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Articles by grant b

Echoes of the magma oceans of Io

17 June 2011 grant b 0

Wired gets all hot about some of our solar system’s OTHER moons – specifically, the strange magnetism of the magma oceans of Io:

The magma sea is buried deep beneath the surface

… Read the rest “Echoes of the magma oceans of Io”

Star sprinklers.

16 June 2011 grant b 1

Just in time for summer, National Geographic lets us know that someone left the sprinklers on way up there:

The discovery suggests that protostars may be seeding the universe with water.

… Read the rest “Star sprinklers.”

Mother cow.

15 June 2011 grant b 0

It must be strange to work in a facility like the ones Sky News just reported on – the places where genetically modified cows produce human breast milk:

The milk produced by the transgenic

… Read the rest “Mother cow.”

The shrunken head considered.

14 June 2011 grant b 0

I never realized there was doubt about the tales of vicious headhunting tribes in South America until I read this Discovery News item. Apparently, they’ve just gotten around to DNA-testing… Read the rest “The shrunken head considered.”

Voyager finds “froth” at the border of the solar system.

13 June 2011 grant b 0

Like foam on a wave, I guess – or a kind of magnetic barrier. NASA says they’re surprised at what the space probes are turning up:

“The Voyager probes appear to have entered

… Read the rest “Voyager finds “froth” at the border of the solar system.”

Science Art: Batocera Wallacei, from Archives entomologiques ou Recueil contenant des illustrations d’insectes nouveaux our rares by James Thomson, 1857

12 June 2011 grant b 0

Mmm. Borer beetles. Or, more precisely, Wallace’s long-horn beetle.

Beetle-obsessed millionaire James Thomson’s book is on archive.org, but I found it via [Scientific… Read the rest “Science Art: Batocera Wallacei, from Archives entomologiques ou Recueil contenant des illustrations d’insectes nouveaux our rares by James Thomson, 1857”

Fertile Antarctica

10 June 2011 grant b 0

I know I already kinda wrote a song about this (and isopods), but still – the Mother Nature Network has joined the voices marveling over the fact that the closer we look at Antarctica,… Read the rest “Fertile Antarctica”

One scary reason why the poor stay poor.

9 June 2011 grant b 0

The New Republic looks at the science of choice… and the mental costs of not being able to afford much:

In the 1990s, social psychologists developed a theory of “depletable” self-control.

… Read the rest “One scary reason why the poor stay poor.”

Chimpanzee hunters drive endangered monkeys to the brink.

8 June 2011 grant b 0

Not people hunting chimpanzees, Scientific American reports, but chimpanzees hunting monkeys:

According to a study published May 9 in the American Journal of Primatology, this is the

… Read the rest “Chimpanzee hunters drive endangered monkeys to the brink.”

Skilled Veterans Corps heads into the fire.

7 June 2011 grant b 0

BBC reports on a team of senior heroes, coming out of retirement – literally – to fight the radiation at Fukushima power station:

The retired engineer is reporting back for

… Read the rest “Skilled Veterans Corps heads into the fire.”

“Werewolf family” gene discovered.

6 June 2011 grant b 0

Scientists studying Mexico’s family of sideshow entertainers – all of whom are covered head-to-foot in hair – and similar family in China have made a breakthrough,… Read the rest ““Werewolf family” gene discovered.”

Science Art: Laggania cambria, statue by Espen Horn (photo by H. Zell)

5 June 2011 grant b 0


Click to embiggen

This is an anomalocaridid – a really big, really old shrimp-like critter – named Laggania cambria. These were as big as it got in the Cambrian period, an age… Read the rest “Science Art: Laggania cambria, statue by Espen Horn (photo by H. Zell)”

Rule #34 – and what it says about us.

3 June 2011 grant b 0

Time asks probing questions of the the researchers who studied all the porn on the internet:

Why did you decide to analyze online porn searches?

I’m a computational neuroscientist.

… Read the rest “Rule #34 – and what it says about us.”

Science Art (from new NASA exhibit): Titan, by Daniel Zeller (2005)

2 June 2011 grant b 0

This ink-on-paper drawing of Saturn’s moon is one of the 70 pieces in the new “NASA/Art: 50 Years of Exploration” exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum. Others… Read the rest “Science Art (from new NASA exhibit): Titan, by Daniel Zeller (2005)”

Endeavour’s last touchdown.

1 June 2011 grant b 0

Historic video:

That’s the second-to-last shuttle mission. Ever.

[via Washington Post]

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"Is it a fact—or have I dreamt it—that, by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time?"
— Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, 1851

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