Hello and welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America.

I'm Anna Mateo.

And I'm Brian Lynn.

This program is aimed at English learners, so we speak slowly, and we use words

and phrases especially written for people learning English.

On today's show, Anna Mateo has words and their stories.

John Russell brings us a story about researchers who are using laser technology to study ancient Peruvian mummies.

We also have the weekly science report about a pair of private spacecraft

now headed to the moon. And we'll close with another lesson of the day. This time, Jill Robbins

and Andrew Smith present a discussion on the present perfect tense

with a focus on the word since.

But first...

For more than 5,000 years, humans have covered themselves with permanent artistic designs known as

tattoos. In a recent study, researchers used lasers to uncover highly complex designs of ancient

tattoos on mummies from Peru. The skin of the mummies and the black liquid,

or ink, used to make the tattoos, permitted researchers to observe fine details. These marks

are not visible to the human eye, said study co-writer Michael

Pittman of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The researchers examined around 100 mummies dating to around

775 years ago. The mummies dating to around 775 years ago.

The mummies were from coastal Peru's Chongkai culture, which grew and developed before the

Inca Empire and the arrival of Europeans.

All the individuals had some form of tattoos on the back of their

...