Cannibals of Jamestown
Smithsonian unfolds an ugly story archaeologists have uncovered of the first “successful” English settlement in America – at Jamestown, where settlers got so hungry,… Read the rest “Cannibals of Jamestown”
SONG: Alone
SONG: “Alone”. (OGG version here.)
ARTIST: grant.
SOURCE: Based on “What Killed the Neanderthals? A Lack …
Read moreScience Art: Fowler - Coregonus Nelsonii Bean.
This is an Alaska whitefish, a cousin of the salmon whose genus name, Coregonus, means “angle-eyed.”
But th…
Read moreScience Art: Paraboloide Circular 02, by Rodrigo Argenton
This is a circular paraboloid, a shape with “one axis of symmetry and no center of symmetry,” according to Wiki…
Read moreScience Art: Azimuth and Altitude Instrument, c. 1876
This is an illustration from the Great Exhibition, 1876, or The great Centennial exhibition critically describe…
Read moreScience Art: Solar Explosions, G79, by Clement Lindley Wragge.
This is a slide from the magic lantern shows of Clement Lindley Wragge, a popularizer of astronomy, a meteorolo…
Read moreSONG: We Ate Each Other's Wings
SONG: “We Ate Each Other’s Wings”. (OGG version here.)
ARTIST: grant.
SOURCE: Based on “These roaches for…
Read moreForget chess-playing computers. Here’s a baseball robot.
Wired (via CNN) is sizing up the new guy on the mound – a mechanical brain designed to outsmart pitchers:
… Read the rest “Forget chess-playing computers. Here’s a baseball robot.”Researchers at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo and the
Immigrant kids have fewer allergies.
Healthline doesn’t seem to be jumping to any conclusions here… just remarking that if you’re American-born, you’re more likely to have allergies than if you’re… Read the rest “Immigrant kids have fewer allergies.”
Science Art: Resuscitation by mouth-to-mouth respiration, WHO/Red Cross photo
The robot is in trouble! We’ll have to help the robot breathe!
This educational illustration comes from the National Institutes of Health “History… Read the rest “Science Art: Resuscitation by mouth-to-mouth respiration, WHO/Red Cross photo”
Something strange was found in Antarctica. Something alien. And very, very small.
New Scientist has more on the possible discovery of two cosmic neutrinos near the South Pole:
… Read the rest “Something strange was found in Antarctica. Something alien. And very, very small.”In June last year the IceCube neutrino telescope at the South Pole reported the sighting of two
Smartphone satellites. NASA’s sending phones into orbit.
LA Times reports on the latest low-budget, off-the-shelf NASA experiment, sending three smartphones into orbit:
… Read the rest “Smartphone satellites. NASA’s sending phones into orbit.”The three Google-HTC Nexus One smartphones are circling Earth at an altitude
No song today!
Alas, no song will be posted today. It will be forthcoming, as will a penitential cover.
Have sanctions helped Cubans live longer?
Nature wades into international politics (and some pretty harsh facts) with a theory for the “unintended consequences” file. Researchers are floating the idea that an international… Read the rest “Have sanctions helped Cubans live longer?”
Science Art: The periodical cicada (”Magicicada septendecim”), Plate 7, from Insects, their way and means of living, by R. E. Snodgrass.
It’s the year of magic. Or, well, the Magicicada septendecim – the 17-year magic cicada.
Have you heard?
They come back every 17 years, black-winged and red-eyed… Read the rest “Science Art: The periodical cicada (”Magicicada septendecim”), Plate 7, from Insects, their way and means of living, by R. E. Snodgrass.”
Buddy planets. We just found them, but they probably know each other.
New Scientist reports on the Kepler space telescope’s latest discovery: a pair of neighboring planets that could both support life – within easy reach of each other:
… Read the rest “Buddy planets. We just found them, but they probably know each other.”Though
One bank account makes saving easier.
PhysOrg flies in the face of the conventional wisdom that holds “out of sight, out of mind” as a savings strategy. Instead, we save better by keeping our eggs in one basket:
… Read the rest “One bank account makes saving easier.”[University
Would you wear GMO silk?
Nature reveals how a mosquito-killing gene technique is being used to create better silk more efficiently:
… Read the rest “Would you wear GMO silk?”But male silkworms (Bombyx mori) are much more useful for farmers: they are more
The best food in space is shrimp cocktail.
The Atlantic reveals a culinary secret of near-Earth orbit. Astronauts love shrimp cocktail – and here’s why:
… Read the rest “The best food in space is shrimp cocktail.”Without gravity to pull blood toward the feet, especially during
Southerners aren’t fatter. Just more honest.
AL.com showcases some science that sets straight some old stereotypes. Southerners don’t have bigger guts than Americans from the North or the West. They just tell the truth when… Read the rest “Southerners aren’t fatter. Just more honest.”
Science Art: Neuroscience Dress Trippy Retina Print, by Shenova
This eye-catching dress is based on retinal neurons as observed by Ferrucio Tartuferi in 1887. He put eyes under the microscope and looked at what could have been looking back at him.
The … Read the rest “Science Art: Neuroscience Dress Trippy Retina Print, by Shenova”