I needed a break. I was listening to Bush's press conference and when the headache got too bad - I checked in here. I see the genital argument is still raging and I thought I would throw out some new Science articles to change the scene.
No analysis or pithy comments, I'm oh so tired.
First Shooting Star Seen from Mars
NASA's Spirit rover photographed a streak of light that was likely part of a martian meteor shower, scientists announced today.
The picture is the first of a shooting star above Mars. Further, the flash has been traced back to its parent comet. And now astronomers figure they should be able to forecast martian meteor showers.
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Avid meteor watchers might want to begin planning a trip to Mars for 2007.
"Our findings indicate that martian meteor showers may now be predictable events," Selsis said. "Detailed simulations show that we can expect an intense Cepheid shower on Mars, on Dec. 20, 2007."
The word meteor is applied to any object that streaks through a planet's atmosphere. If one reaches the ground, it is called a meteorite. Earlier this year, Spirits twin rover, Opportunity, stumbled upon a basketball-sized rock that turned out to be the first known Mars meteorite.
Nothing life shattering - but pretty cool. Here is a larger image.
Are you planning a career being an Evil Scientist? This article is for YOU!
Top 10 Ways to Destroy Earth :
Destroying the Earth is harder than you may have been led to believe.
You've seen the action movies where the bad guy threatens to destroy the Earth. You've heard people on the news claiming that the next nuclear war or cutting down rainforests or persisting in releasing hideous quantities of pollution into the atmosphere threatens to end the world.
Fools.
The Earth was built to last. It is a 4,550,000,000-year-old, 5,973,600,000,000,000,000,000-tonne ball of iron. It has taken more devastating asteroid hits in its lifetime than you've had hot dinners, and lo, it still orbits merrily.
So my first piece of advice to you, dear would-be Earth-destroyer, is: do not think this will be easy.
Go to the List
BWAAAHAHAHAHA!
Older and Wiser: Expanse of Knowledge Delays Big Ideas :
A new study of Nobel Prize winners and great inventors suggests top innovators are older today than they were a century ago.
"I find that the age at which noted innovations are produced has increased by approximately 6 years over the 20th Century," says Benjamin Jones of Northwestern University. "Innovators are much less productive at younger ages."
Why the change?
Jones figures that the accumulation of knowledge over time -- all that stuff that most of us don't know -- means even great minds need to spend more time educating themselves before they can make a breakthrough.
Well, there goes my chance for a Nobel . . . damn Einstein!
And last, but not least:
Elephants Imitate Sounds As A Form Of Social Communication :
Elephants learn to imitate sounds that are not typical of their species, the first known example after humans of vocal learning in a non-primate terrestrial mammal. The discovery, reported in today's Nature, further supports the idea that vocal learning is important for maintaining individual social relationships among animals that separate and reunite over time, like dolphins and whales, some birds, and bats.
Researchers from the Amboseli Trust for Elephants in Kenya, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Vienna studied sounds made by two African elephants, one living among semi-captive orphaned elephants and the other with two Asian elephants in a zoo. One imitated truck noises heard from a nearby highway, the other the chirps of another elephant species.
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"Many species with similar social systems as elephants use vocal imitation to maintain individual-specific relationships, "study co-author Stephanie Watwood of WHOI said. "Our study suggests that elephants may be using their vocal learning abilities in a similar manner, and opens a fascinating new area for research on how elephants use vocal learning."
Maybe Dr. Doolittle could talk to an Elephant.
There was an article on Marlin Perkins' Legacy: Wild Wolves Bred at Facility. This one may mention genitals and I think we may not be ready for that yet.