Spaghetti Junction Birmingham from Space!

Soon astronauts in space will be able to view Birmingham's Spaghetti Junction glowing at night. Birmingham City Council is planning to illuminate the giant interchange that links the M6, Aston Expressway, A38 and A5127 above two railway lines, three canals and two rivers.

Birmingham City Council officials want to illuminate the flyover network to turn it into a landmark as part of a £6 billion makeover project of the city. Clive Dutton, director of planning at Birmingham City Council, said: "It is an extraordinary structure, one that is known around the country, but we feel as though it can have a massive impact around the world."

 

Well, the ambitious plan is currently at the drawing board stage, and officials are still unsure how many lights would be required and the Highways Agency would have to be consulted. On the other hand, the council has already applied for lottery funding for the project and hopes that the lights will be switched on as early as next year.

Great Wall of China is much longer than we thought

One of the seven wonders of the world is the Great Wall of China. According to a new study, this ancient structure is 180 miles longer than it's previously thought length. The extra miles of the ancient Chinese monument were uncovered after a two-year government mapping study, reports Sky News.

The study used mapping technologies such as infrared range finders and GPS devices to show extra portions of the wall - hidden by hills, trenches and rivers. The study found that the wall spans 8,850km (5,500 miles) and the newly-mapped parts of the wall were built from Hu Mountain in northern Liaoning province to Jiayu Pass in western Gansu province during the Ming Dynasty. They were covered over time by sandstorms that moved across the arid region.

The study was carried out by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping. It will continue for another 18 months in order to map sections of the wall built during the Qin (221-206BC) and Han (206BC-9AD) Dynasties.

On the other hand, present Great Wall of China is in danger! Recent studies by Chinese archaeologists show that sections of the wall in Gansu are being reduced to "mounds of dirt" by sandstorms and may disappear entirely in 20 years. They blame destructive farming methods in the 1950s that "desertified"large areas of northern China.