Countless numbers of lives have already been taken by the H5N1 virus and it's not going to stop unless something is done about the problem. The avian flu, more commonly known as the bird flu, is still continuing to infect people.

But an Italian group of scientists have found that something can be done by simply getting annual flu shots. If you want to know more about their study, just click the "read more" link below.

Archaeologists in Jerusalem have uncovered what seems to be the remains of a 2,000-year old mansion belonging to the royal clan that ruled Adiabene, a region in current day northern Iraq.

The remains of the building was found just outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, hidden under the asphalt of a small parking lot in the eastern part of the city. This discovery was by far the largest and most elaborate one discovered in the City of David area.

Second only to Rome during its time, Alexandria was one of the most beloved cities in the Hellenistic world. It was home to one of the seven wonders of the world, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, and also housed the largest library of the world.

A new discovery suggests that the great city was not built purely from the greatness of Alexander the Great but that it was built alongside an already thriving town.

Alexandria was built by the great conqueror Alexander who left for Egypt and never returned after the city's foundation. It was known before that there was a community living in the site where Alexandria was built before Alexander came, but it was thought only to be a small fishing village named Rhakotis.

An accidental discovery when the Geological Society of America drilled in the city's harbor provided evidence that human activity in the village couldn't have been limited to just a small fishing town. Study of sediments from the seabed using carbon dating revealed "significant metallurgy and human activity" going back to 700 years before Alexander came. This suggests that either Alexandria was built on the foundations of another, or that it simply absorbed Rhakotis.

There is no conclusive proof as of yet. Mohamed Abdel-Masqud of Egypt's Council of Antiquities, approaches the evidence cautiously saying "There are signs of a flourishing settlement going back to Pharaonic times, but it's too early to say anything about it. We are still working [on it]." The work on the site is still ongoing since 1994.

Scientists have just discovered what may be an ancient graveyard for Roman gladiators, according to a report being circulated by BBC. The grave was discovered in the ancient Roman city of Ephesus in Turkey, with scientists now analyzing the bones to gain insight into how these fighters fought, lived, and died. No evidence has been found on whether Maximus or Proximo were among those buried....much less Commodus.

This discovery was announced in conclusion to studies being conducted by pathologists Professor Karl Grossschmidt and Professor Fabian Kanz of the Medical University of Vienna. According to the pair, their five-year-long study has found 67 individuals, aged between 20 to 30, all with various healed wounds - one body even indicated signs of medical amputation.

The pair further suggested that the individuals were probably prized fighters - and that they had received extensive medical attention to ensure they stayed fighting fit (no pun intended).

Their study also uncovered indications of unhealed wounds on bones, which indicated some of the gladiators had either died, or were executed upon losing. Among the more recurring execution styles the researchers imagined was where a defeated fighter would kneel, while a sword was rammed through down his throat into the heart.

Another execution style found in the study noted three holes in the victim's skull, which implied a trident thrust. There were also signs of rectangular holes in other skulls, which matched the impressions made by a heavy hammer. As Kanz stated regarding these victims:

I assume that they must have been very severely injured gladiators, ones who had fought outstandingly and so had not been condemned to death by the public or by the organiser of the match, but who had no chance of surviving because of their injuries. It was basically the final blow, in order to release them.

On a more positive note, the scientists did find one gladiator among the batch who did NOT die from combat. "He lived quite a normal Roman lifespan," said Professor Kanz regarding the find. "And I think, most probably, he died of natural causes." It will be noted that gladiators who have served three years in the arena are allowed to go free. Those who achieve this often return to the arena as an instructor - this was apparently the case of the old fighter that Kanz mentioned earlier.

If you play Mortal Kombat or Tomb Raider, you've probably been there - at least on the XBox. But the place really exists.

Angkor Wat is one of the marvels of the world - a vast network of temples in the jungles of Cambodia, dating back eight hundred years. Initially, it was a Hindu religious center during the reign of King Suryavarman II in the 1100's of the Common Era. (To put this into context for global history buffs, this was during the reign of King Stephen in England - last descendant of William the Conqueror - as well as the decline of the Mayan empire in North America, the height of China's Song Dynasty, and was just prior to Nur ad-Din, who unified the Muslim Middle East into a cohesive empire.) It  became a Buddhist monastery about 300 years later. Neglected for about 500 years, it was never completely abandoned.

Today, it the national symbol of Cambodia. In fact, riots ensued in Phnom Penh in January of 2003 when a TV actress from Thailand claimed that the complex had been built by kings of Siam. In any event, it has appeared on Cambodia's flag since the 1860's, and in fact is the only building to appear on any national flag.

Angkor Wat has been undergoing some considerable restoration over the past forty years. You can see some of this architectural marvel in this detailed satellite photo from NASA that was published last week. Click on the image below to see the full-sized image (3000 px. square).

Photosynthesis is nature's way of converting light energy to chemical energy. Happening mostly with plants, the leaves are the primary site of the process of photosynthesis. Professor Max Crossley's molecular electronics group at the University of Sydney has tapped into this process, in the hopes that by mimicking aspects of natural photosynthesis, synthetic molecules in plants may one day form the basis of highly efficient solar cells.

Creating a synthetic form of chlorophyll that performs the first part of the process (that would be the conversion of light energy to electrical energy), Crossley and the team shaped it like a soccer ball, with a dendrimer scaffold, a highly-branched nanosized polymer made of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen. Attached to the dendrimer are synthetic versions of the light-harvesting pigment porphyrin. These synthetic molecules, arranged in a dense array, then act in concert to efficiently collect photons of light. Buckyballs, or spherical carbon molecules, then sit between the porphyrin and soak up electrons from the photons of collected light.

"There has to be a lot of them because if there was only one it would be a very inefficient process," says Crossley.

The team has recently presented its research at the International Conference on Porphyrins and Phtalocyanines in Rome. Meanwhile, Dr. Deanna D'Alessandro, team member and postdoctoral researcher, is one of 16 scientists who are set to present their research to the public for the first time under the Fresh Science initiative.