Robinson Crusoe Found.
Yes, the plucky, inventive island castaway Robinson Crusoe was a fictional character. But author Robert Louis Stevenson, writing in the mid-1800s, based him on the very real Alexander… Read the rest “Robinson Crusoe Found.”
Month: October 2008
Living magnets, shaped like weapons.
Researchers peering through microscopes at ancient mud have found the fossilized remains of a truly bizarre life form:
… Read the rest “Living magnets, shaped like weapons.”“Imagine our surprise to discover not only a fossil bloom
Baby, It’s Cold Outside.
The LA Times reports on a new psychological study in Science that proves something we all probably take for granted – that warmth is more than skin deep:
… Read the rest “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”To their surprise, they found
One Step Closer to the Spotless Mind.
Did I post this before? I have no way of knowing. New Scientist tells me (for what I hope is the first time) that researchers have found a single enzyme that can erase specific memories:
… Read the rest “One Step Closer to the Spotless Mind.”Several
Fart Stink Controls Blood Pressure.
Perhaps not heart-stoppingly foul, but, as LiveScience informs us, that distinctive smell is enough to give the circulatory system pause:
… Read the rest “Fart Stink Controls Blood Pressure.”The unpleasant aroma of the gas, called hydrogen
Science Art: Polycera atra, Lateral View by F.M. MacFarland.
Some call them sea slugs, but they’re so striking, so sensual, that nudibranch has to be the better term.
SONG: Now the Snow
SONG:Now the Snow. (To download: double right-click & “Save As”)
ARTIST: grant.
SOURCE: “It’s snowing on Mars”, iTwire, 30 Sep 2008, as cited in … Read the rest “SONG: Now the Snow”
Glowing Proteins; Less-Than-Glowing Prospects?
Recently, Dr. Roger Tsien earned a Nobel prize for his work in creating a stunning array of colorful, glowing proteins. Not only are they, like, totally psychedelically intense, man, but… Read the rest “Glowing Proteins; Less-Than-Glowing Prospects?”
Big Stick.
Entolomologists working in Borneo have found what they believe to be world’s longest insect:
… Read the rest “Big Stick.”PhysOrg writes:
The specimen was found by a local villager and handed to Malaysian amateur
Satellite Discovers Pyramid at Nazca.
You may have caught this on MSNBC, but Italian researchers studying imagery from the Quickbird satellite discovered a 97,000-square-foot pyramid on the banks of Peru’s Nazca river… Read the rest “Satellite Discovers Pyramid at Nazca.”
Science Art: Aurochs, Webster’s New International
I’m quite fond of the aurochs. As the feared onager was to the domestic donkey, so the aurochs to domestic cattle. Onagers gave their name to a medieval siege weapon; aurochs gave their… Read the rest “Science Art: Aurochs, Webster’s New International”
QuarkDance!
At last!
A peppy, eternal polka that illustrates the movements of subatomic particles!
Found in this fun Hey, Poindexter! interview, which also includes the following inspirational … Read the rest “QuarkDance!”
Bonobos: NOT Hippies.
For a while in the 1990s, it seemed like everybody wanted to be a pygmy chimp. A bonobono. All bonobos did, they said, was hang out in the jungle, avoid mean old regular chimpanzees and make … Read the rest “Bonobos: NOT Hippies.”
Depression Meets the Magnet Cure.
WebMD reports on the first clinical application for using really big magnets to zap depressed people’s brain waves:
… Read the rest “Depression Meets the Magnet Cure.”The clearance comes nearly two years after a January 2007 FDA
Mad Scientists For Obama
Far be it from this site to endorse a candidate for the American presidential election…
…but who would Dr. Frankenstein vote for?
As inspired by the outrage of planetarium … Read the rest “Mad Scientists For Obama”