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Mysterious 500-year-old Voynich manuscript “has secret message”

A 15th-century manuscript described as “the world’s most mysterious” contains a secret message, according to a new computer analysis.

• Yahoo! News - A 15th-century manuscript described as “the world’s most mysterious” definitely does contain a secret message, according to a new computer analysis.


Article: Code of Mysterious Secret Society Cracked Centuries Later
LiveScience.com - Wed, Oct 26, 2011


Article: US, Swedish researchers crack 250-year-old cipher
Associated Press - Wed, Oct 26, 2011


A 15th-century manuscript described as “the world’s most mysterious” contains a secret message, according to a new computer analysis.

The Voynich Manuscript is written in an unknown language and script - and the 240-page vellum book has defied dozens of attempts to decipher it, even by top World War II codebreakers.

Carbon dating suggests that it was written in the second half of the fifteenth century, but the book first "surfaced" in the seventeenth century. It appears to be a guide to plants, but almost all the illustrations show non-existent species.

The manuscript is highly controversial, with many experts dismissing it as a hoax - but a new analysis of the text appears to have found “patterns” of meaning which would have been impossible to fake in the 15th century.

The new research has also found "keywords", some of which seem to match to the strange, hand-drawn illustrations that surround the text. It could aid new attempts to crack the code.

“The Voynich text has resisted all attempts to decipher it, even by top World War II cryptographers,” says Dr. Marcelo A. Montemurro of Manchester University. “However, the fact that it has been impossible to decode so far cannot be a proof that there is no message inside it.”

Other ciphers previously thought "unbreakable" have recently been cracked by computer technology - such as the Copiale Cipher, an 18th century German manuscript which was "broken" in 2011, revealing the secret rites of an occult society.

“For the past few years I have been studying the statistics of language - using methods from physics and information theory,” says Montemurro. “These methods allow the extraction of keywords (that is words that are closely relevant to the meaning of the text) even if the underlying language is unknown.”

Montemurro’s technique analysed the text at a large scale - looking for “clusters” of words as the text moved from one subject to another, rather than trying to understand the manuscript’s grammar.

“Over long spans of texts, words leave a statistical signature about their use,” says Montemurro. “When the topic shifts to a different one, other words are needed, and so on.”

Montemurro’s analysis found a range of “keywords” in the text - and found that the pattern of their use was similar to known languages. The researchers also found that clusters of keywords seemed to “match” the illustrations.

The knowledge required to put this level of detail into a hoax manuscript means it is less likely that a 15th century hoaxer could have

“It is not not an absolute impossibility that it is a hoax - but most if not all of these features were not known in the 15th century,” says Montemurro. “The hoax hypothesis is that it needs to explain all the levels of structure that are found in the text - and how they could naturally emerge from the hoaxing method.”


“I’m not a cryptographer, but I can see it as a step forward in the sense that now there are candidates among the text’s words to be those more closely connected with the meaning of the text,” says Montemurro. “There is still the question of what sort of method was used to encode the message and hide its message - making a connection between our analysis and a possible decoding mechanism will require more specialized research."

Solving the Voynich Manuscript: Prof. Gordon Rugg

http://youtu.be/YpzLhmH0UYs

Uploaded on 9 May 2010
An edited excerpt from the "Weird or What?" documentary, first aired May 2010 on the Discovery Channel. This excerpt describes an interpretation of the meaning of the Voynich Manuscript by Dr. Gordon Rugg, a professor of knowledge modelling at Keele University, Staffordshire U.K. Professor Rugg demonstrates how the Voynich, a classic problem that has fascinated linguists and encryption excerpts for centuries, could be a hoax. Details from the original producer, see http://dsc.discovery.com/

Voynich Manuscript : Mysterious book that contains many UNDECIPHERED secrets

http://youtu.be/EYOOALvp6-w


Uploaded on 23 Dec 2010
Voynich Manuscript

Named after the Polish-American antiquarian bookseller Wilfrid M. Voynich, who acquired it in 1912, the Voynich Manuscript is a detailed 240-page book written in a language or script that is completely unknown. Its pages are also filled with colorful drawings of strange diagrams, odd events and plants that do not seem to match any known species, adding to the intrigue of the document and the difficulty of deciphering it.

The original author of the manuscript remains unknown, but carbon dating has revealed that its pages were made sometime between 1404 and 1438. It has been called "the world's most mysterious manuscript."

Theories abound about the origin and nature of the manuscript. Some believe it was meant to be a pharmacopoeia, to address topics in medieval or early modern medicine. Many of the pictures of herbs and plants hint that it many have been some kind of textbook for an alchemist. The fact that many diagrams appear to be of astronomical origin, combined with the unidentifiable biological drawings, has even led some fanciful theorists to propose that the book may have an alien origin.

