Viking DNA
LiveScience reports on the tantalizing possibility of creating a Jurassic Park for bearded boat-warriors: Jorgen Dissing of the University of Copenhagen and colleagues say they […]
Month: May 2008
Hairy Frog Breaks Own Bones to Create Claws.
Well, I’d certainly be terrified. Not only does this amphibian have hair, but New Scientist reports, it also snaps its own bones to create claws […]
No dengue fever, please. We’re British mosquitoes.
Nature (subscribers only) has announced that the plan to release sterile mosquitoes into the wild (mentioned months ago in this free Wired report) is going […]
Science Art: “Rosetta Stone”
There it is – the key that unlocked ancient Egypt. One message in three alphabets. From the Library of Christian Theological Seminary, found on Wikimedia […]
SONG: Mesonychoteuthis Hamiltonii
SONG: “Mesonychoteuthis Hamiltonii” (To download: right-click & “Save As”) ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: “Colossal Squid Comes Out Of Ice”, BBC News, 28 April 2008, as used […]
Three Red Spots.
New Scientist on the third-largest hurricane in the solar system: Now, a third red spot, about half the size of Red Spot Junior, has broken […]
Nanotube Trouble.
Rice University researchers – some of the pioneers of nanotechnology – have declared that carbon nanotubes may be… may be… as dangerous as asbestos: …[T]he […]
Don’t Tell Me You Love Me.
Scientific American ruins my naive illusions about love with their expose of the orgasmic mind: Neuroscientist Gert Holstege of the University of Groningen in the […]
My Sister, My Stomach.
Well. LiveScience shares the news of a 9-year-old girl in Greece discovering that she actually had a twin sister… growing inside her stomach: “They could […]
Science Art: “Acherontia atropos,” Nordisk familjebok
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 […]
The Sanity-Shattering Glass Armonica.
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, […]
The Little Green Men and the Heavenly Host.
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 […]
California’s Fast Future.
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 […]
Seismologists, look to the skies.
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 […]
A Southern Man Don’t Need This Spider Around.
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 […]