This week saw the death of a superstar in the area of cognition research, Alex. Alex was an Afican Grey Parrot, and if you never had a chance to see Alex at work with his "partner," Dr. Irene Pepperberg, you missed something special. Alex had a vocabulary of several hundred words, and could string those words together to form new phrases. He could count, sort items by shape and color, and understand abstract concepts like "larger."
The massive Burj Dubai is not complete, and it's final height has still not been revealed, but it's already the world's tallest building. The great tower, with an interior designed by Giorgio Armani, is the champ for the moment, but it's not a title likely to hold for long. Neighboring sites in Dubai -- where the executives of Haliburton and similarly minded companies have gathered to form their own Galt's Gulch -- will soon host at least two even more massive buildings, both of which are rumored to be reaching for a final height of more than a kilometer.
If you've ever put together a model kit from Estes, now is the time to revisit those launching skills on a larger scale. Google has offered a $30 million dollar prize for anyone how can land a privately-built rover on the moon. I'm thinking R/C car and a lot of "C" engines. Or you could go high tech and use a photonic laser thruster.
John Kanzius and his flaming tube of salt water have been all over the news and the Internet. The idea that you can crack water into hydrogen and oxygen using radio waves does make for a spiffy visual, and may result in a more effective means of producing hydrogen for fuel. What it doesn't make is a source of energy, as many articles have implied. How much energy can you get from burning the liberated hydrogen? Less than the amount it took to free the hydrogen in the first place, and that's a guarantee.
As Alex used to say at the end of each day. "You be good. I love you. See you tomorrow."