TOPIC OF THIS ISSUE
PYRAMIDS - SECRETS,
AND DISCOVERIES

Houses for eternal life

The word pyramid refers to a pyramidal geometric shape, a shape with four triangular sides, but probably many of us don't think of a geometric figure, but of ancient Egyptian buildings intended for the afterlife of pharaohs. And if the Egyptian ones are the most famous, many structures in the form of pyramids were, at different times, built in many other countries - in Sudan, Ethiopia, Western Asia, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, India, Thailand, Mexico, South America, and some islands the Pacific Ocean. There are also pyramidal forms that scientists claim was created naturally, i.e., they have created thanks to the geological structures that gave the mountains the appearance of a regular pyramid. Others present evidence that they were created because of human work. Such are, for example, the Rtanjska pyramid and the Bosnian pyramids. Regardless of the way they were created, because of their unique shape, they are all associated with various stories, myths, and legends, and there are also interpretations that they are the work of aliens. With their size and the way they were built, they amaze and cause wonder not only for ordinary people but also for scientists of various profiles who study them with the aim of researching them, describing them, and learning as much as possible about the history of ancient peoples. Although built with the intention of lasting forever, many of these magnificent buildings have been destroyed over time or buried and covered with vegetation. Today they are known as exceptional tourist attractions.

NIKOLA TESLA

The beginnings of the electrification
of Serbia

Two friends, almost peers, one Serbian from Lika and the other from Negotinska Krajina, lived far from each other, working in the same field of electrification, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), a brilliant scientist and inventor, lived and created in America, in an environment that allowed him to successfully work on experimental research and create incredible inventions in a wide variety of fields. Đorđe Stanojević (1858-1921), a physicist, lived in Belgrade and created modern industry in Serbia, fully understanding the importance of the use of electricity for its development. Although they met only once, during Tesla's visit to Belgrade in 1892, these two exceptional creators contributed, each in their own way, to the beginnings of electrification in Serbia, which, thanks to their work, became one of the first countries in Europe with modern hydroelectric power plants based on Tesla. the polyphase alternating current system.
 

SPACE

The challenge of Earth's rich environment

For the last ten years, private companies have been seriously considering the possibility of commercial exploitation of asteroid resources, primarily those closer to Earth, the so-called. Near-Earth Objects, but eventually more distant ones, such as asteroids from the Asteroid Belt. This means the extraction of valuable metals needed for high technology, as well as many other resources, such as water or phosphorus, necessary for the sustainable functioning of human settlements in space.
Like other futuristic technologies, such endeavors first appeared in works of science fiction. In such depictions, humanity colonizes the Moon and Mars and, in the process of further expansion through the Solar System, develops an infrastructure network of space stations, natural satellite bases, and tugboats that enable the use of valuable resources - for further construction of space settlements and for sending back to Earth. Special attention is always given to the dense belt of asteroids located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, a kind of boundary between the inner and outer planets. Although such a future still seems far away, steps are being taken towards its realization.

MEDICINE

Anemia as a global health problem

One of the most common hematological disorders, anemia, affects more than two billion people worldwide. Dr. Marija Pantelić, internist and hematology subspecialist at the Acibadem Bel Medic General Hospital, points to WHO data that, globally, even a third of all women of reproductive age are anemic, and that anemia especially affects pregnant women and small children.
Weakness, fatigue, drowsiness, lack of concentration, headache, palpitations or skipping of the heart, suffocation, chest pains... These complaints can be signs of neurological or cardiovascular health problems, but they can also indicate a lack of oxygen in the body - as symptoms of anemia, one of the most common hematological disorders. Moreover, anemia is so widespread in the population that it has been designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a global health problem, and is the subject of a WHO action plan to significantly reduce it by 2025.

MEDICINE

Arthroscopic shoulder surgery

The shoulder joint is not exposed to the loads that the hip and knee joints usually suffer, but in throwing and other sports that overload the shoulder, this joint is also subject to relatively frequent injuries. About the therapy that allows even professional athletes to return to the field after an injury and continue their career, speaks Dr. sc. med Ivica Medenica, a specialist in orthopedics at Acibadem Bel Medic in Belgrade.
Does shoulder pain prevent you from lifting a lighter object onto a shelf above your head, even though you can carry a much heavier load with the same arm? Can't brush your hair like usual or reach your wallet out of your back pocket? Have trouble buttoning your bra? Do you no longer use the computer mouse as usual without feeling pain? These are just some of the problems in the field of shoulder pathology - the joint that has the largest range of motion among all the joints of the human body, but is precise because of this the most unstable, and is prone to dislocations and other injuries.
As a minimally invasive alternative to standard open surgical techniques, arthroscopy is, along with joint replacement surgery, one of the greatest innovations in orthopedic surgery of the 20th century. It is an endoscopic method that "looks inside the joint" (from the Greek: atheros - joint, and skopia - looking), and which was initially used only for diagnostic purposes, but today it is primarily used therapeutically, in the treatment of a wide range of injuries and various degenerative diseases. joint diseases.
 

TECHNOLOGIES

"Visaris" steps into the future

At the European Congress of Radiologists, which was held in Vienna in mid-July, "Visaris" from Belgrade presented new unique features of dynamic imaging technology. In connection with this is the beginnings of medical robotics at the "Mihajlo Pupin" Institute in Belgrade and the improved radiology of today, developed by this company.
In 1963, professors of the Belgrade Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Rajko Tomović and Miodrag Rakić, began their pioneering work on the creation of an artificial hand, in an attempt to create the first robot in this area. That same year, at the "Mihajlo Pupin" Institute, they constructed a model of the first prosthetic robotic hand with an external power supply. The hand had five fingers, micro-electrical control, and sensory feedback, and could grasp objects with flexed and extended fingers. The "Belgrade hand" influenced the development of similar prostheses, although it was never used as an orthopedic aid or in clinical conditions. The work on the robotic arm intensified further activities in the field of robotics at the "Mihajlo Pupin" Institute, where the first Robotics Laboratory in Southeast Europe was founded in 1967. The "Belgrade Fist" is kept today in the Museum of Science and Technology in Belgrade.

ARCHAEOLOGY

Home of the Neanderthals under Bukulja

Risovaca Cave is located at the eastern entrance to Aranđelovac, from the direction of Topola, on the steep valley side of Kubršnica, in an old quarry. The entrance to the cave is located 16 m above the bed of Kubršnica, at an altitude of 230 m above sea level. Although it is believed that the cave was known even before the beginning of the quarry work (only two narrow entrances to the low and short underground room were known), it can be said that it was discovered only in 1950 during the work on stone exploitation. The exploitation of the stone destroyed the entrance part of the cave a length of about 20 m where, probably, the richest cultural layer was located.
The first archaeological investigations of the cave sediments, after its discovery, began in 1953 under the leadership of Branko Gavela, a professor at the University of Belgrade, and continued intermittently until 1977. With these investigations, as well as with the excavation of the cave under Jerena hill, systematic studies of the Paleolithic (oldest stone age) in Serbia begin. During archaeological research, about 30 m of the entrance channel was excavated. In the cave deposits, in addition to numerous bones of fossil mammals, artifacts of cave people - Paleolithic hunters - were found. The fauna of the main fossil-bearing layer corresponds in age to the younger Pleistocene, and species indicative of the cold climatic conditions of the Ice Age are mostly absent within its framework, which indicates that the climate during their habitation was somewhat warmer - interstadial.