Mystery of Ancient Calculator Finally Cracked

jcaruso writes, "It's been more than 100 years since the discovery of the 2,000-year-old Antikythera Mechanism, but researchers are only now figuring out how it works." From the article: "Since its discovery in 1902, the Antikythera Mechanism — with its intricate and baffling system of about 30 geared wheels — has been an enigma... During the last 50 years, researchers have identified various astronomical and calendar functions, including gears that mimic the movement of the sun and moon. But it has taken some of the most advanced technology of the 21st century to decipher during the past year the most advanced technology of the 1st century B.C."

Comments

slownewsday

[Toby The Economist]

Absolutely nothing new in this article, except that the latest team are going to be releasing their findings soon. Basically, it's a page filler, some entertainment, not news at all.

Really, we need a new word, for news which isn't functional information, but just amusing/entertaining.

I wish they'd bloody well get round to publishing the full translation of the text, though!

Re:The question on everyones lips...

[LiquidCoooled]

What I find amazing about scientists is their dedication to discover and understand the past.

If the big business (Sony/MS/Real *and* Apple) get their way all these little plastic discs and memory stones will just be pretty ornaments to our descendants.
There will be no way to decode the data stored within.

We will become a black hole in history (no goatse refs).