Britain’s top code-breakers say they are stumped by a secret code found on the leg of a dead pigeon.
The remains of the bird were found in a chimney in Surrey with a message from World War II attached.
Experts at the intelligence agency GCHQ have been struggling to decipher the message since they were provided with it.
Photo: AFP
照片:法新社
The message was discovered by David Martin when he was renovating the chimney of his house in Surrey.
Among the rubbish, he found parts of a dead pigeon including a leg. Attached to the leg was a red canister. Inside the canister was a thin piece of paper with the words “Pigeon Service” at the top and 27 handwritten blocks of code.
“We didn’t really hold out any hopes we would be able to read the message because the sort of codes that were constructed to be used during operations were designed only to be able to be read by the senders and the recipients,” said GCHQ historian Tony, who asked that only his first name be used.
Without fresh information, this pigeon may well have taken its secret to the grave.
(Liberty Times)
英國頂尖的密碼破解人員說,他們被一份在死亡信鴿腳上發現的密碼難倒了。
這隻鴿子的屍體是在蘇里郡一座煙囪內被發現的,遺體上附有一份二次世界大戰的訊息。
情報機構「政府通信總部」的專家被交付這份密碼後,始終無法解譯這份訊息。
這份訊息是大衛.馬丁在整修他蘇里郡住家煙囪時發現的。
他在一堆廢棄物中發現一隻死鴿子殘骸,其中包括鴿子的一隻腳,腳上掛有一個紅色罐子,罐子裡是一張薄薄的紙,信頭寫有「信鴿部」字樣,內容是二十七個手寫的密碼字串。
「我們實在不抱任何希望能解讀這份訊息,因為這種密碼的組成是用於作戰期間,其設計就只有發信與收信者能解讀」,政府通訊總部歷史學家東尼說。
在沒有其他新訊息下,這隻鴿子或許要把它的秘密一起帶進墳墓裡。
(自由時報/翻譯:管淑平)
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
It’s widely recognized that there are far more right-handed people than left-handed people in the world. Being right-handed simply means preferring to use one’s right hand for tasks that involve only one hand, such as writing and eating. But have you ever wondered about the possible reasons behind the global dominance of the right hand over the left? As with many complex biological questions, multiple factors appear to be at play. First, one reason seems to be genetics. __1__ Therefore, the global dominance of right-handedness is something that has been passed down through many generations of humans. Next,
On blazing hot summer days, fresh ingredients and cool refreshments straight from a refrigerator feel like nothing short of a miracle. However, chilled foods didn’t begin with modern refrigerators. In fact, the origin of refrigeration precedes the invention of this now-indispensable appliance by centuries. Initially, the quest for refrigeration was motivated more by the desire to cool beverages than to preserve food. The ancient Greeks and Romans, for instance, used snow stored in insulated pits to chill wine. Around the fourth century BC, the Persians made a significant stride in refrigeration techniques when they devised the yakhchal. Fashioned from
Continued from yesterday(延續自昨日) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang Finally, cultural influence also plays a role in which hand people prefer. Historically, items that require physical manipulation have been designed for right-handed use. For example, tools like scissors and musical instruments are often constructed with right-handers in mind, making it difficult for left-handers to use them. __4__ While these factors offer some explanation, they remain speculative. The precise reasons for the global prevalence of right-handed people continue to be debated. Nevertheless, left-handedness will remain a phenomenon of great curiosity among scientists and researchers for many years to come. 最後,文化影響也在人們偏好哪一隻手上扮演一角。歷史上,需要用到肢體操作的物品都被設計來供右手使用。舉例來說,像是剪刀、樂器等工具常常就是考慮到右撇子而打造的,造成左撇子難以使用這些工具。因此,許多天生就是左撇子的人可能就必須透過學習使用右手來適應。 雖然這些因素都提供了一些解釋,但它們仍是推測而已。全球右撇子如此普及,確切的原因仍持續被爭論著。不過,在未來的許多年裡,左撇子依然會是科學家和研究人員相當好奇的一個現象。 What Did You Learn? (A) Specifically, different areas of