The gathering of today’s news was a collective effort by Rick, RPJ, and Kat — all feeling so poorly, none of us could manage it alone. Humm… Maybe TDG could use a few more of us ‘voluntary masochists’.
Warning to all who hate movie spoilers — don’t read today’s Quote.
- Mile-thick glaciers found on Mars.
- Helicopter-UFO near-miss drama 1500ft above Birmingham.
- Video of the massive ball of fire that lit up the skies over Alberta and Saskatchewan last week. Now, the hunt is on for pieces of the fallen meteor.
- Scientists ponder mysterious source of cosmic rays.
- DNA tests have confirmed the tomb of Nicholas Copernicus. John Banville’s Doctor Copernicus is a terrific historical fiction account of Copernicus, his life, and his work (Amazon US & UK).
- 1300-year-old inscription could answer Q’uran question vexing historians for centuries.
- Archaeologists find bronze chariot meant for travel to the afterlife.
- Skye’s dinosaur connection to Wyoming.
- Single cell giant upends early evolution. More – including a photo for Rico.
- Exhibit reveals Darwin as reluctant evolutionary.
- The enigma of Lake Ontario’s 11,000-year-old footprints.
- Experts say archaeological discoveries that made Basques proud are fake.
- Stem cells found to be more flexible than previously thought.
- Japanese scientists clone embryo of endangered rabbit.
- Scientists are getting closer to cloning the woolly mammoth.
- Jurrassic Park opinions: Fossils are fine, but Nicolas Wade thinks these live beasties would be better. Laurie Fendrich, on why we shouldn’t recreate a mammoth. Even the NYTimes editorial board has weighed in — against.
- Kitten born with two faces in Western Australia has died.
- Aussie spies clever croc trying his hand at fishing.
- Potential sources of rain-making bacteria in atmosphere identified.
- The eco machine that can magic water out of thin air. The Atlantean version is described in Chapter XXIII of A Dweller on Two Planets, which Frederick S. Oliver finished ‘automatically writing’ in 1886, was published in 1905, and which I don’t think is ‘a novel’, although the so-called sequel certainly is.
- Ditching mechanical transmission, new wind turbine generator ups efficiency 50 percent.
- Common cold virus came from birds 200 years ago — hopefully not the dodo.
- The spin tells us Tamiflu will protect us against outbreaks such as the Bird Flu, but the facts are it won’t work in Scotland.
- Farmland birds make dramatic comeback under pioneering conservation scheme.
- Hairspray is linked to birth defects in boys.
- 12-year-old boy collapses and dies after using too much Lynx deoderant spray.
- Psychologists say US baby-boomers raised their children to overestimate their abilities; but the reality is, the only thing they’re not medicre at is feeling superior.
- Prophecy of economic collapse coming true.
- IMF’s chief economist says worst is yet to come, and all central banks ‘should lower interest rates to as close to zero as possible.’
- Fuel from food? The feast is over.
- On Saturday, a Colorado farm couple got a huge surprise when they opened their fields to anyone who wanted to pick up free vegetables left over after the harvest — 40,000 people showed up.
- Revenge of the electric car.
- San Francisco enters Agassi’s electric car dream.
- US, UK deploy manned unmanned aircraft to save bandwidth.
- Sci-Fi ray gun debuts in Iraq.
- The CIA lied about the downing of plane in Peru in 2001.
- Software developed which allows a physical key to be made solely from a photo of a key, regardless of the angle or distance.
- IBM and DARPA trying to develop AI that’s as smart as a cat. Which cat? I’ve known furry goofballs, furred geniuses, and one feline spiritual avatar with a brighter spark of consciousness than all the Jasons combined.
Our gratitude to science (okay – and to the pharmas) for hangover remedies, synthetic hormones, antibiotics, and more.
Quote of the Day:
You’ve always had a hard time finding your place in this world, haven’t you — never knowing your true worth? You can settle for less — an ordinary life. Or do you feel you were meant for something better? Sumpt’in special?
Enterprise Captain, Christopher Pike, doubtlessly addressing James T Kirk. Heard as a voice-over in this new trailer for Star Trek XI, scheduled for release in May, 2009. Hopefully by then, they’ll come up with a catchier title. You can view stills from the trailer, and read more, here.
