If you would like to learn more about the IAEA’s work sign up for our weekly updates containing our most important news Gamma radiation was used to eradicate the insects that were destroying  the iconostasis in the 19th century Holy Voivode of Michael and Gabriel Church in Izvoarele village local artisans worked to restore this precious piece of art to its full glory Socolov/Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering) Preserving art and cultural heritage is a shared ambition of the global community The past plays an important role in understanding a people's way of life which is why Father Ioan from an Orthodox church in the village of Izvoarele on the southern slopes of the Carpathian mountains in Romania was desperate to save the revered 19th century assembly of icons of his parish Faced with a dreadful situation when he noticed insects inside his church Father Ioan turned for help to a very unlikely source — radiation treatment — to prevent any further parasite attacks Woodworms were nibbling away at the sacred work of art in this old church in the picturesque hamlet of 800 homes I started to inject chemical solutions in the insect holes the injection solution did not penetrate deep to the source of the worm attack and there was no effect That is why I considered a better solution," said Father Ioan He took the insect-infested iconostasis to the IRASM Radiation Processing Centre in Bucharest with no phone call in advance," said Valentin Moise which is part of the Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering The traditional approach to eradicate insects is to inject poison either in the form of a gas or liquid into each hole created by the insect and seal it with wax The poison should reach the area in which the insect subsists and multiplies; however the insects are often not fully eradicated Chemical treatment is a long and expensive process that also exposes people to hazardous fumes radiation treatment requires a shorter treatment time is inexpensive and completely eliminates the insects A degraded insect infested wooden iconostasis in the 20th century Spring of Healing Church was irradiated using gamma radiation prior to local art restorers undertaking repair work Ponta/Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering) Romania is among the 18 IAEA Member States that have received support to enhance irradiation and analytical techniques in Europe through IAEA projects The support has triggered a significant increase in the number and types of cultural heritage artefacts analysed and treated a radiation processing specialist in the IAEA Procedures ranged from the disinfection of wooden churches and ancient books to the characterization of jewellery Cooperation in the characterization and preservation of artefacts through the use of nuclear science and technology is an important goal of the IAEA's cultural heritage preservation projects To preserve its historical antiquities, Romanian scientists regularly use gamma rays to treat artefacts. Stored in a six metre deep water pool at the IRASM Radiation Processing Centre in Bucharest, the source of powerful gamma rays, when activated, can kill bacteria, insects and fungi (see Gamma radiation protects cultural artefacts) Gamma radiation works wonders to conserve artefacts by destroying the "biological aggressors," explained Moise Radiation is being increasingly used for preservation "Protecting our cultural heritage goes back to 30 years ago when there were no large scale irradiation facilities in Romania," said Moise "We have through this technology been able to disinfest a number of ancient items from 500 year old religious books infested with fungi to the precious icons of the Izvoarele Orthodox Church." investigations are carried out on these delicate pieces of history that determine the extent and kind of contamination the chemical solutions used in previous restoration efforts as well as the exact radiation dose required "One of the biggest problems we have had was to convince the art world that radiation will not destroy artefacts as the technology used is harmless There is confusion when they hear the word radiation," said Moise  "It doesn't damage the precious artefacts; they don't become radioactive clothes and musical instruments have also been successfully treated using gamma radiation IRASM experts treated the entire collection of the Theodor Aman Museum in Bucharest which had to be closed in 2004 due to damp conditions that resulted in fungi and other biological contamination of its ancient objects "Many artefacts are made from natural organic materials becoming food for insects and microorganisms," said Corneliu Ponta the former Head of the IRASM Radiation Processing Centre who played a key role in the Centre's work in using gamma irradiation to decontaminate the artefacts of the Theodor Aman Museum A damaged wooden icon that belonged to a collection of 33 wooden icons that was sent for irradiation treatment to IRASM Radiation Processing Centre from the Moldova National Museum Complex refers to electromagnetic radiation of an extremely high frequency an elementary particle with wave-like properties Gamma rays are a type of ionizing radiation At the dose levels used to protect cultural artefacts this type of ionizing radiation inhibits reproduction of microbes at room temperature without any physical contact and thus offers a better alternative to conventional decontamination methods that are based on heat or chemical treatment high energy electromagnetic waves interact with the critical components of cells they can alter the DNA so as to inhibit the reproduction of cells The treatment of cultural artefacts by irradiation technology is similar to that used in the sterilization of medical devices The cultural heritage artefacts are exposed to gamma radiation from a cobalt-60 source in the radiation facility Mounds onMars that could be from ancient hot springs are described in a new study aftersetting the astrobiology community abuzz last spring harbor whatscientists figure are the closest relatives to the original organisms thatlived on our planet Finding these features on Mars (or any other planet) couldhave big implications for the questionof extraterrestrial life Mars hasmany features that suggest the planet was once warmer and wetter would make great places to lookfor signs of past life imaged on the edge of the Arabia Terra region by NASA's MarsReconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE),have "proved to be a very close match" to hydrothermal springs onEarth Thefindings, announced today, are detailed in the new issue of the journal Astrobiology,and were presentedlast April The shapesof the mounds and the channels that flow away from them are similar to thoseseen in the hot spring areas of Yellowstone Allen told SPACE.com today.They are situated in a deep crater with steep slope and could have been fed byunderground water sources on ancient Mars which is thought to have beenconsiderably wetter than its present-day incarnation can't confirm forsure the features' provenance because they don't know what they're made of "Thething that we don't have is compositional data," Allen said The areasaround hot springs on Earth have particular mineral make-ups and findingsimilar signatures on Mars would likely clinch the finding MRO's CRISMinstrument could detect this signature except for one problem: Mars' ubiquitouslayer of dust "There'sjust enough dust to obscure the spectral features," Allen said "Sowe are stymied as far as getting compositions on these particularfeatures." But ifsimilar mounds could be found in less dust-covered areas spectra could betaken and the long-standing question of whether Mars once harbored hot springs (and by extension "Peoplehave been looking for evidence of spring on Mars for an awfully longtime," Allen said Spectralfeatures that could have been produced by hot springs have been found on Mars,such as by the Spirit rover in the Columbia Hills but no obvious correspondingsources have been found Allen hopesthat the features he and Oehler found will serve as "a template" forothers to search images of Mars He and Oehler conducted such a search ofthousands of images this summer They seem"to be a fairly rare phenomena," Allen said Though there is thepossibility that they once covered the surface but were subsequently coveredup or destroyed by erosion and volcanism Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. she was a senior writer covering climate science at Climate Central and a reporter and editor at Live Science where she primarily covered Earth science and the environment She holds a graduate degree in science health and environmental reporting from New York University as well as a bachelor of science and and masters of science in atmospheric chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology James Webb Space Telescope captures thousands of galaxies in a cosmic 'feast' (image) Astronomers gaze into 'dark nebula' 60 times the size of the solar system (video) A whole 'population' of minimoons may be lurking near Earth It has become a tradition for the Metropolitan of Mytiline as well as for other officials from Lesvos to visit Romania and meet with members of the Greek community in Tulcea every year the Metropolitan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the church of St Demetrios the Myrrh-gusher in Izvoarele Metropolitan Iakovos visited the diocesan centre in Tulcea where he met with the local bishop Visarion The Vatican announced on Monday that all telephone communication within its territory will be suspended during the upcoming conclave.. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew delivered the keynote address at the International Scientific Conference “Restarting from Nicaea:.. The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate approved on October 4th the canonization of Eldress Sophia Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew traveled by air to Antalya the Patriarchate of Jerusalem solemnly celebrated the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women... 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