A story about satellites caught my attention this week, but it was not, in fact, the one about the Pentagon shooting down a disabled spy satellite. Instead, it was a piece by Brendan Kolbay in Reuters's science news. Apparently, archaeologists have teamed up with NASA and used images from one of its satellites to discover ancient Mayan ruins.

Archeaologist William Saturno, Assistant Professor of Archaeology at Boston University, sought out satellite images in order to find water near his work site in Guatemala. While examining the satellite images, he noticed that they showed discoloration around the ruins at his work site. He also saw similar discoloration on other areas of the images. Upon investigation of those areas, Saturno found additional Mayan ruins, long covered by jungle. The discoloration denoted differences in vegetation, the result of soil changes caused by leachate from the limestone structures hidden in the jungle.

Saturno was an assistant professor of anthropology at UNH for some time. More information about his research in Guatemala is available at www.sanbartolo.org.

But what's the library connection, you say? Well, librarians like nothing better than to help people feed an interest in information, whether it's archaeology, politics, or abstract Canadian art. What better way to find out more about Saturno's fascinating discovery than to look up magazine and journal articles about his work? You can find some in the EBSCO database, available through the library's web site.

Who knows what else you'll discover?