Appearing in the middle two hours, British scholar and author David Elkington spoke about the extraordinary discovery of 70 ancient metal religious books that could alter the world's view of biblical history (related article). Elkington, who was privileged to examine the lead tablets in person, said the books contain images and a form of paleo-Hebrew writing, measure about three to four inches across, many are sealed, and almost all appear to be authentic. "If they are forgeries, what are they forgeries of, because you don't forge something that's unique," he noted. Laboratory metallurgical tests confirmed they are of ancient provenance, he continued, adding that the book form of the metal documents points to an early Christian origin.

According to Elkington, these books are a major find for Christianity, as they appear to confirm the story of Jesus presented in the New Testament gospel accounts. The metal pages include iconography of 7-branched Jewish menorahs, fruiting palm trees, and eight-pointed stars, which are indicative of Messianic descriptions in the Bible, he explained. One book depicts a first century topographic map of Jerusalem, complete with a crucifix just beyond the city walls and a tomb, presumably belonging to Christ, he noted. Another tablet portrays images inspired by Palm Sunday, he added. A cursory analysis of the books seems to indicate that Jesus did exist and this is the first ever hard evidence for it, Elkington declared. He also briefly commented on the connection of this finding with the sealed books of Revelation.

Science of Source Code

In the first hour, scientist Dr. Charles Higgins, who is on a quest to build intelligent machines with help from insects, revealed the science behind the new sci-fi movie Source Code. In the film, the consciousness of a military operative, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is projected into the 'body' of one of the victims of a commuter train bombing in order to discover the identity of the bomber. According to Higgins, current neuroscience technology is a long way from understanding the nature consciousness, and at a fairly primitive state interfacing with brains. "We would be extremely lucky with something even in maybe 10 or 20 years to be able to stimulate just the visual areas of the brain," he said. Higgins also noted the difficult ethical issues involved in developing human brain implants and consciousness transfer technology.

The final hour of the program featured Open Lines.

Video: 'Re: Your Brains'

Ian Punnett shares this YouTube video for the song "Re: Your Brains" by Jonathan Coulton. It was done by Bill Stiteler of Moontalk Productions. Warning: video contains graphic comic violence.

Robotic Hacky Sack

In what could be the coolest display of useless technology, scientists have constructed hovering platforms, called quadrators, that can keep a ball in the air by bouncing it back and forth in a game of robotic hacky sack. The quadrators use four rotors to fly and maneuver, and are controlled by computers via overhead motion capture systems. More info, including video, at Mail Online.

Bumper Music

Bumper music from Saturday April 02, 2011