Super continents come and go. And when they come, geologists reason the individual pieces either keep flying apart until they collide and form a new super continent on the other side of the world, or they fall back together and form near the same spot the old one started out at. Researches now say the former is likely over the next 50 million to 200 million years, which would place Pangea II on the north pole. If you measure using creationist years, better firm up those dream vacation plans!
First to disappear will be the US Gulf Coast as the north shore of South America slides into the US, squeezing the Caribbean out of existence. Then Eurasia skids east and compresses the Atlantic out of being, as both the American and Eurasian super-mass slide toward a super continental polar rendezvous.
- Via Lindsey Beyerstein, the reason we rely on government regulation to address important issues is because making something a law works:
The amount of trans fat in the American bloodstream fell by more than half after the Food and Drug Administration required food manufacturers to label how much of the unhealthful ingredient is in their products, according to a new study.
- A drug used to treat skin cancer in humans has unexpectedly eliminated the beta-amyloid plaque associated with Alzheimer's—in as little as 72 hours—in tests on mice. Given the stakes human trials could start very soon.
- Check out this gorgeous picture of sand dunes on Mars. Will conspiracy theorists pushing the giant Face of Mars to get ahold of it and announce the giant hand that goes with the face has been found? Maybe there's body parts scattered all over the Red Planet ...
- We have added a new rising science-y star to the deep bench at FreeThoughtBlogs. Biodork is a biotech researcher who writes about "pro-choice and GLBT issues, science, politics, religious-based asshattery, separation of church and state stories, health and medicine," just to name a few!