One thing most theorists agree on is that the book is unlikely to be a hoax, given the amount of time, money and detail that would have been required to make it.

Read more…

China island centenarians claim secret of long life
By Tom Hancock | AFP – Fri, Jul 12, 2013

AFP/AFP - An elderly man outside a tea house in Chengmai city, in China's southern Hainan province, on January 22, 2013. Chengmai claims more than 200 residents aged over 100 out of a population of 560,000


The elderly residents of one Chinese county have endured invasion, civil war and famine, and many live in unheated concrete shacks on only a few dollars a day. But they are apparently among the longest-lived people on earth.


Chengmai, a string of villages dotted with orange plantations in the tropical island province of Hainan, claims more than 200 residents aged over 100 out of a population of 560,000 -- one of the highest ratios in the world.


They are said to include at least three "supercentenarians" -- the name given to those aged over 110 -- out of fewer than 400 thought to exist worldwide.


Li Aizhu, whose government-issued residence permit says she was born in 1900, hobbles daily from her tiny concrete bedroom, where an electric fan beats back the intense heat, to watch quacking ducks waddle past her family farmhouse.


"Who are these people?" Li asked relatives when visitors arrived, a shock of white hair framing her wrinkled face.


She aimed the same question at government officials who arrived with a metal plaque declaring her to be a "longevity celebrity", her family said. It now hangs above a hard wooden bench in her simple living room, entitling her to a 500 yuan ($81) monthly payment, and free medical treatment.


Other clusters of longevity are said to include Cuba, islands off Greece and Japan, and a peninsula in Costa Rica, with researchers finding common characteristics including an emphasis on family, lifestyles requiring physical activity, and a plant-based diet.


As China was swept by dramatic changes -- from Japanese invasion, to the Communist victory in the civil war, and a transition from a planned economy to the market -- most Chengmai residents carried on doing what they had always done, growing crops.


"I've never done any exercise, except hard farmwork," said 86 year-old Wang Kailu, who lives in a simple concrete shack with his wife Wu Aihe. The couple said they married the day after Japan's World War Two surrender, 68 years ago.


Their one-storey dwelling is barely furnished and Wang draws water from a well to spread on his small vegetable plot.


Experts on ageing who have travelled to the area say several factors could be involved in the phenomenon.


Jennifer Holdaway, who runs the China Environment and Health Initiative of the US-based Social Science Research Council and visited Chengmai for a government-funded conference last year, pointed out that its economy was centred around agriculture.


"There is not a lot of industry, the climate is good, they can get exercise easily, and the diet is healthy; they have plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, and the soil is also naturally high in selenium", an essential nutrient, she said.


Locals, though, claimed a healthy reliance on alcohol was vital. Xu Yuhe, whose residency permit lists her as 104, told AFP that she takes daily shots of "Three Coconut Spring" a local grain spirit.


"I drink alcohol every evening, just a little bit, it helps you feel warm," added Sheng She, an 80-year-old who says she has 31 children and grandchildren.


Experts say an active social life is also a key to longevity, and each morning dozens of Chengmai's elderly pack out benches in a teahouse, with men at the back playing cards and women at the front, chatting and listening to clattering opera recordings.


"I come here every morning to exercise, watch opera and drink tea," said Sheng, before darting out to test her strength on a yellow-painted metal exercise machine.


A study commissioned by Chengmai's Communist Party committee put its residents' lifespans down to their being "diligent, simple-minded and magnanimous, mainly taking a vegetarian diet, eating sensibly, early to bed early to rise."


The county has coralled its centenarians into singing concerts and paraded them for the media as it seeks to promote itself as a centre of long life.


Property companies -- which have developed large swathes of Hainan in recent years -- also hope to cash in, with the island a hotspot for retirees from across China.


Soaring clumps of newly-built apartment blocks dot the county, with one named "Longevity City" trumpeting the ageing population in its advertising.


But while Chengmai has stepped up investment in elderly care -- AFP visited a newly built set of huts for housing those whose families cannot look after them -- facilities for the aged themselves remain basic.


Experts say longevity zones around the world are rarely in rich areas.


"If you're living in a climate like that you don't need very much to be comfortable: simple housing, a mosquito net, some rattan chairs and other people to hang out with," said Holdaway.


"It's a different matter if you live in the North where you have to spend a lot of time indoors and fresh food is expensive in the winter."


Li Aizhu, though, has a simpler explanation. "We asked her once," said the 113-year-old's great-granddaughter, Yi Mei. "She said its because she eats a lot of peanut oil, that's her secret."

