The Death’s Head Hawkmoth.

There’s a more recent photograph of one here; the first time I remember learning this beauty’s name was in a brilliantly illustrated version of The Butterfly’s Ball and Grasshopper’s Feast by Aldridge & Plomer.

They say this instrument will drive listeners insane.

Insane with beauty, say I. It creates the most haunting tones ever heard.

Invented by Ben Franklin, scientific genius and master aesthete. Used by Franz Mesmer to stimulate trances and unusual mental states.

Don’t miss the opportunity to browse some of the other videos on YouTube.

Read more at [...]

New Scientist reports on the Vatican’s public acceptance of extraterrestrial life:

In the interview, headlined “The extraterrestrial is my brother,” [Reverend Jose Gabriel Funes, head of the Vatican Observatory and scientific adviser to Pope Benedict] said he saw no conflict between belief in such beings and faith in God.

“Just as there is a multiplicity of creatures on Earth, there can [...]

They’re one step closer to Burbank to San Francisco in less than 3 hours. Besides being fast, high-speed rail’s other touted benefits do sound pretty impressive:

Reduce CO2 emissions by up to 17.6 billion pounds/year. This is the equivalent of removing about 1.4 million vehicles from state roads annually and eliminating the CO2 emissions produced from 15 billion [...]

What with earthquakes being in the news recently, it might be reassuring to look at a recent New Scientist piece on a potential early warning sign that a tremor is on its way. Maybe. Chinese seismologists say they’ve found strange cloud formations signaling upcoming earthquakes:

Guo and Wang suggest that an eruption of hot gases from inside the fault could [...]

The CBC reports on a newly discovered trapdoor spider named for Mr. Neil Young:

East Carolina University biologist Jason Bond calls the new species Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi.

“There are rather strict rules about how you name new species,” Bond said in a statement.

“As long as these rules are followed you can give a new species just about any name you please. With [...]

Sixteen Black Dot Tentacles by Ernst Haeckel.

This may look like an abstract or a mathematical exercise; it’s not. It’s an illustration of a microscopic life form. I think this one is a juvenile medusan – a baby jellyfish or coral polyp.

Browse more awesomeness at the Kunstformen dur Natur (Artworks of Nature) site.

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Or, if you’re [...]

You really wanted to see it come back, didn’t you.

I sure did….

You already knew this, but the BBC Science Desk reiterates that caffeine really is brain food:

“Caffeine appears to block several of the disruptive effects of cholesterol that make the blood-brain barrier leaky,” said Dr Jonathan Geiger, who led the study.

“High levels of cholesterol are a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, perhaps by compromising the protective nature of the blood [...]