Tut Mummy on Public Display for First Time

Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass (center) supervises the removal of the mummy of King Tutankhamun from his stone sarcophagus on November 4, 2007.

The mummy was moved to a high-tech glass display case in the tomb's antechamber, the first time the famed boy king has ever been on public display.

Photograph by AP Photo/Ben Curtis, Pool

The mummy of King Tutankhamun today went on public display for the first time—85 years to the day since his tomb was discovered in Egypt's famed Valley of the Kings.

Until now the boy pharaoh's remains had rested in his sarcophagus in the burial chamber of the tomb, which lies just north of the city of Luxor.

But on Sunday morning the remains—settled inside a wooden box—were carefully transferred to a high-tech glass display case about 30 feet (9 meters) away in the tomb's antechamber.

The valley was frenzied with TV camera crews, photographers, and journalists, who converged below the gravelly sun-drenched hills near the tomb.

The atmosphere seemed fit for a modern-day movie star, underscoring the enduring celebrity of a king who died more than 3,000 years ago.

The move will help preserve Tutankhamun's mummy, which experts say has been deteriorating rapidly because of exposure to heat and humidity.

The new display is also expected to increase visits to the tomb from about 350 to 900 tourists a day, generating funds for the protection of Egyptian antiquities.

"I can say for the first time that the mummy is safe, the mummy is well preserved, and also at the same time, all the tourists who will enter this tomb tomorrow morning will be able to see the face of Tutankhamun for the first time," said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities and a National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence.

(National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.)

8-Foot Giant Catfish caught in Cambodia

Captured just before midnight on November 13 by fishermen in Cambodia, the Mekong giant catfish was 8 feet long (2.4 meters long) ands weighs 450 pounds (204 kilograms).

"This is the only giant catfish that was so far this year, making it the worst year on record for catching fish species giants," said Zeb Hogan (right), a fisheries biologist at the University Reno in Nevada.

After collecting data on fish, Hogan released unharmed.

Siluro giant once were abundant throughout Southeast Asia, the Mekong River Basin, including the Tonle Sap River-home of the fish in these exclusive pictures taken near Phnom Penh.

But in the last century, the giant Mekong catfish population has declined by 95 to 99 percent, scientists say. Only a few hundred adult giant catfish can stay.

Since 2000 five to ten fish have been caught accidentally every year across the Mekong area.

Earlier this year, Hogan launched the three-year period Megafishes Draft paper by world giant freshwater fishes (See photos of other giant fish.)

Satellite captures Earth 'rising' and 'setting'

Series of five images of the Earth 'setting' as seen from the Moon - taken by the Kaguya probe.

A Japanese satellite has captured the first high definition images of the Earth from the moon.

Footage taken from 62 miles above the lunar surface shows the most-detailed yet pictures of an "Earth-rise" and "Earth-set" above the moon's horizon.

Still photographs from the sequences show our planet in brilliant blue with Antarctica at the top, Australia in light brown on the left and the Middle East in the lower right section.

The images were taken last week using a high definition (HD) television camera, developed specially for use in space by the Japanese national broadcaster NHK.

This was mounted on Kaguya, a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) probe which is carrying out the most extensive investigation of the moon since the Nasa Apollo missions.

Earth-rises and earth-sets can only be seen from satellites travelling in orbit around the moon as our planet is always seen in the same position from the lunar surface.

The Kaguya probe, named after a princess in a Japanese fairytale, was around 240,000 miles from Earth when it captured the footage.

The first ever image of the Earth was taken in 1959 by the US satellite Explorer VI while it was passing over the Pacific Ocean.

Kaguya, which launched in mid-September, will produce high resolution surface and gravity maps, observe lunar magnetic fields and search for water ice during its one-year mission.

Japan has been expanding its space operations, and has set a goal of sending an astronaut to the moon by 2020.


The onboard high definition camera of the moon explorer "KAGUYA," which is under initial functional verification, successfully acquired the world's first high definition images of an "Earth-rise" and "Earth-set." It was also the world's first HD images of the Earth from about 380,000 km away in space.

Indian man marries dog to beat 'curse'

An Indian farmer has married his dog in a bid to overcome what he believes is a curse caused by him having stoned to death two mating dogs in his rice field, press reports said.

Doctors were clueless, but an astrologer finally told him he was cursed by the spirits of the dogs he had killed. He could undo the curse only if he married a dog and live with it, the soothsayer said.

After a long search for a 'suitable bride', Selvakumar managed to get a four-year-old mongrel bitch from a friend and had a fully-fledged Hindu wedding in front of villagers and elders on Sunday, eyewitnesses said.

The canine bride, named Selvi, was adorned in a sari and flowers and brought to the temple by village women. A Hindu priest conducted the ceremony.

The reports, however, said Selvi the dog attempted to make a run for it -- apparently due to the large crowds -- but was eventually tracked down and returned to her new 'husband'.

"The dog is only for lifting the curse and after that, he plans to get a real bride," a friend of the groom said.