computer revives bamiyan buddha

Geoff Brumfiel, Washington American scientists have reacted with littleenthusiasm to a new US–Russian nucleararms pact, announced on 13 May, thatwould reduce the number of nuclearweapons deployed on each side but wouldtake no action to destroy their warheads.

The three-page treaty, which will besigned by presidents George Bush andVladimir Putin at a summit in Moscow nextweek, pledges to reduce the number ofdeployed nuclear weapons from 5,000–6,000on each side to between 1,700 and 2,200 overthe next 10 years.

But the plan would allow the decommis-sioned warheads to be kept in reserve ratherthan being destroyed — raising alarm aboutthe possible security of the warheads, partic-ularly in Russia. The freedom to keep the war-heads was sought by the Bush administra-tion, but it runs counter to the advice of manyUS scientists. In a 1997 study, the NationalAcademy of Sciences called for the bilateraldestruction of decommissioned warheads.

Scientists welcomed the fact that the twoheads of state will actually sign a treaty — theBush administration had originally proposeda less formal agreement — but lamented its

lack of real content. On the day the treaty wasannounced, the Union of Concerned Scien-tists released a letter signed by seven promi-nent US physicists to both presidents, callingfor a treaty that would destroy decommis-sioned warheads as quickly as possible.

“This treaty is certainly a step forward,but it leaves a lot to be desired,” says MichaelLevi, a physicist at the Washington-basedFederation of American Scientists. Levi saysthat the agreement will strengthen pro-Western elements in the Russian govern-ment. But he adds that, in storage, Russianwarheads pose a significant threat. “If one ofthose warheads falls into terrorist hands,then we’ll we wish that we had used ourstored warheads as a bargaining chip to havethem eliminated,” he warns.

Wolfgang Panofsky, former director ofthe Stanford Linear Accelerator Center inCalifornia, and one of the seven who signedthe letter, says he is disappointed that thetreaty fails to address smaller tactical war-heads, which, he says, are considered a significant threat to non-proliferationefforts. Nonetheless, he says, “the treatyshould be applauded as a forward step”. ■

➧ www.ucsusa.org

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210 NATURE | VOL 417 | 16 MAY 2002 | www.nature.com

Warhead-saving arms pactgets lukewarm reception

the Palestinian and Israeli science com-munities heightened further. Palestinian officials and Israeli peace activists claimedthat damage done during the occupationhad weakened the fledgling Palestinianresearch and education infrastructure.

The Palestine Academy of Science andTechnology in Ramallah, for example, wasdamaged when Israeli troops used explo-sives to blast open doors before searchingthe building, says Imad Khatib, directorgeneral of the academy. Furniture wassmashed, and files and office equipmentwere scattered on the floor, he adds.

Al Quds University claims that Israelisoldiers badly damaged laboratories andother buildings at its campuses in El Birehand Ramallah. The university has askedthe Israeli government and the inter-national community to send fact-findingmissions and to help rebuild its infrastruc-ture. It has also pleaded for US$675,000 of emergency aid, without which it says itwill be unable to pay its 700 staff and mayface closure.

Israeli officials were unavailable tocomment on the specific allegations asNature went to press. But the Israeli armyhas said it is taking allegations of vandal-ism seriously and will investigate themfully. The extent of the damage and the circumstances in which it was inflictedremain unclear. “It has been difficult toisolate and concentrate on specific aspectsof the military operation,” says Eva Illouz,a peace activist and researcher in sociologyand anthropology at the Hebrew Universi-ty. “News of the destruction of the researchfacilities went largely unnoticed.”

Palestinian scientific leaders accuse the Israeli scientific community of beingoblivious to their plight. Khatib, for example, complains that Israeli scientificleaders are “indifferent” to the damage atthe Palestine Academy. Illouz countersthat Israeli scientists are “disturbed” byreports of the destruction, but admits thatthere has been no public outcry becauseattitudes have hardened between Arab and Israeli scientists following the secondintifada.

Dudy Tzfati, a geneticist at the HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem and one of thefounders of the Alliance of Middle EasternScientists and Physicians, a body that iscommitted to promoting peace, nonethe-less remains optimistic about the future.He predicts that the mutual trust createdby contacts among scientists will endure, and that the international scientific com-munity should renew its support for suchcooperation.

Similarly, Nachum Finger, rector of Ben Gurion University, predicts that, onany sign of a return to normality, “the uni-versities, the scholars, will be back to leadthe rapprochement with the Palestinians”.■

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Quirin Schiermeier, MunichThe giant statue of Buddha at Bamiyan inAfghanistan, one of two destroyed in Marchlast year by the Taliban, will soon bereconstructed — electronically.

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Instituteof Technology in Zurich are close tocompleting a three-dimensional computermodel of the 2,000-year-old statue, using a setof high-resolution images taken in 1970 byAustrian cartographers.

“A high-accuracy computer model,which could be used as the basis for physicalreconstruction, will be available by the endof the month,” says Fabio Remondino, oneof the scientists involved in the project.

But authorities warn that a full physicalreconstruction is unlikely. ChristianManhart, an Asian specialist at the UnitedNations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization, says that rebuilding thestatue, which stood nearly 55 metres tall, isneither realistic nor desirable.

The site should be left as it is and beprotected as a memorial, similar to theconcentration camp at Auschwitz or thememorial church in Berlin, Manhart says, as

recommended by the 1964 InternationalCharter for the Conservation andRestoration of Monuments and Sites.

Paul Bucherer-Dietschi, director of theAfghanistan Institute and Museum nearBasel in Switzerland, is coordinating afeasibility study on possible reconstructionof the statue. He will meet with 40 otherexperts in Kabul this month to discuss theprotection and restoration of Afghanistan’scultural heritage. ■

➧ www.photogrammetry.ethz.ch/research/bamiyan

Computer revives Bamiyan Buddha

Lost treasure: Bamiyan’s giant Buddha beforethe Taliban’s act of destruction.

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