Latin and the Emergence of the Space-Time Continuum

Last night I attended a layman-oriented talk by Paul Davies on quantum physics and the big bang. He mentioned that, for Einstein, time and space are not two distinct things that transcend the physical universe, but are part of it, and that they are incredibly closely linked to one another. Moreover, in some recent models of the beginning of the universe time and space were at first indistinguishable and one somehow turned into the other (if I was understanding correctly. Regarding this last point, I was happy to see today while looking in Allen and Greenough for something else that the Latin language preceded quantum physics by more than a couple of millennia!

The Ablative of Time is locative in its origin; the Accusative [of time] is the same as that of the extent of space. (AG 423, Note)

Backdating Chocolate

WASHINGTON - Residents of Central America were enjoying chocolate drinks more than 3,000 years ago, a half millennium earlier than previously thought, new research shows.

Archaeologists led by John Henderson of Cornell University studied the remains of pottery used in the lower Ulua Valley in northern Honduras about 1100 B.C.

Residue from the pots contained theobromine, which occurs only in the cacao plant, the source of chocolate, the researchers said in Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The find dates the first use of chocolate to some 500 years earlier than previously known, they said.

The style of the pottery indicates that cacao was served at important ceremonies to mark weddings and births, according to the authors.


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PNAS: http://www.pnas.org