Uncontacted Indian tribe found in Brazil’s Amazon

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil: An Indian tribe that has had no formal contact with Western civilization has been located in a remote Amazon region, federal authorities said Friday.

The Metyktire tribe, with about 87 members, was found last week in an area that is difficult to reach because of thick jungle and a lack of nearby rivers some 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) northwest of Rio de Janeiro, said Mario Moura, a spokesman for the Federal Indian Bureau, or Funai.

The tribe is a subgroup of the Kayapo tribe, and lives on its 4.9-million-hectare (12.1-million-acre) Menkregnoti Indian reservation, Moura said.

The Kayapo had no significant contact with the Metyktire until two tribe members inexplicably appeared at a Kayapo village last week, he said.

“We don’t know why they decided to make contact now … only time will tell. This is a very slow process,” Moura said.

Uncontacted tribes are usually discovered when loggers and ranchers encroach on their territories.

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Gravity Map of Earth

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Is gravity the same over the surface of the Earth? No — it turns out that in some places you will feel slightly heavier than others. The above relief map shows in exaggerated highs and lows where the gravitational field of Earth is relatively strong and weak. A low spot can be seen just off the coast of India, while a relative high occurs in the South Pacific Ocean. The cause of these irregularities is unknown since present surface features do not appear dominant. Scientists hypothesize that factors that are more important lay in deep underground structures and may be related to the Earth’s appearance in the distant past. To better map Earth’s gravity and hence better understand its interior and past, NASA plans to launch the Gravity Recovery and Climate (GRACE) satellite in February.

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