Native Americans Drank Beer Before the Arrival of the Europeans!
	We know that beer was first testified 5,000 years ago in the Old World, in the ancient Sumer (now southern Iraq) and Egypt. But the ancient Native Americans did not stay dry till the arrival of the Europeans. A new research, presented at the Materials Research Society meeting in Boston, revealed that Pueblo Indians brewed their own brand of corn beer before the contact with the Europeans. 800-year-old Pueblo potsherds from the US Sou ... [read more >>]
	03 January 2008, 03:56GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Maya: The "Apocalypto" Civilization
	There were three great civilizations in America before its discovery by the Europeans: Aztec, Inca and Maya; but Maya was by far the most advanced culturally and artistically. Maya civilization developed in the area where nowadays we have Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and southern Mexico, in a mountain area of tropical forests. The clime is rainy, the soil limy and not very proper for agriculture. During the rainy season, the area becom ... [read more >>]
	10 November 2007, 03:47GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

How to Make Tortilla
	Think on an invention that is a wrapping sheet, spoon, plate, and food, all at the same time, which can be eaten accompanying almost any other dish. This is the tortilla, a corn muffin and Mexico's base aliment. Corn is believed to have started being cultivated in Mexico thousands of years ago, and sustained great civilizations like Olmec, Maya, Teotihuacan and Aztec (Mexica). The tortilla is made by mixing a measure of corn grain ... [read more >>]
	06 November 2007, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Nitrogen Fertilizers Are Bad for The Soil
	For decades now, the United States used nitrogen-based fertilizers, believing that it would benefit the soil by building organic carbon into it; but a group of scientists studying the soil has recently found that nitrogen actually fertilizers deplete the carbon reserves from it. Scientist from the University of Illinois, became interested in the problem while reviewing corn growth, and the production rates, only to discover th ... [read more >>]
	30 October 2007, 10:39GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

What Did the Mayans Eat?
	They may have been fearsome warriors ripping out the heart of the enemies in complex rituals, but the ancient Maya ate tapioca (manioc starch) some 1,400 years ago. The finding was made at a Maya farm preserved in volcanic ash and explains how the large Mayan cities supported the population boom. "There's a good chance that this will change the way we look at how the Mayans fed themselves," said lead researcher Payson She ... [read more >>]
	21 August 2007, 05:57GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

A Laptop Made of Cornstarch
	The green fever that touched the entire computer hardware industry is extending to laptop cases as well as the Japanese hardware manufacturing Fujitsu designed a laptop case for its LifeBook family of portable computers that is as green as it gets. From household items that are environmentally friendly and biodegradable to biodegradable laptops casings and chassis there is one small step and Fujitsu decided to cover all its ba ... [read more >>]
	18 August 2007, 03:47GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

New Engineered Corn Produces Biofuel by Itself
	People consider ethanol (biofuel) as being a solution to replace gas as this has reached high prices (up to $3-a-gallon) and the oil resources are finishing, being forecast to drop significantly in 30 years, not mentioning that most petroleum-rich nations are unreliable, non-democratic and unstable nations. Ethanol is currently made of corn grains, but this result is still costly; using the plant's inedible parts (biomass) would mak ... [read more >>]
	23 May 2007, 11:19GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia