Scientists Search for the Lost City of Atlantis
25 April 2011
A map from the late 1600's shows Atlantis in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean
FAITH LAPIDUS: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus
BOB DOUGHTY: And I’m Bob Doughty. Today, we tell about efforts to find the lost city of Atlantis. We tell about new evidence that human beings began to influence Earth’s climate eight thousand years ago. And we tell about a robotic vehicle designed to explore the planet Mars.
(MUSIC)
FAITH LAPIDUS: Is one of the world’s greatest mysteries about to be solved? For years, many people have wondered if a place called Atlantis was real. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato first wrote about Atlantis long ago. If it did exist, where was it?
About two thousand five hundred years ago, Plato wrote about an island near the Pillars of Hercules. He said it was home to great leaders who had unusual powers. They had many ships and were very scientifically developed. He said their land was as big as Libya and Asia together. And then, in one day and one night, a great earthquake caused Atlantis to sink into the ocean, never to be seen again.
Today, scientists know that the Pillars of Hercules was also called the Straits of Gibraltar. It is a narrow waterway that separates southern Spain from North Africa. Two years ago, an American-led team of researchers began searching for Atlantis in this general area. They started with a satellite picture of what looked like an underwater city near Cadiz, Spain. Then they used a special kind of radar to help them see under the ocean floor.
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