This was going to be a blog about my experiences working as an Assistant Editor at Nature Protocols.
A friend of mine sent me this link last night:
Archaeologists unveil finds in Rome digs
It seems that every time they try to build a third underground line in Rome they discover something irreplacable – this time a 6th century copper factory tops the list.
Perhaps they should (just!) start moving the modern Rome “somewhere else” and let the archeologists and tourists go wild.
...................
Coming from a country where mining is a “big deal” and where a fair proporition of people with chemistry degrees or technical dimplomas ended up getting jobs related to the mining industry, we actually got taught about it. Unfortunately the only thing that I can remember right now is why pig-iron is called pig-iron. From the Wikipedia entry it seems that the Chinese have been using this process from before 250 BC.
Oh, and there was something about pink and blue solutions of cobalt… conversion between oxidation states must be part of the process of extracting and purifying it…
Last updated: Monday, 10 Mar 2008 - 08:25 GMT
© 2008 Nature Publishing Group
Hi Bronwen,
yup, this is and has always been a huge problem in the Eternal city.
Athens adopted an interesting strategy as it renovated for the 2004 summer Olympics. They new that by building their new subways they would have destroyed something, but went on anyway, and opted for saving some ruins at the sites of the subway stations. Passengers would therefore co-habit with the ruins as they waited for their subway trains. The article you linked to also mentions “Encasing within the subway structures”.
I don’t really know whether this could work in Rome. There is just so much stuff down there, and may be not enough pressure to get things done.
Moving Rome somewhere else? I don’t think so. Much that moving around town causes distress, who would want to get out of this magnificent place. Come to see it for yourself!
Thanks for your insights Massimo, it must be amazing to actually live in Rome.
My suggestion of moving Rome somewhere else was kind of a joke…
Though in retrospect it probably required a tone of voice and a facial expression to pull it off.