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Codebreakers uncover letters by Mary, Queen of Scots
Codebreakers uncover letters by Mary, Queen of Scots
Plus: How tectonic shifts caused the Turkey-Syria earthquake.
Feb 13, 2023
This is history, people.
A team of international codebreakers has uncovered letters penned by Mary, Queen of Scots, while she was imprisoned by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I.
Including works of 57 letters dating from 1578 to 1584, the letters were primarily addressed to the French ambassador to England, Michel de Castelnau de Mauvissière. He supported Mary, a Catholic, who penned them while in the care of the Earl of Shrewsbury.
But before you take a look at those, cast your eye over this video. It shows how tectonic shifts caused the Turkey-Syria earthquake. Could early awareness have allowed authorities to prevent the estimated collapse of 6,000 buildings and the significant loss of life?
Good morning. This is Alice and Mert, editors at IE.
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VIDEO OF THE DAY
Is early prevention achievable?
MUST READ
A team of international codebreakers has uncovered letters penned by Mary, Queen of Scots, while she was imprisoned in England by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I.
This is exciting as the letters were assumed to be lost.
Pianist Satoshi Tomokiyo, music professor Norbert Biermann, and computer scientist and cryptographer George Lasry came across them while looking for encrypted documents in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) online archives.
After solving the sophisticated cipher system, they discovered Mary was the author.
Including works of 57 letters dating from 1578 to 1584, the letters were primarily addressed to the French ambassador to England, Michel de Castelnau de Mauvissière. He supported Mary, a Catholic, who penned them while in the care of the Earl of Shrewsbury.
→ The study's authors used both manual and computerized methods to decipher the letters, revealing the difficulties Mary had in keeping in touch with the outside world and how and by whom the letters were transported.
READ MORE
CULTURE
In a surprising turn of events, China has now reported sighting a mysterious object flying over its port city close to the Bohai Sea in the north and is preparing to shoot it down.
The report comes on the heels of the U.S. shooting down multiple high-altitude objects in the past week, having made public the first sighting earlier this month. The latest take-downs happened over the weekend, over Canada's Yukon Territory, while Beijing has accused Washington of waging "an information war.”
Fishermen have been told to "avoid risks" while being alert and also take pictures of the debris as evidence when spotted. If conditions are favorable, they could also engage in salvaging the debris.
READ MORE
SCIENCE
In the last ten years, biogas energy derived from animal waste has served as an additional income for dairy farmers. Methane digesters have become popular with automakers like BMW that use those offsets to charge their electric vehicles with more eco-friendly options. However, many claim these efforts are “greenwashing” as they generate the same environmental impact as fossil fuels.
The Union of Concerned Scientists had this to say about the dairy farmers’ efforts: “We recognize that the capture and productive use of waste biomethane generated by anaerobic digestion (AD) from manure lagoons is a useful mechanism to mitigate methane pollution and can also replace a small amount of fossil methane use in energy and industrial applications.”
READ MORE
INNOVATION
Saudi Arabia introduced its first-ever robot that can communicate in the local dialect, perform popular local dances, and respond to questions at a conference in Riyadh on Tuesday.
The interactive machine boasts a built-in camera that uses artificial intelligence to recognize when people are standing in front of it. It can then begin a conversation when a visitor addresses it with the sentence “Hello Sara.”
Sara has the ability to recognize different dialects from within the Kingdom. She can also analyze sentences and comprehend their content. This allows her to come up with relevant answers and, better yet, she even sends them in the form of text.
READ MORE
YESTERDAY'S RESULTS
Following the news that Neuralink is being probed for allegedly flouting biohazard rules, we asked on Saturday if you think Neuralink should take a step back after this investigation. 40 percent don’t think so, while 39 percent say yes, it should.
40%
I don’t think so
39%
Yes, it should
13%
I have no clue
8%
Nothing can stop Musk
MAIL & MUSINGS
Codebreakers uncover letters by Mary, Queen of Scots
Do you think technology will enable scientists to reveal more about mysteries in history?
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“In science, we must be interested in things, not in persons.”
Marie Curie, Polish-born French physicist.
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Prepared by Mert Erdemir and Alice Cooke
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