Yearly Archives: 2007
New Glyptodont Species
A team of U.S. and Chilean scientists working high in the Andes have discovered the fossilized remains of an extinct, tank-like mammal they conclude was a primitive relative of today’s armadillos. The results of their surprising new discovery are described in an upcoming issue of Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.The partial skeleton was unearthed by the group in 2004 and found to represent a new species of glyptodont–a family of hard-shelled, grazing mammals that may have occasionally tipped the scales at two tons. The newly described animal, which was given the tongue-twisting name Parapropalaehoplophorus septentrionalis, likely weighed in at a mere 200 pounds and was covered with a massive shell of immovable armored plates, unlike the hinged rows of plates on armadillos. The fossil was found at the unusually high elevation of 14,000 feet.[source]
WOC Spy, Codename RD, Slipps Under Radar Screen
One of our more cunning spies, who shall be known only as “RD.”, made his move yesterday to slip under the Christian Radar screen, in a stunningly brave, very public move:
[RD], who has expressed hopes of converting religious believers to atheism through his international bestseller [deleted], made the comments while fielding open questions on religion and debating with conservative MP Mark Pritchard.
…“This is historically a Christian country. I’m a cultural Christian in the same way many of my friends call themselves cultural Jews or cultural Muslims,” Oxford biologist [deleted] said on BBC’s recent “Have Your Say” program.
It is only a matter of time before he has their complete confidence.
My Linux Calendar
- Dec 12
- E.G. Robinson born, 1893
- Dec 12
- First wireless message sent across Atlantic by Marconi, 1901
- Dec 12
- Independence Day in Kenya
- Dec 12
- Debian GNU/Linux 1.2 alias “rex” released, 1996
- Dec 12
- N’oubliez pas les Chantal !
- Dec 12
- Nachrüstungsbeschlu� des NATO-Ministerates, 1979
- Dec 12
- Ð?енÑ? Ð?онÑÑ?иÑ?Ñ?Ñ?ии
- Dec 13
- Apollo 17 leaves the moon, with “last” men to walk on moon aboard, 1972
- Dec 13
- Dartmouth College chartered, 1769
- Dec 13
- Geminid meteor shower (look south)
- Dec 13
- Republic Day in Malta
- Dec 13*
- Parashat Va-Yishlah
- Dec 13
- Ted Nugent, the motor city madman, born in Detroit, 1949
- Dec 13
- Bonne fête aux Lucie !
- Dec 13
- Aujourd’hui, c’est la St(e) Rolande.
- Dec 13
- N’oubliez pas les Aurore !
- Dec 13
- Ã? la sainte Luce,
- Le jour
- croît du saut d’une puce.
- Dec 13
- Por orden de Juan Lavalle es fusilado Manuel Dorrego, 1828
- Dec 13
- Se descubre petróleo en Comodoro Rivadavia (Chubut), 1907
Fox on Global Warming
More Evidence for Water on Mars
This time, it comes from the side effect of the Mars Rover getting the Martian equivalent of a flat tire…
NASA’s Spirit Mars rover has been dealing with [a] right front tire [that] went bad nearly two years ago. It didn’t go flat, but it’s quit turning forcing NASA to move the rover around in reverse ever since, trailing the stuck wheel behind.But nearly a year later, [it was noticed that [r]uts carved by the bad wheel last May churned up a bright spot in the rover’s wake.Rover guiders turned the craft back to the colorful streak for a closer look and discovered that the rock contains high levels of silica. Upon further investigation, however, another nearby rock cracked open that was jam-packed with silica.
Silica at this level of density, on Earth, tends to be associated with water, in one of a few differnt ways. Read all about it here, on The Buzz
Fred Thompson on the NEA
Again, a Reagan line, nothing more. What a bunch of shit.
Archaeological Remains and Global Warming
Scientists studying ancient fish bones in Scandinavia have discovered that warm-water species like anchovies and black sea bream that once thrived in Danish waters during a prehistoric warm period are now returning. Some cold-water species, such as cod, were also abundant during this period, having benefited from a lower fishing effort.[source]
Fred Thompson on Global Warming
He’s trying so hard to be Ronald Regan that it makes me throw up a little bit inside my mouth. You have to just see it to believe it.
More Evidence for Water on Mars
This time, it comes from the side effect of the Mars Rover getting the Martian equivalent of a flat tire…
NASA’s Spirit Mars rover has been dealing with [a] right front tire [that] went bad nearly two years ago. It didn’t go flat, but it’s quit turning forcing NASA to move the rover around in reverse ever since, trailing the stuck wheel behind.But nearly a year later, [it was noticed that [r]uts carved by the bad wheel last May churned up a bright spot in the rover’s wake.Rover guiders turned the craft back to the colorful streak for a closer look and discovered that the rock contains high levels of silica. Upon further investigation, however, another nearby rock cracked open that was jam-packed with silica.
Silica at this level of density, on Earth, tends to be associated with water, in one of a few differnt ways. Read all about it here, on The Buzz
This goes on my Solstice Day Gift List, for sure.
More on the Call for a Presidential Debate on Science and Technology Policy
There is quite a bit of activity in the blogosphere about this initiative. Have a look… Continue reading More on the Call for a Presidential Debate on Science and Technology Policy
Origin of Life
A new hypothesis for how life got started has been proposed, by Helen Hansma, of UC Santa Barbara. Continue reading Origin of Life
Himalayan Ice Fields Have Not Grown in Fifty Years
Starting with Los Alamos, repeated atomic explosions altered the isotopic composition of the Earth’s atmosphere in a way that is easily seen in historic proxyindicator records such as ice cores, lake cores, tree rings, and so on.Recently raised cores from the Himalayan ice fields, when analyzed, failed to show this global signal. This strongly suggests that these ice fields have not grown during the last fifty years, or more.The ice fields provide an important buffer in the headwaters of major rivers relied on today for agriculture and other uses by a very large number of people.Similar findings have occurred elsewhere. For instance, it is predicted that the glaciers on Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, will be gone in about 7 to 10 years from now. Eighty percent of the 15,000 or so mountain glaciers in the Himalayas are expected to be melted away in about twenty to twenty five years from now.Details here.
More “Junk” DNA is Not
Some of the base pairs in a given genome are strung together into templates that code for proteins or RNA molecules. These are the classic “genes.” Other base pairs probably have little or no function. Among the DNA that is not in classic gene-templates, however, there is a lot of important information, including “control regions.”
How much of each “type” of DNA exists in a particular genome varies. A recent study suggests that the currently used methods for scanning DNA for regulatory sequences may systematically m miss more than half of that information.