According to this press release from Manchester.. Continue reading Academic uncovers Holy Grail of palaeontology
Yearly Archives: 2007
Microsoft softens? I think not…
Microsoft Softens Response to Piracy from PhysOrg.com
(AP) — Microsoft Corp. is pulling back from a system that disables programs on users’ computers if it suspects the software is pirated, opting instead for a gentler approach based on nagging alerts.[…]
Whenever Microsoft Softens you know something or someone is about to get bit….
Topi or not Topi …
Go to any bar and you’ll see a lot of males standing and sitting around not mating. I’ll bet you would have guessed that the reason they are not mating is that no females will mate with them for one reason or another. But there is the distinct possibility that they are very inconspicuously resisting mating opportunities. It turns out that males can do this …. avoid mating without conspicuous resistance … more easily than females. For obvious reasons.This could be why what has become (inappropriately) known as “reversed sexual aggression” often goes unnoticed, and a recent study of the African antelope Damaliscus lunatus (a.k.a. “topi”) explores this possibility. Continue reading Topi or not Topi …
The First 100 Dot Coms
… as in the internet address, not the concept of an IT company… Continue reading The First 100 Dot Coms
Evangelical Ted Haggard and Senator Larry Craig Boinked the Same Guy
The allegations against the Rev. Ted Haggard and Sen. Larry Craig have a common thread: A 50-year-old former prostitute from Denver named Mike Jones claims he had sex with both. *
What are the odds of that happening?[hat tip: CMF]
Bacteria Modify DNA in a way previously unobserved
Researchers have discovered a form of DNA modification not previously known to occur in nature. Lab scientists often use the addition of sulfer to the DNA sugar-phosphate backbone to make the DNA resistant to nucleases (DNA-cutting enzymes) in order to use the DNA for other (i.e. theraputic) purposes. This was assumed to be something invented by scientists. IT turns out that bacteria do something like this in nature. Continue reading Bacteria Modify DNA in a way previously unobserved
Canadian Bird Returns
The Kirtland’s Warbler is now breeding in Canada after a 60 year hiatus.
Continue reading Canadian Bird Returns
Prairie Grasses Can Run Your Car
This topic is being discussed elsewhere, so I thought I’d post something on it:
Back to the future: Prairie grasses emerge as rich energy sourceMixtures of grasses make best source of biofuel By Deane MorrisonDec. 8, 2006With shrinking glaciers and other signs of global warming upon us, the search is on for alternative fuels to stem the release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.This week a new contender burst on the scene: diverse mixtures of native prairie grasses. A University team led by David Tilman, Regents Professor of Ecology, found that these grasses yield more net energy than either ethanol from corn or “biodiesel” fuel from soybeans. Grass-based fuel can even lead to a net decrease in atmospheric carbon dioxide, whereas ethanol and biodiesel increase it.The study is based on 10 years of work at the University’s Cedar Creek Natural History Area. Written by Tilman, postdoctoral researcher Jason Hill and research associate Clarence Lehman, it is the cover story in the Dec. 8 issue of the journal Science.[source]
Girls Smash Glass Ceiling
NEW YORK – Girls swept a prestigious high school science competition for the first time Monday, winning top prizes of $100,000 scholarships for their work on potential tuberculosis cures and bone growth in zebrafish.It was the first time girls had ever won the grand prizes in both the team and individual divisions of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology….The Siemens competition was begun in 1998 to recognize America’s best math and science students. Finalists were chosen at regional competitions and flown to New York for a weekend that included bowling and a Broadway show before Monday’s awards ceremony. The contest has also been known as the Siemens Westinghouse Competition.
[source][hat tip: CMF]
Obscure Dawkins Debate
Kill Dash Nine
Thanks to Greg Buchholz!
New, Really Big Sea-dwelling Dinosaur
The small fragments of bone are spread out on a workbench in tiny pieces that could fit into a matchbox, betraying the size of their owner: a fearsome sea predator considered the Tyrannosaurus Rex of the oceans…. a pliosaur, a reptile that swam the oceans 150 million years ago and was so big it could swallow a grown man in a single gulp. [note: there were no people living at that time -gtl]Bits of pliosaur fossils have previously been found in Germany, Britain and Argentina, but never have as many been found as this summer in the Svalbard archipelago off northern Norway in the Arctic.”It looks like the most complete one. We won’t know for sure until we excavate it but it looks very promising,” says Joern Hurum who led the Norwegian research team to the Svalbard, only a little more than 1,000 km from the North Pole….The palaeontologists came upon the ‘treasure trove’ of fossils in August. Only the skull and a few vertebrae of the pliosaur were sticking out of the Arctic rocks in what was once the seabed, and further excavations will be carried out in August 2007 to find and, hopefully, recover the rest of the body…. It measured about 10 metres in length, weighed 10 to 15 tonnes and – perhaps most importantly – had a hundred teeth, some as big as a cucumber.”It’s like a sea lion with a crocodile skull in the front but it’s the size of a bus,” Hurum says. “It was the top sea predator at that time so really it ate anything it liked,” he said, comparing his “baby” to a Tyrannosaurus Rex, the king of dinosaurs which roamed the earth at the same time and both of which disappeared 65 million years ago….the reptile was a land animal before becoming a sea creature.
And if you thought licking toads was bad…
While smoking toad venom might sound extreme, an even more disturbing method to get high possibly includes sniffing fermented human waste. Vicky Ward, manager of prevention services at Tri-County Mental Health Services in Kansas City, said she has read e-mail warnings about a drug called jenkem.The drug is made from fermented feces and urine.”We work with a lot of youths and we ask them whether anyone has tried it and they said no,” Ward said. “They (the youths) have heard about it because of the Internet.”But whether people actually use of jenkem has not been determined, Ward said, noting that a Web site that investigates urban legends isn’t clear on the matter.”Kids get ideas that later turn out to be unfounded, but you will get some idiots who will try anything,” she said.
Kids: Don’t lick toads. Don’t sniff shit.[source][hat tip: TRCMF]
Busted For Possession of a Toad…
People in Kansas City, MO are smoking toads. This, apparently, is better than licking toads. Either way, you apparently get high.Look out toads.
“Toad smoking,” which is a substitute for “toad licking,” is done by extracting venom from the Sonoran Desert toad of the Colorado River. The toad’s venom — which is secreted when the toad gets angry or scared — contains a hallucinogen called bufotenine that can be dried and smoked to produce a buzz.
Hopefully, they kill the toads before they transport them, or this is going to be a big problem when we start getting Toad Funguses and stuff all over the country… Continue reading Busted For Possession of a Toad…
The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways
Donnie Register has a new reason to be thankful he’s married … his wedding band deflected a bullet and probably saved his life.
Police Sgt. Jeffrey Scott says two men walked into Register’s shop at The Antique Market on Saturday and asked to see a coin collection.
When Register retrieved the collection, one of the men pulled a gun and demanded money.
A shot was fired as Register threw up his left hand, and his wedding ring deflected the bullet, police said.
…
[Fiancee Darlene Register] gives God all the credit.
Police were searching for the robbers, who Scott said “stole a substantial amount of cash.”