This is Agathis dammara, the tree from which we get dammar gum, used as a varnish on paintings, a glaze on food or an ingredient in incense.

Image found in a very special category on Wikimedia Commons.

Nature reports on the first object large enough to see that’s been put into the quantum state of neither moving nor not-moving:

Cleland and his team took a more direct measure of quantum weirdness at the large scale. They began with a a tiny mechanical paddle, or ‘quantum drum’, around 30 micrometres long that vibrates when set in motion [...]

The Associated Press plunges into the icy waters of the unknown to present us with an unspeakable creature… a shrimp that should not be:

Six hundred feet (183 metres) below the ice where no light shines, scientists had figured nothing much more than a few microbes could exist.

That is why a team from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [...]

PhysOrg shows you how to arrange the swap:

The absence of this single gene, called p21, confers a healing potential in mice long thought to have been lost through evolution and reserved for creatures like flatworms, sponges, and some species of salamander. In a report published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from The Wistar [...]

Yes, I interviewed (briefly) the legendary astronomer backstage at GeekPop ’10. The full text is up here, at the geekpop site.

Science Daily takes a close look at how psychopaths’ brains are shaped by rewards:

Previous research on psychopathy has focused on what these individuals lack — fear, empathy and interpersonal skills. The new research, however, examines what they have in abundance — impulsivity, heightened attraction to rewards and risk taking. Importantly, it is these latter traits that are most [...]

Another engraving by the Scotch Quaker, mentioned here previously. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

So GeekPop ’10 has started, and they’re kicking things off with an online treasure hunt.

Prizes include hula hoops, giant bubble-making kits and vouchers for mp3 downloads from 7digital.

Go, search, have fun!

Discovery News finds a strange new source of energy – gas hydrates, solid chunks of frozen natural gas better known as combustible ice:

In China, the deposit is in a high, frozen plateau, but many are in marine sediments. Last summer American scientists on a research vessel in the Gulf of Mexico drilled exploratory holes to look for gas hydrates [...]