Skilled Veterans Corps heads into the fire.
BBC reports on a team of senior heroes, coming out of retirement – literally – to fight the radiation at Fukushima power station: The retired […]
Science
“Werewolf family” gene discovered.
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 […]
Science Art: Laggania cambria, statue by Espen Horn (photo by H. Zell)
Click to embiggen This is an anomalocaridid – a really big, really old shrimp-like critter – named Laggania cambria. These were as big as it […]
Rule #34 – and what it says about us.
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? […]
Science Art (from new NASA exhibit): Titan, by Daniel Zeller (2005)
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 […]
Endeavour’s last touchdown.
Historic video: That’s the second-to-last shuttle mission. Ever. [via Washington Post]
LHC milestone: As dense as it gets.
Digital Journal reports that the Large Hadron Collider has another superlative to stick in its yearbook. As well as being “most likely to succeed” and […]
Science Art: “Fig 44: Painting of a Bantu Wedding Dance” from The Pre-Historic Period in South Africa, 1910
Click to embiggen It’s a party! I can’t tell if those are balloons or knobkerries. Either way, windows would have been broken… were there windows […]
Reindeer can see invisible things. Of course.
BBC brings back our belief in Santa Claus with an update from the Arctic Circle… that reindeer can see ultraviolet light: “If you’re a bumblebee, […]
Measles rising.
The aptly named PLoS blog “The Panic Virus” brings together a few disturbing strands of information about the anti-vaccination movement and the growing threat of […]
The 100-Year Starship
OnOrbit Alpha wants all you really long-sighted business & organizational experts out there to know the Pentagon’s research arm wants your help in conquering space: […]
Science Art: RC540 stereo animation.gif by Brian0918
Click to embiggen and animate This is a large buckyball molecule – which is to say, a form of carbon, the same stuff in pencil […]
Orphan planets
Popular Mechanics takes a look at the loneliest planets in the universe – the ones that drift around without a star to orbit: The researchers, […]
Earthquake warnings from above.
MIT’s Technology Review takes an interesting look at some atmospheric findings – hot flashes in the air, basically – that could help predict earthquakes: Dimitar […]
Stress alters kids’ chromosomes.
Nature reports on the deep damage suffered by kids in orphanages – not psychological, but down in their chromosomes: Children who spent their early years […]