An elderly man, Wang Kaiguo (R), gestures in Chengmai city, in China's southern Hainan …

Xu Yuhe, 104, in China's Chengmai city on January 22, 2013. Experts on ageing who …

This picture taken on January 22, 2013 shows an elderly man riding a bicycle along

Men play a game at a tea house in Chengmai city, in China's southern Hainan province

Read more…

China island centenarians claim secret of long life
By Tom Hancock | AFP – Fri, Jul 12, 2013

AFP/AFP - An elderly man outside a tea house in Chengmai city, in China's southern Hainan province, on January 22, 2013. Chengmai claims more than 200 residents aged over 100 out of a population of 560,000


The elderly residents of one Chinese county have endured invasion, civil war and famine, and many live in unheated concrete shacks on only a few dollars a day. But they are apparently among the longest-lived people on earth.


Chengmai, a string of villages dotted with orange plantations in the tropical island province of Hainan, claims more than 200 residents aged over 100 out of a population of 560,000 -- one of the highest ratios in the world.


They are said to include at least three "supercentenarians" -- the name given to those aged over 110 -- out of fewer than 400 thought to exist worldwide.


Li Aizhu, whose government-issued residence permit says she was born in 1900, hobbles daily from her tiny concrete bedroom, where an electric fan beats back the intense heat, to watch quacking ducks waddle past her family farmhouse.


"Who are these people?" Li asked relatives when visitors arrived, a shock of white hair framing her wrinkled face.


She aimed the same question at government officials who arrived with a metal plaque declaring her to be a "longevity celebrity", her family said. It now hangs above a hard wooden bench in her simple living room, entitling her to a 500 yuan ($81) monthly payment, and free medical treatment.


Other clusters of longevity are said to include Cuba, islands off Greece and Japan, and a peninsula in Costa Rica, with researchers finding common characteristics including an emphasis on family, lifestyles requiring physical activity, and a plant-based diet.


As China was swept by dramatic changes -- from Japanese invasion, to the Communist victory in the civil war, and a transition from a planned economy to the market -- most Chengmai residents carried on doing what they had always done, growing crops.


"I've never done any exercise, except hard farmwork," said 86 year-old Wang Kailu, who lives in a simple concrete shack with his wife Wu Aihe. The couple said they married the day after Japan's World War Two surrender, 68 years ago.


Their one-storey dwelling is barely furnished and Wang draws water from a well to spread on his small vegetable plot.


Experts on ageing who have travelled to the area say several factors could be involved in the phenomenon.


Jennifer Holdaway, who runs the China Environment and Health Initiative of the US-based Social Science Research Council and visited Chengmai for a government-funded conference last year, pointed out that its economy was centred around agriculture.


"There is not a lot of industry, the climate is good, they can get exercise easily, and the diet is healthy; they have plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, and the soil is also naturally high in selenium", an essential nutrient, she said.


Locals, though, claimed a healthy reliance on alcohol was vital. Xu Yuhe, whose residency permit lists her as 104, told AFP that she takes daily shots of "Three Coconut Spring" a local grain spirit.


"I drink alcohol every evening, just a little bit, it helps you feel warm," added Sheng She, an 80-year-old who says she has 31 children and grandchildren.


Experts say an active social life is also a key to longevity, and each morning dozens of Chengmai's elderly pack out benches in a teahouse, with men at the back playing cards and women at the front, chatting and listening to clattering opera recordings.


"I come here every morning to exercise, watch opera and drink tea," said Sheng, before darting out to test her strength on a yellow-painted metal exercise machine.


A study commissioned by Chengmai's Communist Party committee put its residents' lifespans down to their being "diligent, simple-minded and magnanimous, mainly taking a vegetarian diet, eating sensibly, early to bed early to rise."


The county has coralled its centenarians into singing concerts and paraded them for the media as it seeks to promote itself as a centre of long life.


Property companies -- which have developed large swathes of Hainan in recent years -- also hope to cash in, with the island a hotspot for retirees from across China.


Soaring clumps of newly-built apartment blocks dot the county, with one named "Longevity City" trumpeting the ageing population in its advertising.


But while Chengmai has stepped up investment in elderly care -- AFP visited a newly built set of huts for housing those whose families cannot look after them -- facilities for the aged themselves remain basic.


Experts say longevity zones around the world are rarely in rich areas.


"If you're living in a climate like that you don't need very much to be comfortable: simple housing, a mosquito net, some rattan chairs and other people to hang out with," said Holdaway.


"It's a different matter if you live in the North where you have to spend a lot of time indoors and fresh food is expensive in the winter."


Li Aizhu, though, has a simpler explanation. "We asked her once," said the 113-year-old's great-granddaughter, Yi Mei. "She said its because she eats a lot of peanut oil, that's her secret."

An elderly man, Wang Kaiguo (R), gestures in Chengmai city, in China's southern Hainan …

Xu Yuhe, 104, in China's Chengmai city on January 22, 2013. Experts on ageing who …

This picture taken on January 22, 2013 shows an elderly man riding a bicycle along

Men play a game at a tea house in Chengmai city, in China's southern Hainan province

Read more…

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