The Platonic Form Of Stalactites

Stalactites in the Big Room of Kartchner Caverns State Park,
Benson, Ariz. (Photo: Noelle Wilson

No matter whether they're big, little, long, short, skinny or fat -- classic stalactites have the same singular shape.

Almost everyone knows that stalactites, formations that hang from the roof of caves, are generally long, slender and pointy. But the uniqueness of their form had gone unrecognized.

"There's only one shape that all stalactites tend to be. The difference is one of magnification -- it's either big or it's small, but it's still the same shape," said researcher Martin Short of the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Short and his colleagues have developed a mathematical theory that explains how stalactites get their shape.

"It's an ideal shape in nature and in mathematics that had not been known before," said Raymond Goldstein, a UA physics professor and senior author on the research report. "The Greek philosopher Plato had the concept that there are ideal forms underlying what we see in nature. Although any particular stalactite may have some bumps and ridges that deform it, one might say that within all stalactites is a idealized form trying to get out."

Rescue attempt at Mexican cave abandoned

JOCHICH, Mexico -- Heavy rains filled a cave in southern Mexico where two children had been trapped for days, forcing emergency officials to abandon their rescue operation early today and give up hope that the two brothers were alive.

Five-year-old Pascual Saraos Jimenez and 6-year-old Miguel Saraos Jimenez disappeared Sunday night in the Indian village of Jochich, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of the state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez.

Emergency crews have been trying to reach them for days, using heavy machinery from Mexico's state-run oil company, Pemex, to widen the mouth of the narrow cavern, estimated at 25 to 40 meters (27 to 43 yards) deep.

Rescue authorities had earlier heard the two boys talking, but eventually their voices disappeared. Heavy rains also hampered the search, and officials said an underground river filled the cave with water.

Authorities planned to drain the cave once it stopped raining, and begin searching for the boys' bodies.

The rescue operation had initially met with resistance from machete-wielding residents of Jochich who thought officials were digging for gold, not just removing earth.

Source: Chron

Mexicans Racing To Rescue 2 Boys Trapped In Cave

Rescue workers from five Mexican states worked frantically Thursday to rescue 5- and 6-year-old brothers who have been trapped for four days in a cave in southern Chiapas state. The workers used oil-drilling equipment to try to widen the mouth of the 80-foot-deep cavern through which the boys disappeared Sunday. Mexican Red Cross Commander Arturo Montero said time was of the essence. Weather conditions were worsening, and the children had been without food and water for four days. Rescue workers had heard the boys speaking to each other in their Tzeltal language.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Rescue Workers Struggle To Reach 2 Children Trapped Deep In Cave

Rescue teams struggled Wednesday to reach two children who fell into a cave and were trapped about 80 feet deep. Brothers Miguel Saraos, 6, and Pascual, 11, were with their father on a hunting trip Sunday 60 miles northeast of the state capital when they slipped into the cavern, a state civil-defense official said.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Cave Collapse Kills Woman, 4 Grandkids In Honduras

A woman was killed along with four of her grandchildren when the walls of a cave collapsed as they tried to extract a special white soil used to paint houses during the holiday season, authorities said Friday. A grandson survived. The accident happened Thursday in a hillside cave near the poor farming village of La Cocala, on the border with Nicaragua 60 miles east of Tegucigalpa.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

3 Explorers Rescued From Cave, But 4th Still Trapped Inside

Emergency officials rescued three cave explorers Friday, but one other person was still trapped in the cave outside Mexico City. The four were reported trapped Thursday while exploring the San Jose Balvanera cave, 75 miles southeast of Mexico City. Emergency officials located three of the explorers before dawn, and they were hospitalized for hypothermia, Red Cross official Daniel Olea said.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Cave Brits finally saved

Free ... after nine days underground

Military divers have finally rescued six Brits trapped underground in a flooded Mexican cave for more than a week.

Rescuers worked through the night to pull out the cavers who were underground for nine days.

The group, who lived on pasta and instant chocolate cake cooked on a camping stove, were taken for check-ups.

The six were named as Jonathan Sims, Charles Milton, Simon Cornhill, Chris Mitchell, Toby Hamnett and John Roe.

Rescued Mr Sims, said the team was never in danger and would have preferred to just wait underground for the water to recede so that they could walk out without assistance.

"Everything went as planned," he said.

"We thought we might have a problem with the (water) so we put in a plan, we had food in there, communications."

Each explorer was given sandwiches and fruit drinks after being rescued and all were reported to be in good health.

They joked that they wanted beer and said they were looking forward to seeing their loved ones.