching to change the profile of the coffin sides. Wood was a precious commodity in ancient Egypt and its craftsmen were skilled at making these complex objects.

The set of coffins will be on display at “Death on the Nile,” a new exhibition starting Feb. 23, which focuses on how Egyptian Coffin designs have evolved over 4,000 years.